Pottstown is so much more than a warehouse for the poor and disenfranchised.

Council seems not to notice that we are a diverse community. While they pre-occupy themselves with additional services to the poor, more rental housing, corporate enterprise that capitalizes on the poor, we remain unquestionably marginalized – the working class who are homeowners, businesses and taxpayers, responsible investors are shamefully underserved.

The Mayor’s election year proclamation to see only the “good” in Pottstown and never utter a word about crime, vagrancy, entire neighborhoods gobbled up by greed and abandonment, is as though Mayor Bonnie Heath believes she can brainwash you…

‘Look into my eyes, I can convince you to deny your own reality’ – a reality you shall never ever speak of…

Lesher Alley 500 blk. King St. Montgomery County owned property.

As local leaders enable Montgomery County and other slumlord investors to treat Pottstown with disdain…

Council is poised to make a decision to invite a discount, small box, chain store that will not move us forward, will not attract better businesses with better values, people with better values or housing and jobs that will elevate opportunities for everyone.

Progress, in their limited capabilities, or self-serving objectives, is a Family Dollar store on Farmington Ave.  

This is Montgomery County owned Property in the 500 blk of King St.

What does another discount or dollar store say about us, about our leadership, about their vision?  Successful leaders know how to achieve balance and how to solicit community participation in projects that impact them.

How do you rate the job council and the administration have done so far in working toward a safe, reasonably attractive borough that serves the needs of everyone?

Do you trust their desire or ability to make good decisions?

Here’s what people in Rogers Park, Illinois have to say about their local Family Dollar in 2013:

Family Dollar, Rogers Park, IL

“This Fam $ sits where the neighborhood Jewel Food Store used to sit back in the day. The vibe is very tense. — like everyone is waiting for something bad to happen.  The store is filthy and has a spoiled odor.  The environment is depressing and oppressively sad.  This is not fair to the shoppers, staff or community…”

“This place scares me. The staff all look depressed and are very rude, slow, pathetic looking people. The store is a disgusting mess. Nothing is ever stocked. Just piles in the middle of the store…” 

“We call this place the Ghetto Dollar, which – is that offensive to someone? It might be, sorry. I didn’t make it up. In any case, this store is messy and dirty and extremely slow, but it’s very consistently so. It doesn’t make failed attempts to get better or anything- it just stays nice and terrible…”

Have you been into the newly expanded and remodeled Pottstown Walmart recently?  I decided to wait until hubbub of the newness wore off and things were settled before going in to check it out.

I travel a lot.  Walmart’s, throughout the nation, have sprung up just off major interstates making it easy to stop and pickup a can of bug spray or the shampoo that didn’t get packed. You can count on getting everything you need and getting back on the road without missing a beat.

I’ve been to Walmart’s in California, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, S. & N. Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, as well as many more states that don’t come to mind just now.

Individual Walmart’s don’t stand out from one another.  Once in the door, you could be anywhere USA.  They are reliably predictable or, so I thought….

After a good 15 min. sprint through the new Pottstown mega store I realized something didn’t seem right, it didn’t “feel” right.  As I looked more closely, I saw shelf after shelf in disarray, stuff just heaped on top of stuff.  Gum and goo stuck to the floors, trash in the corners and beneath shelving.

Then, I noticed the shoppers shuffling around in all varieties of house slippers and pajama bottoms, carts piled high and kids running the gambit from climbing shelves to picking up merchandise and dropping it to the floor while they reached for the next item that caught their eye. Adults, who should have been in charge, were preoccupied with loudly shouting on cell phones or at each other, didn’t seem to notice the mayhem.

The vacant look in the faces of employees said they’d given up, the filth and disregard were out of their control.

By the time I reached the produce section, (with little hope of redemption), I was heart sick.  The sections where fresh spinach or lettuce would be were baron, save for an unsavory, limp, “bottom of the barrel” bunches that gave off the rancid odor of produce that is too old to consume.  It was appalling that a new store, less than 6 months old, could look as worn as the new Walmart did.

On my way out I thought about the Broken Windows Theory and how our Walmart exemplified the ills that plaque Pottstown. 

According to the theory, small acts of deviance — littering, graffiti, broken windows — will, if ignored, escalate into more serious crime.  

I thought about how Pottstown has become the poster child for the Broken Windows Theory and how it has impacted the way we shop, where we shop, how we live here and how those of us, who were taught respect, manners and who retain working class sensibilities and values have had to adapt – not accept – the cards we’ve been dealt.  

The local Walmart is a tragic microcosm of what Pottstown has become.  I won’t step foot in there again because I can see it all from the front steps of my home. 

Putting a Family Dollar into this dysfunctional mix will only enable our officials to continue to marginalize and underserve the needs of the remaining working class homeowners, renters and local businesses.  There is no reason to expect that the management and employees of Family Dollar will have a better clue about how to keep a lid on the destructive behaviors of their customers, or the crime and filth that will inevitably result.  

Local government still hasn’t got a clue and yet, they are responsible for setting the standards and working with residents to enforce them.   Until the standards are raised and clearly imparted to all concerned, it’s a bad idea to invite businesses like Family Dollar into Pottstown neighborhoods.     

Contact:  ptownadvocates@hotmail for more information