It’s conclusive, after last night’s council meeting, some Pottstown officials have “officially” re-defined the word **NEGATIVITY** (which may prove to be Bonnie Heath’s greatest accomplishment since she became Mayor four years ago).
Here’s how *NEGATIVITY* is defined by the Merriam-Webster:
a : marked by denial, prohibition, or refusal; also : marked by absence, withholding, or removal of something positive.
The first to take the mic at last night’s council meeting was Bonnie’s husband, Mason Craig, who expounded on his feelings of pride in his wife’s accomplishments as Mayor then he proceeded to vigorously shake the hand of Joe Kirkland, moving around the semi-circle of officials seated at the council podium.
With blatant **NEGATIVITY** Mason skipped over Dan Weand – the moment was UNdignified and UNcomfortable for everyone. I don’t know what has transpired between the two men, but it wasn’t Dan who looked a fool – it was entirely on Mason Craig — in what turned out to be the biggest display of **NEGATIVITY** I have ever personally witnessed in Pottstown.
Oh I’ve heard plenty about this kind of rudeness between people here… but that was a first for me.
NEXT, in response to the proposed tax hike, two members of the Citizens Action Committee for Pottstown, took turns at the mic.
Rob Snyder spoke to the “elephant in the room” : Crime, Section 8 and rental housing. There can be no doubt that these elements are a drain on taxpayers and they singularly hold Pottstown back from achieving all that it is capable of, which is undeniably a *NEGATIVE* force in Pottstown.
But, is opening these issues to discussion with officials, **NEGATIVE**? Not by my definition. I call that…
*RESPONSIBLE*
1 : the quality or state of being responsible : as a : moral, legal, or mental accountability b : reliability, trustworthiness
When citizens take the time to understand the challenges that hold their community back and they make public the need to work together with officials and other stakeholders, this is positive, responsible action…
Here’s what Rob had to say in an email to council president Steve Toroney today. It’s the essence of his talk at council last night:
Mr. Toroney,
Thank you for allowing me the time to speak at last night’s council meeting. I find it unfortunate that some apparently view my comments as negative attacks; I assure you that they are not. I call it as I see it, and I welcome the opportunity to meet with any/all stakeholders with an interest in revitalization and crime reduction. I honestly believe that is the #1 issue that is deterring revitalization and once that is dealt with and brought under control that revitalization will begin to take hold and fall into place, and people will begin to come here and the town will thrive as I know it can.
As requested, I’ve included the source of my statistics from my speech at last night’s meeting:
http://www.threatcore.com/pottstown-crime/
Also, here is some other supporting data:
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/pa/pottstown/crime/
http://www.usa.com/pottstown-pa-crime-and-crime-rate.htm
Pottstown, PA Crime Rate Among Highest in State
Thank you all again for your service and the opportunity to participate. I look forward to working with all of you towards future revitalization.
Best Regards,
Rob Snyder
Another member of C.A.C., Dianne Krumm, took the mic to talk about the uncollected tax monies from multiple income property owners, approximately $80,000 in borough real estate taxes are still uncollected.
Dianne noted, (despite Steve Toroney’s assertion that taxes are being collected), there still exist aging taxes that linger on the books since 2004- 2005 and some of these extractive investors keep “staying” the Sheriff Sales of their properties while they continue to rent out their dangerous properties collecting the generous rent monies from unknowing tenants.
The fact of these debts is also **NEGATIVE** they are a negative drain on Pottstown’s resources but to talk about it and ask officials to discuss it with citizen/taxpayers is, again…
**RESPONSIBLE**
As per the agenda it was that time in every public council meeting when committees report to council. School Board member, Ron Williams, stepped forward to discuss an interesting, native american site on Franklin and Industrial. But, this bit of history was soon lost on me when out of the blue he began SCOLDING THE PUBLIC for speaking at public council meetings with ….. uh oh….
**NEGATIVITY** Oh Boy, we have it in aces Pottstown.
With Bonnie gone – I was looking forward to the day I NEVER NEVER had to hear that word again as applied to every citizens right to talk about the issues and question their government officials, even if it doesn’t appease them.
But, Ron went on to elaborate on committee meetings that he believes every citizen should attend, (but they don’t attend said Ron). He implied that is the time for the public to talk, not at council meetings. He also noted that the School District holds their committee meetings in the evenings.
HOLD YOUR WILD HORSES - Just One Minute MR. RON WILLIAMS…
The Borough holds most of their committee meetings DURING WORKING HOURS. People who support themselves with JOBS in Pottstown….which, admittedly isn’t many, are the ones that would most likely attend a committee meeting if they were held at times of the day that they could attend.
I could almost get huffy and indignant about Ron lecturing the room full of adult people like they were unruly school children….
BUT I WON’T BEHAVE WITH NEGATIVITY
Instead, next time I see Mr. Williams I’ll politely shake his hand and offer him a copy of the Constitution of the United States that guarantees the right of free speech to every American citizen and, I’ll give him a copy of a dictionary that defines the difference between:
***NEGATIVITY and RESPONSIBLITY***
I believe it should be prerequisite to know the difference before holding public office.
Last night’s meeting will be posted on youtube soon and I’ll post the link on the blog.
Love to hear your thoughts about the proceedings!!
