POTTSTOWN >> A crowd of about 80 people arrived at Connections on High Tuesday to talk about Pottstown’s economic challenges and left two hours later with a call for action.
Pottstown School Board member Emanuel Wilkerson organized the second in a series of community forums branded PottsTOWN Talks on a theme of economic development.
In October, a forum will focus on schools and in November, another will focus on neighborhoods, completing the three top focus topics identified at the first town talk held Aug. 1, Wilkerson announced.
Economic development is the place to start, Wilkerson said at the start of the meeting, because this is where “we put the beat back in the heart of Pottstown.”
Two hours later, on his way out the door to finish homework for his college class, the 18-year-old Wilkerson said he could feel momentum growing.
The first meeting was “a good start,” he told The Mercury. “I feel like we woke up this community. Now, we can get to work on building on top of this positive energy.”
Concluding the meeting, he urged the crowd to “pick up your arms and join in … We can talk about solutions, but if there’s no work behind it, it doesn’t go anywhere,” he said.
Encouragement to get involved ran throughout the Tuesday night presentations by business leaders.
Sheila Dugan, Main Street manager for the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, put out a call for volunteers to help with downtown events and activities. “It doesn’t take everyone to do everything, but we can all do something,” she said.
“Have you told your friends about the positive things going on in town?” she challenged the group. Pottstown has events, activities, historic architecture, she said. “Shout about the good things.”
Amy Bathurst-Francis, Pottstown School Board member, and a member of the Pottstown FARM market committee, described the weekly outdoor farm and artisan market and told the group about the variety of goods sold there.
Pottstown Area Industrial Development Director Steve Bamford noted developments of a new brick and mortar bank in the downtown (VIST), two restaurants on the horizon (Azie and Armstrong Ale House) and industries like American Keg and Laticrete that have recently expanded.
People like to talk about the good old days when large factories were major employers, he said. Those days are gone, but there are strong, growing smaller factories that prove manufacturing is alive and well, he added.
Not all talk was rosy, however.
Realtor Matt Green, a former Pottstown police officer, gave what he called an economics lesson on the value of housing and its effect on the tax base and overall economy.
“The perception of Pottstown is that the taxes are too high, the schools are no good, and crime runs rampant in the street,” he said. That perception has homes selling at reduced market price, and that in turn drives a reduced assessment. As assessments fall, there is less tax money for the borough, the schools and the events in town.
Dugan pointed out that there’s positive change on the horizon but the downtown business district also suffers from a loss of value in property assessments. And, a dozen businesses are behind in paying their assessments to PDIDA because of their own economic struggles.
“We need to change that perception of Pottstown and let people know there’s a whole host of things going on within the community that they can get involved in or that will benefit them,” said Green. He noted Habitat for Humanity, Hobart’s Run, Mosaic Community Garden. “There’s something positive going on in Pottstown every single night,” he said.
When a resident in the audience asked how we can be more like Phoenixville, Green replied, “There are lessons to learn from Phoenixville, but at the end of the day, we need to get our heads around what we in Pottstown can do for Pottstown.”
The thread of “proud to be from Pottstown” followed through the rest of the evening’s program.
“I don’t want to be Phoenixville,” said John Armato, Pottstown schools community relations manager. “Our shirts say ‘We are Pottstown.’ I don’t want to be somewhere else.”
Armato said the town and the school district has a rich history to be proud of and that inspires a future in which to be confident. “But before we can do anything, we have to know who we want to be,” he added. “We need to know what our story is before we can tell it,” added a resident in the audience.
“We say ‘We are Pottstown,’ but what does that mean?” said David Charles, a Pottstown native and graduate of Pottstown High School. “We need to figure out who we are. What’s our culture? Who are we? Are we arts? We’re not just bars. That’s not what we want to be.”
Recalling Armato’s words from earlier in the evening, Charles repeated: ” ‘We’re proud of our past and confident in our future’ — that’s beautiful. But what does that future look like, from the culture we have in Pottstown right now?”
Several people asked if there was one place to go, whether on a website, in The Mercury, or on social media, to learn about activities, events and volunteer opportunities. Much of the problem, several noted, is that one group doesn’t know what the other is doing. And, people outside of town don’t realize the positive events that are scheduled.
“Has anyone considered a ‘We are Pottstown’ website?” asked one woman. “We could show other people what Pottstown is” and highlight what’s going on.
Jane Bennett, PEAK community engagement director, described an effort in its early stages at the school district to use a grant from the Kellogg Foundation to create a community site with a calendar. The tagline would be “Pottstown Proud,” she said.
Bennett pointed out the “bad things” are not as obvious as some would think. “This is a room full of people saying how good we are,” she said. “The perception here is that this is Pottstown, and we are good.”
The next PottsTOWN Talks will be Tuesday, Oct. 11, on the topic of schools.
