A simple trip up the Schuylkill River to the lovely??? Borough of Pottstown made me realize something about Phoenixville. Despite the 45% tax increase over the past 4 years, absolutely no money has been spent enhancing our parks to the point where they become a destination for outside visitors to the Borough. Reeves will bring people in for events but events are not every weekend. Friendship/Reservoir Parks bring some people in for sports and dog walking but I would have to say that they are not destinations.
By contrast, Pottstown has the Schuylkill River Trail park that has a wonderful bike path winding along the river. There is a nice pavilion and bike racks. Benches and wonderfully spaced along the river so that you can take a nice walk or ride and sit a spell to enjoy the view. The grass is nicely cut and the park is clean. Now, Phoenixville is along that same river and we also have the French Creek. Currently we have a comparable trail that kind of runs from the DJ's office to Iron hill. Well, it did until the Bridge came down. It winds its way through some of the worst decay in Phoenixville. Thank god no criminals would dare stoop to hanging out in parts of the trail because there are some area that could pose some possibilities for criminal activity.
It is a shame. There is so much possibility yet we spend all our years fighting to keep our heads above water. Barry Cassidy may make your Saturday evening dinner a very special event with the way he has helped transform the downtown. How does he affect your experience for the rest of the month? I am sure that $125,000 would not go far in repairing the decaying park systems but it would be a start. I want my kids to grow up remembering their fun times playing in a clean park and not the times they spent eating at Iron Hill.
8 comments
Mr. Toohey, I thought you were a pretty smart man. Please educate yourself on what Barry Cassidy does other than the 1 night a year you pointed out.
Barry plays a couple of roles in this Borough and let me start out by saying that the job that Barry does is good. One role is the Executive Director of the CDC where he oversees that non profit and its mission to advance the Phoenixville business district and (expanded powers) other community activity. HIs other role is the ED of the Parking Authority. I have no clue what they do. He is also the prime contracted employee in charge of administer grants and oversee projects the the Council sees necessary to have overseen and a administered. As you may notice from the most recent budget, there are no grants listed in the receivable column so I assume he will be working on projects only. I guess that will be advancing the stalled streetscape project and the stalled elm st grant project on the North Side. Both of which saw no progress last year. I also assume that he will continue the "Alms for the Poor" tour of elected officials looking to get grant money for upcoming years.
Does that seem to cover it?????
The argument is not whether or not he does a good job. He does. He is very effective. The question is do we continue to be the only source of funds for this organization. I say that if the lack of funds jeopardizes the quality of our neighborhoods, the answer is NO.
Thanks for reading!
Getting back to parks, I'm confused by the Thorton drawing on The Phoenix website and now that one can't post there without downloading all of one's personal information, including a pint of blood, I'll ask here.
What the heck is that? There were beautiful plans in the past for a mosaic arrangment. Now, it's just a big stone plaza? What happened to the entrance between the basketball court in the back and the park?
What Barry Cassidy did for the beer joints in town should get him a medal from the brewery assoaciation of PA. But thats as far as it goes. As a former retailer that left after 8 years in the downtown I can tell you that Barry has done NOTHING for daily retail traffic. I have concluded that you can not make a silk purse out of a sows ear. AND if you shouldnt wrestle with a pig. All you get is dorty and the pig likes it. Welcome to Phoenixville!
Anon 5:58 pm: Maybe your "retail business" was a poor one and thats why your not in town anymore. I see some pretty good retail businesses now doing well. I assume they have some "good" products that people really want. Just out of curiousity, what was the name of the business? I doubt you'll disclose that one because your probably not too proud of it. Take a walk downtown and see how its really done.
Can you name the retail shops that are "doing well" on Bridge Street? The State Store doesn't count.
I wouldn't expect the poster whose business failed to disclose the name no matter how hard you bully him so why don't you name these invisible merchants that could be a model for others... we'd really like to know who they are!
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