The elephant we choose to ignore...

What do you consider a good neighbor? And why do we continue to ignore the elephant in the room???

A good neighbor will check on you if they hear you are ill, or just maybe need an extra hand at shoveling snow. A good neighbor will lend a hand when your house burns down. They will mend your broken fence to keep intruders out, they will let us know when the other neighbor is coming by to add lighting to the church because people are squatting again inside. They will pick up packages that FedEx or UPS or Amazon leaves on your front porch, despite it being boarded up. AND they give the packages to you! Good neighbors do good things. A good neighbor is what we hope we raised our five children to be as they move on to adulthood and live on their own.

A good neighbor DOES NOT sit on your front porch and curse at you when you ask what they are doing there. They don't tell you to F*&% off because "they were just waiting for their ride". A good neighbor DOES NOT get onto the roof of your burnt out home and break into it. A good neighbor DOES NOT deal drugs in the alleyway or hang on the front porch catcalling your young daughters friends. They don't smoke so much that the cigarette butts are all over your front porch, and forget ever opening your front windows! Good neighbors are not child rapists. And though there could be good neighbors in recovery, the almost 90 sober homes in Pottstown are nothing more than cash cows for the owner of them. But these not so good neighbors are all things for another day.

Today, I want to tell you about a Good Neighbor that we have been working with to build a better neighborhood. But as you and we have heard time and time again, the Borough makes nothing easy.

The church that had the catastrophic fire caused by squatters and the fire to our home - (neither of which anyone talks about!) is owned by an investor who cares.

The owner of the church finally passed through zoning to re-build the space into 6 townhomes (not rowhomes because Pottstown is too fancy! :-) ) but the plan is a good one. The investor is one of a very few who actually will work to bring better into our community. THIS IS A GOOD NEIGHBOR! This is an artists rendition of the future plan to fill where the church once stood.

When I first met Greg, I told him, "he is not the first king of the hill to come to town" - his response was, "I am not looking to be king". I learned as he tried to convert the church into apartments that he was definitely NOT the enemy. The borough proved to be difficult and after awhile, the church was going up for sale. There were no takers and in a way I am thankful for that. For the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Not my favorite philosophy, but in this case, a fair one.

During this time, when the grass got a bit high, it took only a text message for it to be trimmed the next day! Of course, once, it took a little longer because sadly the tools stored in the church, lawnmower, weed wacker etc... had been stolen! The copper pipes and more, also stolen. A good neighbor dealing with the elephant in the room, too many choose to ignore. The church was boarded up, time and time again! There was a dumpster that was illegally dumped in, when we asked Greg about it, the next day it was gone - it was not his people who were using it! Before they took it away though, squatters made their way into the second floor by standing on its edge and broke through the boarded up windows. Again, Greg = Good neighbor, the elephant we choose to ignore = bad neighbors!

The days leading up to the fire the police were at the church because we called about squatters, it was confirmed that it was like a shooting gallery inside. They took people away several days that week - I even posted about it on FB. Four times police were called, one time for a woman who they "thought was mentally ill" and on our front porch trying to open our door, she came back the next morning, they didn't even 302 her! The police said she was mentally ill, she was possibly pregnant and on day two in November, bare foot this time, on the neighbors porch! It's hard to understand the logic.

As you all know, on November 21st, early in the morning the fire struck. The beautiful church and our home were destroyed. But let's talk about the good thing about having an investor in town like Greg. He owns several properties (along with some subsidiaries). I talked to many who live either in the buildings he owns or lives (lived) in the neighborhood. He owns about 55% of Hanover Square, a property his group took over when the original group went belly up. His neighbors like him, his properties well maintained and even better NONE ARE SOBER HOUSES! And none are section 8 (although there are good hard working peole who fall into section 8 housing). Laurel Street rentals also spoke highly of Greg and his crew. The shirt factory, no complaints about the management - some complaints about the neighborhood - (remember the big elephant in the room).but not in Greg's control.

The plan for the 6 townhomes where the church once stood will bring in market-rate rents or owners, not the environment we have been dumping in our community over the last few years. And just so we are clear, we ourselves would not be able to afford these homes, but we are good neighbors to the good neighbors who are good to us, and to the neighbors we hope to meet as the new homes are built. The brick facade, initially intended to stay in the rebuild as a memorail to the many who grew up attending the church, won't happen because the Borough doesn't like too many variances, and in order to have the proper mechanics of these townhomes, some things had to give. What is Greg doing instead? Taking as much of the bricks he salvages and using it in the rebuild. Bricks that he took from our back yard the day after zoning was aproved so we could get some leverage to move forward on our own rebuild. It's been barely 5 months, why isn't it cleaned up yet? For all the people in the back, who haven't a clue, maybe beacause working with insurance, contractors and more takes time - not to mention Borouh Council! Maybe you all should look at the sh*% that has been in our town for years with no one doing anything about it! Here are three homes that have been looking like this since we moved into town, why aren't these owners being fined? Why aren't they being demolished? Seriously, you want to know where the real problems lie in this town?! It is NOT our neighbor!

For the council person who thought another park that can be trashed and encourage the already problematic drug use in our alley, a hard NO! We have plenty of parks, plenty that get trashed and plenty that are not maintained. To the person who thought fining Greg until his demolision starts to get cleaned up, another NO! If you were to fine him, then you should fine us - you know, the people who lost their house to the same fire that no one talks about! Because our house is not cleaned up either.

This project means change. It means someone understands what this community needs. And he is willing to put his money into it to make it work for the neighborhood. Not only has Greg communicated with us about the project, but after the zoning meeting, he spoke to each person who stood up in favor for the project, shook their hand and thanked them for their support. THAT makes a better neighbor than ANY of the other investors who have tried to make change and left, and there were several in the 18 years we have lived here.

SO if you don't live on N Hanover St, and deal with the BAD NEIGHBORS WE DO, THEN PLEASE EITHER ASK AND LEARN, OR JUST SHUT UP! And Ms Vanni, it'd be wise for you to stop voicing your opinion. When I spoke to your neighbors, they had NOTHING good to say about you! All this could have been avoided if you and your fellow council people listened back in 2017 when we first brought the issues to your attention. You continue to raise your hands and tell us their is nothing to be done, yet other towns have. And Justin, you too need to stop thinking the community is too stupid to know, because we are not. The ellephant in the room will soon no longer be there for you to hide behind! It's time to start recognizing Pottstown is broken. It's time to start working to "fix" our community so we can all feel safe. It's time to do better Pottstown!