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Joe Zlomek, Managing Editor
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POTTSTOWN PA – Delaware Valley planners are prepared in coming months to ask municipalities in Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties to officially approve a master plan for the future of U.S. Route 422, from King of Prussia to Reading. It includes the potential placement of future commuter train stations in Pottstown, Lower Pottsgrove, Linfield and Stowe, financed in part by revenues to be raised from tolls on the highway.

Future commuter train stations detailed in the Route 422 Master Plan.

The master plan’s summary report, as a “draft-final” version, was released to the public Monday (Feb. 8, 2010) by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission through the U.S. Route 422 Corridor website.

The latest version of the master plan contains many of the same elements recommended in earlier releases. The suggestion that’s generated the greatest controversy, by far, is a proposal to charge drivers a fee to travel 422. The tolls are seen as the surest way to generate money that could pay for highway improvements as well as other forms of transport, such as the extension of commuter rail service west from Norristown PA.

The plan also covers existing and proposed land use policies, access management and land development controls municipalities within the 25-mile-long corridor, and tying land use to transportation policies. Its ultimate goal: to avoid traffic gridlock and overcrowding, and preserve as much open space as possible in the suburbs northwest of Philadelphia.

The report was released in seven separately downloadable sections, and is expected to be promoted this spring during a series of presentations to be held in various municipalities. A similar roadshow was organized last year when the plan was in its earliest stages. Its “draft-final” designation, suggested by DVRPC Executive Director Barry Seymour, leaves open the possibility it might be changed as a result of input from the spring discussions.

Most sections explain the background for, the data used in, and the land use and transit trends leading up to the study. Its meat, however, is found in Chapter 5, titled “Strategies for Sustainability and a Program for Plan Implementation.” Chief among the “early action items” listed there is a call to review the “potential viability of toll revenues to finance
future roadway and transit improvements.”

The placement of train stations, although detailed in the report, are foreseen as future and less immediate goals. On a map provided in Chapter 5, a portion of which is reproduced above, the priority would be to locate a station first in Pottstown, and then potentially in Lower Pottsgrove, Linfield and Stowe. The map shows a Lower Pottsgrove station might be located at the south end of Armand Hammer Boulevard.

The report’s Chapter 6 includes a proposed draft resolution that would be offered to municipal governing bodies which, if approved, would formalize their acceptance of the master plan’s “principles and strategies.”

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The Sixers' Lou Williams during the team's recent game against Chicago.

POTTSTOWN PA – If you’re watching television this time next week as the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team plays the Miami Heat, keep an eye on the fans in the seats and look for familiar faces. You could see dozens of ‘em.

A total of 306 students, parents and staff members representing Pottsgrove Middle School will attend the game in person next Tuesday (Feb. 16, 2010) at 7 p.m. in the Wachovia Center, Broad Street, Philadelphia PA, as a reward to students who achieved honor roll status during the first-quarter marking period of this school year.

The middle school, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA, is among registered participants in the 76ers’ “Shoot For Success” program. The team provides a free game ticket to every student who achieves a 3.0 or better grade-point average on his or her report card, and accompanying tickets at discounted prices for the students’ family members and friends to come along.

Pottsgrove School District public relations spokeswoman Beth Trapani reports several buses filled with fans will roll out from the middle school parking lot next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., bound for Philly to enjoy their Sixers’ reward. The program is coordinated by Pottsgrove teacher Marilyn Eaton.

And who knows? Maybe having a bunch of Pottsgrove’s studious faithful in the stands will bring a little luck to the struggling Sixers, too.

The game will be broadcast locally on television by Comcast SportsNet, and on radio by Philadelphia station WIP 610-AM.

Photo from The 76ers via Flickr

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POTTSTOWN PA – Although its agenda was not publicly available this morning (Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010) for download from the Pottsgrove School District website, the district Board of School Directors anticipates it will be busy when it gathers for its first February meeting tonight at 7:30 in Pottsgrove Middle School, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA.

Pottsgrove Middle School, North Hanover Street.

That’s because directors are trying to clear the decks for their second February meeting.

The month’s most publicly watched school board action is likely to be its decision, if any, on where to house students from Ringing Rocks Elementary School during the next two years, while the school building at 1401 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, is expanded and renovated. A discussion on that topic, with Ringing Rocks’ parents invited to participate, will be held in two weeks (Feb. 23, 2010) in the elementary school’s cafeteria.

Board President Michael Neiffer recently said he’d prefer to keep the focus on Ringing Rocks when directors arrive there, with nothing or little else planned for the Feb. 23 agenda. By default, that means the district will pack as much board business as possible into its meeting tonight.

Exactly what that consists of, however, hasn’t been publicly released, even though the agenda has been prepared.

School board policies specifically state that directors will receive an agenda, together with all relevant reports, at least three days in advance of their meeting. The latest document for public consumption from the district website regarding board meetings is an agenda from its meeting of two weeks earlier, on Jan. 26. Minutes from that meeting, constituting the district’s official record of business that was conducted during the session, likely will be approved tonight.

Minutes from the board’s earlier (Jan. 12, 2010) meeting, which were officially approved Jan. 26, by Monday (Feb. 8) also were not yet publicly available from the district website.

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Indulge for a good cause.

POTTSTOWN PA – Got a hunger for pizza? The Lower Pottsgrove Parent-Teacher Organization hopes you’ll indulge it tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010), and every second Tuesday of the month during the remainder of the school year, at Famous Fat Freddie’s Pizza, 1432 E. High St., Pottstown PA.

The PTO and the pizza purveyor have agreed that 10 percent of the value of every order placed with Famous Fat Freddie’s on the second Tuesday, accompanied a PTO-supplied form, will be donated to the PTO. Copies of the form, which can be completed and handed in with an order at time of payment, can be found here.

The form asks buyers to identify a homeroom at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School to be associated with an order. That’s because the homeroom credited with selling the most pizza will itself win a pizza party from Famous Fat Freddie’s at the end of the school year.

To place an order in advance, call the restaurant at 610-323-9100.

Photo from Clipart.com

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They paid how much?

They paid how much?

POTTSTOWN PA – The top price paid for real estate within Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township from Oct. 7-Nov. 11 2009, was $290,000, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reports. The property is located at 2129 Sunnyside Ave.

A second property, at 1325 Lynn Dr., sold for $209,000. A third, at 91 Brookview Ln., sold for $200,000.

This week’s top reported prices were listed Sunday (Feb. 7, 2010) in “The Top 50,” the newspaper’s weekly review of highest prices paid for real estate sold within the city of Philadelphia and townships in its surrounding counties.

By contrast, during the same period, the top real estate sales price in Pottstown PA Borough, immediately to the west was $139,900; Limerick PA Township, east, $333,000; New Hanover PA Township, northeast, $280,000; Upper Pottsgrove PA Township, west, $254,900; and in North Coventry PA Township, south, none listed.

Related:

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He's taking to the road.

POTTSTOWN PA – Living in western Montgomery County (PA) and looking for work? Here’s news that might help:

Like It Or Not, Job Seekers May Need To Travel

A candidate’s ability to find a job, or the right job, may depend in part on how far he or she is willing to commute.

A review Sunday (Feb. 7, 2010) of the jobs website Monster.com shows that it listed 1,828 available openings within a 20-mile radius of the Greater Pottstown 19464 zip code. The number dropped by more than 90 percent, to only 116 openings, within a 10-mile radius. And that number was cut again by more than half, to only 46 openings, when the radius was limited to within 5 miles.

The same was true at the CareerBuilder.com website: 2,303 openings within 20 miles; 660, 10 miles; and 67, 5 miles.

Ditto for Indeed.com: 2,621 openings, 15 miles; 1,028, 10 miles; and 708, 5 miles.

Most Popular Job Websites

EBusinessMBA, a website that bills itself as a business knowledge database, creates a monthly list of the most popular job search websites, based on a combination of their inbound links (other websites that connect to them) and traffic rankings. Its February 2010 list was issued Friday (Feb. 5, 2010). The top 5 are:

  1. Monster.com
  2. CareerBuilder.com
  3. Indeed.com
  4. Yahoo.com HotJobs (with which The (Pottstown PA) Mercury is affiliated); and
  5. SimplyHired.com

Take Your Pick From Friday’s Labor Report

There was good news and bad news Friday (Feb. 5, 2010) in unemployment data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Good news: national unemployed has dropped out of the double digits. In January, according to the bureau, 9.7 percent of the nation’s work force was out of a job. That’s down from 10 percent in December (2009). And because employment figures have shown little net change during the past three months, experts hope that job losses caused by the recession have hit bottom.

Of course, none of that is comforting if you’re among the unfortunate 9.7 percent.

Bad news (as if you needed it): long-term unemployment – people who have been without jobs for at least 27 weeks – is still growing. By the end of January, the bureau said, it included 6.3 million nationwide.

More jobs are becoming available, however. The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that some of the region’s largest employers, primarily in education and health services fields, planned to fill 6,000 jobs over the next six months.

About Job Watch

Job Watch is a weekly feature of The Sanatoga Post, The Limerick Post, and The Pottstown Post that focuses on employment-related news items. It is published Mondays. It is NOT intended to be a jobs marketplace or a collection of individual employment openings, but instead an aggregation of articles about local events, notices, tools, and advice about work and work issues considered relevant to readers.

The Post encourages local companies and businesses – those in the 19464, 19465, 19468, 19512, 19518, 19525, 19473, 19474, 19457, 19426 and 19460 zip codes – to submit news articles or press releases of 200 or fewer words to Job Watch. Send them via e-mail.

Related:

  • Job Watch, Feb. 1, 2020
    Government website USAJobs; Temp job fair in Pottstown; Marketability with adult education

Photo from Clipart.com

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POTTSTOWN PA – On the Pottsgrove School District sports schedule for today (Monday, Feb. 8, 2010) through Sunday (Feb. 14):

Today (Monday, Feb. 8)

  • None Scheduled

Tuesday, Feb. 9

  • Boys Freshman Basketball @ Phoenixville, 3:30 p.m.
  • Boys Middle School Wrestling @ Arcola Intermediate School, 3:30 p.m.
  • Coed Varsity Swimming @ Phoenixville, 3:45 p.m.
  • *Cancelled* Girls Varsity Basketball @ Villa Joseph Marie, 5:30 p.m.
  • *Cancelled* Girls Junior Varsity Basketball @ Villa Joseph Marie, 5:30 p.m.
  • Boys Junior Varsity Basketball @ Upper Perkiomen, 6 p.m.
  • Girls Junior Varsity Basketball VS. Upper Perkiomen, 6 p.m.
  • Girls Varsity Basketball VS. Upper Perkiomen, 7:30 p.m.
  • Boys Varsity Basketball @ Upper Perkiomen, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 10

  • Boys Middle School Wrestling @ Boyertown West, 3:30 p.m.
  • Boys Junior Varsity Basketball @ Great Valley High School, 6 p.m.
  • Boys Varsity Wrestling VS. Pottstown, 6:30 p.m.
  • Boys Varsity Basketball @ Great Valley High School, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 11

  • Girls Junior Varsity Basketball @ Great Valley High School, Noon
  • Girls Varsity Basketball @ Great Valley High School, 1:30 p.m.
  • Boys Varsity Wrestling @ Methacton High School, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 12

  • Boys Middle School Wrestling @ Arcola Intermediate School, 3:30 p.m.
  • Boys Varsity Wrestling VS. Upper Merion High School, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 13

  • Coed Varsity Track – PTFCA Indoor Track Carnival, 9 a.m.
  • Coed Varsity Swimming – Perkiomen Valley Invitational, 9 a.m.

Sunday, Feb. 14

  • None Scheduled

Schedules provided by HighSchoolSports.net

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NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County (PA) emergency dispatchers directed police units, firefighters and emergency medical responders within the past 24 hours to a variety of incidents. A selective list of their activity appears below.

The entries are taken from publicly available feeds supplied by the county Department of Public Safety. Feed content has been edited by The Post for relevance to readers in Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick PA townships, the borough of Pottstown, and surrounding municipalities. It consequently is incomplete and is not intended to be comprehensive.

In most cases, the entries can be read as:

  1. Type of service (EMS = emergency medical services, Traffic = police, Fire = firefighters);
  2. Type of incident (vehicle accident, etc.)
  3. Location of incident (usually by closest intersection or landmark, and the name of the municipality)
  4. Date and time of the incident (YYYY-MM-DD) @ (“at”) (HH:MM:SS) in military time format.

Sunday, Feb. 7

Fire: Electrical Fire Outside
Main St & E 3rd Ave; Collegeville; 2010-02-08 @ 05:43:53;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle Blocking
S Collegeville Rd & Yerkes Rd; Upper Providence; 2010-02-07 @ 15:43:20;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Spruce St & N 6th Ave; Royersford; 2010-02-08 @ 02:38:33;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Rt422 Byp & Keim St Overpass; Chester County; 2010-02-08 @ 02:43:12;

EMS: Head Injury
Railroad St & Rr Crossing; Limerick; 2010-02-08 @ 00:54:04;

EMS: Subject In Pain
Cemetery Ln & Hillcrest Ave; Lower Frederick; 2010-02-07 @ 22:58:22;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
Commerce Dr & N State St; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 23:51:15;

EMS: Subject In Pain
Cemetery Ln & Hillcrest Ave; Lower Frederick; 2010-02-07 @ 22:58:22;

EMS: Syncopal Episode
Seneca Ct & Carriage Dr; Skippack; 2010-02-07 @ 21:57:50;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Gilbertsville Rd & E Philadelphia Ave; Douglass; 2010-02-07 @ 21:16:50;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
W High St & Manatawny St; Pottstown; 2010-02-07 @ 22:37:52;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Singer Way & E 8th St; Red Hill; 2010-02-07 @ 21:30:32;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Beech St & N Evans St; Pottstown; 2010-02-07 @ 21:04:16;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
York St & E 8th St; Pottstown; 2010-02-07 @ 19:05:22;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Maugers Mill Rd & N Hanover St; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 18:51:47;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Evans St & Master St; Pottstown; 2010-02-07 @ 18:50:42;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Foxmeadow Dr & N Lewis Rd; Limerick; 2010-02-07 @ 18:48:53;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Logan St & Gay St; Pottstown; 2010-02-07 @ 17:37:44;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Town Square Rd & W Cedarville Rd; Chester County; 2010-02-07 @ 17:13:00;

EMS: Nausea/vomiting
Main St & W 5th St; East Greenville; 2010-02-07 @ 14:17:59;

Fire: Fire Alarm
Upland Square Dr & Sell Rd; West Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 14:56:12;

EMS: Nausea/vomiting
Main St & W 5th St; East Greenville; 2010-02-07 @ 14:17:59;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Perkiomen Ave & 3rd St; Schwenksville; 2010-02-07 @ 14:03:35;

Traffic: Road Obstruction
Game Farm Rd & Summit Ave; Schwenksville; 2010-02-07 @ 14:41:09;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Constitution Ave & Grosstown Rd; West Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 13:07:48;

EMS: Fall Victim
Lemon St & Jefferson St; West Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 10:51:41;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Sassamansville Rd & Linsenbeidler Rd; Douglass; 2010-02-07 @ 09:17:56;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
Valley View Rd & Temple Rd; Chester County; 2010-02-07 @ 09:30:27;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Unknown Injuries
Rt100 Sb & Farmington Ave Overpass; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-02-07 @ 07:08:04;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Washington St & W 3rd St; Pennsburg; 2010-02-07 @ 07:02:45.

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