The 62 people who evaluated the 100 to 600 blocks of West Market Street in Pottsville in a recent survey said they'd like to see improvements to the buildings and a crackdown on loitering, Amy S. Burkhart, executive director of the Pottsville Area Development Corp., said Monday.
"This is sort of like the opening of a conversation. We're taking these results back to the West Market Street community and saying 'You're a stakeholder in this community. Where do you think the improvements should be? And who wants to be involved in making that happen?' This is about community building as well. And later this year we're looking at doing a summit," Burkhart said while reporting the results to the city council at its May meeting at City Hall.
City Councilman Joseph J. Devine Jr. said PADCO and the city should have done more to promote the survey. He suggested the city's recently formed Pottsville Positive Committee help to promote future polls.
"That way we'll get more of a response," Devine said.
Of the respondents, 54 percent were patrons to downtown businesses and 33 percent were employees of those businesses. The rest were business owners, residents and building owners, according to statistics Burkhart passed out to the council.
This section of West Market Street hasn't improved in the last three years, according to 73 percent of the survey takers. Meanwhile, 42 percent of the 62 survey takers said building maintenance would improve the area.
On the topic, Burkhart reminded downtown building owners there are funds available to improve facades through a matching grant program. In April, the state Department of Community & Economic Development gave the City of Pottsville $50,000 to fund a matching grant program, which is being administered by PADCO.
To be eligible, properties must be located in the Central Business District, defined as Centre Street from Mauch Chunk Street to Laurel Boulevard and West Market Street from Centre to Fourth streets, according to the application.
Also in the survey, 56 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the existing businesses on the strip, and specifically mentioned Murphy Jewelers at 115 W. Market St., Roma Pizza at address 116 and the Pottsville Free Public Library at address 215.
Meanwhile, 36 percent of the survey takers said a reduction in loitering would improve the 100 to 600 blocks of West Market Street, 33 percent wanted to see more of a police presence and 30 percent said there should be more parking.
Burkhart, who is executive director of the Pottsville Parking Authority, offered an update on the development of an additional parking lot in that area.
This year, the city will give the Pottsville Area Parking Authority $25,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to knock down vacant homes at 213 and 215 N. Second St. From there, the authority will develop the new lot.
"We're tentatively planning to have 18 metered spaces," Burkhart said.
"I think this will be a summer or fall project, perhaps," City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said.
The survey is the first phase of what Palamar called the "West Market Street Development and Anti-Blight Initiative."
"We believed that the best place for us to start was to really be honest about our strengths and our weaknesses. To move forward, we have to begin to get as much community input as we can," Palamar said.
"This is a start, the beginning of a conversation. From here, it's about getting people involved in the process," Burkhart said.
The city's code enforcement office has started the second phase, an assessment of the 61 properties in the project area. Signage, litter, vandalism, loitering, historic value, facade condition, building vacancies and building usage will all be considered in this assessment, Palamar said.
The third phase, a "Project Summit" will be held in June, but a date has not been set.
PADCO and the city tried to attract the public to their survey by offering hard copies at City Hall and the PADCO offices and some local businesses, and having a link to the survey on PADCO's website at www.downtownpottsville.org.
Looking ahead, Devine offered other suggestions on how to survey the public.
"What about people from out of town? What was their response?" Devine asked.
"We did not specifically poll out of town people, but that's always an interesting thing to do," Burkhart said.
"At the Lager Jogger, when we had more than 3,500 people here, that would have been an ideal place to go up to people and say 'Hey, have you got a minute?' That's something that we may want to look at," Devine said.
Other highlights of the council's May meeting included actions it took on the following agenda items:
- Hired a full-time patrolman, Michael Messner. This will bring the number of full-time police officers in the city to 24, according to Mayor James T. Muldowney.
- Appointed Steven B. Guers, a Pottsville police detective, to the rank of captain, retroactive to April 23.
- Approved a resolution allowing the city administrator and City Clerk Julie Rescorla to compile a list of all unused vehicles and equipment owned by the city and advertise them for sale.
- Approved a resolution allowing the city administrator and city clerk to compile a list of all unused lots owned by the city and advertise them for sale.
Palamar said he and Rescorla are in the process of putting together those lists of unused vehicles, equipment and lots, and he did not have a draft at Monday's meeting.
- Hired Noralea Matz as 2014 summer pool manager at the pre-season rate of $10 per hour and $500 a week during the pool season.
- Hired two lead summer lifeguards at $8 per hour, Megan Hallick and Christian Newtown, both of Pottsville.
- Hired 21 summer lifeguards, with salaries to be determined by qualifications.
- Hired 20 summer concession stand workers, nine summer pool maintenance workers, 14 playground instructors and four summer parks laborers, all at a rate of $7.25 an hour.