To give business owners and the public another opportunity to offer their thoughts on the buildings in the 100 to 600 blocks of West Market Street, city officials have scheduled a second public summit.
"We're going to have something in the evening for people who can't make it during the day," Thomas A. Palamar, city administrator, said Thursday.
Earlier this month, Amy S. Burkhart, executive director of the Pottsville Area Development Corp., set up the first summit, which will be held from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. July 16 in the second-floor conference room of the Pottsville Free Public Library, 215 W. Market St.
"Then someone had requested if there could be an evening time," Burkhart said Friday.
"We did hear a few comments that there were working people who couldn't make it during the day. And I called Amy and said that it might be a nice idea to hold something at night so we can hear their concerns or ideas and make sure they're considered as part of the bigger project," Palamar said.
The second summit will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. July 17 at the library's second-floor conference room.
Burkhart said she'd prefer if people interested in attending could register prior to the summit by calling PADCO at 570-628-4647.
"So if we have an attendance greater than the space will allow, we can make an effort to accommodate everyone," Burkhart said.
In April, the city and PADCO started the first phase of its downtown anti-blight campaign with an evaluation of 61 buildings on that six-block stretch. They include those in Garfield Square and two landmarks - the eight-story Schuylkill Trust Co. and the six-story Thompson Building.
It's a three-step project, Palamar said. The first step, a public survey conducted by PADCO, is complete. The second is the blight task force's assessment of the 61 buildings in the target area. Step three is the summit.