Sleeping Like a Baby?
POTTSTOWN, PA – Could you image trying to get your nightly beauty sleep…only to be awakened by the sound of a semi-automatic? Or to be writing a twisted paid advertisement for The Mercury on a quiet sunny Sunday afternoon, only to be jolted from your desk chair by the sound of gunfire?
It’s only fitting that Pottstown School Board member Thomas Hylton, who fought so hard (and dirty) against the proposed centers concept the school district was pursuing a few years back, now finds himself caught in a no man’s land of monthly borough shootings…literally right outside his Chestnut Street home.
Had the bold and innovative centers concept become a reality, Pottstown would certainly be reaping the benefits of an influx of new working families, lower school taxes and a new school campus in the revitalized downtown neighborhood which is now, sadly, in worse shape than when the centers concept was first proposed.
The state and other private entities were willing to put up a majority of the funding to make this centers concept a reality. It had the support of Pennsylvania’s governor and was an excellent idea to help get Pottstown back in the game. It would have attracted the much-needed progressively-minded stable-income families to Pottstown. It would have cost vastly less than renovating the five elementary schools and the children would have a brand new state of the art facility. It would also bring all the district students together and level the playing field – thus marginalizing the racial and socio-economic barriers that exist today in the elementary schools.
So, is Pottstown better off now? Would it have been to everyone’s benefit to champion the centers concept?
What could have been. What should have been. What is forever lost.
Hope you’re sleeping well at night Tom Hylton.
