The Future Of Pottstown

I am not originally from this area. People who have lived here all their lives have told me how wonderful Pottstown was 30 or 40 years ago. High Street was a bustling commercial district, several major industries called Pottstown home and any able bodied person could find work and a decent place to live as easy as they could buy a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Pottstown was a place that was happy, secure and so complete, people didn’t concern themselves much with the changes and problems that where just beyond the horizon.

Pottstown was not unique. Other once prosperous communities across the country were to get struck with the same tidal wave of transformation. We gained homes in suburbs, shopping malls and a consumer economy but it all came at a cost. Urban areas became less relevant, industry globalized and it seemed our entire society shifted on its foundation.

Some of the trends of the last few decades are reversing themselves. There is a new wave of urbanism, where people are moving back to the cities. Several neighborhoods in Philadelphia, such as Northern Liberties, have benefited from this movement of talent and capital.

I believe Pottstown has the potential for a better future ahead. Of course a better future is not guaranteed. Redeveloping a community requires open minds and creative leaders. The old worn cliché of thinking outside the box often comes up. The problem is the metaphoric box is a powerful concept. It represents organization, it reinforces well defined boundaries and people cling on to familiar institutions even after they have totally failed in their original purpose. Outside the box is risk and risk is a difficult thing to promote. Though not taking risks means we can only move forward by accident. Helplessness sets in when risk seems too scary and dangerous, so nothing new is ever attempted. Fear of risk means we have given up on controlling our own future. 

For everybody who is wistful and nostalgic about Pottstown’s past, I hope they hold on to the memories but I ask them, what do you want Pottstown to be five years from now? Or 10 years from now? What should this community become? The steel mills are probably not coming back. Today’s up and coming industries are small and usually don’t manufacture the kind of goods that need huge factories. The next commercial revolution might be for a product that hasn’t been invented yet but when it is invented, it will become an indispensable product all around the world in a few years, maybe in only a few months or less.

We have to consider the possibility our future can be radically different than the past. I look forward to a day when people again choose Pottstown for its quality of life. That Pottstown might become a center of transportation, entertainment, arts, culture and commerce. I look forward to when we can all agree that the future starts now and we are all working to make Pottstown the community it deserves to be.

Brian James