Posted on 25 August 2009. Tags: Pennsylvania, Pottstown, Sanatoga, The Sanatoga Post
We're celebrating.
SANATOGA PA – The Sanatoga Post, an interactive news resource that covers Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, the village of Sanatoga PA, and the Pottsgrove (PA) School District, sings “happy birthday” to itself today. It began online publication on Aug. 25, 2008.
Compiled data for The Post, which includes modest estimates for the remaining six days of its statistical year, indicates its website will have been visited by more than 20,000 unique individuals … meaning they were each counted only once, no matter how frequently they returned.
During its first full year of distribution, which officially will be completed on Monday, Aug. 31 (2009), statistics also show The Post readers during the past 12 months will have viewed almost 66,000 pages among more than 1,500 articles published.
The figures – those of unique visits, and of pages viewed – are among any website’s most important gauges of activity and success. “We thank each and every one of our readers, those who have been with us from the first week, and those who discovered us only this week,” said Post Managing Editor Joe Zlomek.
The Sanatoga Post publishes at www.sanatoga.org. Its reported annual statistics reflect actual and calculated readership for the period of Sept. 1, 2008, to Aug. 31, 2009; are compiled from several independent sources, and have not been audited.
The Sanatoga Post and its companion publications, The Limerick Post and The Pottstown Post, are published by Career Education Media Ventures of Sanatoga PA.
Milestones for the quarter that’s about to end:
- Regional distribution through Fwix. Fwix, a national network of websites that filters news and information from thousands of local sources and presents it in real time to readers in specific geographic areas, added all three Post editions – Sanatoga, Limerick and Pottstown – to its Philadelphia regional page on Aug. 13 (2009). The network has broadened The Posts‘ reach beyond Montgomery County PA to Greater Philadelphia.
- Reporting for the ProPublica network. The Posts in late June joined the national ProPublica reporting network to monitor federal economic stimulus spending within its coverage areas. The first three local stories resulting from The Post’s and ProPublica’s combined research efforts, specifically reporting on stimulus funds being spent on U.S. Route 422, were published in all three editions on July 20. Several others have followed, and more will come in the year ahead.
- Additions to the Resources Page. The “Transportation and The Commute” section of links to other websites on The Sanatoga Post‘s Resources Page was substantially enlarged in late June, primarily in response to reader e-mails for more information about plans for the U.S. Route 422 corridor. The Resources Pages is a constant work-in-progress. It was launched Jan. 7, 2009, and has been modified four times since.
- Introducing The Pottstown Post. On June 5, 2009, at exactly 12:01 a.m. (proof of the strange hours journalists keep), Career Education Media Ventures – publisher of The Sanatoga Post and The Limerick Post – officially launched its third online local news resource, The Pottstown Post. Like the Limerick edition, it is a lower-profile and somewhat more experimental vehicle than that of Sanatoga. It includes Pottstown-exclusive reporting that does not appear elsewhere.
Posted in News
Posted on 24 August 2009. Tags: home prices, home sales, housing prices, Pennsylvania, Personal Finance, Pottstown, Real Estate, residential real estate, Sanatoga
They paid how much?
LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – The top price paid for a home within the township from June 8-12, 2009, was $142,500, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reports. The home is located at 1161 Maple Glen Cir.
A second, at 2902 Walnut Ridge Estates, sold for $136,000.
This week’s top reported prices were listed Sunday (Aug. 23, 2009) in “The Top 50,” the newspaper’s weekly review of highest prices paid for homes sold within the city of Philadelphia and townships in its surrounding counties.
By contrast, during the same period, the top home sales price in Pottstown PA Borough, immediately to the west was $169,000; Limerick PA Township, east, $425,000; New Hanover PA Township, northeast, $220,000; Upper Pottsgrove PA Township, west, $263,499; and in North Coventry PA Township, south, none listed.
Related:
- What They Sold For, June 8-12, 2009
- What They Sold For, June 1-5, 2009
- What They Sold For, May 25-29, 2009
- What They Sold For, May 18-22, 2009
- What They Sold For, May 11-15, 2009
- What They Sold For, May 4-8, 2009
- What They Sold For, April 27-May 1, 2009
- What They Sold For, April 20-24, 2009
- What They Sold For, April 13-17, 2009
- What They Sold For, April 2-12, 2009, was unavailable
- What They Sold For, March 30-April 1, 2009
- What They Sold For, March 19-27, 2009
- What They Sold For, March 18-20, 2009
- What They Sold For, March 5-11, 2009
- What They Sold For, Feb. 26-March 4, 2009
- What They Sold For, Feb. 18-25, 2009
- What They Sold For, Feb. 4-11, 2009
- What They Sold For, Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2009
- What They Sold For, Jan. 19-27, 2009
- What They Sold For, Jan. 10-18, 2009
- What They Sold For, Jan. 1-9, 2009
- What They Sold For, Dec. 22-31, 2008
- What They Sold For, Dec. 15-19, 2008
- What They Sold For, Dec. 8-12, 2008
- What They Sold For, Nov. 26-Dec. 5, 2008
- What They Sold For, Nov. 18-24, 2008
- What They Sold For, Nov. 10-17, 2008
- What They Sold For, Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2008
- What They Sold For, Oct. 20-27, 2008
- What They Sold For, Oct. 13-17, 2008
- What They Sold For, Oct. 6-10, 2008
- What They Sold For, Sept. 29 -Oct. 3, 2008
- What They Sold For, Sept. 22-26, 2008
- What They Sold For, Sept. 15-19, 2008
- What They Sold For, Sept. 8-12, 2008
- What They Sold For, Sept. 1-5, 2008
- What They Sold For, Aug. 25-29, 2008
- What They Sold For, Aug. 18-22, 2008
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Posted in Business
Posted on 24 August 2009. Tags: Infrastructure, Local, Pennsylvania, Pottstown, Sanatoga, Transportation
SANATOGA PA – Recent jottings from a reporter’s notebook:
In the Interesting Idea Department …
Pay toll here.
Pottstown attorney Paul A. Prince, like many drivers who suffer through the traffic jams on U.S. Route 422, says he’d like to see improvements made to that highway. But rather than impose tolls on all 422 traffic to raise money for its reconstruction, as is currently being advocated by some municipal planners, Prince last week (Aug. 13, 2009) proposed an alternative.
“I offer a suggestion:,” he wrote in a comment on the 422Corridor.com website, “a monthly fee-restricted speed lane, or a computer-operated high-speed lane, at (an) extra per-trip charge, both of which are technologically and physically possible.”
The extra-fee lane, Prince contends, would allow area residents to “achieve a superior product for ourselves” – an improved highway – while still relying on federal and state governments to provide “a modicum of service” for all drivers and roads from taxes and other existing revenues.
In The Interesting Event Department …
The Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA) will observe the First Day of Autumn (Sept. 22, 2009) with an event it hopes you’ll fall for: Car-Free Day.
GVFTMA is an organization that attempts to create and promote private-public partnerships to solve transportation issues in the area. Founded in 1990, it’s one of the groups heavily involved in planning for the future of U.S. Route 422.
Car-Free Day, GVFTMA says, is a day on which it wants drivers to leave their cars at home, “and walk, take transit or cycle around town.”
Worthy Competitors, Getting Bigger
Pottstown’s Public Library may have bested the Telford PA-based Indian Valley Public Library in a Page Olympics competition a couple of weeks ago, but Indian Valley can now claim one-upsmanship on another front: it’s planning to expand its building.
The (Lansdale PA) Reporter newspaper wrote Saturday (Aug. 22, 2009) that the library hopes to add space for tutoring and individual study, and enlarge its community room. The cost wasn’t mentioned, but Library Director Linda Beck said the library already has construction money in the bank thanks to past fund-raisers. It hopes to get the addition started soon after the permitting process is complete.
Photo by Clipart.com
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Posted in News
Posted on 24 August 2009. Tags: Ad Council, Campaign: Give, PSA, Public Service
Posted in News
Posted on 23 August 2009. Tags: The Post Week In Review
Published during the week just ended in The Sanatoga Post:
Saturday, Aug. 22
- Keep Healthy Next Week
A review of free or low-cost local seminars, support groups, screenings, tests and clinics to help you stay healthy and fit, sponsored or conducted by community health care organizations.
- Also, In The Limerick Post …
- Also, In The Pottstown Post …
Friday, Aug. 21
- Township Seeks Grant For Park Site Plan
Lower Pottsgrove will apply for additional money to determine the future use of Snell and Norton parks. At least one township commissioner seemed unconvinced a use existed.
- Township Summer Paving Continues
North Adams Street at Buchert Road was blocked for a portion of the day Thursday, as an area contractor re-paves parts of several Lower Pottsgrove roads.
- Pottstown Alumni Reunion Set For October
If you graduated from Pottstown High – no matter what year or what class – you’re wanted to join with fellow grads Oct. 3 in a bash planned at Sanatoga’s Sunnybrook Ballroom.
- Pottsgrove Falcons Sports For Aug. 22-29, 2009
Athletic practices officially got under way this week. Kicking off the Pottsgrove schedule, a varsity football scrimmage Saturday morning.
- Also, In The Limerick Post …
Thursday, Aug. 20
- MCCC Expands In High Street Building
Enrollment growth forced the community college to expand to the second floor of renovated North Hall in Pottstown. A Sanatoga businessman led the ribbon-cutting dedication ceremony.
- Stuff To Do This Weekend
Get tomato-blasted in Gilbertsville. Get thundered upon at the car show in Sanatoga (and bring canned food for a worthy cause). Get your fill at three church festivals and picnics in Limerick, Gilbertsville and Pottstown. And get your boogie down with a free summer concert.
- Heard Everywhere But Pottsgrove Stadium
The sound of hopes deflating emanated from Kauffman Road, as the Pottsgrove School District pays far more than it expected to replace the broken sound system in the high school stadium.
- District August Conference Costs OK’d
Pottsgrove is spending more than $7,000 this month to send teachers and administrators to conferences and workshops in advance of the start of school.
- Three Local Blood Drives Saturday
If you’ve got the time and energy, give a pint at either of two locations in Pottstown or a third in Gilbertsville.
- Stimulus Spot Check: Summer Wave Of Projects Nears Crest
In Montgomery County PA, and across the rest of the nation, this summer finally is seeing “shovels in the ground” as the result of the federal economic stimulus program. A ProPublica report.
- Also, In The Limerick Post …
- Also, In The Pottstown Post …
Wednesday, Aug. 19
- Township Commissioners Meet Thursday
Lower Pottsgrove’s elected leaders return from vacation this week. Known on the agenda: a police department grant application.
- District Signs Special Ed Contracts
Pottsgrove’s school board authorized placements at four schools for eight students, at an average cost of more than $42,000 per student for the 2009-2010 year.
- Faces Changing In Pottsgrove Schools
The district Board of School Directors acted last week on more than 40 personnel changes affecting four school buildings.
- District’s Got Itself A New Gator
Fear not, it’s a vehicle, not a varmint. It’s for use by Pottsgrove’s athletics department.
- Also, In The Limerick Post …
- Also, In The Pottstown Post …
Tuesday, Aug. 18
Monday, Aug. 17
- What They Sold For
A weekly review of top prices paid for homes in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and surrounding municipalities.
- Commissioners Kill Condemnation Rumor
All that whispering can stop. Lower Pottsgrove township commissioners say they have no intent to condemn property at North Pleasant View and Bleim roads.
- Keep Healthy This Week
A review of free or low-cost local seminars, support groups, screenings, tests and clinics to help you stay healthy and fit, sponsored or conducted by community health care organizations.
- Lower Pottsgrove Joins Municipal Group
The township is among the newest members of the Montgomery County Consortium of Communities. One reason: it’s lobbying to reduce anticipated increases in the cost of storm water management.
- Middle School Orients Sixth Graders
Incoming 6th Grade students find out Thursday what it’s like to attend Pottsgrove Middle School.
- Also, In The Limerick Post …
- Also, In The Pottstown Post …
Sunday, Aug. 16
Posted in News
Posted on 22 August 2009. Tags: Keeping Healthy With The Post, Local, Personal Finance, Technology
SANATOGA PA – Health care news for Sanatogans (and anyone else!), Aug. 22-29, 2009:
Saturday, Aug. 22
Three blood drives today, and another two next Thursday. Give a pint.
Three blood drives conducted by the Miller-Keystone Blood Center are scheduled to be held today at New Hanover United Methodist Church, 2211 Swamp Pike, Gilbertsville PA, from 6:30-10 a.m.; the Pottstown YMCA, 724 N. Adams St., Pottstown PA, from 8 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.; and Shenkel United Church of Christ, 1580 Shenkel Rd., Pottstown PA, from 4-8 p.m. Appointments are required. For more information, call 610-926-6060.
Monday, Aug. 24
The second in a series of four weekly Lamaze classes for expectant parents will be held from 7-9 p.m. in the board room on the ground floor of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center (PMMC), 1600 E. High St., Pottstown PA. For more information, call 610-327-7147. Remaining classes are scheduled at the same time for Aug. 31, and Sept. 16.
Tuesday, Aug. 25
The weekly meeting of the Domestic Violence Support Group sponsored by Pottstown Memorial Medical Center is held every Tuesday evening. For more information on times and locations, call 610-970-7363.
Wednesday, Aug. 26
“Maintain Your Brain: How To Live A Brain-Healthy Lifestyle” is the topic of a presentation to be given at 6 p.m. in the Chestnut Knoll Assisted Living Facility, 120 W. 5th St., Boyertown PA. The free community workshop is being offered by the Delaware Valley chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. It reports there is “growing evidence that lifestyle can affect brain health and risk for dementia.” To register for the program, call 610-473-8066 or send an e-mail.
Thursday, Aug. 27
Two blood drives conducted by the Miller-Keystone Blood Center are scheduled to be held at US Axle, 275 Shoemaker Rd., Pottstown PA, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and Subway, 955 Rt. 422 & Old Airport Road, Douglassville PA, from 5-8 p.m. Appointments are required. For more information, call 610-926-6060.
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Posted in Business, Health
Posted on 21 August 2009. Tags: Local, Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners, Pennsylvania, Pottstown, Real Estate, Recreation, Sanatoga
The adjacent parks (in green at center) are located on Lower Pottsgrove Township's east side.
LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – To help reduce its costs in creating a plan for the future use of Snell and Norton parks, with a combined 32 acres of open space off the southeast side of Snell Road, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township will apply for up to $15,000 in grant money being made available through a local utility company.
The township has already received a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) grant of $38,000 to draft a site plan, according to township Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott. The additional money it seeks is from what she described as a “bonus round” of grants offered by PECO Energy under its “Green Region Program” in partnership with the National Lands Trust.
If Lower Pottsgrove wins PECO’s cash, it will be used to lower the amount taxpayers would pay to match a portion of the state grant for the $55,000 estimated cost of the parks’ plan, which would be drawn up by landscape architects Simone Collins of Berwyn PA.
The application deadline is Nov. 1. Elliott got unanimous approval to apply for the funding Thursday night (Aug. 20, 2009) from the township Board of Commissioners, but not without this grumble from Commissioner Anthony Doyle: “Seems like an awful lot of money for someone to tell us what to do with two fields.”
Most, but not all, expenses the township must pay as its share of completing the site plan are already included in its current budget, Elliott explained. They include advertising, mailing, administrative and other in-kind services, she said.
The proposed Simone Collins plan, on which the DCNR grant was predicated, will in part determine how the park land gets used: for play fields, walking trails, or simply as natural greenery, township Manager Rodney Hawthorne added. Helping to direct the planners was a volunteer panel of area residents, and “the input from that group will help us determine how the property will be used,” he said.
“We’re never going to use that land,” Doyle predicted. He nonetheless voted to authorize the grant application.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 20):
Image from Lower Pottsgrove’s 2008 Township Map and Information Guide
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Posted in Business
Posted on 21 August 2009. Tags: Infrastructure, Local, Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners, North Adams Street, Pennsylvania, Pottstown, Reid Paving, Sanatoga, Transportation
Fresh asphalt is rolled into place Thursday down North Adams Street.
POTTSTOWN PA – Workers from Reid Paving Contractors Inc. in Gilbertsville PA were busy Thursday (Aug. 20, 2009) morning laying asphalt over more than 1,000 linear feet of North Adams Street, south from its intersection with Buchert Road, as Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township kept to its summer paving schedule.
The township Board of Commissioners last month (July 23, 2009) awarded a contract to Reid, the lowest bidder, to re-pave portions of North Adams and five other roads at a cost of $52,735. Bids received for the work ranged up to more than $62,000, township Manager Rodney Hawthorne said.
Also on the township’s list to be re-paved, submitted to the board in May, were parts of King Street, Tanglewood Court, Sky Top Road, and Briar Lane.
Board members, during their regular meeting Thursday night in the Buchert Road municipal building, asked Hawthorne to have township public works employees look into clearing brush near the corner of North Adams and Buchert to improve driver sight lines there.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 20):
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of July 23):
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Posted in Business
Posted on 21 August 2009. Tags: alumni reunion, Pennsylvania, Pottstown, Pottstown High School, Recreation, Sanatoga
SANATOGA PA – An open reunion for the more than 12,000 living alumni of Pottstown High School is being planned for Oct. 3 (2009; Saturday) from 3-9 p.m. in Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA. All alumni and their guests will be welcomed, said PHS Class of 1957 member Judy Lambert Bedell, one of the evening’s organizers.
The night will feature a DJ and dancing, a hot buffet, and a cash bar. Memorabilia from the high schools many classes will be on display, and alumni officers will be elected during a brief business meeting.
One problem the organizing committee faces, Bedell noted, is that it lacks current addresses for many former PHS graduates and so must rely both on media publicity and word of mouth to ensure all alums know they’re invited. It’s hoping “to fill Sunnybrook Ballroom like we used to do in the good old days,” so pass the word, she pleads.
Tickets for the event cost $35. Reservations can be made by e-mail through Pottstown School District spokesman John Armato; or by mail through Jane Hamilton at the Pottstown School District Administration Building, 230 Beech St., Pottstown, PA 19464.
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Posted in News
