I feel like I’ve been neglecting this blog. On the other hand, because of this blog, the seeds of a whole bunch of ideas and activities were planted and now they need some cultivation & tending… which is happening out in the real world, not online. So, here’s my list of things to do ASAP. I will put up related posts as quickly as I can. Maybe by posting this & being held accountable to you, my readers, I can check some of these things off the list!
1) Announce SCORE scholarships! Two $100 scholarships for Pottstown-based business owners to attend the January workshops to be held at the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce. (Positively!Pottstown now has a Pottstown P.O. Box — 1509. I’m still trying to convince myself that that’s a lucky number…)
2) Highlight all the awesome things happening this weekend in P-town.
3) Finish my part of a grant app. to get visitors off the River trail and into the downtown. Marketing the arts, historic, recreational & culinary resources — yeah!!
4) Make edits to Community Land Trust powerpoint & get back out to working group.
5) Send out eVite for Happy Hour! This has been posted here (see right sidebar) for several weeks but I forgot to send out the eVite!! (Happy Hour is this Wed., Dec. 15, 5-7 pm at The Brickhouse. Take time out from the insanity of the holidays to hang out! Nothing fancy, just a good, old-fashioned Happy Hour. Reduced prices on drinks & appetizers. (Happy Hour certificate donated by Katy Jackson – thanks, Katy!) I have some petty cash from the last Happy Hour, so get there early to take advantage of some free appetizers until the $$ runs out!
6) Housing data analysis… totally unrealistic to think I’m going to get to this today… but it goes on the list!
Is this insane? I don’t know. I learned to multi-task while waitressing, scooping ice cream and washing dishes at The Cup at the corner of Charlotte & Wilson way, way back in the day. You had to do everything… always with a smile. 🙂 (I would love to see that place open again.)
Positively Pottstown blog 
Sue, your new nickname is the Thomas Alva Edison of Pottstown! I’ve read the Mr. Edison always had a million things going on at once, and he got by on just 4 hours of sleep per night. I don’t know how you balance this list AND study for another masters degree, AND be a wife and Mom. You are a dynamo!
Has anyone in the CLT Group considered taking the grant writing courses offered at MCCC West? Based on the CLT websites that I’ve found, it appears that many of them receive a good chunk of funding from grants. As you know, money is tight with my family right now, but I still think that it would be an important step for those interested to learn how to submit good grant applications. Considering that the economy is improving much slower than most of us originally anticipated, grant applications will ONLY become more competitive in the years to come.
Have a great day and a terrific weekend!
Andrew Kefer
PS-I too would LOVE to see someone purchase and reopen The Cup again. It is a fine example of the dying art known as ‘formulaic architecture’, aka buildings that look like other things. See you soon!
I never knew that about Edison — although I get more than 4 hours sleep – can’t do without that! One of my greatest sleeping triumphs was sleeping through most of a midnight showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in college. It was in a big lecture hall and when I awakened at the end, there was debris and stuff all over the floors. For those who don’t know, it’s a fan film where people dress up like the characters and act out parts of the film as it’s on the screen – very raucous. I never did find out what the movie’s actually about…
On grants – I didn’t know about that course at MCCC; thanks for the heads-up. There’s an idea floating around town now – I think David Jackson first mentioned it – to bring together all the grant writers from the different organizations around town to create a grant-writing consortium. There are already a lot of successful grant writers in town! If they all met face-to-face and learned what the others are doing, then when new grants are announced – especially now that so many grants require evidence of “partnerships” – then the grant writers can quickly tap others & come together to bring in more money for projects that benefit expanded constituencies.
Your note about increased competitiveness is right on, and Pottstown would be well-served to get aggressive – by partnering more – to bring much-needed funding to town.
Have a great weekend – hope the House Tour work is fun!
Sue