Bees, Now and Then
Not yet, it wasn't quite time for WW2 in 1940 when we moved to The Shoemaker Estate, Glasgow St. at the north end of the runway of the Pottstown Airport. The winds of war were stirring as Dad listened to the radio in the morning before he went to work. "Rambling With Gambling"on WOR, New York, was a staple in the early morning but I loved listening to Jan Peerce singing, "Bluebird Of Happiness" when I could wake up by 6AM.
Seventy five years ago before I entered grade school Dad had an episode with honey bees which had a nest in the eve of this house my parents rented. The exterior of the two story house was tan stucco but way up at the peek of the roof line the stucco seemed much darker for an unknown reason. We lived here only a short time when Dad decided to put in a back yard garden. He was slight of build, lily white, and not naturally an outdoors man but having a garden was his passion. So he and Andy, my older brother, grabbed shovels and began digging up the rear yard while I cheered them from my perch on the backyard fence. Gnats, flies, and misquotes swarmed around their sweating bodies so Dad decided to take a break on the screened back porch. Mom suggested Andy and Dad put on some bug repellant so they liberally applied some citronella oil, I think, which was all she had.
Bad news : bees went wild after whatever they spread on themselves. With swarms of bees zeroing in on them Andy and Dad made a literal bee line to the enclosed back porch. Swatting at them, trying to escape their stings they, after flapping and swinging, finally became clear of the bees. Honey bees in the eves of this old house on a aging estate of a once wealthy family seeking to retain its sense of grandeur was an indication of the clash of "old world" against the new. Always on the move, our next, shortly after this adventure was to Houck Lane near Harmonyville, Chester County.
Bees are endangered now, seventy five years later, most likely many killed off by people who disturbed their nests, got stung, and thought they'd get even by killing them. In the World of food production bees play an enormous roll in pollination of flowers necessary to produce a fruit or seed head that humans and animals consume. Like people, bees have an aggressive side, but it's their work-a-holic nature in pollination that makes them so valuable to life as we know it. Support bee health, please !
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, July 31, 2015
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
A Channel Divides
Alive in person - "never been there, nor done that" - even though I am a consummate spectator, mostly by TV, I've never been in person at the scene of such sports events as The British Open or The Tour de France. Still, I revel in the actions of spectators, those who have the means and time to experience great sporting events in person. Last week, on either side of The English Channel, there were two completely different assemblages of spectators.
At the Open tens of thousands of tweedy, hardy fans positioned themselves in bleachers that were placed at strategic points on the course giving these spectator the best view of golfer's actions as they passed before them. Additional stiff upper lipped viewers on foot seemingly trying to follow particular players as they played their way around the course. These mobile viewers seemed at times to be like an accordion; stretching out, moving quickly until they bunch up at a choke point where they slow to a stop. Some filter through the log jam and replicate the previous hole until they run out of roped paths. Feeling their 80#s well spent they'll, no matter the weather, be back tomorrow, rain or shine.
While across the channel a modern menagerie of circus oriented spectators line hundreds and hundreds of miles of the Tour de France road course. If they don't have a camera or smart phone they're draped in some flag like material foot racing the bikers up the climbs seeking their own picture be taken by the army of TV cameras. By the enormous number of vehicle campers which are parked along the route many spectators must camp out a night or two and, by their antics caught on TV, French wines must be in great demand to rock them to sleep.
On the 20th day of Tour competition I observed a rabid multitude of lilly white, European spectators being whipped into the heightened anxiety of competition. Masses long displayed in history are pictured being driven into a frenzy by words of a powerful speaker, but this time, it's the constant rhythm of bike racers pumping their pedals at a rate but few humans could ever accomplish.
Back across the channel at St. Andrews, Scotland stiff upper lipped, dower spectators keep behind the ropes as they obey every order of respectability. Their worshiped hush as a player addresses his putt becomes the act of ultimate civility. Whereas back in France free of spectator fees, a daily hoard of people line the route seeking individual recognition by the bikers, by their spectator grouping, and, especially, the media camera crews.
Spectators from both sides of the channel show the World through TV their opposites; one, like performing actors of a circus, the other are as an audience attending a coronation. Each adds validity to the nature of the game they are attending : golf is individual with a body of rules hundreds of years old ; cycling compared to golf is new and a team effort with relativity few rules I'm aware of. Many watch the players but I choose to watch the spectators as much as the contestants because in them we can get the feel of two societies, one on either side of the English Channel.
Ronald C. Downie
Alive in person - "never been there, nor done that" - even though I am a consummate spectator, mostly by TV, I've never been in person at the scene of such sports events as The British Open or The Tour de France. Still, I revel in the actions of spectators, those who have the means and time to experience great sporting events in person. Last week, on either side of The English Channel, there were two completely different assemblages of spectators.
At the Open tens of thousands of tweedy, hardy fans positioned themselves in bleachers that were placed at strategic points on the course giving these spectator the best view of golfer's actions as they passed before them. Additional stiff upper lipped viewers on foot seemingly trying to follow particular players as they played their way around the course. These mobile viewers seemed at times to be like an accordion; stretching out, moving quickly until they bunch up at a choke point where they slow to a stop. Some filter through the log jam and replicate the previous hole until they run out of roped paths. Feeling their 80#s well spent they'll, no matter the weather, be back tomorrow, rain or shine.
While across the channel a modern menagerie of circus oriented spectators line hundreds and hundreds of miles of the Tour de France road course. If they don't have a camera or smart phone they're draped in some flag like material foot racing the bikers up the climbs seeking their own picture be taken by the army of TV cameras. By the enormous number of vehicle campers which are parked along the route many spectators must camp out a night or two and, by their antics caught on TV, French wines must be in great demand to rock them to sleep.
On the 20th day of Tour competition I observed a rabid multitude of lilly white, European spectators being whipped into the heightened anxiety of competition. Masses long displayed in history are pictured being driven into a frenzy by words of a powerful speaker, but this time, it's the constant rhythm of bike racers pumping their pedals at a rate but few humans could ever accomplish.
Back across the channel at St. Andrews, Scotland stiff upper lipped, dower spectators keep behind the ropes as they obey every order of respectability. Their worshiped hush as a player addresses his putt becomes the act of ultimate civility. Whereas back in France free of spectator fees, a daily hoard of people line the route seeking individual recognition by the bikers, by their spectator grouping, and, especially, the media camera crews.
Spectators from both sides of the channel show the World through TV their opposites; one, like performing actors of a circus, the other are as an audience attending a coronation. Each adds validity to the nature of the game they are attending : golf is individual with a body of rules hundreds of years old ; cycling compared to golf is new and a team effort with relativity few rules I'm aware of. Many watch the players but I choose to watch the spectators as much as the contestants because in them we can get the feel of two societies, one on either side of the English Channel.
Ronald C. Downie
Monday, July 27, 2015
Stupid Is, As Stupid Does
Continuing to believe in a theory, only because it's what people have always done, is considered foolishness by an educated society who understands the dynamics of change. One of the few constants found throughout our lives is change. Another is death, something none can escape. Often it's taxes and death mentioned together that a person can not outlive. But it's change that drives life in almost every period of time we live through. What can't you do without today that was not around, say, ten years ago ? Change is accelerating at an ever increasing rate almost to a point of disbelief.
Why then, should we be complacent with energy generating plants fueled by a nuclear reaction, dirty coal, and deep well gas which required tracking ? Yes, we need energy (electricity) but at what cost to our World's environment ? Especially today, when solar and wind energy are providing so much of the rest of the World's energy requirement ? No longer are these clean means for energy generation a theory but they're a proven fact of life while becoming cheaper.
"Stupid is, as stupid does", defines our passive American society which will believe highly funded, slick adds made and placed before them by the extraction industry ( oil, gas, uranium ) rather than the World's statistics which shows renewables are the future both in cost and reliability. The future's in our hands and, only by actions of those we elect into office, will our vote demonstrate a future we will be satisfied with.
Ronald C. DownieI
Continuing to believe in a theory, only because it's what people have always done, is considered foolishness by an educated society who understands the dynamics of change. One of the few constants found throughout our lives is change. Another is death, something none can escape. Often it's taxes and death mentioned together that a person can not outlive. But it's change that drives life in almost every period of time we live through. What can't you do without today that was not around, say, ten years ago ? Change is accelerating at an ever increasing rate almost to a point of disbelief.
Why then, should we be complacent with energy generating plants fueled by a nuclear reaction, dirty coal, and deep well gas which required tracking ? Yes, we need energy (electricity) but at what cost to our World's environment ? Especially today, when solar and wind energy are providing so much of the rest of the World's energy requirement ? No longer are these clean means for energy generation a theory but they're a proven fact of life while becoming cheaper.
"Stupid is, as stupid does", defines our passive American society which will believe highly funded, slick adds made and placed before them by the extraction industry ( oil, gas, uranium ) rather than the World's statistics which shows renewables are the future both in cost and reliability. The future's in our hands and, only by actions of those we elect into office, will our vote demonstrate a future we will be satisfied with.
Ronald C. DownieI
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Movie Review
Defiance of conformity is the touch stone of an advanced comprehensive education which unveils its crude awakening in the movie, "The Dead Poets Society". Robin Williams portrays a poetry professor in a masterful roll set at a preparatory school for young boys. The Dead Poets Society was released into the movie houses many years ago and appears now periodically rerun on television as it was this morning.
Heaven help us as a progressive society if a growing number of our citizens remain conformists rather than becoming free thinkers. The ability to think rationally, to understand complex problems, and to be able to arrive at reasonable answers are the foot soldiers of a good education. Rote learning once dominated the halls education but stunted many young persons who could memorize, even though, they were lost when it became necessary to think.
Many live their lives in quiet desperation caught up in reposting what someone else said as in political rhetoric or slogans. This is how untruths get legs and are pasted on so fast. Passed on by unthinking people, those who never challenged conformity, those who blindly accept another persons ideas as gospel.
Some movies, whether first run or rerun on television, are filled with meaningful thoughts if only we take time to absorb them. Of course, the lead actors have a great deal to do with desired watching of any picture. Robin Williams plays his roll with pleasures that only he has masters and good young actors feed off his work.
Ronald C. Downie
Defiance of conformity is the touch stone of an advanced comprehensive education which unveils its crude awakening in the movie, "The Dead Poets Society". Robin Williams portrays a poetry professor in a masterful roll set at a preparatory school for young boys. The Dead Poets Society was released into the movie houses many years ago and appears now periodically rerun on television as it was this morning.
Heaven help us as a progressive society if a growing number of our citizens remain conformists rather than becoming free thinkers. The ability to think rationally, to understand complex problems, and to be able to arrive at reasonable answers are the foot soldiers of a good education. Rote learning once dominated the halls education but stunted many young persons who could memorize, even though, they were lost when it became necessary to think.
Many live their lives in quiet desperation caught up in reposting what someone else said as in political rhetoric or slogans. This is how untruths get legs and are pasted on so fast. Passed on by unthinking people, those who never challenged conformity, those who blindly accept another persons ideas as gospel.
Some movies, whether first run or rerun on television, are filled with meaningful thoughts if only we take time to absorb them. Of course, the lead actors have a great deal to do with desired watching of any picture. Robin Williams plays his roll with pleasures that only he has masters and good young actors feed off his work.
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, July 17, 2015
Beware of War Hawks
To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan. Weekly if not daily our grade school class practiced huddling under our desks in preparation for an airplane dropping bombs. At home, a Light Warden patrolled the street and if any light source escaped the window blinds the owner was notified to correct under penalty of the law. Young minds are very impressionable.
As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.
It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I really do ?
In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle. Even War Hawks won't be able to hide from a world wide launch of nuclear missiles. Now they talk with bravado and gusto but when "the rubber meets the road" these Hawks will be the first to hide in some cave somewhere and die a horrible slow death. Maybe they need a desk to crawl under.
Ronald C. Downie
To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan. Weekly if not daily our grade school class practiced huddling under our desks in preparation for an airplane dropping bombs. At home, a Light Warden patrolled the street and if any light source escaped the window blinds the owner was notified to correct under penalty of the law. Young minds are very impressionable.
As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.
It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I really do ?
In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle. Even War Hawks won't be able to hide from a world wide launch of nuclear missiles. Now they talk with bravado and gusto but when "the rubber meets the road" these Hawks will be the first to hide in some cave somewhere and die a horrible slow death. Maybe they need a desk to crawl under.
Ronald C. Downie
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Mutual Assured Destruction
To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan.
As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.
It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I do ?
In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle.
Ronald C. Downie
To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan.
As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.
It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I do ?
In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle.
Ronald C. Downie
Monday, July 13, 2015
Senator Casey, Sir :
I am obligated to write you again because I am so adamant that life on our planet for our offspring is in jeopardy as Pope Francis emphatically expressed in his encyclical specific to climate change. Though I am not Catholic, I respect a leader of over one billion persons living on our Earth today as having the best scientific information available to him to make the best judgements for his parishioners.
At eighty years of life, I live my waining years through the eyes of my grandchildren. Senator, Sir, if not now, eventually you too may feel that anguish of an unrealized potential your progeny may miss. Case in point : the young years of my grandson, Connor Kurtz.
Like you, my grandson, Connor Kurtz, is Catholic from birth, will graduate near the top of his class next semester from Catholic University, Washington, DC. You may know of him since he was elected to the Daniel Boone School board while still attending high school, the youngest school board member in the state. Connor interned last summer for Parliament, London, UK ; this summer after crossing the US by train he is interning at the San Diego International Airport. Like you, Connor had to run for reelection which he did and won both sides of the ticket in the primaries.
A Grandfather nine times over, my duty to Connor and other offspring later, at the sunset of their lives, is daunting. Will the World hear Pope Francis's plea and by absorbing it become the foil between the believers and the doubters. Or, will the rich pummel the meek with advertisements which play on deception and denial extolling the virtue of the extraction industries and, by doing so, move our Planet past the tipping point of "no return". Politicians seeing short term, the next election, will decide on solidifying election donations but statesman, owning up to a greater power, will side with posterity.
Senator, the unrelenting question continues, has our World ever seen detrimental change to it that modern man hasn't been party too ? The whale population, fishery decline, poached ivory tusks, deforestation, water table decline, smog, and radiation, among the numerous examples. Man is of this sphere no differently than the multitude of other species here now and already gone. Because man has an ever evolving brain that has developed far beyond any other species he has effected change on this Planet, it seems, faster than civilizations can keep up with. Being of this Planet is not enough, we must live on it in concert with all other life forms.
This is the message Pope Francis asks me to absorb. You, as a statesman, I feel, need to council with your emotions and reality and, with listening to the leader of much of our World's population as a guide, make the hard choice between today and posterity.
Respectfully,
Ronald C. Downie
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
I am obligated to write you again because I am so adamant that life on our planet for our offspring is in jeopardy as Pope Francis emphatically expressed in his encyclical specific to climate change. Though I am not Catholic, I respect a leader of over one billion persons living on our Earth today as having the best scientific information available to him to make the best judgements for his parishioners.
At eighty years of life, I live my waining years through the eyes of my grandchildren. Senator, Sir, if not now, eventually you too may feel that anguish of an unrealized potential your progeny may miss. Case in point : the young years of my grandson, Connor Kurtz.
Like you, my grandson, Connor Kurtz, is Catholic from birth, will graduate near the top of his class next semester from Catholic University, Washington, DC. You may know of him since he was elected to the Daniel Boone School board while still attending high school, the youngest school board member in the state. Connor interned last summer for Parliament, London, UK ; this summer after crossing the US by train he is interning at the San Diego International Airport. Like you, Connor had to run for reelection which he did and won both sides of the ticket in the primaries.
A Grandfather nine times over, my duty to Connor and other offspring later, at the sunset of their lives, is daunting. Will the World hear Pope Francis's plea and by absorbing it become the foil between the believers and the doubters. Or, will the rich pummel the meek with advertisements which play on deception and denial extolling the virtue of the extraction industries and, by doing so, move our Planet past the tipping point of "no return". Politicians seeing short term, the next election, will decide on solidifying election donations but statesman, owning up to a greater power, will side with posterity.
Senator, the unrelenting question continues, has our World ever seen detrimental change to it that modern man hasn't been party too ? The whale population, fishery decline, poached ivory tusks, deforestation, water table decline, smog, and radiation, among the numerous examples. Man is of this sphere no differently than the multitude of other species here now and already gone. Because man has an ever evolving brain that has developed far beyond any other species he has effected change on this Planet, it seems, faster than civilizations can keep up with. Being of this Planet is not enough, we must live on it in concert with all other life forms.
This is the message Pope Francis asks me to absorb. You, as a statesman, I feel, need to council with your emotions and reality and, with listening to the leader of much of our World's population as a guide, make the hard choice between today and posterity.
Respectfully,
Ronald C. Downie
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Monday, July 6, 2015
After The Parade
Wife, Connie and I stopped at the river after the parade to see what activities were being set up. Rain was intermittent as people began arriving, therefor, we remained in our car parked in a handicap spot with our sign displayed. We had been ready to stay awhile but coming on 12noon the weather seemed continuing threatening. Talked to a couple band members, one had played here some 10 years earlier.
I'm past 80 years and Connie past 75 years old. Does this group have a super senior division ? We predated the era of Cruising but we've lived and raised a family here all our lives and have become ingrained in this place named Pottstown. In fact, the grounds where the group was set up is named in my honor by the Borough of Pottstown as signified by the brass plaque on the low rock by the trail.
Your group may be able to do for Pottstown what the old timers of my vintage could not do - create a positive attitude for the town. Gone with cruising went heavy industry and a commercial High Street. Today Pottstown must take on a new persona, I suggest with all my vigor, that it should be in a direct connection with education. We must pride ourselves as being "A College Town". With MCCC, The Hill School, and the SRGA as a nucleus the image begins sharpening.
We support your efforts, Thank You !
Ronald C Downie
Pottstown, A College Town
Wife, Connie and I stopped at the river after the parade to see what activities were being set up. Rain was intermittent as people began arriving, therefor, we remained in our car parked in a handicap spot with our sign displayed. We had been ready to stay awhile but coming on 12noon the weather seemed continuing threatening. Talked to a couple band members, one had played here some 10 years earlier.
I'm past 80 years and Connie past 75 years old. Does this group have a super senior division ? We predated the era of Cruising but we've lived and raised a family here all our lives and have become ingrained in this place named Pottstown. In fact, the grounds where the group was set up is named in my honor by the Borough of Pottstown as signified by the brass plaque on the low rock by the trail.
Your group may be able to do for Pottstown what the old timers of my vintage could not do - create a positive attitude for the town. Gone with cruising went heavy industry and a commercial High Street. Today Pottstown must take on a new persona, I suggest with all my vigor, that it should be in a direct connection with education. We must pride ourselves as being "A College Town". With MCCC, The Hill School, and the SRGA as a nucleus the image begins sharpening.
We support your efforts, Thank You !
Ronald C Downie
Pottstown, A College Town
Grand Marshal
Yesterday, The 4th of July, was my swan song from public recognition by enacting the duties of Grand Marshal of the Forth of July Parade. Nominated by my Grandson, Connor Kurtz, and affirmed by a favorable vote of The 4th of July committee; I was notified, out of the blue, last week by parade officials. Rarely, only for Doctors visits, do I leave the comforts of my Pottstown home now so, for the parade, we agreed that if my wife, Connie, could drive our van in the parade we'd participate. We did just that - all's well that ends well !
Thank You ! to all the spectators who weathered the sprinkles, to all volunteers especially those who make logistics work, and to all parade participants. Without all of you, nothing happens, Thank You all again !
Ronald C. Downie
Yesterday, The 4th of July, was my swan song from public recognition by enacting the duties of Grand Marshal of the Forth of July Parade. Nominated by my Grandson, Connor Kurtz, and affirmed by a favorable vote of The 4th of July committee; I was notified, out of the blue, last week by parade officials. Rarely, only for Doctors visits, do I leave the comforts of my Pottstown home now so, for the parade, we agreed that if my wife, Connie, could drive our van in the parade we'd participate. We did just that - all's well that ends well !
Thank You ! to all the spectators who weathered the sprinkles, to all volunteers especially those who make logistics work, and to all parade participants. Without all of you, nothing happens, Thank You all again !
Ronald C. Downie
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Do Tax Payers Count ?
Every 4th of July Pottstown has a parade followed up at Memorial Park with traditional holiday events culminating with "Fireworks". The public use of the park for these events has gone on for countless years. Refurbished some years ago, the park was wired conveniently so venders could set up on either side of a promenade which allowed the public to flow freely.
This year is a problem ! Volleyball Rumble one week before the 4th used this same area for vendors no matter the condition of the ground from the rains. Now that area is what some call, as I do, a quagmire. Our tax payer park is now in question for use by its owners, we taxpayers, because the Recreation Department chose the Rumble, theoretically a "for profit" generator, over it's civic responsibility.
Yes, I will be vilified for accusing this from those living elsewhere, who sweep into Pottstown, take from our largest, and leave for another year. We're left with a costly cleanup and care this year made enormous by the circumstance of rain.
If a Rumble is ingrained in Pottstown's culture have it scheduled a month earlier or, better yet, a couple weeks after the 4th of July. Have the Rumble post a performance bond that would guaranty the park be brought back to its original condition.
Borough Council, I understand, is the ultimate determiner of park use while leaving day to day operations to the director who answers to the Borough Manager with advice from a recreation board. But, who does Borough Council work for ? You got it, the the tax paying voting residents of Pottstown.
When everything runs smoothly none of these blips are seen by the public, but government is in place to correct problems that arise and make long range plans so problems don't come up. You, the voting public, have to hold to the fire the feet of public officials so they don't shirk from their jobs. Yours, a seemingly unimportant job, is so vitally necessary in the ultimate smooth running of a town, like Pottstown.
Ronald C. Downie
Every 4th of July Pottstown has a parade followed up at Memorial Park with traditional holiday events culminating with "Fireworks". The public use of the park for these events has gone on for countless years. Refurbished some years ago, the park was wired conveniently so venders could set up on either side of a promenade which allowed the public to flow freely.
This year is a problem ! Volleyball Rumble one week before the 4th used this same area for vendors no matter the condition of the ground from the rains. Now that area is what some call, as I do, a quagmire. Our tax payer park is now in question for use by its owners, we taxpayers, because the Recreation Department chose the Rumble, theoretically a "for profit" generator, over it's civic responsibility.
Yes, I will be vilified for accusing this from those living elsewhere, who sweep into Pottstown, take from our largest, and leave for another year. We're left with a costly cleanup and care this year made enormous by the circumstance of rain.
If a Rumble is ingrained in Pottstown's culture have it scheduled a month earlier or, better yet, a couple weeks after the 4th of July. Have the Rumble post a performance bond that would guaranty the park be brought back to its original condition.
Borough Council, I understand, is the ultimate determiner of park use while leaving day to day operations to the director who answers to the Borough Manager with advice from a recreation board. But, who does Borough Council work for ? You got it, the the tax paying voting residents of Pottstown.
When everything runs smoothly none of these blips are seen by the public, but government is in place to correct problems that arise and make long range plans so problems don't come up. You, the voting public, have to hold to the fire the feet of public officials so they don't shirk from their jobs. Yours, a seemingly unimportant job, is so vitally necessary in the ultimate smooth running of a town, like Pottstown.
Ronald C. Downie
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
What Happened
A sickening feeling came across me when coming from the Doctor we drove up King Street and saw the mud infested Memorial Park premier baseball fields. So much effort, time, and tax money went into these fields but, for just a few days of grass volleyball, the fields look like a pig sty shambles. The same goes for the surrounding grass areas which must of been parked on when extremely wet and many vehicles must of become stuck.
I'm not too sure the cost/benefit equation works well for this event. Really, does Borough Council request an accounting for such events ?
These sports field were designed originally for use by the youth of our Borough and serviced them most during the summer months.
The unceremonious debauchery imposed on these fields by predominately non Pottstown residents should be looked at by an independent agent of the Borough to determine the cost to tax payers and what the long term harm to the fields are.
I've stated my views therefore I would appreciate yours.
Ronald C. Downing
Fair Grounds
Back, way back, maybe during the Golden Years of Pottstown in the early years of the 1900's before the Great Recession Pottstown was home to a Fair Grounds. In fact, many towns of that time had such grounds for their citizens to break away from their daily work and have a place to congregate for fun and reflection. Ours, I understand, had a race track within its bounds which became notable throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Local and countywide fairs were popular attractions for predominantly an agrarian populous who utilized these Fair Grounds.
Because of the very visible debacle that happened to our baseball fields due to their excessive use during heavy rain events, I am suggesting it's time to reinstitute a Fair Grounds in Pottstown. "What comes around goes around" is also an ancient statement as is Fair Grounds. No longer a heavy industry community we have matriculated into a higher learning town and with it comes a need for new energized thinking.
Out along Jackson Street, The Hill School last year showed some economic muscle by building a super athletic complex in an area we old timers called The Far Fields. Down along the river MCCC continues to invest in bricks and mortar to expand their presence there. Also along the river the SRGA continues pressing its trails and accompaniments up and down the waterway at an ever aggressive rate.
These three entities don't produce a tangible product people can handle and both buy and sell; but, each produces a product valued far beyond a manufactured piece. Their commodity of highly valued human beings is the new paradigm. Pottstown's desire to invest in progress should, in my mind, appreciate the new dynamic and think through what could enhance the culture of people being here. Fair Grounds worked well in agrarian times, lost emphasis during the industrial revolution, and now post industrialization - in an educational era - its time may be just right again.
Please, don't let the proverbial box contain you. Get out of it and think anew. Planning is the first step.f
Ronald C. Downie
A Follow Up
I am unhappy with myself, unhappy because when I take issue with some problem in town, I usually try to offer an alternative that could remedy the problem at a future date. Monday I was extremely distraught over the conditions Memorial Park ball fields were left in after a weekend of heavy play of volleyball on rain saturated fields. Even though volleyball organizers pledged to fix the problems they caused, common sense should require specific rules be stated when fields may be used in accordance with weather and ground conditions.
That said, my remedy, long term, would be what I wrote about yesterday, a Fair Grounds. In the interim, Pottstown should, in my opinion, secure ownership of land adjacent to the Park fields just to the south across King Street between King and and High Streets. Now occupied by a gas station and a equipment rental business. Years ago in a grand plan for Memorial Park and its surrounding properties, these parcels were included in the final draft to become park land. Pottstown should pull those dusty plans out, engage Montgomery County planners to review, and initiate the process for a new plan to be developed for grant application.
Maybe this King St. site would not be adequate for a full blown Fair Grounds but it certainly would help with fully utilizing the Memorial Park we do have now. It would accommodate small circuses and carnivals, overflow Park events especially parking, and parking for the Colebrookdale Rail Line, the Carousel, and Miniature Golf.
Of course, none of this is feasible if Manatawny Creek floods the area. Silt buildup before, after, and under the King St. Bridge has created islands which impedes the free flow of creek water under the finite opening under the roadway. Eventually, without correction, this condition will grab us badly and cause flooding in the area. Please notify someone in Borough Hall to this impending problem. Everything has a cause and affect.
On the move, Pottstown, A College Town, is poised as it begins its Renaissance.
Ronald C. Downie
A sickening feeling came across me when coming from the Doctor we drove up King Street and saw the mud infested Memorial Park premier baseball fields. So much effort, time, and tax money went into these fields but, for just a few days of grass volleyball, the fields look like a pig sty shambles. The same goes for the surrounding grass areas which must of been parked on when extremely wet and many vehicles must of become stuck.
I'm not too sure the cost/benefit equation works well for this event. Really, does Borough Council request an accounting for such events ?
These sports field were designed originally for use by the youth of our Borough and serviced them most during the summer months.
The unceremonious debauchery imposed on these fields by predominately non Pottstown residents should be looked at by an independent agent of the Borough to determine the cost to tax payers and what the long term harm to the fields are.
I've stated my views therefore I would appreciate yours.
Ronald C. Downing
Fair Grounds
Back, way back, maybe during the Golden Years of Pottstown in the early years of the 1900's before the Great Recession Pottstown was home to a Fair Grounds. In fact, many towns of that time had such grounds for their citizens to break away from their daily work and have a place to congregate for fun and reflection. Ours, I understand, had a race track within its bounds which became notable throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Local and countywide fairs were popular attractions for predominantly an agrarian populous who utilized these Fair Grounds.
Because of the very visible debacle that happened to our baseball fields due to their excessive use during heavy rain events, I am suggesting it's time to reinstitute a Fair Grounds in Pottstown. "What comes around goes around" is also an ancient statement as is Fair Grounds. No longer a heavy industry community we have matriculated into a higher learning town and with it comes a need for new energized thinking.
Out along Jackson Street, The Hill School last year showed some economic muscle by building a super athletic complex in an area we old timers called The Far Fields. Down along the river MCCC continues to invest in bricks and mortar to expand their presence there. Also along the river the SRGA continues pressing its trails and accompaniments up and down the waterway at an ever aggressive rate.
These three entities don't produce a tangible product people can handle and both buy and sell; but, each produces a product valued far beyond a manufactured piece. Their commodity of highly valued human beings is the new paradigm. Pottstown's desire to invest in progress should, in my mind, appreciate the new dynamic and think through what could enhance the culture of people being here. Fair Grounds worked well in agrarian times, lost emphasis during the industrial revolution, and now post industrialization - in an educational era - its time may be just right again.
Please, don't let the proverbial box contain you. Get out of it and think anew. Planning is the first step.f
Ronald C. Downie
A Follow Up
I am unhappy with myself, unhappy because when I take issue with some problem in town, I usually try to offer an alternative that could remedy the problem at a future date. Monday I was extremely distraught over the conditions Memorial Park ball fields were left in after a weekend of heavy play of volleyball on rain saturated fields. Even though volleyball organizers pledged to fix the problems they caused, common sense should require specific rules be stated when fields may be used in accordance with weather and ground conditions.
That said, my remedy, long term, would be what I wrote about yesterday, a Fair Grounds. In the interim, Pottstown should, in my opinion, secure ownership of land adjacent to the Park fields just to the south across King Street between King and and High Streets. Now occupied by a gas station and a equipment rental business. Years ago in a grand plan for Memorial Park and its surrounding properties, these parcels were included in the final draft to become park land. Pottstown should pull those dusty plans out, engage Montgomery County planners to review, and initiate the process for a new plan to be developed for grant application.
Maybe this King St. site would not be adequate for a full blown Fair Grounds but it certainly would help with fully utilizing the Memorial Park we do have now. It would accommodate small circuses and carnivals, overflow Park events especially parking, and parking for the Colebrookdale Rail Line, the Carousel, and Miniature Golf.
Of course, none of this is feasible if Manatawny Creek floods the area. Silt buildup before, after, and under the King St. Bridge has created islands which impedes the free flow of creek water under the finite opening under the roadway. Eventually, without correction, this condition will grab us badly and cause flooding in the area. Please notify someone in Borough Hall to this impending problem. Everything has a cause and affect.
On the move, Pottstown, A College Town, is poised as it begins its Renaissance.
Ronald C. Downie
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