Meet Your Candidates!

A lot is happening this weekend and the coming week. The most important is the MEET YOUR CANDIDATES FORUM, Thursday, October 24, from 7-9 pm at Centre Theater, 208 Dekalb St. This is NOT being sponsored by a political party, but by your fellow Norristown residents. The event is being facilitated by the Norristown Men of Excellence and Norristown Nudge.

Five candidates are on the ballot for 3 Council-At-Large seats: Olivia Brady, Mary Ellen Early-DiGregorio, Marlon Millner, Derrick Perry and Sue Soriano. I, for one, want to ask where they stand on the trend toward over-crowded and misplaced development, and on what they think council should do to support and promote Arts Hill. Do they have any kind of vision for the future? Let's hear it.

6 candidates are running for 4 school board seats: Pamela Assenmacher, Ken Christovich, Tiffani Hendley, Turea Hutson, Matthew Rivera, and E. Pearl Smith. I want to ask them what they intend to do to boost our truly dismal reading scores, and how they'll make sure the next generation is prepared to take the reins of Norristown's Arts economy. In other words, will we be putting arts back into our schools?

So come to the forum and hear what your candidates have to say before voting on November 5th. And if you haven't seen Centre Theater, now's your chance for a free peek inside.

Also on the civic front, there's a zoning board meeting on Tuesday, 7-9, at Municipal Hall. One of the issues is whether or not to allow a drug rehab clinic on W. Main Street (you know, that place we keep saying we want a real downtown without drug users on every corner?). I'll talk more about it on Monday's Diary, but for now, you can view the agenda here.

But do something fun first. On Saturday at 3 pm, the Dragon Boat Club is sponsoring  Monster Mash 5K Run/Walk at Norristown Farm Park, Whitehall Rd. Prizes will be given to top finishers. There's a fee of $25 for online registration  and $35 onsite. Kids 16 and under can participate for free, but won't be timed.  Arrive 1 pm. But there will also be children's activities, too--pie eating, pumpkin painting, etc.

The Car Show, rescheduled from last week, will be downtown Saturday on Main St. from 10:30 am to 3 pm.

And next Friday night (October 25th), come out to Selma Mansion, 7 to midnight for their Ghost Tours. Take a historic tour of the mansion, but don't be surprised if some of Selma's infamous ghosts put in an appearance. $5 for adults, $3 for kids 5 to 12. All proceeds go to the Norristown Preservation Society for the restoration of the mansion. Exterior work began on Selma last week--so exciting!