Coming Together As A Community

First, a reminder to take the mural survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GWDXNB8 if you haven't done so. I want to publish the results towards the end of this week, so make sure your opinion is heard. And please share the link with your neighbors and friends.

Tree-lighting at Martin's Tavern, PA

Most of you know that I sing with a living history music ensemble. This time of year is usually pretty busy for us--historic sites like Valley Forge, Elfreth's Alley and Pottsgrove all have things like candlelight tours in December. But another type of program we've frequently done is the community tree-lighting or other local holiday celebration.

Friday night we sang at Limerick Township. Every year, Santa shows up by fire truck at their community park.  They set up under a big picnic pavilion, with hot cocoa and cookies and crafts for the kids (this year they decorated luminaria bags). We dress up in Victorian costumes, singing carols and teaching motions to "The 12 Days of Christmas" while Santa does photo ops. There's a big lighted tree outside the pavilion not far away.

The closest house to Limerick's park is at least a half mile away, across dark muddy fields. There's no easy way to walk to the pavilion at night--everyone has to drive. We've gone the last 3 years and it's rained every time. Yet despite the damp and cold, families show up every year for this event. One woman brought her aging mother who was in a wheelchair and not terribly responsive. The woman asked if we could sing "The Little Drummer Boy." When we did, her mother got tears in her eyes. The woman said they never miss coming to the event, rain or not.

I've been to lots of these little community holiday gatherings--in Martin's Tavern on the other side of West Chester, in Ardmore on Lancaster Avenue, right across the river in Bridgeport. We even had one in Norristown last year, at Riverfront Park, where Santa arrived by dragon boat. But the Dragon Boat Club lost most of their equipment in the flood last spring. Donations allowed them to replace some necessities, but outdoor lights for night events at Riverfront have to wait until they get more donations.

At Riverfront Park last year. 

Elmwood Park Zoo had a tree lighting this year, but I think the tree is back near the ice skating rink. You can't see it from the road. I only saw one notice for the lighting, the day before it happened, so I'm not sure how well it was publicized.

What Norristown needs is a community holiday event that's right in the heart of town, in the public square, say, or at Main and Dekalb. A tree, or some other kind of light display would be great--sure, the lighted snowflakes on the streetlamps are helping to brighten up downtown and W. Marshall this year, but we need a central focal point. (That actually, could be said of Norristown in general.)

And while I think lights are important to brighten up the mood of this town, the chance to come together as a community at the end of the year is more important. We've had too much of an "every man for himself" attitude of late. Or maybe it's more like we're all waiting for someone else to take the reins and do something. No one business or non-profit or government agency is going to bring Norristown back by itself. We need a town-wide sense of community. The only time that I feel that comes close to happening is on July 4th (and the parade was cancelled this year).

So let's all mark our calendars to get together at the beginning of the fall next year and figure out the where and how and when of putting together a community event for next December--an event strictly for the enjoyment of Norristown residents, and especially for our children. I guarantee it will help us look into the new year with more optimism than we've felt for a long while. 

Holiday Events All Over Town

Yes, it's cold out, the nights are long, and there's rain and snow in the forecast AGAIN. If you're like me, you just want to hibernate until spring. Save it for January. There are lots of events in town this month that will warm your heart, at least. Don't be a Grinch. Come out and celebrate with your Norristown neighbors.

Tonight at 7:15 pm, the doors of the Centre Theater will open for STARSTRUCK, a Musical Revue, starring some of the most talented students at NAHS. Additional shows on Saturday at 2:30 and 7:15 pm. Dessert will be served before each show in the 1st floor cafe. Tickets are only $10 and all proceeds support NAHS Drama Club. You can order tickets from any cast member or contact John Doyle at jdoyle@nasd.k12.pa.us. Please come out and support our high school drama club.

Remember, if you want Santa to deliver an early gift by fire truck to a child in Norristown, bring that gift (shoebox size or smaller) to Municipal Hall tomorrow between 8 and 11 am.  Go to this link, download the form and follow the instructions.

Saturday from 10 am to noon, ACPPA Community Art Center invites girls 3-12 years old, and their moms, aunts, grandmothers, etc., to Girl's Morning Out With The Nutcracker. Among other things, all participants will be read the story of the Nutcracker; watch excerpts from the ballet enactment; learn that character’s dance, take part in a special art and craft; and transform into a character. Pricing is $15 per child (no fee for adults). This annual event sells out quickly. To purchase, visit http://nutcrackermorning.eventbrite.com or call the office at (610) 277-2270.

Saturday at noon, is the 2nd Annual Awards Banquet of Norristown Men of Excellence, Westover Country Club, 401 S. Schuylkill Ave, Jeffersonville. For tickets or more info contact: Dom Lewis or Doug White at 484-284-0852 .

Sunday from 2 to 5 pm -- Last chance for FREE admission to the Elmwood Park Zoo for Norristown residents. The Zoo has been celebrating its 90th anniversary all year by offering free admission on first Sunday of the month. This is it, the last month. Residents of Norristown Borough that present valid photo ID may enter the Zoo free of charge after 2 pm.

Tuesday from noon to 4 pm at GNPAL, 340 Harding Blvd. Open Job Fair. Potential qualified candidates should call 610-278-8040 ext 223.

Tuesday at 7 pm is supposed to be the monthly Planning Commission Meeting, but so far, there's nothing on the agenda.

Thursday from 11 am to 7 pm, VANCE Community Partners at 216 Cherry Street will hold their Annual Holiday Bazaar. Call 267-279-9397 or go to their website for more information.

Also Thursday, also at 216 Cherry, from 5-7 pm, the Norristown Business Association will host a Business Mixer, 5 pm-7 pm. Food, wine tasting, raffle. If you have a business in Norristown or are a leader of one of Norristown's non-profits, you're invited--you don't have to be a member to attend. Bring business cards. For info, call 610-275-3727 or email info@norristownba.org

Nextdoor.com is a free private social network for neighborhoods. 5 neighborhoods in Norristown are now active--much of the town is covered. I'm in one of them and we've been sharing activities and announcements with each other and with the other neighborhoods. Nextdoor is adding a holiday map this week so you can see at a glance who's selling trees, where the events are, who's got great light displays, and where you can donate your time and money to worthy causes in town. The network is absolutely private--only your neighbors allowed. If you're interested in joining, go to www.nextdoor.com and sign up. If you don't live in an established neighborhood, you can form one of your own.

Take My 2-Question Survey

Remember a year ago when a couple members of Council supposedly jokingly remarked that the mural at Lafayette and Dekalb ought to be painted over? They were taken seriously, so a crowd of residents showed up at the next meeting to protest. If you don't remember and want to read about it, here are the 2 N-town Diary postings about that mural and the others we have in town.

norristowndiary.blogspot.com/2013/10/save-our-mural.html
norristowndiary.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-mural-kind-of-town.html

Recently, Philadelphia Mural Arts Project has identified another building in Norristown that they'd like to put a mural on. I won't say where yet, but will say that it's at a main entrance to town and would be large. Like the Lafayette mural, it would also be a community project--that is, Norristown residents and Council would approve the design and Norristown volunteers would help paint it. The owner of the building has given his approval already. The group looking into the feasibility of the project would get grants through the state and elsewhere to fund the project.

As most of you know, my opinion is that if Norristown's going to bill itself as an arts community, we ought to have art in town, especially community art like this. And we shouldn't be looking down our nose at any one kind of art, because frankly, few of us know enough about art to qualify as critics. If someone's willing to organize and find funding for a big project, why would we refuse?

But, I want to get everyone's opinion. I've set up a survey online. Only 2 questions, and you only have to answer the first. You can take it anonymously. Even if you're indifferent to the issue, you can tell me that. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GWDXNB8 and register your opinion. Share this blog with your neighbors. Let's get the opinions of as many residents, businesses, and regular visitors to N-town as possible.

Thanks. I'll let everyone know the results in a week or so.

Santa Is Arriving By Fire Truck

If you hear fire sirens on the 13th, don't worry. It's just Santa delivering present in your neighborhood. The Norristown Fire Department is assisting Santa with early deliveries this year. If you want your child or a kid you know in Norristown to be on the delivery list, you need to act THIS SATURDAY.

Go to this link and download the form (scroll down until you see the form and the word "DOWNLOAD" below it).

Fill out the form and return it with your one gift per child to Municipal Hall this Saturday (Dec 6th) between 8 and 11 am. Details about size of gift, how to label, etc. are on the form.

Presents will be delivered NEXT Saturday, Dec 13, between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm. You need to go outside with your child when you hear the sirens, though. Santa has a lot of stops, so he can't wait.

Questions? Call 610-292-8281.

Saturday On Main Street

Over the weekend, I was trying to remember the last time I strolled along Main Street downtown. I mean, more than a 1 or 2-shop stop at a store or restaurant. It was probably over 40 years ago when I used to go downtown with my mom on Saturday mornings.

She'd get her hair done in a little salon on Penn, then we'd walk down to Main and go right, toward Pagel's Shoes, the New York Store and the Charming Shoppe (where she bought all my Sunday dresses). Or we'd go left to Chatlins Department Store. Sometimes we did the whole stretch. We'd end up back in the middle--lunch at Grants 5-and-10 (best hotdogs in the world, on buttered rolls, with Hires draft root beer), plus they had a public phone so we could call my dad to come get us.

When I told people I was going downtown for Small Business Saturday, most of them said, "What for? There aren't any businesses down there anymore." Still, last Saturday morning, Robin Parker (some of you know her as the head of the Dragon Boat Club) and I started at Jus' Java on Swede and walked down to Main. Our intention was to let businesses know about the Norristown Business Association and maybe get their thoughts on bringing life back to the downtown.

Let me add that I can now personally recommend Jus' Java's caramel hot cocoa and berry blend black tea. Today (Tuesday) is their grand re-opening. Discounts between 10 and noon. They're open until 5 pm. Go check out their new space.

Anyway, at Main Street, we went left to Cherry, crossed Main and came back down the street on the other side, walking almost down to Arch Street, where we crossed again and came back up to Swede. And on the way we stopped in most of the businesses who were open and didn't look too, too busy.

Yes, that's right. We DO have businesses downtown, and some--like the barber shops--had so many patrons that we didn't feel right interrupting them.

There are more businesses than I expected. Most are small eateries, and many of them Mexican cuisine, though they all seem to offer different variations. They're all brightly painted, neat and clean inside, and inviting. Their cooking aromas are all enticing. They all had a decent number of patrons (to be honest, it was the lunchtime). Ditto for the other eateries we stopped at, like Main Street Cafe. In a 4-block area, we've already got Vietnamese, Ethiopean, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Southern and American cuisine. We could market Main Street as our International Dining District. Then add Italian, Greek, Thai, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc. And an ice cream place.

We also stopped at old established businesses like Baer's Furniture and Zummo's Hardware. They weren't so busy. It's a shame, because they're really nice people, offer great products, and they've been faithful to Norristown for decades.

Everyone who volunteered their opinions mentioned that parking was the worst problem. For stores selling heavy things like furniture, rock salt, etc., loading trucks or cars in front of their places is difficult. I've found that business district parking isn't a problem that Municipal Hall has been willing to talk about, but it seems to be key to bringing commerce back to the community. We can't simply expect visitors to be willing to pay for parking--not when there's free parking to be had at area malls and in surrounding towns. We can't expect our businesses to thrive only on weekends, when parking is free on the streets. We're in competition with other shopping areas. We're in competition with online stores. We need to make our districts more inviting, more unique, more fun, and VERY easy to visit, EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

The other problem is looks. Some of the buildings, like the little cafes and Cullen & Conwell law offices have gotten facelifts and look great. Many need a little work or just some powerwashing of the dingy pavements and bricks. The borough's trash cans need to be emptied more often. Codes needs to nudge owners into fixing things like dilapidated fencing. But it was heartening to see construction permits on a couple empty buildings, with workers busy inside.

These aren't insurmountable problems. I think we just need to brainstorm a bit and find some creative solutions.

Afterwards we stopped for lunch at Casa Bonita International Cuisine on Dekalb and Oak Sts.--another gem of a restaurant that no one seems to know about. They're known for their fish tacos. I recommend the Korean kochoo chop chae (pictured). Yummy.

Certainly, Main Street wasn't thriving this year for Small Business Saturday, but it gave me hope for the future.

How Banking Effects Norristown (and everywhere else)

I chose today's topic for a couple reasons. First, today is called Black Friday because it's the day that most determines whether retail businesses will finish the year "in the black"--that is, out of debt and making a profit--so the topic of money changing hands is appropriate. Second, somewhere in America today, it's a good bet someone will be watching "It's a Wonderful Life"--a great Christmas story, but also a story about banks.

So let's start by looking at Norristown's banking history.

For much of the borough's history there were 2 kinds of retail banks in town: National Banks, chartered under the Federal government, members of the Federal Reserve System; and Community Banks, which takes the funds of people who have savings accounts and invests in the community by giving loans to local businesses and developers. Savings and Loans (or Building and Loans as they were sometimes called) were similar to community banks, but their loans were mostly mortgages.

Norristown's boom times occurred pretty much between the mid-19th century and the 1970s (excluding the Great Depression and a few minor recessions) and it's no coincidence that for most of those years, the banks in town were mostly community banks or savings and loans. That is, the money local people saved was put right back into the community, and the profits made with that money mostly STAYED in the community, either as profits made by businesses, interest paid on the loans (which the banks shared with their depositors) or things like increased property values. Even the national banks in the area tended to invest locally. There wasn't much of a financial drain.

Up through the first years of the 1980s, I remember N-town having as many as 8 banks within its borders. 4 of them were downtown on Main Street. Savings accounts regularly earned around 5% interest.

Then deregulation happened in the 1980s. Big national banks began buying out community banks and each other to create huge financial mega-corporations. Yes, just like the evil Mr. Potter trying to take over Bailey Building and Loan in "It's a Wonderful Life." There are still a few community banks around now, like Penn Liberty, based in Wayne, but they're endangered species.

Now we have, I think, 3 banks left in town and they're all mega-corporations. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a British-owned American bank, headquartered in Providence, RI. Wells Fargo is an American multinational holding company, headquartered in San Francisco. PNC Corporation is the 5th largest  bank in America, headquartered in Pittsburgh. The best interest rate that any of my accounts earn is about 0.2% (National Penn in East Norriton). Most profits are kept by the banks to pay shareholders and top executive salaries. If our businesses take out loans at these banks, the interest they pay on those loans mostly leaves town, as do the profits collected for everything from minimum balance fines to bounced checks to ATM and safe deposit box fees.

Many developers who build in Norristown have found other sources of funding--direct taxpayer dollars--which they get from the state, county and borough. They raise some money through investors, but if you've ever been to Council meetings where one of them is seeking approval for a project, you more than likely heard words similar to "Sure, I can make the changes to the design you want, but I need another $150,000." I just heard one of these developers bragging about how Council will jump through hoops for her. Yes, we get a few more homeowners from some of these projects who then pay property taxes, but it takes at least a decade to get any real return on our investment and the projects haven't raised property values. When she comes back with another project, does she invest the profits from the last one? No, she asks for more public funding.

On the bright side, some of this public money is now available as small business loans. Some new ideas for financing our local businesses are being explored, like crowdfunding. But you can see how the evolution of the banking industry in the last 30 years has been a major factor in the economic downhill slide of Norristown and lots of other working class communities across the U.S. We need to come up with a lot more creative ways to keep money from being sucked out of our community.

Mr. Potter might have won for now, but as "It's A Wonderful Life" reminds us, good things can happen when a town comes together. 

Events to Start the Holidays

Since most of you will begin your weekend tomorrow, I'm listing events for the coming 10 days today. No Diary tomorrow, but I'll be back with something suitable on Friday, so check in while you're standing in cashier lines at the mall. Or you could just do your shopping in Norristown--skip the lines and help our economy.

But let's start with the biggest news:

Back in the first half of the 1900s, weather permitting, Elmwood Park had an ice skating rink, which I think was down where the ballfields/basketball courts are now. This Friday at 1 pm, that tradition returns to the park, this time in the Zoo's lower parking lot. The rink is synthetic ice, so even if we have a mild winter, you'll still be able to go skating. It's for all ages and skill levels. The way it works is, you pay for a 2-hour session, extra if you need to rent skates. Costs and session times can be found at  http://www.elmwoodparkzoo.org/event/155 The rink will be open November 28-January 31. Extra days in the week between Christmas and New Year. You can book ice skating parties. For more information, contact Guest Services at 610-277-3825 x222 or email guestservices@elmwoodparkzoo.org.

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY. The Norristown Business Association will be at 31 W Main St, in front of Banh Mi Bar & Bistro from 11 am to 2 pm on Saturday, handing out info about our small businesses and about membership in the NBA. Raffle drawing at 1 pm. You can't win if you don't stop by. Come out and shop local, N-town (do it every day, not just once a year). It's important and something you can brag about. I'll be on Main Street on Saturday, practicing what I preach. If you see me, say hi.

NOTE: The Montco Historical Society program listed on the Town and Community Calendars for this week will actually take place on Sunday, Dec 14. It's a one-time event.

Monday is the first practice for the PAL Wrestling Team, to take place in the Eisenhower School Wrestling Room. 6:15-7:05 pm for rookies, 7-8:30 pm if you've wrestled before. Register NOW in person at GNPAL, 340 Harding Blvd, 610-278-8040 or at practice. Proper attire: shorts/sweatpants, t-shirt/sweatshirt, & sneakers. Practices will be Monday through Thursday next week, Tuesdays and Thursdays after. Cost is $25.00 and includes membership at GNPAL. For more info: Coach Chuck Springer coachspringer@gmail.com.
 

Tuesday at 10:30 am, Jus' Java will officially re-open its doors at its new location, 317 Swede. Stop by for the Grand Re-Opening Ceremony at 10:30 or anytime that day to welcome them back.

Tuesday, Council Meeting, 7:30 pm, Municipal Hall. No agenda yet.

Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 pm, the Greater Norristown NAACP will host the panel discussion "Know Your Rights" at the George Washington Carver Community Center.

Wednesday, 7 pm, The Montco Historical Society presents author Michael Harris, who'll speak about The Battle of Brandywine. Brandywine was a prelude to the capture of Philadelphia and the battle was one of the most important military event of the War for Independence. FREE to the public. Questions: Karen Wolfe, 610-272-0297.

Saturday, Dec 6, the Men of Excellence is holding their Annual Awards Banquet at noon at the Westover Country Club, 401 S Schuylkill Ave, West Norriton. $30 per ticket. Contact Dom Lewis or Doug White at 484-284-0852.

Travel safe this weekend and have a Happy Thanksgiving.