Did you catch Chester’s Mayor and Police Chief on TV tonight?

Social media can do marvelous things, and the Daily Times did one of them tonight by broadcasting a live program on UStream with Chester’s Mayor and Police Chief. 

Click HERE for the Replay.

Here are some of the topics and their responses:

Snitching

The community must pull together to rid the community of this problem. 

Family Involvement

The families have to be directly involved with the children. Older people are afraid of the children in some cases. Kids are terrorizing the community in those areas.

Gangs

Chester has no organized gangs. There are bickering factions of young people organized based on where they live. 

Facebook

Young people on social media cause spark a lot of the anger among one another. 

Police Activity

Law enforcement can only do so much. They are usually aware of the bad guys but need the community to come forward as witness to make convictions.

The city is well represented with police from the county and state. The Mayor submitted a recent grant to hire 5 new cops.

There is a dedicated cop staged at the William Penn and Sun Village 24 hours a day.

There is no gang unit, per se, but there is an anti crime unit that covers narcotics and a  special unit for weapons violations.

Crime Victims

Aside from incidents at Harrah’s, crime in Chester is among other Chester residents.

State of Emergency

Will not occur this summer as the city will try different approaches.

What is the Chester Renaissance? 

Widener’s $50 million investment. Everything else is on hold due to the economy or in discussion. They are working constantly to develop the downtown area.

Curfew

We always had a curfew. It will start from June to Labor Day, 9pm to 6am, for 17 and under, unless you are with a responsible adult. 

Surveillance cameras

We will have a pilot up and running by the end of July. Expecting a significant amount of money to expand it. Would like to see 50-60 cameras all over the city. They are very expensive.

Tailgating and public drinking

The City has a policy for public drinking but they can’t enforce all the rules all the time. If people call in complaints, the police will address it. 

New Homes 

There are 119 brand new homes across the city. 

Commercial and Retail Development on the riverfront

The stadium and Rivertown are responsible to develop in that area. Not the city. If it doesn’t materialize, the Mayor will find someone to develop it. It’s a key to our future success.

Deshong Museum site

Mayor blames the county for not cutting the grass. Mayor wants a developer to put something family oriented on that land.  

Supermarket

No one has given up. Acme is closing 7 stores. Operators say Chester can support a 17,000 square foot market, not the normal 58,000 square foot market. Bottom Dollar fits that model. They may be a new one in Ridley. Mayor is investigating. People are somehow getting fed but it would be convenient for some if there was a market in Chester.

Vacant housing

Over the past 10 years the city has demolished 900 hundred homes. Maybe not at the pace most would like but these are mostly privately owned where the owners has walked away. Over $5 million dollars has been spent to remove abandons.

Are you concerned about the amount of democrats who showed up at the primary? 

I’ve got accomplishments that I’m proud about and still marching forward to vitalize the city. 

Does the Daily Times contribute to Chester’s image problem?

Bad news sells. Sometimes Chester positive news doesn’t get told. News should get out, good or bad, but sometimes the whole truth is not told through a story. The Mayor doesn’t like to see stories go on in the paper for days and weeks. 

Chester Unemployment

The Mayor does not know the unemployment rate in Chester. 

Social Media

The Mayor says he reads it every day.

If so, here are the questions I submitted to the Daily Times to be answered tonight. Only one was asked in the time allowed. 

Do you think the Mayor will answer them here?

1. What is the policy for hiring off duty police at functions held in Chester?

2. Why is there no 15 MPH school zone traffic signal on the 9th street side of Chester High school? Why is the lack of lighting on the 9th street side of the building exit (up the steps) not a code violation?

3. What is the policy for public drinking in Chester? Folks are annoyed that on soccer game day, anything goes, but any other day Chester residents are arrested for open containers.

4. Since everyone doesn't have Comcast, why doesn't the City update their website regularly, create a blog, or use an existing one, to make announcements?

5. NeighborhoodScout listed Chester as the 2nd most dangerous city in America. That wasn't based on just a couple shootings but an abundance of thefts and burglaries. How bad is the t&b issue in Chester?

6. What efforts are being made to groom home grown Chester folks to become police officers?

7. Who decides which traffic lights are being replaced with stop signs around Chester? 

8. Where can citizens find City Council resolutions when they are voted upon?

9. Based on the primary election, the Republican party looks vulnerable. How will you campaign to win re-election in November?

10. Why shouldn't all Chester businesses over some predetermined number of employees and/or annual revenue be required to hire at least one Chester resident?

11. Are you aware of the C-City Blogger, The Chester City Blog? How can you use it to communicate with the residents of Chester?