Chester's State of the City

In a rare move, I’m going to comment on an entire Daily Times article. I wanted to wait until I saw the “State of the City” for myself, but this ‘top secret’ presentation doesn’t seem to want to surface anywhere for me to view. So, I have to count on this newspaper account for my opinions.

CHESTER — In his second “State of the City” address held Monday at Latham Hall on the campus of Widener University, Mayor John Linder reiterated several times that the city is in a “better place” now than it was in January 2012 when he first took office.

This city is in the same place it was in since January 2012. It hasn’t moved. Nothing good has moved in. Nothing bad has moved out. With that being the case, I have to ask, ‘better’ than what?

Hosted by the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and moderated by NBC10/PHL 17 television anchor Steve Highsmith, the annual address offered Linder an opportunity to share his vision of the future and showcase the accomplishments of his administration.

Did Steve Highsmith put this address on TV? If so, I missed it. What’s the point of bringing in a television anchor if it’s not going to be on TV? You could have called in the Chester City Blog. I would have had the entire address on the blog the next day. You could have called in Desire Grover. She would have UStreamed it live. Why have we never seen a State of the City live with any administration? With all this free and easy to use technology at our fingertips, every resident of Chester should have seen the State of the City by now. What’s the secret?

Linder spent a great deal of time discussing the business community and his hopes of Chester becoming an integral port city. He said plans include further development of the waterfront area to make Chester a distribution point on the Delaware River.

Any development of the waterfront area would be nice. I’m still waiting for the retail and residential that was suppose to accompany the soccer stadium. Is that concept dead? If so, get rid of the sign promoting it on the corner of Highland Ave and Seaport Drive.

“We need port development and to utilize what is here and available to us,” he said. “We could be an international city.”

Okay. A port would be cool but we don’t have a lot of contiguous unoccupied river front, so I guess we’re talking a very small port. I assume the ‘here and available to us’ refers to the river, I-95, railroad, proximity to the airport and Philadelphia. 

Linder made specific mention of the vast number of people who attend soccer games at PPL Park and Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack.

Wow. Did he really?

The mayor said city representatives have been working closely with the Chester Business Association and the redevelopment of the business district is crucial to the future of Chester.

Does the Chester Business Association have the resources to develop the business district? Probably not. Let’s bring some real money to the table. 

Linder discussed plans to continue addressing blighted properties, adding that the process of revamping ordinances and code enforcement is ongoing.

“Chester is an old city and some of the ordinances are old,” he said. “The option is either to tear down and rebuild or bring the properties up to code. Blight is definitely a serious issue.”

The preliminary CEDA budget called for $93,000 to remove blighted buildings. Can you even remove much more than about 5 abandoned homes with that money?

Jobs were discussed at length.

Linder said unfortunately, there are generations of people in the city who have not had the opportunity for steady employment and a primary goal is to bring jobs to Chester.

He added that bringing jobs to the city is one issue, but making certain the residents/work force is prepared is paramount.
If many of us had to wait for a job to open in Chester in order for us to find work, we’d never find a job. Most people everywhere don’t work in their home town, especially small towns. Chester is a transportation hub. There’s a bus or train that can take you in any direction your job is located. The greater issue is getting people in this city jobs regardless of what city the job is in, and getting people moved into this city who have jobs. 

Linder said the ultimate goal is sustainability, stressing the importance of changing the image of the city to attract businesses. He said through the efforts of the administration and police department during the past year, 136 firearms were taken off the street. He added that a narcotics team is also active.

Hallelujah. I’m finally hearing the word ‘Image’. But, my bubble was bursted when he brought up guns. Let’s learn to talk about image in a positive way. Image and guns don't go together. 

“It’s important for people to feel safe here,” he said. “I am on the street all the time and I believe that people do feel safer. It is also a goal of mine to better market the city and get more traffic downtown.”

It’s good to have an opinion, and if the Mayor believes people feel safer, who am I to argue. I’m happy to see that his eye is on marketing the city. Unfortunately, some of us old enough to remember the grandeur of the old downtown Chester are disillusioned into thinking it can be that way again - anytime soon. To me, the simple solution is to create a bunch of street level professional offices with residential on top. Realistically, my focus would be on building a college town, not a downtown.