Collegeville Borough Revitalization Plans, Work Are Moving Ahead

Laughter was in the air at the Collegeville Borough Meeting Wednesday night as council members embraced the laid-back spirit of summer and got through the borough business beaming.

The is doing extraordinarily well, according to CEDC’s Linda Flederbach. The market recently received a large donation from State Farm Insurance, and business is still booming. Vendor participation continues to increase, and customer satisfaction is everything the businesses could ask and more.

The recent blood drive also went very well, according to council member Geoffrey Thompson. This year’s drive raised double the blood last year’s did, despite playful jokes about Police Chief Barton Bucher’s fever preventing his participation.

Bucher reported there have been no juvenile arrests in the last month, “which is good for the summer.” That means youth are finding other things to do, Bucher said.

In the business of finding things to do for young people, council member Andrea Baptiste reported the Collegeville Revitalization Plan is going on smoothly. Local businesses have an R.S..V.P. deadline of Aug. 12 for participation in the program, and printing the agendas and revitalization plans will occur soon after.

Complementing bringing new faces to Collegeville, the Perkiomen Trail Parking Lot Project was bid, and a resolution was passed to accept a bid from DiRocco Brothers, Inc., who will finish the project for a little more than $100,000.

Engineer David Leh said the trail will be brought up to the intersection of Main and Third streets, where the parking lot will be installed. Two decorative street lights will be installed, and the pedestal traffic lights at the intersection will be replaced with overhead lights.

“It shouldn’t take any more than a couple months from start to finish,” Leh told council.

It’s reported the only disturbance will be on-site, so traffic and parking downtown will not be disrupted.

As the meeting was opened for public comment, two concerned citizens addressed council on the new Prudent Banking Act of 2011 currently in Congress, which will end government bailouts. The citizens asked that council review the importance of the bill and take it under advisement to support the bill.

“I think some research needs to be done,” Baptiste said. She recommended council wait before taking any action on the matter.

’s new president, Dr. Bobby Fong, also spoke at the meeting. Wednesday night was Dr. Fong’s first meeting. Fong talked briefly about Ursinus’ request for the annual Main Street closing for UC graduation, explaining that this year, graduation will be moved to a Friday so as to not conflict with the religious Sabbath. He expressed the importance of respecting all Ursinus students and their traditions and beliefs, and doing everything possible to be sure to include all of UC’s students in the graduation ceremony.

In other news, Sunday, Aug. 14, will be the ’s annual car show, and fire company representatives say it promises to be a good time.