It has occurred to me that the Fleetwood Borough Council is NOT going to change their plans or even tweak as to not take away Fleetwood Pizza. Kathy Miller says she “feels bad for Fleetwood Pizza, but is only doing what she’s directed to do”. If that’s true then why did she come up with THREE plans for Pear Alley and ALL THREE involved taking our business away. The borough is so insistent on this that I have to think it’s personal. If that’s the case, then should people who are in governmental positions be allowed to take personal attacks on it’s people? This is malice behavior that is obvious to everyone who looks at the situation from our point of view. Nobody can come up with any good reason for why they need more then just the width of the alley to create a walkway. Plus they’re so hell bent that we get demolished first. It’s like they want to make absolute sure we get out of there ASAP. What’s the rush? Why create a walkway when you have nothing yet to walk to? Something stinks to high heaven around here and I’m not sitting down for it! Just compensation doesn’t pay for the loss of our prime spot on Main Street, or pay for 30 years of serving this community. The job of borough council is to work for and look out for it’s community members. If the whole community is telling them they think this whole plan is bad then they should in all fairness go back to the table and come up with something new. I know that takes time and costs money but not as much money as it will cost to buy us out. Last week I took a drive through Hamburg and saw what was done there. They love it so much they still didn’t take down their Christmas wreaths from the light posts. While the sidewalk looks nice the road is still atrocious, narrowed by parking on either side which makes maneuvering through there when a big truck is coming the other way is scary. Here in Fleetwood while the sidewalk might get improved in looks, the road will still be patched, ugly and bump, bump, bump through town. If the Fleetwood Borough wanted to fix up the town, then why didn’t they ask everyone who lives and works here what they want to see happen? They should change “BLIGHTED AREA” to “CURRENTLY WITHOUT A STRIP MALL”!

Much to our dismay the Fleetwood Borough still plans to create a walkway where our pizza shop now stands. Appraisers were in and they can’t even understand why the borough can’t create a walkway with just the alley. When at the meeting Monday night they were adamant that they weren’t changing their minds and Fleetwood Pizza was in the first phase of the plan.
That means we were put in an illogical order in this plan. Is it just because we’re fighting back? How would anyone feel if what you broke your back for was suddenly being given to someone else and there’s nothing you can do but suck wind and go? Keeping in mind that your being replaced by a stupid walkway that won’t benefit the community. This is only going to benefit the people who voted on it, private developer and The property on the other side of the alley which coincidently is owned by a councilman. Nobody in this area can figure out why with all the opposition and head scratching why the borough is being such a bully about this. It takes a big man to admit your wrong but an even bigger one to stand up and do something about it. I really wish the Mayor could step back and see what he’s doing to us just to make a walkway for a private developer. He should be looking out more for the small businesses already here that have been pillars of this community for a long time. Instead all he seems to be worried about is making nice for this private developer, the new kid in town. Please comment with advice or personal glimpses of your own eminent domain abuse.
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BERKS REDEVELOPMENT AS RUN AMUCK IN THIS COUNTY!

I’m not really sure what they’ve done in your area. Let me tell you what they’re doing here in Fleetwood. This hard working small business and large factory community is being turned upside down. The Fleetwood Borough along with Berks Redevelopment Authority have devised a plan, but I don’t think it was carefully thought out. First the Borough really wants to develop the old Garden State Tannery spot which sits right behind Main Street, that’s perfectly understandable. But instead of utilizing that space to it’s once pristine potential, they are going to slap a strip mall in there. Please, this is not what we need. There’s a strip mall right down the road that hasn’t been filled to capacity yet. There’s also commercial space for lease right on Main Street which 2 businesses already flopped in.
They also never did anything for 5 years or more about the property that sits next to Homer’s Bar. It was gutted by fire a long time ago and sat there as an eyesore in the middle of Main Street. The building finally has had siding and “for sale” signs put on it just last week. That’s why nobody can understand how they can BLIGHT Fleetwood Pizza to create a walkway to the strip mall. I am the wife of the owner of Fleetwood Pizza. I think this is the most ridiculous idea yet. They even want to create a walkway where our thriving business stands before they even have anything built to walk to, hah!
Remember the “Road to Nowhere”? Get ready Berks county will have a “Walkway to Nowhere” because that land behind Main Street could take a very long time to develop, it will even go through more hands till it does. Of all the things that don’t make sense to me about this whole plan, putting us first on the list for demolishing is just plain stupid! I think the line “build it and they will come” is something they are seeing through rose colored glasses and they need to take them off and see what’s really here. We don’t have a river running through our town or a college sitting in it. We have a train and it goes through here approximately 12-14 times a day. The plan will be directing traffic into this hassle and all just so it has to pass this new strip mall of empty stores. I think developing this area is a good idea but this plan doesn’t make any sense to anyone except those who created it, voted on it and are developing it. They don’t even have all the funding for this plan and they lost any chance for more government funding because they sold that GST property to a private developer. They have UP TO 900,000.00 of a projected 3.2 million dollars. That means Fleetwood is going to pay out in higher taxes. If you don’t want to pay for a “Developer’s Folly” call Fleetwood Borough Hall and let them know, attend the meeting held the second Monday of every month. Our slogan is “Say No Way To Walkway”. Please help us to fight this battle we can stop this from happening if we all band together. Save Fleetwood Pizza from Eminent Domain Abuse! Thank you very much.
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