Last night’s Coatesville City Council Meeting might have seemed ordinary.

It was a conventional business meeting with friendly even jovial conversation. It may have seemed like an ordinary municipal meeting:

But for a Coatesville City Council Meeting; a meeting without hate spewing about is extremely unusual. At the height of the Saha “Save our Farm” debacle every meeting was full of hateful anti-government nutcases, drug dealers, drug dealers masquerading as ministers, hateful ministers and a few citizens hoping for a better Coatesville along with media reporters that braved the hostile environment. At times we had as many as 5 police at the Coatesville City Council meetings for security.

At last night’s meeting Ben Bruton had this to say:
Ben Bruton
“When I bought here, we were encouraged by what we saw here in Coatesville and my daughter who is 22 months old pulled this out from under the couch the other day and I just thought I’d bring it in… This shows the future of Coatesville 5 years ago. Prior to some things that happened.

I truly hope that someday we can get something like this again to where we’re sitting in these Council Chambers and around these Chamber walls are pictures of could be and what the vision of Coatesville is again.. I applaud you Mr. Reed for sharing with us these reports. Everything was so close to the chest before, if that’s the right word for it and nothing was shared with the public.

And what I’ve seen in the few months since some changes have been made; the sharing from this side of the table to what’s out here is tenfold better… I appreciate it and I hope we can get back to visions like this; to where the rest of Chester County is jealous of what we have to win going down here in Coatesville.”

You can listen here:

When I left the building, it occurred to me that I was unconcerned about someone outside waiting to assault me. It was a comforting feeling that holds promise for a good future in Coatesville.

The item Ben Bruton pulled out form his couch was an illustrated map of Coatesville’s planned revitalization. This document was as close as I could find to it:
http://cbp.arc.miami.edu/Events/Coatesville%20newsletter.pdf

Also see:
A new boss for city
DAILY LOCAL NEWS
Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
By DANIELLE LYNCH, Staff Writer

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2010/02/23/news/srv0000007678698.txt