Back in the 80s and 90s I drove through Phoenixville often sometimes 3 or 4 days a week. I saw Phoenixville Downtown Manager Barry Cassidy move Phoenixville from a place with corner boys on all the major routes to a destination spot in Southeast Pennsylvania.
Barry moved the drug business off the streets by telling the corner boys they have two weeks to move on or they and their customers will be arrested. I know some people in Coatesville that won’t want Mr. Cassidy here for exactly that reason.
Barry knows how to get projects done. He checks to see if everything is moving ahead on schedule and if there is a snag somewhere he digs down to find the hold up and pushes it forward. In the process a contractor or supplier might dread a call from Mr. Cassidy but the project will stay on time.
If Phoenixville gets passenger rail service I think Barry could take most of the credit for laying the “roadbed”. And I don’t believe there is a better municipal grant writer in Pennsylvania.
My daughter lived in Phoenixville for a few years. It was nice to visit her and walk downtown for a dinner or some ice cream any day of the week. It was and especially pleasing experience because I knew the Phoenixville BC (Before Cassidy). In the Phoenixville BC days you could only buy booze or drugs downtown, dinner or ice cream meant driving to the mall.
I can't think of someone more uniquely suited to move Coatesville's Revitalization forward.
SEE
County Lines Magazine
SEE:
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The train line that is being proposed by Barry Cassidy now has a name. The Green Line, which Cassidy hopes will connect Phoenixville to the Main Line (and ideally the R5 Septa Line), is now undergoing feasibility studies to see if it is a project worth pursuing.
From today's Phoenix
From today's Phoenix
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