Time to start fixing the broken windows

For more than a decade I've been talking about Norristown's comeback. I've been vocal about making Norristown a destination, and I've also put my time and my money where my mouth is. We've just completed a month-long four-part series "Under the gun: A time for answers," and I don't want that to be the end of it. Rather than just talk about Norristown's woes, we offered up solutions. Now it's time for the residents of Norristown, and those who make their living in Norristown, to step up to the plate. An easy place to start can be found in the very easily attainable broken window approach.

Curing Norristown's ills

So, I looked at Norristown's economy in a previous column, and I address parents, or the lack thereof, in this week's column So, which of these two elements do you think has kept Norristown from making a comeback. Or, do you have another alternative, such as subsidized housing, as one reader commented? I certainly know I don't have all the answers, but I do know it's time to seriously start searching for them.

The county seat comeback

Revitalization has been talked about in Norristown for more than two decades. What's the problem? Why can't this small town remake itself in the same way Phoenixville, West Chester, and a dozen other municipalities have? Perhaps the answer can be found in the people who live and work in Norristown.