Focus group works on comprehensive plan
BROWNSVILLE – A comprehensive plan for Brownsville Borough and Brownsville Township is just a few months away from completion, providing what officials hope will be a blueprint for the community’s revitalization. At a Wednesday meeting of a focus group assembled to address the comprehensive plan, Joy Wilhelm of Mackin Engineering, which has been working on the plan for about a year-and-a-half, said that while Fayette County has gained population in the past 10 years, Brownsville Borough and Brownsville Township have lost about 10 percent of their residents.
She pointed out that 60 percent of the developed property in the municipalities is used for housing, and nearly 8 percent of the houses are considered dilapidated. Nearly 19 percent of the commercial property in the borough and township is dilapidated, Wilhelm said.
Kim Dillinger of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council said a major complaint of businesses that looked at Fayette County but decided to locate elsewhere was the lack of a skilled work force to sustain business.
“We need to establish a stronger relationship between business and education,” Dillinger said. “Often our children have a very limited idea of what career opportunities are available.”
Dillinger said another problem potential employers have noted is a loss of “soft skills,” such as common courtesies like saying “please” and “thank you,” the work ethic to show up for the job every day and dressing appropriately for work.
“One of the top critical issues is that Fayette County doesn’t see how education benefits them. There is a hopelessness here,” Dillinger said.
Lucinda Baron Robbins of the Human Service Council said research on income, community needs and satisfaction rates relate directly to the comprehensive plan.
Robbins said successful communities share certain traits, including evidence of community pride in the way properties are maintained, an emphasis on quality in business, a willingness to invest in the future through community improvements, active economic development programs, a deliberate transfer of power to the younger generation and strong support of education.
Robbins said creative problem solving, such as was used to bring Brownsville General Hospital away from the brink of bankruptcy through a private sale, is another mark of a community’s ability to be successful.
“This town has the possibility of becoming a thriving community,” Robbins said.
The plan should be done this summer, according to Wilhelm.