Marty Eggleston was excited Wednesday. The Coatesville City Council president had just gotten word that Gov. Rendell would provide $500,000 for overtime and other costs in the investigation of a series of arsons that have his town living in fear.
When asked, though, Eggleston agreed it's too bad that it took a rash of fires that left one person dead to get that type of attention. Coatesville, in a sense, has been burning for years. It's been in desperate need of help, lest it turn to ashes.
The deliberately set fires, 33 in the past 13 months, have caused $3 million in damages. The arsons have drawn national attention to the Chester County town of about 11,000 people. Their anxiety in not knowing whose house will be torched next strikes a chord with folks who fear losing their homes to the economy.
How bad could it get in Coatesville? Look at North Camden, where hopelessness years ago led to mindlessness. Fires set in the neighborhood beneath the Ben Franklin Bridge - for fun, or sport, or spite - led to a cycle of flight and abandonment, until little was left to burn.
To avoid that fate, Coatesville first must catch the arsonists. Anyone with helpful information needs to come forward - pronto! But beyond putting out fires, Coatesville needs to be lifted from the economic despair that makes it ripe for arsonists to burn its homes without a care.
Eggleston doesn't blame others for his town's problems. Coatesville has never recovered from the demise of the steel industry, which used to provide good jobs. "When I was a child, coming to downtown Coatesville was like going to Philadelphia. We had all the stores," said Eggleston, 42.
"We never found anything to replace steel," he said.
All of the town's past leaders must bear responsibility for that. Coatesville is in a good location, with easy access to rails and roads, but it "missed opportunities," as Eggleston puts it, when it came to luring new commercial enterprises. Now, opportunities are hard to find.
The state has programs to help old Pennsylvania towns like Coatesville, but it hasn't taken advantage of them. The governor's Main Street and Elm Street programs have allocated millions to help revitalize downtowns and improve residential neighborhoods. But Coatesville hasn't been a participant.
For years, Coatesville attached its economic development hopes to the acquisition of a 42-acre plot needed to build a $60 million recreation complex. It tried to use its powers of eminent domain to take the farmland, but after a lengthy and costly legal battle, agreed to pay the Saha family about $1 million for a five-acre easement. Nearly three years later, there is no recreation complex. The Saha land fight divided the city's leadership, which diverted its attention from other problems, including crime and poor schools.
Today, Coatesville is trying to regain its footing. Through the state's Enterprise Zone Program, it is trying to lure new companies. But the city really needs more hands-on assistance. In this crisis situation, it would be appropriate for the state to work more closely with Coatesville to make it an attractive town that no one would want to burn.