Residents think of ways to revitalize Athens Borough

Morning-times.com  12-13-11

Residents think of ways to revitalize Athens Borough

By KRISTY WESTBROOK

Staff Writer

Several residents talk to a FEMA official during Monday’s meeting at Athens High School. Pat McDonald/Morning TimesATHENS BOROUGH – Athens Borough residents Monday brainstormed on ways to bring the borough back after the recent flooding.

A community meeting was held in the Athens Area High School cafeteria on long-term community recovery with local and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials.

Athens Borough Emergency Management Coordinator, and co-chair of the Athens Recovery Steering Committee Scott Riley headed the meeting alongside co-chair Yvonne Maslin. Riley and Maslin created the committee with the help of FEMA, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials and Bradford County Emergency Management Agency representatives.

“Hopefully, this will help move the borough forward,” said Riley.

“It will take all of us to put all of the pieces of Athens back together,” Maslin said to residents, adding that Athens is not the same after the recent flooding and will not be again.

Several Athens Borough business owners attended Monday’s meeting. Pat McDonald/Morning Times“Together we can shape what will happen,” said Maslin. She said the borough now has the opportunity to come back even stronger.

Before creating a new community, Maslin said residents have to decide what they liked about the borough before the recent flooding and how they would like to be after it is revitalized.

Long-Term Recovery

John Boyle of FEMA, who is specifically working on long-term community recovery, said the Athens Borough Steering Committee and its FEMA consultants have also been speaking with agencies such as the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Committee and the Central Bradford Progress Authority on ways to find funding for the borough once reconstruction plans are devised.

Read the remainder of the article...