ABOUT THOMAS HYLTON

Tom Hylton has lived for 37 years with his wife, Frances, in a small brick house on Chestnut Street in downtown Pottstown next to the John Potts Burial Ground.  Frances recently retired after 35 years as an elementary school teacher in the Pottstown School District.

During his first 22 years in Pottstown, Hylton wrote for The Mercury, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1990.  He resigned from the newspaper in 1994 to form a small non-profit and write a book about ways Pennsylvania can preserve its towns and countryside.  Later he produced and hosted a public television documentary based on the book that has aired more than 100 times on PBS stations nationwide. 

Hylton serves on the Pottstown School Board, the Pottstown Planning Commission and the Pottstown Shade Tree Commission.  Hylton has championed Pottstown as a model of sustainable development in his book, public television documentary, and in nearly 450 talks given in 35 states, including one to the nation’s governors at their 2001 conference in Washington.

Hylton was named Pennsylvania’s Urban Forester of the Year by the Pennsylvania Forestry Association in 1992; Conservationist of the Year by the Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation in 1999; and Historic Preservationist of the Year by Preservation Pennsylvania in 2000.

In December 2008, the Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government Web site was established by Tom Hylton with his longtime colleague, Dennis Wausnock, and Hylton began writing columns for The Mercury's editorial page as paid advertisements.

The columns are used as a forum to promote the best aspects of Pottstown, which is a sustainable community.

We believe these columns are necessary to promote good government and preseve Pottstown's system core values, which include walkable neighborhood schools. Freedom of speech is a precious right which can make our communities stronger.