The borough’s summer intern, Kennedy, presented an economic‑development update including an inventory of buildings in commercial zones, an updated business directory on the borough website and maps identifying vacant commercial storefronts.
Kennedy said he physically surveyed the borough and coded properties by occupancy to create a map in which blue properties have tenants, red properties are unoccupied and purple properties are residential uses inside commercial zones. He said the data “did not exist before I started” and that the work supports zoning‑code updates and business‑recruitment efforts. “Crafton was my top choice, and I got it,” Kennedy said of why he sought the internship.
Kennedy also described outreach he conducted with the local business subcommittee and said he helped organize a local business mixer and distributed “shop local” stickers. He told council the Local Government Academy internship provided technical support at relatively low cost to the borough while producing data and program materials the borough can use for economic development work.
Councilmembers thanked Kennedy and said the data will help planning and economic initiatives. Staff said the underlying datasets and the intern’s road map for attracting new businesses are available to borough officials and will be used in zoning and development planning.