The city of Altoona is officially financially stable. Altoona has just become the fastest city in the state to leave Act 47, which provides state funding to municipalities in severe financial distress.

“People are still extremely excited and super enthusiastic about seeing this area come back”, Jessica Henri, owner of Fox Hollow Boutique, told us.

Sarah Vogel owns The Clay Cup and told us she saw the progress Altoona was making, and had to be a part of it saying, “downtown is on the verge of just exploding at this point and I knew a year ago that now was the time to get in or else there wasn’t going to be any buildings left.”

But it’s not just those new to the area that are noticing the uptick in foot traffic. Samuel Scheinberg works at Shirley’s Shoes, a business that’s called downtown home for decades.

“Off and on we’ve been down here since 1930 and we made it past the worst point and now I feel as though things are getting much better”

The economic growth isn’t the only benefit of the city’s ability to pull out of Act 47. Starting next year, those employed in Altoona who do not live in the city will no longer have to pay non-resident earned income tax.