Nothing from County Commissioners

Last night the Lehigh County Commissioners failed to provide the taxpayers any relief from the upcoming tax increase. Out of a $390 million dollar budget, they couldn't find one (real) dollar to cut.* Dean Browning's non-binding resolution for union concessions are just costumes on the dog and pony.** In reality some union workers will be getting a 9% increase, a good year for them indeed. The handwriting on the wall is the future consequences of Don Cunningham's first act as Executive in 2006; unionizing CedarBrook. The $1.7 reduction from the tax increase is a transfer of gambling revenue from casino taxes, not from any cuts made by the Commissioners; they made none.* I didn't attend the meeting last night, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn, but I did read Bernie O'Hares excellent post on the meeting, and The Morning Call article by Jenna Portnoy.

* Several Amendments were passed which eliminated three positions and reduced the IT budget, for a total of $1.5 million. However, most likely the Republican controlled Commission will allow the Administration's budget version to pass by default, allowing them to disassociate themselves from the tax increase.

** WFMZ this evening described Browning's union resolutions as recommendations for next year's contract, as yet not negotiated.

Boat Ramp Launching

Mayor Pawlowski and other City Dignitaries will officially launch the Ott Street Boat Ramp this coming Friday afternoon. The Ramp will provide safe entry for canoes, kayaks and other motor-less watercraft into the Cedar Park flood basin. Permits are required and may be obtained at the Park Office, 3000 Parkway Blvd. The City wishes to again thank the Trexler Trust for it's generosity for this monstrosity.

Those familiar with both this blog and Cedar Park, realize that the boat ramp shown above is actually the new paved path from Ott Street into the former passive west side of Cedar Park. This monstrosity will link the recreational and special event festivals, traditionally limited to the Cedar Beach Pool side of the park, with the rose gardens. The new wide paved paths will accommodate vehicles necessary to facilitate the events. Welcome to the Park Without Limits.

UPDATE: Pictures of Boat Ramp without flooding

Playgrounds and Feces

As Allentown prepares to unveil it's new destination playground, Lehigh Parkway near the Robin Hood Bridge is covered in feces, tampons and toilet paper. The LCA manhole cover allowed an enormous amount of raw sewage to escape into the park and Little Lehigh Creek, just upstream of our water plant intake. Although Pawlowski is preparing for a major news conference for the playground, he should be in the park right now raising hell about this ecological disaster.


One can smell the sewage as soon as you enter the park off of 15th street.
Hopefully this disaster will prompt Allentown into insisting that the LCA curtail it's expansion, until which time this reoccurring problem is properly addressed.

UPDATE: The manhole cover just west of Robin Hood Bridge, was propelled off during the storm from the pressure in the pipe, projecting the sewage  into the park and creek.

The Buck Stops Here

Opinion Page Letter, The Morning Call, Sept. 30
What action should Governor Rendell take in response to a recent revelation about inappropriate investigations? A wise man by the name of Truman said "The buck stops here." Although he only has a few months remaining in office, and it would only be a symbolic act, I think Governor Rendell should resign.

The resignation wouldn't be just for this one incident, but as an act of contrition for numerous failures to deliver the government he promised. It would be for a casino commission, who managed to award one of a few gambling licenses to a dubious character. It would be for making countless turnpike and bridge committee appointments, while allowing the roads to crumble. It would be for allowing PennDOT to concentrate on proposed toll booths, instead of snow removal. It would be for spending millions of dollars at photo opportunities, and now saying that we're broke.* It would be for worrying about how to tax the gas from the marcellus shale fracking, while ignoring the environmental consequences. It would be for pandering to those interests which made us a leading welfare state. It would for prisons becoming our only growth industry. It would be for loving to hear himself speak, while casting a deaf ear and blind eye to the declining reality of our State. It would be for allowing himself to be distracted as an influence peddler on the national scene, obviously more concerned with his future than ours.

Italicized sentences did not appear in newspaper rendition
*referring to WAM (walking around money) and large cardboard checks

Peace Upon Israel

On Thursday Sept. 20, for the first time in nine years, Israel's Chief Rabbi's prayed at the ancient synagogue*, in one of the world's oldest cities, Jericho. Shalom Al Yisrael (Peace Upon Israel) dates to the 6th century and was discovered in 1936, during the British Mandate. There are several magnificent mosaics, including the Ark of the Covenant. Although under Palestinian Authority, under the 1995 Oslo Accords, Jews were to have access to the site.
*The synagogue is located in the ancient city of Jericho (Yericho in Hebrew), north of the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley. Some 1,500 years old, it was discovered in 1936 by D.C. Baramki of the Antiquities Authority under the British Mandate. Its 10x13 meter mosaic floor features images of a menorah, shofar, lulav, Holy Ark, and the Hebrew words "Shalom Al Yisrael” (Peace Upon Israel).

In Praise of Panto

Easton's Mayor Sal Panto has proposed something I have advocated in Allentown for years; Using the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) strictly for city purposes. Politically, it's tough love. The Minsi Trail Scouting Program was requesting $15,000, and Girl Scouts, especially Brownies, know how to cry. In Easton the total CDBG is $990,000, and there is a $2.6 million city budget gap for 2011. In Allentown, the multi million dollar grant feeds the poverty magnet; it finances the social agencies who rely on fresh low income clients. In addition to lowering the burden on taxpayers, city use of the grant money would gradually reduce the workload created by a transient population.

Shown in the photo is Mayor Panto with the Brownies and Cub Scouts, before he announced the cutback.