The Culture Of Harrisburg

Today, before any revelations about pornographic emails, I intended to write about Pennsylvania's DEP. One must wonder exactly who they have been protecting? Opponents of hydraulic fracturing are dubious about the oversight at the drill sites. Considering the resources and influence of the gas companies, plus the economic benefits to portions of the state, the suspicions of the opponents are very well justified. In this current election cycle, the politicians on both sides of the aisle only concern themselves with the tax equation, nobody talks about public health concerns. This blog has been questioning the DEP for years. While sewage overflows along the Little Lehigh for years, repair plans keep being extended, rather than implemented. Pennsylvania has torn down more dams than any other state in the country. Are we more environmentally progressive than Washington state or California, or just less discriminating with approvals? Locally, the Wildlands Conservancy has a pipeline of grants from the state's DEP, destroying our parks under the disguise of stream improvement. The indiscriminate demolition of the Trout Nursery Dam contributed to the unprecedented fish kill this summer. Like the Girls Gone Wild videos, Harrisburg has been wild for years. Notice I mentioned both sides of the isle. That's part of the problem, there should be more than just two sides. I'm an Independent, fed up with the culture of Harrisburg.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's An Independent

Yesterday, on my campaign page, Mr. Molovinsky Goes To Harrisburg, a member the local Republican Party chided me for taking a Democratic position on the minimum wage increase. He must have mistaken me for a Republican Lite, which I am not. Likewise, I am not a Conservative Democrat. I'm an Independent, who analyzes each issue separately, free of any party playbook. I'm pragmatic, looking for solutions which could be implemented to improve our situation. The voters have been programmed to partisan politics for too long, but they realize that they are being victimized by the stagnation in Harrisburg.

Allentown's Frankenstein Plan Abandoned

Allentown's Mayor Pawlowski has a new vision for Allentown; mixing our trash and sewage together to make energy. Yesterday's paper had a long article on the power brokering involved in this trash to energy proposal. A facility would be built next to the sewage plant on Kline's Island. Sewage sludge would be mixed with trash and burnt to produce electricity. This particular mixture and process has never been tried before, lucky Allentown. The principals in the project are counting on Governor Rendell's appointee's to approve a $32 million dollar bond for the project, on their way out the door, before year's end. What doesn't smell about this vision?

UPDATE: Allentown should be concentrating on upgrading the LCA sewage line along the Little Lehigh, which periodically spills raw sewage into our creek and water supply. Also periodically, the sewage plant must bypass raw sewage into the Lehigh River. It is inappropriate to be promoting a private for profit company, with unproven technology, instead of fixing long existing problems.
Reprinted from November 15, 2010

UPDATE September 30th, 2014:  Allentown's Pawlowski has apparently outgrown his need to capitulate to Delta Thermos hideous plan to mix sewage with trash and burn it to produce electricity.  At one point they were even going to allow Delta to import additional trash from New Jersey if we didn't have enough.  I don't know if they were also going to import additional sewage,  what a concept. Anyway, Pawlowski has graduated to bigger things now with the arena and NIZ. The city had spent one half million dollars of taxpayer money on studies justifying the plan. Congratulations to Rich Fegley and Dan Poresky for their perseverance in fighting this monstrous plan.

The Minimum Wage and The Speech Givers

Although I consider myself a conservative, especially in fiscal matters, today I joined Lehigh Valley's State Representatives and candidates in endorsing the bill to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The event was organized by Alan Jennings of Community Action, and held at the Second Harvest Food Bank. My position is simply that the fruits of person's labor should earn them more than one Happy Meal. Although the sparse audience was essentially the food Bank workers, one by one, the representatives gave essentially the same speech, some even quoting Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. To whom were they speaking? Although they were clearly preaching to the choir, they all rambled on. It's my pledge to work more and speak less than they do.

Park Creeks Before The Hijack

The blogger LVCI makes an eloquent case for Allentown's traditional park system,  before being hijacked by the Wildlands Conservancy.

Park Creeks Which Would You Rather?

South Whitehall's Sweet Spot

For decades before it was called Covered Bridge Park, people would visit Wehr's Dam. The combination of water going over the dam and under the bridge is a visual duet. In his column yesterday, Bill White wouldn't even allow his dog to swim in the mill pond, but would allow park decisions to be dictated by the Wildlands Conservancy. If White had taken his dog to the parks in Allentown this summer, he also couldn't swim, because of the high weed barrier along the creek's edge. Anybody who would want to exchange a beautiful vista for a wall of weeds doesn't understand why parks were created. Taking over is what the Wildlands has done with the Allentown Park System. One out of town park director after another, has been hired to serve the Conservancy's agenda. But I digress, we're here to defend Wehr's Dam from the Wildlands Conservancy's demolition. As a defender of the dam, I resent that we citizens must defend our parks. In a better government, the Commissioners would be the defenders, instead of bending to outside agendas. Bill White underestimates the number of dam supporters at 2,000. There are currently 3,000, 90% of which signed the petition while at the dam. Although the Commissioners insist on adhering to the Wildlands time table for it's decision, they should understand that by spring they will have offended 6,000 people. We will not go away. Although the Commissioners may be willing to hand over our park's history and beauty, we will make no concessions in defending the park.
photograph by K Mary Hess