298-Part 2

At tonight’s Forks Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting, the Planning and Zoning expert appearing for the appellants regarding zoning ordinance #298 testified.

We would like to offer you a detailed recap of what occurred, but we are unable to do so clearly.

The appellants in attendance tonight sat directly behind counsel and the witness. In the row behind the appellants, there was a very discourteous person who kept making comments throughout the proceeding. When one of the appellants said, “shush”, the impolite person said, “shut up.”

Imagine our surprise when we turned around to see who would behave in such an uncivil manner and we discovered that this was none other than township supervisor C. David Howell.

Is this any way for an elected official to conduct himself at an official township meeting and a proper way to treat the citizens whom he claims to represent?

Taxes, growth and crime

What does this article mean?

Initially, on the surface, there is some good news here as it looks like the local property tax rate will remain the same. Here is our concern with this though.

This particular tax is the lowest tax that we pay. The township is able to hold the line due to all the development occurring within our humble community. What happens when we run out of space to be developed and there is no developer fees being collected? Well, we all know the answer to that one. Consider this in the meantime, the township is already up to its eyeballs in debt!

There were two other very interesting items in this Morning Call piece.

1. "The police plan also said township growth has directly affected call volume, sending it from 3,428 in 1999 to 7,012 last year." This should be of great concern to everyone, especially "Security (formerly Soccer) Moms". Our once humble town is becoming a city. While police calls are rising, we need not look further away than places like Allentown and Easton to see what is coming our way.

2. "Forks, according to census figures released in July, was the second-fastest growing municipality in the state since 2000, trailing only Lower Macungie Township. Forks now has more than 13,000 residents." Despite our rapid growth we still garner very little media coverage, why is that? Most especially troubling is why the Express-Times (E-T) seems to be devoting very little ink to us and what they do write appears to just scratch the surface. Additionally, they never seem to have anything negative to say about our Board of Supervisors or challenges them in any way. Hmm, one wonders why. Imagine if the E-T gave us just 10% of the in-depth coverage that they are devoting to the Easton-Phillipsburg H.S. Thanksgiving Day football game. Wow, would that be something!

Please don't forget that our challenge to zoning ordinance #298 continues on Monday, November 20, 2006, 7:30pm at the Municipal Building.

Doing the right thing

Kudos to Planning Commission (PC) member Dean Turner for trying his best, doing the right thing and for standing up for what he believes in.

The Morning Call and Express-Times articles recap the PC's approval of the Weis Market plan last night. We believe that this statement and this quote say it all.

Planner Dean Turner cast the only dissenting vote, saying he wants to be consistent with what he's said in the past. "I'm not against a grocery store," but the location is ill-suited for a high-traffic store, Turner said after the meeting.

The next stop for the out of town SamCar Developer team is the Board of Supervisors (BoS). While we expect to see and hear plenty of pontificating, posturing, rationalizing and showmanship from members of the BoS, at this point in time, it is hard to imagine that in the end a "yes" vote by the Board is anything more than a legal formality.

Please don't forget-

1) Our appeal regarding the spot zoning ordinance (298) that allowed for this mess continues on November 20th.

2) The term of office for Supervisors David Hoff and John Ackerman are up in 2007. The time to seriously consider running for the board is NOW! To make real change in OUR town we need to start replacing those board members who consistently ignore the will of the people, set-aside our established ordinances, and continue to worry more about pleasing developers than the residents.

For more information on how to register to run, please drop us a note today. citizens@residentswhocare.com

To turf, or not to turf..

"The way I see it, we have three options," Cortez said. "We can install turf. We can buy new fields. Or we can start cutting sports."

This is our favorite line in an article that ran in today's paper. We have a 4th suggestion for Mr. Cortez.

Instead of spending any more money on athletic fields, let's get enough books and chairs for the kids as well as make concrete improvements to the educational system at EASD so that when they get into the real world they will actually be able to say something more than "would you like fries with your meal" at their place of employment! A side benefit might also be EASD getting off of the state watch list and improving test scores.

Wow, what a revolutionary concept!

Dancing in the pool

Did you see this article? The first word that comes to mind is unbelievable!

As for the dances, fact...This is not the first time that the issues raised by township resident Karen Haduck have surfaced. Many years ago the FTYSO, then known as Forks Township Athletic Association, had similar situations. A few brave and committed volunteers made sweeping changes to the dances which, addressed all of Ms. Haduck's concerns and more. We would gladly outline those changes but why isn't Supervisor Donald ("Don") Miller doing it? He had a front row seat to the changes back then, knows all of the history and observed the benefits of the changes. Two other points about these dances.

• Keep in mind that the FTYSO is also the same group that sponsored a beer tent at the township's 250th anniversary celebration. Seem a little odd that a youth organization sponsored a beer tent? Obviosuly it's all about the $$$$!
  
• While Ms. Haduck's concerns are valid, like most of society in general, she seems to be dismissing parents of any responsibility in this regard. Values, respect and responsibility start at home.

So Easton wants us, Forks Township, to shell out $24,000 for their pool. Would someone please tell them that we are already up to our own armpits in debt and can't afford to pay attention much less pay for an out of town pool! Maybe they should sell the pool to a private party since obviously the city can not get the attendance to match the budget required to operate it!