Taking a break

When we started Residents Who Care in 2006, we had some lofty goals. Chief among them was trying to raise public awareness of issues happening within the township that had a direct impact on the lives of the citizens. This ran the gamut from basic issues to much more serious matters.

We were the first, and so far the only civic organization to formally challenge the Board of Supervisors on a wrong, and tremendously unpopular zoning decision that still sits in the hands of the court, and will have a very severe and detrimental impact on our community if we ultimately lose the battle.

While we are extremely proud of this, very frankly, we failed to inspire 99.9% of the population of Forks Township to get involved, except on very specific issues and for a very short period of time.

Sadly, the same fiscal irresponsibility, cronyism and bad management that occurred before our formation still exists today, and in some cases, it is even worse.

Perhaps we should have known better. Some of us were former founders of the Forks Township Concerned Citizens (FTCC) as well as the Forks Action Committee (FAC). For all intense purposes, FAC has become an adjunct to the Board of Supervisors.

We saw the same apathy at FTCC and FAC and we thought that we could reverse this trend with a new group and a much simpler mission.

We had hopes that the newest Board of Supervisor members (Egolf and Chuss) would be different and better than Hoff and Ackerman. We were wrong. Frankly, it is just more of the same.

Where do we go from here? We will-

1. Continue to see our challenge to zoning ordinance 298 through the court system and take it as far as our attorney recommends.
2. Keep this blog active as a reference source and in case some how, some way the citizens of Forks Township decide to regularly engage in the decisions and actions that have a direct correlation to their own welfare as well as of them their families, friends and neighbors.

Where do you now go to get the other side of the story? Regrettably, nowhere. The Express-Times, Morning Call and WFMZ (Channel 69) will continue to devote limited resources to Forks Township. The Forks Action Committee (FAC) will most likely persist in offering a sanitized and non-controversial recap of township meetings and decisions. Unless the Board of Supervisors decides to broadcast their meetings, you will only be given the “feel-good” minimal information that they choose to share with you.

Many will relish us going on hiatus, some will even celebrate. In the end however, we remain very proud of what we did manage to accomplish and recognize that our respite is not a defeat to us personally, but a loss to every man, woman and child who resides in Forks Township Pennsylvania.