The committee to save the water system for the citizens of Allentown successfully gathered hundreds of signatures at the Halloween Parade. They will have a presence at many of the polling places this Tuesday. Signing the petition will assure that the citizens have the right to vote on this most important issue in the May primary elections.
photo provided by Dan Poresky
Oh wait! Those signatures cannot be valid ... They weren't collected at the specific outlined times that City Council has allotted for them. They must be collected only on Wednesdays from 2:10 PM until 3:05 PM and only at houses that have covered porches. So all of these signatures probably are going to be stricken.
ReplyDeleteOnly a more serious note, any progress on deciphering what King Edwin's mumbled at the City Council meeting???
@11:33, pawlowski speculated that perhaps eichenwald could get a loan for the city from some financial institution where a relative of hers had worked. in addition to being nasty and personal, it may have indicated oppositional research. eichenwald had never mentioned the relative or job to pawlowski. again, i credit guridy was acknowledging that it was an unnecessary and inappropriate thing for pawlowski to say.
ReplyDeletescott armstrong could not get pass the word verification and sent this comment by email.
ReplyDeleteAs tempting as the prospect is of getting lots of signatures from the throng, the Halloween Parade may prove to be less than cost effective. Not many of those who attend are registered voters. They will want to carefully cross check signatures with voter registration efforts. That said, I commend them for their effort and fully support the mission to bring this important issue to the voters.
My recommendation; gather signatures outside places of worship at the end of services.
Scott Armstrong
Scott, i attended one of their meetings. short of requiring photo ID, they are very careful about who they get to sign.
on the word verification. type the word, space, and then the number. i.e., snkj 34
MM -
ReplyDeleteOn the word verification, it's not just how to enter the code that's difficult. The big problem I have is reading what I need to enter. The letters are so distorted/close together that it becomes difficult to read.
@5:21, the spam coming to blogger from robots is never ending. because the comments are moderated, without word verification, I must open 50 spam messages a day. I will disengage the verification during daylight hours to accommodate readers, and reinstall in the evening, to accommodate myself.
ReplyDeletePrey-tell Mr. M. how would you close the budget deficit without privatizing the water system. And, please, no harsh words against Mr. Palowski on this--he's really not to blame for the unfunded pension debts.
ReplyDeletePrey-tell Mr. M., what would you do to stop the looming financial crisis without privatizing the water system--which at least amortizes costs over a 50-year period and spreads them to regional municipalities too? And, no harsh words against Mr. Palowshi, he is not responsible for the unfunded pensions causing this bruhaha.
ReplyDeleteactually, pawlowski is not blameless for this problem. giving him a pass from the afflerbach administration, which he may not deserve, he clearly stated as a candidate in 05 that he would address the problem. he encouraged city council to drop their lawsuit against the contract. he has said that he would not consider act 47 on his watch, which is a political decision for himself, but not in the best interests of the citizens. with all that said, and accepted, i would strongly consider a water authority, then issue revenue anticipation bonds. it was said at the council meeting that such bonds would be a hard sell, but they would be backed by the necessary purchase of water by the homeowners; that's a stronger selling point than the hockey arena had to sell their bonds. the water system has a positive cash flow of over $10million a year; giving that up for even $200 million for 50 years is poor business.
ReplyDeleteMike I'd guess what Pawlowski referred to is Eichenwald's husband works for LVEDC.
ReplyDeleteThe Banker
banker @ 8:42, that guess is incorrect. although eichenwald gave me permission to reveal the comment, i'd prefer to allow her family more privacy than pawlowski granted her. i think it's sufficient to say that he made an unnecessary personal snark. future guesses about the comment will not be published.
ReplyDeleteScott, the Mayor has successfully co-opted many of the religious groups in the City.
ReplyDeleteGotta hand it to him, he has built a coalition that includes the Human Relations Comission's almost exclusively GLBT folks and a hard core Evangelical and Fundamemtalist wing nuts. No small feat.
The Main Line church's have most of their membership coming into Allentown city limits from the burbs where they have moved out to or settled in since arriving from Jersey.
Many of the churches he has co-opted are more style than substance. They have sold their souls for political patronage. More concerned with personal awards and self aggrandizement than they are doing what needs to be done for the community. They complain to everyone else about the mistreatment of their respective folks but what are they doing to solve the issues? And, of course, then when anyone opposes them or comments negatively, those persons are racist. Big smiley face on that one. And the beat goes on. Lets start another 301(B) neighborhood development corporation. All in the name of you know who......
ReplyDeleteNo one collecting signitures this AM at my polling place. Turnout is huge.
ReplyDelete" No one collecting signatures.................."
ReplyDeleteReally lame. This is why that town sucks.
No leadership. No balls.
@1:17, people are collecting signatures; perhaps not at every poll for the entire 13 hours, but many are manned. IMO, the petition committee did an outstanding job. how good of a job? good enough that pawlowski had workers come up from philadelphia to hand out pro private water flyers at the polls.
ReplyDeleteOne of the benefits of this water fight is that more people will become aware of this issue. In most municipalities, the deal goes through fast track without anyone really doing an analysis. In the case of Allentown, thoughtful people need keep studying the issue. Referendums and poll workers aside, the more people who are aware of this issue, the better.
ReplyDelete