Chester County Business Leaders - Funding For Mass Transit a Statewide Issue

I've written twice now about proposed cuts to LANTA, including route eliminations and fare increases. NorCo Dem Exec candidate Tara Zrinski has complained about the proposed elimination of mass transit to the slate belt. And last week, Northampton County Council, which includes GOP Exec candidate Tom Giovanni, unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the state senate to include a $292 million increase statewide for mass transit. Though this increase has passed the Democratic state house, its fate is uncertain in the GOP state senate. This is so even though the House version includes $500 million for road and bridge projects, which has been a sticking point in the past. With a budget deadline of June 30 looming, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) is dubious. "Funding transit,” he said, “is something that we can live without in our caucus.”

Maybe he and his fellow Senators can. They get per diems and state cars funded by state taxpayers. Not all of us are so fortunate. 

Some say this is just a Philly problem. But as Laura Manion (President & CEO, Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry) and Mike Grigalonis (President & COO, Chester County Economic Development Council) observe, all of Pennsylvania has a stake in mass transit. Below is what they sent me. 

In the debate over how to fund Pennsylvania’s roads, bridges and transit systems, one counterproductive misconception persists: that mass transit, and specifically SEPTA, is a “Philadelphia problem.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

From Pike County to Erie County, Westmoreland County to Lehigh County, Pennsylvania’s businesses rely on a robust network of roads, bridges and transit systems to bring employees to work and attract customers. What every Pennsylvania county shares is public transportation that connects people and communities to work, school and essential services.

Here in Chester County, and the Greater Philadelphia region, our economic growth has been undergirded by this system, with SEPTA mass transit at its foundation.

SEPTA is an essential cog in the economic engine of Southeastern Pennsylvania — an engine that generates billions in economic output and tax revenue for the entire state. A weakened SEPTA means a weakened regional economy, and that ripples out to the rest of Pennsylvania in real dollars. The income, business, and sales taxes generated here help fund state programs and services that benefit all 67 counties. When our region suffers due to impaired transit, the state’s ability to reinvest equitably across Pennsylvania suffers too.

Counties across Pennsylvania also benefit directly from SEPTA’s operations every day — not just through travel, but through jobs, procurement, and commerce. Over the past five years, SEPTA has awarded over $1.14 billion in contracts to Pennsylvania-based companies in 39 counties, with an average annual investment of $228 million. That’s not just rail cars and bus routes in the southeast — that’s steel, rubber, electronics, parts, safety equipment, and professional services supporting jobs across the Commonwealth.

If SEPTA is forced to cut service or delay infrastructure upgrades due to unstable state funding, it’s not just riders in the southeast who are directly impacted. It’s those employers and the Pennsylvanians they employ who will also feel the impact. SEPTA is one of the largest transit systems in the country and one of Pennsylvania’s largest purchasers of goods and services — and when funding cannot fully support operations, that economic activity across the entire Commonwealth is also reduced.

This is proof of a fundamental truth: mass transit is regional infrastructure with statewide economic impact.

We fully support statewide transit funding to address SEPTA’s shortfall this year to avoid devastating cuts. But we also recognize the need for a long-term, sustainable solution that ensures our public transit systems — not just in Philadelphia, but across the state — are viable for the future. We are not suggesting a blank check or permanent patchwork. We are advocating for a smart, stable, and transparent approach that recognizes the shared value of a functioning, modern transit system.

Now is not the time to retreat. With major global events like America 250, the FIFA World Cup, the MLB All-Star Game, the PGA Championship and the NFL Draft all coming to Pennsylvania in the next year, our transit infrastructure must be ready to move tens of millions of visitors efficiently and safely. Without it, the region — and the state — will miss out on untold economic opportunity and global visibility.

Pennsylvania must now rise to meet this moment — and not just to “save” transit, but to invest in what it already delivers: regional economic impact, workforce access, and job creation.

This isn’t about urban vs. rural or east vs. west. It’s about building a statewide economy that moves — powered by a mass transit system that serves millions of Pennsylvanians in all 67 counties.

If you’re a business owner or policymaker outside of southeastern Pennsylvania, don’t think of SEPTA as someone else’s concern. Think of it as your next contract, your next job posting, your next opportunity. It’s time we fund transit operations across all of Pennsylvania like the statewide engine it is.

Trump's Attack on Iran's Nuclear Sites Results in Ceasefire

I would never have expected this, but President Donald Trump's attacks at Iranian nuclear sites appears to be on its way to a happy ending. Instead of activating sleeper cells or closing the Strait of Hormuz, I ran has agreed to a ceasefire. Everybody wins. Iran's nuclear dreams have been delayed a few years. Israel has seriously weakened its most belligerent adversary. Iran survives.

Here's how the nonpartisan Institute for the Study of War, which tends to be unbiased, has to say: 

US President Donald Trump announced that Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire that will go into effect at 12:00 AM ET on June 24. Trump said that Iran would adhere to the ceasefire starting at midnight on June 24 and that Israel would join at noon on June 24. Trump said that the war would officially end at midnight on June 25. Trump congratulated Israel and Iran for “having the stamina, courage, and intelligence” to end the war. Trump announced the ceasefire five hours after Iran conducted a ballistic missile attack targeting US forces in Qatar. A senior Iranian official confirmed to Reuters that Iran agreed to a Qatar-mediated, US-proposed ceasefire.

Iran conducted a retaliatory, but largely symbolic, ballistic missile attack targeting a US airbase in Qatar on June 23. Iran launched 14 medium- and short-range ballistic missiles at the United States’ largest position in the Middle East—al Udeid Airbase—just before 1:00 PM ET. The United States and partner forces intercepted 13 missiles and “set free” one missile on a “nonthreatening” trajectory. Trump confirmed that the Iranian attack did not injure or kill any US servicemembers or Qataris and caused “hardly any damage.” Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian claimed after the attack that Iran fired one missile at al Udeid Airbase for each bomb that the United States dropped on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21. Initial reports claimed that Iran also fired a single short-range ballistic missile targeting US forces at Ain al Asad Airbase in Iraq, but a US military official refuted that claim.

Key Takeaways:

• US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, beginning the evening of June 23. A senior Iranian official confirmed to Reuters that the ceasefire would occur following Qatari mediation.

• Iran conducted a missile attack targeting the US al Udeid Airbase in Qatar in retaliation for the US strikes on the Iranian nuclear program. The attack was largely symbolic and inflicted no casualties or damage, however.

• Iranian elite, including some moderate leaders, have reportedly tried to pressure Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to accept a ceasefire or sideline him entirely. It is unclear what role these individuals played in the US-announced ceasefire.

• Iranian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for Policy Majid Takht Ravanchi announced that Iran will remain a member of the NPT. Iranian officials have previously threatened to withdraw from the NPT in response to US and Israeli strikes.

• IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed that the United States likely inflicted “very significant damage” in its strikes on the Fordow nuclear site. Iran may have moved some of its nuclear material to undisclosed locations beforehand, however.

NorCo Council Awards $525,000 for Open Space Projects

Northampton County has what it calls a "livable landscape" program that provides grant funding for land preservation, municipal parks, open space planning, ecological restoration and regional trails. At their June 18 meeting, County Council approved five such grants, totaling $525,000, to Bethlehem, Northampton, Palmer Tp. Upper Mount Bethel Tp and Hellertown.

Bethlehem is receiving $300,000 towards a $1.043 million project to connect the Soth Bethlehem Greenway with the Saucon Rail Trail. Once completed, it will be possible to cycle or hike from South Bethlehem to Quakertown. this will create continuous greenway in a populated urban area to promote physical activity, health and wellness, and outdoor recreation opportunities. The gravel trail will be 12'wide.

You never know what you'll find on the South Bethlehem Greenway. It's where I met the Wizard of New Zealand. 

Upper Mount Bethel Tp be awarded $75,000 towards a $1.125 million plan to rehabilitate a former sand and gravel quarry site at the UMBT Preserve. This will include a new main entrance and two smaller trailheads for public access at different areas into the preserve as well as observation decks, overlooks, fishing or kayak platforms.

Palmer Tp will be provided $50,000 towards a $104,000 plan to restore a 0.5 mile section of the Schoeneck Creek riparian buffer at Fox Run Park. This is expected to reduce stormwater runoff and improve wildlife habitat.

Northampton Borough will get $100,000 towards a $763,897 plan to replace outdated and unsafe playground equipment with a new 100,000 sq ft facility with a poured-in-place rubber surface. The gaol is to transform 4th Street Park into an exemplary recreation system serving as a welcoming, inclusive play environment for families of all abilities.

Hellertown has been awarded $75,000 for the $560,000 Tumminelo Park improvements. Hellertown will install a install a new footbridge over Mill Race to connect the Saucon Rail Trail (SRT) to Tumminello Park. This will improve access to the trail.

Irani Attack Was in US Nat'l Security Interests

Northampton County approved a number of livable landscape grants and have awarded a contract for a new parking deck at the courthouse campus, but those stories will have to wait until tomorrow.

On Saturday evening, US B-2 stealth bombers launched precision strikes at three Irani nuclear sites, including the underground site at Fordow. Not only was this attack justified, but it was in the interest of our own national security. six American warplanes dropped 12 30,000-lb GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) bunker-busting bombs on Fordow

According to the Institute for the Study of War, satellite imagery of Fordow from June 22 shows six probable entry-point craters on top of a ridge above the underground complex that houses two halls of at least 2000 centrifuges. These were producing nearly enough highly enriched uranium to fuel one nuclear weapon per month. Initial Israeli assessments indicate that US strikes did not destroy but inflicted serious damage. Iran may have moved materials and equipment from the site ahead of the strike. A senior US official similarly said that the US strikes did not destroy but severely damaged the Fordow nuclear site and took it “off the table.”

Was it the right thing to do?  Opinion is divided in both parties. 

House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Trump acted unconstitutionally and has given the House grounds for yet another impeachment. But the attack was praised by Democratic Senators John Fetterman and Josh Gottheimer.

Republican congressional leadership lined up behind Trump.  But there are voices in the isolationist MAGA movement, like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Greene Taylor, who condemn our involvement in yet another foreign war.

I believe this strike was an absolute necessity and in our own national security interests. Iran's raison d'etre since 1979 has been to promote a Shia version of an Islamic revolution, including state-sponsored terror by the 3 Hs - Houtis, Hamas and Hezbollah.  It has been a driving force behind international instability. 

British journalist Matthew Syed, whose father was a Pakistani immigrant, makes the case at Triggernometry. Here are some excerpts. 

"The doctrine of mutually assured destruction is what prevents people with nuclear bombs from initiating the first strike, because they worry that in the counter stripe they will be eliminated. So it's a very strong doctrine that even though there are nuclear weapons in the world, we have not yet, thankfully, be subject to a nuclear holocaust."

But Iran, unlike most countries, has no interest in the mutually assured destruction doctrine because they are religious fanatics.  

"They believe that they have absolute truth, many of them in the regime, and that anyone who disagrees with them by implication are infidels, and, moreover, they glorify martyrdom, they believe that if they can take out infidels, they will go through a door, into heaven, and be blessed for eternity." 

"A lot of people don't seem to know about the 20,000 child martyrs who are indoctrinated by the fanatics and the clerics who took over after the ' 79 Revolution to believe that the greatest duty they could perform for Allah was to walk and sometimes run into minefields and up against machine gun fire, to clear a path for the adult military coming in behind, and they died, their limbs strewn across battlefields, and they were then glorified in government propaganda , held up as icons of the Revolution. 

"The fact that the people who are supposed to protect [children] indoctrinated them into what is effectively a death cult seems to me very good evidence, in addition to all the more contemporaneous stuff, - the repression of women, the killing of people who have a sexual [difference], the funding of genocidal proxies committed to the elimination of Israel -  tells me that if they got a nuclear weapon, it is likely they would use it. 

"I could envision an aging fanatical leader initiating a first strike and then looking at the radar screen and seeing the inevitable response in which that person would die in thinking that I am closer to Allah. I don't think that that is true of Vladimir Putter. I don't think Putin is prepared to die for his ideology. He's a venal corrupt leader, of the old school. He's worth billions. He had a Black Sea palace, he's got a young girlfriend . He wants to live. I think the same is true of the North Korean leader, with this ham and his looted opulence. It is not true of religious fundamentalists who glorify martyrdom. 

"Nuclear weapons, potentially 9 or 10 nuclear devices being held by a militarian cult that is committed to the destruction of Israel and calls America the Great Satan. A nuclear war of that kind, even if it occurred between Israel and Iran, would kill hundreds of millions of people around the world."  

So yeah, eliminating Iran as a nuclear threat is in our own national security. If Canadian wildfire smoke can travel to France and interfere with the Criterium du Dauphine, there is little doubt in my mind that the nuclear fallout of a nuclear winter involving as few as 15 nuclear bombs following an exchange between Israel and Iran would kill millions worldwide.

NorCo Council Supports State Funding Increase For Mass Transit

Earlier this week, NorCo Controller Tara Zrinski issued a news release concerning the possible outright elimination of bus service to the slate belt. LANTA is currently planning a 20% reduction in fixed route bus service and a 25% fare hike even though 75% of its riders rely on it to get to and from work. This is because of a significant gap between stagnant state funding and costs.

Governor Josh Shapiro has proposed a fix. Currently, mass transit statewide gets 4.4% of the sales tax collected every year. He has proposed increasing this allotment to 6.15%. This would result in an additional $292 million for mass transit statewide, including $7 million in revenue for LANTA, This would fix its funding gap. But it's unclear whether the state senate is willing to go along.

At their June 17 meeting, NorCo Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting a state increase in mass transit funding. 

There's a New Sheriff in Town

At their June 17 meeting, Northampton County Council voted unanimously to confirm the appointment of Chris Zieger as Sheriff. He was appointed to the position by Executive Lamont McClure, but under the Home Rule Charter, County Council must consent. He comes in at pay grade Group V, Step 4-D, salary $111,868.

McClure told Council the day before that "[t]here is no person more ready to be Sheriff of Northampton County than Chris Zieger is. He's done an amazing job as Acting Sheriff since Sheriff Johnston retired. ... There truly is no one more qualified to lead this department than Chris."

Northampton County has had a Sheriff since the county was first established in 1752. Deputy Nathan Ogden was the first law enforcement officer killed in the Commonwealth. He was shot in 1771 when attempting to arrest a fugitive during the Pennamite-Yankee War.

The Sheriff's office is charged with providing physical security for the courts; service of civil filings; fugitive location and arrests; administration of monthly Sheriff Sales; and prisoner transport.

Zieger, a 1991 graduate of Muhlenberg College, has been employed with the Sheriff's department since 1994. He started as a Deputy and worked his way up through the ranks to become the Chief Deputy in 2010. 

Northampton and Luzerne are the only Pennsylvania counties that appoint the Sheriff. In other counties, the office is an elected position. 

Is Council Member Brown Acting in Good Faith?

John Brown is without doubt the worst county exec Northampton County has had since the inception of Home Rule. He unliterally cut health care for county employees when he was Executive. He would later learn to his chagrin that he violated a number of union contracts in doing so and had to restore benefits to most union employees. Career service workers, however, got screwed.  On top of this misstep, he drew up plans to relocate the county's jail to the Gracedale campus, discussed them behind closed doors with Upper Nazareth Supervisors and then tried to pretend he had no such intentions. Finally, his goofy P3 bridge project was and remains a disaster. The only beneficiary of that brainfart was attorney John Lushis, whose law firm billed the county $813,000. Now Brown is a County Council member. Two nights ago, when reviewing an audit of $5 million in retention bonuses, I thought (and wrote) that he made some interesting points and raised questions that should be answered. He had that opportunity last night, when he could have posed those questions to Exec Lamont McClure or Fiscal Affairs Director Steve Barron. He asked neither any questions but instead made a previously debunked claims that the county started the year with just $3,000. In addition, he attempted to block two routine budget amendments that the remaining eight Council members supported. He basically wants to jam the wheels of county government until his questions are answered. But he never presented them last night to the very people who could answer them and made themselves available. So is he really acting in good faith or is he little more than an obstructionist who is trying his hardest to slime Lamont McClure, Tara Zrinski, Steve Barron or anyone who has a "D" after his or name? 

On Tuesday, Controller Tara Zrinski presented her audit about what actually happened to $5 million that Council had previously approved for retention bonuses at Gracedale. Zrinski was accompanied by her lead auditor, Stacy Duke, as well as Mark Dilberto, the accountant who did most of the legwork. Though she was battling what appeared to be a cold, or allergies or a combination of the two, Zrinski and her staff did a good job. The audit revealed that less than half of the $5 million approved by Council was actually used for that purpose. It was hardly helpful to McClure or Gracedale administrators.  

I was impressed by the concerns raised by Brown. He noted that the bonus money was used up in 2023 to pay for Gracedale operating expenses and wondered how the county could have paid bonuses in 2024 and even this year, as it has. Good question, but one that is beyond the scope of the audit. 

Brown wondered why Gracedale's former administrator failed to place the bonus money in a separate line item but instead commingled the monies with other funds, making them impossible to track. Another good question, but again, beyond the scope of the audit. 

Perhaps most importantly, he suggested that the county was moving money into Gracedale's general fund and did so both in 2023 and 2024 without Council approval. This is also beyond the scope of the audit, but a good question. 

Lead Auditor Stacy Duke told Brown several times that those are questions he could ask Fiscal. He could also ask the County Executive

At last night's meeting, as is his habit, Exec Lamont McClure specifically asked Council if they had any questions. Fiscal Affairs Director Steve Barron actually spoke during courtesy of the floor and specifically told Council that he was available for any questions they might have. 

Brown had no questions of McClure or Barron about the audit. He instead repeated later that night the irresponsible and debunked claim that the county had only $3,000 in cash on hand at the end of 2024. He insisted that the county is operating at a deficit and his questions have gone unanswered. Therefore, he suggested that County Council reject routine budget amendments of pass-through money that would basically paralyze the government and prevent it from providing vital core services. 

"You really think as an ex county executive that we have $3,000 in the bank right now? asked Council member Ken Kraft. "That's your honest opinion?" Brown said he was relying on unaudited financial statements.