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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Should Lehigh County Spurn Federal Grant Money?

Believe it or not, that issue is under serious consideration in Lehigh County. T STAKE IS $700,000 in CDBG grants for municipalities and human service agencies. Randy Kraft has the details.

If Commissioners decline to accept this money, it means that one family with sinkholes will be denied $50,000.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

apparently Tip was wrong, "all politics is not local". these guys are trying to fight a doctrinaire battle on the backs of their local constituents. Wonder how it will play out in 4 years?

Anonymous said...

Anyone who paid any attention to the commissioners election this past Fall shouldn't be surprised by this. This is what happens when voters stay home in off year elections.

Anonymous said...

Hope these sanctimonious a-holes get voted out of office first time up for re-election.

Anonymous said...

Is a sinkhole affecting one family now something that should be funded at the federal level? Why doesn't the city fund the sinkhole fix on its own?

Anonymous said...

Addressing blight is considered to be a valid use of CDBG. I suspect the neighbors of that house with the sinkhole would not appreciate the house sitting in disrepair and affecting their property values.

Anonymous said...

Damn my pinkie I am offended by its independent ways. I shall hack off my arm and show that pinkie who is boss."

HaHa, teabagger logic in action. Love it.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Seniors y mujeries .. Having lost the election I am only an observer of what is now occurring in the County... My fellow running mate Gloria Hamm was appointed by this group to the Committee on Aging ... And Geoff Brace now works for Jennifer Mann and will work for Mike Schlossberg ... While I sitting out on the side walk watching everyone else take on appointed and elected positions.

Oh my... I feel so unwanted ... HaHa

Dennis Pearsom

Bill said...

This is ideologically driven.

County Commissioners are elected to manage the affairs of the county, not to use that position to pontificate on what is happening on the federal level. Similar in my mind to some of the ways that the intelligent design / evolution debate has played out in school districts over the years.

I will support the re-election of commissioners even if from time to time I disagree with their decisions, but will not support county government as a soap box for ideological debate. Stick to managing our county. If you want to legislate nationally, run for Congress.

I am alarmed and disgusted by this.

Anonymous said...

According to its latest filing, the LV Habitat for Humanity had income of $2,604,800 over expenses of $2,487,507, which means it generated $117K for the fiscal year ending 2010. Its executive director earned 69.9K, which is not big dollars. It holds 1.3 million in cash with 6 million in total assets, a portion of that is work in progress.

By way of comparison, LVMOW was upside down spending $963,081 with $947,525 income. The executive director earned 63K and 10K from related organizations. It holds roughly 50K in cash and 1.1 million in investment securities. All of the above can be confirmed through Guidestar.

I once interned at Pa Civil Services, sister to North Penn. We represented folks who could not afford a lawyer in civil matters. Namely, uncontested divorce w/o children, certain bankruptcies, unemployment comp and various referrals from the area agency on aging. I understand North Penn may also defend custody, where the state may try to remove a child for cause. The vast majority of unemployment comp cases where those appealing a firing for cause. The vast majority of all cases, though sad, were preventable.

Unlike Bill, I'm glad both sides are struggling with this question, it means they are doing their job. And though you are free to vote for whoever you want, e-election should not be a component in their decision, rather it should be whats best for, and the role of, Lehigh County.

Anonymous said...

If the federal government doesn't want local input on the CDBG grants, the federal government can send the money out directly.

As it is, the federal government has chosen to involve the Commissioners in this process. We might disagree on whether those dollars should be spent, but I'm glad the commissioners are doing their job and giving some scrutiny to it.