On Thursday night, Northampton County Council rejected abrasive alternative transportation advocate Steve Schmitt as a LANTA board member. My rendition attracted many interesting comments, including a few posted ny West Ward activist Dennis Lieb.In addition to lobbying for Steve, as he did during the Council meeting, Dennis makes some interesting abservations about LANTA. He claims that Southmont Shopping Center is designed to keep buses away. Second, LANTA is adding bus service to the Sands Casino while simultaneously cutting back service to Easton south side seniors at Shiloh Manor.
Stoffa's pro-rail, pedestrian and bicycle advocacy choice was Steve Schmitt. The guy he would have replaced on the board [Tim Brady] was a member of the Bethlehem Township Commission. In any event, [Tim Brady] worked closely with PennDOT in the design of the Southmont Shopping Center - the one at Rt 33 and Freemansburg Avenue. It was deliberately designed to keep LANTA buses off the property. People must now load and unload out on Freemansburg Avenue in the snow of winter, mud of spring and fall and blinding heat of summer and walk the quarter mile into the place, dodging maniac drivers, because the suburban mall owners don't want bus riff-raff encouraged to use the facility. This is the same guy that county council wants appointed to LANTA because of his "vast construction background"?
Last LANTA board meeting it was discussed that Shiloh Manor; a Southside Easton senior community would have its service cut from four to two trips a day. If you know the area it is isolated from most of town, steeply sloped and borders Canal Street...a long way from services for anyone less than fully-abled. At the same time, LANTA is adding two new buses and two additional drivers to service the Sands Casino so that middle class people can be shuttled in and piss away their kids’ college funds at the slot machines. Steve Schmitt alerted me to this situation because LANTA likes to hold its meetings at the headquarters in Allentown at noon during work days. I couldn’t make it either. Who knows what happened.
Point is that transparency, public input and rail advocacy are anathema to the LANTA board. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were actually trying to run the company out of business on purpose. Sort of like GM, Firestone and Standard Oil did with the trolleys in the thirties and forties. There is probably an angle under which that scenario could be plausibly put forth but I don’t have time to write it.
Steve Schmitt got bushwhacked last night. It may be that the Joe Long/Dem. machine hacks like McHale want to make a statement to the county exec, but more likely it is her despising of anyone low enough to ride the bus that drives her voting against Steve...an advocate for the rider. She has been asked many times, in her role as LANTA board member to participate in Try Transit Day and has refused. She won’t even pose for a picture in front of the bus. Ask her why that is. LANTA takes bus ads from JD Byrider - the loan sharks masquerading as car dealers - ads that actually insinuate that losers ride the bus and buying a car from them at usery interest rates will get you off of it. Why would LANTA take an ad that discourages transit use? Ask her about that.
Last night’s vote was a combination of two things: First, the anti-rail Republicans on council do not want a pro-rail advocate on the board. They want to protect the old boy network of highway expansionists, mega-warehouse builders, car dealers and PennDOT bureaucrats that want to preserve a dying way of life...as James Howard Kunstler puts it, the American automobile slum. Second, people like McHale hate anyone who tries to preserve an open dialogue between the public that LANTA serves and the organizational structure that tries to exclude them at every turn.
45 comments:
In his quest to destroy all things Reibman, Stoffa screwed Steve. Stoffa had the opportunity to re-appoint Steve in 2007 but dumped him.
This was part of the bizzare Stoffa purge in which he kicked some good people to the curb to prove his mediocre is better chant.
Steve was one of those people. It is amazing that the guy who created this mess somehow is seen as the defender of a good guy like Steve. But that is oh so Stoffa.
We can learn from history. Because of Ford's presence in Detroit, mass transit trolleys were eliminated in one fell swoop and sent to Mexico City and limited access highways were supported and anything that didn't ultimately help sell cars was rejected. Detroit still has no mass transit system and we all know what a lovely city that has become.
Stoffa didn't purge enough. He had too much sympathy for useless Reibman appointees that would never have been able to get a real job once let go.
bernie, as you well know i could make an documented argument that schmitt is NOT
" anyone who tries to preserve an open dialogue between the public that LANTA serves"
although he rides the bus, he is hardly representative of the average rider. an apologist for lanta has commented on my blog concerning their new plans in regard to bicentennial. I think that board could use some real bus riders, not just alternative types in tights. they need the unwashed, as you have previously referred to them
Dennis sounds like a whiner.
How many "seniors" ride the four trips to Shiloh Manor? Does the ridership warrant four trips, or will two suffice? How many casino customers will those buses carry instead? Does Dennis propose that LANTA be run like a social service agency or a business?
How many "public" agencies hold board meetings during the day? A lot. I suppose because they all want to exclude the people they serve. Want to know how many "public" would attend an evening board meeting? Go to your local town council or supervisors meeting this month and see for yourself.
Ummm, let's see. I sell cars. Where should I advertise? At the risk of being called a loan-sharking buzzard, how about where my ads will be seen by people who wish they had a car and didn't have to ride a bus?
Dennis is right: Bicycles are the future.
Where does Ann McHale get the elitism rap from? She's blue collar background, a former barmaid whose parents couldn't afford to send her to college. If she has an issue with riding the bus for a photo opp, I think it's not out of elitism but more because it's a little too close to home. Those people on the bus are bound to recognize her and be on a first name basis from the old neighorhood. Any politician who has class or comes from a real elitist background doesn't mind getting down and dirty with the people. Look at Eleanor Roosevelt visiting the mines.
Anon 12:38, I'm not sure reality matters to you. Stoffa initiall replaced Schmitt bc Shmitt had made some outrageous remarks directed at minority merchants on Allentown's Hamilton Street. he replaced Schmit with a someone who would add some diversity. He changed his mind about Schmitt after meeting with him a few times.
If Schmitt is unacceptable, perhaps Dennis Lieb would be a good appointee.
I bus ridership and routes are a genuine issue. But what really bothers me is when a statement is made such as "It was deliberately designed to keep LANTA buses off the property" without supporting arguments or documentation. It may be true, but it is not automatically true because the writer says so.
Why doesn't public advocate go to Harrisburg to demand LANTA hold evening meetings?
Anonymous said: "How many "public" agencies hold board meetings during the day? A lot."
Name 10.
See at least one McHale around town in very $$$ vehicle w. vanity plate that cannot be misinterpreted.
Bernie,
Re: Southmont.
Someone said that deal dropped and St. Luke's to open "green"
futuristic medical center on site.
not sure this is true.
Don't think we should criticize anyone's family for not being able to send child to college. My family couldn't either. They worked very hard but could not afford such a luxury. When McHale young, school loans extremely difficult to obtain.
Mr. Molovinsky,
While I enjoy your sniping from afar while some of us are doing the difficult work of trying to improve the mass transit system in the Lehigh Valley by creating bus buddy networks, encouraging new riders with Try Transit Day, or advocating for existing riders; I would like to correct a statement you continue to make. Unless in the some 28 years I have known Steve he developed a super hero alter ego or became an X-Man, he has never worn spandex "tights."
Bernie --- I was involved heavily with the Southmont Center project. LANTA REFUSED to service the shopping center. Ask LANTA to provide you with their review letter. LANTA did not want to alter its route for this shopping center. In fact, the Township pushed to have bus service IN the shopping center. This was documented well and was made very public during the Southmont hearings. Your reporting of this issue lacks proper investigation. Perhaps you should have asked LANTA before blogging this matter.
**Anonymous said: "How many "public" agencies hold board meetings during the day? A lot."
Name 10.**
Airport Authority and Lehigh County Authority are two big ones. Both meet at lunchtime (noon).
Anon 9:18,
I am not offering Lieb's comments to prove the assertion that LANTA conspired with Beth Tp to refuse bus service to Southmont. I offer his statement to give you his vioew point.
As someone who was heavily involved, you actually seem to corroborate Lieb's contention as fas as LANTA is concerned and rebut his contention as far as Beth Tp is concerned.
That's fine.
Anon 7:51, We could probably resolve this be getting LANTA's review letter. Someone who claims to have been involved suggests that letter shows LANTA itself did not want to offer bus service.
"Unless in the some 28 years I have known Steve he developed a super hero alter ego or became an X-Man, he has never worn spandex 'tights.'"
OMG! Funniest thing I've read today. Here's a thought: Wolverine in pink spandex.
Careful Robin, now you'll become a target... join the club.
Geoff Brace
to 9:25:
that's not 10!
geoff, i take exception to your "target" comment. there is a blogger(villa) who actually makes many people targets of vicious continuous attacks, is closely aligned with municipal officials, yet you or them fail to speak out about that. to be blunt, you take cheap shots at an activist like myself, while ignoring real harassment from the establishment. robin, my contact with steve schmitt is limited to several board meetings. my impression is that he rides the bus because he is an alternative transportation advocate, unlike most riders, who do so because they cannot afford to use a car, or at least use a car on a regular basis. schmitt's comments concerning the merchants of hamilton street and their dilemma, makes him forever unqualified for lanta, in my opinion. i will restrain from the undocumented spandex issue, the merchant's comments are a matter of public record.
Buses are big and loud and stinky. I say widen roads to accommodate more cars - which will all be clean vehicles from Obama Motors.
With Obama running two of The Big Three, and having a vested interest in turning his automobile operations around, the push for mass transit is only lip service. Obama is today's Henry Ford. He knows mass transit is a competitor to his new companies.
For those who correctly cite Ford's influence on killing public transit in Detroit, you ain't seen nothin' 'til you've seen the leader of the free world selling cars with his reputation staked on them.
MM,
Not sure who you mean by "the establishment" and the Villas, but I personally decided that the battles that seem to be faught within the LV blogging community are best left there, with the people who have the biggest beef. Since I don't blog and don't know the villas at all or you on a personal level, it's not a matter I can concern myself with... I do have limited time, energy and abilities. If that sounds insensitive to your plight, well, then color me guilty. Allentown has bigger problems (no offense).
I do, however, know Robin and Steve and find some of my clients working closely with them on revitalization efforts. I find them to be effective advocates and educators for alternative transportation. Frankly, if more people used public transit, whether out of need or out of choice we'd be better off. The reasons for using public transit are of less concern to me than meeting the goal of increased use.
anon 12:36, the lehigh valley is an open, uncongested area, more adversely affected by the downturn in the auto and truck industry, than the consequences of carbon fuels. historically, here, the sky was full of smoke stacks, from the steel, mack, black and decker, and a hundred other factories. the air quality has never been better than now. my issue with geoff is that he doesn't hesitate to call me an attacker, but would never say anything about someone on the public payroll, like himself. you need not concern yourself with specifics, but when you ignore two district attorney's, one district judge, one city councilman, and six or seven community members constantly being attacked, then state i target people, you ring the hypocrisy bell.
"but would never say anything about someone on the public payroll, like himself."
I'm not on the public payroll. If you want to learn how I earn my salary, I encourage you to contact me directly. the fact that I choose not to critize public officials on a blog reflects one thing: I will call them and say it to them directly. It's the great pleasure that I derive from not getting paid by them.
In the meantime, I don't know the whole history of you and the villas, but i think you know that I am always open to a good conversation to learn.
I hope all is well for you.
Geoff
sorry geoff, didn't realize you worked for the private sector, thought you did revitalization funded by grants. the blog "attacks" speak for themselves peppering the various valley blogs, surprised you haven't encountered them, beyond that, i have nothing to say on that topic. let me conclude by saying i'm sorry that you feel i "target" you or anybody.
Geoff,
I don't expect you or anyone to inform yourselves of all the minutiae concerning the slings and arrows flying through the blogosphere. Unless you yourself are victimized, as Molovinsky has been, the natural tendency would be to gloss over them.
On the other hand, I would be a little more hesitant than you than to snark blogs or call someone an "attack" blogger. I'll let you read in between the lines.
Also, the fact that you can pick up a phone and find things out may just reveal that you are a trusted insider as opposed to someone who is independent thinker. People return your calls. That's nice, but means nothing.
I respect you and what you do. I think you need to recognize, as you once did, that blogs can be very useful in making public officials accountable for their actions.
I'd rather see MM make some claim and be proved wrong than listen to some public official promise to help me in a future political campaign when I start asking questions about some issue.
Hey 7:59, Lehigh Valley Economic Development Authority holds it quarterly board meetings either at 7:30 in the morning or in the afternoon.
How about you naming some public agencies that hold board meetings in the evening? Like, name 10.
I believe the first person to write about this issue was Mike Molovinsky.
The above comment was posted by Trollvilla, who was just convicted for criminal harassment as a result of his Internet behavior. His current conviction is limited to behavior last September. He hasn't learned his lesson, but I can guarantee you he will.
everyday i receive no less than five hostile comments from the villa's. their blog is full of implied violence against numerous people. angie villa regularly endorses bill's statements. in their current blog they claim to have shared giggles with pawlowski about their victims this weekend at mayfair. joyce marin says she knows of no inappropriate behavior by them. pete lewnes remains mum. i assume they are intimidated by the villa's, but never the less, they should be ashamed of enabling this behavior.
I don't understand this fued. The Villa's are aggreved parents yet you all continue to fued.
Mr. Molonvinsky seems to be an angry person. The way he and you attacked Mr. Brace was just wrong.
The above comment, in which words are purposely misspelled, wasd posted by Villa. I know all his tricks.
Bernie, you should be able to tell by your sitemeter (wink wink) that 9:51 wasn't Villa, that was you...
I know who posted that comment. You. I also know what I intend to do. Perhaps after your 5th or 6th conviction, you'll get the message.
you after the appeal
figuratively, of course (not a threat :)
Where's Molovinsky?
Villa,
Check your mailbox over the next few weeks. That's not a threat, either, but a promise. Once you've been convicted a few times, you'll stop. Perhaps you'll have to spend some time in jail, but you will stop.
Any additional OT bullshit comments from you will be deleted.
"Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sunset on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his (own) hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ."
Ephesians 4:25-32
Peace be with you, ~~Alex
Bernie,
As an aside OT comment, I have been contacted by an authority that shall remain nameless. They claim, with my beard, that I look like Hassie. (See my profile picture.)
They want to photograph me and say that he has been caught.
Please tell me that there is no resembelance...
~~Alex
None.
Bernnie, I am poster 9:51 and am not Mr. Villa. I didnot wish to insult anyone but was just making an observation. I guess I donot understand all the details of the fued and may have mis spoke.
I do know Geof and felt he was roughed up unfairly. I am not defending or trying to cause trouble for anyone. So I won't post on this topic again.
Just a guy.
"I think you need to recognize, as you once did, that blogs can be very useful in making public officials accountable for their actions."
Bernie, you know i still recognize the power of new media. My point was simply this: I don't need to blog to make people know how I feel. I took MM's comments to suggest that the mere fact that I don't publish my every opinion online to mean that I am incapable of challenging public officials. I'm sorry, but I simply don't have the time to do that. I'm not sure I like the implication that failure to blog is somehow supportive of "the establishment". Every day I teach communities how to hold public officials accountable. I just don't blog about it.
When i do get the chance to read a blog or two, I have great appreciation for the work you do. I know it takes a TON of time and energy to research and effectively commmunicate what you present. Never misread that. I know you get this Bernie, but I don't think that everybody does: bloggin' ain't for everybody.
I continue to wish to well... and keep those baseball stories coming. I'm a romantic for them.
Geoff
Understood, Geoff.
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