In the story below this one, I told you that NorCo Exec Lamont McClure is cheap. I don't see him run around turning off lights the way John Stoffa did when he was at the helm, but he's still as miserly as any Republican. So when he told County Council last night that Lehigh Valley Planning Comm'n (LVPC) is seeking an 81% increase for next year, he burst out laughing.
LVPC wants $1.15 million from the county in 2025. McClure noted this planning agency has $4 million in reserves, which amounts to 9-12 months of their operating expenses. He made clear that this request is DOA. Although Council could fund this request, he said they'd need six votes because he would veto it.
He said he would support an increase in line with the consumer price index.
Northampton County should consider establishment of their own Planning Commission. It could be more cost effective and provide a higher level of service to the residents and municipalities in Northampton County. Currently, the LVPC offices, located in a corporate office building in downtown Allentown does not provide the level of service that county residents and municipalities could expect from a traditional county planning office located in more appropriate government offices in the county seat.
ReplyDeleteSo let's see if I get the #s correct - current NorCo contribution to the LVPC is approx. $175,000/year. I agree with Lamont, it's not going to $1.15MM. Your approach is to establish a new commission. That will cost significantly more than the current contribution (and even more when you set up the offices), and you think this is cost effective?
DeleteI don't have high regard for the LVPC either, but you're proposing a significant increase in cost and taxes. I'm not at all sold this is in the county taxpayer's interests and that the service they'll get will be that much better.
Read the Northampton & Lehigh Budget.
DeleteThe region has successfully transitioned and prospered the last 25 years due, in great part, to a regional cooperation- the Lehigh Valley, rather than the provincial Lehigh v. Northampton thinking that dominated the past. It is a step back and counterproductive to return to the old thinking. Not all nostalgia is good.
DeleteLVPC is completely biased and favors Lehigh County. They don’t do much for other counties. It’s a problem and needs to be rectified. If that means investing in a new commission, in the long run it will be worth it.
DeleteNot so sure one county is getting more than the other, this sounds like a manufactured or political grievance where no one wins. There’s two counties that make up the Lehigh Valley … maybe if the two counties sat down and were committed to working together they could accomplish more and everyone wins. Consolidation of services usually saves the taxpayer. If you split something up, then you need two of everything (technology, equipment, staff, etc ) whereas you may only need one between two otherwise. And the idea (which I keep seeing in this post) that you can pay people less, attract and maintain a qualified, staff is just not reality. People aren’t stupid, if another government or business is offering more pay down the road or in another state, they will work there. If you’re seeking staff in specialized fields, there may also be a smaller pool of qualified people.
DeleteThey need the extra money so they can make sure every project has tampon dispensers.
ReplyDeleteHaha, good one.
DeleteSo, in other words, (based on that math) they’re asking Northampton for about 1/4 of their budget? Seems a little more than stingy … what would it cost for Northampton to have their own county planning department?, and would it be as efficient as sharing staff across two counties?
ReplyDeleteOh!, I forgot, he wants everything his way and an independent planning commission can’t be manipulated as easily. But he also kinda likes blaming problems on someone else doesn’t he? including letting them fall on their sword if it benefits him. If he had his own commission he might have to actually take responsibility for it.
We need LESS government bureaucracy at every level of public service!
ReplyDeleteLess bureaucracy? Laughable! Corporations will control everything and you’ll be answering to them instead of government. You think government’s bad? Try capitalism without a referee and you’ll have an oligarchy!
DeleteHere’s the problem, our current government is ALREADY under the control of the biggest global corporate entities. We are already an oligarchy. The ‘referees’ you speak of have failed us. Far too many in Congress are making huge fortunes through money laundering, payoffs, insider trading, etc.
DeleteI truly believe in free market capitalism, but that’s not what we have. We have a controlled, bastardized form of capitalism. Our too large government and its many departments and agencies have sold out to the highest bidders. Surely, you don’t believe all that money going to Ukraine stays in Ukraine.
I want less failed ‘referees.’ That means less government. Fewer silos and layers of people subject to being compromised. Sorry to go a little far afield here, Bernie. But, even at my Northampton County level, I don’t want to see more layers.
Layers or silos to some extent if reasonably efficient prevent more power going to fewer people. Yes its cumbersome at times, but also creates stability. There's always going to be some corruption, but you cant go around with the attitude that everyone in government is corrupt or that everything is going down "the tubes". The fact is there is little corruption in government, but there is so much skepticism that people have little faith in anything. Problems don't get solved that way. You can't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
DeleteIs "81%" the amount, or 8.1% - it looks like a typo. 81% is absurd. LVPC does not seem able to retain new employees - what's with that?
ReplyDeleteSounds like McClure, I’ll give them half as much as they want yet expect 100% in return.
ReplyDelete8:11, I have a high opinion of LVPC and Becky Bradley. I like the work they do, and do not think the facts bear out the claims about attrition there. Those of you who argue for less government are nuts. A good planning agency can tell us about trends many years in advance. Becky Bradley warned that truck traffic was going to double. She warned that farms are going away. I disagreed with their move to a palace and think their budget request is too high, but I appreciate the agency and what it does. I doubt we'd be able to replicate what they do, and under the law, the LVTS aspect of LVPC has to be both counties.
ReplyDeleteShe warned that truck traffic was going to double? Lol, I could have told you that for free. Build warehouse after warehouse and yes, truck traffic will double, and farms will go away since the warehouses are built on farmland. This isn’t rocket science.
DeleteSounds like you have the science all figured out … by wetting your thumb & sticking it in the air to see which way the wind blows.
DeleteWe're not getting the whole story here. What does LPC need the money for and to what programs will the monies be applied ? Stay with Regional planning for the many benefits it provides. What's Mc Asshole going to do? Create a separate Airport Authority or a separate agency from the LVTC? Give us the whole story. God forbid we create a Planning Commission and then fill the jobs with political hacks like every other agency he controls. Give us the whole story. Did they submit a budget as to where the money is going to be spent? Show me the whole picture.
ReplyDeleteLVPC stated that the money is needed for their operating budget.
DeleteThe Planning Commission should be defunded and disbanded. They provide ZERO value and are just looking for taxpayers to fund their lunches and parties. Planning in the Lehigh Valley is an unmitigated disaster. I remember their calls for high-density housing in northern townships, while whining about disappearing open space. And then came the warehouses. These morons haven't a clue. But they have nice lunches and parties.
ReplyDeleteAnd McClure a cheapskate? Lol. What are the budget expenditures by year during his tenure? He's the guy who likely broke the shitters at Louise Moore by sitting on them. And he wouldn't fix them after that.
Zero value eh? Planning comes down to local municipalities as well under PA law. Higher density does reduce land consumption. Nice lunches and parties? When/where? for free? Are you sure the lunches aren’t for people who volunteer their time for free to serve on one of their boards? Parties with DJ’s & booze — I’m in!! Send me the details! McClueless breaking the shitter—now that’s funny!
DeleteThey have done nothing but suck money in the LV. Look around at our magnificent planning. Investigations should launched. What are they doing with $4 million? Its time for an independent investigation into this shady group. McClueless is a broken clock. But he's right to cut them off and not increase their theft by a single penny.
DeleteI've always wondered if the LVPC staff (including the Director - who should set the ultimate example) even live in the City and walk, bike, scooter or ride public transit to work. It seems to me that LVPC lectures the public about sustainability, I'm curious if they practice what they preach. if the professional planners are living outside the City and driving to work in SOVs why should anyone else even consider sustainable lifestyles?
ReplyDeleteIts never an all or nothing / black or white answer. The LVPC can promote these things but much like most employers they cant mandate where their employees choose to live. As we all know there are also economic & practical factors at play regarding where an individual or family chooses or is able to live. And since they are a valley wide agency, having employees living throughout the area also provides a valley-wide perspective on issues from rural to suburban to urban. I believe they've said that moving their office to Allentown allows their employees and the public attending meetings better access to alternative transportation.
DeleteMultiple staff walk or bike to work because they can do so safely in the new location. The ones that take the bus have more regular service which means the public does too. Also, they did the hard work to get $10s of millions for trails, transit, sidewalks and crosswalks. They are out with on site assistance to communities all of the time. That’s led to dozens of intersection improvements, better traffic flow and reduced accidents for pedestrians and vehicles. They are even paying for a part of a Northampton County trail.
DeleteBOH @ 9:38 sums up the problem exactly - he “likes” them because they can “tell” us about trends ahead of time. Beware, beware warehouses are coming. OK, thanks for the heads up - now they are here! What did LVPC do about it - not a thing because they are essentially powerless. Another bureaucratic monolith with an exorbitant budget growing ever larger every year. Aside from their designated role in the regional traffic planning study to prioritize dollars - they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
ReplyDeleteSpot on. Ironically, 90%+ of the projects they endorse (in terms of dollars) are sprawl inducing infrastructure enhancements outside of the cities!
DeleteInfrastructure enhancements are not sprawl inducing when the infrastructure has outlived its lifespan or is unsafe. There are areas of the country with more infrastructure than is needed, that could be considered sprawl inducing.
DeleteSo, is mcclure expecting that the planning commission eat into their reserves every year he doesn’t want to shell out additional money? I believe he hasn’t given them their full request for at least a year The valley is growing and as the need for services increases he gets to raise taxes if necessary. The planning commission & other agencies that have no taxing authority don't have that option. Ask yourself: what is his objective?
ReplyDeleteWhy haven’t the public shitters at Louise Moore park been fixed yet
ReplyDeleteAnyone know??
You’re a liar. The rehabilitation of the restrooms was completed more than a year ago.
DeleteThe LVPC is a joke and many of the personnel who work there are nothing more than political parasites. McClure must pull NORCO out of the planning commission and let them be funded by Lehigh County since most of the money is directed their way. NORCO council needs to go to court and delay local highway funding until the process is made more fair and NORCO gets their fair share.
ReplyDelete70% of the LVPC budget is wages and benefits - including retiree health benefits. Stoffa killed those benefits for Norco employees 15 years ago. Why are Norco taxpayers paying for LVPC retiree benefits ?
ReplyDelete5:40 Sounds like one of McClure’s sycophants & possibly using mind-altering drugs.
ReplyDeleteThe budget request is divided into statutory, cyclical statutory and optional items. McClure refused to meet with Lehigh County and LVPC after several months of requests. Eventually, the LVPC had to request something and put it in a line item form. The budget request includes critical projects including stormwater planning that will save the counties, municipalities, the state and public millions in taxes when complete. I’ve been a board members for years and McClure’s constant partial information campaigns without discussion with the LVPC Board is over the top at this point. He kicks off anyone he can’t control from the board, appoints his staff to multiple board seats that should be occupied by community officials, threatens and bullies the staff, and has over the last several years refused to honor the agreement between Lehigh and Northampton Counties that funds the LVPC equally. Lehigh County should hold him to account.
ReplyDeleteAnd that sounds like something to look in to
DeleteBy all means, do try.
DeleteHold NORCO to account. Why not have NORCO just pull out of the Planning Commission? That will solve the problem. I can just imagine Becky Bradley working as a Wal Mart greeter.
DeleteWhat about Northampton County’s over $50 million reserve?
ReplyDeleteI think McClure knows the LVPC has failed Northampton County. Truck traffic has increased by 60%. Lane miles on our roads have increased by 0%. 10 minute commutes are now 20+. Great work!
ReplyDeleteIt’s probably time for Northampton County to form its own Planning Commission. Becky Bradley wants to be paid more than Governors of most states. All of her top lieutenants are wildly overpaid. Bradley is such a terrible manager, all of the long-time employees of the LVPC have either quit or retired. And, she can’t keep new hires for more than a year or two. She’s expert at taking the data that other people collect and distill and bullshitting about it in cyclical, round-Robin meetings that are funded by the taxpayers. Her failed planning efforts have lead us to be the Warehouse Capital of the Northeast, and saddled us with a crumbling infrastructure that’s looks like it was organized very much like the NIZ.
ReplyDeleteArmstrong and Molchany want a Cadillac Planning Commission who’s claim to fame is the Lehigh Valley becoming the Warehouse Capital of the East Coast, they should pay for it. It’s about time Lehigh County pays it share of the bills.
ReplyDeleteBernie did you know Kamala's father was a Marxists professor wow She is worse than Than ever.
ReplyDeleteNorco can have its own PC for less than a million a year, and it won’t have the LVPC’s bloated salary structure. It’ll be cheaper in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure paying people the bare minimum will attract the best people and equal the best outcomes for the taxpayer. Story after story of how the employees there aren’t getting paid what they should, raises come years late, the salary comps used are for areas with lower cost of living and so on. Garbage in garbage out philosophy.
DeleteLVPC is a beuracrat cesspool wasting money on studies to justify their existence. McClure is correct to not allocate additional funds.
ReplyDeleteBradley and the LVPC are not responsible for the industrial explosion in the region. Location, cheap land, cheap water, local and state governments inability under state law to require as much infrastructure improvements as needed are at the center of it. LVPC is out in communities constantly and has organized over half into multi-municipal plans. No other place in the state has done this and it’s starting to yield benefits. The number of zoning and development codes updates is over 100 in under 5 years. Local planners are calling in decades old waivers on everything from sidewalks to intersections at LVPCs urging. Read the LVPCs annual reports.
ReplyDeletePersonal attacks are baseless and unprofessional. For over at least the last 5 years a comparison of population, responsibilities and functions has been presented at the LVPC. They are understaffed by over 20 people and up until last year were underpaid based on comparable peers. At the boards direction a private consulting firm was hired to asses compensation and proved this twice. Also, Bradley makes less than Cunningham, Michaels and other regional leaders. Yet, the staff manages two entities and over two handfuls of county, state and federal laws. Not a single other regional agency has that much responsibility.
I agree the Planning Commission is a weak institution that had no ability to stop any development. It remains a weak institution. It exists only for Bradley and her loyal lieutenant to be paid exorbitantly and for Bradley’s self-aggrandizement.
DeletePeople who attack others personally from positions of power are weak and should not hold elected office.
DeleteWhy are the taxpayers of Lehigh and Northampton Counties funding huge pensions for LVPC employees, when their elected officials have no say over them ?
ReplyDeleteLVPC has a board that has a say and they are appointed by elected officials. That’s how government commissions work it’s in their name (L.V. P. Commission).
DeleteSo now the LVPC is wasting money on a consulting firm? If you people at the LVPC don't think you are being paid enough then do what a lot of us commoners do ,get a second part time job. And if you are still unhappy then quit but dont leave the door hit you in the ass on the way out. What gall they have over at LVPC.
ReplyDeleteGovernments, business all hire consultants to determine that their employees are paid to market rates, otherwise they lose qualified people to the highest bidder. I know you haven’t been living in a cave or I hope you haven’t
DeleteLVEDC is in Bethlehem, LVPC is in Allentown.
ReplyDeleteIf you correctly identify all of the posts on this thread that were written by Becky, you receive two free iron pigs tickets.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of the substantive-free personal assaults on this thread are by the man or one of his puppets hiding behind the curtain.
DeleteLittle bit of disconnect here from McClure... and something not mentioned yet in the comments. There was an article about the proposed rail system a couple weeks ago. Next required step is a very expensive study. In that article forget what event it was... McClure was basically (over)stating that he was going to single handedly bring rail to the valley.
ReplyDeleteNot exact numbers - but of the proposed LVPC increase approx 400k is to fund that study. Split evenly between the 2 counties. This isn't the entirety of the sought after increase... but it's a very large part of it. And that's what he's now balking at.
Personally I think dreams of LV rail just aren't financially feasible or realistic from a competitive level of service standpoint. That train left the proverbial track when so many rails were converted to trails.. I'm just pointing out what looks to be a bit of hypocrisy or political gamesmanship. One thing I've learned about McClure he's an entirely political creature every move calculated. Seems almost like a have cake and eat it too play. Support rail publicly but privately torpedo it. Politics101.
Jeff Ward's blog says that even if tons of capital funding and annual operating subsidies are poured into commuter rail service to NYC, it still would take an hour longer to reach Manhattan than taking the existing Trans-bridge bus service. How are you going to attract daily riders in that case?
DeleteTo for a freedom of information update on salaries at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
ReplyDelete