Wows and Scowls
Wow: News that a Home Depot store is back on track for South Union Township indicates a renewed sense of cooperation between the township supervisors, Widewaters Development Inc. (the project developer) county officials and PennDOT. Earlier this year it appeared a deal that was aimed at continuing to turn that section of South Union into a retail mecca had collapsed. Unbendable positions adopted by the parties over financial responsibility and necessary permits for traffic improvements were blamed. South Union Supervisor Robert Schiffbauer said it now appears the first phase to develop 76 acres will go ahead as long as plans are approved in January. —
Wow: Gov.-elect Ed Rendell is wasting no time in an attempt to kick start Pennsylvania’s economy. Rendell plans, starting this month and continuing through March, to host eight regional economic summits to solicit input from local officials on how to make the best use of $1.9 billion in economic-development money. This is making good on one of his campaign promises to make the money available through revolving loan and grant programs to rebuild smaller cities. Fayette officials should have a chance Feb. 2 to market their proposals.
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Scowl: Voters in the Laurel Highlands School District elected nine school board members to represent their interests. How well they are doing that is questionable with the huge dips into red ink that required a bond issue to pay old bills. A spirit of cooperation is necessary to set the district right. What is not needed is the kind of squabble that broke out this week when the board reorganized for the purpose of electing officers. It was a 5-4 split all the way, with the Minority 4 opting later to sit out an executive session and pass rather than vote on some items as a form of protest. They reasoned: Why bother joining in when the majority excludes them from chairing committees and from having a persuasive voice? The majority countered the others are nothing but a bunch of crybabies. Surely second-graders could settle such pettiness with more ease. The minority needs to let their voices be heard and not to give up or give in. And the majority needs to recognize that just because there is one more on their side, it doesn’t always make them right. One look at the district’s books should drive that point home.
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Scowl: All that time spent haggling over what should or shouldn’t be in legislation that created the U.S. Department of Homeland Security left Americans with these important pieces of national security. Major pharmaceutical companies can’t be sued for vaccines that they manufactured, and companies that shift their headquarters overseas to avoid paying domestic taxes can still bid on national security contracts. That ought to make everyone feel safer.
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Scowl: Last week, meteorologists warned and television news stations incessantly reported on the big snowfall that failed to happen. They devoted most of a newscast to footage of reporters holding yardsticks but with very little to measure. With all these storm team, Doppler radar and keeping abreast of local weather happenings going on, we must ask: What is going on? Many residents went to bed Wednesday night trusting that a mere manageable 1 to 3 inches were headed this way. Instead, they rose unprepared for the season’s first snowstorm, and judging by the condition of the roads PennDOT and local municipalities misread the snowfall as well. Not only was driving difficult, but we weren’t given enough warning to run out and stock up on milk, bread and toilet paper.
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Scowl: It sounds like a great idea: Offer two hours of free parking to shoppers in Uniontown’s central business district during the holiday shopping season. We hope that helps local businesses, but we have a sneaking suspicion that Mayor James Sileo’s warning will go unheeded. The mayor said the free parking is for shoppers and visitors. We would think that stores would want to keep the spots open for customers, but in practice downtown workers grab the prime spots. Sileo said employees can’t park for free and that they will be cited. We can understand the mayor’s sentiments, but if he proceeds with ticketing some cars and not others, he’ll be the one most likely to end up in court trying to defend his reasons for favoring one type of parker over another.
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Scowl: One has to wonder why Connellsville City Council would consider adopting an ordinance requiring its health board to inspect personal care homes when the city was forced just a few years ago to repeal a similar ordinance as part of a court agreement. The homes are already licensed and inspected regularly by the state. Good communication between the homes and municipalities, especially to let fire departments know the layout and number of residents, is wise, but added inspections are unnecessary.