NEWS AND COMMENTARY ON LANCASTER ISSUES THAT MATTER
Commentary
The Second Shoe:
Convention Center / Casino Complex?
Now that the few but powerful proponents of the convention center project have apparently achieved their ends, a blanket of anxiety is settling on those who have the responsibility for the virtually impossible task of making the project viable.
So murmurs are already being heard about the possibility of introducing gaming to downtown Lancaster.
Reportedly a private comment was made a year ago by an establishment journalist that a slot casino was part of the hidden plan, the reason why the High Group, the monopoly Lancaster Newspapers, Senator Gib Armstrong and, within a couple of days of his election, Mayor Rick Gray have been ardent supporters. (Perhaps Gray's prior reservations about the project were because he had not been given the inside information until immediately after he was elected.)
When the sponsors announced they were jettisoning the project due to a shortfall in funds just six months ago, the receipt of an iron clad assurance of a casino license may have been behind their dramatic reversal and baseless claim that the "funding gap had been closed." (Since then the overall cost has climbed by well over ten million dollars…some gap closing!)
And this may have been behind the vociferous opposition by then mayor Charlie Smithgall and state authorities to a group seeking a gaming license for the Bulova Building. It would have torpedoed any deal between Armstrong and Governor Ed Rendell.
Of course this is largely speculation based upon tidbits of information gleaned here, and gleaned there. Yet it does make some sense out of what otherwise makes no sense.
So, if you begin to hear worrisome projections from those who previously had supported the project, consider it the ground work for the playing of the casino card as the salvation for downtown Lancaster…that is, unless you are one of the insiders who have known it all along.
5/8/07
Letter from the editor
The press did not reference the statements three of us made at the April 26 Convention Center Authority meeting in response to Board member Joseph Morales' attempt to excuse his and other City board appointees attitude and actions, and his call for solidarity. An extract of our comments follows. I am also including technical observations from Victor Capecce who was out of town.
Randolph Carney: "Joe Morales is asking the people to work with him to make the convention center a success, but he is giving us no reason to do so. The 2000 PricewaterhouseCoopers study that is still being quoted was for a much smaller $70 million project. Now we are stuck with a $170 million project, plus interest, all but a small fraction of which is either taxpayer dollars or guaranteed by taxpayer dollars. To this day, no one associated with the project can explain to us what kind of return on investment taxpayers can expect for our money."
Robert Field: "I had planned to simply praise the selection of three highly competent new board members, but the attempt by Joseph Morales to excuse himself and others for their past willful disregard of the facts and irresponsible actions requires a response.
"Authority officials and the sponsors ignored the serious concerns expressed in the PricewaterhouseCoopers market studies of 2000 and 2002. The project so ballooned in scope and cost and the Authority and others so misrepresented the findings, that PricewaterhouseCoopers withdrew the reports and later declined to perform additional work.
"Furthermore, in 2006 when the commissioners engaged PKF Consultants to create the first genuine feasibility study, the Authority officials refused to cooperate or even read the findings, an obvious dereliction of their duties.
"I agree that it is important that we all work to make the best of a very bad thing. But Mr. Morales and others should not be excused for past gross negligence and willful abuses."
Luis Mendoza: "In 1987 when I became the first Latino elected to City Council, I was very supportive of this project since the cost of the convention center was going to be paid by the county hotel room tax revenues and the hotel cost was to be borne by the private sector, bringing significant tax revenues to the City.
"Since then the project cost has grown from $70 million to approximately $200 million; the Watt & Shand building was sold to the City for $7 million although the private sector sponsor only paid $1.25 million; Senator Gib Armstrong introduced special legislations to assist Penn Square Partners to minimize their investment and avoid paying taxes; and City Council voted (over my negative vote) to provide tens of millions of dollars in guarantees.
"I have subsequently learned that experts including the LCCCA's own consultants have suggested that this project would be a failure.
"Also there is the inexplicable reluctance on the part of the Authority to authenticate the $7 million in Stevens & Lee billings.
"Therefore Mr. José Morales, I do not think you should ask me and others to excuse or forget the historic absence of accountability, clarity and transparency."
Victor Capecce: "My opposition to the project originated with the observation that the site was woefully inadequate and inappropriate for a convention center. The surrounding traffic-snarled streets, the adjacent crime-prone residential neighborhood, the convoluted and inadequate parking scheme all combine to prevent the venue from successfully competing with nearby venues in Hershey, Valley Forge, Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, etc.
"The behemoth exhibit hall is designed for up to 400 trade show exhibits, but 400 vehicles cannot unload in a reasonable time at the site. The hall should accommodate 2,000 attendees, but it would take more than 2 hours to unload buses for that many people who must be lodged at distant hotels.
"Since the site and its faults have not changed, how could I support the investment of $170 mil (plus) that can never yield its equivalent in economic benefits for the community?"
5/7/07
Pyrrhic Victory Party
The sponsors of the project and the PA visitors' bureau are throwing a party on the 23rd, no doubt to congratulate each other on their fancy footwork financing. It will be interesting what the taxpayer cost of this soiree will be. I sure hope one or more of the board members inquires about its cost. No doubt, Mr. Accountability and Transparency, aka Art Morris, will raise holy heck when he finds out about this completely pointless and premature expenditure. Yes, I expect him to be holding a sign in front of the event beseeching invitees not to enter. Can anyone think of a reason to hold such a party? The only thing I can come up with is they want to rub project critics' nose in their pyrrhic victory. But that would be cynical and self-serving on the part of sponsors, and we all know that doesn't describe these people, right?
5/7/07
Art Morris nominated for chair of Convention Center Authority
At the May 3 Lancaster County Convention Center Authority nominating committee meeting, Art Morris was nominated as chairman of the LCCCA board by a 2 to 1 vote. Morris was nominated by Joe Morales, and Laura Douglas was nominated by Deb Hall, who commented that Morris is a newcomer to LCCCA meetings and has insufficient background to serve as chairman at this time.
Morales and committee chairman Willie Borden voted for Morris, and Hall voted for Douglas.
At the same meeting, Morales nominated Hall as secretary of the LCCCA board. No other nominations for secretary were submitted, and Hall was selected unanimously.
If approved by the full board, City appointee Morris will remain as chairman until January 2008, although the majority of board members will switch from City appointees to County appointees on Sept. 15.
Through Ted Darcus resigning the chairmanship prior to the end of his term, he has enabled the current minority to keep control of the administration of the Authority for an additional four months.
These nominations will be submitted to the LCCCA board for approval at their next meeting on Thursday, May 31, 2007, at 7:00 PM in the Southern Market.
5/3/07
Editorial:
Vote no to Donald Totaro for judge
On at least two high profile occasions, District Attorney Donald Totaro displayed his unsuitability for the office he currently holds, let alone being qualified for the position of county judge.
Totaro kept a grand jury in session for almost a year studying whether the county commissioners had violated the Sunshine Act by holding discussions outside of their public meetings of the possible sales of the Conestoga View Nursing Home. Over almost a year, he took numerous interrogations of the commissioners, causing each of them individually to fear that Totaro knew of some shady dealings of which they were not aware and that somehow they would be implicated.
In fact it was simply a ploy to get them to plead to having committed a violation and to pay a couple of hundred dollars in fines, when in fact the findings of the grand jury virtually exonerated them and castigated the vagueness of the Act itself. And the monopoly Lancaster Newspapers treated Totaro's dubious findings as though it was the crime of the century and succeeded in hounding Commissioner Dick Shellenberger from seeking a second term.
Just as grievously, Totaro ignored the request by the three minority members of the Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) that he investigate the billing of almost $7 million dollars by the law firm of Stevens & Lee without their submitting any information beyond "For Professional Services Rendered." And this was at the time when Totaro was conducting an investigation of the same law firm for allegedly over billing the county by hundreds of thousands of dollars on the Conestoga View transaction.
Totaro's excuse was that the FBI had already looked into the situation. The FBI would not substantiate his statement. And with only a single FBI agent for Central Pennsylvania and without any complaining member of the LCCCA being interviewed, Totaro's explanation lacks credibility.
The public needs a judge who is responsive to the laws and the public, not a tool of the powerful corporate elite. NewsLanc.com recommends its readers reject the candidacy of Donald Totaro.
5/3/07
Darcus stepping down as chairman
Latest sponsors' power play / Another dirty trick?
By relinquishing his chairmanship at the next Convention Center Authority board meeting prior to the expiration of his term, Ted Darcus makes way for another city appointee to assume the position.
Since the Bylaws call for election of officers each January, this assures a city appointee will control the apparatus of the Authority for four more months despite being part of a minority since the chair is the chief executive officer.
Now the public can see what $7 million in Stevens & Lee legal bills has wrought: Schemes to delay county appointees from taking control and investigating past abuses, over payments and possible illegal activities.
Will the monopoly newspapers report these shenanigans and call for an interim appointment to expire on September 15? Do pigs fly?
5/2/07
Commentary:
Next County LCCCA appointee
should bring technical expertise
When the County Commissioners consider their next Convention Center Board appointee, they should, like a good coach, choose someone who will round out the team.
Both the recent County's appointments of Tom LeCrone and R. B. Campbell and the City's appointment of Art Morris strengthened the management and the financial capabilities of the board.
Jack Craver, who recently resigned, had a strong background in the hospitality industry and would have provided useful marketing skills.
Still another area of vital importance, perhaps even more so, is technical knowledge of how a convention center should be designed, maintained and operated. Without such insight from a board member in that crucial area, the Authority will be completely at the mercy of advice from its consultants, and thus a virtual rubber stamp.
NewsLanc.com urges the commissioners to reopen the application process so that they can consider past and new candidates who will strengthen the board as it is now constituted. The Authority needs marketing or technical skills, not more of the same.
4/30/07
Another county opening on LCCCA Board
Apparently unknown to the County Commissioners and the local monopoly media, Debra Hall's term on the Convention Center Authority expires Sept. 15 of this year.
Also Mayor Rick Gray, with the approval of City Council, will need to fill the seat held by City appointee Willie Borden, Jr., whose term also ends this Sept. 15.
In response to a Right to Know request from NewsLanc.com, LCCCA executive director David Hixson wrote (and the LCCCA has subsequently verified) that the expiration dates of the terms of the seven board members are as follows: Willie Borden, Jr., Debra Hall and Ted Darcus: September 2007; Laura Douglas and Joseph Morales: September 2009; R. B. Campbell and Art Morris: September 2010.
The Commissioners conducted an extensive screening process to choose Tom LeCrone to serve in the seat to be vacated in September by city appointee and current Chairman Ted Darcus. With the subsequent resignation of county appointee Jack Craver, the commissioners selected finalist R. B. Campbell to fill the balance of Craver's term.
At issue will be whether the Commissioners initiate a new search, or select from the remaining two finalists.
Currently there are four City appointees and three County appointees on the board. The odd seat rotates every four years between the City and the County, so the County will be entitled to four appointees as of September 15, 2007.
4/30/07
Still more changing of the guard
At the Convention Center Authority's April 26 meeting, chairman Ted Darcus announced that he would step down as its chair at the next scheduled meeting on May 31.
Darcus is relinquishing his chairmanship prior to the end of his term, presumably so that a new chair can be chosen while there remains a majority of four City appointees on the Board. After September 15th, county appointee LeCrone will take City appointee Darcus's seat, this "swing" seat being rotated every four years.
Board member Joseph Morales sought to excuse a lack of past transparency as necessitated due to litigation and called upon opponents of the project to set aside past objections and support the project in the future.
Speaking from the audience, Randy Carney, NewsLanc.com's president Robert Field, and former City councilman Luis Mendoza praised the County and City for selecting three highly qualified new appointees (R. B. Cambell, Art Morris, and designee Tom LeCrone) but contested the notion that misrepresentations, lack of accountability, and failure to provide transparancy should be forgotten or go without future investigation. While indvidually expressing grave misgivings concerning the cost, design and future of the convention center / hotel project, they acknowledged the importance of the newly constituted board and the public working together, as Field put it, "to make the best of a very bad thing"
4/27/07
Member fears Board is violating Sunshine Act
At the April 26 meeting, Convention Center board member Laura Douglas repeatedly objected to the discussion of the board policy regarding legal invoicing being held in private executive session rather than in the open forum.
Douglas agreed that matters pertaining to actual litigation should be dealt with in private but maintained that this was strictly a policy issue. She contended that failure to discuss a policy matter in the public session was a violation of the Sunshine Act.
Board members Douglas, Deb Hall and Jack Craver have long criticized the law firm of Stevens & Lee submitting invoices amounting to almost $7 million with no further information than "For professional services rendered to the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority." An editorial in the Sunday News and a past column by the newly appointed board member Art Morris also were critical of the Board's failure to obtain the customary information justifying billings as submitted by most law firms.
It was announced after the executive session that Douglas' request for a new policy concerning invoices had been tabled. So it appears this matter may have to await the Sept. 15 changing of the guard.
4/27/07
Many losers, and one winner - -
Congratulations Dale High!
Now that the Convention Center seems likely, many losers and one major winner are apparent.
Clearly the Lancaster City taxpayers are the biggest losers. They have in whole or in part guaranteed at least $36 million in debt, approximately $4,000 per household!
The second big loser is the Steinman legacy. A reputation for good work and community leadership was tarnished as a result of the monopoly newspapers' bias and bullying tactics.
The third losers are the merchants. Unlike upscale condominiums, the convention center will obstruct the essential revitalization process whereby young professionals and 'empty nesters' move downtown.
The big winner is the High Group of companies. They made money on the project's planning stage, they will earn money on the construction, they will also receive a percentage of future hotel operational revenue and revenues from concessions, and will likely come to own at least half of the hotel itself.
4/24/07
Omen of things to come?
The Whitaker Center for Culture and Art in Harrisburg was funded with over $52 million in contributions from citizens and companies as well as by grants from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Harrisburg and Dauphin County. It had no mortgage when it was first opened.
Their marketing study indicated that they would draw crowds from Baltimore which seemed to some knowledgeable observers as nonsense. Indeed, nonsense it proved to be.
Whitaker Center is reportedly currently running an annual deficit of around $2 million and has had to borrow heavily from several banks, one of which is Fulton Bank. Fulton may have already taken a write down on the loan.
When there was an opportunity for Fulton to provide credit enhancement for the Lancaster Convention Center / Hotel project, Fulton wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. Instead, Fulton only lent money that was guaranteed by the City of Lancaster.
Fulton had so little confidence in the Convention Center / Hotel project that it allowed its initial limited partnership investment to shrink from 20% to about 4% before it finally was able to jump ship.
Bankers don't like to lose their investments. A general partner / general contractor making money up front and guaranteed additional earnings annually through management fees has no such constraint.
4/21/07
Assassins also murder our society; Result: HACC Arms Security Guards
As reported in the Intelligencer Journal of 4/21/07, the Harrisburg Area Community College will at least temporarily allow its security guards at the Lancaster branch to carry fire arms.
Almost a decade ago, a debate raged on the campus of Millersville College as to whether campus guards should be allowed to carry guns. Many unsuccessfully argued at the time that it was dangerous to allow guards who have not had the rigorous training of police officers to carry fire arms. Also there was a sense that lethal weapons would negatively alter the trusting relationship between students and security personnel.
Today, many fantasize how we would keep a flack jacket and a rifle in our closet if we were a school principal. Even those who have supported gun control in the past now wonder if we are trying to close the barn door after the animals have gotten away.
Times certainly have changed when we wish some of the teachers and even students at Virginia Tech were carrying concealed weapons.
No, NewsLanc isn't advocating arming our children and even our teachers! But that such thoughts can even cross our minds is testimony how the aberrant behavior of a few can change the values and course of a civil society.
4/21/07
Hypocrisy or intellectual disconnect?
The Intelligencer Journal headline of 4/21/07 screams: "GOP targets tax hikes; Local lawmakers slam Rendell budget proposal."
Scroll down to "Santa's Helper Arrives in Faux Trolley" and you will encounter perhaps $40 million in State "gifts" for local projects. Are our Republican (and Democratic) legislators so naive as to think that Governor Rendell and his helpers can go around the state giving $40 million here and $50 million there (perhaps a half billion for Philadelphia) and the money doesn't have to come from someplace?
The scam is each community tries to syphon more money from the state than the next guy. And, based on that fallacy, we get led around by the nose by powerful corporate interests who feed at the taxpayers trough.
If our legislators wanted discipline, they should have started at home and vociferously demanded that the convention center / hotel project be scrapped by the state. Not only was the project without merit, but the very application by the Convention Center Authority for $20 million in state funding was misleading at best, and possibly fraudulent in its claims of having conducted a "feasibility" study.
No Lancaster, there isn't any Santa Claus. There is only greedy Santa ourselves.
4/21/07
A 'Smart' Sunday News exclusive
Kudos to the Sunday News for its April 15, 2007 front page article entitled "Non-taxing times." Associate editor Gil Smart is to be commended for researching and writing about such an important subject.
Tax exemption of properties is like a spreading cancer, first eating away at the city of Lancaster and later its suburbs.
The City suffers from an accident of history, the incorporating of too limited amount of the region within its boundaries. The division between the city and surrounding townships is arbitrary but the results devastating. Also, city government likely would be more accountable if the city encompassed a larger share of the county. Thus, it would not bet tens of millions on a hapless convention center hotel.
The solutions at hand are (1) more revenue sharing via county support of city endeavors and (2) contributions in lieu of paying real estate taxes by tax exempt properties.
Some houses of worship already do this. Others should follow. And they should target contributions of at least 50% of what they would pay if they were taxed.
4/20/07
Public Backlash re Cho Photo
According to the Associated Press, a backlash has developed against the media for airing sickening pictures sent to NBC from Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui.
Objections were raised by families of victims and police officials as well as members of the general public. Family members boycotted the NBC "Today" show out of disgust.
The national media is tripping over itself to have its cake and eat it too. The media is characterizing its actions as reporting "breaking news" and then, having exploited the opportunity to sensationalize the tragedy, saying they are pulling back because they didn't want to be accused of bad taste.
Is there any wonder that the public is turning away from newspapers, TV and radio and turning instead to the Internet for its news?
4/20/07
Intell photo incites massacres
On April 19, the Intelligencer Journal published a front page, four column photo of Cho Seung-Hui with arms outreached and brandishing two pistols, thus fulfilling his wish for fame and enticing 'copy cat' campus killers.
The photo was reportedly mailed to the media by Cho between his shooting sprees at Virginia Tech University.
NewsLanc.com doesn't question the editor's morality, just his or her common sense.
The Intell's and other unthinking editors across the country (including the New York Times!) play right into the hands of mentally ill individuals like Cho, promising to make them celebrities, portraying them as big and powerful men. Worse yet, it encourages others who are mentally deranged to commit copy cat crimes!
What this represents is bad judgment. As Lincoln said: "You can fool all of the people some of the time."
Shame on the Intell. Shame on the New York Times. Shame on editors that printed the picture everywhere.
And garlands for those who showed the good taste and judgment to reject such crass exploitation.
4/19/07
Commissioner candidates debate Convention Center merits
Six of the seven Lancaster County Commissioner candidates sparred Monday night in a debate before a large audience in Willow Valley, only a month before the primary election May 15.
Unlike last week's candidates' forum in East Hempfield, where all four of the participants – Molly Henderson, Heidi Wheaton, Jere Swarr, and Craig Lehman - slammed the proposed convention center; this time, except for Henderson and Wheaton (mildly), the office seekers were decidedly in favor of the publicly guaranteed $170 million High/Steinman project.
"I fully support going forward with the project," said Republican Scott Martin. "The opponents are, what, O-and-9 in court trying to stop this project. It is time that we all support it."
All four Republican candidates – the endorsed team of Martin, former county employee and and county controller Dennis Stuckey, former Lancaster city mayor Charlie Smithgall, and East Hempfield Township Supervisor, Heidi Wheaton – made it to the Willow Valley Cultural Center Auditorium on a blustery and chilly mid-April evening.
The GOP hopefuls were joined onstage by the two endorsed Democrats – incumbent Commissioner Henderson and Lehman, her Democratic running mate – in the event sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
"People do not know the possibility of this project and it's because of the nay-sayers," said Smithgall to a question asked by Lancaster Newspaper employee Helen Colwell Adams, a panelist. Smithgall added that Clipper Magazine Stadium was also "contentious," but that the ballpark was now widely accepted throughout the county as a good investment.
Only Henderson strongly criticized the nearly $200 million proposed development.
"I supported the project in 2003," she said. "Then it was $70 million, and 50/50 public/private investment. Now, it's nearly $200 million, and the taxpayers are responsible for 95% of it. And, yes, I am very concerned about that."
Only Independent candidate Jere Swarr did not participate in the two-hour event. Swarr will not be on the May ballot.
4/17/07
Santa's helper arrives in faux trolley;
Promises still more gifts and big surprise
As a guest of state Senator Gibson Armstrong, Santa's jolly helper reviewed how past gifts were being used for the Convention Center, the Lancaster Museum of Art and an expanding Transit Center.
The helper then received a new "wish list" from mayor Rick Gray which included another parking garage and row of high end condos at Queen and Lemon Streets.
Santa's helper also beamed at requests for the African Freedom Quest Theater and Interactive Wax Museum.
And anticipating the spirit of the season to come, Santa's helper suggested the mayor should add to the city's wish list an urban supermarket.
Before returning to the North Pole by way of Harrisburg, the helper approvingly viewed construction at Franklin and Marshall College and at the Health Center.
"There is still more to come," promised the jolly helper (a/k/a Secretary for the Department of Community and Economic Development Dennis Yablonsky) as he waved from his trolley as it lifted into the sky.
And, sure enough, fluttering down came a scrap of paper on which was scrawled, "Merry Christmas to all. Expect a 1% sales tax hike in Lancaster's Christmas stocking."
4/17/07
The fallacy of self interest vs. community interest
According to an AP release of April 14, Governor Ed Rendell's budget secretary, Mike Masch, "used the opportunity to press the case for an increase in the state sales tax."
Would Rendell and state Senator Gibson Armstrong like to know how to avoid a sales tax increase? Stop giving away $25 million dollars in taxpayers' money to hare-brained projects all over the state such as the Lancaster convention center.
Our local politicians flaunt their skill for tapping the state and federal tills and we, the suckers, think they are doing such a good job for us…finding all of this FREE money.
So long as we "conservatives" and "liberals" can be bought off with "free" empty convention centers / hotels and "free" dangerous and annoying trolley cars (and in disregard of the annual deficits they generate), vital government services will suffer and our taxes will rise.
Is that so hard to understand?
4/14/07
Voting machines without paper trail banned
As reported by VoteTrustUSA.org, a four year effort to require paper ballots for Maryland's
voting system passed the House and the Senate unanimously. The bill requires a voter-verified paper trail to be implemented in 2010.
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania court held on April 11 that voters have a right under the commonwealth's constitution to reliable and secure voting systems and can challenge the use of electronic voting machines "that provide no way for Electors to know whether their votes will be recognized" through voter verification or independent audit.
Maryland was one of the first states to use electronic voting machines and is one of the last to require a voter verified paper ballot. Twenty-seven states require either a voter verified paper ballot or a paper ballot based system and seven other states do not use electronic voting machines. Over 30 states use optical scan systems.
Lancaster County Commissioners purchased a number of used electronic voting machines in 2005 that were being discarded by the state of Oregon. Commissioner Dick Shellenberger and former Commissioner Pete Shaub voted for the purchase and Commissioner Molly Henderson voted against the acquisition, citing the same objections to a lack of a paper trail for verification that are now prevailing across the nation.
NewsLanc.com had editorialized against the purchase of electronic voting machines without a paper trail.
4/13/07
Mayor says it's now okay for LCCCA to be accountable
The New Era reported April 12: "Although Schwanger's appointment expired months ago, [Mayor Rick] Gray said he did not want to shake up the board before the financing package was secured. …Now the project is in a different phase, the mayor explained. … 'Art's known as a strong advocate for making government open and accountable to taxpayers,' Gray said."
After having used every device this side of breaking the law, and perhaps more, to ram through the convention center / hotel project against overwhelming public opposition and lack of evidence of any possibility of it succeeding, the sponsors and the officers of the Authority and City are now turning to former Lancaster mayor Art Morris to bring probity and expertise to the Authority.
Morris has been supportive of the Convention Center / Hotel Project although at times critical of the Authority practices. It seems likely that had he been on the board previously, he would have taken the time to review market studies and feasibility reports and insisted that they be properly represented and shared with the public. In short, the mayor and the Convention Center sponsors could not run the risk of appointing Morris even two or three months ago when financing was still in question and there was ample opportunity to cancel the project.
Morris has vehemently opposed the sale of the Conestoga View Nursing Homes, which is where he has recently focused most of his public attention. Hopefully Morris will turn some of that passion, which at times has lead to his unjustified and ungentlemanly attacks on Commissioner Molly Henderson, to helping other reform minded board members to properly serve the public, rather than to be lick spittles for the sponsors. Morris is a very good and competent man, but he needs to monitor his emotions if he is to fulfill his potential.
If he can, he may earn the chairman position, despite being part of the minority city appointees. Especially here in Lancaster where to whom you were born and going along with the powerful corporate establishment leads to high position, there is a need at a time of crisis to turn to a person of integrity and expertise, even if Morris were born to poverty in post war England.
4/13/07
Art Morris new city appointee to CC project
The appointment of former Lancaster mayor Art Morris as a city representative to the Convention Center Authority Board is most welcome.
If the project is indeed to move ahead despite wide scale public outcries about its inanities, then it is best that there be people on the board with experience, expertise and proven competence, not individuals who are readily manipulated by vested interests.
The challenge will be to see if a collegial and respectful relationship can be generated between the county and city appointees in a public spirited atmosphere of hard work and frank exchanges of ideas and views. While they cannot change the fundamentals, they can at least try to avoid cost overruns and engage managers and advisors of ability and dedication.
It is even conceivable that Morris will emerge as chairman despite being a member of the city minority.
The best thing that could be done is to yet stop this horror of a project. Not only will it waste over a $150 million of taxpayer money, it will be a black hole like Lancaster Square, but on the other side of Penn Square. Together they make it very hard for downtown to be revitalized.
4/12/07
Four Commissioner Candidates bash
Convention Center Project
At a Candidates' forum April 10 in East Hempfield, four of the seven county commissioner candidates in next month's primary sharply criticized the convention center project.
"If you want a poster child for how not to build a project, you'd have it with the convention center," said Democrat and Lancaster City Controller Craig Lehman.
Lehman was joined on the panel by incumbent Democrat Molly Henderson, Republican Heidi Wheaton, and Independent Jere Swarr. Three other candidates declined to participate in the event.
Wheaton criticized the public funds required to pay for the $170 million project, saying she was "philosophically" opposed to government subsidies at all.
"I am against using taxpayer dollars for a project that will clearly not be successful," she said.
Commissioner Henderson noted the changes in the cost and size of the project.
"I supported the project when I ran in 2003," she said. "Then it was a $70 million project. Today, it's approaching $200 million."
Henderson added she expected that the Convention Center Authority to be unable to meet its debt service and operating costs and would have to turn to the County for relief.
"That could involve the General Fund," Henderson said.
The most stinging remarks came from the blunt-spoken Swarr, a former Republican now staging an Independent candidacy.
"I've always thought this was a bad deal and I'd call for a moratorium on the thing," Swarr said. "And I have to say I admire Molly's tenacity in standing up against it."
The forum was sponsored by the League of Humane Voters and held at the East Hempfield Municipal Building. About 35 people attended.
4/11/07
Correction re Philadelphia Convention Center
NewsLanc.com apologizes for reporting that, of four regional convention centers, only Philadelphia seemed to be doing okay as a result of its excellent location.
We have since been informed that the Philadelphia Convention Center lost $14.8 million dollars in 2005! So that makes four disasters out of four.
So what is the response of the State to this waste of public funds? Reportedly it is going to fund $700 million more into the project. When these white elephants fail, their backers argue that the problem is a need for more public money spent for additional capacity and infrastructure to make them successful.
Go figure!
4/11/07
Convention Center members fear 'gag rule'
At the March 28, 2007, Convention Center Board meeting (LCCCA), executive director David Hixson asked to postpone consideration of board member Laura Douglas' proposal to make public all itemized legal fees paid by the LCCCA, with the exception of those involving litigation.
At that time, Hixson made several comments that indicate he may be trying to twist Douglas' proposal into something entirely different from what was envisioned.
Hixson specifically mentioned releasing itemized legal fees without compromising "attorney-client privilege," an excuse long used by Chairman Ted Darcus to refuse public access to almost $7 million dollars in invoices from the law firm of Stevens & Lee. "Attorney-client privilege" could very easily be twisted to eliminate most of the items Laura Douglas envisioned making public.
Invoices from the law firm contain no information other than "For services rendered to the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority," an outrage so great that even former mayor Art Morris and the Sunday News have raised strenuous objections.
Of greater concern is Hixson's proposal to add provisions that would restrict board members from releasing information to the public. If Hixson is able to get the four City appointees to agree to some kind of limitation on what information can be disclosed to the public, the public will be even further kept in ignorance concerning vital convention center business and the expenditure of what could amount to over $200 million of the taxpayers' money.
The LCCCA board members generally are not permitted to see what they are to vote on more than a day before a board meeting, so it is important that public concern be raised and expressed long before the next meeting.
4/10/07
This can save your life
An article titled "Heart Disease, Learned and Ignored" in the April 8, 2007 Sunday New York Times Magazine states:
"Studies reveal, for example, that people have only about an hour to get their arteries open during a heart attack if they are to avoid permanent heart damage. Yet, recent surveys find, fewer than 10 percent get to a hospital that fast, sometimes because they are reluctant to acknowledge what is happening. And most who reach the hospital quickly do not receive the optimal treatment - many American hospitals are not fully equipped to provide it but are reluctant to give up heart patients because they are so profitable.
And new studies reveal that even though drugs can protect people who already had a heart attack from having another, many patients get the wrong doses and most…stop taking the drugs in a matter of months. They should take the drugs for the rest of their lives."
That extensive article can be accessed by clicking here.
4/8/07
Scheduling of national primaries
According to the Associated Press, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "We should come up with a policy from a federal point of view and not let each state do it. Because there's no coordination and nobody's focusing on what's good for the public and good for the country in national elections; they're only focusing on what's good for the state."
By bunching primaries and holding them earlier, the nation loses the opportunity to familiarize itself with candidates. New Hampshire and Ohio have long served a valuable role as evaluators of candidates because they must visit often and subject themselves to intense questioning and scrutiny.
All or nothing blockbuster primary dates will enable the candidate with the biggest TV budget to win the party nomination. A number of primaries over the course of a six month period favors the lesser known candidate who can win over the electorate in relatively small states through dint of effort and thus attract national attention and become a recipient of political donations.
4/7/07
Trolley feasibility study challenged by reader
I finally had a chance to read a part of the so-called "Feasibility
Report" about Rick Gray's proposed trolley line in downtown Lancaster.
How accurate can any report be that refers to "Rocky RIDGE Park"?? Rocky
Springs park was a huge part of Lancaster's culture, until it was closed in the 1960s by its owner as a result of protests over its enforced
segregation, protests which were led by current Lancaster City Council Vice-President Nelson Polite.
If this report cannot get something as important to Lancaster as this right, how can we possibly trust the rest of it?
This is starting to sound like the taxpayer-financed hotel and convention center project all over again, including the bogus feasibility study, and
the requirement for massive amounts of taxpayer financing.
4/6/07
Campbell chosen for Authority Board
The Lancaster County Commissioners chose R. B. Campbell, former City Controller, to replace Jack Craver as a member of the Convention Center Authority Board.
The addition of Tom LeCrone and Robert Campbell to the Board bodes well for the Authority's operations after Sept. 15 when LeCrone takes his place along side Campbell and the other board members, tilting the majority to the four county appointees.
One of the first tasks of LeCrone and Campbell will be to create a constructive working relationship and to generate a sense of empowerment and responsibility on the part of all board members. The days of the Board receiving its directions from interested third parties as passed down through its chairmen will have come to an end.
Would that this had occurred even six months earlier!
4/4/07
Heard on Sunday from a 'reliable source'
On Sunday NewsLanc was told that Penn Square Partners will cancel its convention center project… Its chairman read the PricewaterhouseCoopers Market Study of 2000 and learned that Lancaster has no scheduled flights… no through interstate… few downtown attractions… and little apparent demand.
We were told Mayor Gray expressed relief. He said revitalization depends on attracting people… not boondoggles.
Also Molly Henderson is resigning as commissioner to become the first Public Editor for the monopoly Lancaster newspapers.
And The Lancaster Alliance will recommend that horse-drawn buggies instead of trolley cars run between the Amtrak Station and downtown because they create less congestion and are safer.
But then again, Sunday was April Fools' Day. Or was it April Sanity day?
4/3/07
Why trolley cars are wrong for Lancaster
Robert Edwin Field, President, NewsLanc.com
My son Richard and I have been conducting business in Eastern Europe over the past 15 years. As such, I have had considerable experience with trolley cars. In fact, we have had to design entry ways in a manner to minimize the lethal risk that trolleys engender.
They do run silently. And they cannot be quickly stopped. Pedestrian fatalities take place each year. At least in Eastern Europe people have been admonished by parents about the danger since earliest childhood.
The initial route is to be between the Amtrak Station and downtown. How would you like your children or grandchildren to live on a city street with a trolley car that cannot be readily heard and cannot be quickly stopped?
I am old enough to recall riding trolleys in Philadelphia during my youth. There are good reasons why street cars were phased out by trackless electrical vehicles and finally by busses. Riding behind a trolley is comparable to riding behind a school bus. They impede traffic. They cannot pull over to pick up pedestrians, let alone the physically challenged. And if they run along curb side, they eliminate vital on street parking.
Of course when built in dedicated lanes in the center of broad boulevards (six to eight lanes including the center trolley lanes and platforms) street cars work very well. We have no boulevards in Lancaster.
I went to school at Cal Berkeley and love to visit San Francisco and ride on the cable cars. But they are something very unique and they can stop quickly under most circumstances since the brakes grab onto a cable. (Those of us who hung on from the sides learned to anticipate this.)
And I have visited the New Orleans waterfront and seen the street car named Desire. If it wasn't the object of the play and the movie, it probably would not be running now. It does serve the river front.
I suspect that a slow moving trolley on flat ground on a broad avenue along a waterfront in a town with many tourists attractions might be worthwhile. But that is hardly Lancaster. Our downtown is a mixed use commercial, retail and residential community with very little tourism. This is pointed out in the Feasibility Report. (I encourage readers to use this link to read the actual Stone Consulting & Design, Inc., February 2006 report.)
The study indicates that the initial project would cost $14 million. (The initial estimate for the Convention Center / Hotel Project was $70 million and ended up $200 million, all things considered.)
The estimated annual operating loss (that is before debt service) is about
$400,000. However the report acknowledges the difficulty in anticipating ridership.
I see here a pattern of "Lancaster exceptionalism" whereby the power elite ignores hard facts and chase federal and state largess, regardless of whether the outcome will be good or bad for the community.
I have made no secret of my feeling that the convention center project is the worst thing that could happen to downtown and will be a major obstacle if not the death blow to the town's ongoing revitalization. People revitalize a downtown, not boondoggles. Condominiums and shops draw people. Convention Centers generate dead zones in the heart of a city.
The Convention Center will likely be a community debacle. But fatalities resulting from trolley cars running on narrow streets will be a human tragedy.
4/2/07
Craver resignation from Authority
Anticipated by Commissioners
The other shoe fell March 30 as Jack Craver, a county appointee to the Convention Center Authority, resigned due to scheduling conflicts. Craver had been missing meetings at a time when his expertise and vote would have carried weight.
His departure was no surprise to Dick Shellenberger and Molly Henderson, who anticipated that their very public display of soliciting the best qualified candidates would result in two, not just one, board members.
According to the March 31 Intelligencer Journal, the "commissioners" announced that the replacement county representative for Craver would be chosen from the remaining three finalists. This sheds light on why the commissioners chose to only interview four of the fourteen applicants instead of up to six candidates as originally proposed.
Conspicuously passed over was Victor Capecce, a long time convention center industry professional. A trade show designer, Capecce had contributed some of the most prescient and practical observations over the years. By not allowing Capecce to be interviewed, the commissioners avoided public speculation and criticism as to why someone so qualified was being passed over.
Tom LeCrone is likely to be the next chairman. He brings business and leadership experience to the position which is highly desirable. However, the second opening would appropriately have gone to someone with convention center expertise who could have worked in tandem with LeCrone and been a resource for other board members. Before you can lead, you have to know where you are going.
The three finalists, according to the Intell, are R.B. Campbell, former Lancaster City controller and a Republican candidate for City Council; Kevin Fry, chairman of Manheim Township Planning Commission; and Edward Klaus, project manager for Inner City Group.
3/31/07
Fulton Bank 'jumps ship' from Convention Center
After having allowed its minority sponsorship interest in the Convention Center / Hotel Project to shrink over the past year to a paltry 4.35 percent equity investment rather than invest additional funds, Fulton Bank has sold the balance to the remaining two equal partners, subsidiaries of the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. and The High Companies. The sale was announced in a press release by the Convention Center Authority on March 29.
According to a report in the March 30 Intelligencer Journal, Nevin Cooley, president of hotel developer Penn Square Partners, said Fulton was "coming out" because it is a lender to the project.
While initially well meaning, apparently the bank's continued involvement in the ballooning project was in large part an accommodation to major clients Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. and High Industries.
The sale hardly comes as a surprise to NewsLanc.com because some time ago a very senior Fulton official allowed that he "wouldn't lend a nickel" to the project. And so long as a loan would be subject to risk, they apparently did not! Note that it was Wachovia Bank and not Fulton Bank that provided the credit enhancement.
The $14.4 million loan is paid by the State and guaranteed by City taxpayers. So Fulton Bank runs no risk of losing "a nickel."
At the end of 2005, a prominent project critic formally admonished a senior officer of Fulton Bank concerning alleged misrepresentations by Penn Square Partners and the Authority to government officials and urged that the bank seek legal counsel pertaining to the licensing implications of its continued investment in the project. It appears that the bank chose not to invest further in the project which explains the continuous and precipitous decrease in its percentage of ownership.
And by the time the Convention Center and the hotel apply to the County and City respectively for relief, the spin masters at the monopoly newspapers will come up with someone other than themselves and Dale High to blame…probably Molly Henderson!
3/30/07
LeCrone promising selection
The appointment of Thomas LeCrone to the Convention Center Authority Board (likely future Chairman and CEO) bodes well for the community given his business background and critical views concerning the project and its past administration.
LeCrone apparently won the confidence of Commissioner and Chairman Dick Shellenberger during his four-month stint as interim county administrator but primarily budget consultant to the County.
At least one candidate for the board seat had considered LeCrone as a possible replacement for David Hixson, the executive director of the Authority.
Perhaps the New Era had not been that wide of the mark when it implied in an editorial that the selection process was more a public relations stunt than a real parsing of candidates. LeCrone filed on the final day but may well have been the preference of at least Henderson.
But that is not very important. What does matter is whether LeCrone will be able to fulfill the mandate as stated at the inception of the selection process by Shellenberger. It was to introduce transparency to a board that planned in secret and isolated county board members from meaningful review and discussions, to make decisions based upon facts as established through legitimate feasibility studies rather than upon manufactured myths that suited the purposes of the Convention Center and Hotel Sponsors, to conduct audits of past and current expenditures instead of allowing a law firm and consultants to provide invoices which provided insufficient information, and to be accountable to the public, not just to the Sponsors.
One of the first tasks facing the Authority Board upon the replacement of Ted Darcus by LeCrone will be to assure that contractors, accountants and engineers are held strictly accountable to contract conditions so as to avoid millions of dollars of additional payments above the contracted amounts. Let the professionals be responsible for errors and omissions in their design and bidding.
Also come the change in September, all staff and consultants should be reviewed and replacements made as warranted.
It is a tragedy for the community that this highly dubious project, based on greed and hubris rather than attention to professional third party input, is likely to proceed. It will be the task of LeCrone and the other members of the Authority to try to make the best out of a very bad thing.
3/29/07
Commissioners appoint Tom LeCrone to LCCCA Board
The Lancaster County Commissioners today voted to appoint Thomas C. LeCrone to the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority Board.
LeCrone's four-year term begins Sept. 15. He recently completed a four-month stint as interim county administrator and budget consultant to the commissioners. He was formerly chief operating officer for Sci-O-Tech and executive director of the Museum of Scientific Discovery in Harrisburg and holds an MBA from Smeal School of Business, Penn State University, University Park.
3/28/07
Convention Center Hotel financing secured
According to a report dated March 26, 2007 from Moody's Investors Service, a rating of Aa1-VMIG, "with stable outlook" has been awarded for the proposed Convention Center Hotel bonds in the amount of $23,875,000.
The rating is based upon guarantees in the form of an irrevocable letter of credit from Wachovia Bank, N. A. which also has provided similar credit enhancement for the Convention Center portion of the project.
Wachovia will be responsible to re-purchase the bonds if, at the time their five year guarantee expires, Wachovia or others do not offer comparable credit enhancement.
It would now appear that the generally unpopular and highly disputed project will move forward and an official announcement will likely be made as early as the Convention Center Authority public meeting Wednesday, March 28.
3/27/07
Commissioners select 4 finalists for Authority Seat
The County Commissioners announced on March 22 that finalists to be interviewed for the September opening on the Convention Center Authority Board are Robert B. Campbell, Jr., Tom LeCrone, Kevin F. Fry and Edward L. Klaus.
The interviews will be open to the public and are to take place starting at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27.
The commissioners plan to announce their selection the following day, March 28, at their regular Wednesday public meeting.
Information concerning the finalists can be found at http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/201961.
3/22/07
Where we went wrong
Rather than posing the correct question, "Do we need a large gathering space for meetings and, if so, where would be the best location to place it," the Convention Center project was a response to the wrong question: "What can we build on the downtown Watt & Shand site?"
That was seven years ago. Downtown Lancaster had not yet started on the path of revitalization. Some well meaning people were despairing about finding an appropriate use for the site. And others were eager to feed at the trough of massive public funding.
So without regard to the obvious overwhelming negative aspects of the Watt & Shand site for a Convention Center (as indicated in the 2000 PricewaterhouseCoopers market study), a $70 million project was planned that has ballooned to almost $200 million, counting funds spent to date and yet to be spent.
Not only will the project likely be a blight on downtown Lancaster, but 90% or more of the cost will be on the backs of the taxpayers either up front through grants or down the road due to defaults on the bonds.
The moral of the story: If you don't ask the right questions, you are unlikely to get the right answers.
3/22/07
Passing ships
An elderly gentleman stands in front of the Central Market passing out NewsLanc.com fliers. A well dressed, professional looking lady declines but, just before entering the market, stops and asks, "Do you live in Lancaster?" He answers, "I live nearby." She remarks triumphantly: "That's why you don't understand why we need the Convention Center!" and passes through the doors.
Here lies the gulf between points of view:
The lady perceives the Convention Center as bringing new life to downtown Lancaster.
The volunteer, based on fifty years of experience in developing housing, hotels and communities, foresees sterility and blight (as well as bond defaults) because at best the Center will only be used about 80 days a year and people attending meetings seldom venture outside the convention center and host hotel.
He favors a mixed use upscale condominium and retail shops for the Watt & Shand site and a scaled down and better designed convention center elsewhere, perhaps on Rt. 30 East.
The elderly gentleman continues wishing passersby "good morning" and handing them newsletters. Meanwhile, he reflects on a common saying from his youth: "The streets of Hell are paved with good intentions."
3/22/07
'Yellow Journalism'…
Intell uses Shaub as puppet to attack Commissioners
A March 21 purported "news" article by the Intelligencer Journal uses a gathering in Little Britain Township on the structure of future county government as an excuse to report critical comments by former commissioner Pete Shaub about his former colleagues in the newspaper's blatant attempt to impede the reelection of commissioner Molly Henderson.
The article devotes the initial 22 paragraphs to negative remarks by Shaub about Dick Shellenberger and Henderson, assertions by Shaub that the monopoly Lancaster newspapers has often trumpeted over past months. Thus the Intell makes use of Shaub as its puppet to further its parent company's vendetta against the two commissioners for opposing its Convention Center / Hotel Project. (A subsidiary of Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. is a 44% sponsor of the controversial Project.)
It was only after the article continues on page B2 and in its final paragraphs that the readers read anything about what the other three speakers had to say.
This and other similar Intell and New Era screeds raise the question of how long Lancaster readers and advertisers will go along with the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., exploiting its monopoly position to pursue its vested interests and conceits.
3/21/07
A contributor comments:
Is it too far along to stop the Convention Center?
To suggest that it's "too far along" is EXACTLY what the LCCCA [Lancaster County Convention Center Authority] and the PSP [Penn Square Partners] want us to believe! That is EXACTLY why they started pouring concrete before funding is in place.
Why would the LCCCA have signed contracts BEFORE funding was in place? Even Mayor Rick Gray refused to sign water plant construction contracts until
AFTER the City bond sale. Now that the LCCCA's construction contracts are approaching a year old, does anyone believe the price is still valid?
Why would the bond sale already be delayed for literally months? Because the project is already in serious jeopardy. Compare this to Lancaster City's
$125 million bond issue, which was put together by Patrick Hopkins in only a few weeks: Internet auction, 40 years, low fixed rate. Why would the LCCCA
even need risky 7-day demand notes with an interest rate swap option, and a very expensive guarantee by Wachovia?
All is NOT well at Penn Square. Even if the bonds are actually sold, the obstacles against this project being completed grow larger by the day.
3/20/07
Editorial:
Dan Rather speaks
On a recent talk show, journalist Dan Rather described his concern that too often reporters and editors draw too close to officials and thus are inhibited from "speaking truth to power."
His comments are apropos to the calamity that has befallen the City and County of Lancaster as a result of the Lancaster Newspapers' involvement as a 44% sponsor of the proposed Convention Center / Hotel Project. Where once the Fourth Estate worked to illuminate events, its investment has become the subject of its own reporting, resulting in obfuscation, bias, distortion and omission.
However noble the monopoly newspapers' original motivations, it should have become clear a couple of years ago that the project presented too great a conflict of interest and the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., should have withdrawn as a sponsor.
Now years of bias have compromised the three newspapers' integrity and confused their mission. Instead of their traditional role of the reliable and independent informer of the public as was the case under former leadership, the press has become a tool of special interests, if not worse. (Witness accusations of illegal activities by the State Attorney General. )
So the crisis we face isn't just about the Convention Center / Hotel Project, but also whether the Lancaster press can disengage from conflicts of interest and return to high ethical standards. If so, our community's future as a vibrant democracy will be assured.
3/17/07
The New Era just doesn't get it!
A March 15 editorial is headed, "Open appointment plan: cynical again" and lambastes the County Commissioners for following a similar procedure for choosing the fourth County member of the Convention Center Authority as had the county judges in choosing Sharron Nelson to replace Pete Shaub as commissioner. The New Era disingenuously states: "To go through the motions of a public process is a waste of everyone's time."
Under our representative form of government, we expect our leaders to select appointees who share their views, especially when there are adequate spokespersons for alternate opinions already present.
As the monopoly Lancaster Newspapers well knows, this appointment has far greater potential importance for the future of the City and County than Nelson serving as one of three commissioners for the balance of the year. Not only will the new board member swing majority control from City to County appointees, but the person may well become Chair sometime over the next four years, and possibly at the outset.
If the long predicted but yet to materialize project financing proves unavailable, the new appointee will have a major impact on whether the Authority's mandate to create a facility for large gatherings takes place at the Watt & Shand site, at the Brunswick, the Stockyards, or perhaps on Rt. 30 East.
And should the financing be obtained, the new appointee will likely play a key if not the most important role in providing oversight for the project. The board's duty is to assure economical and quality construction, competent marketing, efficient operations, and to determine who will be the executive director and which consultants will be retained and which will be replaced.
Also, the new majority is likely to engage experts to review the $20 million of past expenditures, much of which information has been effectively withheld from inquiring board members and the public.
3/16/07
EDITORIAL: Old Lancaster vs. new Lancaster
The New Era editorial, "Open appointment plan: cynical again" can be seen as a pre-emptive attack against whoever is chosen as the fourth County appointee to the Convention Center Authority.
The Convention Center / Hotel Project represents a war between entrenched and powerful corporate interests, in most part owing their position to patrimony and legacy, who seek to push through at any and all costs this merit less and destructive project against all facts and overwhelming adverse public opinion.
If this kleptocracy (government by rich and powerful) is allowed to bully ahead and continue to use the Authority to churn out propaganda, they will be able to continue to conceal greed, ignorance, and / or hubris and to run Lancaster as its private fiefdom.
NewsLanc.com anticipates that an investigation into past expenditures and misrepresentations will produce scandals on such a scale as to bring criminal justice and national media attention to long standing local abuses. The monopoly Lancaster Newspapers will no longer be able ignore the truth.
Let us hope that the Commissioners show the courage to choose a replacement for board member Ted Darcus that indeed will pursue Dick Shellenberger's call for: (1) transparency, (2) feasibility, (3) audit, and (4) accountability to the public. It has been long overdue!
3/16/07
BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE!
As of Friday, March 16, only half a year remains for a City appointee's control of the Convention Center Authority.
Applications for replacing City appointee Chairman Ted Darcus are now being accepted by the County Commissioners. See below for details.
3/16/07
NewsLanc.com now publishing letters
The editor welcomes communications concerning matters of general local interest.
NewsLanc reserves the right to select and to edit for clarity and brevity. To avoid the need to verify authenticity, the names of the authors will not be published.
Letters should be addressed to info@newslanc.com.
3/15/07
City Director of Public Works doesn't want to learn
Charlotte Katzenmoyer, Director of Public Works of Lancaster City, received a constructive letter from an experienced properties manager suggesting what clean up actions should have been taken immediately following the winter snow and sleet storm and how the City might better deal with snow emergencies in the future.
Katzenmoyer's response was: "As evidenced by the Mayor's meeting with other mayors across PA after that ice storm, every city in PA dealt with the same difficulties that our fair city had faced. I guess we all failed then based on your analysis."
Below is the e-mail to which Katzenmoyer responded:
Ms. Katzenmoyer:
In reviewing copies of old e-mails, I came across the correspondence between you and Chris Hart Nibbrig concerning storm clean up.
The main problem was the failure to properly analyze what was needed to deal with the circumstances and / or the inability due to artificial obstacles for effecting appropriate clean up efforts.
A couple of rubber tire back hoes would have removed the wall of frozen plowed snow impeding pedestrians from crossing street in relatively short order. Loading and trucking snow from the right side of the main streets would have facilitated both parking and discharging of passengers.
Each storm requires careful evaluation of methods to be applied. This included analysis of weather reports. Also if there is a city ordinance for landlords to open up a path on the sidewalks, it needs to be enforced. If not, one needs to be passed.
Best wishes for a better performance next time.
Robert Edwin Field
3/15/07
Contributed by a knowledgeable observer:
Authority's actions both "arrogant and reckless"
The Lancaster County Convention Center Authority shocked everyone by announcing at their December 2006 meeting that it planned to borrow $65 million in construction bonds sold through Wachovia Bank, an increase of $5 million since their November 2006 meeting. It was announced that these bonds were expected to be sold by mid-January 2007. From these proceeds, the $40 million Citizens Bank loan (which was due in December 2006) would be paid off, freeing the approximately $38 million on deposit with Citizens Bank to be used to pay for actual construction.
As this is being written in mid-March 2007, the LCCCA has still not closed on the $65 million bond sale through Wachovia Bank. Yet the LCCCA started drilling and pouring concrete for foundations and walls at the beginning of January 2007. This is irresponsible to the highest degree, the equivalent of building the foundation for a house before the mortgage is approved. So far, the Penn Square Partners are paying for the LCCCA's share of construction costs, which totaled $2.9 million dollars as of the Feb. 21, 2007 LCCCA board meeting. This ever-increasing loan from the PSP to the LCCCA is also to be paid off from proceeds of the $65 million Wachovia Bank bond sale.
The biggest danger, both to the LCCCA and to local taxpayers, is if the Wachovia Bank $65 million bond sale were to be delayed even further, or perhaps fail completely. The longer the bond sale is delayed, the more the LCCCA will owe in interest to both Citizens Bank and the PSP. But if the bond sale were to fail completely, it would create a financial crisis that the LCCCA would not be able to deal with on its own. The Penn Square Partners would justifiably demand that their loans be repaid, which currently would consume an entire year of hotel tax revenue. Were the PSP to pull out of the project as a result, the LCCCA would be responsible for approximately $7 million to buy out the hotel property from the Penn Square Partners and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster, or more than two years of hotel tax revenue. Plus, Lancaster City and County taxpayers would be stuck with a BIG hole in the ground, in the middle of prime real estate in the heart of Lancaster City.
Whether the $65 million Wachovia Bank construction bonds are sold in a timely manner or not, the LCCCA's decision to proceed with construction without funding in place proves just how arrogant and reckless they really are. The risk associated with these actions far outweighs any advantages that might be gained by keeping some kind of artificial schedule. This is evidence that the LCCCA is so concerned about ongoing court challenges to the financing of the project, and the appointment of a fourth LCCCA board member by the County Commissioners effective September 2007, that they are willing to take unreasonable and unnecessary risks to make certain their project gets built at any cost to taxpayers.
3/14/07
It's official: Apply now!
Applicants are now being accepted for the fourth and pivotal county seat on the Convention Center Authority Board.
Full particulars are posted at http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/lanco/cwp/view.asp?Q=586414&A=7.
No less than three or more than six of the finalists will be interviewed publicly on March 27th and a selection is to be made at the Comissioners' Meeting on March 28th.
3/14/07
Commissioners hear about the cost of folly
With Sharron Nelson replacing Pete Shaub, it was apparent at the March 14th meeting that the County Commissioners are functioning in a productive and respectful manner.
Every county citizen would have benefited from hearing the discussions of societal problems that took place, many of them exacerbated as the federal and state governments cut back spending and pass the problems on to the counties.
It was also emphasized by Shellenberger that lack of appropriate services actually lead to greater cost and without optimal results.
As an example, Shellenberger reported that he had learned at legislative conference that 25% of inmates in prison are there not primarily because they are criminals but because they need mental health care and there is no other place to put them.
Shellenberger also reported on how King County, Washington, had adopted a program whereby workers could voluntarily submit to health evaluations in exchange for a reduction in the cost of their medical insurance and, if they agreed to continue to confer concerning recommendations, they would receive a further discount in health care cost.
Your reporter left the meeting deeply moved and wondering how many social, family and health problems would be ameliorated or avoided if tax money currently misdirected by the military / industrial complex, the drug war establishment, and local corporate powers, was instead used to benefit people in need.
3/14/07
Convention Center Authority "between rock
and a hard spot."
According to a source close to the Authority, "If [the LCCCA] puts a hold on construction, the contracts they let will expire, costing them millions of dollars, especially should they try to start up again in one, two, or three months. OTOH, if they continue to move forward and the court rules against them, they will also lose millions of dollars."
The source continued, "I would absolutely agree that moving ahead as the LCCCA is now is not at all prudent."
As an indication of how effective the Authority leadership has been in persuading the public and even high officials that financing is in hand, even this person does not mention the very real possibility that Wachovia Bank will not agree to provide credit enhancement for the proposed hotel. Significantly, a hotel bond guarantee is one of the conditions of Wachovia's commitment to provide credit enhancement on the convention center portion of the project.
And there is a report that the Authority leadership may be seeking hotel bond enhancement from sources other than Wachovia.
In short, without hotel bond enhancement guarantees, there can be no convention center / hotel project.
The Authority is currently financing foundation work from Hotel Room Rental Sales Tax revenue, through a bank line of credit, and from borrowings from the general contractor, a subsidiary of High Industries. How long it can continue to borrow money without assurance of being able to finance the project is an open question. And certainly the longer construction continues without permanent financing, the more the Authority leadership subjects itself to criticism of failure to perform its fiduciary responsibilities.
It is likely that the next 30 days will tell the story of whether the convention center / hotel project is going to be built as currently designed or another use will be found for the Watt & Shand site. There are reports that at least one developer stands ready to acquire the site and build upscale condominiums and shops.
The Convention Center Authority was established to bring about a large meeting facility with an adjoining hotel. Developing it downtown at the Watt & Shand site was at the board's discretion. A location along Rt. 30 East in conjunction with an existing hotel facility with a golf course would solve many marketing and logistic problems. Another alternative would be the acquisition and modification of the current downtown Brunswick Hotel.
Either alternative could be achieved for a modest portion of the current $170 million price tag.
3/14/07
Gib Armstrong may be singing, "You take the short road and I'll take the long road and I'll
get the per diem before you."
(To be sung to a popular Scottish tune)
The March 12th York Dispatch heading reads, "50 miles a troublesome number for senators under new per diem rules." And it appears that York and Lancaster Senator Gib Armstrong is straddling the cut off distance, depending which route he takes to the State Capitol.
The Dispatch states, "The reform went into effect in early January to stop senators who live close to the Capitol from claiming the blanket reimbursement…Last year, state records show Armstrong, who represents parts of Lancaster and York counties, was reimbursed $7,830 in per diems."
According to the report, Armstrong maintains the quickest route is slightly over 50 miles, although the shortest route is slightly less than 50 miles.
You can read the entire story at www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_5418146
3/13/07
Street cars for Lancaster?
Please excuse our skepticism
The March 3 Sunday News contained an opinion piece by Althea C. Ramsay headed, "Climb aboard an old idea." The article mentions visits to various cities and purports that "Business in formerly blighted areas was brisk. Construction of new projects was ongoing along the routes…The riders on the streetcar were most often local residents, commuters, grandparents with their grandchildren and couples visiting downtown from surrounding Counties."
Here we go again!
When it comes to City renewal, the good, solid, conservative Lancaster establishment seems to have a single approach: Grab as much federal grant money as possible, float bond issues guaranteed by local taxpayers, and construct gigantic projects that are likely to do more harm than any good.
In the past, we had the eyesore and failed Lancaster Square. Currently a misbegotten, ruinous Convention Center / Hotel Project is being thrust upon the community despite wide scale reluctance by the public. And now our benighted leaders are suggesting that all will be well if we spend another couple hundred million dollars in bringing back streetcars.
Never mind that street cars were replaced by trackless trolleys and later buses a half century ago in most towns. Never mind that they congest streets and threaten pedestrian safety (They can't be heard). And give no heed to the fact we already have to subsidize the far more practical and flexible Red Rose bus system.
Why cannot the local power establishment understand the route to revitalization is through attracting people to move downtown and simultaneously encouraging shopkeepers and restauranteurs to start or expand businesses, not hundred million dollar boondoggles at taxpayers' expense?
Let's stop wasting our tax money and the tax money of future generations and concentrate on allowing private enterprise — remember capitalism? — to invest significant private funds because then the projects will not be disconnected from reality.
Enough already!
3/11/07
Commissioners likely to ratify selection process for Convention Authority
'Swing Vote' next week
At the March 7th regular Commissioners' meeting, Commissioner Molly Henderson formally placed her proposal of last week on the table for discussion before the board.
The only amendment was put forth by Commissioner Sharron Nelson. She suggested that instead of requiring the appointee to attend four Lancaster County Convention Center Authority board meetings prior to taking the position, that it should be "recommended" that four meetings be attended. Chairman Dick Shellenberger and Henderson agreed with Nelson's suggested change.
The proposal will be contained in a resolution that will be voted on at the March 14th Commissioners' meeting at 9:15 a.m. at the County Courthouse.
3/7/07
EDITORIAL:
Consider two possibilities.
A Convention Center on the Watt & Shand site in use an average of 80 days per year, half of those days attracting visitors from outside of the area who patronize the adjoining hotel. On the other 285 days, picture yourself walking empty streets most evenings at 8:00 p.m.
* * *
Now envision a Watt & Shand site developed with a hundred upscale condominiums for single professionals, young couples, small families and empty nesters. Their patronage would help support retail shops and restaurants on the ground floor level and draw outlying City and suburban dwellers downtown.
Would you now feel better about walking near Penn Square at 8:00 p.m.?
Developers have long expressed serious interest in developing a mixed use residential / retail condominium on the Watt & Shand site. But city authorities have, to put it charitably, discouraged them.
City centers are revitalized by encouraging people to live there, not by building structures to attract out-of-towners a small portion of the year.
$200 million for this boondoggle of a project? Would we want it downtown if it were free?
3/5/07
Three out of four nearby
Convention Centers failing
Allentown Expo Center: Closed and sold in 2006.
Baltimore Convention Center: Experiencing 65% decrease in group bookings for 2008 from what the Convention Center booked in 2005. Booking fall off resulting in 70% drop in related hotel room bookings for 2008 from 2005.
Washington Convention Center: Predicted to lose $22 million in 2007.
Philadelphia Convention Center: Is meeting expectations. Located downtown in close proximity to rail hub to New York and Baltimore / Washington and Harrisburg, I-76, Independence Hall and Chinatown.
3/1/07
Intell had it right!
An Independent can be
elected Commissioner
Although the Lancaster County website says that the "Board [of Commissioners] shall consist of two members from the majority party and one from the minority party," NewsLanc has confirmed after several interviews of government officials and authorities that an independent candidate may be elected to the board.
According to the Pennsylvania Election Code, an independent candidate is considered part of a "political body" and therefore is eligible to be elected to the board.
Rapho Township Supervisor Jere Swarr, a Republican running for the board, has stated he intends to run as an independent.
3/1/07
Commissioners to vote March 28 on majority appointee to Convention Center Authority
At the Feb. 28 Commissioners' Meeting, Commissioner Molly Henderson proposed that "a process similar to that used by the Board of Judges for appointment of former Commissioner Shaub's replacement" be used to select the fourth (and majority) County appointee to the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA).
Henderson proposed opening discussion at the March 7 commissioners' meeting. She said it was important to begin discussion soon because any candidate should observe at least four meetings before taking office, and the Authority doesn't meet every month.
Henderson distributed a timeline for the process and a short list of questions for the candidates to answer. Applicants would be required to submit their resumes along with the questionnaire. Their names and answers to the questions would be posted on the county's website.
Under the timeline, applicants would be interviewed at the public work session March 27 and the commissioners would vote on the appointee at their regular meeting March 28.
"This makes an open way to deal with it," Chairman Dick Shellenberger said.
Henderson's proposal stated, "Because the LCCCA is attempting to complete various complex transactions, any person appointed to the Board should have attended numerous LCCCA Board meetings before taking the seat. Since the LCCCA does not always hold monthly meetings, the county should appoint a person no later than the end of March so that the appointee has the opportunity to attend as an observer at least four board meetings before taking office."
Rapho Township supervisor Jere Swarr said, "We can only hope, if you're open with this process, many at the convention center authority might take the hint."
2/28/07
City just doesn't get it;
Taxpayers, hold onto your wallets!
According to the Feb. 28 Intelligencer Journal headline: "City mulls $140M of debt."
Patrick Hopkins, the city's business administrator, is quoted as saying, "We would have experienced a $900,000 debt decrease next year. So instead of that decrease, our debt load will remain the same."
What Mayor Rick Gray's capital improvement plan fails to take into account is the prediction of three board members of the Convention Center Authority that the proposed Marriott Hotel will run a deficit of at least $1,800,000 a year, all or mostly guaranteed by the city.
Therefore, if the Convention Center / Hotel project moves ahead, by 2010 or 2011 the city debt service requirement will likely increase by twice as much as its savings in 2008.
That's $1,800,000 for 22 years = $39,600,000. That amounts to $2,000 per typical city family.
Question for city families: Would you prefer a downtown hotel or $2,000 in cash?
The Authority Board members' calculations are based upon the PKF Consultants, Inc. Market and Feasibility Study of May, 2006, adjusted upwards to reflect the almost $20 million in additional borrowings due to building cost increases and financing requirements.
The PKF Study is the only full Feasibility Study ever made for the Project. Earlier Pricewaterhouse Market Studies were withdrawn in 2005 by the firm as no longer accurate or relevant.
2/28/07
County Election Chief:
'We've got to ask the state.'
Clarification sought regarding Swarr eligibility
Could there be three registered Republicans on the county board of commissioners after the fall elections?
Jere Swarr, a Republican, wants to file and run as an independent candidate for county commissioner. The head of the county board of elections says that this may be okay, and that he may not have to change his party affiliation.
"It's possible there could be three Republicans," says Mary Stehman, head of the county board of elections. "We are seeking clarification from the state, and we are referencing the county code."
The county code says one thing, the county website another. And the state may have a different opinion altogether.
The relevant section of the state code reads:
"Three county commissioners shall be elected in each county in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-five, and every fourth year thereafter. In the election of commissioners, each qualified elector shall vote for no more than two persons. The three persons having the highest number of votes shall be elected."
The county website reads:
"The county code stipulates that each voter may cast a ballot for only two commissioner candidates and that the three having the highest number of votes shall be elected. The Board shall consist of two members from the majority party and one from the minority party."
NewsLanc.com was unable to get official clarification from the state election board at the time of posting. We will update this story as soon as definitive information is available.
2/27/07
Board Members accuse Wachovia Bank
of "purposefully entering into unsound guarantees in full recognition that the convention center and hotel are not financially viable and in anticipation
of default..."
The following are excerpts from a Feb. 16 letter from Convention Center Authority Board members Jack Craver, Laura Douglas and Deb Hall to Kathleen Smarilli, President, Wachovia Bank Central Pennsylvania Region:
"...We share with the others a desire to generate a suitable public facility to accommodate large gatherings; but we believe that must be done in a size, at a location and at an expense that would not violate our fiduciary responsibilities of ensuring its financial viability.
"As is evident from [the PKF Consultants 2006 Feasibility Study] and the calculations that follow this letter, there is expected to be an annual cash flow deficit of $1,744,220...[Thus] $1,744,200 of $2,264,000 in [Convention Center annual] Operating and Fixed Expenses will go unpaid.
"We note a similar situation concerning Wachovia's proposed guarantee of Hotel bonds. ...Debt service on the $24 million in hotel bonds at 5% will amount to $1,925,822 per year, creating a [hotel annual] short fall of at least $1,801,822...
"In short, we cannot but presume that a department in your bank is knowingly and purposefully entering into unsound guarantees in full recognition that the convention center and hotel are not financially viable and in anticipation of default and further subsidy at a later date at the expense of the Lancaster City and County taxpayers.
"We ask that you intercede in this matter and have Wachovia re-underwrite its financing commitment for the project..."
View the letter here: http://www.newslanc.com/wachovia.pdf
2/23/07
Authority bases marketing plan on reports
long withdrawn by PricewaterhouseCoopers
It was revealed at the Feb. 22 Convention Center Authority meeting that the entire Convention Center marketing effort -- costing taxpayers over $1 million to date -- has been relying on studies that are so outdated and irrelevant that its authors explicitly asked NOT to be associated with them.
Daniel Logan, president of Growth Business Development, led a lengthy presentation on various marketing elements of the project. He said his analysis was based on the 2000 PricewaterhouseCoopers Feasibility Study. Logan said that Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) did an updated "market study" in 2002, which did not include an economic feasibility study.
(Editors Note: Both PwC reports were merely Market Studies, not Feasibility Studies).
At no time did Logan reveal to the public that PwC had withdrawn its name from the project because of the change in size and scope. What the Authority's principal market consultant did was use the Pricewaterhouse-Coopers studies to "promote" the project after PwC explicitly requested the Authority not "promote" the project using the PwC name!
In 2005 PwC director Robert Canton suggested in an e-mail communication that the "...answer may very well be consistent with County Commissioners' belief given changes to the industry, changes in the Center/Hotel building program, and changes in the competitive environment..."
Canton encouraged that an updated feasibility study be performed.
Canton concluded, "Is it possible that my attempts earlier this year to convince the Authority to let us update our study may have been met by resistance due to our candid comments regarding the challenging state of the industry and the proposed development?"
Board member Laura Douglas asked Logan if he took into consideration the PKF Feasibility Study. Logan said that he had not read it.
In 2006, the county commissioners, at the suggestion of Mayor Rick Gray, sought to engage PwC perform a full scale, current feasibility study as Canton had recommended. But PwC declined, probably because of the way its earlier reports had been misrepresented.
The commissioners then obtained a full fledged feasibility study by the equally reputable PKF Consultants, Inc. After studying the financial implications of the project, PKF concluded that the project should "either be downsized or another use found for the site."
2/23/07
Bond sale again delayed
Contractors uneasy
Are Convention Center Finances
in Disarray?
At the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority Finance Committee
meeting Feb. 21, 2007, Authority financial consultant Maurice Walker announced:
"Access to bond proceeds extended from January 2007 to April 2007, or longer."
This is the second significant delay for the sale of the $65 million, 40-year construction bonds for the proposed convention center. At the LCCCA
board meeting of Dec. 14, 2006, it was announced that the bonds were to be sold by mid-January 2007. Then, at the Jan. 31, 2007 LCCCA board
meeting, it was announced the bond sale would take place by the third week of February 2007.
As of April Fool's Day 2007, the $40 million Citizens Bank "hostage loan" will be four months overdue. This bank loan cannot be extended indefinitely.
It was also announced that there is "consistent pressure from contractors for payment." Consultant Maurice Walker reported this is because contractors
are uneasy as a result of the controversy over this project.
Mr. Walker also announced that the Penn Square Partners and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster have already spent $2.9
million of their own funds for Phase I and Phase II demolition, facade stabilization, and site preparation, on behalf of the LCCCA. These funds are
to be repaid when the bond sale is completed. Mr. Walker also mentioned that only about $50 million of the $65 million in bonds would be available for
construction; the rest would be required for funding guarantees, and other expenses.
It is entirely possible that the bond sale has been delayed because of the appeal by the Lancaster County Commissioners to Commonwealth Court of Judge
Madenspacher's ruling upholding the County guarantee for these same bonds. If this is true, and the appeals process is a long one, it could hold up
project construction for months - possibly until after the County Commissioners are able to appoint a fourth member to the LCCCA board in
September 2007.
2/22/07
New Era: Better late than never?
(But what do we do with the dead bodies?)
The Feb. 22, 2007 New Era reports, "Some local government leaders had a lively discussion this morning about the Sunshine Act, with several saying that following its dictates can be confusing and cumbersome."
According to Les Houck, a Salisbury Township supervisor, "... avoiding violations can be awkward on three-member municipal boards where a discussion between two people could be construed as a violation."
"Many times the allegations that are made are not made by our people; they're made by the newspapers because it makes good reading," he said.
The New Era pilloried the three county commissioners with banner headlines three days straight for citations amounting to $100 each for supposedly violating the Sunshine Act. Headlines and editorials demanded the resignations of the commissioners.
Now that the characters have been duly assassinated, the New Era acknowledges that proper conforming with the Act is a murky affair at best. This also was the conclusion of the grand jury report.
2/22/07
Intell to sue Attorney General?
In what might be the most bizarre turn in the Intell reporters' scandal, Editor C. Raymond Shaw appeared on Lancasteronline.com's 'Talkback' to answer a torrent of criticisms written about his staff. Shaw wrote: "...We have identified no unethical behavior on the part of any current Intell employees. Those who continue to connect any of our employees with having committed a felony crime of any kind are committing defamation and leave themselves open to legal action. Ray Shaw, editor, Intelligencer Journal."
Was Mr. Shaw threatening to sue state Attorney General Tom Corbett? It was Corbett who said on Feb. 5 that the five Intell reporters were "uncharged co-conspirators," and that the reporters had illegally accessed the secured county government website 57 times, and tried unsuccessfully 33 more times to access the site.
At his news conference and in his report Corbett said there was evidence "establishing the direct illegal use of computers at Lancaster Newspapers by its reporters to access known restricted Web sites." He also indicated perjury charges were being considered against Intell reporter Brett Lovelace, whose testimony the grand jury deemed "not credible."
2/21/07
Mayor Gray: You can't spend
the same dollars twice!
According to the Feb. 20 New Era, Lancaster city officials have proposed floating $17.2 million in new bonds to fund various capital projects. The officials say that the reduction in long term debt, plus lower interest rates, will permit this long term borrowing without increasing the amount of debt service outlays over prior years.
However, city officials and the New Era are overlooking the promised city guarantee of $24 million in debt for the proposed Convention Center hotel. The only feasibility study for the hotel anticipates a loss after debt service of $1,801,822. And that is before paying real estate taxes!
Since the city will be obligated to pay at least the $1,801,822 deficit, the hotel guarantee will consume the funds supposedly available to fund $17.2 million in vital new capital projects.
This is a preview of how county and city guarantees for the Convention Center Hotel project will crowd out vital future services and essential capital expenditures.
2/20/07
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