It seems as though President Brumfield is only allowing Matt Kluck five minutes to speak about turf. Here is the agenda for Monday's Discussion Session. Yet when the deadbeat YSA gave its presentation, they were allowed three times that. June 25, 2012 Discussion Session Agenda Mr. Brumfield, care to explain the difference? Or are you going to continue the discussion after the regular meeting is over? I hope whatever Mr. Kluck is presenting will be posted on the municipal website, just as the YSA was able to have its proposal published.
Update July 21, 2012 PM 1:19 PM
The link to the YSA Proposal podcast is here. It starts at 13:00 minutes and ends at 43:37 minutes. In my pea brain and never one for math, it appears that the YSA spoke for 30:37 minutes. Why does Matt only get five minutes? This place is so corrupt.
Oh yea, no conflict of interest with commish Brumfield, recently resigned sports group officer!
ReplyDeleteOf course, Mr. Kluck's presentation will be promptly followed by Rob Papke, environmental sustainability board member and past Linfante campaign chair.
ReplyDeleteThe title of his presentation will be I'm told-- we don't hear anything, we don't see anything and you can bet your bottom dollar, we sure as hell aren't going to say anything.
This will go on for his allotted five minutes after which he'll take a swig from his promotional PAAmerican water bottle and return to his seat.
The majority of our commissioners are hopeless. They deserve a leader like Brumfield. Unfortunately, the community deserves better leaders.
ReplyDeleteThe Agenda says, "Beginning August 14 we will include TRID on each discussion agenda."
ReplyDeleteWe not only can afford a bond issue for no particular use but we can now give away tax dollars to finance a developers wet dream in our community.
For those of you who are not familiar with TRID, we must declare property blighted in Mount Lebanon just like we did at the corner of Washington Road and Bower Hill when the Zamagias gang came to us to use tax dollars to build retail shops that Zamagias interests would own after the property was completed.
I wonder if anyone told Howard Hanna's clients they are buying property at inflated prices in a blighted community?
I sent an email to the commissioners asking Dave to do the right thing by continuing the discussion meeting after the regular meeting. This would give Matt more time for his turf information.
ReplyDeleteWe can talk more about TRID next month.
Elaine
Howard Hanna's new digs at 701 Washington Rd. are in a blighted Uptown area, which was declared officially blighted over 10 years ago for a project ! Once declared blighted, always blighted. Read the law.
ReplyDeleteWe should declare the school board blighted and get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is also called eminent domain, and there is a disturbing trend throughout the country of local yokel government boards exercising this "power" for half-baked and deadend projects. Cecil Township is currenlty doing the same thing. Problem is, they've gone to people who are living in their homes, up to date on theirbmortgages and still paying taxes, and told them their property is "blighted". You watch--won'tbe long before that idea catches fire here in Oz. The houses near the high school? "Oh, you're in a blight area. Sorry, you have to leave. After all, since we lied about the parking plans in the school design to get the commission to vote to approve, we now need your lot so we can conform."
Wake the hell up, Lebo. You all think we're immune to the backwoods, redneck nonsense you read about in the news?? WRONG! It's here already.
Entering the community at Castle Shannon & Mt. Lebanon Blvds. with the closed Pizza Hut, weed infested property across the street from it and the vacant site behind the drug store it would be easy to believe the area is blighted.
ReplyDeleteFolks, please stay on topic. You raise good points about blighted areas, but this is about Brumfield not permitting equal time to a commissioner with a different viewpoint. He favors his YSA buddies and is not willing to listen to other options.
ReplyDeletePlease hold off on TRID and blighted areas. Thanks.
Elaine
The crown jewel businesses, at least from this residents view, Rolliers and the Galleria that bring life to the community used tifs or at least attempted to use tifs.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm pretty sure the Galleria appealed their last assessment and won.
Now the short-sighted might say, see tifs work.
But I believe the need for tifs is a warning sign that taxes are too high!
How.many businesses, small and large, look at the tax burden and decide the burden will place an undue burden on their bottom line and look for space elsewhere?
Small, innovative start ups have neither the revenue or time to pursue a tif I would think.
It's far easier and beneficial to locate in USC, Peters, Cranberry.
The other issue is that tifs penalize the very people that took a chance, invested and paid the going tax rates and made the community what it is today.
ReplyDeleteBy granting a new concern breaks the burden falls on the concerns already here.
Love to hear what the established commercial properties think?
Unfortunately the two subjects aren't mutually exclusive.
ReplyDeleteIf Commissioner Brumfield and Linfante spend willy nilly floating bonds and buying expensive plastic grass to satisfy Lebofields they have to raise taxes at some point to cover the additional maintenance cost on those fields and pay off the bonds.
Higher taxes will scare off investors, thus raising the need for even more incentives like tifs to get them to locate here.
Same as hiking parking fees, do you scare people away from Washington Road and to the malls where parking is free?
By all means keep the sports people happy, when Brumfield and Linfsnte have chased every business out the kids won't be able to find jobs and have plenty of free time to kick a ball around.
10:40 AM, l see your point. I will approve two other comments that came in this morning, so they will be out of sequence. They will be before this comment due to their time stamp.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Kaufmans left the ML based Galleria for the Mall
ReplyDeleteKaufmans left the Mall
Boscos went bankrupt at the Mall
Robinson Towne Center grew while Bethel Park and USC lost tenants [i. e. tax base].
Pittsburgh lost tax base.
Mount Lebanon is between USC/Bethel and Pittsburgh.
There are three bankrupt buildings on Washington Road.
All the Parking Authority properties have not been sold.
The growth is going elsewhere and we are considering TRID, and perhaps TIF, and LERTA to give away tax dollars that are needed to support ML services.
If this plan goes forward we will severely regret these decisions within four to five years.
John Ewing
10:18 Rolliers was given tax relief; the Board turned down the Galleria tax relief and they remodeled the property anyway.
ReplyDeleteZamagias got a TIF and the property flopped. As one commentator said, "Everybody who supported the TIF had an oar in the water."
Elaine, all commissioners are equal. Some are just more equal than others.
ReplyDeleteThe commissioner who denied Commissioner Kluck more than five minutes to speak about has exposed himself to personal liability under federal law for denying Mr. Kluck his Federal right to free speech. I'm going to tell Mr. Kluck what law was violated and the cases that backed up this opinion in courts across the country.
ReplyDeleteI hope Commissioner Brumfield enjoys his day in court. Maybe Commissioner Brumfield can get a Sandusky appeal.
Penn State sanctioned for secrets on child abuse.
ReplyDeleteNCAA $60,000,000 fine for Penn State - one year's revenue from football
No bowl games for four years.
Fewer athletic scholarships for football
Five year probation of athletic program.
Sanctions on Individuals
Require a compliance counsel to monitor athletic compliance.
An argument can be made to suspend football was discussed but harm would come from this sanction that would hurt those who were not involved
Paterno's 102 wins since 1998 have been vacated.
ReplyDeletePaterno no longer the most wins in football.
Players may transfer immediately to another school and play this year.
The university has signed a Consent decree to all the sanctions.
Anonymous said...at July 23, 2012 8:59 AM
ReplyDeleteThe commissioner who denied Commissioner Kluck more than five minutes to speak about has exposed himself to personal liability under federal law for denying Mr. Kluck his Federal right to free speech.
The school board at the time Marge Sable was separated told her she couldn't speak at the school board meeting where her separation was announced. She wanted desperately to speak to the public at the public meeting after her separation but was told no. She owned a house in Mt. Lebanon at the time. She loved Mt. Lebanon and just wanted to express that at the public meeting.
This could explain why Matt Kluck is only getting five minutes.
ReplyDeleteFrom Dave Franklin's Lebo Fields:
Tonight's Commission Discussion Meeting (6:15pm - 8:00pm) will touch on two issues that might be of interest: (1) Robb Hollow athletic field options and (2) turf information to be provided by Matt Kluck. I assume the first item will address Commissioner Fraasch's proposal to build a field in Robb Hollow. I don't know what the second item entails, but Commissioner Kluck has already publicly voiced his objection to both turf and a Rec bond.
Feel free to attend and listen. Citizen's comments are welcome at the start of the Commission's Regular Meeting @ 8:00.
Elaine