Dear Newcomers

The following letter is from Lebo Citizens reader, John David Kendrick.

DEAR NEWCOMERS,…

Earlier today I watched the April 8, 2014 meeting of the Mt. Lebanon Commission and I have several observations that I want to share with you:

1. Contrary to Dave Brumfield’s comments around the 48 minute mark, Nancy Carroll will not have any discussion with you concerning an informal resolution of the appeal. In fact, the only response that you will get from her is, “I’ll see you at the hearing.”

2. The four Commissioners present at the meeting couldn't care less about your problems:

     a. They have no reason to care (they are not your stakeholders);

     b. They have no interest in the welfare of you or your family; and

     c. In all likelihood they don’t understand the impact that they have had on your property values.

3. All of you should be proud of how you presented yourselves at the meeting.

     a. You all were well prepared with your comments.

     b. Your comments were well researched.

     c. You showed respect for the institution and the office – which is the polar opposite of what these four FARTS have shown your families!

The question is how you can deal with the problem at hand…

The biggest problem that all of you have is that you don’t have any leverage over the Commissioners. Your presentations made an appeal to their sympathy or the logic of their decision, but you need to find something that will capture their attention and make them more sensitive and responsive to your problems. Leverage can come in many ways and political leverage appears to be the most effective solution for this problem. You need to find something, like the potential death of the turf project, that you can control. For instance, after I heard that Dick’s was contributing $5,000 I decided that I’ll never go shopping in a Dick’s store again! Maybe all of you can think of similar collective economic leverage that you can assert?

I can’t stress enough that the Commission's behavior is a call to action. There is a burning platform before every Mt. Lebanon resident – and it’s the equity, your hard-earned and invested money in your home that is going up in flames before your eyes! All of you absolutely must get involved, get organized, select your candidates and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

Don’t delay – the Community is about to turn into ashes before your eyes!

Sincerely,

John David Kendrick

I can't stand watching this anymore.

In yesterday's PG, Roycroft resident Kevin Kirkland wrote about Mt. Lebanon Magazine's Senior Editor, Laura Pace Lilley's kitchen remodel, Old garbage incinerator makes way for modern kitchen in Mt. Lebanon.

John Kendrick, a frequent commenter here on Lebo Citizens, voiced his opinion about the kitchen remodel. Another PG reader wrote, "Must be nice to have $50k to drop on a kitchen upgrade. Only in Mt. Lebanon I guess." Yet, Laura's husband Myles, responded only to John with "Mr. Kendrick, I would like to discuss your concerns regarding my kitchen project. Please post your contact information and I will reach out to you directly." Fortunately, John was smart enough not to share his contact information on the Post Gazette website, but Mr. Lilley asked for it a second time.

Through a RTK, one will find that Laura Pace Lilley and Mt. Lebanon Magazine Managing Editor, Merle Jantz are fascinated with Mr. John Kendrick. Perhaps Myles should check with his wife for Mr. Kendrick's contact information.

Letter to the Editor

Lebo Citizens reader and frequent commenter John David Kendrick volunteered to record State Representative Dan Miller's Democratic Policy Committee Hearing on Schools: The Role of the State, Parents, and the Community. John submitted the following letter to the editor.

Earlier this afternoon State Representative Dan Miller facilitated a meeting of the PA House Democratic Policy Committee at the Mt Lebanon Municipal Building. Representative Miller graciously permitted us to place our tape recorder right in front of him so that we could capture the entire meeting. The dialog of the entire meeting is posted here: State Rep. Dan Miller's Public Hearing

I want to personally thank Representative Miller for having this public meeting in our municipal building this afternoon. Whether or not you agree with the political positions of the participants, it is a great lesson in civics to watch how our government works. Everyone should make a reasonable effort to attend when these meetings are available. Finally, I’ll leave it to all of you to listen to the conversation and judge for yourselves and comment below; but I will offer some of my impressions from the meeting and a few questions to mull over as you listen to today’s presentation:

 
1. The comments from the three superintendents were largely gripes about charter and cyber schools. The first problem facing the districts is the loss of pupil revenue as students exit for cyber or charter schools. The second problem facing the districts is the lack of financial agility so that they can scale their resources in proportion to the loss of students who exercise their choice to leave. 

a. Has anyone thought about why these rigid, high fixed costs are in place?
b. Has anyone thought about who put these high fixed costs in place?
c. Would a district based cyber school be an effective alternative as the superintendents suggested, or would there be an agency problem where the fox (the teachers union) is watching the hen house? 

 
2. The comments concerning children with autism were interesting and heartfelt – particularly the commentary by Ward Three Commissioner Kristen Linfante. 

 
3. The final comments concerning drug related programs were largely related to stories about those who were impacted by drug abuse and the programs in place to assist victims of the drug epidemic.

There were a few moments that captured my curiosity: 

 
1. PA State Representative Margo Davidson said that she didn’t support the vilification of the cyber and charter schools. Why is it that an urban district representative from a major union city would value cyber or charter schools as an effective alternative to traditional classroom based instruction?

 
2. PA State Representative Erin Molchany asked the three superintendents for the career profile of their graduating classes – none were really able to provide a clear answer. 

a. Are our school districts executing an education process with a silo mentality?
b. Shouldn’t the schools be thinking about specific objectives and directing resources in a targeted manner to maximize the economic benefit from our expenditures in education? - and shouldn’t the school superintendents be tracking the successful assimilation of their graduates into PA’s economy and thinking about corrective actions to their programs if their students leave unprepared?

It was a good meeting, and the most of the participants were genuinely interested in the issues that they discussed. What I felt was missing was a high-level state initiative that could pull all of the issues, gripes and concerns into unified strategy that I feel could alleviate the symptoms of a much larger problem.

John David Kendrick

From a long silent voice

Elaine, Would you please consider publishing my email (below) to you? Good luck and from the silent majority, thank you.
Hello Elaine,

It’s been a while. I would like to thank you and the others who have sacrificed so much of their time, experience and insight to inform our community about so many of the problems in Mt Lebanon. One thing that is very clear is that our community has a number of very serious matters that need to be corrected by competent leadership and qualified management.

Something else that has become very clear is that the battle has now come to you. Have you noticed that “the other website” stopped posting comments? Have you also noticed that actors from all of the factions in the community are chiming-in on the colorful commentary on your site? The simple truth is that they all fear you Elaine. They know that you and the others who are contributing to your cause have the means to end the madness and permanently change the direction of Mt. Lebanon. If they didn’t believe that you have this power in your hands then they wouldn’t be here, they wouldn’t be listening and they wouldn’t be trying to define the rules of the game – their game, that they want you to play.

Please don’t play their game Elaine. Instead, focus your energy on developing new leadership for the community. Form a leadership that has the vision and the strength to appoint qualified management who will translate your vision into a meaningful strategy that will restore the founding values that made Mt Lebanon great for so many years.

You’ve communicated the burning platform and established a sense of urgency. You’ve energized the silent majority who share your values. Please plan, organize and get out the vote. Both parties have fragmented leadership and very little infrastructure. Nobody may have told you that you hold the destiny of the community in your hands Elaine, but I just did.

God bless you and from the silent majority, thank you.

Sincerely,

John David Kendrick

Our Community Deserves Answers

Let's try this again, only this time, we're sticking with facts, please.  The following letter is from John Kendrick.  The information contains quotes from an email obtained through a Right To Know request.  The link to the actual email is provided in the Google document link below.  Thank you for backing up your statements with proof, John.  Very interesting reading.

Our Community Deserves Answers                                               1/5/11 2:25 PM

There is an interesting email sent on March 3, 2009 at 9:59AM from Daniel K Goff to David Reese, and various other interested parties that states (with the authors typos), “Well, it is now time ‘s _ _ t of get off of the pot!’ We need to show them that we did not lie; that we are able to do what we said we could do.”

What was Mr. Goff going to show them? Was Mr. Goff referring to the presentation that was attached to the email that David Reese sent from his Verizon email account on March 8, 2009 at 10:12PM to his Reflex Staffing account? You know, the one that contained the Draft of the Outline for the Presentation to the School Board Members?

Link to Google document

Hum… it’s an interesting document to say the least! Here are some of the highlights: (These are taken directly from the document.)

·        “CONSTRUCT AN INDOOR ATHLETIC FACILITY THAT ENCLOSES A REGULATION FOOTBALL FIELD WITH AN ARTIFICIAL SURFACE. THE BUILDING WOULD BE CONSTRUCTED ON THE PARCEL OF LAND ABOVE THE STADUIM REFERRED TO AS THE ‘ROCK PILE’. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS:

o       THE SCHOOL DISTRICT WOULD AGREE TO LEASE THE PARCEL AT A NOMINAL FEE TO THE FOUNDATION.

o       THE FOUNDATION WILL RAISE THE ESTIMATED $3 MILLION FROM PRIVATE SOURES TO CONSTRUCT THE BUILDING.

o       THE SCHOOL DISTRICT WOULD COMMIT FUNDS FOR INSTALLATION OF THE ARTIFICIAL SURFACE, ESTIMATED AT $400-500,000.

o       UPON COMPLETION OF THE BUILDING, THE FOUNDATION WOULD ‘DONATE’ THE FACILITY TO THE DISTRICT.

o       THE FOUNDATION WOULD CONTINUE TO ASSIST IN FUNDING THE BUILIDNG’S OPERATING EXPENSES. IT IS OUR BELIEF AS WELL THAT SUCH A FACILITY WOULD GENERATE REVENUE ON ITS OWN.”

I wonder if this is the partnership that James Fraasch recently mentioned on a Blog Lebo thread? Did someone make an offer to contribute to the construction of our new school facilities? Did someone make an offer to supply money that would assist in funding the building’s operating expenses?

Why isn’t any of this in the budget for the new school project? How did we as taxpayers end up with the bill? Did our School Board walk away from a voluntary contribution? If they did, we should all be told why!

I won’t hold my breath waiting for an answer, but everyone should stay tuned because the best is yet to come!

Sincerely,

John David Kendrick

Mt. Lebanon, PA