Those of you who were able to attend the Steering Committee Meeting yesterday, please post comments to this post to let the rest of us, who were stuck at work, know how it went and what went on.
Likewise, for those of you who were able to attend the Neighborhood Physical Quality Meeting that happened right before the Steering Committee Meeting, please post your comments as neighborhood physical quality issues are important to all of us.
Thanks!
PORTAL TO THE ALL NEW NEIGHBORS OF EASTON
Click the door to enter!
Good Links
Subscribe To Neighbors of Easton
Posts
8 comments:
I was there. Nikita gave a great presentation, by the way, for the NPQ subcommittee meeting on the importance of an attractive "entrance" into the WW at 13th and NHampton.
Tom Jones was unable to give his presentation on the historic WW, so in his place was Becky Bradley, who gave a long presentation on the Bushkill corridor project (not before a history lesson on urban/suburbanization). One Steering committe member remarked about how things are often in the planning stages, but never seem to be executed. another member asked Becky and the mayor why there weren't any WW residents involved in the weekly planning meetings of the corridor, since a large part of it exists in the WW. No satisfactory answer was given.
The only significant events were that Nikita Fraser and Steven White were appointed to the steering committee, and that Jeanette's proposed recycling bin handouts to WW residents was approved.
we need more canton members to sit on this committee. so nominate your members soon!
Thanks for the kudos! In my opinoin, I thougt the meeting was a waste of time. I thought Becky's presentation was too long and didn't really tell me more than what I already knew from her appearing at the Natural Resources committee meeting last month.
I wish there was a little more meat then just more smoke and mirrors.
I was glad to have gotten a lot of great feedback from my presentation and yes David, I agree with not having a message board like the one in Palmer, it makes my eyes literally burn it's so bright.
I'm excited about being on the committee I just hope the time works with my schedule otherwise it may be a mute point....
Oh, one thing that I thought was interesting was their plan on changing the one way streets back to two way saying that it causes people to drive slower. I didn't think about it then but 13th st is a prime example that people DO NOT go slower on two way streets...if it were true, then there wouldn't be soo many accidents on my street. Not sure how positive that will be
Also a lot of talk went on about the alleys and how some of them are private roads and some residents use it as their own personal space and aren't mindful of their neighbors (by parking in the middle of the alley causing others to not be able to pass) Both Becky and The Mayor didn't have any good suggestions other than going to the magistrate.
Nikkita and David's observations are on the mark. We aren't learning anything new in these meetings. The longer this kind of subterfuge continues, the less likely people are going to be willing to remain engaged in the process. The only way for us to counter that trend is to take control of the Steering Committee and through that vehicle, gain control of self-governance for the residents of the West Ward. This is entirely possible when combining the canton process with the tools built into Easton's home rule charter government. We need to make use of the Trojan Horse effect provided by Home Rule and the Urban Ecology Project's governing structure to control our own destiny.
The idea lost among the city bureaucrats is that these programs are supposed to be layered on top of basic city services. They are supposed to supplement and mesh with existing resources, not replace them. The city views Weed and Seed, Elm Street and the WWNP as a self-contained bubble of financing and management capacity that allows them to ignore and or redirect finances to other parts of the city. We are subsidizing our own demise by allowing them to get away with it.
The elimination of the Shade Tree Commission, threats of pulling funding for WW tree planting by the Public Works Director because "our planting standards are too tough", Mis-allocation of CDBG money to blatantly non-essential projects like the Riverwalk parking garage while needs go wanting here...these are all the result of the city's complacency due to the perceived free money being pumped into the neighborhood. Poverty programs don't save neighborhoods. Innovation, vision, goal setting and reliable methods for measuring success do. We need to think of ourselves as the new innovators and leaders of Easton...as the West Ward goes, so goes Easton.
DRL
Before taking over any Steering Committee (or even perhaps before deciding just to join) it makes sense to understand what it is and what it isn't. Otherwise the West Ward may end up with yet another grassroots organization with no money.
The West Ward Neighborhood Partnership Steering Committee is only an advisory entity. Fiscal responsibility and decider capability for all things related to funds for the WWNP lie with the Board Directors of CACLV (Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.) This is because in 2004 CACLV created the concept of WWNP and made the deal by persuading Easton Hospital, a private company & Ambassador Lafayette Bank, ditto, to commit money (giving them a tax deduction) to a ten year strategic West Ward Revitalization plan that was developed with substantial West Ward community input.
Participation on the WWP Steering Committee is by invitation and its role is to recommend and advise what should be done with a mix of private and public money - the private being the big part of it.
(The smaller amount of public money is from an Elm Street grant and my guess is that it pays for the WWP Manager - Gary.) Concepts for future funded projects are generated in the subcommittees. Participation in these is open.
In the last year or so, the concept of the Urban Ecology Project was developed within the context of sub committee meetings. Maurice Luker and others developed the concept into a real project, brought in Lafayette College and interested Wachovia Bank in funding it specifically. Part of the grant is to create a structure of cantons to enable better citizen participation and organization. Greater community representation on the Steering Committee is also expected.
Though I have been a member of the Steering Committee since its inception, I only offer the above for its merits as "institutional memory" and also "for the good of the order."
I hope we will use this opportunity to focus our attention on our duly elected representatives at the City and County level and on the people that they hire and pay with our tax dollars.
Cathy,
Thanks for the informative background on Committee structures and funding decisions. It is greatly appreciated. I am going to make an effort to condense your information with what I know and what I can find out from others about how all these entities interplay. My goal is to provide a short history of each organization and a flow chart to explain decision-making heirarchies. This can then be placed on the blog so we can direct all members (new and old) to it when they have questions.
I am with you 100% on your evaluation of our current predicament regarding our neighborhood's ability to control it's own destiny vis-a-vis the available funding streams. I also agree - if I am reading between the lines properly - with your comments in the last paragraph relating to our current political situation...nuff said.
DRL
People being blunt,I love it!!!!I'm new here ,so I feel like I am always trying to figure out what is REALLY being said and why.At the NPQ meeting directly before the steering meeting,we received a presentation by Lisa Borick on landlord training.Apparently we can buy this program to teach landlords how to better screen tenants,etc.The program's success hinges on an enormous amount of follow through by the landlords and our police to monitor tenant activities.It's not hard to see the flaw in the plan.Also,the program provided no measurable results for the neighborhoods themselves.All they could provide was a six month follow-up survey of the landlords who said they "liked' the program.Unless we address the root source of our problems..ENFORCEMENT..how can we get anywhere? Don't get me wrong,I'm not against landlord training, but if we can't provide the stick as well as the carrot we will continue to spin our wheels. On another note,we now have someone from the WW runing for city council,something I heard mentioned a lot at the canton meetings[our lack thereof] Nikita,your presentation was not a waste of time for me and I hope to join you in your efforts. Thanks!
Forgot to add this,I put through a motion to re-instate a city wide cleanup day in the spring.Apparently,it had been discontinued because of the many conflicts that arose over the food prizes etc that went along with it.I really appreciate the straight scoop people gave me on why it was discontinued,that way I could put the motion foreward contingent on it being food, prize, and t-shirt-free.The mayor wanted to check the calendar for conflicts and will announce the date at the next steering committee meeting.
Post a Comment