Tuesday, March 22, 2011

You Are Not the Boss of Me -- LV Residents Get Together for Self-Governance: Wednesday, March 23rd

Posted by: Noël Jones


Here's something very cool happening that is just the type of thing we need to begin self-governing our own communities for real and fight corporate exploitation by companies like those in the natural gas industry that are threatening our drinking water supply--Alliance for Sustainable Communities has begun a community rights network in the Lehigh Valley and are having their next meeting tomorrow night:

Lehigh Valley Community Rights Network Invites You To Join

Who says you can’t say “NO!” to corporate activities that threaten your quality of life, your kid’s health, and the value of your property? The Pennsylvania Community Rights Network has established a chapter in the Lehigh Valley, and you are invited to participate. 
 
The Community Rights Network was established in February of 2010. A conference in Chambersburg brought together men and women who have struggled for years to assert the rights of citizens to protect the health, welfare and environment of their communities, only to be met with a barrage of legislative preemptions and threats of corporate lawsuits. Not one of our 12.5 million Pennsylvanians enjoys the fundamental right to self-government in the communities where they live. In January 2008, attorney general Tom Corbett’s office declared in Commonwealth Court that there is no inalienable right to local self-government. Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly think he’s wrong, and it’s time for governing decisions to reflect the will of the people. 
 
If you are tired of being told you must allow such corporate activities as gas drilling, land-fills, factory farms, sewage sludge dumping, and other atrocities in your township, contact us, work with us to restore our constitutionally guaranteed right to a healthy and safe environment.
 
Next meeting March 23, 2011, 7-9pm, in Room 621 at Northampton Community College SouthSide Bethlehem Campus (Fowler Family Center), 511 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Learn what you can do.
 
-- Lisa Pignataro, lisa541@verizon.net

2 comments:

noel jones said...

i and another Easton resident will be going to this...

Dennis R. Lieb said...

I'm going. I attended the first meeting (organizational). This is the second official gathering so anyone interested in a ground floor view of where we're going should come out. I'll be speaking for about 15 minutes on home rule charter government as I have experienced it in Easton; how it works, how it is brought into creation, etc.

We need a new model of local government if we are to survive the calamities of the coming decade. Washington and Harrisburg aren't the answer.

DRL