“Corruption is authority plus monopoly minus transparency.” – Unknown

Is it just because its Springtime and people are outside more often?  

Or, is it something more ominous … as folks mumble beneath their breath,   “these are the worst conditions I’ve ever seen Pottstown in.”

Probably a little of both…  

aside from new businesses choosing P.town - a bright star on the horizon,  (we hope they’ll stick around),  the news of a regional recreation director is also heartwarming.

But, just when you think its safe to dive into a big warm tub of bubbly optimism – to revel in the sweet smell of HOPE, the bubbles burst, the optimism grows cold as hope fades back into the recesses of your consciousness.

Quality of Life?

In Pottstown that’s measured, on a scale of 1-10 by how many times you have to call police for the same disruptive bullshit over and over and over again.  Only 5 calls in a week?  That ranks an 8. Warm weather in Pottstown means that the kooks will spring up everywhere like dandelions in the yard…

Dude next door slaps himself all over his body – hard and very loud – the most inhuman, alarming sounds of moaning and wailing, crying out like delirious bellows from copulating hippopotami, (saw that once on the Nature channel).

When in hell do people who work hard, pay their taxes, keep their homes in respectable condition, people who are good neighbors….WHEN do these folks get a friggin’ break in Pottstown?

This week,  in the Mercury News, the new Police Chief … espoused extremely low expectations, (1-2%), of affecting visible change in the crime rate in the coming year.  This??? Despite a tenure of 10 years in the department and a bachelors in crime and justice???  Self-esteem wouldn’t seem to be an issue, so WHAT IS THE PROBLEM with an aggressive, can’t wait to get out of the gate plan?

According to   the data site Neighborhood Scout   , at 253 the borough has six times the number of crimes per square mile as the national average and four times the Pennsylvania average. Or, as SavePottstown so aptly points out…

“While the U.S. crime index average is 319.1, the average of Pottstown’s 12 year crime index is 514.7…161 times higher than the U.S. average.”

Also of weighty concern to you, dear taxpayers, sources say that there has been a good deal of to & fro as Remington, Vernick, Beach Engineers and their attorneys have frequented the 3rd floor of Borough Hall this week.  Soon, they’ll be accessing all of the information on the codes computers too.

BM Flanders told the Mercury that code personnel will soon take lessons on how to be nice to people as new software will be implemented to assist their work – and the software developer has installed large smiley face screen savers on every computer in borough hall, while Mr. Rogers softly sings, “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and neighborly day in the beauty would…you be mine….who are the people in your neighborhood?”

…let’s see what direction this takes…

There are zillions of  good reasons NOT TO CONTRACT WITH RVB… Not the least is a clean, upfront “competitve bidding process” which – HASN’T SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY – since the dubious decision by council to hire them in the first place, assuredly, there was nothing clean and upfront about that process.

Messy little campaign contributions just keep popping up all over the place for RVB.  Shell companies, forged signatures resulting in a judicial slap down and loss of contracts with smart, sensible municipal leaders all over PA, NJ and DE

RVB’s Pay-to-Play ethics simply reeks… (click on the headings to read the articles)…

Engineers influence being felt in towns? – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Commissioners Vote To Hire Firm At The Center Of “Pay For Play …

And then, This:  just two months later, February 2013:

Commissioners Vote To Dump Engineering Firm As Spa

“A judge ruled the firm established shell corporations for the sole purpose of bypassing campaign finance limits, and that the group had occasionally forged signatures on checks. Since then, the firm has regularly been the subject of media reports and editorials accusing them of doing “favors” for politicians, or being involved in various “pay for play” controversies.”

This is incriminating bullshit … NOT a recommendation. It’s important to know the difference.

Of course, given the merit on which decisions to promote or contract services are made, the more disappointing the performance – it would seem – the better suited to work for Pottstown, judging by councils decisions over the past several months.

Dan Weand 5th Ward Pottstown Councilman

The Codes Department isn’t the department to gamble with or use as a political pawn, although Councilman Dan Weand has done a fine job, up to this point, of influencing decisions of committee and council members, as they vetted prospective Engineering firms.  This borough is imploding with crazy ass decisions by town leaders:  crime and dangerously neglected buildings, all the while, Dan Weand got a new job with MontCo and Dem’s line up at the RVB buffet, salivating elevated expectations of this unholy alliance.  It is evidenced that councilman Weand over stepped his bounds and neglected his commitment to the taxpayers in favor of self and political interest.   More about that later.

NEWS FLASH…THIS JUST IN:

SOURCES SAY THAT FLANDERS IS LOCKING DOWN BOROUGH HALL.  NO ENTRY TO OFFICES WITHOUT A SWIPE KEY,  INCLUDING GINNY’S OFFICE AND,  A BULLET PROOF CUSTOMER SERVICE WINDOW AT THE CODES DEPT.

And, THIS is the customer friendly –  just “treat everyone like family” service that Flanders touted a few months ago?

Jeeze Lousie makes you wonder if his kin are granted an hour in the sun each day and if THEY need a swipe key to use the bathroom?

Additionally, BM Flanders is informed that yet ANOTHER codes employee has accepted gifts from a property owner in Pottstown, during a recent inspection, maybe the smaller bullet proof window at the codes office is designed to limit the size of the gifts?

Sources also say that well dressed, suited investor types are knocking at the door with intentions of buying big properties to house inmates who are released from prison…another rotten pay -to- play coming to town?

WHYY, NPR in Philly just aired this interview a few days ago:  “A new report by the Pennsylvania Corrections Department shows that the state’s halfway houses are failing.  Recidivism rates are higher for inmates paroled to halfway houses than inmates released directly to the street, 67 percent to 60 percent.”  Stands to reason then, given all that we see going down here, that these slime balls would be hunting property in the land of Potts.

On the heels of the news about Ms. Borzick Fry, town people are coming out of the woodwork to describe their encounters with Michelle, when she was on the job. “Condescending” is the adjective most often used while “snotty” runs a close second.

Too bad that too many managers looked the other way for so long.  Where were their cahones?

Michelle still has not been charged with a crime and she’s appealing her firing…talk about big brass cahones – goodness, that’s there’s those missing balls have been all along…