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Montgomery County launches public corruption unit

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office is launching a public-corruption unit to crack down on the abuse of power in public positions in both the county and the local governments within it.

District Attorney Risa Ferman said she created the office because she wanted to send a message to residents that if they suspected corruption, there was a place to report it and know that their information would be vetted and investigated.

Ferman also said yesterday that the Bonusgate scandal now unfolding in Harrisburg - as well as Philadelphia's past pay-to-play corruption case - made her realize that she needed to get out front in battling public corruption.

"Watching what's been happening in other places, I've become increasingly aware of the public's frustration with elected officials who abuse authority," Ferman said. "People in Montgomery County should know that there is a place they can go if they believe someone is abusing public authority."

Valley Forge park zoning hearing plods on

By Jeff Gammage, Inquirer Staff Writer
 

Founding father Thomas Paine called the period of the American Revolution "the times that try men's souls."

But then he never had to sit through a Lower Providence zoning hearing.

Last night, the zoning board resumed an interminable slog through an appeal of a controversial museum complex that would be built on private land within Valley Forge National Historical Park.

The first 55 minutes of last night's hearing were consumed with lawyers' arguments and scheduling disputes. It became clear that the zoning hearing will go on for weeks. It is scheduled to resume tomorrow, with seven more dates tentatively set in September.

The second witness of the hearing took the stand at 8:05 p.m. Joy Oakes, senior director of the Mid-Atlantic office of the independent National Parks Conservation Association, which opposes the museum, said the development would change the nature of trails and meadows on the north side of the park.

Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future

From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.

“Human beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,” Mr. de Cavel said. “Streetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.”

Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop. Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.

Commissioners OK 5 deals for open space
By JENNA PORTNOY, Bucks County Courier Times

The check's in the mail.

That's essentially what Bucks County commissioners told the owners of 322 acres when they agreed to five open space deals Wednesday.

The land will be preserved under a second phase of open space borrowing approved by voters in the fall. The county plans to begin floating $87 million in bonds at the end of October, but the delay will not hold up the deals, finance director Brian Hessenthaler said.

The county will acquire or put conservation easements on three crop farms and two natural areas tracts at a cost to taxpayers of $765,732.

Rich Harvey, director of the agricultural land preservation program, gave the following summaries. In all three cases, the state will pay 95 percent of the price of the development rights and the county will cover the remaining 5 percent.

'You're supporting a way of life'
By DANNY ADLER, Bucks County Courier Times

Despite some of Bucks County's agricultural beginnings giving way to development, and farmers struggling with market demands, consumers continue their support of local food products, agriculturalists say.

And this week, agriculture takes center stage in Wrightstown — due in large part to the 60th annual Grange Fair at the Middletown Grange, the celebration of the county's agricultural roots that kicked off Wednesday.

As tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the Grange Fair this week, one of the largest countywide events — full of food, entertainment, amusement rides and more — about a mile away more than 100 shareholders collect their weekly pickup of fresh, organically grown vegetables from Anchor Run Farm's community-supported agriculture on Second Street Pike.

And on Saturday, throngs of produce-hungry consumers will attend the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance's weekly farmers market at Chippewa Farm on Second Street Pike, featuring between 15 and 20 local vendors from throughout the county selling fruits, vegetables and pastured animal products.

There were 2,109 new houses built in Montgomery County last year, the fewest constructed in a single year since 1983.

The continued decline in home construction, which averaged above 3,000 annually throughout the ’90s, is likely due to a combination of a sluggish economy, a slow housing market, the availability of land and high construction costs, said Scott France of the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

France reported on housing units built in the county in 2007 at a meeting of the planning commission board Wednesday in Norristown.

Of the county’s 62 municipalities, the top 10 leaders in new houses built were Whitemarsh with 239, Conshohocken (180), Upper Providence (157), West Norriton (127), Franconia (116), Lower Merion and New Hanover (101 each), Upper Hanover (84), Upper Pottsgrove (83), and Upper Gwynedd (81).

Environmental advisory panel takes root in township
By DOM COSENTINO, Bucks County Courier Times

The Warminster supervisors are moving forward with the creation of an advisory committee charged with specializing in environmental concerns.

By a 4-0 vote Thursday — Supervisor Leo Quinn was absent — the supervisors authorized the advertisement of an ordinance that would allow for the creation of an environmental advisory council.

The board is expected to consider the actual statute at its next meeting Aug. 28.

“I think we need to take some formal steps to control our energy use in the township and to give residents some information,” said Gail Johnson, a supervisor who had spearheaded the effort.

If established, the council would be comprised of seven members appointed by the board of supervisors. The committee's task would be to advise the board — and any other township commissions — on a wide variety of matters related to the promotion and conservation of natural resources and environmental protection.

More

You pay for it, and the municipal authority will give you a low-interest loan.

That's how Northampton Republicans countered a Democratic funding proposal for the controversial sewer expansion project in the township during a marathon four-and-a-half hour long meeting Wednesday night that reached into early Thursday morning.

Supervisors Chairman George Komelasky proposed a plan where the Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority would provide affected residents low-interest loans identical to interest rates available through Pennvest, the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority that awards grants and loans to help pay for projects.

Northampton is being pressured by the state Department of Environmental Protection to comply with the township's 1997 Act 537 plan, which calls for public sewers to more than 400 properties in the township. The estimated $15 million plan was created by the township after Bucks County's health department determined some private, on-lot septic systems in certain areas of the township are malfunctioning. It's been estimated that residents could pay at least $14,000 apiece for the sewers.