today’s news and information gleanings from here and there!

Quote for today… “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”  – From the movie, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Thought this might be a good credo for the folks protesting the pipeline across the county: “We don’t need no stinkin’ pipeline.”

• Pipeline protests – WGAL-TV8

• First time for everything. This is the first time we remember the furnace operating on the last day of April!

• One more reason for non-profits to make “in-lieu-of taxes” contributions.– LancasterOnLine

The South Central Pennsylvania Housing Recovery Summit is a one day conference to share best practices and discuss key housing problems and issues facing communities, citizens and housing agencies in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York Counties.

 

•  Yesterday, we attended the South Central Pennsylvania Housing Recovery Summit along with 250 elected public servants, codes officers, zoning officers, social services agency representatives, bankers, real estate representatives; builders, developers and others who interested in sharing successes and solving problems that every municipality faces in “providing decent, safe and affordable housing for citizens and communities.

• The programs and breakout sessions were filled with interested persons working collaboratively to share successes, challenges and ideas about the subject of housing. The last program of the day included comments from the mayors of Harrisburg, Lancster, Lebanon and York. That program, reported in this York Dispatch article, held everyone’s attention as the mayors talked about the challenges of urbanized areas “affected by economic, community and business development, residents’ income levels and family demographics.”

• Southcentral PA growth will be “ the migration of new residents – many from overseas – … ” – York Daily Record
  [Barry Denk’s presentation emphasized the need for municipalities to change and be flexible and adapt to the societal changes; he cautioned that those who don’t will continue to decline.]

• Philly’s mayor steps up: orders all parks non-smoking – Philly.com

• Interestingly, at this meeting, everyone in the audience could hear the presenters because thepresentersusedamicrophonesystemtoinsure that everyone, including those requiring hearing accommodation, could participate. This model meeting should be a lesson learned for all organizations, including government, interested in complying with the Americans with a Disabilities Act (ADA).
  1. Facilities where meetings are held should meet all basic ADA accessibility standards.
  2. Meetings should be designed to allow effective participation by participants with sensory, physical, and communication disabilities.
  3. Information should be presented in a way that is easily understood by individuals with a variety of listening abilities.
  4. Participants with hearing loss should be given the opportunity to request accommodations that they might need to participate in the meeting, and planners should make every reasonable effort to fulfill those requests.

• “Rivertownes, PA USA was one of the finalists in the ‘Best of the Best’ Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts projects, according to a news release.” – York Daily Record
  

• “Columbia resident Amanda L. Clawson and 35-year-old Michael S. Eisenhart, of Lancaster, were charged with felony retail theft Monday.” – Harrisburg Patriot-News