On November 28th, The Morning Call published an article on our stretch of highway from Lenhartsville to New Smithville.

PennDOT is getting ready to launch a $175 million reconstruction project along a dangerous 8-mile stretch of Interstate 78 known for its heavy truck traffic and unusually high rate of traffic fatalities.  In a 2014 study, the state estimated about 45,000 vehicles traveled that portion of the highway daily — with tractor-trailers making up about 35 percent of that figure. The study found the 8-mile section had 71 percent more crashes than other Pennsylvania expressways. Its fatality rate was 40 percent higher than elsewhere in the state, according to studies cited by PennDOT.

At our November 3rd meeting with PennDOT, this fact about the dangerous ten mile stretch of the I-78 corridor was brought up over and over and we listed out all the highway closures in the past year, the fatalities, the complete closing of both sides of the highway which puts traffic detoured onto Old 22 …

AND YET THEY STILL BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NOT A SAFETY CONCERN IN ISSUING AN HOP (Highway Occupancy Permit) FOR A WAREHOUSE?

Let’s talk about that for a moment.  In 2014 there were 45,000 vehicles through this stretch of highway, approximately 16,000 of those being tractor trailers.  Well, that is before the New Smithville Warehousing community was built.  That was before they finished the six million square feet warehouses in Fogelsville.  And where is a new study showing that those numbers are probably half again as many now, as we near to 2018, and the amount of tractor trailer traffic is probably closer to 50 percent.

We have repeatedly asked for a PennDOT traffic study on our intersection.  I believe they need to do a traffic study on the highway, especially now that it will be under construction for four years, causing clogging and backups and more accidents as people impatiently try to get through the construction.

But adding another 2,000 vehicles, right in the middle of all this, for warehouse traffic, will not be a problem.

SERIOUSLY?

Apparently, someone doesn’t know what is going on. (from Facebook 11-08-17)

Oh, and who is Oscar Kleinsmith, you may ask?

Shall I try to get on the Planning Commission as an appointment????  I’m sure that the current BoS will *NOT* give *ME* that appointment.  LMFAO.

Wanna know the real kicker to this?  Prior to the election, one of the BoS members was telling the story around town that the reason the plans were getting approval so fast was because I kept feeding them all the problems that were wrong with it and they kept fixing it.

Uhm…no…

The problems that are before the BoS now should have been caught while it was being reviewed by the Planning Commission and the engineers.  They did not do their job properly.

End of discussion.

Just because something “CAN” be done, does not mean it “SHOULD” be done.  I am still working on your behalf, fighting the warehouse project…fear not!

The Nov 6th BoS meeting went very well (and relatively quietly, residents were very restrained!)

I spent a cold day the next day (November 7th) at the Greenwich Township building talking to people coming to vote at the polls. The temperatures started in the mid 40’s and slowly dropped all day as the snow came in, with a strong wind behind it. It changed to rain and the temperatures held fast at 38 for the rest of the day with a stiff breeze pushing a mist on us under our canopy.

I met a lot of people who were supporting us in our efforts to stop the warehouse. I shook a lot of hands. I had wonderful conversations with Joyce Dietrich and Dean Spohn, who were also spending the blustery, snowy, rainy day at the building.

I LEARNED A LOT!

Going forward I will not allow anyone to talk down to Joyce at a meeting.  This woman, whom I have no idea how old she is, but she is up there in age and she’s not healthy, sat in a chair, with a voting board, to talk to all the voters on several issues up for vote. She smiled all day, even when her face was so cold she couldn’t barely move it. She answered questions. And she did it all without a single word of complaint.  NOT ONE WORD!

I am glad that Dean Spohn has won the election and will be sitting in the chair currently held by Harry for the next six years.  Dean had a lot of knowledge about our township and its issues. He ran for this position for all the right reasons. He will make a strong voice for the residents and we need to use that voice so that we are heard on any issue that may arise in the future.

While I am sad that I did not win the two year seat, I do know more about Alice now than I did prior to the election.  I can now become more involved in Greenwich Township on this side of the table, the residents can learn more about me, and I can run for that position again in two years.  Hopefully, it will mean I have more support from the community and I can do a proper campaign. As you know, I ran at last minute (literally 30 days before the election, urged by my fan club, I presented myself as a write-in candidate.)

The Board of Supervisors meeting on November 6 went very well. (click this link) After eight months of us beating on the BoS and PC with documentation, studies and ordinance review, they finally balled-up and paided attention.  Our attorney’s had conversations with their attorney and the information we had been uncovering by our engineers was brought to the table, outside of their engineers. (Note, I stand firm. Keystone Consulting Engineering has to go. They are not doing the job they are hired to do … unless the township hired them to “look” incompetent, to throw the developer off their game. ???)

We still have a lot of work to do.  It is not over. We are doing all we can to stop it.  Our attorney’s are working hard for us. They have attended the last two Board of Supervisors meeting and they have been developing a strong strategy for going forward should the BoS vote “yes” on the preliminary plans.

And we still need to pay them, so if you have not donated funds, please please please consider sending me a donation towards their fees.