York Residents Complain About Trash Around City

Instead of the first capital, York should be called the trash capital of the United States, one resident told the City Council on Tuesday night.

Soiled diapers, cat waste and other household garbage pile up in alleys and on sidewalks, creating horrendous odors and an appalling situation across the city, said Teresa Johnescu, who lives at 31 S. Queen St.

Two other Olde Towne East residents spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s council meeting, urging council members to address the city’s trash problem.

“I’ve never seen trash like it anywhere else,” Judy Fry said after she addressed the council. Fry, who lives on East Locust Street, said she recently came home and found plastic foam packing materials, paper plates and plastic bags strewn all over the alleyway behind her house.

Read more:

http://www.ydr.com/yorkcity/ci_27732156/york-residents-complain-about-trash-around-city

Want to discuss city issues? Join the Fixing York group!

Online Survey Will Help Redesign Downtown Hazleton

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hazleton residents can help remodel the downtown by voting in a survey for their favorite style of banners, buildings, crosswalks, lights, landscaping, benches and bike racks.

They will find the survey at http://www.derckandedson.com/hazleton through the end of September. Photos show examples, and residents can click a thumbs-up for the styles they like.

Derck and Edson, a design firm in Lititz, Lancaster County, posted the survey after winning a commission to write a strategic plan for the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/online-survey-will-help-redesign-downtown-1.1739962

Sidewalks Necessary To Grow Transit, Improve Walkability In Lehigh Valley, Study Says

wm-license-information-description-missing wm-license-information-description-missing-request LANTA logo.png (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Installing sidewalks and crosswalks along Hamilton Boulevard near Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in South Whitehall Township would encourage more people to use transit in the area.

It would also make the area, which was the site of a fatal pedestrian crash in 2012, safer and more attractive to walkers, according to a Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority study.

The area is one of five highlighted in the study, which outlines how land development in the Lehigh Valley can help promote transit use in the region.

The authority wants to grow ridership, and most municipal officials are committed to improving walkability in their communities, so LANTA has been spreading the message about how best to accomplish both goals, planning director Owen O’Neil said.

Read more:  http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2014/01/lanta_study_sidewalks_necessar.html

Latest Phase Of Wilkes-Barre Streetscape Project Completed

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WILKES-BARRE, PA — State and federal funds paid for the latest phase of the city’s latest streetscape project, and Mayor Tom Leighton on Thursday said more money will be sought to complete the improvements downtown.

Sheltered from the rain under the overhang of an office building on Public Square, Leighton and more than a dozen state, city and local economic development officials stood on a section of concrete sidewalk poured in the summer and marked the completion of Phase 5 of the project with a ribbon cutting.

The mayor thanked the downtown businesses for their patience during construction that brought new walks, trees and curbing on a quarter of the Square from South Main Street to North Main Street and along East Market Street to Washington Street.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/950645/Latest-phase-of-W-B-streetscape-project-completed

$3M Bike Lane/Sidewalk Project Would Create Safe Routes To Schools In Pottstown

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

POTTSTOWN — An ambitious $3 million plan to repair sidewalks and install bike lanes throughout the town as part of an effort to establish “Safe Routes to Schools” was unveiled Monday before borough council.

The idea is to combine state transportation funding and seek funding from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation as a match to undertake the upgrades, which would include repairing numerous damaged borough sidewalks at no cost to property owners.

At the same time, said Pottstown School District Superintendent Jeff Sparagana, the district would seek to incorporate the idea of physical fitness into its curriculum and encourage students to walk or ride a bicycle to school and home again.

Sparagana offered up two towns, Naperville, Ill. and Titusville, Pa., where similar efforts were undertaken and have proven successful.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130613/NEWS01/130619676/-3m-bike-lane-sidewalk-project-would-create-safe-routes-to-schools#full_story

Free Speech Is One Thing, Vagrants, Another

BERKELEY, CA — Hardly a stranger to political movements, this is a city that has championed free speech, no nukes, the antiwar movement and now: no sitting on the sidewalk.

During years of economic downturn, cities across the country have reported rising vagrancy and rushed to pass laws banning aggressive panhandling, giving food away in public parks and even smelling foul.

This bastion of populist politics is no exception.  The City Council and mayor have put a measure on the November ballot that would ban sitting and lying on commercial sidewalks from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., at the risk of a $75 citation.

“These laws are an example of a startling national trend to criminalize homelessness,” said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, an advocacy group.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/us/berkeley-targeting-homeless-proposes-ban-on-sidewalk-sitting.html?pagewanted=1&ref=us&_r=0

Lansdale Slated For Downtown Makeover

Image via Wikipedia

Downtown Lansdale is getting “spruced up” soon thanks to a $500,000 federal grant procured by U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz and an additional $1.8 million dollars in funding from the Transportation Equity Act of 2005.

A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for January 24^th at Railroad Plaza, on the corner of Main and Madison Streets.  The construction will take place on several streets in downtown Lansdale.

New sidewalks, streetlights and (dare I say) shade trees are being added to bring curb appeal to the downtown shopping district.  Wonder if Mr. Hylton was consulted about this???  

The contractor, Wexcon Inc., will be establishing a construction headquarters in Lansdale, which is expected to cut costs.  Wexcon is trying to make the project minimally invasive to downtown merchants by doing construction in one block increments and on one side of the street at a time.  Sounds better than ripping up the entire downtown all at once!

A webcam installation is being considered so residents can watch the progress on the borough website.