There’s a growing disconnect between the warp-speed pace at which most people lead their lives and the more deliberative pace with which policy-making occurs in the public sector. Particularly with today’s 24-hour news cycles, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the democratic process, at least as we’ve known it, has failed. Here’s why:
A little more than 20 years ago, local governments began introducing computers into their office operations. It seemed pretty impressive at the time. Local officials would proudly show visitors the PCs that one or two staff members had sitting atop their desks. And publicity photos depicted municipal office workers peering earnestly into their monitors.
That was then. Today, essentially everybody is in front of a screen for the better part of their work day. And so are most of our constituents. At the outset, we believed that computers would provide us with significant advantages such as easier record keeping, faster work turnaround, and lower cost. And we were right, up to a point. But the expectations of our residents – fueled by the growth of the World Wide Web – rose even faster.
Now, computers and computer-like mobile devices are everywhere, and we’ve become accustomed to that. As a result, people expect to find whatever information they need, transact whatever business they have, and secure whatever decisions they’re looking for, all with just a few keystrokes. Our patience for extensive deliberations, and our attention span for going through the sometimes lengthy processes required by law before enacting new ordinances, are increasingly out of step with public expectations.
For example, amendments to Pennsylvania’s Constitution – which is already three times longer than the U.S. Constitution – require passage in the state’s House of Representatives and Senate during two consecutive years before they can be submitted to the electorate for a vote. Even in routine legislation, the sequence of committee referrals, reporting, multiple considerations, appropriation and Governor’s approval in lawmaking is painstakingly slow, although that probably helps to prevent rash legislation.
Here in Cranberry, the process is a bit more streamlined. But major decisions still require research, consultation, public input, consensus building, and reconciliation with other ordinances and operations – all essential steps for making sound decisions and defensible laws. So it was just this month, after four years of work, that Cranberry’s elected officials finally adopted an updated zoning ordinance for Freedom Road – one that truly reflects what’s happening there and can guide the Township in sustaining it as a healthy area in the future as well.
It was an arduous experience – both for residents and our Township Supervisors. But I’m convinced that its outcome ended up being far better than anything which might have been decided in haste – something which is awfully easy to do today. Instead, it was a process that our Board of Supervisors insisted be undertaken in a deliberate, careful and thoughtful manner.
So I’m pleased to report that the democratic process still works – it’s just that working well, in contrast to the rest of the world we’re in today, sometimes means working slowly.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
You can be sure if it’s Cranberry
This past weekend, there was a formal dedication of the new Westinghouse campus in Cranberry Woods. It’s an impressive place with four brand new buildings, more than a million square feet of interior space, and hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs. It’s a huge investment in our community, and we are deeply flattered.
It’s especially flattering because our Township didn’t lobby for it. We didn’t go out and try to buy the company’s favor or try to snare it like some sort of battle trophy. Instead, it was a business decision – a good business decision, I might add. It was made after lengthy discussions with the Governor’s office and others who really, really wanted Westinghouse to remain in the state. Their interest is understandable; Westinghouse has played a major role in our region’s industrial history, and I’m sure it will be a key player in our future as well.
But even though Cranberry didn’t actively lobby to become Westinghouse’s new hometown, we did some things which we like to think made the company’s decision easier. Back in the early ‘90s, our Board of Supervisors began to craft a long-term vision for the Rt. 228 corridor. They directed our professional staff to design an environment where knowledge-based companies of the 21st century could settle and prosper and benefit our entire community.
That resulted in a number of important changes. They included expanding our transportation capacity, our water supply, and our workforce training resources, as well as improving our land use management and administrative efficiency. It also led to a number of new amenities for Cranberry residents.
We implemented a corridor management plan to designate future points of access from the highway serving Cranberry Woods. And we down-zoned much of this area from retail use to business park use. Down-zoning, as you can imagine, is a politically difficult choice to implement. However we see the Westinghouse decision to locate here as strong validation of that concept.
But beyond those steps, as important as they are, there was one quality we felt would be particularly critical to a successful relocation – and that was our promise to Westinghouse of consistency and uniformity in dealing with local officials. We promised the company that when they spoke to any of our local public bodies – the Township, the School District, or the County – they were speaking to all of us. And we told them that when any one of us would respond, we were speaking for the others as well.
I know it sounds simple, but building partnerships and creating this sort of collaboration requires hard work and constant communication. We know that getting conflicting stories from different units of local government can be a maddening experience. But we think we’ve lived up to our promise.
All of us want Westinghouse to grow and prosper. So as we go forward, we see Cranberry and its partners remaining in close contact with the company, collaborating where it makes sense, and continuing to provide the information that management needs to make the best decisions for their shareholders and employees.
I would welcome your response or comments, please Email me
It’s especially flattering because our Township didn’t lobby for it. We didn’t go out and try to buy the company’s favor or try to snare it like some sort of battle trophy. Instead, it was a business decision – a good business decision, I might add. It was made after lengthy discussions with the Governor’s office and others who really, really wanted Westinghouse to remain in the state. Their interest is understandable; Westinghouse has played a major role in our region’s industrial history, and I’m sure it will be a key player in our future as well.
But even though Cranberry didn’t actively lobby to become Westinghouse’s new hometown, we did some things which we like to think made the company’s decision easier. Back in the early ‘90s, our Board of Supervisors began to craft a long-term vision for the Rt. 228 corridor. They directed our professional staff to design an environment where knowledge-based companies of the 21st century could settle and prosper and benefit our entire community.
That resulted in a number of important changes. They included expanding our transportation capacity, our water supply, and our workforce training resources, as well as improving our land use management and administrative efficiency. It also led to a number of new amenities for Cranberry residents.
We implemented a corridor management plan to designate future points of access from the highway serving Cranberry Woods. And we down-zoned much of this area from retail use to business park use. Down-zoning, as you can imagine, is a politically difficult choice to implement. However we see the Westinghouse decision to locate here as strong validation of that concept.
But beyond those steps, as important as they are, there was one quality we felt would be particularly critical to a successful relocation – and that was our promise to Westinghouse of consistency and uniformity in dealing with local officials. We promised the company that when they spoke to any of our local public bodies – the Township, the School District, or the County – they were speaking to all of us. And we told them that when any one of us would respond, we were speaking for the others as well.
I know it sounds simple, but building partnerships and creating this sort of collaboration requires hard work and constant communication. We know that getting conflicting stories from different units of local government can be a maddening experience. But we think we’ve lived up to our promise.
All of us want Westinghouse to grow and prosper. So as we go forward, we see Cranberry and its partners remaining in close contact with the company, collaborating where it makes sense, and continuing to provide the information that management needs to make the best decisions for their shareholders and employees.
I would welcome your response or comments, please Email me
How I connect the dots
Like most of my Cranberry neighbors who work in the private sector, I head to the office each morning and spend my day dealing with the same sorts of things they face. Things like dealing with customer requests, budget challenges, staffing levels, technology issues, conferences, and board meetings. I work with my colleagues and counterparts trying to figure out the new rules, regulations and mandates which regularly arrive from Harrisburg and Washington – almost all of which are unfunded. I fret over health care costs, prepare for presentations, and solemnly attend professional association seminars.
So, like most of my neighbors, I sometimes see my workday efforts as being terribly fragmented, unfocused, even pointless. But not always. What helps me connect the dots – to really understand what all of that busyness amounts to, is that on weekends I walk the “floor.” That’s where the real meaning of my work life comes together. And it helps recharge my batteries. Take a recent Saturday.
It started at home. I took a shower, using plenty of clean water, courtesy of our Public Works Department. That water went down the drain and off to Cranberry’s Brush Creek wastewater treatment plant, run by our very capable Sewer and Water folks. Then I went out to the curb to retrieve my waste carts, which had been emptied – and in many cases with their contents recycled – thanks to our Collection Connection program contractor. Then I dropped off some old computer parts at an electronics recycling event we hosted. And after that, I took some unused prescriptions to a Public Safety collection station behind the Municipal Center for proper disposal.
Then I walked into the Municipal Center. It was full of people coming and going from programs in our Library and gym, as well as neighborhood meetings in the activity rooms. When I left, I was reminded that the well-landscaped streets I was navigating were the outcome of what had seemed at the time to be endless staff meetings, paperwork and contract negotiations.
Of course, there was traffic – plenty of it. But the traffic was moving. And that movement is the outcome of sophisticated traffic control technology which was only possible after repeated shuttling back and forth to Harrisburg, dealing with mountains of paperwork, and holding endless hours of meetings with state officials to secure funding to buy the equipment and support the passionate staff who maintain that system.
As I drove past, I also noticed how nice Cranberry’s business properties look. And I recall that those features were results of laborious visioning and planning sessions with our Community Development Department, our Planning Advisory Commission, and our Board of Supervisors. The same with Cranberry Highlands – Pennsylvania’s top municipal golf course – and our beautiful parks where parents, children and grandparents are walking, biking, and cheering on their favorite teams.
Then on my Township radio, I heard about a traffic accident. Within minutes, our highly-trained, well-equipped safety professionals arrived on the scene. Seconds later, I got a text message informing me about the accident, advising me to seek alternative routes and of the projected time until it could be cleared. Where did that come from? It came from all those budget, planning, and staff meetings that once seemed so onerous.
Most people don’t realize what makes a community tick. And the better it works, the easier it is to think that working well is simply the norm. It’s not, but I’ve had the good fortune to be part of one of Pennsylvania’s best-working, most desirable communities. I report to an elected Board that truly gets it. And we have a staff of passionate professionals and dedicated volunteers who make every day here an amazing experience. It refreshes me and reminds me of the connection between what I see around me and those mounds of paper, phone calls, and meeting notes that sometimes seem to dominate my life.
I would welcome your thoughts about how we can help connect the dots for you.
Email me
So, like most of my neighbors, I sometimes see my workday efforts as being terribly fragmented, unfocused, even pointless. But not always. What helps me connect the dots – to really understand what all of that busyness amounts to, is that on weekends I walk the “floor.” That’s where the real meaning of my work life comes together. And it helps recharge my batteries. Take a recent Saturday.
It started at home. I took a shower, using plenty of clean water, courtesy of our Public Works Department. That water went down the drain and off to Cranberry’s Brush Creek wastewater treatment plant, run by our very capable Sewer and Water folks. Then I went out to the curb to retrieve my waste carts, which had been emptied – and in many cases with their contents recycled – thanks to our Collection Connection program contractor. Then I dropped off some old computer parts at an electronics recycling event we hosted. And after that, I took some unused prescriptions to a Public Safety collection station behind the Municipal Center for proper disposal.
Then I walked into the Municipal Center. It was full of people coming and going from programs in our Library and gym, as well as neighborhood meetings in the activity rooms. When I left, I was reminded that the well-landscaped streets I was navigating were the outcome of what had seemed at the time to be endless staff meetings, paperwork and contract negotiations.
Of course, there was traffic – plenty of it. But the traffic was moving. And that movement is the outcome of sophisticated traffic control technology which was only possible after repeated shuttling back and forth to Harrisburg, dealing with mountains of paperwork, and holding endless hours of meetings with state officials to secure funding to buy the equipment and support the passionate staff who maintain that system.
As I drove past, I also noticed how nice Cranberry’s business properties look. And I recall that those features were results of laborious visioning and planning sessions with our Community Development Department, our Planning Advisory Commission, and our Board of Supervisors. The same with Cranberry Highlands – Pennsylvania’s top municipal golf course – and our beautiful parks where parents, children and grandparents are walking, biking, and cheering on their favorite teams.
Then on my Township radio, I heard about a traffic accident. Within minutes, our highly-trained, well-equipped safety professionals arrived on the scene. Seconds later, I got a text message informing me about the accident, advising me to seek alternative routes and of the projected time until it could be cleared. Where did that come from? It came from all those budget, planning, and staff meetings that once seemed so onerous.
Most people don’t realize what makes a community tick. And the better it works, the easier it is to think that working well is simply the norm. It’s not, but I’ve had the good fortune to be part of one of Pennsylvania’s best-working, most desirable communities. I report to an elected Board that truly gets it. And we have a staff of passionate professionals and dedicated volunteers who make every day here an amazing experience. It refreshes me and reminds me of the connection between what I see around me and those mounds of paper, phone calls, and meeting notes that sometimes seem to dominate my life.
I would welcome your thoughts about how we can help connect the dots for you.
Email me
Friday, September 17, 2010
Local climate change
It’s official now: we’ve broken the record for 90-degree-plus days in Cranberry. Back in February, as everyone here remembers, there was a once-in-a-generation snow event which essentially shut the region down for days at a time. This past spring, we were hit by rain storms more intense than anything we’ve been accustomed to. And it’s not just a Cranberry thing.
Last winter, Washington DC was paralyzed for more than a week. This summer saw torrential storms with record floods battering New England, Nashville and Arkansas. Outside the U.S. the weather extremes have been even worse. Pakistan drowned. Russia baked. And so did parts of Africa and East Asia. If this turns out to be a long-term trend, it will have real implications for municipal governments everywhere. This year alone, our staff spent hundreds of hours addressing problems that weather extremes caused for our residents. And we’re learning from that experience.
For example, we manage land use according to topographic flood levels – by how frequently we expect our streams to overflow. A 100-year flood level means we only expect that to occur once a century, and we regulate land use accordingly. But already this year, we’ve had three 100-year storms, and we’re only three-fourths of the way into 2010. And when you’re personally affected by weather extremes like that, official frequency projections become hard to believe. So does that mean the federal government should direct municipalities to revise their flood maps in light of weather shifts? And should they declare land which was formerly considered developable to be unsuited for building? Perhaps.
But is climate change for real? Or is it just a fluke? We’ve heard arguments on both sides. Problem is, discussions about it have become highly politicized. The political left sees it as nature’s wrath upon conservatives who resist greenhouse gas regulation. The political right, on the other hand, sees all the talk about global warming as a liberal smokescreen to expand control over the economy. Frankly, those discussions are way above my pay grade. At the local level, I work with people every day who have to deal with the impacts of weather on our residents and community assets. And there are a number of ways we feel that impact.
Municipalities are the ones who manage the storm water system and upgrade those systems when needed. We are the ones who prepare for winter weather with material, equipment and personnel. We are the ones who train and equip first responders to deal with emergencies that arise from extreme heat, cold and rain. We are the ones who administer flood hazard boundary zones and decide which areas are off limits to construction. We are the ones who enforce statewide building codes that incorporate weather related regulations. We are the ones who set design standards for local roads and maintain over a hundred miles of them – all of which are subject to stress from weather extremes.
We are also the ones responsible for managing hundreds of miles of storm water pipes, catch basins and detention facilities in the community. We are responsible for managing hundreds of acres of heavily used athletic fields and keeping them safe for our thousands of residents who participate in our recreational programs, including our award winning, popular, golf course. We are responsible for managing millions of gallons of wastewater collected daily through hundreds of miles of underground piping – all of which are directly affected by weather extremes.
So while Congress and pundits and scientists continue to argue whether climate change is real, our municipal governments are the ones obliged to constantly respond to bad weather and its impacts and to prepare for more of the same. This blog entry is not about the climate and if it is changing, it is to say when the weather is bad, it has an impact on local government, both on our finances and on our residents lives, and 2010 has been an exceptional year. At least here in Cranberry, we’ll continue doing our best to manage your assets responsibly in light of that impact – no matter which way the political winds are blowing.
I’d be interested to hear your take on this topic. Email me
Last winter, Washington DC was paralyzed for more than a week. This summer saw torrential storms with record floods battering New England, Nashville and Arkansas. Outside the U.S. the weather extremes have been even worse. Pakistan drowned. Russia baked. And so did parts of Africa and East Asia. If this turns out to be a long-term trend, it will have real implications for municipal governments everywhere. This year alone, our staff spent hundreds of hours addressing problems that weather extremes caused for our residents. And we’re learning from that experience.
For example, we manage land use according to topographic flood levels – by how frequently we expect our streams to overflow. A 100-year flood level means we only expect that to occur once a century, and we regulate land use accordingly. But already this year, we’ve had three 100-year storms, and we’re only three-fourths of the way into 2010. And when you’re personally affected by weather extremes like that, official frequency projections become hard to believe. So does that mean the federal government should direct municipalities to revise their flood maps in light of weather shifts? And should they declare land which was formerly considered developable to be unsuited for building? Perhaps.
But is climate change for real? Or is it just a fluke? We’ve heard arguments on both sides. Problem is, discussions about it have become highly politicized. The political left sees it as nature’s wrath upon conservatives who resist greenhouse gas regulation. The political right, on the other hand, sees all the talk about global warming as a liberal smokescreen to expand control over the economy. Frankly, those discussions are way above my pay grade. At the local level, I work with people every day who have to deal with the impacts of weather on our residents and community assets. And there are a number of ways we feel that impact.
Municipalities are the ones who manage the storm water system and upgrade those systems when needed. We are the ones who prepare for winter weather with material, equipment and personnel. We are the ones who train and equip first responders to deal with emergencies that arise from extreme heat, cold and rain. We are the ones who administer flood hazard boundary zones and decide which areas are off limits to construction. We are the ones who enforce statewide building codes that incorporate weather related regulations. We are the ones who set design standards for local roads and maintain over a hundred miles of them – all of which are subject to stress from weather extremes.
We are also the ones responsible for managing hundreds of miles of storm water pipes, catch basins and detention facilities in the community. We are responsible for managing hundreds of acres of heavily used athletic fields and keeping them safe for our thousands of residents who participate in our recreational programs, including our award winning, popular, golf course. We are responsible for managing millions of gallons of wastewater collected daily through hundreds of miles of underground piping – all of which are directly affected by weather extremes.
So while Congress and pundits and scientists continue to argue whether climate change is real, our municipal governments are the ones obliged to constantly respond to bad weather and its impacts and to prepare for more of the same. This blog entry is not about the climate and if it is changing, it is to say when the weather is bad, it has an impact on local government, both on our finances and on our residents lives, and 2010 has been an exceptional year. At least here in Cranberry, we’ll continue doing our best to manage your assets responsibly in light of that impact – no matter which way the political winds are blowing.
I’d be interested to hear your take on this topic. Email me
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Our regional vision
You may have heard about a project called Power of 32. It takes its name from the 32 counties in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland included in its footprint – a region which some might identify as North Central Appalachia, although nobody likes the stigma associated with that title, so it remains nameless, at least for now.
There are more than four million people who live in that region, and the project’s stated goal is to develop a shared vision for their future – a vision which would presumably help to guide the 2,000 units of government and countless private institutions that fall within its boundaries.
Several large Pittsburgh-area foundations are funding the project, which involves numerous local meetings and open-ended community conversations. Former state senator Allen Kukovich is its spokesman, and overall leadership is being provided by a 51-member steering committee, consisting mainly of representatives from the private sector as well as a handful from the public sector. Along with a couple of mayors and county commissioners, I am one of the latter, representing municipal governments.
I agreed to take on that assignment to make sure the aspirations of our region’s suburbs, smaller towns, and rural areas didn’t get drowned out by the preponderance of urban interests represented on the panel. So just for the record, here are the ideas I want to inject into the project’s thinking:
• People from around here tend to stay in this region and so do their children. They have choices, but they find this area to be livable, affordable, comfortable and family-friendly. We don’t want to lose those qualities by trying to transform ourselves into something that’s not consistent with those core values.
• It’s always nice to attract new investment from elsewhere to boost the local economy. But we need to nurture those businesses which are already here and encourage them to expand. We also want to help individuals here to become more entrepreneurial so they can create new opportunities at home.
• We want to encourage residents of each community to remain engaged with their local governments. Municipalities in our region tend to be more responsive, cost-effective, and creative in dealing with problems than larger units of government. We don’t want to lose their ability to personally engage residents by imposing consolidation or mandates on local governments.
• Our region includes a variety of communities with different histories, topographies, economies, and cultures. That variety is a strength. Respecting those differences rather than trying to homogenize them, will serve as a source of continued strength.
• Finally, while Pittsburgh is the largest municipality in the Power of 32 area and enjoys a number of wonderful resources, it represents less than eight percent of the region’s residents. We are a multi-centric region, not a uni-centric one, and our public policy priorities need to make sure that through this collaborative process, all parts of our region remain healthy.
Cranberry Township’s Municipal Center will host a Power of 32 Community Conversation beginning at 6:30 on Thursday, September 23. No advance registration is needed. Just stop in. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, if you have any concerns you would like to share on this issue, please send me an email: Jerry.Andree@Cranberrytownship.org.
There are more than four million people who live in that region, and the project’s stated goal is to develop a shared vision for their future – a vision which would presumably help to guide the 2,000 units of government and countless private institutions that fall within its boundaries.
Several large Pittsburgh-area foundations are funding the project, which involves numerous local meetings and open-ended community conversations. Former state senator Allen Kukovich is its spokesman, and overall leadership is being provided by a 51-member steering committee, consisting mainly of representatives from the private sector as well as a handful from the public sector. Along with a couple of mayors and county commissioners, I am one of the latter, representing municipal governments.
I agreed to take on that assignment to make sure the aspirations of our region’s suburbs, smaller towns, and rural areas didn’t get drowned out by the preponderance of urban interests represented on the panel. So just for the record, here are the ideas I want to inject into the project’s thinking:
• People from around here tend to stay in this region and so do their children. They have choices, but they find this area to be livable, affordable, comfortable and family-friendly. We don’t want to lose those qualities by trying to transform ourselves into something that’s not consistent with those core values.
• It’s always nice to attract new investment from elsewhere to boost the local economy. But we need to nurture those businesses which are already here and encourage them to expand. We also want to help individuals here to become more entrepreneurial so they can create new opportunities at home.
• We want to encourage residents of each community to remain engaged with their local governments. Municipalities in our region tend to be more responsive, cost-effective, and creative in dealing with problems than larger units of government. We don’t want to lose their ability to personally engage residents by imposing consolidation or mandates on local governments.
• Our region includes a variety of communities with different histories, topographies, economies, and cultures. That variety is a strength. Respecting those differences rather than trying to homogenize them, will serve as a source of continued strength.
• Finally, while Pittsburgh is the largest municipality in the Power of 32 area and enjoys a number of wonderful resources, it represents less than eight percent of the region’s residents. We are a multi-centric region, not a uni-centric one, and our public policy priorities need to make sure that through this collaborative process, all parts of our region remain healthy.
Cranberry Township’s Municipal Center will host a Power of 32 Community Conversation beginning at 6:30 on Thursday, September 23. No advance registration is needed. Just stop in. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, if you have any concerns you would like to share on this issue, please send me an email: Jerry.Andree@Cranberrytownship.org.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Keeping Informed
Let me get something off my chest.
For a long time now, we’ve been working hard at getting information about the Township out to residents and visitors. We have websites, email blasts, a newsletter, and a Facebook page. We send out Twitter announcements and NIXLE messages. We put up signs, publish brochures, write letters, take out ads, hang posters, insert bill stuffers, produce videos and meet with all sorts of local organizations. Not only that, we work with local newspapers and broadcasters to provide timely and practical information concerning virtually every aspect of life in Cranberry.
But just about every week, someone comes up to me with an indignant look to complain about being surprised by something we’ve actually been publicizing for weeks. “Why wasn’t I informed?” they demand to know.
Well, the answer in most cases is that they chose not to be informed. When I point out that it was in the Cranberry Eagle, they’ll say “I never read that paper; it goes straight to my recycling cart.” When I tell them it was on our website home page, they’ll reply “I don’t have time to waste on the Internet.” And when I explain that it’s something we’ve been announcing on our big-screen monitor and with posters throughout the Municipal Center, they’ll tell me “I never pay attention to those when I’m in the Municipal Center.”
Okay. Fair enough. We all have the right to choose not to pay attention to the information around us. And there really is a glut of information out there. Sometimes it seems like we’re overdosing on it. So we all need to be selective. I can even understand that someone might not want to pour over the legal ads we’re required to place in the Butler Eagle.
But part of being a citizen in a democracy means taking on the burden of informing yourself, at least in broad outline, of what’s going on. You can’t participate effectively in government at any level unless you have at least some understanding of the issues and events of the day. Ignorance may be bliss, but doesn’t make for good government. Each of us is responsible for educating ourselves about the issues that matter to us.
Cranberry’s Board of Supervisors has asked our staff to look at our communications efforts over the coming months to make sure we’re all doing what we can to provide meaningful communications with our residents and businesses. If you have any suggestions on how we can get our “stuff” to stand out better and reach people more effectively, I would welcome your thoughts. In the meantime, we will continue to work on new ways of making our information available and easy to find.
But please understand that when I look at you in bewilderment after you’ve just told me that the Township never tells people what is going on, it’s not because we didn’t try.
For a long time now, we’ve been working hard at getting information about the Township out to residents and visitors. We have websites, email blasts, a newsletter, and a Facebook page. We send out Twitter announcements and NIXLE messages. We put up signs, publish brochures, write letters, take out ads, hang posters, insert bill stuffers, produce videos and meet with all sorts of local organizations. Not only that, we work with local newspapers and broadcasters to provide timely and practical information concerning virtually every aspect of life in Cranberry.
But just about every week, someone comes up to me with an indignant look to complain about being surprised by something we’ve actually been publicizing for weeks. “Why wasn’t I informed?” they demand to know.
Well, the answer in most cases is that they chose not to be informed. When I point out that it was in the Cranberry Eagle, they’ll say “I never read that paper; it goes straight to my recycling cart.” When I tell them it was on our website home page, they’ll reply “I don’t have time to waste on the Internet.” And when I explain that it’s something we’ve been announcing on our big-screen monitor and with posters throughout the Municipal Center, they’ll tell me “I never pay attention to those when I’m in the Municipal Center.”
Okay. Fair enough. We all have the right to choose not to pay attention to the information around us. And there really is a glut of information out there. Sometimes it seems like we’re overdosing on it. So we all need to be selective. I can even understand that someone might not want to pour over the legal ads we’re required to place in the Butler Eagle.
But part of being a citizen in a democracy means taking on the burden of informing yourself, at least in broad outline, of what’s going on. You can’t participate effectively in government at any level unless you have at least some understanding of the issues and events of the day. Ignorance may be bliss, but doesn’t make for good government. Each of us is responsible for educating ourselves about the issues that matter to us.
Cranberry’s Board of Supervisors has asked our staff to look at our communications efforts over the coming months to make sure we’re all doing what we can to provide meaningful communications with our residents and businesses. If you have any suggestions on how we can get our “stuff” to stand out better and reach people more effectively, I would welcome your thoughts. In the meantime, we will continue to work on new ways of making our information available and easy to find.
But please understand that when I look at you in bewilderment after you’ve just told me that the Township never tells people what is going on, it’s not because we didn’t try.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Ban the boroughs?
Back in April, a legislative proposal designated House Bill 2431 was introduced into Pennsylvania’s General Assembly. While its sponsors claim that their goal is to improve the efficiency of local government in the state, it is actually a radical piece of legislation which would effectively outlaw local government as we know it.
What the bill proposes is to organize local government in Pennsylvania on a county basis and give the counties jurisdiction over personnel, police, land use zoning, sanitation and other responsibilities currently managed by municipalities. Cities, townships and boroughs, to the extent that they continued to exist, would have their duties dictated from the county seat.
As a practical matter, it seems unlikely that the bill will gain much traction. After all, it would require changing the state’s constitution, and that’s a very long and difficult process. And besides, there’s no groundswell of public support for it. Perhaps its greatest significance is that it highlights the tendency of some state legislators to point the finger of blame at everyone but themselves for the Commonwealth’s largely dysfunctional and disconnected state of governance.
After all, when was the last time you had the opportunity to speak before the General Assembly or the U.S. Congress on an issue that concerned you? Or even to know exactly what they were voting on? Probably never. But just about every week of the month, somewhere in Butler County, local residents are attending their local board or council meeting to speak out about a concern or interest of theirs.
Pennsylvania’s smaller municipalities, unlike its larger cities or the state government itself, are actually doing a great job of providing services, responding to residents, and balancing their budgets. The notion that bigger units of government are more efficient is laughable. Just look at Harrisburg or Washington, where there is essentially no fiscal discipline.
The average Cranberry household pays about $680 a year in Township taxes, and in return they receive 24-hour police, fire and EMS services, maintenance of over 100 miles of local roads, world-class recreational facilities, planned community development, a first-class community library, and responsive local officials. That’s less than I pay for home cable and Internet. Yet that same average resident pays the Commonwealth about $8,000 and the U.S. Government $27,000 a year. So where am I really getting my money’s worth?
We have nothing against our good friends in Butler County government, who work hard to do their best with the tasks they’ve been assigned. And frankly, they want nothing to do with taking over the Township’s duties. Perhaps what’s really needed is to turn the bill’s proposed realignment around and hand the powers of the state over to Pennsylvania’s municipalities. At least that would put the public’s welfare into the hands of its most accountable and effective units of government.
What the bill proposes is to organize local government in Pennsylvania on a county basis and give the counties jurisdiction over personnel, police, land use zoning, sanitation and other responsibilities currently managed by municipalities. Cities, townships and boroughs, to the extent that they continued to exist, would have their duties dictated from the county seat.
As a practical matter, it seems unlikely that the bill will gain much traction. After all, it would require changing the state’s constitution, and that’s a very long and difficult process. And besides, there’s no groundswell of public support for it. Perhaps its greatest significance is that it highlights the tendency of some state legislators to point the finger of blame at everyone but themselves for the Commonwealth’s largely dysfunctional and disconnected state of governance.
After all, when was the last time you had the opportunity to speak before the General Assembly or the U.S. Congress on an issue that concerned you? Or even to know exactly what they were voting on? Probably never. But just about every week of the month, somewhere in Butler County, local residents are attending their local board or council meeting to speak out about a concern or interest of theirs.
Pennsylvania’s smaller municipalities, unlike its larger cities or the state government itself, are actually doing a great job of providing services, responding to residents, and balancing their budgets. The notion that bigger units of government are more efficient is laughable. Just look at Harrisburg or Washington, where there is essentially no fiscal discipline.
The average Cranberry household pays about $680 a year in Township taxes, and in return they receive 24-hour police, fire and EMS services, maintenance of over 100 miles of local roads, world-class recreational facilities, planned community development, a first-class community library, and responsive local officials. That’s less than I pay for home cable and Internet. Yet that same average resident pays the Commonwealth about $8,000 and the U.S. Government $27,000 a year. So where am I really getting my money’s worth?
We have nothing against our good friends in Butler County government, who work hard to do their best with the tasks they’ve been assigned. And frankly, they want nothing to do with taking over the Township’s duties. Perhaps what’s really needed is to turn the bill’s proposed realignment around and hand the powers of the state over to Pennsylvania’s municipalities. At least that would put the public’s welfare into the hands of its most accountable and effective units of government.
Sic transit
You’ve probably read about the proposed route cuts and fare hikes in Port Authority’s bus service. If they happen as announced, Cranberry residents who currently commute to Pittsburgh from nearby Warrendale – which is at the outermost fringe of Port Authority’s Allegheny County service territory – would be shut out altogether starting in January. And so would a bunch of other communities.
If it sounds familiar, that’s understandable; similar deep slashes in service and fare hikes have been announced in the past, only to have some last-minute deal save most of what had been threatened with elimination. So a certain amount of route-cut threat-fatigue has begun to set in, and there is a lot of scepticism about whether this is for real or if someone’s just crying wolf.
I don’t have any special insight into how this will ultimately unfold. But I do know that there’s a huge gap in Pennsylvania’s transportation funding, which had counted on tolling I-80 to generate revenue before the feds shot that idea down. And it seems unlikely that the General Assembly will find the missing $450 million tucked away in its well-padded sofa between now and January.
Adding insult to injury, those of us who use the Turnpike frequently will now be paying some of the highest tolls in the nation. At one time, those rates were pegged at the cost of maintaining and improving the Turnpike itself. Now they’re being used to pay for transportation projects all over the state. So since state officials won’t do what’s right by distributing PennDOT’s costs fairly across the Commonwealth, we’re being forced to pay extraordinary heavy Turnpike fees to cover holes in state funding. Maybe that’s why the Feds turned down the I-80 proposal, which seemed to do the same thing in the northern part of the state.
In the meantime, Port Authority is required to give public notice of any potential rate hikes or service cuts. So what you’ve heard about proposed changes has actually been mandated by the state. And, in all fairness, Port Authority has made a number of changes over the past few years to get its house in order and Allegheny County enacted some unpopular taxes to help fund it. But if worse comes to worst, and the service stops, is there anything Cranberry can or should do about it?
For the record, Cranberry has been consistently supportive of public transit. Over the years, we have worked closely with regional agencies and Butler County agencies to introduce service to, through, and around Cranberry Township. We’ve received awards, participated in studies, made financial pledges, and received various grants in support of that effort. We still think transit will be an important part of our future. And we will continue to be advocates for it.
At the same time, like everyone else, we’ll be keeping a close eye on developments that affect transportation funding, including public transit. And we’re hoping for the best. But also like everyone else, if those cuts really do materialize, we’re preparing to endure some major travel headaches.
If it sounds familiar, that’s understandable; similar deep slashes in service and fare hikes have been announced in the past, only to have some last-minute deal save most of what had been threatened with elimination. So a certain amount of route-cut threat-fatigue has begun to set in, and there is a lot of scepticism about whether this is for real or if someone’s just crying wolf.
I don’t have any special insight into how this will ultimately unfold. But I do know that there’s a huge gap in Pennsylvania’s transportation funding, which had counted on tolling I-80 to generate revenue before the feds shot that idea down. And it seems unlikely that the General Assembly will find the missing $450 million tucked away in its well-padded sofa between now and January.
Adding insult to injury, those of us who use the Turnpike frequently will now be paying some of the highest tolls in the nation. At one time, those rates were pegged at the cost of maintaining and improving the Turnpike itself. Now they’re being used to pay for transportation projects all over the state. So since state officials won’t do what’s right by distributing PennDOT’s costs fairly across the Commonwealth, we’re being forced to pay extraordinary heavy Turnpike fees to cover holes in state funding. Maybe that’s why the Feds turned down the I-80 proposal, which seemed to do the same thing in the northern part of the state.
In the meantime, Port Authority is required to give public notice of any potential rate hikes or service cuts. So what you’ve heard about proposed changes has actually been mandated by the state. And, in all fairness, Port Authority has made a number of changes over the past few years to get its house in order and Allegheny County enacted some unpopular taxes to help fund it. But if worse comes to worst, and the service stops, is there anything Cranberry can or should do about it?
For the record, Cranberry has been consistently supportive of public transit. Over the years, we have worked closely with regional agencies and Butler County agencies to introduce service to, through, and around Cranberry Township. We’ve received awards, participated in studies, made financial pledges, and received various grants in support of that effort. We still think transit will be an important part of our future. And we will continue to be advocates for it.
At the same time, like everyone else, we’ll be keeping a close eye on developments that affect transportation funding, including public transit. And we’re hoping for the best. But also like everyone else, if those cuts really do materialize, we’re preparing to endure some major travel headaches.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Rattlesnake rights
The other day a resident came up to me and asked: why are we spending all that money signalizing and adding turning lanes to the Franklin-Peters intersection?
I’m glad they asked. But first, a little background.
There have been more than two dozen serious accidents at that intersection since 2005 plus a bunch of others that were just fender-benders. And the volume of traffic there keeps increasing. It was clear that something had to be done, so this summer, we’re spending about $600,000 to install a traffic signal. We were able to bundle enough to make it happen by combining federal safety money, which is managed by the state, with Township funds. So that really is a lot of money.
And it offers a perfect snapshot of why it’s become so difficult to make public improvements anywhere. First of all, since federal money is involved, it follows a whole different set of rules from ordinary projects. There’s a sad truth behind the maxim ‘don’t make a federal case of it.’ It’s that so many additional steps and hearings and documents and studies and consultants are required to satisfy federal regulations, that progress slows to a crawl. And all of it costs money.
Planning and design costs used to represent 6 or 7 percent of the project’s total. Now they’re closer to 25 percent. In Pennsylvania, as in most of the rest of the country, we over-design roads to accommodate the most reckless and irresponsible drivers. We strip away any trees they could conceivably hit. We bulldoze hills and level bumps and engineer everything else we do to reduce the risk of liability lawsuits.
Then the federal-state wage rules kick in, so that costs become at least 15 percent higher than local projects, where the rule doesn’t apply. Inspectors need to have different certifications than for other projects, and we have to pay a premium for that. And environmental specialists have to be hired to prove, just as we had to with the Northwest Connector Project, that the road improvement won’t disturb the habitat of the elusive massasauga rattlesnake – a species which has never actually been seen in Cranberry.
And that’s not even counting the rising cost of materials – asphalt, steel, gravel, and so on.
So there’s no single smoking gun behind the high cost of public improvement projects. But the cumulative impact of all these developments has made it virtually impossible to build new things and made those which do go forward breathtakingly expensive. By giving virtual veto power to anyone or anything that might object to a project for any reason, we have allowed ourselves to fall hostage to our own democratic impulse and good intentions. And that’s why the Franklin-Peters project is so expensive.
I’m glad they asked. But first, a little background.
There have been more than two dozen serious accidents at that intersection since 2005 plus a bunch of others that were just fender-benders. And the volume of traffic there keeps increasing. It was clear that something had to be done, so this summer, we’re spending about $600,000 to install a traffic signal. We were able to bundle enough to make it happen by combining federal safety money, which is managed by the state, with Township funds. So that really is a lot of money.
And it offers a perfect snapshot of why it’s become so difficult to make public improvements anywhere. First of all, since federal money is involved, it follows a whole different set of rules from ordinary projects. There’s a sad truth behind the maxim ‘don’t make a federal case of it.’ It’s that so many additional steps and hearings and documents and studies and consultants are required to satisfy federal regulations, that progress slows to a crawl. And all of it costs money.
Planning and design costs used to represent 6 or 7 percent of the project’s total. Now they’re closer to 25 percent. In Pennsylvania, as in most of the rest of the country, we over-design roads to accommodate the most reckless and irresponsible drivers. We strip away any trees they could conceivably hit. We bulldoze hills and level bumps and engineer everything else we do to reduce the risk of liability lawsuits.
Then the federal-state wage rules kick in, so that costs become at least 15 percent higher than local projects, where the rule doesn’t apply. Inspectors need to have different certifications than for other projects, and we have to pay a premium for that. And environmental specialists have to be hired to prove, just as we had to with the Northwest Connector Project, that the road improvement won’t disturb the habitat of the elusive massasauga rattlesnake – a species which has never actually been seen in Cranberry.
And that’s not even counting the rising cost of materials – asphalt, steel, gravel, and so on.
So there’s no single smoking gun behind the high cost of public improvement projects. But the cumulative impact of all these developments has made it virtually impossible to build new things and made those which do go forward breathtakingly expensive. By giving virtual veto power to anyone or anything that might object to a project for any reason, we have allowed ourselves to fall hostage to our own democratic impulse and good intentions. And that’s why the Franklin-Peters project is so expensive.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The longest journey begins with a single step
More than 250 years ago, George Washington walked through Cranberry along an Indian footpath we now refer to as the Venango Trail. Although it must have been scenic, and I am sure he got a lot of exercise, it was actually a business trip for him, and the route he took was the fastest and most direct way of getting from Point A to Point B.
You can still follow in Washington’s footsteps – the Venango Trail is essentially today’s Franklin Road alignment – but you would have to do so at your own peril. Over the years Cranberry, like most other American communities, slipped away from the idea of walking as an important form of mobility and instead built its connecting routes around motor vehicles. Pedestrian traffic has become marginalized almost to the vanishing point. And it’s just not safe to walk on roadways.
As far as I can tell, motor vehicles will continue to be a primary form of mobility in Cranberry, as well as the principal method for moving goods, for generations to come. But there are a lot of people here, myself included, who think we may have gone too far in pushing out pedestrians to accommodate cars. In both our 1995 and 2009 comprehensive plans, one of the top issues that concerned residents was the difficulty of walking safely to a nearby store or neighborhood. They thought it was unnatural to have to drag two tons of steel along on an errand to pick up a quart of milk. And besides, not everyone has a car or a drivers license.
So we’re doing something about it. Although we’ve required developers to add sidewalks as a condition of receiving building permits for some years now, we’re still some distance from having a coherent system of walkways. And there’s no plan in place to create one – at least not yet. But that’s about to change.
We’ve had several groups of residents looking into ways we can expand and integrate our walkways and bike paths into a cohesive network – possibly using portions of the Township’s own road and utility rights of way. And they’ve come up with some recommendations. At 6:30 on July 27, we’re inviting anyone who’s interested – especially bicyclists and walking enthusiasts – to stop by the Municipal Center to review those recommendations and offer their own ideas about what the priorities for developing these pathways ought to be. And that will help us take the next step.
You can still follow in Washington’s footsteps – the Venango Trail is essentially today’s Franklin Road alignment – but you would have to do so at your own peril. Over the years Cranberry, like most other American communities, slipped away from the idea of walking as an important form of mobility and instead built its connecting routes around motor vehicles. Pedestrian traffic has become marginalized almost to the vanishing point. And it’s just not safe to walk on roadways.
As far as I can tell, motor vehicles will continue to be a primary form of mobility in Cranberry, as well as the principal method for moving goods, for generations to come. But there are a lot of people here, myself included, who think we may have gone too far in pushing out pedestrians to accommodate cars. In both our 1995 and 2009 comprehensive plans, one of the top issues that concerned residents was the difficulty of walking safely to a nearby store or neighborhood. They thought it was unnatural to have to drag two tons of steel along on an errand to pick up a quart of milk. And besides, not everyone has a car or a drivers license.
So we’re doing something about it. Although we’ve required developers to add sidewalks as a condition of receiving building permits for some years now, we’re still some distance from having a coherent system of walkways. And there’s no plan in place to create one – at least not yet. But that’s about to change.
We’ve had several groups of residents looking into ways we can expand and integrate our walkways and bike paths into a cohesive network – possibly using portions of the Township’s own road and utility rights of way. And they’ve come up with some recommendations. At 6:30 on July 27, we’re inviting anyone who’s interested – especially bicyclists and walking enthusiasts – to stop by the Municipal Center to review those recommendations and offer their own ideas about what the priorities for developing these pathways ought to be. And that will help us take the next step.
Drill baby?
Cranberry’s Board of Supervisors is about to take up what could become a sensitive topic: drilling into the Marcellus Shale for gas. Pennsylvania law says that unless we specify where it’s permitted, Marcellus Shale drilling can go anywhere in Cranberry Township. Not only that, state law bars local government from regulating anything the Commonwealth regulates, including Marcellus Shale drilling.
At least right now, the only way a municipality can regulate drilling is to zone for where it may be permitted – and it has to be permitted somewhere. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection preempts local government from regulating any other aspect of the operation. By June of this year alone, the DEP had issued 1,985 new Marcellus drilling permits, and 763 wells in the state are either completed or under construction.
To my knowledge, there is no Marcellus Shale drilling proposed within the Township, at least not at this time. But our Board of Supervisors doesn’t want to wake up one morning and see drilling rigs where they would least expect them. So they’re being proactive about it. You can read the zoning ordinance they're considering on our website: Proposed Natural Gas Ordinance
The reason for all this concern is the huge volume of natural gas found in the Marcellus Shale layer, about a mile below the surface. It’s a massive rock formation, and geologists estimate that it contains more than 300 trillion cubic feet of gas – enough to supply the entire nation for decades. Even if only a fraction of that were recovered, it could become an economic bonanza for the entire region and a game-changing event in America’s energy picture.
Since the first successful well was built in Washington County seven years ago, there has been something of a land rush to secure leases on property for constructing wells into the Marcellus layer. So far, most of them have been in rural areas, including state parks. That’s understandable because these wells generally require a big surface footprint – five acres is typical – as well as connecting pipelines, heavy truck traffic and the associated noise, all of which would seem to make them poorly suited to residential areas.
But that’s not necessarily the case. According to the Post-Gazette, at least 57 parcels of property in densely populated Lawrenceville, right in the heart of Pittsburgh, are already under agreement with gas leasing agents. And that’s despite the fact that state law prohibits deep well drilling within 200 feet of an occupied building. The reality is that unless a community zones for that type of activity, drilling can go anywhere. So Cranberry is taking the initiative to zone for that possibility.
It’s a situation that puts local government in the touchy position of balancing a landowner’s ability to maximize the return on his or her land against the interests of the larger community which may be affected by the impact of that activity.
But doing nothing means drilling could go anywhere. So on August 5, the Board will hold a public hearing on a proposed zoning ordinance affecting gas resource development. An informed, educated and civil discussion among our residents will help us meet this challenge. And I’m confident we will succeed because meeting challenges is precisely what Cranberry Township is about.
At least right now, the only way a municipality can regulate drilling is to zone for where it may be permitted – and it has to be permitted somewhere. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection preempts local government from regulating any other aspect of the operation. By June of this year alone, the DEP had issued 1,985 new Marcellus drilling permits, and 763 wells in the state are either completed or under construction.
To my knowledge, there is no Marcellus Shale drilling proposed within the Township, at least not at this time. But our Board of Supervisors doesn’t want to wake up one morning and see drilling rigs where they would least expect them. So they’re being proactive about it. You can read the zoning ordinance they're considering on our website: Proposed Natural Gas Ordinance
The reason for all this concern is the huge volume of natural gas found in the Marcellus Shale layer, about a mile below the surface. It’s a massive rock formation, and geologists estimate that it contains more than 300 trillion cubic feet of gas – enough to supply the entire nation for decades. Even if only a fraction of that were recovered, it could become an economic bonanza for the entire region and a game-changing event in America’s energy picture.
Since the first successful well was built in Washington County seven years ago, there has been something of a land rush to secure leases on property for constructing wells into the Marcellus layer. So far, most of them have been in rural areas, including state parks. That’s understandable because these wells generally require a big surface footprint – five acres is typical – as well as connecting pipelines, heavy truck traffic and the associated noise, all of which would seem to make them poorly suited to residential areas.
But that’s not necessarily the case. According to the Post-Gazette, at least 57 parcels of property in densely populated Lawrenceville, right in the heart of Pittsburgh, are already under agreement with gas leasing agents. And that’s despite the fact that state law prohibits deep well drilling within 200 feet of an occupied building. The reality is that unless a community zones for that type of activity, drilling can go anywhere. So Cranberry is taking the initiative to zone for that possibility.
It’s a situation that puts local government in the touchy position of balancing a landowner’s ability to maximize the return on his or her land against the interests of the larger community which may be affected by the impact of that activity.
But doing nothing means drilling could go anywhere. So on August 5, the Board will hold a public hearing on a proposed zoning ordinance affecting gas resource development. An informed, educated and civil discussion among our residents will help us meet this challenge. And I’m confident we will succeed because meeting challenges is precisely what Cranberry Township is about.
Monday, May 3, 2010
With Friends like these…
It wasn’t terribly long ago that well-meaning organizations and opinion leaders all around the state would routinely cite Cranberry Township as an example of sprawl, runaway growth, and lack of planning. After all, they reasoned, the only way a community in this region could expand so quickly, despite a contracting economy, would have to be that it was a lawless, wild western kind of outpost – one that acted as though it didn’t need to concern itself with the dreary burden of debt, politics, taxes and restrictive covenants which hobbled so many other municipalities in our area.
Of course, we never really fit that description, although it had been a genuine risk about 20 years ago. But nothing dies harder than a reputation – whether deserved or not. So we have been stuck with it for some time now. However there are signs that people’s perceptions are changing.
The comprehensive plan we adopted last year has now been honored by influential organizations including the American Planning Association and the Smart Growth Partnership. Our environmental efforts have been given the top award by the State Department of Education’s Earth Day Awareness program. A number of our department heads have been invited to present their work to various professional associations across the country. And we learned last week that John Milius – a Cranberry Township Supervisor who had served for 18 years until just this past January, is being honored by 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania – an organization which had previously looked down on Cranberry as an example of what’s wrong in our state. Today, they’re using Cranberry Township and the efforts of people like John Milius as an example of how to do it right.
So we’re really pleased that our peers are coming around to realize that it really is possible to be smart about building a successful community. And we’re flattered that they now see Cranberry as a model.
Of course, we never really fit that description, although it had been a genuine risk about 20 years ago. But nothing dies harder than a reputation – whether deserved or not. So we have been stuck with it for some time now. However there are signs that people’s perceptions are changing.
The comprehensive plan we adopted last year has now been honored by influential organizations including the American Planning Association and the Smart Growth Partnership. Our environmental efforts have been given the top award by the State Department of Education’s Earth Day Awareness program. A number of our department heads have been invited to present their work to various professional associations across the country. And we learned last week that John Milius – a Cranberry Township Supervisor who had served for 18 years until just this past January, is being honored by 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania – an organization which had previously looked down on Cranberry as an example of what’s wrong in our state. Today, they’re using Cranberry Township and the efforts of people like John Milius as an example of how to do it right.
So we’re really pleased that our peers are coming around to realize that it really is possible to be smart about building a successful community. And we’re flattered that they now see Cranberry as a model.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Earthday to You!
Today is the 40th anniversary of America’s very first Earth Day. I’ve heard a number of people comment that the character of the event has morphed over the years. It started out as something of a fringe movement with strong anti-business and anti-government overtones. But now it’s almost a showcase for corporate marketing and government initiatives.
State and federal agencies have enacted loads of regulations to protect and enhance our natural environment. All sorts of companies today make a big point of touting their environmental friendliness. And here in Cranberry, we’ve also taken the environmental ethic to heart.
We’ve slashed our energy use, conserved water supplies, recycled all kinds of material, and worked with our partners at Seneca Valley to teach sustainability principles through the schools as well. And just today we learned that one of the projects which our Environmental Coordinator, Lorin Meeder, has been working on with Haine Middle School’s fifth graders has won the state’s grand prize for environmental projects.
So congratulations to Lorin and Haine School teacher Allison Stebbins for the Rain Barrel project they call the “Rainkeepers.” You do us all proud.
State and federal agencies have enacted loads of regulations to protect and enhance our natural environment. All sorts of companies today make a big point of touting their environmental friendliness. And here in Cranberry, we’ve also taken the environmental ethic to heart.
We’ve slashed our energy use, conserved water supplies, recycled all kinds of material, and worked with our partners at Seneca Valley to teach sustainability principles through the schools as well. And just today we learned that one of the projects which our Environmental Coordinator, Lorin Meeder, has been working on with Haine Middle School’s fifth graders has won the state’s grand prize for environmental projects.
So congratulations to Lorin and Haine School teacher Allison Stebbins for the Rain Barrel project they call the “Rainkeepers.” You do us all proud.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Recycled rumors
by Lorin Meeder, Environmental Programs Coordinator
Twenty-some years ago, when curbside recycling was just getting started in most communities, the market for recycled materials was not well established. In principle, it was a great idea. But a number of factories simply weren’t equipped to process recycled materials. And where they were, the fluctuation in prices for those materials made it hard for haulers to count on a steady stream of income from selling the material they collected. Sometimes it cost them more to collect it than they could recover in sales. So there were instances where collectors would quietly take the items to a landfill and dump them. And some of that was reported in the news.
Fast forward to 2010. By now, most makers of glass, paper, metal and plastics have updated or replaced their old processing equipment and now welcome recycled items as low-cost feedstock. But for the past two years, the economy has been weak and a lot of manufacturing has gone offshore, so the prices for recycled materials have mirrored that. Even so, post-consumer recycling has become established as a mainstay of manufacturing both in the U.S. and abroad. And income that collectors get from selling it to manufacturers has helped to offset the cost of their collection in communities throughout the country.
But now we’re starting to hear a new type of recycling: the stories from the ‘80s and early ‘90s about recyclables going to landfills are finding new life and being recycled by people who have somehow become convinced that recycling is part of a vast conspiracy to take away our freedoms, or something like that.
That’s a shame because the real benefits of recycling – to Cranberry, to the waste collectors, to manufacturers, to residents and the environment – are now established facts, not mere conjecture. But it’s a volatile market and it’s one that’s clearly affected by the economy. So less than a year after a steep decline in recycled material prices which started in the fall of 2008 and led to a revival of the landfill stories, the prices for raw material, like iron ore, began to spike. As a result, the markets for recycled materials rallied, producing revenues by June of 2009. And that rally has continued. We take recycling very serious in Cranberry Township, and so does our contracted collector. So while it is easy to recycle old rumors, there’s a dwindling market for them, and the payoff is really very small.
Twenty-some years ago, when curbside recycling was just getting started in most communities, the market for recycled materials was not well established. In principle, it was a great idea. But a number of factories simply weren’t equipped to process recycled materials. And where they were, the fluctuation in prices for those materials made it hard for haulers to count on a steady stream of income from selling the material they collected. Sometimes it cost them more to collect it than they could recover in sales. So there were instances where collectors would quietly take the items to a landfill and dump them. And some of that was reported in the news.
Fast forward to 2010. By now, most makers of glass, paper, metal and plastics have updated or replaced their old processing equipment and now welcome recycled items as low-cost feedstock. But for the past two years, the economy has been weak and a lot of manufacturing has gone offshore, so the prices for recycled materials have mirrored that. Even so, post-consumer recycling has become established as a mainstay of manufacturing both in the U.S. and abroad. And income that collectors get from selling it to manufacturers has helped to offset the cost of their collection in communities throughout the country.
But now we’re starting to hear a new type of recycling: the stories from the ‘80s and early ‘90s about recyclables going to landfills are finding new life and being recycled by people who have somehow become convinced that recycling is part of a vast conspiracy to take away our freedoms, or something like that.
That’s a shame because the real benefits of recycling – to Cranberry, to the waste collectors, to manufacturers, to residents and the environment – are now established facts, not mere conjecture. But it’s a volatile market and it’s one that’s clearly affected by the economy. So less than a year after a steep decline in recycled material prices which started in the fall of 2008 and led to a revival of the landfill stories, the prices for raw material, like iron ore, began to spike. As a result, the markets for recycled materials rallied, producing revenues by June of 2009. And that rally has continued. We take recycling very serious in Cranberry Township, and so does our contracted collector. So while it is easy to recycle old rumors, there’s a dwindling market for them, and the payoff is really very small.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Cranberry is there – usually by itself
Perhaps the most famous advertisement in American history was one for Cadillac in a 1915 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It was entitled “The Penalty of Leadership,” and it talked about how people who do great things and receive great recognition also spawn great envy and spite among their detractors. So if you’re in front of the crowd, you’ve got to watch your back.
In Cranberry, there’s certainly a bit of that – with snarky comments coming at us from a small group of public officials who ought to know better. But here, it’s mostly that when we step up to take on a regional leadership responsibility because it’s the right thing to do, people expect us to keep on doing that while they themselves mostly hang back and watch.
That can get tiresome. But Cranberry is fortunate to be governed by a board of elected officials who truly understand that our Township is not an island but part of a much larger region, and that we all depend on one another. Accordingly, our Supervisors expect us to play an active role in the region. As a result, our board and staff are involved in a wide range of regional organizations and efforts.
They include the Local Government Academy; the Butler County Council of Governments; Butler County projects such as the Strategic Planning Initiative by the Butler County Commissioners and the Butler County Chamber; Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority; the Butler County Planning Commission; The Regional Corridor Alliance; The Chamber of Commerce; the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; the Butler County Tax Collection Committee; the Rt. 19 planning project with Marshall Township, Seven Fields and Jackson Townships; teaching classes for local government officials; serving as facilitators for regional collaboration; Sustainable Pittsburgh; Power of 32, Allegheny Conference for Community Development; Butler County Community Development Corporation; NAIOP, and others.
Our people work hard to sustain those organizations, often playing critical roles in helping them advance their efforts to improve the region. And they do this on top of an already heavy Cranberry Township work load. But, to be honest, we sometimes look around and see that we are the only municipality there, always subject to people’s expectation that Cranberry will handle it. Our leadership is either taken for granted or results in jealous put-downs of what we have accomplished.
The fact is that anyone can do what we have done – if only they’d set their minds to do it. And we sincerely hope that more of them will. But at least for now, Cranberry, which is widely perceived to be one of the best communities in Pennsylvania, seems doomed to pay the penalty of leadership over and over again.
In Cranberry, there’s certainly a bit of that – with snarky comments coming at us from a small group of public officials who ought to know better. But here, it’s mostly that when we step up to take on a regional leadership responsibility because it’s the right thing to do, people expect us to keep on doing that while they themselves mostly hang back and watch.
That can get tiresome. But Cranberry is fortunate to be governed by a board of elected officials who truly understand that our Township is not an island but part of a much larger region, and that we all depend on one another. Accordingly, our Supervisors expect us to play an active role in the region. As a result, our board and staff are involved in a wide range of regional organizations and efforts.
They include the Local Government Academy; the Butler County Council of Governments; Butler County projects such as the Strategic Planning Initiative by the Butler County Commissioners and the Butler County Chamber; Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority; the Butler County Planning Commission; The Regional Corridor Alliance; The Chamber of Commerce; the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; the Butler County Tax Collection Committee; the Rt. 19 planning project with Marshall Township, Seven Fields and Jackson Townships; teaching classes for local government officials; serving as facilitators for regional collaboration; Sustainable Pittsburgh; Power of 32, Allegheny Conference for Community Development; Butler County Community Development Corporation; NAIOP, and others.
Our people work hard to sustain those organizations, often playing critical roles in helping them advance their efforts to improve the region. And they do this on top of an already heavy Cranberry Township work load. But, to be honest, we sometimes look around and see that we are the only municipality there, always subject to people’s expectation that Cranberry will handle it. Our leadership is either taken for granted or results in jealous put-downs of what we have accomplished.
The fact is that anyone can do what we have done – if only they’d set their minds to do it. And we sincerely hope that more of them will. But at least for now, Cranberry, which is widely perceived to be one of the best communities in Pennsylvania, seems doomed to pay the penalty of leadership over and over again.
Doing the Right Thing
Throughout the nearly 20 years I’ve been here – and probably before that too – Cranberry Township’s government has operated by a simple principle: Do the Right Thing. Specifically, that meant making decisions based on what’s fair to the people involved, on what could stand up under public scrutiny, and on what made the most efficient use of public resources. It also meant resisting decision-making based on favoritism, officials’ self-interest, or political dogma.
So, for example, we started requiring builders to dedicate permanent green and open space in our booming development years before it became trendy; we did it because our residents told us they wanted to retain as much of the Township’s rural character as possible. We turned off lights that weren’t needed long before energy saving became chic; we did it to save money. We irrigated our golf course with recycled wastewater because it cost less and protected our ground water – not because it was fashionable. They were all just the right things to do.
Over time, however, many of those same practices, which had long since become part of our standard operating procedures, started taking on the tone of a more lofty ideology. Sustainability, a philosophy which encompassed much of what we were doing, and then some, seemed to be a good fit. So we began characterizing our practices as part of a ‘sustainable’ approach to management. And they are.
But the heart of those sustainable practices remains the same straightforward principle which has guided us all along: Do the Right Thing. We have not become captive of any movement’s global manifesto. Instead, sustainability is our way of saying that we care about our taxpayers, our ratepayers, our community, and our future. And we want to do right by them.
So, for example, we started requiring builders to dedicate permanent green and open space in our booming development years before it became trendy; we did it because our residents told us they wanted to retain as much of the Township’s rural character as possible. We turned off lights that weren’t needed long before energy saving became chic; we did it to save money. We irrigated our golf course with recycled wastewater because it cost less and protected our ground water – not because it was fashionable. They were all just the right things to do.
Over time, however, many of those same practices, which had long since become part of our standard operating procedures, started taking on the tone of a more lofty ideology. Sustainability, a philosophy which encompassed much of what we were doing, and then some, seemed to be a good fit. So we began characterizing our practices as part of a ‘sustainable’ approach to management. And they are.
But the heart of those sustainable practices remains the same straightforward principle which has guided us all along: Do the Right Thing. We have not become captive of any movement’s global manifesto. Instead, sustainability is our way of saying that we care about our taxpayers, our ratepayers, our community, and our future. And we want to do right by them.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Drop by for coffee (and conversation)
I like coffee as well as the next person, but it has always been a private preference of mine. However now I’m going public with it, and I’m inviting my fellow Cranberry residents to join me for a cup or two. And it’s more than just a taste test; I’m thinking of coffee here as a social medium, as in traditional coffee house culture, where people can talk comfortably and at length about whatever they have on their minds.
So I’m planning a monthly series of gatherings we’re calling “Coffee and Conversation,” which will be held in different cafes around Cranberry starting next month. They’re intended to encourage residents to talk about the Township and the things they would like to share with me in person. We see these informal meetings as the latest extension of Cranberry’s ongoing communication outreach efforts.
Of course, there’s no way of telling ahead of time exactly what people will want to talk about. And no one should get the idea that these conversations will be the equivalent of a formal hearing or official action. But they will help me and our Township staff to make sure that the priorities we have are informed by the priorities our residents have.
Our first two coffees will be held on Tuesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:30, on April 13 and May 11 in Panera’s meeting room, on the lower level of the Cranberry Mall. Our third will be on June 22 at Crazy Mocha in Freedom Square. If you’re available, stop by for as much or as little time as you can spare. The coffee’s on me.
So I’m planning a monthly series of gatherings we’re calling “Coffee and Conversation,” which will be held in different cafes around Cranberry starting next month. They’re intended to encourage residents to talk about the Township and the things they would like to share with me in person. We see these informal meetings as the latest extension of Cranberry’s ongoing communication outreach efforts.
Of course, there’s no way of telling ahead of time exactly what people will want to talk about. And no one should get the idea that these conversations will be the equivalent of a formal hearing or official action. But they will help me and our Township staff to make sure that the priorities we have are informed by the priorities our residents have.
Our first two coffees will be held on Tuesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:30, on April 13 and May 11 in Panera’s meeting room, on the lower level of the Cranberry Mall. Our third will be on June 22 at Crazy Mocha in Freedom Square. If you’re available, stop by for as much or as little time as you can spare. The coffee’s on me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Dysfunctional government
There’s been a lot of press lately about Congress being broken, paralyzed, and mired in partisan acrimony. Sadly, I’m convinced that it’s true. Even more regrettable, though, is that the paralysis is not just limited to Washington; it has been spreading throughout the body politic. So in addition to a federal government stuck in its own rancor, we also have state governments unable to address critical policy issues and local governments incapable of dealing with one another or their own constituents.
I just got back from a professional development seminar where a major theme was “how to manage in a dysfunctional government.” It was depressing. But, at the same time, I felt lucky not to have experienced that here. Cranberry Township is blessed with a culture which does not tolerate the sorts of disrespectful, in-your-face behavior that we see all around us. Instead, it accepts that while people have legitimately different views, consensus is essential to acting in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers.
Historically, Cranberry’s Board has had both Democrat and Republican Supervisors. But when they meet to conduct the people’s business, party lines don’t seem to matter. Cranberry never had a history of strong political party machines or operatives, so when the Supervisors meet, political ideologies as well as personal egos get checked at the door. In their place, the Board focuses on doing the business of the people in a respectful, professional manner.
That shouldn’t be remarkable; after all, it’s what they were elected to do. But they’re surrounded by dysfunctional behavior at every level of government, and many people now consider political grandstanding at the expense of everyone else to be the norm for elected officials. It shouldn’t be; it’s a huge disservice to residents and taxpayers and it is definitely not the norm here. Perhaps that’s why Cranberry is widely seen as one of the most desirable communities in the region.
But it could happen here. And one way that could happen is if we were to take our functional local government for granted, assume that civility in public discourse is normal, and fail to appreciate what we have. It’s important for our elected officials to know that Cranberry residents recognize that good government and respectful debate are rare and valuable assets. And maybe someday, the results of their good work might even inspire our state and federal counterparts to behave in a similar manner.
I just got back from a professional development seminar where a major theme was “how to manage in a dysfunctional government.” It was depressing. But, at the same time, I felt lucky not to have experienced that here. Cranberry Township is blessed with a culture which does not tolerate the sorts of disrespectful, in-your-face behavior that we see all around us. Instead, it accepts that while people have legitimately different views, consensus is essential to acting in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers.
Historically, Cranberry’s Board has had both Democrat and Republican Supervisors. But when they meet to conduct the people’s business, party lines don’t seem to matter. Cranberry never had a history of strong political party machines or operatives, so when the Supervisors meet, political ideologies as well as personal egos get checked at the door. In their place, the Board focuses on doing the business of the people in a respectful, professional manner.
That shouldn’t be remarkable; after all, it’s what they were elected to do. But they’re surrounded by dysfunctional behavior at every level of government, and many people now consider political grandstanding at the expense of everyone else to be the norm for elected officials. It shouldn’t be; it’s a huge disservice to residents and taxpayers and it is definitely not the norm here. Perhaps that’s why Cranberry is widely seen as one of the most desirable communities in the region.
But it could happen here. And one way that could happen is if we were to take our functional local government for granted, assume that civility in public discourse is normal, and fail to appreciate what we have. It’s important for our elected officials to know that Cranberry residents recognize that good government and respectful debate are rare and valuable assets. And maybe someday, the results of their good work might even inspire our state and federal counterparts to behave in a similar manner.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Plowing through
It really was the storm of the century. In fact, according to the weather bureau, whose statistics go back into the mid-1800s, the storm that began here Friday night was the fourth biggest ever recorded. So it was a huge challenge for our road crews as well as for the people who live here.
But I’ve got to say that I’ve never been prouder of our Public Works department – and neither have our residents. Report after report came back from our snow plow operators about the enthusiastic cheering and waves they received as they pushed through the heaviest snow that many of our residents have ever seen.
A two-foot snow event is not just a two-inch snowfall on steroids; it requires different tools and strategies. Tiny little plows on the front of pickup trucks just aren’t up to the job. Instead, Public Works had to rely on its biggest, heaviest, and most powerful snow moving equipment to push through the 23-inches of wet, heavy snow that blanketed our local roads. One operator told me that he thought he could hear one group of neighbors chanting the rhyme of the little engine: “I think you can, I think you can,” as he and his truck clawed through the snow banks and opened up their street.
However, to deal with the massive volume of snow, we needed more and different equipment. So we declared a local disaster emergency to make use of the community’s emergency operations plan which allowed us to bypass normal administrative procedures and bring in a number of front-end loaders right away. Kids and their parents smiled and watched in amazement as this assortment of grown-up Tonka toys cleared the huge accumulation of snow from our 289 neighborhood cul-de-sacs. And, as they did, neighbor after neighbor would help one another to clear their sidewalks and driveways.
Saturday night, after being up for well over 24 hours, I settled into a solid rest knowing that I am working with a great group of municipal employees who have a passion to serve our community, and for a community that consistently shows its very best whenever we need to come together.
Wow!
But I’ve got to say that I’ve never been prouder of our Public Works department – and neither have our residents. Report after report came back from our snow plow operators about the enthusiastic cheering and waves they received as they pushed through the heaviest snow that many of our residents have ever seen.
A two-foot snow event is not just a two-inch snowfall on steroids; it requires different tools and strategies. Tiny little plows on the front of pickup trucks just aren’t up to the job. Instead, Public Works had to rely on its biggest, heaviest, and most powerful snow moving equipment to push through the 23-inches of wet, heavy snow that blanketed our local roads. One operator told me that he thought he could hear one group of neighbors chanting the rhyme of the little engine: “I think you can, I think you can,” as he and his truck clawed through the snow banks and opened up their street.
However, to deal with the massive volume of snow, we needed more and different equipment. So we declared a local disaster emergency to make use of the community’s emergency operations plan which allowed us to bypass normal administrative procedures and bring in a number of front-end loaders right away. Kids and their parents smiled and watched in amazement as this assortment of grown-up Tonka toys cleared the huge accumulation of snow from our 289 neighborhood cul-de-sacs. And, as they did, neighbor after neighbor would help one another to clear their sidewalks and driveways.
Saturday night, after being up for well over 24 hours, I settled into a solid rest knowing that I am working with a great group of municipal employees who have a passion to serve our community, and for a community that consistently shows its very best whenever we need to come together.
Wow!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Reality vs. Reality TV: What do I get for my money?
I recently got a letter from my cable company saying that my bill was going up. It’s a notice I’ve received every January for as long as I can remember. My monthly cable bill will now hover around $130 including a few little extras and the Internet. So now we can watch CSI, Parks & Recreation, and other dramatizations of what I see at work every day, only now in high definition. It’s a service my family likes and, I suppose, it adds to our quality of life.
I can sympathize with the cable company; I am currently in the middle of implementing a rate increase for our own sewer and water customers. Cable operators are paying more for programming and Cranberry is paying more for water. So rate increases are inevitable. Except in our case, the last increase in sewer rates happened eight years ago and four years ago for water. At the new rate, my sewer and water bill will now be around $60 a month. If you add in trash service, it’s about $75.
Municipal sewer and water systems are among the most regulated industries in the nation. We’re regulated by both the state and federal governments, and those regulations are getting tighter. As the person charged by our Board of Supervisors with maintaining the two systems, I probably understand more than most the challenges we face in keeping up with clean water and sanitary sewer regulations. Sewage on TV, however, hardly seems to be regulated at all.
So when I compare the two, I am paying nearly $1,560 a year for cable and just $900 for sewer, water and trash combined. Even if you add in the Township income and property taxes I pay, it only amounts to $1,750. And that includes the live drama of 24-hour police and fire services, a library, three parks, a municipal center and street maintenance in addition to sewer, water and trash service. It’s almost a tie between Cable on Demand and Municipal Services on Demand.
If you look at it that way, Cranberry’s public services are the best bargain around, and there are never any reruns.
I can sympathize with the cable company; I am currently in the middle of implementing a rate increase for our own sewer and water customers. Cable operators are paying more for programming and Cranberry is paying more for water. So rate increases are inevitable. Except in our case, the last increase in sewer rates happened eight years ago and four years ago for water. At the new rate, my sewer and water bill will now be around $60 a month. If you add in trash service, it’s about $75.
Municipal sewer and water systems are among the most regulated industries in the nation. We’re regulated by both the state and federal governments, and those regulations are getting tighter. As the person charged by our Board of Supervisors with maintaining the two systems, I probably understand more than most the challenges we face in keeping up with clean water and sanitary sewer regulations. Sewage on TV, however, hardly seems to be regulated at all.
So when I compare the two, I am paying nearly $1,560 a year for cable and just $900 for sewer, water and trash combined. Even if you add in the Township income and property taxes I pay, it only amounts to $1,750. And that includes the live drama of 24-hour police and fire services, a library, three parks, a municipal center and street maintenance in addition to sewer, water and trash service. It’s almost a tie between Cable on Demand and Municipal Services on Demand.
If you look at it that way, Cranberry’s public services are the best bargain around, and there are never any reruns.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Excuse me, but I have to take another leak check
By Jason Dailey, Director, Public Works
In 2008, Cranberry bought 897 million gallons of water from the West View Water Authority. That same year, we sold 757 million gallons to Cranberry’s water customers. So what happened to the 140 million gallon difference between them? That’s what we’re trying to figure out.
Part of it is legitimate: flushing out the water lines, fighting fires, and system maintenance for example. Altogether, they represent maybe 8 or 10 million gallons.
Another part, we know, is from malfunctioning meters, particularly the large commercial kind that handle tens of thousands of gallons a day. If they’re out of calibration – which can happen over time – it can mean a lot of water isn’t being accounted for. So we have a program to test a third of the commercial meters every year and replace them if they need it. We’ve been doing that for some time now, and it’s saved the Township a lot of money.
But perhaps the most significant, and most easily remedied sources of water loss are leaks from underground pipes in the distribution system. A hole just 1/8 inch in diameter can result in 3,288 gallons of water lost every day – or about 1.2 million gallons a year. That’s over $6,500 at current rates – money that all the other ratepayers are having to make up for in their water bills. So we’re working hard to hold down those loses, which we estimate to represent about nine percent of all the water we buy. That sounds like a lot, and it is, although it’s only about half the average for water suppliers and way less than some of our older communities around Pittsburgh which lose as much as half their water through leaky pipes.
So here’s what we’re doing about it: for some time now, we’ve had a contractor come in and use a sophisticated listening device to pinpoint leaks all along the 170 miles of pipeline in our system. And every year he’s discovered leaks that amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost water. As a result, we’ve decided to have him come in and do his inspection twice a year. That means a leak which develops won’t have to wait another whole year before it’s discovered and repaired.
We think that second inspection will pay for itself many times over, saving our water customers a lot of unnecessary expense.
In 2008, Cranberry bought 897 million gallons of water from the West View Water Authority. That same year, we sold 757 million gallons to Cranberry’s water customers. So what happened to the 140 million gallon difference between them? That’s what we’re trying to figure out.
Part of it is legitimate: flushing out the water lines, fighting fires, and system maintenance for example. Altogether, they represent maybe 8 or 10 million gallons.
Another part, we know, is from malfunctioning meters, particularly the large commercial kind that handle tens of thousands of gallons a day. If they’re out of calibration – which can happen over time – it can mean a lot of water isn’t being accounted for. So we have a program to test a third of the commercial meters every year and replace them if they need it. We’ve been doing that for some time now, and it’s saved the Township a lot of money.
But perhaps the most significant, and most easily remedied sources of water loss are leaks from underground pipes in the distribution system. A hole just 1/8 inch in diameter can result in 3,288 gallons of water lost every day – or about 1.2 million gallons a year. That’s over $6,500 at current rates – money that all the other ratepayers are having to make up for in their water bills. So we’re working hard to hold down those loses, which we estimate to represent about nine percent of all the water we buy. That sounds like a lot, and it is, although it’s only about half the average for water suppliers and way less than some of our older communities around Pittsburgh which lose as much as half their water through leaky pipes.
So here’s what we’re doing about it: for some time now, we’ve had a contractor come in and use a sophisticated listening device to pinpoint leaks all along the 170 miles of pipeline in our system. And every year he’s discovered leaks that amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost water. As a result, we’ve decided to have him come in and do his inspection twice a year. That means a leak which develops won’t have to wait another whole year before it’s discovered and repaired.
We think that second inspection will pay for itself many times over, saving our water customers a lot of unnecessary expense.
Searching for a sign
By Jason Dailey, Director, Public Works
There seems to be an exception to the general rule that what goes up, comes down. I’m thinking of traffic advisory signs, warning signs, regulatory signs, informational signs, marker signs, and so on. They seem to accumulate to the point where they can overwhelm any driver who is not already familiar with that particular stretch of roadway.
So how many signs do we have in Cranberry? And whose responsibility are they? Good questions, and nobody really knows the answers. But to find out, we’ve begun to take a systematic inventory thousands of official signs posted along Township roads – where they are, what they say, and what condition they’re in.
So we’ve got crews out with GPS equipment to record exactly where each sign post is located, what the sign says, and how easy it is to read. We’re using a tool we bought together with our local Council of Governments to measure each sign’s reflectivity. If it’s faded, it flunks the test and has to be replaced or taken down.
Part of the impetus for this project is Cranberry’s ongoing effort to catalog its assets – a project that began with our water and sewer system, and is now extending to our traffic signs. Another part is a long-overdue Federal Highway Administration mandate about road signs together with a timetable for states and local governments to get their acts together.
When it’s complete, we will not only know what we already have, we will also have a policy about posting new ones in cases where no specific state or federal mandates are available to guide us. And by then we will all have become fluent in sign language.
There seems to be an exception to the general rule that what goes up, comes down. I’m thinking of traffic advisory signs, warning signs, regulatory signs, informational signs, marker signs, and so on. They seem to accumulate to the point where they can overwhelm any driver who is not already familiar with that particular stretch of roadway.
So how many signs do we have in Cranberry? And whose responsibility are they? Good questions, and nobody really knows the answers. But to find out, we’ve begun to take a systematic inventory thousands of official signs posted along Township roads – where they are, what they say, and what condition they’re in.
So we’ve got crews out with GPS equipment to record exactly where each sign post is located, what the sign says, and how easy it is to read. We’re using a tool we bought together with our local Council of Governments to measure each sign’s reflectivity. If it’s faded, it flunks the test and has to be replaced or taken down.
Part of the impetus for this project is Cranberry’s ongoing effort to catalog its assets – a project that began with our water and sewer system, and is now extending to our traffic signs. Another part is a long-overdue Federal Highway Administration mandate about road signs together with a timetable for states and local governments to get their acts together.
When it’s complete, we will not only know what we already have, we will also have a policy about posting new ones in cases where no specific state or federal mandates are available to guide us. And by then we will all have become fluent in sign language.
We’re hitting the roads
By Jason Dailey, Director, Public Works
We’re getting aggressive about potholes this year, and we’re looking for help from vigilant residents.
Starting back in December, we had colder than normal temperatures with on-and-off snow that lasted almost a month. As a result, we’re beginning to see road damage earlier this year than we usually do – cracking, heaving, chunking; all the things that can take years off the life of pavement. And there’s still plenty of winter left.
Although we can’t do anything about the weather, we’re taking a proactive approach to keeping our roads from getting ruined. For one thing, we’ve got crews scheduled in shifts throughout the season. That means we have Public Works people on duty from 4:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. And between storms, part of their assignment is to drive their normal snow routes to keep an eye out for cracks and other telltale signs of road damage. They’re pretty good at it, but the people who actually live on those streets monitor them even more closely. So we’re looking for residents to call our Customer Service Department and report any signs of road damage.
And that’s not just for record-keeping purposes; we’re sending crews out to make whatever repairs are practical, and to do them as soon as possible. The reason is that cracks widen, and as they do, more water gets in and pretty soon the freeze-thaw cycle blows your road apart, turning a minor repair into a much bigger project.
One way we’re addressing that challenge is with a new crack-sealing machine that we’re sharing with several other communities. It’s trailer-mounted and it cleans and fills cracks in one pass to keep more water from getting in. That can extend the life of a roadway another 3 or 4 years beyond its normal 10-12 year lifespan. And it seems to be working very well. So call 724-776-4806 and let us know when something needs attention. And if it’s a state road, call PennDOT at 1-800 FIX ROAD.
We’re getting aggressive about potholes this year, and we’re looking for help from vigilant residents.
Starting back in December, we had colder than normal temperatures with on-and-off snow that lasted almost a month. As a result, we’re beginning to see road damage earlier this year than we usually do – cracking, heaving, chunking; all the things that can take years off the life of pavement. And there’s still plenty of winter left.
Although we can’t do anything about the weather, we’re taking a proactive approach to keeping our roads from getting ruined. For one thing, we’ve got crews scheduled in shifts throughout the season. That means we have Public Works people on duty from 4:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. And between storms, part of their assignment is to drive their normal snow routes to keep an eye out for cracks and other telltale signs of road damage. They’re pretty good at it, but the people who actually live on those streets monitor them even more closely. So we’re looking for residents to call our Customer Service Department and report any signs of road damage.
And that’s not just for record-keeping purposes; we’re sending crews out to make whatever repairs are practical, and to do them as soon as possible. The reason is that cracks widen, and as they do, more water gets in and pretty soon the freeze-thaw cycle blows your road apart, turning a minor repair into a much bigger project.
One way we’re addressing that challenge is with a new crack-sealing machine that we’re sharing with several other communities. It’s trailer-mounted and it cleans and fills cracks in one pass to keep more water from getting in. That can extend the life of a roadway another 3 or 4 years beyond its normal 10-12 year lifespan. And it seems to be working very well. So call 724-776-4806 and let us know when something needs attention. And if it’s a state road, call PennDOT at 1-800 FIX ROAD.
Hundreds shot in Cranberry!
By Jeff Schueler, Director, Public Safety
If you missed the H1N1 flu inoculation clinic on January 8 and 9, you’re not alone. Of the more than 12,000 doses available, only about 1,700 were actually administered. But it wasn’t because the clinic didn’t work out. In fact, it worked remarkably well – particularly in light of the fact that so much of its planning came right down to the wire.
News about the epidemic formerly known as swine flu had already become much more comforting by mid-December than it had been earlier in the fall. So the sense of urgency just wasn’t there. And by the time the state organized its mass inoculation clinics, including the one here in Cranberry, the vaccine was already available at pharmacies and doctors’ offices and work places.
But it was a good learning experience for everyone involved. For one thing, it confirmed how fortunate we are to have a facility like the Manheim Pittsburgh Auto Auction in our community; it worked out beautifully. For another, both days saw people from state and county agencies, as well as Cranberry’s own EMS and Public Safety, working at the clinic and doing so without tripping over one another, which is always reassuring. We also had help from a handful of local volunteers. And that experience made clear how important having volunteers to call on really is to making a clinic like that run smoothly.
So in a way, it’s good that the numbers were lower than originally projected; I’m not sure we would have had enough volunteers to keep things together if it had turned into a siege. So for us, the take-home lesson is that having a pool of people who can be contacted on short notice to help with urgent situations is going to be critical in responding to crises that arise in the future.
That need, as well as other lessons learned from the clinic, will be the focus of debriefings which the agencies involved have scheduled over the coming weeks. So when the next unforeseen event takes place, we expect to be even better prepared.
If you missed the H1N1 flu inoculation clinic on January 8 and 9, you’re not alone. Of the more than 12,000 doses available, only about 1,700 were actually administered. But it wasn’t because the clinic didn’t work out. In fact, it worked remarkably well – particularly in light of the fact that so much of its planning came right down to the wire.
News about the epidemic formerly known as swine flu had already become much more comforting by mid-December than it had been earlier in the fall. So the sense of urgency just wasn’t there. And by the time the state organized its mass inoculation clinics, including the one here in Cranberry, the vaccine was already available at pharmacies and doctors’ offices and work places.
But it was a good learning experience for everyone involved. For one thing, it confirmed how fortunate we are to have a facility like the Manheim Pittsburgh Auto Auction in our community; it worked out beautifully. For another, both days saw people from state and county agencies, as well as Cranberry’s own EMS and Public Safety, working at the clinic and doing so without tripping over one another, which is always reassuring. We also had help from a handful of local volunteers. And that experience made clear how important having volunteers to call on really is to making a clinic like that run smoothly.
So in a way, it’s good that the numbers were lower than originally projected; I’m not sure we would have had enough volunteers to keep things together if it had turned into a siege. So for us, the take-home lesson is that having a pool of people who can be contacted on short notice to help with urgent situations is going to be critical in responding to crises that arise in the future.
That need, as well as other lessons learned from the clinic, will be the focus of debriefings which the agencies involved have scheduled over the coming weeks. So when the next unforeseen event takes place, we expect to be even better prepared.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Cranberry’s Secret Enchilada
Glen Bell, founder of the Taco Bell restaurant chain, died this week. His passing may have taken with him the answer to one of the great secrets of our time: why is there no Taco Bell in Cranberry?
It is a persistent question – one that Township officials here have been asked for years. The underlying assumption seems to be that municipal authorities pick and choose which restaurants to open within their jurisdiction. So, according to that logic, Cranberry must have given Taco Bell the thumbs down for reasons that can only invite speculation. And we’ve heard some imaginative ones.
But the truth is we’ve never been approached by anyone who wanted to operate a Taco Bell here – either by Yum Foods, the parent company of the chain, or by any of its many franchise holders. If we had, they would have been shown the same courtesy as any other restaurateur.
For example, if they wanted to have a drive-thru window, they would be required to locate inside a shopping center or mall rather than directly fronting onto a highway. They would have to provide ample parking. They would have to pay an impact fee proportionate to the traffic they generate. And they would have to make sure their exterior signage, landscaping, and other features were consistent with our codes.
I admit it’s a fairly complicated process, but it’s one that lots of other businesses have successfully navigated here, including a number of Tex-Mex restaurants. So the mystery of Taco Bell in Cranberry remains as dark as a quesadilla smothered in chipotle empanadas.
It is a persistent question – one that Township officials here have been asked for years. The underlying assumption seems to be that municipal authorities pick and choose which restaurants to open within their jurisdiction. So, according to that logic, Cranberry must have given Taco Bell the thumbs down for reasons that can only invite speculation. And we’ve heard some imaginative ones.
But the truth is we’ve never been approached by anyone who wanted to operate a Taco Bell here – either by Yum Foods, the parent company of the chain, or by any of its many franchise holders. If we had, they would have been shown the same courtesy as any other restaurateur.
For example, if they wanted to have a drive-thru window, they would be required to locate inside a shopping center or mall rather than directly fronting onto a highway. They would have to provide ample parking. They would have to pay an impact fee proportionate to the traffic they generate. And they would have to make sure their exterior signage, landscaping, and other features were consistent with our codes.
I admit it’s a fairly complicated process, but it’s one that lots of other businesses have successfully navigated here, including a number of Tex-Mex restaurants. So the mystery of Taco Bell in Cranberry remains as dark as a quesadilla smothered in chipotle empanadas.
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