Friday, September 7, 2012

Third Street Bridge: A perfect example of failed leadership

Zero Leadership = Zero Results!

Truthfully, I’ve not been attending workshop or borough council meetings because like everyone else, I thought the decisions made at the April council meeting finalized the Third St. Bridge project. Up until yesterday, I was under the impression that the project was moving forward and we were just waiting for dates and questions on funding.  I was very wrong in that assumption.

Last night I attended the Borough Council workshop along with a packed crowd to find out what was going on with the funding for this project.   To my surprise Council Borough stated there were no funding deadline issues and they had discussions to extend deadlines if needed.  It was then I realized that important as the funding is, it’s not the biggest problem for this project or potentially other issues facing this town.  

The real problem for Media is that Council President, Brian Hall has totally lost control of the project, group and the conduct of borough council.  This evident by the fact that after 16 years, advisory committees, presentations, surveys and countless hours of people’s time and expense, he allowed the Friends of the Glen Providence park to get up and present, of all things imaginable, another proposal for a greenway/walkway.  Apparently no one has told them, or they refuse to believe that there isn’t any room for interpretation for what is stipulated by the court order.  In fact, it took a BLCC representative to stand up and tell them that they expect a two-way roadway as everyone else in this town is expecting.   Yet the pandering continues with the same exact discussions we had months ago. NOTHING HAS CHANGED OR MOVED FORWARD.  And who could blame the Frogs for having this council over a barrel;  Hall, Davidson and Robinson signed their petition.  Robinson stacked the CAC with FROG officers and Davidson provided them undisclosed services and resources for them to have a platform to lobby their agenda  on a multi-million dollar bridge. 

It’s obvious what’s going on which prompted people in the audience to openly question how after all this time we could still be at this juncture.  In fact, it was asked by a commenter what was  borough council’s involvement with the Friends of the Glen Providence park.  It’s a good question in which I followed up with how could Councilman Kent Davidson be found to providing services and resources to this group that is lobbying him on a 3.4 million project, and it not be addressed.  Brian Hall rebutted by saying this wasn’t the time to speak about that, as it wasn’t related to design issues.   People on borough council then proceeded to sneer, roll their eyes and say things under their breath as if it was no big deal.  If you think I’m kidding, I invite you to attend the next meeting when I bring it up…..and I will.  Before leaving, I made sure the local reporter, Susan Serbin had it on record.

Borough Council could have answered a lot of questions people had last night by sharing their plan for the completion of this bridge.  Problem is they don’t have one.  The contempt and dissention they have towards each other over who has a superior position on why this project isn’t moving, is appalling.  I’ve never seen a group work against each other at the expense of residents and taxpayers.  They treated each other as they treated me and others who spoke up, and as embarrassing as that is, neither Brian Hall or Mayor Bob McMahon said one thing to stop it. 

I honestly don’t know what the future holds for Third Street Bridge.  There’s clearly zero leadership to move this dysfunctional group forward.  I suspect there are at least one or two people on council who would like nothing more than to obstruct this project, let the money run out and hope the State comes in and breaches the dam.  Unfortunately, that’s not what they were elected to do, but it never really was about what was right, but about the selfishness they have for their own agendas.

See you at the next meeting!

Tedman

8 comments:

  1. I know it's been 16 years, but wait until someone needs an ambulance on highland or Kirk and can't get there because of the hold up; which I'm sure has happened. Possibly fire trucks need to get there and so on....sooner or later Media and everyone will get sued for poor timing and accountability if there is a tragedy. Sounds far fetched? Wait and see. Suing McDonald's for hot coffee sounds ridiculous too. Just saying. Media used to be such a nice friendly place and now people don't want people driving pass their house. A sad sad sad state of affairs.

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  2. Tedman, the real bombshell at the workshop meeting last night was when Kent Davidson said if we lost the funding we could "float a bond issue." I hope Susan Serbin prints that up.

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  3. Michael, you are correct. I heard that too.

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  4. I was wondering if The FROG's, Green Seeds or the Friends of the Third Street Bridge grassroot groups are recognized by our state. I've failed to find any evidence of such in any public state information.

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  5. Isn't a bond something the borough of Media has to payback? Principal and interest. I say, take the state's money for the bridge. Just get it done!

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  6. Where is the county in all of this??? After the April vote they (Delco council) probably assumed (as did most thinking people) that the decision was made and, god forbid, we fast track this in any way. I would LOVE county council to not only apply some pressure but make someone in state govt aware of allowance of pandering to the FROGS by even letting the group think there is that much room for 'interpretation.
    For those of you who have seen the latest and greatest FROG plan, can someone explain to me what those 'poles' are in the middle of the roadway (not wide enough for 2 cars to pass)?
    I'm no engineer but that makes it seem like NO room for motor vehicles at all? Is Media Borough now a gated community?

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  7. It's too bad this group feels the need to politicize the dam. If they stayed out of politics, perhaps they'd have more volunteers and donations.

    It's over, let's move on, build the bridge and work on Providence Park as a community.

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