Don't get Fooled Again Media, PA!
The writing was on the wall back in 2011 when Councilman Eric Stein failed to show up for half of his meetings as liaison to the Media Business Authority (MBA). A committee that is entrusted with providing a vibrant economic environment for local businesses, while promoting Media as a destination for area visitors. With the committee receiving tens of thousands of dollars from Media borough taxpayers, it's an important position.
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| Have you seen Stein? The MBA hasn't |
However, cronyism by the current Media Borough Council runs deep. So deep, that council President, Brian Hall appointed him to again be liaison for the committee in 2012. No one really knows why. This was done at about the same time Council Davidson asserted that anyone missing three consecutive meetings, would not be supported. I guess that didn't apply to cronies, but it should have.
Councilman Stein went on to miss another 7 monthly meetings in 2012. At one point, he missed a span of 8 consecutive monthly meetings!!! As disrespectful as that is, even the members of the committee had concerns about the absences as shown in the meeting minutes. Yet, instead of correcting it, borough councilwoman Monica Simpson defends it by saying his heart was in it. RIDICULOUS!
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| Media Business Authority Meeting Minutes May, 2012 |
And Eric Stein thinks he deserves to be re-elected? The last two years prove he doesn't even care about showing up, let alone doing the job. This is the exact problem I've been talking about for the last year. Nothing is getting done in Media because people on borough council feel they can do whatever they want and not be held accountable. Why? Because they don't believe residents will vote them out.
Insult adjacent communities? No problem as far as Councilman Robinson is concerned. Conflict of interest over Third St? Not if you're Councilman Davidson. Address a school (Nativity) that was in the community for 100 years? Council President, Hall never felt the need to even mention it. $20,000 for a 5 minute YouTube Video? Mayor McMahon didn't even care the Florida infomercial company was investigated and fined for fraud. Nor did he explain why it wasn't put to bid to a local company. That was July 2012 and we still haven't seen the video.
Media Borough is seriously broken.
Insult adjacent communities? No problem as far as Councilman Robinson is concerned. Conflict of interest over Third St? Not if you're Councilman Davidson. Address a school (Nativity) that was in the community for 100 years? Council President, Hall never felt the need to even mention it. $20,000 for a 5 minute YouTube Video? Mayor McMahon didn't even care the Florida infomercial company was investigated and fined for fraud. Nor did he explain why it wasn't put to bid to a local company. That was July 2012 and we still haven't seen the video.
Media Borough is seriously broken.
HEY HEY, HO HO
ReplyDeleteFrankenSTEIN has got to go!
Put MEDIA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!
Media needs to get it together! In the real world, if you dont show up to work, you are fired! Come on, Media. We could be an even better town, but the people running it need to have a heart and a conscious!!
ReplyDeleteHis picture should be turned into a meme:
ReplyDeleteDOESN'T SHOW UP FOR MEETINGS
GETS RE-ELECTED
Is FrankenSTEIN the Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Media Borough. "No-Show,No-Go"
ReplyDeleteGive it up, man.
I hope to ask Councilman Stein about this when I see him next time. I'd like an explanation.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Krull goes off to run for judge and leaves us with this mess.
ReplyDeleteThat is embarrassing. Do his supporters really shrug this off, pat his back, and say it's OK?
ReplyDeleteWhat a disgrace. But he will be re-elecetd without having to sweat.
ReplyDeleteNot this year!!!
ReplyDeleteSt Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland. Maybe he can chase the FROGS OUT OF MEDIA.
ReplyDeleteThis article takes an amateurish political shot, but it ignores the most serious problems with the Media Business Authority. Legally, the MBA is a standalone Agency as defined by and subject to all the requirements of the Sunshine Act. That means all actions of the Agency must take place in public. Unfortunately, the meeting minutes generally include no reference to official action, except approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. Take a quick look. The meeting minutes don’t even include a motion to pay the bills! So, Borough Council allocates funding to the Media Business Authority each year… $75,000 annually based on the 2013 budget. But there is no public record in the MBA’s minutes approving any cash disbursements. Where is the accountability for this expenditure of taxpayer dollars? Can we please focus on real issues?
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems Mr. Davidson's comments have been taken a little out of context. The original article was about the appointments to the MBA Board, not the Council Liaison... more than a subtle difference.
DeleteAnd why do we even have Liaisons in the first place?. With a seven member Council, no individual Council member has the authority to pledge, promise, commit or take any other official action on behalf of Council. The MBA (and all organizations receiving taxpayer dollars) should step up and be publicly accountable for their expenditures. It is the organizations themselves that should report at Council meetings, not the liaisons. What kind of purchases do the MBA and other organizations make? Who are the vendors? Are they compliant with legal bid requirements? Seriously, Eric Stein's attendance record at MBA meetings is a relatively minor issue.
DeleteIn Stein's own words: Councilman Dr. Eric Stein agreed that the MBA is not a trival committee and attendance needs to be addressed in the bylaws. Media Patch Jan. 20, 2012.
ReplyDeleteThen he proceeds to miss half the year.
What the heck else has he missed? He shows up unprepared anyway, so what's difference.
hy·poc·ri·sy The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
OK. So you don't like Eric's personality and you believe he's a hypocrite. But the Council Liaison isn't truly a part of the five-member of MBA, is he? Chapter 7 of the Media Borough Code.
DeleteSo how do you ignore the potential violations of the Sunshine Act? The minutes of the MBA reference an adopted budget, yet nowhere in the minutes is there an official action to adopt the budget. Same with the authorization to pay the bills. I mean, the Board of the MBA must have adopted the budget and decided to pay the bills, right?
This whole attack on Eric Stein is boring.... If you're gonna play politics, you need to focus on real issues.
Stein's a complete waste - if Borough Council didn't have a 'technology' chair, what else would he and Davidson have to do? By the way, is it true Davidson's looking up Greek Porn during meetings?
DeleteThat's right folks, keepin' it classy
DeleteThat's insulting!
DeleteI thought it was Czech porn.
Cavanagh for District Judge!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou'd really have to question anyone who would take this guy seriously. Bad or even wrong decisions are one thing, but not consistently showing up? Even the committee it appears doesn't have confidence in him.
ReplyDeleteThere's got to be better people to run for office than this.
Consider the source. This "committee" is actually a public Agency that is operating illegally. Very surprising that nobody seemsto care that taxpayer dollars are funnelled into this Authority with no accountability whatsoever.
DeleteAbsolutely amazing - the Stein allies are better than the Flyers at deflecting! The issue is Dr. Stein's inability to keep a commitment, not whether or not the MBA operates as a public entity. IF (big IF) the MBA needs to clean up internal housekeeping, then there are 6 other council members who should be debriefed from DR. STEIN HIMSELF as the liaison to this committee. If you are questioning why do we need council liaison in the first place, one could argue why do we need a technology committee, or a Third St committee, etc. The bottom line is the man made a commitment that he refuses to keep. He does not deserve re-election. period.
DeleteWhat commitment? Where are the requirements spelled out? This is a fabricated non-issue, as opposed to the illegal expenditure of taxpayer dollars, which is the MBA itself.
DeleteCommitted can be a way for an elected body to blame someone else for the decisions, or lack thereof, which they were elected to make.
DeleteCommittees
DeleteNon-issue??!! The commitment, friend, is accepting the appointment or whatever you want to call his involvement with the MBA and then treating said involvement with such complete disregard that you dont even bother to show up. That's just classless. Wanna bet, though, now that his hat's in the ring again he will become the model of perfect attendance! If you want to rag on the MBA, start a different thread, but this issue is FrankenSTEIN's absence to part of his elected responsibility.
DeleteWell, I respect your opinion with regard to his lackluster attendance record. But your failure to cite any specific legislation, regulation or requirement for a Liaison goes to my point. Namely, the MBA Board is directly responsible for its governance.
DeleteThe MBA should be abolished. It's been a waste of money and poorly run for years. Ask anyone who's been on it, they don't have anything nice to say about the experience.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that from several members
DeleteSure you've heard it from other members, we all have. But like everything else in this town, people talk about it but nothing gets done. How long has the bridge been out for?
DeleteThis blogger seems to have ripped the lid off a very well hidden dysfunction in this town's government.
I think we'll see some changes now. Have the MBA Board Members, appointed public officials, complied with the Sunshine Act? The Ethics Act? Individual Board Members can be held liable for violations, if any. We can't fix the past, but we certainly can fix it going forward.
DeleteHmmmmmmmmmm guess who was missing from last night's council meeting????
ReplyDelete