Neither retail nor tourism are growth industries in the future of the U.S. economy.

The U.S. consumer is under assault from all sides: the value of the U.S. dollar is dropping dramatically, in part due to the unsustainable international trade deficit, the out-of-control U.S. budget deficit, and worst of all because of the over $9 trillion U.S. national debt, which has increased by well over 50% in the last six years.

Real income adjusted for inflation has been slipping for years. To compound the issue, as U.S. manufacturing jobs disappear overseas, all that are left are lower-paying “service” jobs.

U.S. consumers are facing the additional burden of out-of-control health insurance and health care costs, which are eating up more and more discretionary income. Add to this the increasing price of energy, which is a direct result of the drop in value of the U.S. dollar, and U.S. consumers are facing a “perfect storm” with no light on the horizon.

The U.S. economy is undergoing a fundamental shift which will forever reduce our standard of living. Expenditures which are not absolutely positively needed will out of necessity be reduced. People simply will not have money to waste on consumer goods and trips that they can no longer afford.

This is not fiction; these changes have already begun. As time goes on, it WILL get worse.

The casino is going to be a VERY hard sell. Yes, Dale High and LNP will play hardball, and we’ll hear all kinds of noise about how high our taxes will go if the casino isn’t brought in. And it will be messy: Wachovia will have to foreclose on the convention center and turn it into private ownership (and likely sell it to High for pennies on the dollar; High will be hailed as a hero in the media for “saving” downtown Lancaster) before it can be turned into a casino.

But public opposition will be vocal and widespread. What SHOULD have happened eight years ago will be overwhelmed by conservative Lancaster County sentiment.

I expect Lancaster City officials to play hardball, also. I am sure that the casino promoters (Dale High?) will have to make some kind of deal with Lancaster City and the School District of Lancaster before government officials sign off on the deal. I believe that the casino will be required to pay a LOT more than just real estate taxes – likely a cut of the take – in exchange for permission to open a casino.

It is likely that whatever it costs the casino to operate in Lancaster City will result in at least holding the line on taxes in Lancaster City and the SDoL, and possibly even a token reduction.

When THE CROSSINGS was proposed, I attended quite a few of the meetings in Manheim Twp.

When the package was passed with Mr. Tom Smithgall at the helm, Manheim Twp. passed the project with a TEXT amendment meaning that the Center AND the highways to and from, in and out all have to be funded and opened at the same time. There was no promise to expand the bridge over 30 on Harrisburg Pike etc.

Also, the real estate around this project has become worthless for residential.

This week at the Commissioners’ meeting, Mayor Lutz from Columbia pleaded with the Commissioners to help him reinstate funding for the relocation of the 441 bypass that had been promised by the powers that be to be completed by 2012. This bypass is the lifeline to Columbia and really needed as they are coming alive downtown, and investors are projecting to the future with anticipation that 441 will be relocated.

The Mayor was informed last week that the money is no longer available. WHERE DID IT GO? I STOOD UP AND TOLD THEM WHERE IT IS GOING — TO THE CROSSINGS. AND WE DO NOT NEED MORE SHOPPING.

Columbia needs the bypass to save the town and it will be an economic boom come true. It fulfills the comprehensive plan of the county etc. Is this state and federal government not bought and paid for?

PLEASE keep a watch on this my friends because High almost got away with TAKING FROM THE POOR AND GIVING TO THE RICH. These Commissioners are going to see this in their face from me every week until that money goes back to Columbia instead of disappearing.

As for The Crossings, supposedly Wegman’s [super market] and K Mart are going to be big players plus high end stores of some kind. This is just another High saying I am going to do this project no matter what.

PLEASE KEEP ALERT.

Dave Pidgeon from the Intelligencer Journal was at the LCCCA board meeting last night (Feb. 28th). This was the first board meeting he had attended in quite a few months.

I’ve noticed that Lancaster Newspapers’ coverage of LCCCA meetings has been lacking for quite a while.

I wonder if NewsLanc’s prompt and thorough reporting about the LCCCA’s activities has prompted the Lancaster Newspapers to belatedly take action?

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Intell published an article on the meeting but, typical of the newspaper’s biased reporting on matters pertaining to the financial interests of its publisher, failed to mention that Art Morris and Kevin Frey will be meeting with Penn Square Partners to discuss the Partners’ controversial claim to half of Naming Rights proceeds. See article below.

President Judge Louis Farina and others deserve credit for exploring two innovations for the treatment of those accused of crimes.

According to the Feb. 29 Intelligencer Journal, Farina has “a court driven task force [which] plans to set up a mental-health court in Lancaster County.” Clearly a large portion of prisoners, some estimate 20% to 25%, have mental health problems. Simply putting them behind bars isn’t going to rehabilitate them. Perhaps, quite the contrary.

A sophisticated mental-health court may be able to come up with a way to improve their mental health, sometimes simply by having tests run and proper medicine prescribed. While incarceration may often be appropriate, it might not always be the best approach. In any case, it may be only part of a more holistic approach to rehabilitation.

The Intell also reports that the county wants to outfit District Judges with video conference equipment so that they can save money and add to safety by conducting hearings for prisoners who would be viewed from a special room at the county prison. Remote hearings would be limited to arraignments, summary charges for failing to pay fines, bench warrants, search warrants, arrest warrants, and emergency protection from abuse orders.

Here NewsLanc has concerns. First of all, dealing with prisoners from a remote location can be a slippery slope, with the practice expanded over time to far more complex matters with irremediable dire consequences. Secondly, we live in an age where Constitutional protections for prisoners are being whittled away, in large part in an effort to carry out the War on Drugs. (It was announced yesterday that US prisons now hold over 1.6 million prisoners!)

And lastly, somehow we don’t feel that prisoners would be as able to express themselves when out of the physical presence of a judge. Their humanity is diminished by the television camera. And prisoners would be at the mercy of technicians who can show or not show them, allow them to speak or turn them off. Also they would be in a more intimidating environment.

Ask yourself: Would you feel more comfortable pleading your case in the physical presence of a judge where you appear as a full size, palpable human being, or would you be comfortable being perceived as an inanimate image on a screen, much like the Simpsons?

Democracy and human rights are not always inexpensive.

Question: Which large developer, power broker, and corporate welfare recipient publicly states the following about his latest project?

“Market research shows that Lancaster is under-stored and that significant revenues are being lost by consumers traveling out of town to shop at venues unavailable here. The retailers that would participate in this kind of center will complement the existing independent shops and cultural activities by adding to the comprehensiveness of the kinds of experiencesa vailable in Lancaster County.”

Answer: Dale High, of his Crossings project on his official Crossings website.

Of course, one might ask why a developer would build a shopping center in an area (Manheim Township) that is intended to draw shoppers out of a district (downtown Lancaster) where he is building another project.

And if any of you could interpret the second sentence in the quoted text above, I’d appreciate it. I guess I needed to take even more advanced literacy courses because that to me sounds like George Bush on his speech writer’s day off.

At their full board meeting, Thursday night, the members of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority voted unanimously to approve contract extensions with two law firms for ongoing legal consultation.

The first is a renewed engagement letter with Fenningham, Stevens, & Dempster dated February 21, 2008.

Authority Solicitor Chris Hausner explained that Fenningham, Stevens & Dempster is the firm the Authority has been using for 3 years in order to handle ongoing litigation.

The Authority also approved an engagement letter with Stevens & Lee for legal services through August 31, 2008.

Hausner explained, “Stevens & Lee had been solicitor for the authority last year. And When they stepped down… the Authority continued to utilize Stevens & Lee on occasion for those matters in which Stevens & Lee had participated to such an extent that it was more cost-effective for them to address certain things than it would be for the us to hire a new solicitor and have to bring them up to speed on that.”

Chair Art Morris remarked, “We are hoping that we will not have to use these services.”

In other business, Kevin Fry, chair of the Public Relations, Marketing, and Hospitality Committee, revealed during his report that the Convention Center has seen 7 bookings to date.
The target for 2009 is 58 total event bookings.

LCCCA Board member Kevin Fry, who is also Chair of the Authority’s Public Relations, Marketing, and Hospitality Committee, announced at the board meeting, Thursday night, that board member R.B. Campbell has been selected to accompany Authority Chair and Acting Executive Director Art Morris in negotiations with Penn Square Partners over the status of certain controversial contracts regarding naming rights.

NewsLanc continues to question why it is that these contracts “gift” half of the proceeds from the sale of naming rights to Penn Square Partners and also give S. Dale High himself the “right of first offer” with respect to naming rights.

NewsLanc also challenges PSP’s claim to half of future State grants and the High Group subsidiary’s only paying a 10% commission on the food concession when standard industry practice is 30% or more.

Fry said that Morris and Campbell will make a presentation to the Marketing Committee on Thursday, March 20 about the substance of those negotiations.

In response to a question from NewsLanc regarding whether they have considered taking steps to move forward the stalled “rails-to-trails” project on the old Norfolk Southern rail line in the southern end of the County, the Commissioners acknowledged that they have not.

While Commissioner Craig Lehman agreed that the rail trail would be a wonderful and attractive “amenity” for both residents and visitors, he said, “I don’t see any other way to go forward” than to wait for the relevant municipalities to work towards a solution.

The previous Board of Commissioners unsuccessfully attempted to acquire the 23-mile stretch of land by eminent domain in 2005, but were successfully challenged by the municipalities in court. The County attempted to appeal the decision in 2006 but the ruling was upheld by an appeals court.

In an article posted on NewsLanc.com/ on Wednesday, February 27, 2008, former County Commissioner (and current LCCCA board member) Sharron Nelson is quoted as saying:

“Our much-maligned Convention Center can capitalize on that if we work together to make it a success.”

Would someone PLEASE explain exactly what “WE” can do to make the hotel and convention center project “a success”???

Contractually, all marketing and booking for the project is controlled by Interstate Hotels and Resorts:

“21 Operation of Convention Center. The Authority hereby authorizes and engages Manager as its exclusive agent to act as the operator and manager of the Convention Center during the Management Term, with exclusive responsibility and complete and full control and discretion in the operation, direction, management and supervision of the Convention Center.”

Contracts and agreements for conventions and meetings are ALWAYS made directly between the event organizer and the convention center manager. People who are considering downtown Lancaster as a venue for their event aren’t going to consider the opinion of local residents when deciding where to hold their event; their decision will be based on marketing materials, salesmanship, and contract negotiations with Interstate Hotels.

Some months ago, I personally asked Brian Sparacino from Interstate Hotels what influence the public can have on the project. After dancing around the subject, he clearly admitted that the public has NO influence over bringing convention or meeting business to the taxpayer-financed convention center.

Sharron Nelson is doing the people of Lancaster City and County a great disservice by perpetuating the fiction that “WE” can have any kind of effect at all on the “success” of the hotel and convention center project.