At Thursday’s LCCCA board meeting, Chairman Art Morris announced that a three-member nominating board will meet in late December to select officers for the upcoming year.

A specific date has not yet been set.

The three-member board will be chaired by Sharron Nelson and will also include Julianne Dickson and Laura Douglas.

There was some confusion during the nominating process last year when member Ted Darcus suggested that the chairman (Tom LeCrone) was not allowed to nominate. LeCrone had nominated Laura Douglas for chair.

Morris said that he appointed the three-member committee but that rules concerning the procedure would be up to Nelson.

Nelson was not present at Thursday evening’s meeting.

A brief construction update was also given, with Steve Houser reporting that $74 million has been expended on the Hotel & Convention Center to date.

An Oct. 31 Intelligencer Journal report carried the good news that the $3 million in additional state aid for the Convention Center will not be allowed to be split with the greedy Lancaster Newspapers and The High Group who are investors in the Marriott Hotel.

Among other one sided and predatory provisions in the contract between the Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) and Penn Square Partners (PSP) that then chairman Ted Darcus had rammed through despite objections from board members, there is a provision requiring the LCCCA share any additional state funds along with income from naming rights with PSP.

The rationale for such an arrangement is almost impossible to explain this side of the law. (NewsLanc has speculated that Darcus, an otherwise decent man, allowed himself to be used by PSP in return for the partners’ financial support for the development of the Brightside Opportunity Center.)

Apparently Senator Gibson Armstrong does not want scorn heaped on him as he leaves the Senate and decided that ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to carrying the pail for High and the Lancaster Newspapers.

But of course Armstrong has scarred the community by directing ear-marked funds that were promised to the Lancaster Public Library and should have also supported other worthwhile projects to the misguided, inept, wrong headed and possibly corrupt Convention Center undertaking.

NewsLanc will be watching to see and report if there are any side deals to somehow compensate PSP for not receiving half of the state grant in accordance with its unconscionable arrangement with LCCCA under Darcus.

Very surprised to read your piece announcing the suspension of publishing for the Lancaster Post. As one who enjoys reading a newspaper on actual paper, it made me a little sad. The Post was not a great paper. But then again, great papers are not built in 6 short months. It had its very interesting pieces, especially the Side by Side feature which offered both sides on a current, relevant issue of the day.

Unfortunately, The Post included more than its share of filler. Is Lancaster just burning to know how people meet and marry?

Is there really a dearth of recipes in the kitchens of our fair town? Do we need a puzzle page in an already brief number of pages?

More unfortunate was the amount of time and space devoted to the dramas involving the publishers themselves. Interesting? Sure, on a salacious level. But self-serving stories are not enough to build a regular reader base willing to trek off to a little red box every week.

And if the focus of the publishers does not shift toward real news with broader appeal to its readers, the online version will be no more successful.

A message posted on Oct. 30th at www.LancasterPost.com in part states:

“The publishers of the Lancaster Post announced they are changing their focus from a print newspaper that happens to have a website, to a website that occasionally prints a newspaper.

“Harper and co-Publisher, Chris Hart Nibbrig, are going to spend the next two weeks focusing on their mockumentary, ‘Big Wigs of Lancaster,’ and upgrading their otherwise self-described ‘boring’ website. ‘Because of the skeleton crew that puts out the Post, our voice will be silent for a short while, but when “Big Wigs” comes out, people will know the Post is back!’ said Harper.”

Sure!

As I have said over and over to those who have ask why don’t we just give the Convention Center “a shot”, my answer is always the same…the CC will take the City three steps back, not two steps forward. The CC’s never ending need for resources and subsidy will all but kill other revitalization efforts.

You make a great observation when you say that for the first time funds committed to the CC are hurting a key public resource in Lancaster City. [The library renovation and expansion] is just the first of a long line of worthy projects and initiatives that will not be taken on because we have mortgaged our future on a project with none.

The following was received from Voter Action and can be found in its entirety at http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=534:

“Federal Judge Rules That More Emergency Paper Ballots Be Made Available in Pennsylvania When Voters Face Voting Machine Breakdowns”

“The lawsuit followed numerous reports during Pennsylvania’s April primary of long lines when electronic voting machines became inoperable at their polling sites. Voters called national election protection hotlines on primary day, including 866-MYVOTE1, reporting that election officials were not providing emergency paper ballots when voting machines malfunctioned. Callers stated that voters were told either to wait in line – sometimes for hours – or to come back later to vote. The reports revealed that many voters left their polling locations without casting their votes.”

The School Lane Hills Homeowners Association (SLHHA) supposedly held its first public meeting in half a year yesterday evening. The problem was its leader didn’t send out a notice announcing it to the membership or to the media.

Late yesterday afternoon a short email notice of a change of venue was sent out without mention of date or time. NewsLanc inquired as to the date and time, but by the the time we read the response, the meeting had started an hour and a half earlier.

Embarrassed not to have provided coverage, NewsLanc inquired whether it had somehow missed the announcement. The following was the response from Bob Desmarais, President of the organization:

“The meeting notice was at the end of the Exec Board Minutes I mailed out. Other members told me last evening they thought the ‘Next Meeting’ was only for the Exec Board. We will be clearer next time.”

A spokes person for TRRAAC said that Desmarais had not notified them about the meeting. Another source said only about ten residents showed up.

Did Desmarais feel obliged to call a meeting but did not want to deal with the TRRAAC issue? Sounds like he is either learning from or being advised by F & M’s President John Fry. But that seemed likely from the only other SLHHA gathering and his subsequent non-actions on behalf the School Lane Hills neighborhood.

An old trick is to seet up an organization to lead the opposition and then do nothing.

It is tempting to place the blame on board members for the Lancaster Public Library debacle this week whereby six members rejected a million dollars in public and private grants after spending $400,000 on plans and specs. Rather than proceed with the renovation of the library, they aborted the project because they feared not raising an additional $1.2 million over the course of the next year or two and were unwilling to borrow any shortfall from the library’s large endowment fund.

But these are but ordinary citizens, suddenly involved in overseeing a major project, lacking experience and confidence in leadership, and, above all, not all sharing a passion for the undertaking.

Having spurned “half a loaf”, they may yet prove their mettle by achieving both the renovation and the expansion within the next few years. We wish them well.

But the primary cause was the failure to receive $2.5 million in state RCAP funding that the library’s representatives to Senator Gibson Armstrong had indicated was virtually assured. Indeed, the state budget called for the library to receive a $3.5million RCAP grant. Not a cent was forthcoming.

So where did the state money to renovate and expand the Duke Street library end up? Certainly Armstrong, powerful Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, did not allow it to escape our county.

Perhaps we need look no further for an answer to Armstrong’s repeated trips to the state treasury to channel more and more state funds into the ever growing budget, now approaching $190 million, for the Convention Center Project of questionable merit.

So when the Convention Center opens next spring to pomp and grandeur, let’s keep in mind that about 1500 Lancastrians visit the Duke Street library every day and suffer with a building from 1953 which, by and large, is in substandard and worn condition. If you have any doubts, try to find and then use a rest room.

The true cost of the Convention Center Project isn’t just the plus or minus $180 million in grants and public guarantees plus the impediment it poses to downtown residential growth, but it also must be measured by essentials needs of the community that now and in the future will go unfunded.

Editor’s note: The wife of NewsLanc’s publisher was President of the Board of the Lancaster Public Library until the renovation was voted down.

Re the letter: “Have the board members used the restrooms?”

WOW, what a powerful message from someone who states the obvious! The Lancaster Library offers so much to the citizens of Lancaster and there was an opportunity to bring the facility up to the standards of many modern libraries. I feel strongly that once our community realizes that the Board failed to take advantage of the funds and leadership offered, many will be outraged.

I suggest it’s time to consider some changes with some of the board members who are not as dedicated and knowledgeable about accomplishing what is easily achieved by experienced and accomplished individuals of our community.

Shame on the six that just didn’t get it.

As a regular user of the Duke Street library, I am very disappointed that the board of directors failed to take advantage of the best opportunity in years to begin the process of bringing this building into the 21st century.

Have the six naysayer board members ever actually patronized the library, other than showing up for a board meeting? Do they check out books, do research, use the microfiche machines, use the restrooms – ever?

Yes, this is a tough environment in which to do fund raising. Yes, it may have been necessary to arrange a temporary loan from the endowment fund. Yes, it may have been more difficult to raise the balance of the funds post construction. But…don’t these board members believe enough in their organization to make a commitment to do whatever it takes? If not, maybe they should give up their seats to community members who do.

I too feel sorry for Mrs. Field. I feel even worse for the families and kids who won’t benefit from a modern facility.