Even with its opening delayed until May 11th, all of the five Downtown hair-care businesses interviewed by NewsLanc were generally hopeful that the Convention Center will have a positive impact on business. This optimism, however, was tinged with a realistic awareness of problems that might come along with the package.

Eddie Hall, the owner of Champs Barber School at 24 W King St, expected that the Convention Center will increase customer traffic, but could bring some operational inconveniences: “It definitely can’t hurt the business….I think, if anything, it could help. Now, parking could possibly be an issue.”

George Valentin, the owner of Who’s Next Barber Shop at 301 W King, carried a similar tone: “I think it will affect us positively….The only thing I’m scared of is the taxes….But, overall, as a businessman I think that it’s a good thing.”

Kathy Hainley, an employee at Daymaker Hair Studio, on the lower level of the indoor mall at 45 N Market St, indicated that Daymaker is an appointment-only establishment, and thus will not likely benefit from Convention Center walk-ins. Although, she noted that more Downtown visitors could never hurt. On a more negative note, Hainley, who also works in Human Relations, expressed a concern that the Convention Center would not be well-managed. Having visited the recent career fair, she was struck by a pronounced lack of professionalism among those running the tables.

Wanda Castillo, owner of Jannat Beauty Design at 402 W Orange Street, was confident that some conventioneers will make it out to her West End location.

And Wendy Farrell, co-owner of American Male at 14 N Queen St, eagerly anticipates the Convention Center’s May opening: “All is good. I think we’re going to do great.” In fact, when Farrell selected this Downtown location in 2001, it was in direct anticipation of the Convention Center’s eventual opening.

On the whole, the prevailing theme among local barbers and salons was that more visitors might mean more customers—and that’s never a bad thing.

Tonight the Lancaster County Commissioners held their weekly public meeting in the picturesque Marietta Borough Municipal Building in Downtown Marietta. The meeting, which is typically held in Downtown Lancaster, continued a longstanding tradition of County Commissioners periodically meeting in other parts of the County to more effectively engage with the diverse communities of this immense region.

Early in the meeting, Marietta Borough Council President Miriam Fletcher, addressed the commissioners on behalf of the local government. Fletcher expressed gratitude for the County’s role in the effort to revitalize the post-industrial riverfront neighborhood; one such contribution has been the provision of Urban Enhancement Funds for the renovation of Marietta’s town square, which, according to Fletcher, “is the heart of the Borough.”

Also, the Borough has been assisted by the Lancaster County Planning Commission in the early planning stages of the possible development of a post-industrial plot of land; the proposed plan would create an affordable housing facility for senior citizens. The Borough is currently in the process of seeking a developer, as well as project funding. Fletcher indicated that Federal money is not yet out the question.

Also at tonight’s Meeting, the County Commissioners approved a change order providing an additional $6,500 for Rettew Associates “in the design of the new Big Chickies Creek Bridge #2 on Action Road located in Rapho and East Hempfield Townships.”

The Commissioners also approved the procurement of claims management services from Murray Risk Management and Insurance, which is based in Lancaster. The switch from Travelers Insurance to Murray not only recruits locally-based service, but also will provide the County and immediate savings of $7,000.

Saw your article on drugs. The State apparently doesn’t list Walmart.

Walmart has an awesome deal – $4 a month or 10$ for three months on hundreds of prescription drugs as well as 1000’s of non-prescription drugs.

I personally saved over $100 a year on two prescriptions!

City administrators are planning curb extensions (called bulb-outs) at East King and North Queen Streets as well as other downtown locations. Bulb-outs were recently completed at the intersection of S. Queen and Vine Sts. However, there are numerous reasons why bulb-outs, especially at intersections, may not be a good idea. Some of these are:

When bulb-outs (curb extensions) are placed at intersections on narrow streets, they tend to make left or right turns from one street to the other more difficult and dangerous. If at mid-block locations, they will eliminate some parking spaces. Bulb-outs have other disadvantages, including:

Bulb-outs can cause accidents. Cities are liable for personal injuries and damage to vehicles caused by bulb-outs. “I hate bulb-outs – they do nothing except increase the likelihood of an accident (put a nozzle on a wide hose and you merely increase the pressure)” – comment from a citizen of Atlanta, GA.

Bulb-outs make snow removal and street cleaning more difficult and also more expensive in terms of time and labor. (Tax dollars pay for these services.)

Bulb-outs are expensive to build. Each pair of bulb-outs may cost $7,000 to $10,000, plus the installation of warning signs (quote from the Va. Dept. of Transportation, year 2002 report). In addition, storm drains may need to be re-located or rebuilt, at taxpayer expense.

Bulb-outs are expensive to maintain. Bulb-out curbs are frequently struck by large trucks as well as snow plows and street cleaners. (Take a look at the chipped and cracked bulb-out curbs on College Ave. and at the intersection of N. Prince and W. Chestnut Sts., near the Police Dept. building). Maintenance is paid for with tax dollars.

Bulb-outs pose a clear danger to bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles. “What’s dangerous about bulb-outs is that they make it necessary for a biker to veer towards moving cars at certain points, and the motorist and/or the cyclist may be unprepared for that” – a biker in Atlanta,Ga. “Bulb-outs may make it difficult to accommodate bicycle lanes” – The PA Traffic Calming Handbook.

Bulb-outs constructed in mid-block locations for the purpose of traffic calming result in only a small reduction in speed. “Most curb extensions result in speed reductions of 1-2 mph.” – quote from The PA Traffic Calming Handbook, Pa. Dept. of Transportation.

I couldn’t help but notice that the head of HousingDevelopment Corp that is sticking with the convention center is none other than Mike Carper – the FORMER executive director of LCCCA before David Hixon.

He left after only six months and I speculate they bought his silence with another cushy job.

An article “The Death And Life Of Great American Newspapers” by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney appears in the April 6, 2009 edition of The Nation.

It contains many interesting observations and recommendations.

Here are two excerpts with our comments:

“Journalism is collapsing, and with it comes the most serious threat in our lifetimes to self-government and the rule of law as it has been understood here in the United States.”

Many of the woes that have befallen our Lancaster community over the past decade are attributable to biased reporting due to special interests and virtual elimination of in depth reporting, causing the public to be misinformed and misguided. The major decisions have largely been debacles. (The worst pertaining to downtown Lancaster.) These ‘chickens’ in various endeavors are coming home soon to roost. The more NewsLanc learns from behind the scenes, the more concerned we have become.

“Mired in debt and facing massive losses, the managers of corporate newspaper firms seek to right the sinking ship by cutting costs, leading remaining newspaper readers to ask why they are bothering to pay for publications that are pale shadows of themselves. It is the daily newspaper death dance-cum-funeral march.”

Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. is not afflicted by debt, but no enterprise – especially one so poorly led – can go on indefinitely if it increasingly loses money. A new generation of business executives – astute ones this time – is needed to lead LNP into the age of paperless journalism via the Internet.

This isn’t a matter of further ‘dumbing down’, but rather paring down to well paid, highly competent journalists who provide in depth coverage and commentary. If they don’t, others will! And ownership will likely come from national chains headquartered outside of the region.

I read this story this AM [in The New York Times] and thought NewsLanc viewers might find it interesting. A development in the residential mortgage market.

“City officials and housing advocates here and in cities as varied as Buffalo, Kansas City, Mo., and Jacksonville, Fla., say they are seeing an unsettling development: Banks are quietly declining to take possession of properties at the end of the foreclosure process, most often because the cost of the ordeal — from legal fees to maintenance — exceeds the diminishing value of the real estate.”

By Cliff B. Lewis

Monday evening, as a kickoff to Franklin and Marshall’s annual Sustainability Week, Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Hylton was hosted by the college for a lecture entitled “Save Our Land, Save Our Towns: Growing Communities, Not Sprawl.”

Hylton, a lifelong Pennsylvanian and resident of Pottsville, focused his lecture upon how communities like Lancaster can preserve our natural lands by enriching our local neighborhoods. And, as Hylton explained it, local neighborhood enrichment leans upon two general qualities: Livability and Walkability.

For most of human history, people have lived in villages, towns, and cities. This was a commonsense arrangement: We can accomplish more, create more, and enjoy more when we’re closer together. But since the post-World War Two era, America has had a different idea.

With the development of affordable automobiles, our country has progressively sprawled away from its urban centers in favor of more personal space. Along with this shift, we have developed a car-centered way of life, which has produced its fair share of problems—neglected downtowns, obesity, and global warming only being the most obvious.

Other parts of the world, Hylton explained, have followed a different course of development: In England, “they had practically starved during the Second World War because they couldn’t import food …. So they decided after the War, ‘We’re not going to see any agricultural [land] conversion if we can help it; we’re going to save the farms.’…. They developed greenbelts to save agriculture, but what they also saved, at the same time, was their towns …. In England more than two thirds of all retail trade is still conducted on traditional main streets; in the United States, it’s about 4%.”

Ultimately, Hylton held a positive tone, confident that a rising global demand for oil, a growing cultural interest in local downtowns, and an increasing public awareness of the environmental costs of a car-centered society will steadily lead more and more people to lay roots in America’s towns and cities. Of course, in areas of policy, there remain some impediments to urban growth and land preservation; one example cited by Hylton is the property zoning:

“Zoning, in this county, generally speaking, does exactly the opposite of what you want to do. Zoning, in this county, separates things: ‘The housing is here, the offices are here, the mall is up here….’ Zoning should say, ‘I don’t care what’s going on inside of a building nearly as much as I care about what it looks like and how it relates to the street.’” On this note, Hylton commended the County’s newly adopted Greenscapes plan in its consideration of these issues.

Mayor Rick Gray, who attended the lecture, expressed his personal commitment to growing and guiding Lancaster City toward a higher standard of livability: “Currently, we’re looking for the money to do a study that would end [the zoning problem] by individually zoning every business in the city for its prospective use. For example, so many corners we see in Lancaster were obviously built for commercial use and are now zoned residential….We’d look at that building under ‘form-based’ [zoning] and think about zoning just that building for light commercial use—a tailor shop, a coffee shop, that sort of thing.” Gray expressed that a central goal in Lancaster City’s planning is to make the city a “walkable urbanity.”

www.parxpricefinder.com is a state website that allows consumers to search a specific geographic region for the prices of the 300 most commonly prescribed medications.

The following email was received by Lancaster First on March 30, 2009:

“To Whom it May Concern,

“I wanted to inform you of unprofessional experience that I had while looking into a management job at the new Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. I formerly worked for a major hotel chain in the United States. I have since left the hospitality industry to pursue other endeavors.

“When I heard about this hotel opening the sheer size and magnitude of the project lit a fire inside me to be part of it. As it turns out, the company managing the hotel and convention center may have their hands full not only with delays in the opening, but their managers as well.

“During my time in the Hospitality Industry I was always taught that a potential employee is always a potential customer and as such they should be treated with the same respect. In my dealings with Michelle Reynolds of the Rooms Division I received no such thing. I have never been treated so rudely by someone.

“I only spoke with her via email, but her arrogance and unprofessional manner shined through in these encounters. I question whether J.W. Marriott, a man whom I once met, who is a man of great pride and integrity would approve of this person working a property of this magnitude and exposure…”