21st Century Lancaster: The Public be damned

Anyone who reads “A City Transformed; Redevelopment, Race, and Suburbanization in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1940 – 1980” by David Schuyler will be impressed with the openness of governing bodies to third party expertise and public debate. They may not have always made the right decision, but there was no question that the decisions had been openly and thoroughly researched and vetted.

Nothing could be less true of 21st Century Lancaster. In rapid succession we have had

1) The Convention Center built despite 78% objection of the citizenry according to a poll performed by a nationally recognized firm and against the recommendations of the country’s leading hotel feasibility research firm,

2) The long trouble plagued Harrisburg Incinerator purchased without public discourse, media commentary, and with no feasibility study or environmental report despite apparent hazards;

3) Now Lancaster General, a billion and half dollar asset, merged into the University of Pennsylvania health system with any public debate or third party feasibility study.

All three are public assets. The Convention Center has been a $200 million White Elephant, the Incinerator was purchase at three times what the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority’s board minutes said it was worth and despite the environmentally dubious ‘mountain’ of ash stored on its site from decades of operation, and Lancaster General is being turned over to a Philadelphia based hospital system for no apparent remuneration whatsoever…and with just a bunch of promises from the U of P Hospital System about continued local charitable support (as little as it has been) despite its own history of failure to support the City and School District of Philadelphia.

We know that the majority of the board of the LCCCA at the time of the Convention Center Project approval was under the thumb of its chair and disinterested in due diligence. They approved egregiously one sided contracts with Penn Square Partners without even providing time to read them.

We give credit to the LCSWMA administration and board for at least freely discussing the acquisition and sharing minutes with the public.

We have serious reservation that even most members of the board of trustees of LGH were kept advised or were meaningfully involved in the recent negotiations. There simply are too many board members and the group is representatives of the Lancaster Establishment, known to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” .

Perhaps all three undertakings will work out in the long run… albeit the Convention Center seems hardly likely based upon its half a dozen years in operation.

But we should ask ourselves: Why are there no evaluations by outside experts? Why is the will of the people totally ignored? How is it that a just a hand full of insiders on authorities (Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and LCSWMA) and a 501(c)3 foundation (Lancaster General Hospital) determine the future of our public’s most valuable assets and services?