Since the first day they started building that “temple” it was all about all the extras we’ll have and where everything came from “i.e. Hand Picked Marble from India” but let’s face it….did it really NEED all of the top of the line items such as that handpicked marble, Custom Made Carpet in the lower lobby (in my opinion really UGLY carpeting and design)…
Tag: featured
PA bridges still the worst in U.S. survey of deficiencies
From the PITTSBURG POST-GAZETTE:
Despite recent progress in fixing its substandard bridges, Pennsylvania remains the undisputed national leader in the category, according to a national report released Wednesday.
More than 25 percent of bridges in the state are structurally deficient, giving the state both the highest percentage and greatest number of deficient bridges in the U.S., according to the report.
TARP investment in banks repaid with profit
From THE HILL: The portion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that went to banks has now turned a profit for the federal government, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday. After receiving $7.4 billion in TARP repayments Wednesday, the Treasury has now received $251 billion from banks participating in various bailout programs, which is good for a $6 billion profit from the $245 billion originally handed out to banks…
INTELLIGENCER NEW ERA
Article “Academy of Music says it will close” reports:
“The Pennsylvania Academy of Music will close its doors for good at midnight Thursday, officials said this afternoon. The academy’s eight-member board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to close, said chairman Dr. Thomas Godfrey.”
Certainly the bank knew
“No wonder the city has cash flow problems. The county assessment office should check on all the privately owned buildings that are leased to some form of government. The assessors will find that taxes are paid on the full assessed value of said properties…
The best things in life are free!
Yes you can blame the government…they also bought over their heads and passed the bill on to the taxpayer. Rising costs, shrinking salaries, rising food costs and shrinking product volumn. Paying more for less. Credit card companies who went to the college campuses to sign up young people for credit cards…
County Assessor fails to tax former PAM building
Millersville University leases, but has not purchased, the former building at 42 N. Prince Street that was owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Music prior to its foreclosure by Union National Community Bank (UNCB).
The lost war against ourselves
Three years ago the Watchdog and fifteen year old son spent the better part of a week traveling through Guatemala, visiting projects sponsored by an international Non Governmental Organization (NGO) for the purpose of assisting Mayan villages. Security was not an issue in the capital, along the way, or in the villages.
Corbett maintains hard line on no Marcellus Shale tax
From the INQUIRER: As new taxes go, a levy on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania would seem like a pretty easy political sell. Two-thirds of the state’s voters support the idea, several polls indicate. Every other major natural-gas-producing state has some sort of tax, and some of the biggest drillers have said they wouldn’t oppose one here so long as it was reasonable…
Is new residential housing over regulated and unduly costly?
The Watchdog interviewed a residential real estate developer / builder recently who believes that government has gone overboard with many unnecessary regulations that are not cost effective and increase the price of a typical new house as much as 15 – 20%, say $30,000, as compared to two decades ago:
Two different worlds
Perhaps by mistake, a “Bergdorf Goodman Spring Collections 2011 Magazine” arrived at our house. It is half an inch thick with glossy pages. It must cost $5 to print. Probably the cost is distributed among the design houses.
City’s priorities are completely out of whack,
While I see where the above commenter is coming from with the pointed statements about our current financial woes and the root causes of such, I believe that the commenter misses the point brought up by the firefighters that not only have they offered many concessions, they have been the only city workgroup targeted by the administration for cutbacks.
Hispanic population exceeds 50 million, firmly nation’s No. 2 group
From CNN: …The country is growing at a smaller rate. Growth is concentrated in metropolitan areas and in the American West and South. The fastest-growing communities are suburbs such as Lincoln, California, outside Sacramento. And standard-bearer cities such as Boston, Baltimore and Milwaukee are no longer in the top 20 for population…
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
Editorial “Fixing the trust (fund)” opines: “Critics have long argued that Social Security is running out of money. They cite the fact that there is no ‘lockbox’ and that monies from the trust fund have been transferred to the U. S. Treasury and spent.