EDITORIAL: According to the New York Times, “[Judge Steven W. Rhodes of United States Bankruptcy Court] ruled that Detroit could not proceed with a plan to pay $165 million to two big banks to extricate itself from some long-term financial contracts that have been costing the bankrupt city tens of millions of dollars a year.
“’It’s just too much money,’ Judge Rhodes said. He urged the two sides to try to negotiate a new settlement but also did not rule out a lawsuit.”
In order to serve creditors and fleece the Lancaster public, Gov. Tom Corbett did everything he could to prevent Harrisburg from obtaining bankruptcy court protection. Had that occurred, the recently arrived at ‘bail out’ of Harrisburg creditors and the sale of the Harrisburg Incinerator at an astronomical price to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA) would not likely have occurred.
These actions were all based on State politics and Lancaster Authority vanity. Corbett needs campaign contributions from grateful creditors; management of LCSWMA wanted bragging rights, regardless of the price.
We attended a funeral in Cumberland County yesterday. When asked about the current condition of Harrisburg, a distinguished veteran attorney, with a twinkle in his eye, attributed the city’s rescue in large part to the sale of its long trouble plagued incinerator to Lancaster… the implicit message being how foolish could the Lancaster Authority have been.
Tragically, when it comes to “foolishness” here in Lancaster, the Authority has no monopoly. Not only are we passive about distributing the wealth accumulated by past and current generations to special interests, but we are now intent through the CRIZ program to allow these interests to devour our children’s future.
