Pennsylvania exit poll

We were the 186th and 187th voters in our local polling place out of  about 1000. What a terrible turnout. On the way in there was only 2 poll workers and Plains Twp.plus  incumbent Commissioners Robert Sax and Jerry Yozwiak. I have long said that the only poll workers that matter in a local race is the candidates themselves.

 But in this case they were not going to persuade me. They both voted to kick back $3 million of slots money back to the Mohegan Sun to pave the parking lot over the last few years. Then they asked for $1 Million  of slots money to finance an upgrade to the Woodlands. I voted for Barry Kresge.

Being the contrarian that I am I usually vote no on retaining a Judge but in this case I actually voted Yes for State Supreme Court Justices Ron Castille and Max Baer and No on the other 2. What persuaded me was the Tea Party groups and Sue Henry said they opposed them because they blocked the Voter ID law. It should be trashed as it's a solution in search of a problem that will keep people from voting. For all the jokes we make about dead people voting in Pittston it just doesn't happen. Absentee ballots are another matter. All my life I have heard the lament that enough people don't vote (like today) so they want to make it harder. Elections are a bad way to pick appellate judges see Choose Judges on Meirt

Kathy Bozinski reported "that for the first time ever our reporters were told it's illegal to take generic, non-invasive shots inside polling places, and were turned away, or told to shoot through a window. I can't count how many live shots I've done inside the polling place... Is this something new?... We've learned its a regulation that is decided by the County Solicitor, and for apparently the first time, he decided to invoke it for this election."  I saw Pete from the TL at our polling place tonight taking photos and I snapped a few.

The Luzerne  County Website has  a link for election results that looks pretty good. You can tailor the races you are interest in. The thing is they had to go to a vendor to do something that was done in house and worked flawlessly until last spring.  Another waste of money. I like Walter Griffith but the pissing contest that he got into with Lenny Piazza that the county manager Bob Lawton  overreacted to  is costing us money and aggravation

And another ballot screw up

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One less Democrat on W-B Twp. council ballot

Corporate welfare for the Woodlands

The split of the revenue from slot machines at Mohegan Sun is 55% to the state and 45% to the casino. Much less goes to the state from table games. Only 34% is earmarked for school property tax relief which is the reason this was sold to us. Wilkes-Barre Area taxpayers have seen a reduction of about $200 a year since this started. The host communities get a cut off the top to pay for increased police costs, etc but there are 2 other pools of money. 12% is dedicated to the dying horse racing industry and there is pot of gold that local governments can apply for.

In past years the Plains Township Commissioners have applied to kick back $3 million to Mohegan to clean up the East Side Landfill so they could pave the parking lot and The Commonwealth Financing Authority approved it.

Now the board of Bridgette Murray O'Connor, Ciro Cinti, Ron Fillipini, Joe Yozwiak and Robert Sax   has  unanimously approved an application by The Woodlands to grab a piece of the pie. According to this story in the TL by Andrew Seder the Woodlands management will be  knocking down cottages on the Woodlands property just north of the hotel and conference center’s building along Route 315.
In their place would be built a multilevel building with commercial/office space on the lower floors and apartments on the upper floors. 

It's a $40 million project that not been even put on the drawing board yet let alone submitted for zoning or other approval. The Kornfelds did not return  phone calls from Andrew or me. (Disclaimer: I once worked for the Kornfelds).

I have a novel idea. If the Kornfleds want to expand/upgrade their business they should go to a bank and apply for a loan.

In 2013 there will be 2 spots up on the board of the Plains Commissioners. The incumbents are Robert Sax and Jerry Woziak. 

I still remember when it was the Treadway Inn

 

Road Rage

As I pointed out in a post last weekend First Street is closed in the Hudson section of Plains but the repairs to the RR crossing in Laflin is complete so I'm not trapped despite the efforts of that evil PennDoT government  bureaucrat James May who wants to restrict my freedom.

The First Street sidewalk repairs are done then they moved on to fixing the bridge over Gardner's Creek but there has not been much progress.


Here is a picture of the bridge last weekend.

This is a picture of the bridge today.

Nothing has happened in a weeks time.

These people are taking credit for this project.