Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Morning After

It seems pretty fitting that the front page of the BCCT this morning portrays Morrisville so similarly in two completely unrelated stories. Morrisville this morning awakens to find that it is nothing more than a dump. It's a place where dead bodies are dumped for convenience, and it's a place where progress goes to die.

R.I.P. Gateway. I doubt that most other developers would have stayed around long enough to endure the abuse that PJP has taken for the past two years. That building should be ready to rent by now. Instead the community that should have celebrated the new business remains sitting there in the quiet dead splendor of a long interred and long forgotten cemetery. A place where nothing ever happens. And nothing ever will. There's Morrisville's ignominious future. Graveyard to the region.

Remember the names of the council members who want Morrisville to remain dead: David Rivella, Rita Ledger, Kathryn Panzitta, Jane Burger, Steven Worob, Eileen Dreisbach.

All six of you: What's next? Like your brethren on the school board, what are you doing now to improve Morrisville?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

The tree huggers in this town are so stupid and uneducated it’s pathetic: “...let’s keep all developers and new businesses out of our town and, instead, plant trees — lots and lots of trees…”. Ugh!!! I’m so upset about this town and 6 of those Borough Council members we have up there pretending to care about us….what a bunch of imposters, they should all be impeached. We’ve been here for 9 years, trying to make a go of it — well, sorry gang, I can’t do it anymore — we’re finally going to list our house for sale this Saturday. Enough of the madness, you lunatics — we’re out of here, and for good, and we’re telling everyone what all of you up there on your thrones want us to say for you: “Stay away from Morrisville.” Good luck ruling the roost here, you'll need it.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what our Council wants. They don't want people like you and me to stick around. We only makes their stagnation more difficult.

Ken said...

*Shakes head*

Well, not entirely unpredictable.

I think I said it a week ago.

The serious problem is, there is no accountability, no repercussion for what these people just did. They'll go on as if nothing ever happened, have their community days, their Memorial days, their Labor days, strolling across Williamson park, shaking hands and smiling, and they'll STILL be re-elected next go 'round.

Poor Morrisville.

Anonymous said...

Maybe some people should picket outside their homes. Sound familiar?

I wouldn't place all the blame on the tree-huggers either. This one lands squarely in lap of the visionaries on council, and on the people who voted for them. Let these high public officials know how you feel. At these events be sure to confront them in a loud and clear voice. Maybe they can shamed into crawling back under their rocks. It's obvious to anyone who cares to look that this is from whence they came.

Anonymous said...

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Badbadbadbabdbadbadbad.

Losing the love, losing the love.

No way to express feelings in complete sentences.

Jon said...

Sorry 6 NO voters on Council, but I think yours was a vote based on emotion, fear, and irrationality rather than common sense. A YES vote would have been non-binding, to allow the natural review/approval processes to continue, allow the necessary studies (soils, water, traffic, parking, etc.) to be conducted, and hopefully get answers to the many legitimate questions from Council and the community. Oh well.

Ms. Panzitta, and to some extent Ms. Burger, suggested that the letter PJRP was seeking with last night's motion was unnecessary. But to me, the fact that the motion was voted down 6-2 proves that it was necessary. Otherwise, PJRP would have incurred many more thousands of dollars for studies, etc. to bring a more fully-advanced proposal forward that a council majority was still very likely to vote down.

Responsible developers like PJRP with local roots who are willing to work in partnership with the community are rare. One need look no further than the Stockham Building strip club guys for proof. I wish PJRP well in their future efforts, most of which I imagine will be directed outside of Morrisville.

I work in the environmental field, consider myself an environmentalist, and am sensitive to the issues raised about parkland/open space. But if open space is as precious as people claimed it to be, I would expect the same folks who helped bury Gateway to speak out against building ~100 new homes on the now-vacant Cloverleaf property off S. Penna. Ave. That property would make an excellent park. Plus, homes bring tax ratables but, unlike the Gateway Project, they also bring school-aged children - unless the housing is age-restricted. I think I see where this one's going.

Unknown said...

Morrisville Borough Council should be ashamed of itself! How dare they hold us back!?!. Who is up for election when? I WANT THEM OUT!!!

Can anyone say "Jane Burger needs to go?"

Morris said...

I believe the battle cry on signs around town should be "Anybody but _________________" (fill in the blank with your ward rep). That way even if a candidate doesn't get on the May primary ballot, there could be a strong write-in vote.

I think Burger and Worob are up but I don't know about the rest.

While it is necessary to vent your frustrations (after all, what's left to do but cry over the situation) the time is now for people to SERIOUSLY consider running for council seats. We all can see this cycle will continue with no end if the same people get re-elected again and again. If change is not brought about through this process then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

"Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!"

Let's make tomorrow happen!

Anonymous said...

'Can anyone say "Jane Burger needs to go?"'

There's no one in Ward 3 who will run against her!

Unknown said...

I live in Ward 3. :-)

Anonymous said...

Greta,you for council? Think about it. You're about as politically correct as the writtings on a porta-John wall at a construction site but I like how you say what's on your mind. How about it you blogheads, show your (Kiss of death) support for Jane Burger and Greta will win.

Jon said...

It's true, we're poison. But I for one wouldn't have it any other way.

Jon said...

Maybe now that our communal love of the parkland/former leaf dump/erstwhile Gateway Project land is all out in the open, Council will be spurred into action to make some real improvements there, like the ones mentioned by Mr. Worob last nite (gaslamps, clock), and others (landscaping, trees, trails, take down crappy chain link fence, soccer field, etc.), even if it costs a couple of tax mills? What do you say, people? Are you in?

Slight complication, though. Isn't a good chunk of that land still owned by the Bridge Commission? Well, maybe Council can tap a sliver of that $87 million in Bucks County Open Space bond money Morrisvillians overwhelmingly voted for in Nov. 2007, buy it up (maybe you'll respect the EDC enough to do this?)and make the park whole all the way to Bridge St. Make it happen! Please prove my hunch wrong that there ain't nuthin' gonna happen there in our lifetimes. And if there ain't, don't patronize us, at least have the guts to admit it. Because as awful and boneheaded as it was, at least Bill Hellmann, CPA had the temerity to say he would advise everyone NOT to invest in Morrisville.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Jon, if we be poison, poison we be.
Plus, we move away. One whole street away.

Ken said...

"Greta,you for council? Think about it. You're about as politically correct as the writtings on a porta-John wall at a construction site"

Well, let's reconsider this heartfelt support for Greta's run against Jane Burger.

Politically correct? Is that what we are looking for in our elected leaders? Well, I guess, then, that would leave out Worob (Steve), Radosti, Ledger, Rivella, Heater, ... gee, just about a majority of both elected boards.

It seems to me "Anonymous" that this lack of PC is EXACTLY what the people of Morrisville look for in their leaders.

On the other hand, if you are looking for someone to nod every time Jane or Bill says something, then, well, I guess Greta is NOT the right candidate.

Go for it Greta! I'll vote for you. Either way, if people have to write in with nasty comments to try and dissuade you from running, they certainly must be shaking in their boots at the prospect of you winning!

Save The School said...

Greta, you would have my vote if I could. But as it is now, I take great pleasure in being able to vote against one of the other fools each time they come up.

Jon said...

But Greta once got teary-eyed at a school board meeting! And she took offense when that diminutive elderly man with the English accent asked the prior board how they'd like their obituaries to read! Doesn't that disqualify her?

Anonymous said...

Let's get rid of Jane Burger, ONCE AND FOR ALL. Come on already, this is LONG overdue.

Anonymous said...

Queen Jane? Dethroned?
I remember a newspaper article talking about the revitalization & there were quotes from her about envisioning a down town with shops & ethnic resturants etc.... Maybe she was imagining Newtown or Doylestown?

Peter said...

The days grow shorter and the nights are getting long
Feels like we're running out of time
Every day it seems much harder tellin' right from wrong
You got to read between the lines

Don't get discouraged, don't be afraid, we can
Make it through another day
Make it worth the price we pay

The Good Book says it's better to give than to receive
I do my best to do my part
Nothin' in my pockets I got nothin' up my sleeve
I keep my magic in my heart

Keep up your spirit, keep up your faith, baby
I am counting on you
You know what you've got to do

Fight the good fight every moment
Every minute every day
Fight the good fight every moment
It's your only way

All your life you've been waiting for your chance
Where you'll fit into the plan
But you're the master of your own destiny
So give and take the best that you can

You think a little more money will buy your soul some rest
You'd better think of something else instead
You're so afraid of being honest with yourself
You'd better take a look inside your head

Nothing is easy, nothing good is free
But I can tell you where to start
Take a look inside your heart
There's an answer in your heart

Fight the good fight every moment
Every minute every day
Fight the good fight every moment
It's your only way

Jon said...

Triumph? Had to look that one up. Some small recess of my brain barely remembers....

Anonymous said...

are you people that dumb to give away open space to a developer and then give tax breaks on top of that . i may not agree with the council all the time but i agree with them on this. also did anybody think of were the cars would park around that area and the traffic congestion when the state employees come back across the bridge not to mention the enviormental impact it would have with storm water management the list goes on and on . face it morrisville is not a town for an office complex

Jon said...

Anonymous,

Yes the list goes on and on, but council killed it before any of those questions could really be properly studied and answered. That's my problem with the no vote - I think it was premature.

Call me dumb, but I put more faith in science and technology and its ability to assess and solve problems than emotional fear-based decision-making.

I've learned this much following Morrisville politics for a few years though: never underestimate peoples' irrationality, disdain for logic, resistance to change, cynicism, distrust of "experts" and "outsiders", or inability to hear or be satisfied by a well-studied answer.

Hello, perpetual backwater status! Yeah!