Attorney General's Help Sought in YMCA Fight

Photos by Evan Brandt

About 40 people showed up for Tuesday's meeting called to find ways to prevent the closure of the Pottstown YMCA branch.

The fight to prevent the closure of the Pottstown YMCA branch soon may be taken up in Harrisburg.

At least two Pottstown Borough officials -- Mayor Stephanie Henrick and Deputy Police Chief Michael Markovich -- have contacted the office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro asking for help to prevent the closure.

Specifically, Henrick, an attorney, said she spoke with the office of the senior deputy attorney general for charitable organizations, which outlined the process for filing a formal complaint.

She said it has to be made in writing, and evidence provided, before they will investigate, something she hopes to organize shortly.

The Rev. Vernon Ross, pastor of Bethel Community Church,

said he once served on the board of the Philadelphia-Freedom

Valley YMCA and he is glad he no longer does given the

actions that board has endorsed.

Markovich, on the other hand, went straight to the top.

In a letter to Shapiro read aloud at the meeting by Invictus Ministries Inc. Pastor Bishop Everett Debnam, Markovich wrote "I have seen Pottstown get left behind when it comes to the rest of Montgomery County."

"Everything Pottstown offered its youth, seems to be closed," said Markovich, who was joined by Upper Pottsgrove Police Chief Francis Wheatley and Lower Pottsgrove Police Chief Michael Foltz in expressing concern that crime among juveniles my go up this summer if the YMCA closes.

"One thing that doesn't close, is the streets and the corners," Markovich wrote. "Once the children end up there, it is usually no turning back."

"It's a cycle," he wrote, "that we are trying to break. That's why we need to put the brakes on the YMCA closing. We're reaching out to you for help."

Further, Bob Stauffer, who was on the Pottstown YMCA Board of Directors in the 1990s, offered up a formal resolution calling for Shapiro's office to investigate what he says is behavior at variance with the YMCA mission.

Those were just a few of the more serious actions discussed during last night's second meeting of the coalition of activists and groups -- led by the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP -- working to reverse the decision by the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA to close the Pottstown branch on North Adams Street.

The meeting was held at the YWCA Tri-County Area on King Street.

Local attorney Bob Stauffer

holds a resolution calling

for an investigation by PA

Attorney General Josh Shapiro

Lawrence Cohen, who is both a member of the NAACP and the task force put together by the Y which defied instructions and argued to keep the branch open, has been penning letters to large donors of the Conshohocken-based organization to let them know how their money is being used.

These include the Mary Porter Foundation, the Christina and Lawrence Smith Foundation, Cigna Foundation, Comcast, Wawa Foundation BB & T Bank and Pew Charitable Trust to name a few.

And Shona Williams is in charge of writing letters to donors who have given $25,000 or less to the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA.

"We're raising our voices, and we have so many voices, so we can offer so many perspectives," she said.

One perspective the group hopes to harness are those of two members of the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles -- Chris Long and Malcolm Jenkins.

A letter from NAACP branch President Johnny Corson to the Chris Long Foundation begins with an important caveat: "We aren't asking for money."

Rather, Corson's letter is instead asking for Long to add his voice to the call for the Y to remain open. "We can't let this happen to our young people -- they need and deserve their Y -- for sports, mentoring, community, stability and opportunity," according to the letter.

From left Lawrence Cohen, Johnny Corson 

and Everett Debnam.

It also notes "the association recently closed an in-town YMCA in Norristown, leaving young people with a local Y.

Instead of serving communities where the need for  YMCA services is greatest, the Association is choosing to build 'county club' fitness centers serving wealthy suburbanites."

Despite the united voice of the community and its officials and remaining institutions, "YMCA management is ignoring the needs of our youth," read Corson's letter. "We need the power of your voice to help us stop this unnecessary closure that will devastate our community's young people."

Whether or not the star power of Chris Long or Jenkins can help reverse this course or not, there are also efforts underway to organize a march on the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA headquarters in Conshohocken in the hopes that the power of people can get the job done.

A date for the march has not yet been set, although Flag Day was mentioned as one possibility, so keep your calendars as open as you can folks. A date will likely be announced on the new Save the Pottstown YMCA Facebook page, which you can join by clicking here.

The march would be the perfect opportunity to deliver the petition calling for the Y to remain open, which now making the rounds and has already collected more than 1,200 signatures. You can sign that petition by clicking here.

The date of the next meeting has not yet been set.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Rising Resistance to Closure of Pottstown YMCA

What's the (New) Deal with Josh Shapiro?

Josh Shapiro

Blogger's Note: The following is a press release from NewDEAL.

Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro was recently selected as one of twelve rising leaders from across the country to join the NewDEAL, a national network that is committed to highlighting innovative ideas from state and local elected leaders who are pro-growth progressives.

Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland and U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, Honorary Chairs of the NewDEAL, recognized Commissioner Shapiro’s efforts to make government smarter by using zero-based budgeting.

“Senator Begich and I have joined the NewDEAL because we believe we need to look for fresh ideas not just from the top down in Washington, but also from the bottom up, where innovative leaders like Commissioner Shapiro are developing and testing their ideas out on the ground,” said Governor O’Malley, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.

“In communities throughout the country, rising state and local leaders such as Josh Shapiro are proving that you can be both pro-growth and progressive. The NewDEAL is designed to foster these types of ideas and these types of leaders,” said Senator Begich, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.

"I am proud to be recognized by the NewDEAL for my work to reform county government and use innovative solutions like zero-based budgeting to close Montgomery County's budget shortfall while investing in our people and the core functions of government," said Commissioner Shapiro. 

“I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas with the other NewDEAL Leaders and learning about their ideas from around the country that can help us make even more progress here in Montgomery County.”

Shapiro is currently featured on the NewDEAL’s interactive website at www.NewDEALLeaders.org/NewDEAL-Leaders/Josh-Shapiro. 

He joins Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale as the third NewDEAL Leader from Pennsylvania.

Redistricting Delays Complicate Special Elections for 2 local PA House Seats

About 350,000 Pennsylvanians without representation in state Capitol

 

Blogger's Note: The following is a slightly altered version of a PA Independent story that moved Wednesday night.

 

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG —The normally routine process of filling a few vacant state House seats has been complicated by this year’s messy legislative redistricting process.

 

Josh Shapiro, left, and Leslie Richard election night

And the mess includes the results of two local election, leaving both seats vacant.

 

They are: the seat left empty when Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who represented the 153rd District, was elected Montgomery County Commissioner; and when Republican Doug Reichley,who used to represent the 134th Dist. in Berks and Lehigh counties, was elected a Lehigh County judge in November.

Doug Reichley

In addition to those two, there are four other seats, three in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh, affected by the situation. 

 

As a result, about 350,000 Pennsylvania residents are without representation in the state House — and might not have a voice in the state Capitol when the budget passes in June.

 

Six House seats were vacated when members retired at the end of 2010 to take local offices they had won in the November elections. State law prohibits members from serving in the General Assembly while simultaneously holding local office. 

 

By state law, special elections must be scheduled within 10 days following a vacancy. But when the vacancy occurs while redistricting is taking place, the House speaker is allowed to wait until 10 days after the state Supreme Court approves the new legislative district maps.

 

House Speaker Sam Smith

Democrats are pressuring Speaker of the House Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, to call the special elections on April 24 to coincide with the state’s primary election. But state law requires 60 days of notice in advance of an election, so the announcement would have to be made by the end of this week.

 

Frank Dermody

“Special elections should take place on the April 24 date that is already set for the primary,” said Bill Patton, spokesman for House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny.

 

Five of the empty districts are in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and are considered favorable to Democrats — who are outnumbered in the state House, 110-87 — while the sixth is in the Allentown suburbs and could be won by either major party.

 

On Tuesday, Smith said his hands were tied by state law that prevented him from authorizing special elections to fill those seats until after the state Supreme Court approves the new legislative maps.

 

But he rejected the notion he was delaying the election for political purposes.

 

“It’s not like it changes the majority in the House,” Smith said. “That’s not the driving factor; it’s that I’m stuck with a structure for special elections in reapportionment years that says you call it when the final (maps are) in place.”

 

The court rejected the first attempt to draw new maps, and there is no timetable for when the new maps will be approved.

 

A group of Democrats from across the state have filed a petition with the state Supreme Court, asking the court to force Smith’s hand, because 350,000 residents in six districts are disenfranchised by the vacant seats.

 

"Depriving hundreds of thousands of citizens of representation in the House not only would be unconstitutional, it would be patently unreasonable," reads a portion of the lawsuit filed Tuesday.

 

Smith’s lawyer, Conrad O’Brien, filed a legal response arguing that the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction for making a decision about the special elections and does not have the authority to tell the House speaker when such elections can be held.

 

There is no timetable for when the state Supreme Court will rule on the matter, but Patton said a decision should be made by the end of the week.

 

In the meantime, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission continues to hammer out the details of the revised maps, but there is no timeline for its completion.