The LuLac Edition #1972, March 6th, 2012

Theresa Tyler-Smith, one of the main presenters on behalf of the New Covenant Christian Fellowship Church before the Wilkes Barre Zoning Board. (Photo from Times Leader).


Super Tuesday scorecard.

ON ZONING, RACISM & WILKES BARRE

There were two separate news stories in the paper yesterday regarding Wilkes Barre. In one article, a Wilkes Barre resident Arthur Breese co chair of the Luzerne County Diversity panel said that Wilkes Barre had a history of racism and that the Leighton administration has done little to combat that. I’m not sure what any Mayor can do to change what may or may not be in the hearts and minds of city residents. But sometimes perception is reality and the Zoning Board in Wilkes Barre did little to change a guy like Breese’s mind recently.
The Zoning Board voted down twice a church’s request to build a day care center on South Main Street in Wilkes Barre. Members of New Covenant Christian Fellowship Church wanted to place a day care center in their facility. Church members applied for a special exception to open a day-care center at 780 S. Main St., which is within a residential neighborhood. Church members said the center would benefit the community because it could take 12 children initially and then could build on that to a maximum of 24. In checking with the state, the group found that the facility could accommodate 60 children. Presumably this day care center would charge its members, buy supplies locally and boost local business. But neighbors, Sue and Gary Greenfield represented by an attorney, objected saying that there would be more traffic problems because of the new venture. This is South Main Street, there is traffic. But will the dropping off of kids a few times a day cause a major traffic jam? Told that, the church’s surveyor (my church doesn’t have a surveyor on call) said that a right turn only sign could alleviate the traffic concerns. A church parishioner went one step further and said the parish’s school bus could be used for pick up and delivery. The church members seemed to have made preparations for every eventuality and answered in my mind every concern. But the Zoning Board voted them down twice. A church member said that the decision smacked of racism and cronyism. I’ll go for the cronyism. Sue Greenfield works for a major law firm in Kingston and got a big hug from the Mayor at one of the hearings. The church members do not work for a major law firm and didn’t get a hug from the Mayor. You don’t need to paint anyone a picture on this one. Was it racist? I can’t answer for the motivations of the people complaining or the actions of the zoning board. I am a white man who has never had to walk in the shoes of a black man or a woman getting a first impression inflicted on me because of the color of my skin or my gender. But I do know a lot about perception which has been brought home to me personally by my physical limitations. Wilkes Barre has had an increase in minority populations. With that, has come achievements and favorable press for some segments of that population. Qadry Ismail being on ESPN and Len Kornish making a run for Wilkes Barre Area School director come to mind. A man revered in this community and still spoken fondly about years after his death was my broadcast buddy Bob Crawford. And the late Constance Wynn’s work in the community was a standard set for all races long ago. There have been negative stories too about people of color who brought to the city their criminal intent and turned them into vile actions. (Henry Stubbs, a convicted killer and the recent machete incident come to mind). The Christian minority based church did everything right in its pursuit of a community oriented project. They went through the proper state channels. They didn’t go ahead and set up day care centers in their own homes as a few Wilkes Barre residents have done in past years under the radar. This church played by the rules. This church wanted to have a hand in helping to build Wilkes Barre’s future. Wouldn’t a church run day care center for children trump minorities getting arrested for violent crime in the city? In any normal area, it would. Rosa Parks might have gotten a seat on the bus more than fifty years ago, but there are minorities in the city that can approach the table, but not get a seat at it. The big question here is this; what does it say about a city that says no to these church members who did everything right in their application for a day care center? Is it because when they see color, all they see is crime? Is it racism or cronyism? I don’t know the answer to that. But maybe the ACLU will.

SUPER TUESDAY

The 2012 Republican presidential campaign spreads out across 10 states today, Super Tuesday — a coast-to-coast set of contests that could enable front-runner Mitt Romney to start pulling away from his persistent rivals. Challengers Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul each have a shot at victories in selected corners of the Tuesday map, and each should win some delegates. However, Romney’s well-moneyed political machine will allow him to compete everywhere, and the landscape suggests a broad win for the former governor of Massachusetts. The day starts with two states all but locked up — Massachusetts, his home state, and Virginia, where Santorum and Gingrich failed to qualify for the ballot. That decision by them was really lacking foresight. Romney will have an organizational advantage fighting Santorum for delegates in Ohio. And he will look to deliver delegates in smaller, less-watched states such as Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota and Vermont, where his chief competition comes from Paul. Combined, Romney could add to the lead he already enjoys in the all-important tally of delegates needed to win the nomination. He has 203 delegates. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, has 92. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has 33. Paul, a congressman from Texas, has 25. Tuesday, 419 more delegates are at stake, more than the total awarded in all previous contests so far and the most of any single day this year. The 10 states holding caucuses and primaries to award those delegates: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. With Romney already leading in the delegate count, the critical test for his challengers is to win more delegates than he does. If the challengers fall short, Romney is on his way to being the nominee.