LOCAL FOOD BANK AVAILABLE TO COMMUNITY RESIDENTS

LOCAL FOOD BANK AVAILABLE TO COMMUNITY RESIDENTS
Greater Berks Food Bank
Where: Grounds of Wernersville State Hospital – Building 5 – Berks Encore Center (610) 670-1372
When: 3rd Thursday of each month (3rd Fri in October)
Line forms at 8:00 – Food bank open at 10:30 – 12:30 or later
First Come – First Served
Anyone in need in the local area / Berks County – and falls within income guidelines is eligible. If you think you won’t qualify – but you need help – please call Rachel. In today’s world where some are greedy – it’s no time to be proud. Help is available. It’s not only for the lazy people – it’s for those of us who work and are still struggling to make ends meet.  Senior Citizens take advantage of this program.

Penn Avenue Project

After researching and working on small town economics for 7 years I have learned a good deal of information that would benefit Robesonia. I have implemented a lot of them through this newsletter. I would have liked to be on the Main Street committee and part of the revitalization plan but I don’t associate with any of those that would have offered that opportunity. It is unfortunate that certain people cannot put aside personal issues and allow others to share in decisions being made in our town. I feel I have a lot to offer on the topic but because I have different views on many subjects, my input was not asked for. I have personally visited many small towns and have spoken to the chairpersons in charge of many Main Street projects. Every town had a drawn and written plan for a 5-10 year project with an outline of the phases. The plan could be picked up at their boro hall and was published on their boro website. I have not seen any published plan for Robesonia. After years of research my course of action would have first been to establish the business district here (which I have). I would hold many meetings with these business owners for their input (which I do) on what would bring them more traffic. What type of décor would be most inviting? What they would be willing to contribute? I would look into selling Shop Robesonia First dollars (yes it is legal) to residents at half price to promote visiting our businesses. I would establish a yearly membership fund for businesses that would include them in a distributed newsletter which consists of our business directory, our public service directory, a calendar of our events and attractions, ads for our events, a website business page, business of the month & eatery of the month. That newsletter would be available at public places and their businesses. Each member would receive a special Shop Robesonia First store plaque. Blue ribbon cuttings would be held for all new businesses. All these things help support the reason for having a “Main Street” and are what the project is intended for. It isn’t just about decoration. We do not need bus stops here at this time. We do not need more benches where nobody sits. We need to keep the businesses we have and offer incentives to invite new ones. We all want our town to look clean (nice trash receptacles would be good) have charm and display our pride with tasteful beautification. With change comes some risk but we have to start at the core and work on a goal that includes growth. I have been doing that. You can trim Robesonia with all kinds of things but if you don’t have the basics of businesses what is the appeal and how will you afford to maintain it? It is in ALL of our best interest to support these small town tradesmen. They are the core of America and our small towns. Every time you ignore them and invest elsewhere when you could spend here we risk losing them. Imagine Robesonia with no business. It can happen and it does when people don’t work together to maintain and rally to support them. If the boro is unwilling to appoint the right people to master that task, maybe I will take it on and add to what I already do.

Teacher GREED

Are you willing to hand over your house and quality of life because of teacher greed and a school board who is not willing to start firing those demanding more more more?  By now everyone is probably aware that the Weiser teachers are not agreeing to contract offers.  Do you think it's time for the school board to start handing out the pink slips?  Let this group who feel they are so underpaid stand in the unemployment line.  Maybe they can get lucky and find a $10,000 a year job with no health insurance and that $50-80,000 job with $39 per month family health benefits will start looking pretty good. As for your pension, your problem not ours!  As bad as things are for most of Americans the greedy people in our school districts just don't GET IT!  Somehow, sometime soon, this attitude of we are better and worth more than all of you because we went to college and got a degree and we are the future of your children blah blah blah needs to be silenced.  Get over it.  Enough is enough.  Be happy (for once) with what you have and let us taxpayers alone.  I don't feel I should owe for life because I had 2 children go through the school system.  Foolish spending and extremely high salaries need to come to an end.  If it takes replacing every single teacher, board member, superintendent, nurse, librarian........then we need to demand the hatchet starts swinging.  I am not willing to give up my home and my quality of life because of teacher GREED!  Are you?????

Council STOPS spending of $147,000 grant (tax payer $)

Monday nights boro council meeting brought up concerns regarding possible illegal actions of the Beautification committee headed by Joyce Phillips. With no experience in grant procedures councilwomen Phillips carelessly spent thousands of taxpayer dollars without advertising for bids from local business owners. This money may now have to be paid back which should come directly from Phillips checkbook not the taxpayers. Warned by councilman Dave Rohrbach about the right way things are to be done, Phillips opted to forgo expert advice and proceed on her own with a few uneducated residents on the committee. Rohrbach quit the committee and he and Randy Gartner showed disappointment in how Phillips handled most everything but mostly the town clock that she has a $13,000 deposit on.  Placement of a clock had been decided when the HP Memorial Park was built but Phillips is trying to change that plan. This behavior is the norm for Phillips who has a long history of personal vendettas with town people in which she has used her council position to threaten individuals and cause unecessary problems. The issues she has with Dave Randler seem to have started with a Christmas contest she held and expected Randler to supply FREE prizes for.  He refused. In the past the Christmas and landscaping contests were run by Randler and the Our Robesonia.  We worked together. Phillips assumed Randler would just give her all the prizes. With that and feeling she was eliminated from the Christmas Trail celebration she has been accused of spreading vicious rumors about Randler and has told people not to shop at businesses in the Randler complex.  Here are some of the numbers and items:  20 flower pots, flowers ($8,400), 46 Gateway, Holiday, & or Patriotic Banners, 2 streetline wreaths (21,408 + shipping), 1152 small flags ($438) 3 sided post and signs trash receptacles ($8769), 8 benches abd bases ($8171) 2 bus shelters and bases ($16,241), Christmas LED lights & decor ($7762), base for clock ($1668), electric and conduit for clock ($1750) Randy Gartner already placed this behind the wall, and the clock (25,639).  All were purchased by the committee from businesses or given to contractors from everywhere but here in our own town. Nothing was put out for bids and most items could have been purchased right here keeping our tax dollars in Robesonia, avoiding shipping costs ($544 to date). Phillips who claims to care so much about this town has little to no respect for the other businesses that are here. All of the complaints could have easily been avoided if the opportunity would have been offered to Quality Signs, DP Randler (could have saved boro $2600 on the pots).  Grosiflex may have even donated all 20 flower pots but due to the mission of the committee to avoid Robesonia businesses not one member of the committee bothered to ask or include their own towns people. There is also a witness to Phillips using her council seat to threaten a man with arrest who parks in front of her daughters store. He is to attend the next council meeting. I personally spoke to several businesses the day they received pots and not one was told they were to maintain it (water, mow and or trim around it, keeping it neat).  They all assumed the boro was doing maintenance. Phillips claims all those who got pots were aware of the taking care of them.  Not one person I talked to heard from any council or committee person.  Phillips told Randler he could have called her and asked to bid on the flower pots.  Sorry Joyce, the bidding process doesn't work like that. How council left Phillips run this train so far off track I cannot figure out. I asked at the meeting and got no response from any council member. Randler asked that council remove Phillips from her council seat due to unethical behavior and the potential for once again causing the boro unnecessary legal issues. A local contractor put 22 hours into bidding and preparing proposals for the cement work for the benches and bus stops. Phillips does not have him listed on the budget to do the work. Oh yeah, he is from Robesonia and was an easy target for FREE advice. All $147,000 was outsourced. Robesonia residents should be outraged that someone with so little education was appointed and given control of this project. If Robesonia is going to keep our businesess and bring in new ones we ALL need to support them!