What If?

Transplanted Erieite Douglas “Spoon” Derda sent along a note about another “Beer on the Bay” contest being donated by  his podcast, “Should I Drink That?”,  this year.

 Time is short to enter, so don’t hesitate.  The package is worth lots of jingle!!!

Here is all the info you need to enter!

We will be giving away a prize package again to Beer on the Bay this summer! With hundreds of entries last year we couldn’t resist doing it again.

• 2 Beer on the Bay tickets (afternoon session)
• 2 Beer on the Bay t-shirts
• Misc. Erie Brewing beers and swag
• 2 tickets to Erie Seawolves baseball game that evening. 7:05pm start vs Binghamton. Post Game Fireworks!

DEADLINE IS  JULY 17th 23:59 EST

Details for how to enter can be found by listening to SIDT Episode 53 - Bocktown Beer Dependence Day at
http://www.shouldidrinkthat.com/main/2009/07/07/episode-53-bocktown-beer-dependence-day-celebration/

Last year’s winner was a couple from Virginia Beach who drove over 9 hours just to attend! Here’s his review of the weekend
http://www.drunkenpolack.com/?p=260

cheers!
-spoon

Should I Drink That? beercast
http://www.shouldidrinkthat.com
Happy Hour for your ears!

Homeowners Now Asked to Call Municipalities to Report

Flood Damage

Number to call for Erie residents only: 870-1450

Everyone Else

The information was collected through a hotline set up on Tuesday by Emergency Management officials to quickly begin damage reporting, which is the first phase in the reporting process required by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

The information is then consolidated by municipalities by damage levels, including: destroyed, major, minor, affected or inaccessible. The report will be filed with FEMA, but according to Erie County Communications Director, Alyson Amendola, it could take weeks before a Federal Declaration of Disaster is determined.

After 6 p.m. today that number will no longer be in service and citizens are asked to report property damage to their appropriate municipality during normal business hours. It is advised that citizens with damage do the following:

-Take pictures of any damage to property or households

-Document damage.

-Begin clean up. There is no agency that will come in and take care of your damage. It is your responsibility to clean up the damage and debris. It is advised that clean up begin immediately as to not leave sewage and water standing.

-Assign a dollar figure to your damage.

-Call your insurance company.

Millcreek Township is asking residents with damaged items to place their items by the curb on their normal trash night. The City of Erie will have trucks traveling to the neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm.  City residents who have items ready for garbage pick up should call 870-1390 or 870-1401 during normal business hours to schedule a pick-up. However, the city garbage trucks are not equipped to handle large pick-ups on regular garbage nights.

According to Emergency Management Officials, a total of just under 550 phone calls were received through the hotline to report some type of water damage.

County Executive Declares Disaster Emergency for Erie County

(ERIE, PA)– This afternoon, County Executive Mark DiVecchio declared a Disaster Emergency for Erie County due to the water damage caused by the excessive rain and flooding yesterday.  An emergency declaration allows Emergency Management Coordinators and elected officials to coordinate the activities of the emergency response, to take all appropriate action needed to alleviate the effects of this disaster, to aid in the restoration of essential public services, and to take any other emergency response action deemed necessary to respond to this emergency.  

 A coordinated effort between City of Erie, Millcreek Township, Erie County officials and Emergency Management officials have been working throughout the  night and morning to assess damage in neighborhoods across Erie County.

Though today’s weather has calmed, this does not mean the community is in the clear  and only now are the emergency officials getting a closer look at the damage.

Citizens are asked to assess their property and look closely for water damage and flooding.  

Emergency Management personnel advise people to not attempt to travel through standing water even if water levels appear to be low and obey all signs indicating hazardous areas. In addition, it is very unsafe for anyone to be near high water or flooded areas, especially children.

If anyone has basement flooding or other flood damage, they are asked to call 451-7981 to report their problems. If people have already called 911 to report damage, they do not need to call again.

The Erie County Board of Health issued a release today referring to the proposed ERE tire plant proposed for the former International Paper property on East Lake Road.

Paul Burroughs, Esq. is Chairman of the Board of Health.  He presented this statement explaining the position of the Board re the medical concerns which have been brought to the attention of City and County leaders, and for which they requested an opinion of the Health Department.

 As you will see in the release, the position of the Board of Health is that the emissions created and released by the tire-to-energy operation would create a significant risk to the health of the citizens of Erie County.  Their position is in line with that of the Erie County Medical Society membership.  The decision was made after several months of investigation and conferring with the Pa. Department of Health.

Here in its entirety is the document presented to City/County officials this  morning:

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

July 1, 2009

  By resolution of Erie City Council dated April 15, 2009, the attached statement was made today to council by Paul Burroughs, Esq., chair of the Erie County Board of Health.  

I am Attorney Paul Burroughs, chair of the Erie County Board of Health.  I am here today to respond to your request that the board of health review the Inhalation Risk Assessment report of ERE and make our findings know to the Erie City Council.

The Erie County Board of Health continues to have significant concerns regarding the development and operation of a tires derived fuel plant in the county and specifically within the city.

In October 2008, we formulated a resolution which was unanimously approved by all members of the board.  The resolution was based upon study and review of ERE application documents and upon interviews with numerous scientists and practitioners representing the fields of climatology, chemistry, wildlife biology, as well as several physician specialists.  Additionally, we reviewed a significant number of scientific articles and research papers all dealing with the pollutants identified by Erie Renewable Energy and the PA Department of Environmental Protection as criteria pollutants.  We also reviewed numerous other albeit non-regulated pollutants which will be pumped into the environments in which we live.

Our research has shown:

·        ERE has estimated that, on average, 900 tons per day of tire derived fuel (TDF) would be combusted at the facility. 

·        The combustion of the TDF will generate approximately 155 tons per day of ash.·        There is no estimate of the emission of carbon dioxide. (Because CO² is one of those non-regulated emission, yet, as we know, CO² is a primary cause of global warming.)·        There is no emission estimate given in the plan approved application for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  PAHs are a subset of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  ERE has estimated that 27.5 tons per year of VOCs will be emitted per year.·        There is no direct estimate of the amount of PM-2.5 emitted from the facility.  ERE will most likely be required to conduct a stack test for filterable PM-2.5 as part of the plan approval.·        Nitrous and sulfur oxides produced contribute to acid rain.

·        Mercury compounds concentrates in the lake/water and benthos, bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through the food chain.  Even the smallest amount of Mercury is harmful to humans, fish and animals.

(January 2009 New England Journal of Medicine) scientific study has proven:

·        There is direct relationship between the level of fine-particle pollutants in the air people breathe and life expectancy in cities across the United States.

·        Reducing the average level of fine-particle pollutants – the most damaging kind – by 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air adds about seven months of life expectancy, according to the study of 51 metropolitan areas from Portland, Wash., to Tampa Bay, Fla.

·         (2006 Air and Waste Management Association) ·        Despite important gaps in scientific knowledge and continued reasons for some skepticism, a comprehensive evaluation of the research findings provides persuasive evidence that exposure to fine particulate air pollution has adverse effects on cardiopulmonary health. ·        Since 1997, there has been a substantial amount of research that added to the evidence that breathing combustion-related fine particulate air pollution is harmful to human health.·        Tires contain around 20 different metals most of which have effects on humans, aquatic life and animals. (2002 Environmental Health Perspectives) ·        The magnitude of the association between particulate pollution and daily deaths suggests that controlling fine particle pollution would result in thousands fewer early deaths per year. (Circulation 2008) ·        Studies show an association between long-term air pollution and well-established quantitative measures of atherosclerosis.  Biological plausibility for a causal relationship between air pollution and atherosclerosis is supplied by animal studies. (Environmental Science Technology 2006) ·        Ultrafine particles are emitted preferentially and exhibit the longest atmospheric residence time.·        “Atmospheric PM has been liked with adverse effects on human health.” (Environmental Science and Technology 2001) ·        During their migration through the air, PAHs can undergo environmental factors which transform them into products in some cases more dangerous than the originally released.  PAHs or their derived compounds can get into water and soil being assimilated by the different organisms (plants, animals, fish, etc.) existing in the corresponding ambient.  As result and due to the biological cycle at which living species are submitted, PAHs and derived compounds can get into the human body more or less directly, by ingestion, inhalation, or contact with the skin forming adducts which could alter the regular behavior of cells. (JAMA 2002) ·        Long-term exposure to combustion-related fine particulate air pollution is an important environmental risk factor for cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortality. 

Based upon these and numerous other research findings, our resolution recommended four steps are taken:

1) that an independent risk assessment of the long term operation of this plant on the health, safety and welfare of the people and the environment be required as a part of the review process by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection;

 2) that the developer provide to the Board of Health and the Erie community the design of the risk assessment and the raw data following the assessment as well as the report itself and all supporting data;

3) that specific reference to current research regarding polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s) and the specific emissions of this plant be addressed within the assessment;

4) that specific reference to current research regarding ultrafine particulate matter (less than 2.5 microns in size) and the specific emissions of this plant be addressed within the assessment. 

We have subsequently reviewed the ERE submitted assessment and find that the report closely follows the regulated parameters of the DEP and verifies that operations of the plant would be within those guidelines.  The report does not offer any interpretive data and corresponding affects on health.  The report also does not address our request for raw data and other specific components of our resolutions.  There is a noticeable absence in the report of the public health effects of (known) non-criteria pollutants.

The Board of Health shares the opinions and findings of the Erie County Medical Society.  We recognize that the operation of this plant will significantly raise the pollutants being emitted into our air, our ground and our water.  According to the literature, the pollutants, both criteria and non-criteria, will have a measurable, definite negative impact on the health of the residents of the City of Erie, the County of Erie and surrounding populations.

The Board of Health is even more concerned when we see and are told that the current regulatory process has such a difficult time monitoring and enforcing pollution controls at a neighboring facility which has been operating out of compliance for years, namely Erie Coke.  All the while, while we had been being assured by DEP that Erie Coke was operating within regulatory compliance, large amounts of non-compliant discharges are finding their way into our environment.

You should also be aware that the Board of Health requested assistance from the PA Department of Health.  As a result, the Bureau of Epidemiology and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is currently reviewing all submitted data and considering the health impacts of the proposed plant.  The Department of Heath is in contact with the DEP and has assured us that this review will be complete and submitted to the Erie County Department of Health and the DEP prior to any final decision being made by the DEP.  The resultant assessment documents will provide information regarding potential exposures and probable adverse health effects associated with such levels of exposure to various compounds.

At this time, based upon the information which we have been provided, the opinion of the Erie County Board of Health is that the operation of the proposed ERE facility will pose a definite short term as well as long term negative health risks and consequences upon the residents of Erie County.  The operation of this plant will also pose a negative risk and consequences to the quality and health of the environment of Erie County.

As always, I welcome comments and discussion, and will be happy to take any questions to the source for clarification!! 

Peter Panepento wrote an amazing post at ‘Outside Erie’ this morning that evoked a ton of thoughts that have crossed my mind in recent days.

Of course, the “Extreme Makeover” has been in the limelight for a few days, and has mobilized private citizens in Erie to volunteer by the hundreds to do their part to make the dream come true for Clara Ward.

As Peter suggested, could this be the catalyst Erie needs in order to begin to revitalize parts of the city that have been ignored for so long?  There is plenty of activity scattered around the main streets.

Reinventing the Griswold Park and surroundings, overhauling Perry Square, upgrading Parade Street.  These are all very important projects that will improve Erie’s visible areas.  What about the unseen, forgotten, neighborhoods?

“What If?” instead of spending 48 million dollars to beautify the Tullio Arena, Governor Rendell could be convinced to divert just 1/48th of the funds to H.A.N.D.S. or Habitat for Humanity to be used solely for revitalizing an entire neighborhood.

How many homes could be fixed up or replaced for a million dollars?

At 50 thousand each, the homes of 20 families could be updated, and an entire neighborhood could be transformed, along with the lives of the folks who live there.

Perhaps a voluntary tick-off for a few dollars dedicated to such a project could be added to city/county tax bills.

I realize this is probably all pie-in-the-sky dreaming, but think of what could happen.  Other families looking for realistically priced housing would now see this shiny new neighborhood and with low-interest loans and tax forgivness begin to spread the newly rebuilt area to nearby areas.

Aside from the benefit to the people who would live there, consider all the jobs and business that would be created during construction.

Maybe each developer who works in Erie could take one home and fix it up each year and receive a tax credit for the amount of money spent.  Think of the great advertising they would receive!  The new business generated would easily be worth the cost.

Maybe a push to renew residential areas would move Erie from a “contender” for All-American City” to a shining example of what community involvement and forward-thinking city officials, working together, could do.

I’m sure others of you have ideas that are better than mine.  Care to share??

It’s been a while since I posted about our health-care system, especially the part that is administered by the government.

I am now retired, after 50 years of paying into the system for my retirement, paying into my own retirement plan, buying my own insurance, paying my own medical bills that the insurance did not cover, and now I just don’t get it.

I went to pick up a small prescription a the pharmacy this  morning, covered for the most part by the insurance (Security Blue) for which I pay 95 dollars to medicare (required) and another 113 dollars for Security Blue monthly to cover what Medicare doesn’t.

The lady before  me in line got 3 different prescriptions and was charged the huge sum of 1 dollar.

As I spoke to the pharmacist who waited on me, I asked if I could get my meds for 1 dollar, to which she answered, “you could if you had her insurance!”  When I asked, how do I get it, the answer was “quit your job and go on welfare.”

My wife and I are both in the infamous Medicare “Gap” during which time pharmaceuticals are no longer covered, and we must pay full price for each one we need.  The year is only half over, and already the amount allotted by Medicare is used up.  Together we will have to pay out of pocket another 9000 dollars for our meds until the end of the year.  This is while I still have to pay over 200 dollars monthly each for insurance which I can’t use. 

I can understand why some seniors are forced to choose between health and nutrition.  I take generics, which is supposed to help with the cost.  Many seniors are on brand names drugs which cost many times more than generics. 

I’m one of the lucky ones who can still afford to buy food and drugs.

Now, if I moved here from another country, had numerous illegitimate children, never had a job or refused to find one, or any of a million other lame excuses, maybe I could go on assistance and get my drugs for nothing.

If I sound angry, I am.

Now our astute leader wants to nationalize the insurance system, so we will have to rely on government largess to live.  It’s pretty much a sure thing that if National Health Care passes, the private insurers will not be able to compete.

If the politicians have not been able to keep Social Security and Medicare afloat, how are they ever going to manage the whole package?

Welcome to the new Socialized State, my friends. 

The national media, such as All Barack News, is already doing anything Obama asks, including their refusal to air any news or ads critical of the Health Care Plan that has been proposed.

Yep, I’m angry as hell, and even more scared than angry.

Your comments are appreciated!

Last week I posted that the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership was named a finalist for Chamber of the Year.  Several commenters had questions as to the operation of the Chamber and its effectiveness as a tool for bringing new business to the Erie area, and in helping existing enterprise to grow and become more profitable.

The Chamber’s website is an excellent source of information, and they publish an on-line version of their Erie Magazine.

In light of the 800 plus membership of the Chamber, and the representation by that membership on the Board of Directors, I have to believe that by and large, the Chamber is fulfilling its duty to the business community.

Have you had experiences in which the Chamber personnel have been of assistance for your business?  Were you satisfied with the response to your requests?  In what ways was the Chamber helpful?

Conversely, do you feel more could have been done to assist you?

I’d like to see your opinions, both pro and con, of your personal experience in utilizing the Chamber to help your business.

Do you think Erie has demonstrated that it deserves to be selected as an “All-American City”?  Apparently some city officials do, as they head off to Florida to plead the city’s case, with Mayor Joe Sinnott leading the charge.

This potential honor could be another tool for the city to use in its quest to lure folks to visit, with the hope that they would feel the enthusiasm for the future and move here.

But is the enthusiasm really there?  While the city is making some progress in revitalizing several separate areas, such as the Griswold Park environs and the Parade Street corridor, far too much of the city is being neglected.  Many neighborhoods are in dire need of attention.

If the city truly cared about its “All-American” image, wouldn’t it make sense to put a large emphasis on creating a livable city, where residents could feel safe and have a sense of pride in their homes and neighborhood?

If one looks at the good work done by Habitat for Humanity, or the folks at H.A.N.D.S, we wish that so much more could be accomplished,
and more families could have nice homes in which to raise their children.

In my opinion, that is much more important than dumping millions of dollars into welcome centers, replacing perfectly good trees with little saplings that will take decades to grow, and filling up the Bayfront with projects that benefit a select few, while restricting access to the Bay for everyone else.

Without emphasis on improving conditions in the lower-income areas, becoming an “All-American City” will just be another example of empty promises to a citizenry seeking hope.

Congratulations to the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership on being named a finalist for the 2009 Chamber of the Year Award, sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives.

This is a great national recognition of the important work being done in the Erie area to help existing businesses improve and encourage establishment of new businesses.  As Erie continues to reinvent itself, honors such as this can only help put out the word to the nation that Erie is indeed a Great Place to do business!!!

“Being named a finalist for the Chamber of the Year Award is a testament to the ERCGP’s leadership role in strengthening the economic vitality of the Erie region,” said CEO Jim Dible. 

Congratulations from the Global Erie Network.

Thanks to my favorite target for furnishing me with ammunition for another post.

The state of Pennsylvania is giving 5.3 million of taxpayer dollars to the Erie Port Authority and Ray Schreckengost to spend as part of a ’smart transportation’ project.

The Authority intends to spend 5 million of the money to build a welcome center for those entering the Bayfront Parkway via Interstate 79.  There is already a park-n-ride lot at 12th and Lincoln, site of the proposed welcome center.  The purpose of the center would be to inform and guide visitors to various points of interest along the Bayfront, I guess by using the free shuttle service.

People, it takes 5 minutes to drive from one end of the Parkway to the other.  How hard can it be for a visitor to find our point of interest? How many places are there along the Parkway for visitors to have a problem in locating them?  I certainly think a few  directional signs would be a sufficient solution, without wasting money on another useless building.

Wouldn’t it be a more sensible use of the money to help develop more commercial business for the Port of Erie?  Jim Berlin, owner of Logistics Plus, with its World Headquarters in Erie, has been advocating increased usage of ‘Highway H-20′ as a cost-cutting method of shipping cargo from East-coast ports to ports along the Great Lakes.

The cost of shipping by water is a small percentage of the tariff for shipping by rail or truck.  Wouldn’t it be wiser to use the state funds to help develop this concept?  The idea is ’smart transportation’, right?

What benefit, if any, will actually come from a visitor center?

Then again, the Port Authority and Mr. Schreckengost do not seem to be in the habit of thinking in terms of smart…..especially when the state hands them millions of dollars of taxpayer money.

Update~check out Jim Berlin’s latest post @ Berlin’s wall concerning Highway H-20