To the editor:
Time: 7 p.m. Place: I wish that I could tell you, but the meeting has not been promptly posted on the township website and that has been the persistent problem.
Despite the shenanigans of what could be said to be the least transparent Hopewell Township Committee in many years, the Kuchinski-Blake administration was finally forced to schedule a township committee-conducted Affordable Housing/Zaitz tract/Diverty roadway/Work-session on February 15, 2018
Sort of.
As of the submission of this letter to the editor, which is approximately one week after dozens of residents demanded to know what the township committee had already planned for the Diverty neighborhood without resident input, the promised meeting has not been posted on the township website.
Then again, the Kuchinski-Blake administration has a well-deserved reputation for stifling public participation by: fast-tracking, failing to schedule work-sessions, not giving the public more than 48-hours notice of special meetings, or, at a special meeting on January 16, saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. Although Mayor Kuchinski promised a “robust out-reach program” to Diverty area residents at that meeting, he not only did not keep his promise, but fast-tracked an ordinance at the following meeting to enable the township to put a road through the Diverty neighborhood. Apparently, when he saw several dozen residents in attendance, that is, when he got caught fast-tracking, he pulled the ordinance from the agenda and announced the work-session. Unbelievably, both he and Deputy Mayor Julie Blake claimed that they intended to have a work-session all along.
Finally, the work-session has been announced and will be held on Thursday, February 15, at 7 p.m., somewhere, unless of course the Kuchinski-Blake administration has stumbled upon a new scheme to stifle public participation.
Harvey Lester
Titusville