Friday, July 15, 2011
Potluck #16 - Papa's Got a Brand New Thread
Wow! I'm going to start a new thread because that last one really filled up. Thanks to all who posted those historical articles. Sad to know that during all the strife and politics and blown money and careening budgets, with familiar names woven all through it, the buildings were continuing to decay.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Potluck #15
Summer's in full swing. I hope everyone is enjoying theirs. July is typically a slow news month.
Anything noteworthy or mundane happening out there in Bulldog World?
Let's hear it.
Anything noteworthy or mundane happening out there in Bulldog World?
Let's hear it.
Happy Birthday, Bridge Route!
MORRISVILLEBridge route connecting Morrisville and Trenton turns 150
Posted: Monday, July 11, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 6:46 am, Mon Jul 11, 2011.
Hundreds of cars pass over the Calhoun Street Bridge every day in Morrisville. But travel back to the turn of the 19th century and the scene would have been entirely different.
Then it was hundreds of horses passing over the span connecting East Trenton Avenue in the borough with Calhoun Street in Trenton.
And it wasn’t always called Calhoun Street Bridge.
When the original, 1,274-foot-long covered bridge opened to traffic in summer 1861, it was called the “City Bridge” and remained so until it burned down.
It was reconstructed with iron, eventually getting its current name. The connection between the two municipalities at that spot turned 150 years this month.
The City Bridge was a privately owned toll bridge that officially opened on July 1, 1861, the year the Civil War began.
The bridge was part of the original 3,389-mile long Lincoln Highway — America’s first transcontinental roadway, which connected New York City and San Francisco.
A sign referencing the bridge’s Lincoln Highway past is still visible on its downstream side near the Pennsylvania abutment. The blue and yellow sign — believed to be made of iron — has the Lincoln Highway emblem and arrows pointing to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and San Francisco.
The original wooden bridge was constructed and operated by the Trenton City Bridge Company. Nowadays it’s run by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, which was formed in 1934 and operates seven toll bridges and 13 toll-supported bridges. Two are pedestrian-only spans.
Throughout the decades, the Calhoun Street bridge has undergone changes and a lot of history.
“It’s like a snapshot of the evolution of American transportation,” said Frank G. McCartney, executive director of the commission. “It was a ferry crossing, then a wooden bridge and then an iron structure that continues in service to this day. It has evolved from yesteryear’s horses, wagons and farm animals to the current high-volume commuter traffic volumes of today. The bridge’s storied past also includes a former trolley line and service as the Delaware River crossing point for the Lincoln Highway.”
The wooden bridge consisted of seven spans supported on stone masonry piers and abutments, which still support the current iron bridge superstructure, commission officials said. The covered bridge had been in service for 23 years until June 25, 1884, when a blaze destroyed it. The cause of the fire was believed to have been a careless cigar smoker.
The bridge was replaced but as an iron truss structure, which is what stands today.
It was built in 60 days with 83 workmen. It reopened on Oct. 20, 1884 as the Calhoun Street Toll-Supported Bridge. On that day wagons drawn by 16 horses, seven one-horse vehicles and 175 pedestrians crossed the bridge.
Iron components making up the current bridge were produced by the same company, the Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pa., that manufactured the internal iron support structure for the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital.
In the early days of the iron bridge, horses would make the ride, eventually sharing the road with vehicles. Horses had to be walked, vehicles couldn’t exceed 8 mph, and trucks couldn’t weigh more than 5 tons. If any of these regulations were violated, the fee was $30.
After the reconstruction, the bridge continued to be operated as a privately-owned toll bridge until Pennsylvania and New Jersey purchased it and made it a toll-free bridge on Nov. 14, 1928.
The 126-year-old bridge is the oldest existing vehicular superstructure in continuous use between the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, officials said.
Throughout the years, it has undergone numerous repairs and rehabilitations. The commission’s most recent rehabilitation was completed in 2010, which included repairs of the iron truss, improvements to the bridge rail and sidewalk safety features, along with new lighting and blast cleaning and painting. The $7.2 million rehabilitation project was part of the commission’s ongoing $1.2 billion capital improvement program, officials said.
Keeping the historical integrity of the bridge has won the commission recognition, including an Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Jersey, a Historic Reservation award from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Historic Preservation Office and the New Jersey Historic Sites Council.
Friday, July 8, 2011
20,000 and Counting
Today this blog reached a milestone of 20,000 page views, an average of 200-250 per day. Not too shabby! Thanks to everyone who stops by and/or contributes.
I wish there were more reasoned, fact-based comments from the "other side" other than the predominant "you're a bunch of sour grapes whiny bloghead losers, nothing will ever satisfy you, we're the real leaders in this town and you're sitting around doing nothing other than being a bunch of sour grapes whiny bloghead losers...........", but hey, if that's all you've got, then that's all you've got.
Thanks again!
I wish there were more reasoned, fact-based comments from the "other side" other than the predominant "you're a bunch of sour grapes whiny bloghead losers, nothing will ever satisfy you, we're the real leaders in this town and you're sitting around doing nothing other than being a bunch of sour grapes whiny bloghead losers...........", but hey, if that's all you've got, then that's all you've got.
Thanks again!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
More Bridgework
8 Delaware River bridges to be repaired
Posted: Thursday, July 7, 2011 10:45 am | Updated: 12:09 pm, Thu Jul 7, 2011.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission today announced work has begun on a seven-month-long project to repair eight bridges including two in Morrisville.
The Lumberville-Raven Rock Toll-Supported Pedestrian Bridge between Central Bucks County and Hunterdon County, N.J. will be the first span to undergo work.
Work crews began grearing up at the span next to the Black Bass Inn this week.
Construction will soon follow over the next two weeks at the Lower Trenton ("Trenton Makes") and Calhoun Street toll-supported bridges, two spans that link Trenton with Morrisville.
In most cases, motorists and pedestrians will be unaffected while project construction activities are being performed. The preponderance of work is planned to take place on the masonry substructures below the bridge deck, often out of sight to the general public.
The one notable work element that may raise public curiosity will be the use of cofferdams to carry out the project. These temporary dams will consist of large white bags submerged around various bridge piers, creating spaces that can be pumped free of water to provide workers with dry spaces to carry out masonry repairs below the water line.
The work is being performed under a multi-faceted effort aimed at repairing and rehabilitating the piers and abutments that support 15 of the commission's 20 river crossings.
The project includes above-water and below-water scour remediation -- the placement of rocks around pier abutments and aprons that washed away over time or during flood events. Scour is the leading cause of bridge collapses in the United States, accounting for 60 percent of the nation's highway bridge failures, according to a Federal Highway Administration report.
Other project work activities will include debris removal, concrete and crack repairs, masonry repairs, and pier and apron repair at the bridge foundations.
In addition to the three bridges identified above, the following Commission bridges are to be addressed under the Phase 2 project:
The remaining three bridges -- Washington Crossing, Lumberville-Raven Rock, and I-78 -- will have all work performed under the second phase contract.
An additional bridge -- the Scudder Falls (I-95) Bridge -- also has substructure repair needs, but that crossing is expected to be entirely rebuilt in coming years.
The Lumberville-Raven Rock Toll-Supported Pedestrian Bridge between Central Bucks County and Hunterdon County, N.J. will be the first span to undergo work.
Work crews began grearing up at the span next to the Black Bass Inn this week.
Construction will soon follow over the next two weeks at the Lower Trenton ("Trenton Makes") and Calhoun Street toll-supported bridges, two spans that link Trenton with Morrisville.
In most cases, motorists and pedestrians will be unaffected while project construction activities are being performed. The preponderance of work is planned to take place on the masonry substructures below the bridge deck, often out of sight to the general public.
The one notable work element that may raise public curiosity will be the use of cofferdams to carry out the project. These temporary dams will consist of large white bags submerged around various bridge piers, creating spaces that can be pumped free of water to provide workers with dry spaces to carry out masonry repairs below the water line.
The work is being performed under a multi-faceted effort aimed at repairing and rehabilitating the piers and abutments that support 15 of the commission's 20 river crossings.
The project includes above-water and below-water scour remediation -- the placement of rocks around pier abutments and aprons that washed away over time or during flood events. Scour is the leading cause of bridge collapses in the United States, accounting for 60 percent of the nation's highway bridge failures, according to a Federal Highway Administration report.
Other project work activities will include debris removal, concrete and crack repairs, masonry repairs, and pier and apron repair at the bridge foundations.
In addition to the three bridges identified above, the following Commission bridges are to be addressed under the Phase 2 project:
- Washington Crossing Toll-Supported Bridge
- New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge
- I-78 Toll Bridge
- Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge
- Delaware Water Gap (I-80) Toll Bridge
The remaining three bridges -- Washington Crossing, Lumberville-Raven Rock, and I-78 -- will have all work performed under the second phase contract.
An additional bridge -- the Scudder Falls (I-95) Bridge -- also has substructure repair needs, but that crossing is expected to be entirely rebuilt in coming years.
More information on the commission's initiatives may be found in the Commission Projects section of the agency's website: www.drjtbc.org.
Hey, Don't We Use Delaware Valley High School Too?
.... and wasn't Delaware Valley High School (DVHS) one of the "farm-out" options being explored by the Hellmann Board? I hope we don't have the same kind of payment arrangement as Centennial for the alternative school kids we send to DVHS.
Alternative school suing district
By Manasee WaghStaff writer
PhillyBurbs.com PhillyBurbs.com
An alternative high school for at-risk students wants Centennial School District to pay tuition costs in excess of $50,000 to rectify what it claims is a breach of contract.
Delaware Valley High School filed a lawsuit with the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia against the district June 15. It also sent parents of its students a letter stating that a credit-hold has been placed on all academic work for the past school year, formal transcripts won’t be issued, and Centennial students can’t return in September or be provided official diplomas until the lawsuit is resolved or Centennial pays its outstanding tuition invoices.
The newspaper also received a copy of the letter.
The suit claims that Centennial caused the high school more than $1.4 million in “damages.” It names the district, Director of Student Services Susan Klyman, Superintendent Jennifer Foight-Cressman, former superintendent Thomas Turnbaugh and school board President Andrew Pollock.
The five-year contract with the school, approved by the school board in 2008, stipulates that Centennial pay for 40 seats per year to send students to the school, according to the lawsuit. The per-seat charge for 2008-09 was $8,750 with an additional $1,680 fee for a special education student, the lawsuit states.
But Pollock said Wednesday the agreement states that the district pay tuition for a minimum of 25 seats, plus tuition for any more students the district sends, up to a maximum of 40.
“What they are saying is that we must pay for 40 seats every year, even if we don’t have 40 students going. That’s what the disagreement is about,” he said.
“It sounds like they’re using the students as pawns. I didn’t see that letter, but I don’t think that is something an educational institution should do,” he said.
Delaware Valley provides secondary alternative educational services for students at risk of falling behind academically and having trouble in a traditional classroom setting.
The lawsuit states that Turnbaugh, Centennial’s former superintendent, wrote a letter to the school around April 2010, claiming that Centennial had “overpaid,” and that the agreement did not require payment for 40 seats per year, but only 25.
Centennial then failed to pay its 2010-11 tuition, the lawsuit states.
Turnbaugh’s position was unethical and the nonpayment was “outright illegal conduct” by the district, the lawsuit states.
Foight-Cressman replaced Turnbaugh when he resigned in January, but the district still hasn’t rectified the broken contract, according to the lawsuit.
The high school claims that Centennial’s sudden deviation from the contract was motivated by personal desires to save union jobs at the district’s internal alternative school, Dorothy Henry Satellite School, and that Pollock and administrators Turnbaugh, Klyman and Foight-Cressman knowingly broke the contract and held onto at-risk children, instead of referring them to the alternative high school.
“I guess that’s why we laid off over 20 teachers this year, because we were so interested in saving teachers’ jobs,” Pollock said, in response to the suit’s claims.
“You can be ridiculous in any lawsuit and say anything you want. Proving it is another story,” he added.
Another issue the suit brings up is that the high school spent a great deal of money to place a school in Warminster, within the Centennial School District. It “expended substantial resources... and expended upwards of ($2 million) to acquire and renovate the facility to suit Centennial in exchange for Centennial increasing the original (agreement).”
The newspaper is waiting to see the district’s copy of the agreement.
Assistant Superintendent William Gretton said the district has no comment at this time because the matter is in litigation.
“The district does have a contract with Del Val High School and there is a dispute over the interpretation and ‘intent’ of the contract,” he wrote to the newspaper late Wednesday afternoon.
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching other district administrators for comment. Officials from Delaware Valley High School did not return calls for comment.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
School funding: When less is more (more or less)
School funding: When less is more (more or less)
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett June 29, 2011 in Harrisburg, Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a $550 million cut to basic education funding in addition to the removal of $100 million for Accountability Block Grants for school districts to spend as they see fit, including pre-K or all-day kindergarten programs. He also sliced districts’ reimbursements of their Social Security payments.(AP Photo/Bradley C. Bower)
Related Documents
Posted: Sunday, July 3, 2011 5:45 am | Updated: 8:30 am, Sun Jul 3, 2011.
Pennsylvania lawmakers, a majority of them Republicans, evidently did not like what the new governor, a Republican, did to the funding — or lack thereof — of public schools when he unveiled his first budget proposal in March.
Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a $550 million cut to basic education funding in addition to the removal of $100 million for Accountability Block Grants for school districts to spend as they see fit, including pre-K or all-day kindergarten programs. He also sliced districts’ reimbursements of their Social Security payments.
In the $27.15 billion spending plan the GOP passed last week — without a single Democratic vote — some of that money was restored; $230 million in basic ed funding, all Accountability Block Grant money and a large chunk of the Social Security portion paid by the state.
“It’s certainly not the chainsaw that the governor came out of the gate with,” said Kathy Mosley, president of the Quakertown school board.
Mark Miller, a Centennial school board member and regional director for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, called Corbett’s plan “a surprise attack.”
Whether the improved funding can make a difference in area school districts that cut staff and eliminated programs will be determined by school boards in the summer months. But even with the money added by the General Assembly, school funding to each district will shrink in 2011-12 with the end of the two-year federal stimulus funding.
So even with the state’s $5.35 billion contribution toward Basic Ed Funding, a 4.6 percent increase over what it chipped in a year ago, the feds’ $1 billion is still missing.
That loss, in addition to less property taxes because of the recession, have led to tough times for school boards developing budgets and for unions negotiating contracts. Neshaminy teachers, for example, have been working under terms of a contract that expired nearly three years ago.
Central Bucks is eliminating the equivalent of 120 staff positions while raising taxes 1.3 percent. Under the state’s Act 1 legislation, the board could have raised taxes 1.4 percent.
North Penn is demoting 36 teachers to part-time status and has refused the union’s suggestion of a $35 tax increase to prevent the move after the teachers refused to accept a pay freeze.
Neshaminy instituted cuts to educational programs, including 10th-grade physical education and eighth-grade foreign language classes, and cut staff.
In Quakertown, Haycock Elementary School was closed and six elementary schools redistricted to help balance increasing class sizes and reduce staff. While 11 elementary teaching positions were eliminated, six were actually laid off. Five teachers found positions in other parts of the district. Of the six teachers laid off, five will return as long-term substitutes.
“I’m hoping that with the additional state funding all of those cuts will be looked at,” said Mosley, whose district will receive $840,475 more than the governor proposed. “Personally, I will certainly advocate for repealing the lost jobs, but the board has to make that decision as a whole.”
Of cuts at Neshaminy made before the state budget was finalized, Ritchie Webb, school board president, said, “My gut tells me we will certainly look at that situation.” His district is getting $1.6 million more than expected in the finalized budget.
While Central Bucks is in line for $2.3 million more money restored by the Legislature in its $280.6 million budget, Central Bucks Education Association President Keith Sinn is uncertain what impact it might have.
“It’s still less money than they had previously,” he said. “While the uptick in funding is appreciated, I don’t know that bus routes will be reinstated, that world language won’t be curtailed, or that health and physical education requirements won’t be altered. My best guess is I don’t see some of this coming back.”
Miller, the Centennial board member, doesn’t think his district’s $1.3 million upgrade will do much because it still leaves the district $900,000 shy of its funding from a year ago.
“The impact remains to be seen,” he said.
Hatboro-Horsham is banking on the additional money — $817,434. The administration will spend the next few weeks reviewing finances and preparing recommendations for budgetary changes that will be announced at the Aug. 1 school board meeting, Superintendent Curtis Griffin stated in a press relase.
“We are also conscious that the money restored to us by the state may only be a one-year reprieve,” he stated. “We will be making every effort to use the additional funds wisely and ensure that our decisions will help us to maintain a strong financial position now and in the future.”
Griffin said the additional funds may help to further reduce the number of furloughs the district had planned to initiate. At the time the budget was passed last month, it was anticipated that approximately six positions might be furloughed.
Another press release, this one by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, was not nearly as kind, citing $930 million less that districts will receive this year. It also harped on the elimination of most Act 1 exceptions that will force districts to go to a voter referendum for any tax increases above the yearly index.
“Lower state funding, monumental pension increases, higher energy and health care costs, no mandate relief and now weakened authority to raise revenue will be difficult to manage,” said Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel. “We are very concerned that the final state budget did not consider public education a wise investment in the future of our children. It is a short-sighted policy move that will ultimately harm the commonwealth.”
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