I went last night.
It looked the same as the No Casino meetings that they held at the Fire Station.
Lots of No Casino supporters there, with a few of the Pro crowd.
To his credit, Al Ferranto didn't run it as a No Cas meeting though.
What he DID do though, was to throw out a lot of numbers, and try to make something out of them.
What he can't figure out, he made up conspiracy theories about...
"Where does that go? Why is that moved there? How can they justify this?"I would have expected him to have done his homework, seeing how he's had 9 months to prepare, but he didn't.
There were many questions he asked that, had he been reading the local papers, he would have had the answers.
He needs to come up to speed before jumping on people.
His concerns about "transparency in government" are good in theory, but I think he wants to be kept up to date with every issue going on in the Township - like maybe he should be on an email list or a phone tree, or something.
"Why didn't WE know about this?" seems to be a common question.
There are a LOT of things we don't know in government, and a few things we have no need to know until it's time.
Now if ANYONE knows how difficult it is to deal with local government here, it's ME!
Al even conceded that most of the Township procedures are performed at the workshops.
Just like the Borough Council and their "Committee Meetings", that's where the sausage is being made.
By the time the Supervisors meet, they've worked it out, and all we see are the final discussions and voting on the Agenda Items.
Not much happens at those meetings.
A member in the audience (don't know his affiliation) requested that the CCCT have a Forum where we could discuss these issues.
And, as I told Al after the meeting , that's EXACTLY why we have BoroVENT.
He complained about the 5 minute speaker rule.
Hell Al, In the past 5 or 6 years, I think I've been able to speak about 2 hours total!
Ferranto seemed to be non-aggressive, and non-confrontational, which is contrary to the way I've seen him before at meetings.
I was expecting a lot more ranting and a lot of "hallelujah" from the crowd.
There was a short Q&A where Richard Kitner, Jim Paddock, and a few others spoke.
Actually the crowd was well-behaved no matter which "side" spoke ...until I began to speak.
Then they began the grumblings and interruptions.
Everyone else was afforded the decency of silence while they spoke.
Goes to show you the No Casino Gettysburg influence in the room.
But here's MY theory...
Al Ferranto wants to run for Township Supervisor, and he is using this as a springboard.
