Treevitalize Program in Jeopardy

Well, this isn't the happiest blog entry I've had to make.

At their last meeting, Lehigh County Commissioners voted down the Treevitalize program. This involved voting no to accepting the funding for the program from the state, no to an intergovernmental agreement to run this program with Northampton County and no to the allocation of grant money via the Streetscape Amenities program. Even more unfortunately, the County also voted no to a $7,500 Master Plan grant that Macungie had applied for and been awarded. Commissioners voted 3-3 against accepting the funding for the program (Commissioners Jones, Eckhart and Leiner voted yes, Dougherty, Roman and Browning voted no and Hamm, McCarthy and Raber were absent). Commissioner Eckhart then voted no on the intergovernmental agreement and the allocation of the grant funding.

The rationalle for declining this free state money, according to a statement made by Commissioner Browning on Lehigh Valley Ramblings, is that "The funding priorities of the State need to be readjusted." Commissioner Browning notes that the state has made severe reductions in human services funding and expects the County to pick up the costs. I think we can all sympathize with his concerns - there is no question that Counties are suffering with recent state funding cuts.

That being said, I don't see how voting no to accepting funding to Quality of Life grant funding will force the state to adjust its funding stream. Will funding in other areas because Lehigh County voted down this grant? Of course not. Instead, it will just result in Lehigh and Northampton losing funding and other areas gaining it. Voting no to one source of funding will not increase it in others.

The failure to accept this funding affects every municipality in Lehigh and Northampton counties that were planning on applying for this grant. In Alburtis and Coopersburg, public meetings have been held on where to put these trees and what types of trees should be placed. In many municipalities, expenditures have already been made under the assumption that the costs would be reimbursed by the County. Should these municipalities now be left out in the cold?

Fortunately, since three Commissioners were absent, there will be a revote on this issue. The next Commissioner meeting will be December 10, 7:30pm at the Lehigh County Government Center (7 S. 17th Street in Allentown). If you are able, I encourage you to attend the meeting and let your thoughts be heard. I also encourage you to contact the Commissioners office at 610-782-3050 for the same reason.

This program is very important to enhancing the quality of life throughout the Lehigh Valley. I hope you will join me in ensuring that this decision does hurt the efforts of the many revitalization programs that are in progress as we speak.