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I originally promised to write about last nights council meeting in West Easton, but after several attempts I’ve given up.

I do try to be fair handed when possible, which is why I will not write about specifics of the meeting last night.

Currently the 2-hour long video is rendering into a format that can be viewed on your computer. My video program tells me it will be completed in about 10 hours, which means sometime this evening I will be able to upload it to my server and then post it here. UPDATE: Due to the length of the video, downloading directly from my server took too long. I have uploaded it to Youtube instead.

I suffered through the meeting and if you really want to know what went on without opinions of others (like me), you can view it for yourself. Though, you’ll have the luxury of being able to fast forward if you wish.

This is probably the best way for you to form your own opinion about the meeting.

You can judge for yourself who is right or wrong. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

I will only submit the following:

Governance of a community isn’t an easy task. Those who represent West Easton do so for a pittance compared to some other communities. If my facts are correct, councilpersons are paid $900/yr and the Mayor earns $1100/yr, serving West Easton. It’s hardly worth the aggravation, especially when a venomous individual is among the constituents and has little self control.

I’ve lauded the Mayor and Council at times for things they have done for the borough. I’ve also judged them poorly for policies and decisions I don’t agree with. The policy of Right To Know Requests for every scrap of paper comes to mind and at last nights meeting Mayor Gross said that we are saving 8 mills by not having a contract with the City of Easton to provide police coverage. That savings seems to be viewed as a windfall of some kind, with an eagerness to spend it, rather than alleviate part of the residents tax burden.

However, I’ll wait until the 2nd council meeting on September 22nd to see exactly what the money is being spent on and why, before I make my decision on the matter of spending.

What all of us, myself included, should remember is that there are over 1200 residents in this borough. Just to make the math easy, lets assume that consists of 800 adults of voting age. People bitch about local government but it’s a rare occasion when more than a half dozen people attend a meeting.

Last night there were 7 residents, including myself. Four walked out. Three during the council arguing with each other and Mezzacappa also left, but not before throwing another one of her insults toward Kelly Gross.

To continue, a vacant council seat gets one application, if they can find somebody willing to fill a seat. Last night was a shocker to find that a second person wished to be considered. Much of it is due to the hate blog Mezzacappa publishes, but she isn’t the total problem. A lot of it comes from the apathy of residents.

Few run opposed at election time and the one who does run in opposition couldn’t buy an election.

When the video is posted it will be one of the few times I’ll allow comments (at bottom of this page) and here is how it works:

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