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Community Corner

Are They Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

With county council, (literally) getting in is half the battle.

Welcome to the People's Republic of Northampton County, if you can ever find it. For years, its Council has been widely known as the most dysfunctional legislative body in the Lehigh Valley. Now that seven Republicans are on board, will things change? Don't count on that anytime soon. It's a bipartisan mess. 

Have you ever tried going to a meeting? Unless you do recon missions in Afghanistan, you're gonna' have trouble getting into the place. Most people think you enter a , right?

 Not in the People's Republic of Northampton County. If you're going to a meeting, you have to come in though a side door, so deputies can search you and determine whether you're a terrorist. Do you know how many people have died looking for that door? Bones are scattered everywhere.

At last Thursday's Council meeting, some older gentleman was denied entry at the front door, and was told to use the "employee's entrance." But that's a little hard to find in the night, after they're all gone. He did make his way in, but it's even harder to find a way out, kinda' like a casino. The fourth floor is now the third, the first floor is now the "lower lobby" and so on. 

"I hate the signage around here," complains County Exec John Stoffa. "You pay people for it and a fifth grader could do a better job than we have." 

Maybe he should hire a fifth grader. Or how about this? Open the front door.

By the way, those signs are regularly changed around these days by an engineering firm doing renovations to the parking deck, which is ready to collapse. They're claiming a $513,767 cost overrun on a $1.5 million project. "Unforeseen conditions" is their explanation. Excuse me, but when I can plainly see baling wire being used to hang lights in a 1975 garage, that should be a clue that this is going to be an expensive fix. 

But they're not fifth graders. They're engineers. 

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