The reason? Greene started a web site and continues to host it (visit Greene's site here), because the township site has little to no information of value (visit the LNT site here). Greene's site includes public documents such as township meeting minutes, so residents can keep informed of what is happening even if they don't go to the meetings (same philosophy of this site).
Previously Greene included commentary on this site, but at the request of LNT officials he set up a separate site for commentary and public discussion. As a result Greene maintains both the web site and a blog (visit his blog here).
So what is the problem? According to the official minutes:
He [Tenges] stated he felt that it is extremely unfair of Mr. Greene to sit through a presentation or discussion of the Board, not ask a single question regarding a particular topic and then proceed to post the subject on his web site along with conjecture and innuendo about the topic.And:
He [Tenges] feels Mr. Greene twists things to imply the township is doing something underhanded. Mr. Tenges commented that he has tolerated these tactics long enough and felt it was time to speak out about them.And:
Mr. Greene also stated that he told Mr. Tenges that if anything on the site is untrue he will remove it immediately. Mr. Kucsan [a supervisor] remarked that his statements are not necessarily untrue; it's the innuendos behind the statements.The minutes go on to say what a disservice Joe is doing, how he misleads people and a host of other things he is doing wrong. The one thing they fail to mention, the biggest reason in my opinion that this site bothers Mr. Tenges, is because the people who are not at the meetings are finding out what is happening and Mr. Tenges and the Supervisors don't always look so good.
I scrolled through the web site. It is amazing. It has every meeting for the year in a table with links to the approved minutes, and there is an archive for earlier years. This is better than what most municipal sites offer residents. I could see no commentary or innuendo in these pages - pure information.
Then I visited the blog and picked a blog post (I found nothing related to innuendo and questions on his web site) at random from April 10 (read it here).
Turned out to be a perfect example of why Tenges doesn't like Joe Greene and felt compelled to attack him.
In summary, for 11 years the Corvette Club of Easton used the Crossings to hold Cruise Nights and all proceeds went to Camelot House for Children. There had been no problems and businesses supported the increased traffic/sales during these events. When the club made the request for 2008, Tenges turned them down. As a result a rep from the club came to the April meeting to plead his case to the Supervisors. When some sympathy came from supervisors, Tenges told them it wasn't their place to decide, it was a zoning issue. Thank you, good-bye, case closed.
Greene reported what happened in his own words and shared them.
Is this a problem? Not in my book.
Keep up the good work Joe, and if you live in Lower Nazareth, be sure to keep up to date on the happenings by visiting his site regularly and posting your comments.
Bernie O'Hare on Lehigh Valley Ramblings has a post on this same topic today (read it here).
5 comments:
Welcome to an LNT BOS meeting. I used to go to them, but became so disgusted at the way citizens of this township are routinely berated in public by not only the Tenges, but by the supervisors as well.
Last I heard, we still have our First Amendment rights, and can pretty much say what we want as long as it doesn't venture into the libel or slander arena.
In the case of Tenges and the BOS, that would be difficult to do.
Tenges should either immediately resign or be fired. He works FOR the citizens of LNT, not the other way around which appears to me at least to be the way he thinks.
Transparency will set you free LNT!
I applaud Joe for the time and effort he is DONATING to the township.
Ditto, to Ross!
Everybody should attend a LNT Supervisors meeting (at least once!). My personal favorite was when a resident questioned the storm water management because his home which had never flooded for over 20 years now always took water after rain since the new development behind his home. With a smile, a supervisor replied 'I don't know what to tell you, water runs downhill'. Several other supervisors quietly laughed and looked down. When the man tried to continue to talk, the egg timer came out and he was dismissed. True story. How do they get away with this behavior? Joe Greene-- you are doing a good thing. Thank you.
First, Joe, you must be doing a good job if it brought this type of reaction from Timmy. All of us in LNT thank you for your hard work. How you have the stomach to continually go to these meetings is beyond me.
Timmy clearly does not like the public knowing what he is saying or doing. The last BOS meeting I attended (and it was some time back), Timmy first asked for an increase in the mileage reimbursement rate due to rising gas prices, then in the second breath, asked the BOS to approve the purchase of a new township vehicle for him to use. A nice gas guzzling SUV.
It is clear that he views LNT as his own little fiefdom and we are there to serve him, not the other way around.
Like others posting here, I have seen the despicable way they have treated the citizens of this community. Timmy, the BOS, the solicitor and engineer included.
It might be fun idea to take a web cam to one of these meetings and web cast it. Our own live version of Mayberry RFD.
Mr. Tenges, since we know you read this blob:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
First Amendment, U.S. Constitution, just in case you need it for reference.
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