Upper Nazareth Resident Seeks Light

Upper Nazareth resident and Express-Times editor Joe Owens called me out on his blog (read it here) for not covering his editorial depicting a recent Upper Nazareth Township Supervisors meeting (read it here).

I replied on his site, but did note that I would make mention of it here as well.

In short, Owens spent a night at a recent meeting and requested two street lights be fixed. From his editorial, it appears the lights were installed by the developer, I'd assume the electric bill is paid by the township, and now the cost to repair is also on the township. Simple solution - don't fix them - save money. Fix them - pay more. So they've gone for a year without being fixed.

To me this is the problem the townships have when they make special arrangements with developers. They don't plan/think these things through long-term. More requirements should be put on the developers. Require sidewalks. Require a recreational area in the neighborhood. Require street improvements leading to the development. Consider where school buses will pick up these students or how these students will walk to school. And consider how these things will be maintained and paid for over time.

So many developments have been created it seems almost too late, but I hope moving forward more thought is given to these issues.