Dear hotel opponents, Jonathon Farnham, director of PHC, and the PHC staff were very helpful and cooperative this morning. Mr. Farnham has agreed to cooperate with reproduction of the public record, two cassette tapes, of last years PHC hearings about the Campus Inn. As a vocal critic of the PHC generally, I want to also praise the professionalism and willingness for transparency which I experienced today!
The PA Right To Know Law delineates the process for accessing public records, and this is agreed upon with Mr. Farnham with complete cooperation. I need to borrow the equipment (or have someone accompany me to city hall with it) which can copy cassette tapes at the PHC library during normal business hours, asap! Please help me find access to this equipment by Thursday or Friday! Note: Tomorrow, the developers are requesting the architectural committee to change the “conditional approval in concept” by the PHC to “approval” for the Campus Inn. . Independent transcripts will be produced from the tapes. These will prove to be vital to demonstrate the serious problems with the developer’s official testimony which demands immediate rejection of the Campus Inn. The entire process must begin again after all parties to the Campus Inn explain the serious misrepresentations and directly false statements offered in official testimony! The current application is so tainted by this testimony, that it will be worthless when transcripts are published and thoroughly reviewed! As most opponents know, the government’s approval process, after the initial rejection of the PHC Architectural committee; has been one that has obviously been rubber stamping a project that goes seriously against existing rules and standards without any credible explanation. The Architectural committee had rejected the project, after doing their job of project review, and the members provided their rational for doing so. They justifiably followed the local rules and federal standards when they rendered their decision to reject. Mr. Vincent Rivera, architectural committee, and Mr. Scott Wildes, Office of Housing &Community Development, tried very hard to stop the PHC commissioners from arbitrarily bypassing the architectural committee when the developer’s seriously misrepresented the committee’s rejection. This occurred on Nov. 9th. In an outrageous maneuver, other commissioners backed the serious misrepresentation being provided by the developers that day, and the commission voted to ignore the committee rejection (and their own process for drastically new plans). Without any review of the committee’s actual work, the same commissioners then approved the Campus Inn immediately without any reasons given. (Ms. Sarah Merriman of the Commerce Department and Mr. David Schaaf, RA are identified, in the brief incomplete report generated by PHC staff, as the individuals making both motions.) The complete hearing transcripts will provide the full picture and all statements made. Neighbors, accurate transcripts from these hearings will conclusively show that this project should never have been approved by PHC without going back to committee. Reviewing transcripts along with later evidence will show conclusively that the developers were repeatedly and deliberately offering seriously false testimony at both of these hearings!!!!! The evidence of clearly deliberate misrepresentations and uncorrected false claims, which completely invalidate the entire process and all approvals, must not be "swept under the rug" by our government. Our government must send this project back to the beginning, adding a requirement; (for an explanation from all parties on the development team about the false testimony provided last year) before any new applications should be seriously considered! Everyone makes mistakes, but trust and credibility only come when these are admitted and corrected. Otherwise, no citizens of Philadelphia can have any faith in a fair process for project development, and also no faith that the government protects our rights generally. When confronted with evidence of serious false testimony by developers, and then continuing approval, it would demonstrate that the government serves powerful developers only, and thus would have no credibility in a system of representative democracy! Let's be hopeful. Please help me find the cassette copying equipment, Glenn PS: Time for the rally, 15 and Market! ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
