Let me thank Tyrone Borough Council for the great publicity shared at its meeting last Monday towards this column.
I’m glad to see that someone is reading it. Furthermore, I did understand the borough only owned and plowed Pennsylvania Avenue for one year and I apologize in the way I worded that in my column last week.
However, I must say the same word three times. Excuses, excuses, excuses.
When it comes to snow removal on the curbs and parking spaces of downtown Tyrone, we sure have gotten the run around. So let me again address it this week in the form of 20 questions based on the response of council on Monday night.
Now understand that I’m NOT complaining about the borough road crews and their plowing. I’m again talking just about removing the snow on the curbs and parking spaces of Pennsylvania Avenue, Tenth Street and Logan Avenue in downtown Tyrone. So please STOP the spin!!
Dear mayor and council, do you know that Bellwood is not a county seat? Did you know that Bellwood removed the snow from its downtown curbs and parking spaces within a few days of the major snow storm? Did you know that the mayor of Bellwood stood with me in front of Daily Herald, just a few days after the storm and said “I can’t believe they haven’t removed this snow downtown yet. We did?”
Did you know that Blair County does not use county plows to plow out Hollidaysburg? Did you know that with your new four-by-four backhoe you can remove the snow from the curbs and parking spaces on Pennsylvania Avenue and Tenth Street?
Did you not realize that the businesses do a great job of keeping the new Streetscape sidewalks shoveled and salted? Do you understand that the snow could be removed in one evening when businesses are closed? Do you understand that if you asked for volunteers to assist, you might find a few?
If PENNDOT is in charge of Pennsylvania Avenue then why do we see the street cleaner running on the street? So the borough can clean Pennsylvania Avenue, but it can’t remove the snow from its curbs? Do you know the snow didn’t harden for at least three or four days? And that a 20-year-old young man in a bobcat removed the snow in front and back of Columbia Ancillary in forty minutes?
When did I ever say that you should use plows on the sidewalks? Are the communities of Philipsburg, Blairsville, and Punxsutawney also county seats? They also removed all their snow and are in the same population status as Tyrone. Did you know that several former borough councilmen shared with me this week that they would have insisted that the snow be removed and had done so when they were in office?
In closing, let’s hope the upcoming warmer temperatures does the melting job that the borough refuses to do. This newspaper writes positive stories on our area 95 percent of the time – saving the other five percent to offer our views on issues that we feel are important.
Why can’t the Borough live with that?
I promise that I will be positive the rest of the way. Congratulations to Patrice’s Boutique on its grand opening. It is a beautiful and welcome addition to downtown Tyrone.
I was watching a PBS special on WPSX out of State College last Sunday. It was entitled “Sandwiches That We All Love” and featured restaurants, diners and bars from across the country and the sandwiches that made them famous. As I was viewing the show I kept waiting to see when East End and its hoagies would be featured.
When it wasn’t, I couldn’t believe that a State College produced show would not have made the trip to Tyrone. Then I found out that the show was produced by WQED in Pittsburgh. So why didn’t they make the trip to East End?
I want to personally thank everyone that has brought photos into our office for our upcoming historical pictorial later this month. There are some incredible and rare shots of people, places and things from Tyrone’s past. I have heard there are some great photos owned by Cathy Hoover of what is called Death Valley near Tyrone. I would love to see them.
Here’s one difference between Tyrone and where I live. The photos of service men and women continues to grow in the front window of Columbia Ancillary. I took this wonderful idea home to Indiana and presented it to a bank there. They loved it at first! Then they backed off from doing the concept for fear of anti-war protests from the students of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In my book it was a cop out. Here in Tyrone its great to see people stop and look at these photos!
I’m thinking of remodeling the upstairs apartment in our new building with the purpose of giving myself a residency here in Tyrone. I don’t want anyone to feel that I live the life of luxury in Indiana.
Have a wonderful weekend and prepare for what could be the start of war in our nation in the next few weeks. God Bless and thanks for reading!
