Some good VND reporting on the Tarentum borough council meeting

Yesterday's Valley News Dispatch had a very good article on the same Tarentum Borough Council meeting on which I reported here. I had attended that meeting to support the skatepark, and my intention to advocate for a cause does affect my perceptions of what happened. I appreciate the thorough article in which reporter Tamara Simpson tells what she observed from her more objective perspective.

As the debate continued, residents and council members alike spoke out of turn, interrupted people who were speaking and mumbled offensive remarks to opponents.

This was happening. I have not attended enough meetings of the Tarentum Borough Council to know whether this is the normal way things are done here. There were a bunch of quiet teenagers in front of me. I heard a lot of mumbling behind me, but was not able to make out exactly what was said. The disorder in the room did reach a point where Police Chief Vakulick stepped into the room to tell the crowd to behave in an orderly manner. I did not see or hear an explicit direction from the Council President for the Chief to intervene, but as I have said before, I don't know what is normal for the Tarentum Borough Council meetings.

The VND article also includes a sidebar with a letter from the Tony Hawk Foundation commending the Tarentum Borough for pursuing the skateboard park project. There is a lot of good information on the foundation's website about what needs to happen to get a skatepark into town.

File under : Tarentum, politics, skateboard park