Welcome to the Coatesville Dems Blog

Public Corruption in Chester County, PA

I believe an unlikely mix of alleged drug trafficking related politicos and alleged white nationalist related politicos united to elect the infamous “Bloc of Four” in the abysmal voter turnout election of 2005. During their four year term the drug business was good again and white nationalists used Coatesville as an example on white supremacist websites like “Stormfront”. Strong community organization and support from law enforcement, in particular Chester County District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll has begun to turn our community around. The Chester County drug trafficking that I believe centers on Coatesville continues and I believe we still have public officials in place that profit from the drug sales. But the people here are amazing and continue to work against the odds to make Coatesville a good place to live.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Why does Linda Lavender Norris want to fire Det. Thompson, Chief Laufer & Coatesville City Manager Michael Trio?

Coatesville City Councilperson Linda Lavender Norris allegedly said on several occasions that she wants to fire Coatesville Police Detective Thompson.  Chief Laufer will not fire Detective Thompson and the Coatesville City Manager is also against firing Det. Thompson. So Linda Lavender Norris evidently wants all three purged from the City of Coatesville.

Why is Linda Lavender Norris so vindictive?

Does she have a grudge against Coatesville Police for arresting her friend and associate the former business manager at Pennsylvania Legislator Tim Hennessey’s Coatesville Office Lisa Johnson for manufacturing and distributing crack cocaine?

See:


Is a she friend of Andre Fiorentino’s family?

Does she think she will be a hero in Coatesville’s drug selling community?

“Think it can't happen? 

Keep in mind that the City of Coatesville has already canned or forced out City Manager Kerby Hudson, Public Works Director Don Wilkinson and Codes Officer Damalier Molina. All three had major shouting match disagreements with City Council President Linda Lavender Norris.”

SEE:
Friday, November 6, 2015
ALSO SEE:
Monday, January 12, 2015

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

While we watched Trump/Russia, Trump & GOP are busy destroying local steel mill communities like Coatesville, PA.

COATESVILLE >> The Coatesville Area Senior Center (CASC) has found new life as it continues to offer programs and services for seniors at a new location in the city. Area seniors, CASC staff and board members, and local elected officials met for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new building at 250 Harmony St. Wednesday morning 
MORE AT: 
Coatesville Area Senior Center opens new facility 
By Lucas Rodgers, lrodgers@21st-centurymedia.com, @LucasMRodgers on Twitter
Updated: on 09/07/2016


Trump and the Republicans want to take our ability to create things like the new Coatesville Senior Center away. 


"One of the items that caught attention was a planned end to the Community Development Block Grant program. Many focused on an incorrect claim that the action would mean an end to all funding of Meals on Wheels programs throughout the country (the bulk of national funding comes through the Older Americans Act Title IIIC). However, CDBG is much bigger and, as it turns out, a cut would hit every state in the union. 

CDBG is a series of block grants made to states and municipalities. Local organizations parcel out the funds, which are integral to the operation of many community-based non-profits. They include local groups that provide meals to seniors, daycare centers for people of low income (many local Head Start programs, for example), network revitalization, economic development, infrastructure and public services, and more. Is there waste? Perhaps. Is there good done? From what I've seen, yes." 

MORE AT: 
Forbes 

Trump Community Development Block Grant Cut Would Affect Millions 

MAR 18, 2017 @ 10:23 AM 4,354
Erik Sherman ,   CONTRIBUTOR

The Trump budget calls for the elimination of Community Development Block Grants. This is devastating to the redevelopment of the City of Coatesville.

"President Trump has presented his first budget proposal, a document containing many surprises, and quite a few points that have alarmed various groups of people from housing advocates to environmentalists to diplomats. Count me among the alarmed. In Pennsylvania, Counties are on the front lines of spending on human services. We leverage a wide range of tax dollars from the Federal and State Governments to run important intervention programs through our various departments. We also work closely with the non-profit community, which is heavily supported by government grants to do the hard work serving our vulnerable citizens."In the past 10 years, Chester County has received over $21 million in funding from Community Block Grants. Of that massive sum, almost $15 Million went to non-profits doing fantastic work or to county departments directly serving clients. Some examples are almost $1 million for the Domestic Violence Center, almost $300,000 for the Charles A. Melton community center in West Chester, over $333,000 for La Comunidad Hispana in Kennett Square, over $2 million to renovate several senior centers and Millions more for various religiously affiliated charities...
Another $7 million went directly to municipalities for various local projects. For instance, the City of Coatesville received over $900,000 for street improvements, building demolition and storm sewer repair. In all, 11 boroughs and townships received grants through this program, which supplements significant investment by the County’s open space preservation and urban center revitalization program. 
In 2016 alone, the County’s Department of Community Development reports that 6,940 Chester County residents benefited from Community Development Block Grant funded activities by either having infrastructure improvements in their neighborhood, their home rehabilitated or their favorite senior center renovated to be more useful for them. 
Trump Budget Director Mick Mulvaney defended the elimination of this funding stream by saying that we do not see any “return on investment.” 
Clearly, Mulvaney has not thought it through. When a non-profit uses this money to help a family overcome homelessness, that family can once again contribute to the economy. When a senior gets access to regular hot meals, their family can experience benefits to their bottom line and their peace of mind. When a small town can make infrastructure improvements, it helps small businesses. The examples are endless. Return on investment on this spending is amazing, whether measured in economic activity or by the improvement of actual people’s lives. 
In short, the Community Development Block Grant program has a far-reaching impact on our community. At the County, we would face hard choices between raising taxes and cutting services – or likely a mix of both. Even local governments would feel the pinch with less revitalization money available, and I don’t even want to consider what will happen in Harrisburg where they are dealing with a mess already! 
But even more critically, anyone who is a donor or volunteer with a local non-profit, or even a large non-profit doing work locally, should be troubled by this proposal. Chances are, your favorite organization’s programs would be scaled back by the Trump budget. The full price will be paid by our seniors, our children and our neighbors dealing with homelessness, drug addiction, hunger or family crisis." 
MORE AT: 
Op/Ed: Block grant cuts will be devastating 

Apr 5th, 2017 ·  

By Kathi Cozzone, Chester County Commissioner
It's a good thing Obama was president when Jim DePetris of DEPG proposed building the Coatesville Gateway Retail and Residential project in Coatesville, PA. 
"The presentation came as part of a public hearing in which DEPG asked for the city’s sponsorship in pursuing a Chester County Revitalization Program grant that would help pay for a parking garage on the north side of Diamond Street to accommodate the $21 million business plan."

DEPG wants to bring restaurants, retail, homes to Coatesville 
Feb 25th, 2015 · 

Developer wants support to seek grant for parking garageBy Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times






Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Chauncey DeVaga has it partly right, at least in PA where I am a Democratic Committee person.

Salon 
Bernie is wrong and Malcolm was right: What white liberals so often get wrong about racism and Donald Trump 

White progressives have a tough time confronting racism — as Bernie Sanders, a hero in many ways, has made clear 

Chauncey DeVega



First some of my background:

I've been tracking white nationalists and anti-government people for almost 30 years.
I grew up in an integrated neighborhood in Coatesville PA, a partly black steel town in Chester County, PA. I don't feel comfortable in an all white community.  I know how they think. 
While driving along Chester County’s rolling hills you will see Confederate flags flying from white nationalist homes. It’s not safe for a black person to walk alone on a rural Chester County road.
My next-door neighbors for the first 17 years of my life were Dr. Lewis Stokes and his wife Ms. Barbara Stokes. Dr. Stokes was a pioneering Black physician who was active in the NAACP.
A relative of mine was allegedly the teenage boy that pushed Zachariah Walker back into the fire when he was lynched in Coatesville on August of 1911. Later he was most likely the man who lit a cross on my Uncle Lou’s yard.


In the local elections in Coatesville 2015:

I tried to warn Coatesville voters that while the some of people running for Coatesville City Council are Black, their campaign manager was a White Nationalist John Birch Society member.  

SEE:

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Shortly after Pat Sellers’ “Bloc of Four” Coatesville City Council was elected our police Chief Dominick P. Bellizzie left because he had no support from the 4 member majority "Bloc of Four" city council. Chief Matthews, a fake police chief was installed. One half of the Coatesville PD left for higher paying jobs. On a weekend there was one officer on duty in a town with a crime rate similar to North Philly. The ensuing lawlessness became an attraction for arsonists and Coatesville nearly burned down. I think Pat Sellers would have played a fiddle upon learning that Coatesville was burning if he had one. Harry Walker, the Coatesville City Manager at the time, was a former business partner of Pat Sellers. 
  
SEE:


I’m familiar with racism and racists.

People hate and fear different people they don’t know. Its why people in Montana that never saw black men are afraid of black men. It’s why a man I met in Gardner Montana told me he brought his handgun with him to Independence Mall at the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 and risked arrest. And racists say they're not racists because they have black friends. 

On February 17th of 2016 before the GOP or Democratic Conventions I wrote:

"In a Trump vs. Clinton general election, I think Trump would win Pennsylvania."

Wednesday, February 17, 2016




Bernie Sanders knows what he's doing.

Don't confuse treating people with dignity with soft headedness. Bernie Sanders doesn't expect support from the hard-core racist/Neo-Nazi Republican Base. But some Democrats that voted for Trump are persuadable.
And most importantly, Trump didn't win, Clinton lost. Clinton lost because most Democrats didn't vote and many of the very few that did, voted against Hillary and mostly for Trump. 
Many Black women don't respect Hillary because she stayed with her many timer husband. And Clinton is responsible for putting Black men in prison and giving us the biggest prison system on earth.
Clinton and most of the DNC know what they're doing too, but what they do is take in money, whether or not they win elections is optional.
If Clinton and her corporate backers did not conduct a subversive campaign against Sanders, he would have been President Sanders.



By the way Trump is unequivocally a Nazi. But it's the other N word.

The New York Times or maybe Salon should write that Trump is a Nazi before it's too late.