Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
PLCM BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF CORE COMMUNITIES IN CRISIS TASK FORCE REPORT AND CALL TO ACTION
November 22, 2010
More at:PLCM BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF CORE COMMUNITIES IN CRISISTASK FORCE REPORT AND CALL TO ACTIONHarrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities (PLCM) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the release of the much awaited Core Communities in Crisis Task Force Report and Call to Action. The Report provides a vision with detailed recommendations for needed change and reform in three key areas of crisis: Isolation of Core CommunitiesWithin Their Regions; Mandated Costs, Policies and Procedures; and Inability of Municipalities to Fund and Provide for the Health, Safety and Welfare of Citizens.PLCM Board members approved the Task Force Report during a meeting held earlier today and announced its release at a press briefing held immediately following the formal gathering.In an effort to increase awareness and address the serious and immediate crisis facing our urban centers, the League formed the Core Communities in Crisis Task Force earlier this summer, charging it with identifying the problems confronting core communities, determining viable solutions to those problems, and providing recommendations to present to the new Governor and General Assembly in 2011.Archaic codes, an inflexible local taxing structure, mandated personnel benefits, and explosive personnel and service costs are placing severe financial hardship on our core communities. In October 2010, the twentieth community sought help under the Commonwealth’s Act 47 Distressed Municipality Program.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Ferlin Charles, medical foster home coordinator, for the Veterans Administration Hospital of Coatesville at the Coatesville City Council Meeting December 13, 2010
Veterans Adm Foster Home Ms Ferlin Charles.mp3
Ms. Charles made a presentation to the Coatesville City Council and to the public.
“It’s a relatively new program… Nationally it’s been around for about 2 years. And I wanted to reach out to Coatesville residents as I search for homes for care givers who are willing to open their homes for veterans…Basically our veterans will be World War II Veterans, Vietnam Veterans and across the country we have… Iraq Veterans. Part of my job is to find caregivers in the community pool to provide 24 hour care with physician support.
Veterans out of his or her pocket will reimburse the care giver…The compensation can be $1,500 a month to $2,500 a month depending upon the level of care.
One of the things that we prefer is that the bedroom is on the first floor. If you have a bedroom on the second floor you have to have a sprinkler system… I’ve met some caregivers who are willing to convert a living room or dining room on the first floor for that veteran."
Councilperson Jarrell Brazzle asked, “How many veterans can you have in a house?”
Ms. Charles replied, “Each home cannot have any more than 3 veterans. I would like to have 2 or 3 veterans in each home rather than by his or her self unless they absolutely insist…
We have a home based primary medical team that goes into the home and provides services and I’m also in the home as an assistant on a regular basis."
Coatesville City Council President Ed Simpson asked, “Now the veterans that need assisted living to have medications given, would they be in the homes?”
Ms. Charles, “Yes.”
Mr. Simpson, “And somebody, a nurse would come out every day?
Ms. Charles, “Absolutely not, “The nurse would provide the support. The caregiver would be the one that would provide the medication…
The caregiver is trained to administer these medications and then the nurse obviously is there for support."
Mr. Brazzle, “Does the caregiver have to live in the house with the veteran?”
Ms. Charles, “Absolutely; the VA has a program where the caregivers don’t have to live in the home. That’s not this program. This program is a little bit more personal than the other program. And also that program that is not within a home can have more than 3 residents…”
It covers the entire Coatesville area to about 30 miles out from the Veteran’s Hospital in Coatesville.
Ms. Charles, “There is a very strict application process. Every applicant has to go through an FBI background check, medical clearances, they have to be 21 years or older. They have to have some kind of experience taking care others; if you say I’ve been taking care of my dad, that’s enough.
If you are accepted into the program you might not get a veteran right away because the matching process also takes a while.”
The veterans in the Foster Care Program tend to be elderly veterans.
Ms. Charles, “It’s a process but the end result is well worth it.”
There is much more on the recording.
If you are interested in the Medical Foster Home Care Program, please contact Ferlin Charles, medical foster home coordinator, at 610-466-2273.
Daily Local News:
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Recognition of Officer Rodger H. Ollis Community Policing Officer of the City of Coatesville
Coatesville City Council President Ed Simpson:
“Councilman Jarrell Brazzle recently had the occasion to witness Police Officer Rodger Ollis interacting with the children and would like to recognize him for his dedication to his job as Community Policing Officer for our Police Department. A resolution has been prepared for this purpose and will be presented for Council’s approval by Councilman Brazzle.”
Mr. Brazzle was using crutches because of a knee injury and passed the honor of presenting the declaration to Coatesville City Council President Ed Simpson.
Recognition of Police Officer Rodger Ollis
“Whereas the City of Coatesville received a Federal Weed and Seed Grant for the creation of a Community Policing Officer, whose responsibilities include interacting with the citizens of the community being a liaison between the Police Department and the community.
And whereas Officer Rodger Ollis was designated to the position of Community Policing Officer and has become well known and respected in the Coatesville community through his dedication to the position and through interacting with many citizens and especially the youth of Coatesville demonstrating his true caring for Coatesville’s people and desire to be of assistance in any way possible to help everyone to be part of the community.
And whereas Officer Ollis was caught doing something right by Councilman Jarrell Brazzle on Tuesday December 7th when he witnessed Officer Ollis interacting with several youths through exchanges of discussions and activities in which the youth seemed truly engrossed with the Officer and having fun, which demonstrated Officer Ollis’ character and understanding of the importance of his position as Community Policing Officer.
Now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Coatesville that it does extend its appreciation to Community Policing Officer Rodger Ollis for his dedication to his position, to the community, to the citizens and particularly the youth of Coatesville through his continued interaction and activities to put the Police Department and City Government in the best light with those he comes in contact.
Approved this Thirteenth Day of December Two Thousand and Ten.”
City Councilman Karl Marking added that Officer Ollis was very helpful at the Halloween Parade.
City Councilperson Jarrell Brazzle had a few words to say:
“Let me explain what he actually did. I was driving past Scott Middle School and I just glanced over real quick and I see this officer out interacting with the kids. The kids were helping him pick up trash and put in the trash can. And he was actually racing with the kids and the kids were just laughing and having a great time.
And so I actually came back around right back around to Scott and actually got out and actually spoke to him and it was just amazing to see that interaction with the community and officer. As long as I have been here, I’ve not seen that often…That’s why I wanted to honor him.”
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The $137 million settlement from Bank of America to DASD seems like a good deal, right?
Wrong, the SEC and the USDoJ probably can’t use evidence in their fraud lawsuit in a criminal prosecution. I think Bank of America won.
Richard Cordray, Former Ohio AG:
Every foreclosure done with falsified affidavits was improper.
The fact it happened repeatedly makes it worse.
Ally (GMAC), Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase admitted to this practice.
Cordray: Apparently they had "fraud as a business model."
CNBC October 15, 2010
From:
Presentation to the Federal Housing Finance Agency Supervision Summit, Washington, D.C.
Janet Tavakoli, President, Tavakoli Structured Finance, Inc.
December 8, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Joe Pitts, Are you listening to your disciple, that product of your C Street House “Family”; David Bahati
He gave your “C Street Family House” up:
Another product of the C Street House “Family” called the Family Research Council is now officially a hate group:
SPLC Adds Family Research Council to Hate Groups List
Gunshot Location Detection System
It’s difficult to establish what location a gunshot came from even if people do call 911 about hearing gunshots. I think a “Gunshot Location Detection System” would be very helpful in Coatesville for sending first responders to a location where a gunshot was fired and also aid in investigations. It can be used to instantly turn surveillance cameras to the shots location. It can be used with geographic information systems to bring up police reports in the shots fired area.
This is part of a Wikipedia post about “Gunshot Location Detection System”
“Public safety
In public safety and law enforcement, gunshot location systems are often used in high crime areas for rapid awareness into the communications and dispatch center where the alerts are used to direct first responders to the scene of the gunfire, thus increasing arrests rates and improving officer safety, as well as in the long run deterring gun crimes, shootings and especially "celebratory gunfire" (the practice of shooting weapons in the air for fun). Gunshot location systems based upon wide-area acoustic surveillance coupled with persistent incident data storage transcends dispatch-only uses because reporting of urban gunfire (via calls to 9-1-1) can be as low as 20%, which means that law enforcement agencies and their crime analysts have incomplete data regarding true activity levels and patterns. With a wide-area acoustic surveillance based approach combined with a persistent repository of gunfire activity (i.e., a database), agencies have closer to 100% activity data that can be analyzed for patterns and trends to drive directed patrols and intelligence-led policing. Additional benefits include aiding investigators to find more forensic evidence to solve crimes and provide to prosecutors to strengthen court cases resulting in a higher conviction rate. With the accuracy of a gunshot location system and the ability to geo-reference to a specific street address, versus a dearth of information that typically is the case when citizens report gunfire incidents to 9-1-1, agencies can also infer shooters by comparing with known criminal locations, including those on parole and probation; investigators can also at times infer intended victims and hence predict and prevent reprisals.
Gunshot location systems have been used domestically in urban areas since the mid 1990’s by a growing list of cities and municipalities that are embracing gunshot location systems as a mission-essential tool in their arsenal for fighting violent crime. Federal and homeland security agencies too have embraced gunshot location systems and their benefits; notably the FBI successfully used a ShotSpotter GLS during the 2003-2004 Ohio highway sniper attacks, in conjunction with the Franklin County Sheriff.”
With just some brief research is appears as though ShotSpotter is the preferred technology for most police departments.
ShotSpotter also has information concerning funding sources for police departments.
BROCK PARKER - The York Dispatch
Article Last Updated: 09/11/2008 10:50:36 AM
Article Last Updated: 09/11/2008 10:50:36 AM
Signal Scape - Official Blog of the AFCEA
By Henry Kenyon
February 25, 2010
By Henry Kenyon
February 25, 2010
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