Snowed

I cannot believe that the roads in Clifton Heights and Upper Darby are still not cleared. Even more disturbing is the sidewalk situation. C'mon guys, get out there and shovel!

The Surge

I have been following a story about a local Deli owned by Mario Civera, my Mothers State Representative in the 164th district, which recently caught fire, allegedly by an electrical problem. The consensus is that Peco, (Exelon) was in some way to blame. As an electrician with almost thirty years experience, I can say that they may be right. But to a point. Seems that there have been many problems with underground transformers exploding in that area over the years, as well as power surges.

In Upper Darby Township, there are many homes and businesses that have outdated or inadequate electrical wiring. Residential homes for instance built before 1970 for the most part have no grounding conductor (the mouth of your three prong outlet) connected to it. "Knob and Tube", "Knob and Nail" or "Old style romex" are in almost every home in Drexel Hill. Many homes have no ground rod installed and connected to their electrical service. No lightning arrestor, no "Whole Home" surge protector.

Did Civera's Deli have a Surge Protector that may have helped drain off a high voltage surge from a Mal functioning transformer? Probably not. Where I live (Westbrook Park) if I were to remove my cold water and earth ground and rely on the transformer 's neutral my house would probably catch fire. Think I'm kidding? A few years ago my neighbor was renovating his home and called me to come over and find out why every time he used a drill to mix drywall compound, the lights would dim to almost nothing.

What I found out is that the plumber removed the cold water ground to his electrical service. Even with a ground rod installed (there is clay under our homes) he had no return path to the transformer. He called Peco, and a technician came over later on that afternoon, checked out the homes electrical service, and told him that the problem was in the meter box. I told the tech that I was a licenced electrician and that the "problem" was in Peco's transformer. He told me he would make note of it, and left. to this day I believe that the transformers "neutral" is not connected.

Bottom line? Go to your local hardware store and buy a receptacle tester that shows you an open ground, open neutral, reverse hot and neutral, and correct wiring. Get a local licenced electrician to inspect your home and install 5 items that may save you your home, and more importantly your life :

A ground rod
A lightning arrestor
A "Whole Home" single phase surge protector
GFCI receptacles where required
Smoke detectors where required

Cheers and Go EAGLES!

Shady Scenes in Clifton Heights?

I am quite curious about this so called "Clifton Heights Economic Corp" after reading the below Daily Times piece.

Questions surround grant in Clifton Heights
By: Dawn Mitchell, Times Correspondent
07/26/2008

CLIFTON HEIGHTS - Residents and some council members questioned the transfer of $825,000 in grant money to the Clifton Heights Economic Corp., a nonprofit entity that council has no control over, at a recent council meeting. "I don't know how we authorized this corporation when we never got papers on this corporation," said Councilman Mario Alpini. A listing for the corporation at nonprofit compendium Guidestar.org could not be found.

Council President Anthony Casadei, answering a question from the audience, revealed state Rep. Nicholas Micozzie, R-163, of Upper Darby, "took care of allowing money to go to the corporation," but said he did not know who established the corporation or who is in it.

According to a document disclosed at the meeting - which one council member insisted each member of council had received during a caucus meeting the previous Thursday - former council president James Salmon is listed as president of the nonprofit.

Salmon was running for another term on council last year, but was forced to step down for violating the federal Hatch Act because of his employment with the Department of Defense. Under the act, federal employees cannot hold elected office.

Other nonprofit board members include: Clifton Heights Business Association President Rich Angelucci, owner of Full Cycle Ink Jet; Vice President Joe Lombardo, owner of M.F. Williams Funeral Home; and Financial Secretary Russ Jirik, owner of Family Matters Adult Day Care, according to that document.

Also on the Clifton Heights Economic Corp. board is retired Clifton Heights police chief Ronald Berry, whose wife, Betsy, is a Clifton Heights council member. He is currently deputy director of the county Juvenile Detention Center in Lima.

Angelucci and Jirik each made contributions totaling $300 to Micozzie in 2005 and 2006, while Lombardo has contributed at least $850 to Micozzie and $2,500 to the Delaware County Republican Finance Committee between 2002 and 2006, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. "Ron and Betsy Berry" have also contributed at least $795 to Micozzie since 2000, according to state records.

In late June, council voted 5-3 to return $300,000 and $525,000 in grants issued last spring by the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development. Alpini and fellow council members Robert Penjuke and Harris Resnick opposed the motion. But minutes at the meeting show council instead voted to redirect the funds to the private entity, which was formed June 16. Some council members now allege minutes were interpreted wrong, altered or even deleted.

The grants were to facilitate the purchase of the adjacent Mac and Sam property and to redevelop borough hall. They were not set to expire until 2010 and 2011, respectively.
According to Casadei, criteria specified in the grants were problematic and would have cost taxpayers $7 million to $8 million.

Penjuke disagreed in a phone interview Thursday, saying the plan was to purchase property in stages, as money became available. He had anticipated having a community center.
"We were originally told it wouldn't cost the borough anything for the revitalization project," said Penjuke. "Micozzie didn't think we had a good enough plan ... that we were not moving fast enough."

"Personally, I'm not ready to give up $825,000," said Alpini, who opposed returning the funds since it was first discussed in May. "It's too much money and too hard to get to walk away that quickly." Penjuke also questioned the Clifton Heights Economic Corp.'s handling the borough's money.

"We have no control over the corporation," he said. "As council, we're going to still be held accountable because we started the ball rolling. I just want to improve things in Clifton Heights and build it back up to a cute little town."

Staff Writer Alex Rose contributed to this report.

©DelcoTimes 2008

So who runs it? Who are the officers? Why the secrecy? And why would our local committee people (including my own) authorize the transferring of funds (grants) to them? I do not know Dawn Mitchell but I do know Alex Rose. I am certain that more of this will unfold before November, when me (as in a resident of Clifton Heights)will get to vote.

Cheers.

Clifton Heights Cooler Caper

Last night someone had the nerve (to put it lightly) to come up on our patio and proceed to steal our cooler that was full of Bud Light Lime and Pepsi. I had just gone to bed a few minutes earlier and my wife and her girlfriend were in the house with the front door wide open. This "Scumbag" did realize that I installed infrared security cameras and tried to hide his face after he spotted it. Our neighbor across the street on the Upper Darby side of Clifton had beer stolen out of his cooler the night before, as did we. To the crook, I have a good feeling of who you are. I want my cooler back plus a full case of Bud Light Lime, a 12 pack of Pepsi, and a Bottle of Tequila Rose. Just put it out on the patio, and I promise I will not do what I have planned for you. Cheers.


P.S. I have a much more detailed AVI file on my PC.