Topics include:

• Wawa coming soon to Bypass
• Jointure will allow 5G antennas
• NAACP race and policing report
• ED streetlight payback period disputed
• more...

Read the entire issue online here: https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/noimar24.html

Contents:

• Construction Expected to Begin Soon on #NewtownPA Wawa
• Bucks NAACP Race & Policing in Bucks County Briefing
• Summary of the 28 February 2024 #NewtownPA Board of Supervisors Meeting
• Meet Mack Monday 26 February 2024 Presentation
• Mack Requests That the #NewtownPA Area Joint Zoning Council Fix Problems With the JMZO Signage Ordinance - Especially Regarding Neon Signs!
• #NewtownPA Township LED Streetlight Conversation Plan

Details...

This is my personal summary of the February 28, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More

• Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
  • Planning Commission: Wireless Amendment to JMZO
  • John Mack: Bucks NAACP Race & Policing in Bucks County Briefing, Human Relations Commission Meeting, and 26 February 2024 Meet Mack Monday Zoom Meeting
• Engineer’s Report
  • Crumbling Section of Lower Dolington Road
• Manager’s Report
  • ESD Report
• Other Items of Interest
  • My Detailed Notes
  • Official Video
  • Video Transcript

More...

Welcome to the February 26 2024, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting presentation! I’m John Mack, your host and a Newtown Township Supervisor.

The goal of Meet Mack Monday Zoom meetings is to inform residents of township issues that impact them and to get feedback and comments from residents about such issues. This helps me keep better informed of residents’ concerns when I vote on the issues at Board of Supervisors meetings.

TOPICS COVERED:

• LED Streetlight Project – What’s the Savings?
• Trash Collection Rising Rates – Time for a Change?
• Borscht Belt Neon Sign Decision Update
• Newtown Place Apartments – Revised Plan
• Single-Use Plastics Ban – What You Need to Know
• Bucks NAACP Race & Policing Report Briefing Summary
• Mack’s Pothole Patrol: If You See Something, Say Something!
• Human Relations Commission Report: Proposed Mural Project
• What’s With Wawa on Bypass?
  
  Download the PPT Notes: https://rebrand.ly/26Feb24mmm_notes

On 15 February 2024, I attended a Bucks County NAACP "Briefing" on Race & Policing in Bucks County. At the briefing was Karen Downer, President, NAACP Bucks County, Helen Tai, former PA State Representative, and member of the Bucks NAACP Criminal Justice and Education Committee, as well as other dignitaries including perhaps a dozen police officers from neighboring communities.

I audio recorded the 15-minute "Key Findings" session presented by John Blevins who is also a member of the Criminal Justice and Education Committee. To create this video, I selected what I considered the most appropriate graphics and data from the BC NAACP's "2023 Report on Reimagining Public Safety", which you can find here: https://rebrand.ly/NAACP_RIPS

Although Mr. Blevins did not include results from any specific police agency, I added some specific data and information from the Report regarding Newtown Township. Specific data are available in the Appendices of the Report, which can be found here: https://rebrand.ly/RIPS_appen

Following Mr. Blevins presentation, there was a Q&A session, which I also recorded, but not included in this video summary.

The Bucks County branch of the NAACP spent three years examining the policies of the 39 police departments in the area. What their findings say about policing oversight in Pennsylvania. A new NAACP study examining the policies and practices of the 39 law enforcement agencies in Bucks County reveals gaps in how those departments track complaints against officers, traffic stops, and use of force across the county.

The study measures the policing agencies against 14 standards that the organization developed from local, state, and national best practices. The NAACP worked closely with the Police Chiefs’ Association of Bucks County, which helped promote participation in the project among departments in the county.

Alongside the policy analysis, the report also highlights racial disparities in how the agencies police their communities. The Bucks NAACP found many of the county’s police agencies did not meet the standards. Among them: About 46% of the departments had not fully adopted the use-of-force guidelines that the association published in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, or did not provide enough information to determine compliance.

The group also found Black people in Bucks County are arrested at a rate disproportionate to their population, a baseline metric the chiefs’ association contests. But perhaps most illuminating, the organization said, were the barriers volunteers faced to getting the records they sought. Collecting the data took nearly two years. In many areas, the group could not make conclusions because police agencies either could not or did not provide records.

More...

[Karen Downer is president of the NAACP Bucks County Branch.]

The school board elections are over* and new directors are taking their oaths. We at the NAACP Bucks County are hoping for a fresh start when it comes to talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our local schools.

In campaign literature and public comments at school board meetings, we have heard many people push to derail or repeal DEI efforts in our schools for fear they would make white students feel guilty or ashamed. Lost in those conversations of what might happen to white students if DEI programs move forward are the actual experiences that students of color in Bucks County are having right now.

Well-designed DEI plans never set out to make students feel shame, but somehow those allegations and fears are getting more attention and concern than the actual experiences of our students today in districts without DEI plans. These plans are not solely for the benefit of students of color. All our children are growing up in an increasingly diverse country (read“2020 Census Population Data Reveals A More Diverse Newtown Township”; https://sco.lt/5FUu2K). In the U.S. since 2000, the Asian American/Pacific Islander population grew 29.3%, the Hispanic and Latino/a population 20%, and the Black/African American population 11.6%. America’s future depends on the ability of all children to work together productively, to respect each other, and to thrive as one America.

As school boards start their terms, the  NAACP Bucks County stands ready to help.

More...

During a Constitution Day discussion at Bucks County Community College’s Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks in Bristol Township last Friday [September 16, 2021], representatives from law enforcement and the Bucks County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) discussed their collaboration.

The Bucks County NAACP has been meeting with county police chiefs in recent weeks to talk about building better relationships between the officers and residents.

Bensalem Township Public Safety Director Fred Harran and Bucks County NAACP President Karen Downer explained how their two organizations work together.

Residents who want to make a complaint about police don’t have to make it directly to the department, which some people may find discouraging. They instead can make their complaint to a community leader or religious leader in their community, who then brings it to the police department, Harran and Downer explained.

The leader of Bucks County’s largest police department said his agency investigates complaints and brings in the NAACP to review them, as well.

“We’ve got nothing to hide,” Harran said.

Downer said a look at the evidence helps the group determine if the Bucks County NAACP is able to help the complaint take their dispute further.

As we wait on the fate of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, I want to remind everyone what - and who - is at stake. Police reform is about Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and the countless others killed at the hands of law enforcement. It is about the people living in communities often targeted by police.

It is not about the police or the institutions and unions that blindly protect them.

A few weeks ago, lawmakers negotiating police reform legislation said they were close to a bill both sides of the aisle could support. Now, the legislation and weeks of bipartisan work is in trouble as conservative police unions increase lobbying efforts to maintain the status quo that has been so detrimental for Black Americans.

Many in law enforcement agree that meaningful change is necessary, but unfortunately, a few are committed to standing in the way with a goal of obstructing the process. Police unions and partisan politicians should not control and dilute the terms of the police reform bill, nor delay any of its progress.

We need you. We must make sure that police reform remains focused on the people impacted, not the police trying to avoid reform and accountability.

Sign the petition demanding accountability. There is more fighting to do to protect our communities from unjust policing.

The news from Atlanta was shocking, although it shouldn't have been. Hate crimes against Asian Americans have been rising ever since some leaders decided to call COVID-19 a "Chinese virus" - or worse. Between 2019 and 2020, anti- Asian hate crimes reported to police rose by 149%, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Many incidents don't end in violence so they don't get reported at all. It's reported that 31% of Asian adults in the U.S. say they've faced ethnic slurs or jokes since the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic, according to a Pew Research Center survey from July of 2020.

So, what can we in Bucks County do to ensure we're a united community where everyone feels safe and valued? How can we make sure our county thrives not despite but because of our diversity?

First, there's been a lot of discussion lately about what Bucks County schools should teach about diversity, particularly racial and ethnic diversity. Students of color feeling like they are always "othered," dealing with hate-based social media attacks and rarely seeing themselves in the curricula.

Second, we must ensure that everyone in Bucks County feels safe and protected by law enforcement. Equal protection of the law is a bedrock value of American democracy and is essential to thriving as a diverse county.

With sheriff, district attorney and judgeship elections right around the corner, ask the candidates what they will do to ensure equal protection. How will they ensure equal treatment in arrests and bail? Will they advance innovative ways to deal with mental health crises? What is their perspective on use of force, and how can we ensure it is a last resort everywhere in Bucks County?