Saturday, September 6, 2008

LETTER: Why did Alliance distort reasonable proposals?

"Regarding the NewsLanc article about the Lancaster Alliance: "The streets of hell are paved with good intentions"

"There is no question that the Lancaster Alliance has performed community services worthy of a legitimate 501(c)3 organization. Yet whether the Lancaster Alliance is actually a legitimate non-profit can be called into question, based on their past and present actions.

"For example, the hotel and convention center currently under construction - originally proposed by the Lancaster Alliance - clearly violates the findings of the 1998 LDR International report, which was commissioned by the Lancaster Alliance and is still displayed on their web site. How and why did the Lancaster Alliance take perfectly reasonable proposals and distort them into a project where private companies making a minimal investment stand to make a considerable profit, while taxpayers are stuck with nearly all of the exorbitant costs and practically all of the risk?

"Also deserving of scrutiny is the streetcar proposal, which seems to be a done deal even though not one single vote has ever been taken by any governmental body which would be required for the streetcars to operate in the public rights of way.

"These and other projects by the Lancaster Alliance must call into question whether its actions which truly benefit the community constitute its true purpose for existence, or if the Lancaster Alliance's philanthropic work is nothing more than a cover for an agenda which exists primarily to profit its most powerful members."