Crime Watch Alert - 12/16/08

Crime Watch Alert

On 12-16-08 a man was walking towards West Steuben Street from the shopping center when he was approached by a black male, 6'0" tall, heavyset, in his teens. The male attempted to grab his IPOD out of his hand but failed. The male then fled the area. When the victim arrived at his apartment building he was once again approached this time by two different black males who pushed the victim and were laughing at him. The victim was not injured and nothing was taken. He stated that he saw the actors getting off of the bus at Giant Eagle.

Information obtained from Crime Watch Alert email

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Mayor O'Connell Q&A With YourCarlynton.com

Mayor O'Connell did a Q&A session with YourCarlynton.com.

• Read the entire Q&A by clicking here.

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12/10/2008 Council Meeting Review

Mrs. Sappie stated a resident contacted her and said he found 10 small packets (stamp bags) of heroin near the lot of A-Plus. Mrs. Sappie asked why the incident wasn't part of the Crime Watch report or the council report. Chief Rost was also unable to provide Mrs. Sappie with a reason to why the incident was not in the crime watch report. Mrs. Sappie's concern was that if resident knew about the incident they could inform there children to use caution. Chief Rost responded to her question by saying, Syringes are found, many things are found, kids shouldn't be picking things up.

Mayor's Report

• The CPD responded to 196 calls in November.
  
• Captain Sumpter acquired a $1000 grant from Sam's Club the CPD will use to upgrade its current crime scene equipment.
  
• REMS requested a 3yr contract extension with no changes to the contract. 
  

Borough Solicitor Report

Council met prior to the meeting in an executive session to discuss the following:

1. Zoning case with First Baptist Church
   
2. Personnel matter
3. Zoning case regarding signs in the borough

Alternate Budget Proposal by Dan Cindric

• Don't pay for fuel and oil for the Crafton Fire Department
  
• Don't pay for CVFD hose and hose testing
  
• Eliminate borough secretary position
  
• Add money for a part time employee
  
• 3% raise for borough clerk
  
• Eliminate position in public works (would eliminate a part-time/full-time position due to contract restraints)

Resident comment: A resident proposed sharing services such as fire, police, and public works to reduce costs.

Mrs. Sappie & Mrs. Luxbaucher: Proposed cutting borough council salaries which total $125 /month/council member or about $17,000 /year.

Mr. Bloom: Stated there were no budget cuts in the CPD portion of the budget. But there were cuts in the CVFD, Public Works and Administration

 

Quotes from meeting

• Mrs. Luxbaucher: "You have to make realistic cuts"
  
• Susan O'Connell: "We haven't been managing our money well." 
  
• Resident: "Drugs will ruin Crafton long before back bone road."
  
• Chief Rost: "Syringes are found, many things are found, kids shouldn't be picking things up."
• Voice from the crowd: "Join the drug task force again."

Crafton Watch thoughts

Its clear that some members of council have their own agendas and don't really care about the reality thats upon us. No one wants to see taxes raised but it is inevitable when the Crafton tax payers money has been managed so poorly (see Susan's quote above) for the last few years. For example just this year alone the Mayor and Police Dept. have made purchases that don't seem to be necessary at this time: 

• The borough building was outfitted with brand new cameras inside and out while the old black/white cameras were still operational. 
  
• New telephone recording system was installed even though allegheny county 911 dispatches calls and is equipped with telephone recording equipment. 
  
• All computers and printers were replaced even though ones in operation were working. 
  

With all of these poor financial decisions in the police department, all you have to toot your horn about is a $1000 grant. It really doesn't seem like much does it?

What has happened to the oversight of the police department by the members of council on the Public Safety committee. Who are they? Are all of the financial decisions being made by the Chief and Mayor?

These questions and many others need to be asked of our elected officials that are supposed to be looking out for our interests. 

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Council Meeting - Summary 11/12/08

Appointments to vacancies

• M. Crown, former council member and president was appointed to B. Ogden's vacant seat.
  
• E. Doherty, former Civil Service Commission Chairman was appointed to C. O'Brien's vacant seat.
  

2500 Crafton Blvd. Homicide / Drug activity in Crafton:

Many residents questioned the homicide at 2500 Crafton Blvd. Was this drug related? The mayor and police chief have provided few details on what exactly happened and what is being done to combat drug activity in Crafton.

One resident expressed hearing county detectives discussing drugs found at the scene. Another resident stated that he contacted the CPD to report the drug activity elsewhere in Crafton, on many occasions no one responded to the call and when they did it was too late.

Council members questioned the CPD participation in DANET, the Mayor insisted that Crafton Borough is active in DANET and hasn’t received any requests from DANET to participate. She was only able to name 2 of the 3 CPD officers involved in the DANET program. The 3rd individual is the Police Chief; working mon-fri, 7am-3pm its unlikely the Chief has any involvement in the DANET program. I suspect this is why the Mayor conveniently forgot the 3rd person.

• Mt. Lebanon was reimbursed by DANET for FY 05 and FY06 2006: $21,142, 2005 $31,883, 2006 (source - Mt. Lebanon PD annual report).
• Crafton PD expenses/reimbursement for FY 08 $0.00

09 Budget

After many meetings the 09 budget went for vote Wednesday night and failed to pass. Mrs. Viola questioned the burden of a 2 mil tax increase on the residents of Crafton Borough. Manager Sample asked why this wasn't brought up during one of the earlier meetings.

The voted ended in a 4/4 tie with the Mayor choosing not to break the vote.

Check back for more information and a review of the next council meeting.

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More Resignations

Bill Ogden, council representative from the first ward and Christine O'Brien, Vice Chair of the Civil Service Commission both recently resigned from their posts.

Council will make appointments to these open positions in the coming weeks.

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Many Questions - Few Answers Surround Murder

Many questions surround the murder at 2500 Crafton Blvd. but few answers are available. With the the possibility this was drug related, many question the boroughs decision to pull out of DANET (District Attorney's Narcotics Enforcement Task-force). 

2008 DANET expenses - $0.00

Background:

In January 2006 council decided to terminate the contract with DANET on the advice of Mayor O'Connell, Chief Rost and Ed Stewart (former president). Crafton had a few officers very active in the DANET program , 2 of which left the borough this year for jobs in other communities. 

Chief Rost and Mayor O'Connell have turned a blind eye to the reality that's in every community. DRUGS!! it happens and it needs dealt with a proactive manner. Next time it won't be a murder in a home, it will move to our streets. Maybe next time an innocent citizen gets caught in the crossfire. 

Mayor O'Connell, Chief Rost - support your officers rather than belittle and harass them. 

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Fatal Shooting in Crafton

Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 22 year old man identified as Thomas Howard. The incident occurred Wednesday evening in the 2500 block of Crafton Boulevard. No suspects have been identified. The incident may be drug related.

Any one with information is asked to contact the Allegheny County Homicide detectives at 412-473-1300.

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Mayor Denied - CVFD to get new truck

Mayor O'Connell's attempt to veto the new CVFD truck purchase failed miserably at the Oct. 22, 2008 council meeting. The Mayor was unable to get the 2/3 majority vote she needed, Council members stuck with their original vote to purchase the new truck.

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Mayor to Veto CVFD Truck Purchase- 10/22/08

In the spring of 2008 the CVFD approached counsel notifying them of the need for a new ladder truck. The current is truck is from 1982 and has a 75' ladder. The new truck will be built to the 2009 NFPA standard and have a 100' ladder.

The truck will be approximately $740,000 w/ the CVFD contributing approximately $196,000. In the end the borough will be responsible for $540,000 w/ annual payments beginning in 2011 (approx. $40,000/year). This will allow the borough plenty of time to plan (something that may be new to them) for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 budgets.

It appears Mayor O'Connell will attempt to use her veto to stop the purchase of the new CVFD Fire Truck at the Oct. 22, 2008 Council meeting. Her veto can only be overridden with a 2/3 majority vote. Keep in mind the vote to purchase the truck was 6-ya and 3-nay.

Original Vote to Purchase Truck:
Ya: Bloom, Christman, Sappie, Donovan, Ogden, Luxbacher
Na: Cindric, Byers, Viola

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Bridge Fixed Temporarily - More Expenses

The Bridge is Open!! Yippie!!

Don't get to excited. It cost the borough approximately $26K to open the bridge for about 6-7 months. Most of the money spent to open the bridge is throw away work. The contractor will have to dig-out the work that was recently done to correctly finish the bridge repairs in the spring of 2009.

$26K / 6 = $4,300/month - Was it really worth it??

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Ed Stewart Appointed to Civil Service Commission

Former borough president Ed Stewart was appointed to the Crafton Civil Service Commission. This is a 6 year term that fills the vacant position left by E. Doherty when his term ended in July.

Council vote

Yea: Byers, Cindric, Christman, Luxbacher, Viola
Na: Bloom, Ogden, Sappie, Donovan

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