Protesters disrupt public hearings on river plan

Thursday, June 12, 1986, p. 1 and 19.



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Anti-NPS protester Noel van Swol (center with arms raised) helps lead the disruption of the first public hearing on the draft River Management Plan at the Damascus School on June 4. After 90 minutes of demonstrating, van Swol took over the microphone, whereupon the officials closed the hearing and left.

Protesters disrupt public hearings on river plan

RIVER VALLEY -- No verbal comments were entered into the record at two of the four scheduled public hearings on the proposed River Management Plan, due to planned demonstrations by protesters against to the National Park Service (NPS) and the boisterous opposition of most the audience.


In Damascus on Wednesday, June 4, the hearing panel adjourned and walked out of the school auditorium after listening to an hour and a half of booing, chanting of "no park, no plan, no way," singing, and verbal attacks against officials on the stage by most of the over 300 people present.
William Matz, a leader of the Independent Landholders Association (ILA), helped to keep the demonstration alive by leading the chants, and at one point, parading around the room with a large sign depicting the NPS as worms in an apple. Anti-park spokesman Noel van Swol of Long Eddy, Upper Delaware Citizens Alliance president Donald Rupp, and other anti-NPS activists incited the crowd to present any individuals from presenting comments about the plan.


After about 90 minutes, van Swol took the speaker's microphone and announced, "We're going to suspend the rules and run a democratic meeting here."
Hearing officer Michael Gordon, NPS assistant regional director, then adjourned the meeting and the officials left. The panel also included: Robert "Chuck" Hoffman, of Foresight Consulting Group; Glenn Eugster, NPS regional planner; Robert Everest, of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC); James Coleman, NPS Mid-Atlantic regional director; LaRue Elmore, of the Citizens Advisory Council (CAC); Cochecton Supervisor Jean McCoach, of the Conference of Upper Delaware Townships (COUP); Bruce McMillan, NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); Roger Fickes, PA Department of Environmental Resources (DER); and John Hutzky, NPS Upper Delaware superintendent.


"They're walking out!" hooted van Swol, as the officials left the building.
"Come on, Mr. Coleman, speak to us, or don't you have anything to say?" the crowd continued to taunt. 
An anonymous voice from the crowd shouted, "Burn them out!"
In explaining the walkout after the hearing, Coleman stated "He's (van Swol) taken over the meeting," and then indicated that written testimony would be accepted.


Regional planner Mike Gordon said that the disruption was expected by park service personnel. "There will be four public hearings and this was one of them. This (disruption) only denies the right of the public to speak."
"There will be a final plan supported by the towns or not, he added.
Asked about the recent referenda held in the three Pennsylvania townships, in which voters rejected the current management plan, Gordon responded, "We see the vote as significant. People want the plan changed and we are open to change."


The crowd lingered for another hour or so after the meeting ended, with many listening to a spirited discourse by van Swol. He accused the NPS of engineering a "federal land grab" to deprive residents of their homes and livelihoods. He expressed a determination to rid the valley of the park service by deauthorizing the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. van Swol's remarks were met with loud applause and cheers from those remaining in the crowd which had filled the gymnasium.


The audience also heard briefly from other leaders of the ILA, as well as citizens who read prepared statements. Outside, Matz told COUP planner Chuck Hoffman, as he left the building, "They [NPS personnel] had better be bullet-proof. And you had better be bullet-proof too."


At the next hearing on Thursday night, June 5 in the Delaware Valley Central School near Callicoon, similar protests and interruptions took place. An attempt by NPS officials to negotiate with the protesters, in part by agreeing to extend each speaker's initial time limit from five to ten minutes, broke down just prior to the hearing's start.
This time the panel left after only 15 minutes in obvious frustration over the disturbance.


van Swol again took the stage, but this time found that the officials had taken the microphones with them. "Is there anyone here who knows how to operate the sound system?" he asked. No one volunteered.
The audience quieted down to hear a speech which again outlined many residents' fears of losing their homes and liberties to a burdensome federal bureaucracy.


The beginning of van Swol's remarks were interrupted a few times by a small group of plan supporters who beat on and kicked the bleachers to make noise: "What's the matter? Can't you take a taste of your own. medicine?" one shouted back at the angry crowd.
Among his other remarks, van Swol called upon Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel "to immediately fire" NPS regional director James Coleman.


van Swol then introduced Mike Stem, who described himself as "the only announced candidate" to oppose McHugh for the 28th District (NY) Congressional election in November. Stern said he is seeking the Republican, Conservative, and Right-To-Life nominations. If elected, "I'm introducing legislation to deauthorize the Upper Delaware," he promised.
Stem claimed to have the backing of Citizen Alliance president Don Rupp; Rolf Beck, president of the ILA; and President Ronald Reagan, with whom he asserted he is "personal friends."


"Speaking for Ronald Reagan, right now, he doesn't know this is going on. Right now, I'm going to Washington and as sure as my mother is lying in her grave, they're going to know what the NPS is pulling," Stem swore.
Stem was booed by the crowd when he mentioned his ten years experience as an IRS empl09ee, but was otherwise enthusiastically received.

Ohio River Revitalization Wheeling, West Virginia

Ohio River Revitalization Wheeling, West Virginia : Final Report - Findings and Recommendations

Glenn Eugster Author

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CIty of Alexandria, VA. 2011 Budget Comments

Glenn Eugster (user 91) - Comments by Date

Thanks for the opportunity to provide you with comments on the 2011 budget for the City of Alexandria. Let me begin by saying that as a homeowner and former public servant I appreciate the effort that each of you put into managing our city. Over time I’ve been struck by how difficult, complicated and seemingly thankless your work is. Whether it is an elected or government position, public service does require a different mindset and perspective. Each of you should know that many of us are grateful for what you do, and what you try to do.

With that said, my comments only reflect my small window on budget management within the city. I’ve lived in the city for over 21 years and have served on the board of two homeowners associations, the Open Space Steering Committee, and the Northern VA Conservation Trust. Although my background is fairly broad-based my focus for many years has been parks, open space, outdoor recreation, fundraising and revenue generation. It is in these areas that I will offer some suggestions that might help you as you prepare and approve our budget.

First, everyone needs to know that governments like ours never have enough money. Although taxes, grants, fees, and other sources of money are considerable there is never enough money to do everything that needs to be done, when it needs to be done. By virtue of these limits some things are more important than others. I hope that you will continue to support the basic health and safety services the city provides. I also hope that you will refrain from funding new initiatives but rather put money toward protecting and maintaining things that we have now.

Second, perhaps as much as you need to cut services to meet your budget you also need to improve the management of your existing departments. Wasting money is probably worse than not having all the funds we need to do what needs to be done.

Over the last two years I’ve been encouraged by your managers to carry park, open space, health and safety problems to each of you. Over and over again city employees are reluctant to work with community interests on anything other than what they want to do. They often use a lack of time and, or money, as their rationale for saying no, dismissing ideas shared with them, or steering citizens toward you to solve problems. Unfortunately I have found that some of the city’s agendas do not reflect community needs and interests, and these ideas have not been vetted publicly. A good number of these ideas are frankly wrong-headed and without concern for the public that these individuals are paid to serve.

Many of these bad decisions have resulted in projects and work that needs to be redone, and sometimes redone again, because of a lack of permits, poor or no planning, or a disregard for the interest of the public. On some occasions past Recreation Department directors have almost bragged about how more than 120 of the city’s parks don’t have plans and that in order to do a plan they needs lots of money. Such a perspective makes it hard for me to understand how current and future funds for these areas can ever be invested wisely.

For example, the lack of up-to-date master plan for Fort Ward Park has cost the city funds that could have been better used protecting important historic resources and providing important recreation services. Park solid waste transfer stations and maintenance yards have been developed without permits and public input only to be relocated when these uses conflict with neighbors, graves, laws, and common-sense. Drainage swales and ravines have been filled with soil, mulch, and debris without regard to the consequences of altering drainage areas and the cost of restoring these areas given they were filled without permits.

As we struggle to figure out how we can protect, maintain and provide services at parks like Fort Ward I see money given annually and non-competitively to non-profit organizations to promote the protection and acquisition of more city park land. Surely the goal of open space planning is one I support but is paying a consultant from outside the city to supplement city staff an effective way to achieve this goal?

I observe other efforts, such as the promotion of very large “special events” in parks under the guise of revenue generation. Although public agencies should look at ways to save money as well as generate revenue some of the city’s revenue generation strategies, such as the ones at Fort Ward Park, have cost the city money rather than bring in new revenues. More often than not many public servants will try to pursue revenue generation without the knowledge, skills and expertise to successfully do so.

I’ve observed problems with maintenance in our parks, such as Chinquapin Park. I’ve observed that the city has been unable to maintain these areas due to budget cuts, but we have given a non-profit group a grant/ contract to sponsor invasive plant removal projects in that same area only to have the plants they have pulled remain in a pile at the entrance to the park trail for what is now six months.

Finally, the city managers, as well as some of you at times, seem to treat citizen interest and involvement in our park areas with a certain amount of resistance and on occasion contempt. Given that many of us know the demands that are placed on you and city staff we often try to give all of you some slack as you do your jobs. However, the tension that is created between some of your antagonistic city staff and the community they serve costs them and us time and money.

By driving away, or at least keeping the citizens at arms-length also costs the city funds in other ways. For example, I have repeatedly made offers to members of your Recreation Department to share my skills and experience in the areas of fundraising and revenue generation without a hint of interest or even willingness to listen. Whether it is disdain or a dismissive nature this behavior undermines a relationship that could help the city help itself to get things accomplished and save money.

In closing, please be sure that I appreciate what you do and I wish you success with the resolution of the budget. Please look to ways to eliminate wasteful spending, tap the unrealized potential of the citizenry, and bring substantive revenue sharing expertise into city government to help meet the financial challenges you face. Please do not, under any circumstances, raise our taxes to meet needs and perpetuate the waste which goes on now.

Thanks again for the chance to comment.


Glenn

Glenn Eugster
4022 Ellicott Street
Alexandria, VA 22304

A down-to-earth site for Clinton visit EARTH DAY 1995

April 21, 1995|By Bruce Reid | Bruce Reid,Sun Staff Writer

White House officials needed the perfect backdrop for President Clinton's Earth Day speech to the nation. They found it in Havre de Grace.

The Harford County city of 10,400 has all the right props: a stunning view of the mouth of the Susquehanna River from a charming, 200-year-old hamlet whose past and future are inexorably tied to the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay.

"This is one of the great landscapes of America," said Glenn Eugster, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official in Annapolis. It was Mr. Eugster's suggestion that Havre de Grace -- "harbor of grace" in English -- be the place where Mr. Clinton today will mark the 25th anniversary of the first Earth Day.

"There is that sense of place that some communities have lost," Mr. Eugster said.

Mr. Clinton, who will arrive about 11 a.m. by helicopter from Washington, will be accompanied by Vice President Al Gore, a well-known advocate for environmental protection. They will be met by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann, Havre de Grace Mayor Gunther Hirsch and others.

Security for the visit, already tight, has been stepped up in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing Wednesday, a White House official said yesterday.

EPA officials in Washington began looking for possible Earth Day sites for the president in February. The president's Council on Environmental Quality, which advises the White House on environmental policy, helped by getting in touch with Cliff Dowling, Harford's tourism director.

"We definitely wanted to go someplace on the Chesapeake Bay," said Mary Ellen Glynn, a White House spokeswoman.

Havre de Grace already had a number of Earth Day activities scheduled for the weekend, including a skipjack race, a bull roast and exhibits. Many events have been rearranged to accommodate the president's visit.

The bay cleanup, which has involved a partnership of Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and Pennsylvania for more than years, is a perfect example of communities recognizing that the economy and the environment are interdependent, an administration official said.

Mr. Eugster, associate director for ecosystem management at the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Office, has been working with Havre de Grace officials to help find ways to plan development without spoiling the waterfront.

Those plans include a riverfront "greenway" trail that is being constructed from the city to Conowingo Dam, about eight miles northwest along the Susquehanna River. Helping with that project are members of the National Civilian Community Corps, part of Mr. Clinton's national service initiative.

Havre de Grace also has built a a wood and concrete promenade at the waterfront that has proved popular with tourists.

Mr. Clinton will speak near the 166-year-old Concord Point Lighthouse at the north end of the promenade. Up to 5,000 residents are expected to attend.