Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
                         Ordinance 2029 

 

 4-12-12  At the packed meeting  which went 'til late at night,  the Public Hearing played out with testimony going pro then con, pron then con so those on each side of the issue were able to hear the concerns of the other side. 
  End result:  the   Proposed Ordinance 2029  passed - ( possibly with  changes  - but we'll get back to you with details.  )

 

3-9-12 Decision to advertise for Public Hearing. 
This ordinance was presented, after lengthy discussion with opinions both pro & con. Many of the opinions against advertising the ordinance had to do with the fact that it had poor wording and a lot of ambiguity on may issues. Commissioner Schreiber explained that one of the difficulties was that it had to be written  keeping the State regulations in mind. No ordinance can supersede or change the intent  the the intentions of the State regulations
Please contact your Commissioners and ask them to produce a single page on this issue that has links or info about:
 the historical actions,
the current status, 
the next meeting,
the actual document  - what version is currently being discussed
 an email list where residents can receive notice of updates on the issue, meeting changes or cancellations
               or news of new postings
Here is the only posted version we could find 

 http://abington.patch.com/articles/abington-to-advertise-anti-discrimination-hearing#pdf-9289343  

 

2-1-11   

On January 13 2011 the Township turned down an opportunity to pass an ordinance that prohibited discrimination in access to employment, housing and commercial property, public education, and public accommodations'. Sexual orientation and gender identity or expression  were to be specifically  added in a local ordinance because of the omission of this verbiage in state law. The ordinance also would provide for the establishment of a municipal human relations commission to handle complaints based on this ordinance. 
      Some suggested that our "No Place for Hate" committee already handles these issues, and some suggested that there was not correct language to deal with exemptions by religious organizations or others who have special exceptions by state or federal law.
       There was much testimony in favor of the ordinance and some testimony against it.  And there was, as nearly always in Abington meetings, interference with residents' normal rights to speak and normal rights to call for questions of the process.  Inexcusable. But despite a lawsuit pending for this kind of behavior,  Board President DiJoseph continues in this manner, which appears to be in complete violation of the rules that govern these meetings.
       Apparently there is another twist in this adventure. Commissioner DiJoseph, Chief Kelly and representatives from No Place for Hate committee - all of whom opposed the ordinance - rewrote it without the knowledge or input of other board members who would have wanted to be included . One Commissioner says he is " very concerned about the manner in which it was produced".  That  same Commissioner has been unsupportive when the same type of activity occurred to others - and especially when residents complain of this kind of behavior. .  It is indeed reflective of what  we have been trying to change .  

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    Please feel free to contact us  with your own  information on these topics  and please be sure to    contact us about any information you believe to be incorrect -

 

 

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Abington Township revamped the entire Township website at the end of 2015 and broke all the links to the information. In 2017, under Richard Manfredi, someone inexperienced was assigned to redo the entire website again. The public was not asked what problems they would like to see fixed. Their new plan was not well thought out, so everything was very hard to find and there were giant paragraphs you had to slog through in order to find the pertinent one or two lines that you needed. Or if you were lucky enough to even find the meetings and agenda page, there was (and still is) a whole page of nonsense on top, so you think you're on the wrong page. Zoom limks are burrid in a giant paragraph, so people can't find them to attend the meeting. They know about these  problems - but have just decided to ignore us.... for the whole of Richard Manfredi's time here (with Tom Hecker's consent).

 Now, in 2025, we are due to get a new Manager, and there are funds put aside to, once again, upgrade the Township website. We can only hope for a fresh chance at fixing some of these things, as our Township website is the best tool we have for communication and should be an easy, user friendly site for all.

We need volunteers willing to work together to help improve the Township site that everyone has to use,  to make it functional and accessible. 

 We will be repairing our broken links in this Abington Citizens site, too, and fixing some of our many, many typo's as much as is possible. (Yes, it's quite evident that, unlike the Township, WE don't have a paid staff of 275+ or a $93 million budget).

 So...please let us know if you find broken links or typos. Send us the URL and/or and the name of the page it is on, so we can correct it.
Thanks for the help.

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