PUC WATER CO. HEARING TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 3 IN COLUMBIA

LANCASTERONLINE
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission will hold a public hearing in Columbia on Tuesday, Sept. 3, on the Columbia Water Company’s proposal to raise water rates by 21 percent.
The PUC hearing to receive public comment on the proposed rate increase will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbia Fire Department Station 801, 137 S. Front St.
On June 13, the PUC voted to investigate the proposed rate increase. The total annual bill for a typical metered residential customer using 48,000 gallons of water a year would increase a total of $77.64, from $367.92 to $445.56.
Columbia Water Co. provides water service to approximately 8,700 customers within Columbia and Mountville boroughs and West Hempfield, Manor and Donegal townships.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the hearings and provide comments. 
Customer testimony will become part of the record on which the PUC will issue its final decision.

What I saw recently

Some pics from around town over the last week or so . . .

 Visitors to the THE

 The signs say NO PARKING.  Yeah, right, as if anyone could.
Welcome to the jungle,
It gets worse here every day.

 Steps to nowhere

 Even QRS needs help sometimes.

 And so does RRTA

 Sittin’ down by the river
(Actually, part of a photo shoot I infiltrated.)

 Flag on the fence

 Swallowtail

 “Ladies in waiting” or just “Ladies waiting”?

 Debra’s new do
Keeping a watchful eye on things

Signs of the times

 Major electric bill

 After seeing all the piles around town recently, I believe this warrants a repost.

 Welcome home

 I know the feeling.

 Britain

 Scene of a recent tragedy

 A sales gimmick by an ambitious artist?

 Seen at the bottom of Locust Street

 This one, too.

 Looks like Mom and Dad are packing heat.

So that’s where it starts.

Labor Day 2013

TIME
Will you be barbecuing this Labor Day, or slaving away at the office? According to new survey data from Bloomberg BNA and Beyond.com, many Americans will have the somewhat ironic pleasure of laboring on the day that’s meant to commemorate the “social and economic achievements of the American worker.”

The above chart from The Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) highlights the differences in legal requirements for paid time off in the developed world. The United States is a major outlier among its developed peers when it comes to mandatory time off, and that ends up affecting poorer workers more than anybody else.  According to the CEPR, though 23% of American workers don’t receive paid time off, that number jumps to 49% for the bottom fourth of wage earners.

NYTIMES
Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to staunchly oppose public efforts to reduce unemployment, repeating their assertion that government policies themselves are the primary cause of the problem. Earlier this summer 30 of them even co-sponsored a billthat would strike the goal of encouraging “maximum employment” from the mission of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

MORE HERE.
Even though it’s several years old, the following video by Peter Anderson, featuring a song by James McMurtry, illustrates how American labor has been cast aside by the rich and powerful who own our government.
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/jTW0y6kazWM&source=uds