Matt Schrier
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On the Blog Post Travelogue: Venice
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On the Blog Post Travelogue: Venice

Matt Schrier
10:56 am on Friday, November 2, 2012
It is really a great place to visit. Make sure you check the travel guides to prepare your visit, but let me know if you have any specific questions.
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On the article Celebrate Your Graduate on Northampton Patch
Matt Schrier
12:24 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
ReplyCongratulations to Kristin! Graduating CRHS South in the top 2% of her class and heading to Drexel University. You've done a great job - and you can achieve anything you want. Good luck!
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On the Blog Post Wildlife at Tyler
Matt Schrier
7:37 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
ReplyYou are right about that. I certainly would not go out of my way to encroach on a fox's habitat, but in this case the foxes made their den about 30 feet from the road (a bad decision on their part), and it was easy enough to drive by with a telephoto lens and get a decent shot. In fact the shot I posted was taken from my car. As soon as the kits grew old enough this family moved to a safer and more well protected area.
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On the article New Towers to be Installed in Pole-less Neighborhoods, Residents Furious
Matt Schrier
6:40 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
ReplyI'm not worried about the trash pickup. That was basically a financial decision, and it can "easily" be undone. But once the towers are in it will nearly take an act of god to get them removed. They're there for life.
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On the article New Towers to be Installed in Pole-less Neighborhoods, Residents Furious
Matt Schrier
1:14 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
ReplyThis is a very enlightening article. It's happening all of the country. The PUC has no clue, and our township has no clue either.
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On the article New Towers to be Installed in Pole-less Neighborhoods, Residents Furious
Matt Schrier
10:34 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
ReplyThe Northampton website has a document containing the proposal and approval from ATC.
http://northamptontownship.com/inc/documents/14/ATC.pdf
I am not an expert, but it looks like they received "approval" from the PA PUC back in 2008, then there is a letter to Northampton Twp in 2011. So the township knew about the exact locations of the proposed poles over a year ago and never notified anyone - that's how I understand it. I would like to know exactly what the township knew and when, and what responsible actions they have taken.
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On the Blog Post Nature Shot of the Week
Matt Schrier
11:29 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
ReplyI've never seen an owl in the wild let alone photograph one. Where in the nature center did you see it?
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On the article New Towers to be Installed in Pole-less Neighborhoods, Residents Furious
Matt Schrier
9:18 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
ReplyThey are beginning to lay the groundwork (big orange tubes being installed in yards along the street) on Loretta Circle and Rotterdam West. My guess is this is for the fiber optics connecting the towers together.
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On the article New Towers to be Installed in Pole-less Neighborhoods, Residents Furious
Matt Schrier
12:26 pm on Monday, April 30, 2012
ReplyWe currently have T-mobile phones and we have ditched our home phone a few years ago, so yes we are much more dependent on cell phones now than ever before. The signal quality in the Windmill Village neighborhood is very inconsistent, so I do see the need for improving the infrastructure. Some houses receive only a trickle of a signal. We would benefit directly from it.
But this construction of dozens of towers, along main roads but more disturbingly right in our neighborhood, is being handled very badly by our local government and ATC as well. I am absolutely shocked (although maybe I shouldn't be) by this line in the article "Supervisor Eileen Silver said she didn't find out that residents were upset about it until it was too late". This shows a complete disconnect with the residents on the part of our elected supervisors. How can you not realize people would be upset by this plan? That's only common sense.
There are many questions to be answered. Were other plans considered, or did ATC bully it's own plan through? Why didn't the township keep residents informed, especially those whose property values will be hurt by these poles? Are impacted residents going to be compensated? Can impacted residents sue ATC?
This whole thing is a mess, and the supervisors will need to answer for it.
Matt Schrier
9:14 pm on Friday, November 2, 2012
I forgot about the gelatos - we had them every day. And yes the pizzas just tasted much fresher than here in the U.S.