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Residents tell council lights out, vandalism and trash worsen downtown; request more police presence and enforcement
Summary
Several Palmyra residents used public comment to press the borough for action on nonworking streetlights, vehicle vandalism, illegal parking, refuse pickup problems and code enforcement. Councilors agreed to contact the utility and noted limitations of enforcement authority.
Residents raised multiple public-safety and municipal-service concerns during the meeting’s public comment period, asking Palmyra Borough Council to address nonworking streetlights, vehicle vandalism, refuse pickup problems, illegal parking and enforcement gaps.
Bill Siders of 333 East Main Street criticized contractors and developers he said are not paying for stormwater management and asked the borough not to issue permits that shift stormwater costs to neighbors. He also said, “There should be no more permits put out for contractors than that if they're not paying for the management of the storm water.” Siders reported five streetlights within a two-block radius on West Cherry Street that have not worked for some time and said vandalism — including two vehicles with shot-out windows — is increasing in poorly lit areas.
Rebecca Dallas of 410 East Main Street told the council that three vehicle windows were vandalized on her block within about 11 days, saying, “I think, 11 days, 3 vehicle windows were vandalized. 2 were me.” She asked for a larger police presence in the area until lighting and other conditions improve.
Other commenters raised concerns about garbage collection reliability during poor weather, illegal placement of fiber-optic lines across private property and sight-distance problems at intersections caused by parking on curbs and in front yards. One resident urged reductions to curbside parking near intersections to improve visibility.
Council members and staff discussed the borough’s limited authority over the electric utility cited (referred to in the meeting as “MedEd”) and said the borough can report outages and criminal activity to the utility and police, but utility liability for criminal acts is limited when a utility is a public service. Council agreed to contact the utility about reported outages and to pass along criminal-activity reports to the police department.
The meeting record shows borough staff will continue outreach to the utility and that residents should file reports for property damage and outages; no new ordinances or enforcement initiatives were adopted at this meeting.
Quotes from public commenters and the council’s responses were recorded in the public comment period.
