More of the same in
Bradford
BY HAROLD T. BECK
The real mayor of Bradford just may have really stuck his foot in his mouth this time
and at the same time pulled The Bradford Era into exactly what they accuse us of
regularly doing: not getting our facts straight.
The morning edition of The Era on March 11, 1998 carried a picture of robins in
the snow and a headline: "Land deal will lead to razing of theater."
The story by Pat Frantz Cercone, Era City Editor, announced that: "Pretty soon,
the old McKean Theater will be just a memory, much like the movies shown there so many
years ago." The story went on to say that City Council okayed the sum of $95,000 to
buy the property from Bob Cummins, the owner of the property. Mayor McMahon (actually the
director of the Office of Economic and Community Development) gave several statements and
conditions to the deal. They were:
1. The theater would be torn down before this year’s Zippo/Case International Swap
Meet.
2. It would be torn down by the owner at his own expense as part of the deal.
3. The $95,000 would come from the OECD, which would lend the money to the city from
its revolving loan fund.
Now, that was great and we congratulated Bob Cummins on making the deal with the City
of Bradford and OECD. Unfortunately, as McMahon was making the announcement and the city
was approving the deal and Pat Cercone and The Era were reporting the story, no one
ever thought to ask Mr. Cummins about whether he wanted to make such a deal. The fact of
the matter was: Mr. Cummins heard about the deal when he read The Era on the
morning of March 11, 1998.
"It was an old offer," he told us. "I made that offer over a year ago
and no one seemed that interested. I assumed that they didn’t want to move on it. No
one at The Era asked me for my side of the story or how I felt about the deal. I
haven’t said anything to anyone except you. All of these stories are going around and
no one is talking to me."
Even when The Bradford Era ran a followup story on Wednesday, April 8, 1998, "Plans
to raze old theater hit snag" (this time with no one person taking credit for the
story), they still failed to get their facts straight and they once more failed to talk to
Mr. Cummins.
Attorney Chris Hauser was quoted in The Era as saying on Tuesday night: "It
hasn’t fallen through as of yet…there are a couple of problems; they’re
being worked on." Hauser supposedly was representing Bob Cummins in the deal, yet Bob
Cummins was unaware of the deal until the story ran on March 11, 1998.
Speaking with Mr. Cummins on the morning of April 10, 1998 he confirmed that there in
fact was never a deal with anyone for the sale of the property and the razing of the
theater. Going farther he pointed out a very startling fact.
"City Council was totally in the dark," Mr. Cummins told me. He also said
that Connie Cavallaro, the elected Mayor of Bradford, was also unaware of what was going
on with the old McKean Theater.
The Bradford Era, in its story of April 8, reported that:
"According to the proposed plan, the city would acquire the property after the
building was demolished and Cummins cleared the site. McMahon said the city wanted
Cummins, who owns Cummins Construction Co., to raze the building because it would require
extra care. The McKean Theater building literally touches Northwest Savings Bank on one
side, the Downbeat Restaurant on the other.
"According to the plan, the building would be razed, and the city would try to
sell the property, perhaps to one of the adjacent businesses, McMahon had said."
Mr. Cummins told us that a deal was already in place between McMahon and Northwest
Savings Bank, "…with curb cuts already approved, and Mayor Cavallaro and council
having no knowledge of it."
Bob Cummins described how Northwest Savings would donate $50,000 to OECD as a grant to
proceed with the project. Once the building was razed, then Northwest would buy the
property as a parking lot for $30,000. It would cost the city $15,000 to have the building
torn down.
"It’s all down on paper," Bob Cummins said. "Connie asked me for
copies of the papers and I said that they were hers."
The winter issue of The Mountain Laurel Review carried an editorial by J.W.
Gates, "Will the real mayor of Bradford please stand up?" It is
unfortunate that while the commentary by Mr. Gates alluded to Ray McMahon doing deals
behind the scenes without the control or the consent of elected officials and the people
who elected them, the debacle which has taken place over the McKean Theater further
reinforces Mr. Gates’ opinion.
It seems very obvious to me that Mayor Cavallaro has only served as Mr. McMahon’s
rubber stamp approving his actions after the fact and not being privy to all of
the details of the deal. It is dealings like this that make people distrust their
elected officials, make unsubstantiated claims of payoffs, and without any grounds accuse
certain persons, like Mr. McMahon, of lining their own pockets on each and every deal they
develop and bring to fruition.
It is also unfortunate that if Mr. Hauser was indeed representing the interests of Mr.
Cummins, he did not see fit to inform his client of the deal. It is very unfortunate that
Mr. Cummins had to read about it in The Bradford Era and the City Editor did not
take the time to call Mr. Cummins for a comment. Finally, it is especially unfortunate
that once more the fine people of the City of Bradford become the real losers because Mr.
McMahon feels that they are not smart enough or qualified enough to understand the art of
the deal. Is it that, or is it what the people are actually saying?
Mr. Gates and I have long held that Connie made a dreadful mistake in keeping Mr.
McMahon as the director of OECD. We felt that she should have summarily fired him the
moment she was sworn in as mayor and given the job to the man who won it for her, Ron
Orris. It was time for a clean sweep and it was a time for open government. Since taking
office, Connie has just perpetuated more of the same in Bradford.
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