Letters: NPAC can help build community; Limit, Save, Grow Act hurts central PA
NPAC can help build community
Founded in 2017 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3), the board of the Nittany Performing Arts Centre is working to create a performing arts facility, easily accessible for audiences in Centre County, with optimal acoustics and an exhilarating atmosphere. The center will serve as a performance venue and education center for the community’s performing arts including music, dance and theater.
Here are seven ways NPAC will help connect our community:
1. Open the doors to local artists.
2. Support innovative arts education programs.
3. Partner with local government.
4. Partner with established educational institutions.
5. Collaborate with local businesses and nonprofits.
6. Seek new presenters that bring new audiences.
7. Host events that encourage community.
The Wilson Butler design for NPAC in downtown State College is not only a work of art but an ingenious architectural design for a PAC with attached parking garage. The facility will provide a much needed full-sized stage with wings and fly space, and rehearsal spaces for Centre County’s music, dance and theater ensembles and touring artists as well. There will also be two floors of arts educational spaces. The proximity to hotels, restaurants and on-site parking will give users and visitors access to the wider downtown cultural district. The rooftop terrace will provide a venue for weddings, meetings and celebrations with its indoor and outdoor accommodations and a fabulous view of Penn State’s Old Main and the campus lawn. More information at www.nittanypac.org
Limit, Save, Grow Act hurts central PA
PA-15 is one of the poorest districts in the U.S. Thirty percent of the households in the district take home under $35,000, and 13.2% of the district’s children live in poverty. I have lived here my entire life, and the ruins of industries long gone remind us of what once was our prosperous region. Despite the apparent need for economic help in PA-15, our Congressman Glenn Thompson voted for the “Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023” which will thrust thousands off of programs designed to help the poorest of Americans. The act takes cuts to WIC, which provides food to women and children. WIC only accounts for 0.1% of the federal budget, and serves a vital need in our community, why put it on the chopping block? Furthermore, GT is voting in line with Nick LaLota of NY-1, a congressional district where the average person makes more than double that of PA-15, and where their childhood poverty rate is half of PA-15. That’s the logical conclusion of hyperpartisan politics, Congresspeople are more loyal to their party than the constituents whom they were sent to serve. In the words of the late John Murtha, D-Johnstown, bringing federal dollars to central PA was, “the whole goddamn reason I went to Washington.” As a community suffering from industrial decline, we cannot afford to have programs keeping our poor, children and elderly afloat ripped out from under us in the same way high-paying manufacturing jobs were pulled from us under NAFTA.
Much to lose
Refusing to raise the debt ceiling to pay for prior spending is like running up a credit card bill, and then declining to pay when you get the monthly statement.
The stated (Republican) rationale for this refusal to honor your contractual obligations, is that you intend to curtail certain future purchases. That is a budgeting matter.
In reality, the issue is: to default, or not to default in the present.
As our most recent past president was fond of asking: “Whattaya have to lose?”
Most likely, a lot!
2024 options
What is with the ex-President Trump? He reminds me of John Gotti, aka the Teflon Don. He was given that nickname because nothing stuck to him, he got away with so many things over many years. Trump is not a member of the mob; he just creates mobs. He opens his mouth and out spews so many lies (which he knows are lies). But these lies are believed by his Trumpetters (his followers). They believe what he says despite all the evidence against him. Hopefully the good Lord will take pity on us and he won’t be elected again. Actually as a lifelong registered Democrat I hope Biden doesn’t win either. We need new, young blood running this country, someone in their 50s who knows how take this country back to our former standing in this crazy world, that is if the Republicans will do what they are elected to do ... serve all the people of this country not just the wealthy.