Blight Lights in the Big City

We are examining the effects of "historic" lighting on blighted properties.


Maybe these pigs take different shades of lipstick.

Council Meeting Audio 03/22/06

The first 30 minutes of the audio was so noisy that it was unusable. I will get that from Spike's back-up ASAP. The Sollman presentation and the Mayor's comments on the grand jury findings were lost. Mr Brown's embarrassing tirade, however, was preserved.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands throwing stone... Nah! I beg to difference.

City Council Meeting 03/22/06


http://eastonundressed.org/eufiles/begtodifference.mp3

Fair is Paying Your Share

The contributors of Easton UnDressed are occasionally are accused of being “whiners”. We catch flack for pointing out negatives. And we have been cited for episodes of delusional creativity. But after all is said and done, we evaluate our EU efforts by the actions we influence.

We pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t just talk. EU has an action wing that is building a nice little track record. We have some very real projects working as you read this (swimming pools and Charter Commission), and we have had many social victories (11 member Charter Commission, logo contest, and full pool season). This blog is a real tool, and we have used it as well as we could for the past 5 months. We use this blog to spread information and facts, to solicit audiences and participation, and to develop priorities and strategies.

We go to meetings. We go to meetings as members, as observers, and as guest offering testimony. We go to Council. We do our absolute best not to miss a public meeting sponsored by the City Council, and we are working to spread the EU presence to more of the City’s public meetings each month.

Our mission is clear:

To provide a clean, crime-free, and safe environment with competitive services that allows residents to enjoy a high quality of life, while providing commerce an environment to thrive.

Our focus of effort is also purposefully narrow. We advocate for the residents of the City of Easton. It was the City’s neglect, and failure to maintain services to the residents that created Easton UnDressed. The convoluted and illegal development of our Amusement Tax was the spark that lit off the EUniverse.

The battle to reinstate the City’s Amusement and Mechanical Devices Taxes was a victory and a loss for the people living in the city. The concessions that the Executive Director of the State Theatre for the Arts negotiated with City Council was not only in violation of the tax laws that govern IRS 501(c)(3) sheltered organizations (IRS publication 557 page 45 column 3), they were unfair to residents and other taxable organizations.

We, the people, fought hard to keep the amusement tax fair. But our efforts were lessened by the editorial power of people who do not even live in our city. Our working class concerns were consumed by posh elitist whims. The editors of the Express-Times lobbied against the tax solely because of their sentiments for the Theatre. Sentiments that mean very little to 26,000 people who lend their dwindling resources to support the significant human footprint placed upon us by visiting theatre-goers.

Now the editors of “our” paper have decided to complete their assault on our burden relief by attacking the Mechanical Devices Tax. This time they are championing the starving bar and coin-op laundry owners. They are arguing that our rights to enjoy punch cards, jukeboxes, and a higher profit margin on laundry are being oppressed by making someone pay $25 dollars a year on a machine that makes the money back in a day. (estimate 9 loads at $1.50, 40 minutes/load, open at 7am = $27 for 2 washers by 1pm)

The argument that a coin operated laundry is simply a public service to low and fixed-income residents is a bit of an obfuscated exaggeration. They left out the struggling Lafayette students. Laundry owners should not be “left alone” because they offer service to lower income Eastonians. The laundry owner on 6th Street was billed $1,370 (Express-Times 3/19/21). The tax is costing him a WHOPPING $3.75 a day ($3.74 on a leap year). One load of whites, 2 loads of colors, and Walla! The tax is paid.

It is our heartfelt opinion that the editors of the Express-Times need to stop trying to affect our usage taxes. These taxes are going to allow more of the public’s burden to be shared. We always seem to miss it when the editors are standing up for the overtaxed homeowners in the city. We know it’s not that they haven’t mentioned our ever-increasing tax burden; it’s more likely that the lack of follow-up articles causes us to overlook their support.

The tax is what it is. It is a way to share the costs of municipal services in this county-seat city with the visitors, transients, College, county government, undisclosed population, and the renters.

New Documents on the Website

Friends & Neighbors,

We have updated the Documents and Media area of Easton UnLeashed (aka “the webpage”). If you aren’t familiar with Easton UnLeashed it is our website proper located at www.eastonundressed.org . The “website” is where we archive the more functional parts of the EUniverse. If we record a meeting or reference a file, then we store it and make it forever accessible on the webpage. The old top ten lists, comics, and Easton UnPlugged (podcasts) are also archived there.

The new additions to the D&M include:

• The Citizen’s Guide to Enforcement of City Ordinances


• Zoning Pamphlet


• Residential Permit Pamphlet


• Commercial Zoning Pamphlet


• The Citizen’s Guide to Enforcement of City Ordinances


• Recreational/Outdoor Fire Regulations


• Swimming pool donation forms

Check

Credit Card

• City Swimming Pool Flier

Remember if we referred to it or recorded it it will be stored on the webpage.

NOTE: If there is any document or media that you would like us make available email us or let us know on the tagboard. If you have the document or recording send it to us. And when you send us stuff; paper, pdf, doc, txt, wmv, mp3, wav, and avi are the preferred formats, but we will take what you have. And ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN FAXES OR COPIES FROM FAXES. But we will work with those too. If you don’t have it we will scour the city to find it.

Your Neighbor

Phone Listings For Easton Police

These listings and advice were sent to us courtesy of SGT Matthew Lohenitz of the Easton Police. These listings are also available for download as a word file. EPD Numbers

PHONE LISTINGS FOR EASTON POLICE

If you have an EMERGENCY CALL 911 immediately
If you wish to make a police report and it is a NON-EMERGENCY: CALL 610-330-2200

Internal Phone Numbers

Command Staff:

Chief/Commissioner: CALL 610-250-6630

Captain of Field Services: CALL 610-250-6631

Captain of Auxiliary Staff: CALL 610-250-6641

Criminal Investigations Division (CID):
Lieutenant: 610-250-6634
Inspector/Sergeant (CID):610-250-6667
Vice Investigations Division (VID):

Lieutenant (VID): 610-250-6658
Vice Detectives: 610-250-6645
610-250-6644
610-250-6780
Records/Traffic Division:

Lieutenant: 610-250-6664
Traffic Officers: 610-250-6657
610-250-6943
Neighborhood Policing/Special Enforcement Unit:

Sergeant: 610-250-6660

Patrol Shift Supervisor:

Lieutenant/Sergeant:610-330-2200 (Easton Dispatch)

Police Department Call Protocol

-If you have an emergency DIAL 911 immediately, DO NOT WAIT.

-If your call does not require an emergency Police Department response, please call the NON-EMERGENCY number.

-If you need to speak with a Crimes Detective or contact someone regarding a case that is being investigated for you and you do not have the phone number of the Detective assigned to the case, call either the Lieutenant or Inspector/Sergeant of Criminal Investigations.

-If you need to speak with a Vice Detective or you have a complaint that involves DRUG ACTIVITY or PROSTITUTION, please contact our Vice Investigative Unit.

-If you need to get a copy of a Police Report or other documentation please contact the Lieutenant of Records.

-If you have a question regarding traffic, parking situations or abandoned cars, please call either of the traffic officers.

-If you would like to advise the Police Department about quality of life issues or need to be fingerprinted for employment or school, please call the Sergeant of Neighborhood Policing and Special Enforcement.

-To speak with the Patrol Shift Supervisor on duty, please call the Northampton County Dispatch Center (610-330-2200) and ask for the Easton Dispatcher.

Wishes & Dreams

The City of Easton has been in revitalization mode for the past 40 years. The techniques and ideas so far have failed to increase our quality of life. Much of the energy has been invested in caring for buildings instead of caring for people.  

The decline of our quality of life has resulted in the decline of our consumer market. Many of our residents have left the problems of the city for the quiet of the suburbs.  Many left not because they chose the suburbs over City life, but because they were forced out by an environment no longer conducive to the pursuits of happiness.

We have created many artificial individual attractions, based on the hopes that an influx of tourism would solve our problems. Some of the more expensive projects include The Two Rivers Landing, The State Theater, and The Bachmann Publick House. These projects together cost the taxpayers and private contributors millions of dollars, but our overall economy and quality of life has at best remained stagnant.

This is flawed methodology, yet we continue to promote efforts that follow the same model. We keep trying to artificially reinvigorate businesses in order to excite the economy. The result is a short term rapid growth followed by decline and failure. It’s like entering a sprinter in a marathon. When the starter pistol sounds the sprinter quickly takes off and pulls ahead; but as the race progresses the runner begins to tire, loses energy, and starts to fall behind. We need to stop funding the sprinter and invest more in the marathon. We are continuously falling behind. We need promote the basics; clean and safe, the foundations of any vibrant City. Without a solid foundation anything we build will be in danger of collapse.

When I say we are at fault I mean all of us. We have made mistake after mistake and we have failed to recognize why. We all have had personal agendas which we have put ahead of the systemic problems; we have worried more about supporting self-centered interests (which individually mean nothing) instead of pulling our energy and resources together to fix the rot and deterioration that prevents us from realizing our wishes and dreams.  

We need to rethink the way we expend our resources, we need to stop funding individual projects. The focus must be on shared resources that keep our city clean, safe, and competitive. We must clean our streets, rid our city of those who want to use it to cultivate illegal businesses, we must educate or punish those who break the rules of society and negatively effect our quality of life, we must ask every property owner to enhance the appearance of their properties, or we must enforce the codes that regulate them without tolerance. And we must invest in community infrastructure that benefits everyone.

It is time to agree on a new action plan, to stop advancing our individual agendas, and to bolster a solid foundation to build our wishes and dreams upon, only then will we thrive.

BadApple

Council Meeting Audio 03/08/06

Here is the audio from the March 8, 2006 City Council meeting. This meeting was a rehash and settlement version of the last meeting. Chucky's, Landlord Licensing, Logogate, and 501(c)(3)s were all followed up on by either Council, the Mayor, or citizens.

Landlord Licensing was passed, and to the dismay of some of us Lafayette College gets a licensing bargain of $100.00 per dormitory building. The evidence of increased police presence at Chucky's on South Side was discussed. The Stevenson Group's logo was rejected (mostly because of the dirty dealing that secured Stevenson's services). Council has decided to open up the City logo process to the citizens of Easton. And the charitable not-for-profit conflict of interest issue gains some momentum. Enjoy.

Your Neighbors

Planning Commission Audio 03/01/06

Here's the audio from March 1st Planning Commission meeting (12.6Mb). This was our first foray into a public meeting outside of City Council. The commission seemed very capable. They handled Abraham Atiyeh like unflappable professionals when he tried to steam roll his Marquis Theater condominium plan past them.