Two Rivers Daily - the Easton, Pa., Blog

Easton Area School District holding clothing drive

he Easton Area PTAs have banded together this week to collect winter clothing for families in need. Together with the administration and Family Connections of Easton, each of the district's buildings will host a box where students, parents and the community can donate items.

The district will donate all gently used or new clothing -- including coats, hates, gloves and scarves, sizes infant to adult -- to Family Connections of Easton to be distributed throughout the community. Families in need of clothing can contact Lisa Bedoya with Family Connection of Easton at (610) 250-2551 ext. 24006.

For more information, check out the flyer here.

Moving on to the new blog

As of today, Two Rivers Daily is defunct.

I mentioned back in May that we would soon be moving to one local news blog that would combine or online coverage of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. Well, now it’s finally happened — with the launch of themorningcall.com’s new Valley610 blog.

How will this affect how you get your Easton news? My hope is that you’ll still be able to get everything you’ve come to expect from us and from Two Rivers in particular. The new blog has a whole page dedicated just to Easton news; you can either bookmark it or go to the blog and click on the big “EASTON” button at the top (shown here). We’re still working out some of the kinks, though so please let us know when you run across things that don’t work something that doesn’t work.

Also, though we won’t continue to post updates hear on the Easton blog, I’ll continue to maintain the Two Rivers Easton Twitter feed, and the Two Rivers Facebook page will continue to be open as a place to get the latest headlines and get into talks about the news.

Thanks for sticking with us, please update your bookmarks, and we look forward to seeing you over at Valley610!

Get your little (free!) pocket guide to Easton

Laini Abraham, that tireless Easton networker and erstwhile mermaid, passed along a note to me yesterday announcing that she’ll be at the Easton Farmers’ Market this Saturday, giving away copies of her popular book, Laini’s Little Pocket Guide to Easton.

She’ll be handing out the books at the market in Centre Square from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. And, for the directionally challenged among us, she added: “The farmers' market is in the Circle ... and if you get your copy of the pocket guide, you can read about the CORRECT way to drive around the Circle!”

In addition to navigational aids, the guidebook points readers toward Easton’s attractions and restaurants and includes some notes on its history.

Also, as Abraham points out on the Little Pocket Guide’s Facebook page, “someone named Colonel Corn is going to be there so you can have your picture taken with him” to celebrate the market’s Sweet Corn Fest, which also happens to be Saturday.

As one her Facebook fans have suggested, maybe the Colonel would even be gracious enough to join Abraham in autographing your free book.

Sprucing up Northampton Street

If you’ve traveled through the 600 block of Northampton Street anytime in the past week or so, you’ve almost certainly noticed the crews there ripping up a lot of the sidewalks. It turns out that work is part of a $535,000 cluster of projects intended to spruce up that block, a starting place for some similar work across the West Ward.

The sidewalk part of the work is being overseen by the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership, which secured a $303,000 PennDOT grant and intends — eventually — to turn the block into a sort of low key arboretum featuring more than a dozen types of native trees. Plans also call for new streetlights and benches; the total scope of the project is $360,000.

The first part of the work, according to WWNP program manager Gary Bertsch, is to tear out the most damaged sidewalks on the block and replace them with narrower versions that will allow a little strip of green space along the street. Less concrete there should make the area quicker to cool off in the summer, it’ll allow more water to seep back into the ground, and it’ll create space for the trees — which should look nice, offer some shade and help suck some carbon out of the air while they’re at it.

To compliment that work, the city has committed $175,000 of its federal stimulus money (awarded through the Community Development Block Grant program) to putting in crosswalks and generally upgrading the “five-points” intersection where Sixth, Northampton and Walnut streets meet, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. told me.

Though work on the sidewalks started last Wednesday, according to Bertch, officials have scheduled a ceremonial kickoff and news conference at 11 a.m. today the WWNP offices — which are in the 600 block of Northampton. (Here’s the news release (pdf).) I’ll update this post later today if we’re able to get photos.

The sidewalk and streets work on the block is to wrap up by about September, with the plantings and other details to follow. But that work is just the beginning: Easton has hundreds of thousands more stimulus dollars earmarked for similar work in and around the West Ward, including a project to improve 15th Street, Panto told me. And WWNP is busy trying to convince lots of West Ward residents to tear out the mini-plazas of concrete in front of their homes and instead put in trees and gardens featuring native plants.

The group is more than happy to help residents plan those projects. For more information, e-mail Bertsch or call 610-515-0891.

Bringing Lebanon’s flavors to Easton

Though I might risk jinxing the weather by mentioning it here, I wanted to made sure I reminded you readers that this weekend marks the 32nd annual Lebanese Heritage Day over at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church. Here’s the poster (pdf).

The free festivities celebrating Easton’s substantial Lebanese population start tomorrow (Saturday) evening from 5 p.m. until midnight, then pick up again from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. The fun will be right there at the church, which is at Fourth and Ferry streets.

This year’s festival is to feature the music of John Sallit, an Arabic singer who lives in Allentown. In addition, there are dances and other cultural showcases, including lots of great food for sale. (The proceeds from the food sales benefit the church; the whole event is actually a church fundraiser.)

So stop by and grab a kebab, even if the weather’s not so great: the event is to go on rain or shine.

Photo credit: This 2005 photo of young dancers at the festival is from the Our Lady of Lebanon church Web site.

Jazz in the rain?

UPDATE (12:20 p.m., Friday, July 31): I KNEW it! I knew this would happen! Megan McBride of the Main Street Initiative sent a release out late this morning saying "'Jazz in the Square' is now 'Jazz in the Grand'”: The concert is moving to its rain location in the Grand Eastonian because of tonight's predicted storms.

ORIGINAL POST:

I'm usually not a real superstitious guy, but I have to admit something: I'm a little afraid that anytime I mention an upcoming outdoor event here on this blog, it gets postponed, canceled or (usually) rained out.

It's been happening, off and on, since last year — when I wrote about the planned children's concert by Eco-Man, which was subsequently complicated by Eco-Man's car trouble. Ever since then, inconvenient things have tended to happen to the events I mention here; most recently, the West Ward's first DottFest was all but rained out, as was (if I recall correctly) last month's free Jazz in the Square concert. (The curse isn't 100 percent, though — Derriere in the Delaware and Heritage Day managed to come off just fine, despite my writing about them.)

Fortunately, the folks at the Easton Main Street Initiative, who coordinate these monthly Jazz in the Square concerts, have found a way to bypass any foul weather I might be inadvertently sending their way. Last month's concert moved into the nearby First United Church of Christ; this month, they've arranged to take the show into an even swankier location should the weather turn drippy: the Gold Room of the Grand Eastonian Suites Hotel (140 Northampton St.).

This month's free concert features the "straight ahead" sounds of The Bill Noren Group. As usual, it's scheduled from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Centre Square; bring your own chair, and check out some of the downtown's dining options while you're downtown.

And it wouldn't hurt to bring an umbrella too — just in case you find yourself having to walk those two blocks down to the Grand Eastonian in the rain.

Photo credit: Morning Call file photo by Pete Shaheen.

Swimming, food and jazz at Eddyside

College Hill residents will have a chance to hang out with their neighbors poolside next week while sharing some food, getting some free entertainment and swimming in at Tuesday's College Hill Block Watch Party.

The event is coordinated by the College Hill Neighborhood Association and is timed to coincide with the National Night Out, which spotlights the work of block watches and brings neighbors together to promote ... well, neighborliness.

Tuesday's 5 p.m. get-together at Eddyside, just off Route 611, will feature free swimming (for College Hill residents only, sorry) and a free performance by the Dan DeChellis Trio — a local jazz group that's also playing at Bethlehem's Musikfest this year.

There's no cost to attend, but residents are asked to bring with them a pot-luck dish to share. The party is to last until 9 p.m., though everybody needs to be out of the pool by 8 p.m.

The event's organizers have packed loads more information into this press release (pdf). For more information, e-mail Hubert Etchison, the neighborhood association's president, or leave me a question in the comments here and I'll try to get you an answer.

Taking out the politics

Guest post by Nicole (Mertz) Radzievich, my colleague in County Council coverage (cross-posted at the Bethlehem Daily Star):

So, county council members Ann McHale and Ron Angle clashed again on a county issue.

What is it this time?

Who should represent Lower Saucon Township on the county’s new Gaming Revenue and Economic Redevelopment authority, which will decide how the county’s $2.8 million cut of the casino host fees will be spent.

The applicants are developer John Blair, a Republican and owner of Custom Homes Inc., and township council member Priscilla DeLeon, a Democrat.

Angle, a Republican, pushed for DeLeon while McHale, a Democrat, wanted Blair.

McHale didn’t let the irony go unnoticed at the personnel committee meeting Wednesday.

“I guess that goes to show that party isn’t really doesn’t factor into our decisions,” she said.

For the record, the personnell committee voted 3-1 to recommend DeLeon, whom the township council endorsed. That could change tonight when County Council votes on the appointments.

Buddy, can you loan me a street sweeper?

Good news, all you lovers of clean streets: Mayor Sal Panto Jr. announced at tonight’s (Wednesday’s) City Council meeting that he’s close to presenting a plan that would extend street sweeping throughout the whole city by October or November.

But there’s a catch: The city doesn’t have the $170,000 it would take to buy the new street sweeper and other signage and equipment Panto says the street sweeping program would need.

So instead of buying a new street sweeper, “what we looked at today was leasing one,” Panto said — adding that he thinks this project is important enough to justify this possibility.

Still, it’s not clear if his staff has determined this plan is financially feasible. Panto said staff members are working on the proposal now, and he plans to bring it back to City Council at its next meeting — Aug. 12.

Panto has been pursuing this street sweeping idea pretty consistently since the start of this year, when he mentioned it at a February community meeting in the West Ward. The fact that he’s stuck with it suggests (to me, anyway) that he’s genuinely committed to making this happen; that he sees clean streets as an important quality-of-life issue and probably as part of his campaign promise to make the city “Clean and Safe.”

On the other hand, leasing a big piece of heavy equipment clearly isn’t the ideal option. In the long run, unless the city gets a phenomenal deal on a lease (which is a possibility, I’ll admit), the lease would probably end up costing the city more than buying a street sweeper outright. Or, alternatively, the lease might make the street sweeping program more vulnerable to budget cuts on years when money’s tight (and let’s face it, that’s pretty much every year) — and that would mean the whole program might crumple as soon as it gets started.

So, what’s your view? Weigh in with a comment here, and try to stop by the council meeting in three weeks to let your elected officials know what you think.

By the way, there was lots more news at tonight’s council meeting — including a new, cheaper home in the city’s parking garage for the Easton Main Street Initiative, plus details on the new city prescription discount card — but I couldn’t cram it all into tomorrow’s newspaper. I’ll post updates with all that information as soon as I can.

Photo credit: This 2006 photo by Pete Shaheen shows what was then the city’s new street sweeper making its way down Fourth Street.

Historic lightning strike

During a thunderstorm back on July 11, lightning struck one of Easton’s historic icons — the Easton Cemetery superintendent’s house.

One of the 109-year-old house’s most distinctive features is its round turret on the building’s southwest corner. The its conical roof was covered with slate shingles and included lots of pressed metalwork details.

And that’s where the lightning hit around 10 p.m. on July 11, superintendent Wayne Unangst told me. “Almost all the slate was knocked off of there,” he said, and all the soldering on the metalwork melted and came apart. “It was pretty intense.”

Unangst and his wife happened to be out at the time, but his two teenaged sons were home when the lightning hit, he said. Nobody was hurt — though I’m guessing the boys were a little shaken up.

If you stop by the house these days, you’ll see the turret surrounded by scaffolding while work crews repair the damage. When last I spoke with Unangst, he didn’t have a cost estimate on the repairs, but he said he expected it would take at least a few more weeks to complete them.

Photos by Michael Duck. The one on the top right shows the superintendent’s house as seen through the Easton Cemetery gateway. CLARIFICATION: In case this isn’t immediately obvious from the photos, the part of the roof that was damaged is covered in a blue tarp; it’s not normally that color.

Dennis Lieb: From activist to commissioner

You might know West Ward resident Dennis Lieb from his community activism, his time as a Weed and Seed leader, his outspoken opposition to Riverwalk or, most recently, his unsuccessful primary campaign for City Council. Now, we’ll get to know him as a Planning Commissioner.

Last Wednesday (July 15) marked Lieb’s first meeting as a member of the Planning Commission, and the event passed with little fanfare and even less controversy. (City Council had unanimously approved Lieb’s appointment with no discussion on July 8).

Lieb tells me that Mayor Sal Panto Jr. first suggested the nomination very informally, but it looks to me like this was calculated. This marks at least the second time Panto has tapped an outspoken critic to serve on a board in the city — the other notable example was when he successfully nominated Terrance Hand for the Housing Authority.

From a good governance standpoint, I’m sure Panto sees this as a great way to let the city benefit from the obvious passion and expertise that these kinds of activists bring. From a purely political standpoint, I don’t doubt the mayor also sees the usefulness of extending some olive branches and trying to win some of these activists over to his side.

Still, don’t expect Lieb to change his stripes just because of the appointment. “I am not there to be a cheerleader for everything that comes down the pike,” he told me; nor does he plan to “waste time deconstructing minor details” when he thinks the entire project is a bad idea — like Riverwalk, he told me.

The only subject last Wednesday was the waterfront project; Lieb called the meeting “an easy start.” Lieb, who had been strongly opposed to the shipping container platform when that had been proposed as part of this work, jumped into the discussion with a few questions about whether anything is planned for the landward side of Larry Holmes Drive and whether the Christopher Columbus monument could be moved to line up with Church Street. (The administration’s answer to both questions: Those are good ideas, but neither one is included in this year’s waterfront work.) Lieb went on to vote with the rest of the commission in support of the latest plans.

But Lieb said he doesn’t anticipate every project sailing through so smoothly, and I’m betting he’s correct.

By the way, I also asked Lieb about the possibility — as reported on Bernie O’Hare’s Lehigh Valley Ramblings blog the other week — that he might run again against Mike Fleck to represent the West Ward on City Council, this time as a write-in candidate in November’s general election.

“No definite plans,” he answered. In the wake of his primary loss to Fleck, he still has some sorting out to do, including some financial housekeeping, before he makes a final decision about running. “I don’t know if it is practical at this point,” he said. “A whole lot of people want me to, but I’m the one with the work to do.”

Tubing time!

Grab the sunscreen and head down to the river, because Sunday (July 19) marks your best chance to put your “Derriere in the Delaware.”

The event, Easton’s annual tribute to inner-tubing, is to start at 10 a.m. and last through 3 p.m. Register at Scott Park; from there, buses will take you up to the launching point at Eddyside Park. The cost per person is $5, and the organizers will rent you an honest-to-goodness truck tire inner tube for the day for another $5. By the way, kids under 7 years old aren’t permitted, and kids 7 to 12 need to be accompanied by an adult on the river.

The event benefits the Easton Police Athletic League, which helps support youth sports leagues — with the aim of giving kids fun things to do that are better than getting into trouble.

If the weather looks miserable on Sunday (and there is, sadly, a decent chance of that), the rain date is next Sunday, July 26.

Photo credit: Keving Mingora of The Morning Call snapped this photo of Kelly Castellucci of Easton at last year’s event.

Full speed ahead on the waterfront plans

About four hours ago, Easton’s Planning Commission signed off on the city’s plan to revitalize its Delaware River waterfront. That followed Monday’s go-ahead from the Historic District Commission, and the backers of this $4 million project — most notably, the administration of Mayor Sal Panto Jr. — have to be thrilled with these successes and the lack of opposition they’re seeing from residents.

But if you still have misgivings about this work, you’re running out of time: The final city approvals are to be issued at meetings next week. Next comes the Zoning Hearing Board’s 8 p.m. hearing on Monday, and then there’s the 6 p.m. City Council meeting Wednesday (July 22). Then, the project is to go out to bid in mid-August, the bids are to come back in mid-September, and “we would hope to be under construction by Oct. 5,” Public Works Director Dave Hopkins told the Planning Commission tonight (Tuesday).

That’s breakneck speed for a project this size. So, if you’re still forming an opinion or want to know more, here are loads and loads and loads of details, all culled from the presentations made in the past seven days to City Council, the Historic District Commission and the Planning Commission. The images are courtesy of the design firm, Andropogon Associates, and city Planning Director Becky Bradley.

THE “DELL”

This feature, shown in the artist’s rendering above, is to be the new centerpiece of Scott Park — in lieu of the shipping container platform that Andropogon had proposed before. As I noted in my story last week, Colin Franklin of Andropogon described this new space as a grassy, tree-lined “dell.”

The specs:

The stage area is to be a 30-foot circle, while the grassy circular seating area will be about 80 feet across.
The whole “dell” area will be roughly where the Scott Park parking lot is now — just south of the road leading down to the boat ramp.
The stage area is to be elevated 18” above the seating area. However, on the “back” side of the stage, it will be at ground level: the grading in parts of the site (namely the seating area) will be lowered, while the ground in other parts could be elevated a bit. You can see this detail in the artist’s rendering if you look closely (click for a bigger view).

The “dell” itself is to accommodate about 1,000 people, but the designers pointed out that for big events the overflow crowd can spill out around it.
This isn’t shown in the drawings, but the designers are also considering adding stepping-stone pathways (level with the ground) across the seating area.
The stage and seating area is to be surrounded by trusses to support things like lights, speakers or even a movie screen. As you can see from the drawing, the designers are promising that the trusses will be versatile and easy to use but also won’t be too obtrusive. Tonight, Patty West of Andropogon added that a mesh sun shade could even be stretched over the trusses at the stage area.
Designers had originally talked about making the stage area’s surface out of bluestone, but now “we’re still playing around with that,” West told me. They realized that a cobblestone-like surface might have looked great, but it wouldn’t be practical — dancers might trip, it’d be hard to set up a drum kit, and so on. The latest thinking is that it might be smooth, sanded concrete, but that’s still being worked out, she told me.

This plan on the left shows how the “dell” would fit into the rest of Scott Park. It’s oriented so that north (and the Free Bridge) are on the right side; the point overlooking the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers is on the lower left.

The plan below for Riverside Park is oriented the same way.

THE RIVERSIDE PARK AMPHITHEATER

Some sort of sun shade is to be added behind the seating area and over the stage. None of the design details are set yet, but city officials are emphatic that the stage covering will not interfere with the view of the Free Bridge from the seats.
Officials envision a covering that’s lightweight and in a neutral color. It won’t be waterproof, and it won’t cover the whole amphitheater — it’s just intended to keep the sun out of performers’ eyes and make sure everybody doesn’t broil when they try to have a show there.
Also, all of the seats are to be ripped out and replaced. The new ones will have a similar design, but they’ll have backs on them.

THE REST OF THE TWO PARKS

River birches and other flood-tolerant, native species of trees would be planted throughout the parks.
New pathways would wind through the parks, connecting parking areas to the “dell,” the amphitheater, the Free Bridge and to the point overlooking the confluence. The paths are to be brown asphalt, lined with bluestone along the edges. At night, the path would be illuminated by in-ground, circular lights that would be only a few inches tall.
In addition to encircling the “dell,” the pathway will also open into a mini-plaza around the Christopher Columbus monument.
The point in Scott Park overlooking the confluence would be fixed up. The masonry is to be repointed and capped with bluestone.
A playground area is to go beside the amphitheater, roughly in the spot where a playground used to be before a flood swept it away the other year. The breast cancer awareness garden that covers part of that space now is to be moved — with the blessing of its caretakers — to the east side of the pathway, closer to the river.

LARRY HOLMES DRIVE

Most of the road is to be narrowed to two lanes — one in each direction — though the existing number of turn lanes is to be preserved at Northampton Street (the Free Bridge) and at Third Street.
At the point where the road curves and turns west (right at Larry Holmes Ringside), a new crosswalk will go in. At that same spot, there will be a drop-off area for letting off passengers; it’s shown in the foreground of the artist’s rendering.
As the road continues to the south and west, all the way to Sitgreaves Street, part of what’s now the northbound lanes will be sectioned off to create a parallel parking area. It’ll be separated from the travel lanes by a narrow median with trees.
On the north side of the drop-off spot, more parking areas will be split off from the travel lanes, again on the northbound side. But here, there won’t be a median, because of PennDOT rules about how far medians have to be from intersections. Instead, the city will use paint. (It’s shown with the diagonal lines on the right end of Larry Holmes Drive in this diagram.)
Where Larry Holmes Drive meets Northampton Street and the Free Bridge, all four sides of the intersection will get crosswalks. (Currently, it’s illegal to cross on the east side of the intersection — that is, the side at the bridge.)

If you want to see these plans up close, here are high-resolution PDFs you can download (it may take your computer a while):

Still have questions? Leave me a comment and I’ll see if I can get you a response.

Sorry, Trader Joe’s fans

Trader Joe’s — that much-beloved, deliberately quirky grocery store found in markets to our south and east — sure has a lot of fans here in the Easton area. Actually, it has 723 of them, judging by the membership of the Facebook group “Bring Trader Joe's to Downtown Easton, PA” as of 9 a.m. today. (That’s a lot! Believe me, I’d love to have that many people following this blog on Facebook!)

But I have bad news for those 723 people: It’s not gonna happen — not anytime soon, anyway.

“As far as I know, there are no intentions by Trader Joe’s to come to Easton in the near future,” Mayor Sal Panto Jr. told me yesterday (Tuesday). “They’ve never contacted us.”

Not that Panto would mind having Trader Joe’s here. He said that, when city officials have brainstormed what kind of businesses they’d like to attract to the city, Trader Joe’s usually turns up on the list. The city even contacted the grocery chain, but it never went anywhere. “My last conversation with Trader Joe’s was well over a year and a half ago.”

And there’s another problem: Kim Kmetz, manager of the Easton Main Street Initiative, told my colleague (and Retail Watch-er) Tyrone Richardson that her organization has learned Trader Joe’s officials aren’t really interested in building their stores in dense, urban areas — you know, the kind of urban area that’s proscribed by the city’s new zoning ordinance, which Panto has touted so often.

“They want 60 parking spaces,” Kmetz said, “and that is really hard to come by in a downtown setting.”

As Kmetz pointed out, a property like the former Perkins site might be able to meet that qualification. But then Trader Joe’s would run afoul of the city’s new, urban-style zoning code.

In other words: Easton would love a Trader Joe’s; Trader Joe’s only wants to build suburban-style stores; Easton doesn’t allow any more suburban-style stores.

So things don’t look good for this potential partnership. But, you never know! And if you want Panto and Kmetz to keep plugging away on this idea, it certainly couldn’t hurt to join up with the gang of 723 on Facebook.

Image courtesy of the blog All Over Albany. (Here’s the image in context.)

Get your fill of NorCo Council meetings anytime, anywhere

Guest post by Nicole (Mertz) Radzievich, my colleague in County Council coverage:

Watch out, YouTube.

Northampton County Council is exploring whether to post video of its meetings online. And as council members joked Thursday, their sometimes colorful exchanges may draw so many hits that the county may want to copyright its meetings.

Council is still working through the costs and technical challenges of video taping in a council room with obstructions like pillars and low ceilings. One camera can't frame the entire council table. So, one solution could be to place three cameras around the room. The automated videotape would pick up which ever council person is speaking.

But some council members asked what happens when several council members speak at once or try to talk over each other. Who does the camera pick up?

"The loudest," Councilman Ron Angle answered, well, loudly.

Oh, and don't worry about any naughty language, which has, on occasion, crept into some debates getting on the Internet for unsuspecting youngsters to hear.

The video would be on a delay, so there is the opportunity to bleep out inappropriate comments.