Like my Patch bunk buddy, Jonathan Geeting, I'd love to see a Bi-County public health department here in the Lehigh Valley. Never mind that Erie County, which has a public health department, ranks 52 out of 67 counties in that ominous "morbidity" rating. Never mind that Northampton County, which has no public health department, actually ranks 10 in health factors like smoking and STD. No, damn the evidence, and spend away. Replace the "pro-morbidity" pols, as Geeting calls them.What Jonathan and other spenders fail to realize is that, before we have public health or nice choo-choo trains to …
We were all horrified by the Feb. 9 UGI gas explosion that killed five people and leveled a city block in Allentown. For five hours, natural gas fueled the flames, as city and UGI officials scrambled to find a shutoff valve. Had the explosion occurred just half a block away, it would have been a school. And that's the real tragedy. Throughout the Lehigh Valley--not just Allentown--there are miles and miles of aging cast iron pipelines, some of them more than 100 years old. If you live in Bethlehem, Easton or any of the boroughs, what happened in Allentown could easily happen to you.WFMZ's …
In "John Morganelli, Bon Vivant," I told you that our local top crime dog, DA John Morganelli, regularly dips into his campaign fund for meals at posh places like the Blue Grille and Emeril's Chop House. He blew over $13,000 on himself last year to dine out (35 times), fill up the tank (15 times) and even to buy DA uniforms at Macy's. But there's one eatery he missed--Darto's Restaurant in Bethlehem. The owners must be looking for his business because the first thing you see when you walk into this North Street breakfast nook is a poster telling you to sign Morganelli's election petition for …
Last year, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli raked in $87,874.37 from well-wishers, including people who work for him and lots of $250 checks from defense lawyers. Morganelli is sitting on a $130,000 mountain of cash. But don't worry. He made lots of contributions last year, too. To himself. Campaign finance records reveal that Morganelli donated $13,625.87 to himself last year, a year in which he wasn't running for anything. That's right. His campaign fund became his personal ATM machine. So what did he do with all that dough? He blew $1,109.99 at Macy's, presumably to buy…
The last thing you should ever do is give legislators a pile of money and tell them they can only spend it on emergencies. They'll find more code blues than you'll hear about in a year at your local hospital. Unfortunately, there's just such a fund in the People's Republic of Northampton County, called the "contingency fund." As you might have guessed, council members find all kinds of reasons to just throw the money it contains away. Last week, they voted to give $25,000 for a halfway house to a woman with no lease, no non-profit organization, no board of directors and no real plan. Let me …
Are right-wing maniacs to blame for the Tucson tragedy in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot outside a Safeway during a meeting with her constituents? That's what left-wing maniacs claim. Late last week, Bethlehem Patch published a little ditty about a small group outside State Rep. Joe Brennan's office, carrying "Stop the Toxic Rhetoric" and "Hate Speech is Violence" signs. They continued their mission at Bethlehem's Town Hall Tuesday night, where they planned to stand "in support of Bethlehem City Council members and against right-wing disruptions of their meetings." Instead of …
Do you love a bad smell in the morning? If you work for Chrin Landfill in Williams Township, chances are you do. A familiar rotten-egg odor wafts through south Easton regularly, the byproduct of decomposing scrapple and other garbage. Last year alone, there were seventy DEP inspections, culminating in a $187,500 civil penalty in late December.Not to worry. The Chrins have an insurance plan to combat pesky state regulators. Campaign contributions. Since 2000, they've contributed more than $250,000 to candidates seeking state office in Pennsylvania. That includes judges, prosecutors, state …
We're fickle. For younger people, the average job only lasts between three and five years. We trade in our cars every five years. About a year later, we trade in our homes. We even trade in our wives and husbands. They last around 15 years, before half of us decide to trade up.We reassess.But when some elected official starts talking about reassessing real estate, we trade him in. Last time Northampton County reassessed, in 1994, Jerry Seyfried was County Executive. Voters traded him in.Nobody likes reassessment. Not homeowners, who convince themselves it's a tax increase in disguise. Not …
Allentown calls itself the "City Without Limits" these days. That's certainly true when it comes to tax increases. Earned income taxes just shot up 35 percent on residents and non-residents alike. Bethlehem is known as the "Christmas City." Shoppers can promenade up and down Main Street or ride carriages, blissfully unaware of the city's complete inability to pay its bills. That city faces a 5.3 percent tax hike next year, too.Easton has no nickname. It can't afford one. Allentown and Bethlehem look down their noses at their red-haired stepsister. But it's the only Lehigh Valley city that …
