Our Lady of Lebanon's 37th annual Lebanese Heritage festival was this past weekend. It's a two-day block party, with some of the best food you'll ever eat. I was supposed to go with Sharon and Ron Angle Saturday night. He loves kibbi, while my favorites are hummus and falafel. I was also looking forward to seeing Father Alex, who is home for the festival .
But after seeing Tricia Mezzacappa in Nazareth during Martin on Main Street on Saturday, I postponed my plans. I delayed my visit until Sunday, and spent Saturday night making sure my moat was filled with sharks who can shoot laser beams from their heads. Also, my servants were forced to run through battle exercises. Watching them made me tired.
Late that night, I got a call from Angle. He had just left the Lebanese Heritage Festival, and told me Shakira was there. She had just finished performing her famous belly dance, and was asking about me again. Fortunately, the festival continued on Sunday. I was supposed to call blogger Michael Molovinsky, who wanted to meet Father Alex. But I blew him off for Shakira. I expected to see this:
Instead, I saw this:
No Shakira.
The food is great! Cheap, too. You can get by with just $5 if you want.
Half the courthouse was there, including Roseann, my fiancee. She works in the Prothonotary. When I saw her, I told her we could get married because Father Alex is here, and she ran out screaming.
She's playing hard to get.
I stayed there a little over two hours. No Shakira. No Father Alex.
Hmmmm.
After a few cups of Turkish coffee, I decided to go home. I had parked in the Easton Parking Garage, and forgot to turn my lights off. My battery was dead. Once I got it going, I got hit up with a frickin' $6 parking fee on a Sunday afternoon, which is almost as much as the food cost.
But I was luckier than a lot of the people parked on Ferry Street, who had tickets on their windshields. Bethlehem, Allentown and most municipalities allow free meter parking on Sunday. Not Easton. Their parking enforcers, all of them reputedly former members of the Gambino crime family, were out in force.
I felt sorry for the folks in the tents, making shish-ka-bobs. But they seemed to really enjoy it. It's for a good cause - the church. Lebanese families from as far away as Rhode Island come to visit their relatives in Easton.
Mayor Panto gave a great statement on Facebook about the good people of Easton and all the fun. He took a well deserved shot at "Bloggers" who try and year down and destroy.
ReplyDeleteMore and more people have your number O'Hare and the Mayor called you out on your hateful ways.
Panto claimed on 69 news the other night that the parking revenue was up I think he said $5,000 so I guess after yesterday's take, he can safely say the city is on solid financial ground!
ReplyDeleteThis is why the majority of Easton residents dont support downtown. Its better to shop at the Palmer mall, eat on rt248 or the short drive to Bethlehem's main st.
ReplyDeleteAs an Easton resident I am a fan of mayor Panto. However, Bernie's reports on the relationship between the city and Developer Mulligan is concerning. I am a novice when it comes to the law, but it does look ethically wrong to me. Looking forward to the outcome.
ReplyDeleteThis goes deep and proves the city administrator is asleep at the wheel.
ReplyDeleteI like Easton and like what they've done with the place. But parking enforcement is very aggressive and very expensive. After getting whacked in two of my last three visits to downtown, I had enough and haven't returned since April. I used to have dinner downtown once per week. It's really nice in Easton. But there are lots of new, independent dining options outside of town where parking is free and you needn't mind your watch constantly while trying to enjoy a night out. I think they've gone to far in Easton. I only used to drop a couple hundred per month down there at a variety of cool places, and am just one guy with his wife spending money. Perhaps the parking revenue makes up the difference and they don't care if they lose a few regular visitors. People vote with their wallets and my wallet now goes elsewhere, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe fact here is that a developer and RDA employee are partners in a property for some reason. Inside knowledge was used to get these properties for next to nothing and it was done in a manner that was not offered in the past to other property owners. This involves an RDA employee, 2 City directors, the city administrator and the city's largest developer. Not good.
ReplyDeleteI saw Father Alex there. He is the town's next pastor. Bishop made that announcement from the alatar. didnt see you Bernue. Sure it wasnt the other way around?
ReplyDelete3:34, The Mayor of Easton apparently only wants his story about Easton going out, not the truth. It's why he does not like gun violence walks, too.
ReplyDelete@3:34 "He took a well deserved shot at "Bloggers" who try and year down and destroy"
ReplyDeleteYou're an ignorant ass. Bloggers work to expose things that are wrong. Like you being in government. They helped ensure that will never happen, and for that West Easton and NorCo are very very grateful. Go get some sleep - you need it.
"I saw Father Alex there. He is the town's next pastor. Bishop made that announcement from the alatar. didnt see you Bernue. Sure it wasnt the other way around?"
ReplyDeleteI was not at the mass.
Nazareth has reasonable parking fees, and while it isn't comparable to Easton in size, it happens to be the only place I will pay to park. I like supporting the local businesses, and paying fair rates feels right.
ReplyDeleteI won't park in a place that charges me $1 minimum to park for 10 minutes to buy something. So I won't park downtown, and therefore won't be supporting businesses in those areas. It's pretty simple.
Besides, in Nazareth, you can see wild animals on display, as this blog documented a few days ago.
I'll pay the dough in Easton, Monday thru Saturday, without complaint. But give the people a break on Sundays.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about "We the People", it's all about the government employee and their pay checks...
ReplyDeleteBernie, your video had a Fellini look and quality to it. The tilt down affect to your shoe was particularly artistic.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow Bernie, just read all the facebook comments. I think you went to far attacking Mayor Panto the way you did. Apparently so did quite a few people on facebook. You may want to tone down the rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteJT
When you're over the target, the flak gets heavy. I'm over the target.
ReplyDeleteAllentown tickets patrons at lunch time. There has got to be a better time to sweep. No matter how good the food is, a parking ticket will sure leave a bad taste in your mouth.
ReplyDeleteIn the old mechanical meters, I never regretted leaving some time in the meter for the next. If you got a meter with a little time left, it was like winning a small fortune. The digital age has created grinch parking authorities with meters that reset when a car pulls out.
It is my understanIng that they know where meters have expired using radio frequency. Is this true?
Maybe we can bust out another couple million for mulligan and make this all go away.
ReplyDeleteBernie. You are great. Please don't delete this comment just because it is anonymous.
ReplyDelete