323 Northampton St Collapse: Storm or Negligence?

Last week, Easton Mayor Sal Panto managed to annoy downtown merchants in a lengthy discussion over whether to light the gigantic Phallus symbol known as the Easton Peace Candle on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday. The following day, just as a woman had walked past the building at 323 Northampton Street, a section of brick wall collapsed onto the bank Street alley. Fortunately, no one was hurt, although surrounding businesses will be closed. An Express Times headline calls it a "storm damaged" building. But Mother Nature had nothing to do with the decision to completely gut the building, even below the foundation. Easton Codes was apparently warned about this condition, yet did nothing.

323 Northampton is the former Dollar Store, and is being converted into a restaurant by the River Grille and Ocean owners. At the rate things are going, all dining there will be al fresco. Though that term sounds very foo foo, it actually means spending time in jail, and some people are claiming on the Easton Facebook page that what has happened is criminal.

Easton's $87,000 per year Code Inspector is Stephen Nowroski, remember? About this time last year, I told you he had left Forty Fort in the midst of allegations that his department engaged in retaliation and played political favorites. According to the Department of Labor and Industry, his department only inspected about 25% of the properties for which permits had been issued. Forty Fort residents also got stuck with an 80' high lighted billboard after he or the Solicitor neglected to mail an adverse ruling to the property owner. That turned a No into a Yes.

Neither the public nor Easton City Council knew any of this when Nowrowski was hired. Panto wanted it to be a surprise.

In the meantime, architect Jeff Martinson went to work at the Dollar Store at 323 Northampton Street. Yes, this is the same genius who recently testified in the Palmer Points project that the Value Place Extended Stay Motel is an example of excellence in architecture. He was unable to answer basic questions, like how a "story" is defined under Palmer's zoning ordinance.

Martinson completely gutted the building. According to merchants in the area, he got rid of all lateral supports, and nothing was there to prevent the building from collapsing. Bricked-up windows were removed inappropriately. There was no proper temporary bracing to the weakened wall. He also allowed the building to be unsecured to the point where someone could literally step from the alley, over a 16" high window sill and fall 20 ft into the basement.

Unqualified workers were used. I doubt any trades unions worked here.

Martinson also dug below the foundations. So no 50 mph winds were needed. A healthy fart could have sent that building into a nosedive.

This point is corroborated by this Easton Facebook entry. "Storm damage? Are you kidding? The building was completely gutted including all the floor joists, the windows were removed and they excavated under the existing foundation. They even dug under the foundation of the party wall connecting to the new public market."

Kevin Ruppert adds, "In fact the city has failed. There is no veil to hide this. Was the undermining of the foundation planned? I saw many truckloads of compacted clay removed in a grasshopper landscaping truck. Where were the code inspectors?"

I am informed that calls were placed to the Easton Codes department in October and November, to no avail.

I expect to see Panto respond to these concerns with his usual bully tactics. He's too busy doing things he strongly denied. One of his buddies wants him to fix a parking ticket. Shhh!