Here's what Paul Felder, who was there, has to say.
Before the debacle that was Wednesday night's City Council meeting adjourned in disarray, due to the City having bungled public access to Zoom, Mayor Panto delivered a rant that, to me, was unprecedented in the fifty years I've been attending government meetings.
The meeting has been rescheduled to next Tuesday, June 30 (details to follow), but the real story is that the mayor labelled ALL of the organizations and individuals who oppose his zoning scheme as RACISTS who are filled with 'socio-economic, educational and racial' prejudices.
Just to list some of those on the mayor's list: my wife and I are racists, as is Representative Robert Freeman, as are Easton Planning Commissioners Charles Elliott, Bob Sun, Ron Shipman, Bill Carr, Ken Green and William Heilman. (I wonder who appointed all these racist commissioners?)
Also racist: the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, everyone on the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, including its Executive Director Becky Bradley, and also most of the people receiving this email. (Unless you support the mayor's zoning changes, in which case you are not a racist. I apologize.)
And why are all of us racists? Because after half of year of refusing to say what is motivating these changes, the mayor and his city "planner," Steve Nowroski have decided that they are all about "affordable housing." Increasing impervious coverage while gutting historic preservation and design standards must all be done in the name of affordable housing! Who knew? (I've been teaching planning courses since 1967, and I didn't know. Racist that I am, I've always taught that a rational approach to planning is able to maximize affordable housing, environmental protection and historic preservation, all at the same time! Who knew?)
Mr. Nowroski likes to cherry pick his facts, such as when he recounts in detail how much the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission commended his reformatting of the zoning ordinance, while neglecting to mention the pages and pages of criticism LVPC issued about the content of his proposed changes. Last night's pathetic affordable housing rationale somehow failed to include reasons for his original proposal of allowing warehouses in the River Corridor District (minimum wage jobs for poor people, I guess) and allowing Lafayette College to build within ten feet of the Bushkill Creek. (Dorms for need-blind students?)
One of the City's proposals, allowing certain multi-family buildings to be three stories rather than two, actually does address an affordable housing issue in an appropriate manner, but neither Mr. Nowroski nor Mr. Panto seem able to distinguish responsible planning practices from foolishness. (Since they are so defensive about their own lack of planning expertise, they find it necessary to distort the motives of their critics, many of whom really are planners.)
Two years ago, the mayor and Mr. Nowroski helped Lafayette College blow up all sorts of affordable housing on College Hill. Now, they are it's champion.
An additional irony: Mr. Nowroski proposes to drastically increase impervious coverage limits in the Institutional-1 (Lafayette) District to 'encourage the College to expand on its own campus,' after the ink is barely dry on his rewriting the zoning code to encourage the College to expand off its campus. This is planning in Easton.
Am I being unnecessarily dramatic here? Absolutely! I am (inadequately) trying to express how disgusted I am by public officials who try to shield their own insecurities and incompetence by calling their opponents racists (to be clear: Mr. Nowroski did not do this, only the mayor), by fomenting class conflicts (their opponents are over-educated 'people of wealth,' you know), and by yelling louder than everyone else in the room. It was a sickening display.
At least Panto has stopped pretending he's other people so he can say nice things about himself. So he's got that going for him.
Panto = power play. He strong arms his agenda past his rubber stamp city council (except Peter Melan). Citizens of Easton be damned.
ReplyDeleteIs this about Mayor Panto being racist?, the Christopher Columbus statue debacle?, or a Lafayette zoning issue?. All three could be separate articles within themselves but to group them all together it's difficult to decipher what the author is attempting to expose.
ReplyDeletePanto is now showing his true colors. Having been a history teacher you would think he would have learned from mistakes made in the past.
ReplyDeleteNarrative is racist, I don’t get it, there is no evidence that Cris Columbus’s adventures ever set foot on any part of what is now the United States of America., He ,didn’t move any slaves here , He didn’t cut anybody’s head off here So , he was never up here. If you have ever traveled to Italy , Columbus figures come in different forms. I would also submit that other people have “discovered “ the same places. Taking down Washington,Jefferson , Grant or Columbus serves no purpose but to forget history and 200, 300, years ago . The OttomanS were killing people for( White Christ ? ) sake about the Columbus was born 1451 - holy cow . What an agenda. I’d blame a lot Of what is happening on our educational system, and the hiring practices of the districts have been a reason nationally. Then the structure of incompetence at tax payers expense with no respect for the rate payers. I’m done with my rant !,. Good day fellow tax payers.
ReplyDeletePanto isn't the only prominent member of Sons of Italy that defend the racist Columbus statue. Jack Panella, would you please speak out against Columbus' atrocities and demand Panto step aside, a la George Wallace, and take the racist statue down? Columbus was a brutal bumbler whose own country (Italy) though he was a POS. He was financed by Spain. He "discovered" a land that had been found hundreds of years earlier. Columbus had ZERO to to do with the founding of the US, almost 300 years later. He's a concoction of Italian Americans who wanted a source of national pride, similar to the Irish and St. Patrick - who was Italian! LOL. Italian-Americans picked a POS as their hero. They should have chosen more wisely. Panto says he knows history. He also claims two college degrees and still can't form coherent sentences.
ReplyDeleteAny person with a brain can read for themselves the story of why the Italian community chose CC as their idol to worship. They did not choose wisely in their rush to gain status as immigrants in this country and to distance themselves from the blacks. CC a white substitute for their own skin color. Sad story but the truth. CC was a murderer..plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteif we believe in democracy, put the statue up for a vote by the residents of Northampton county, not a petition of only those in favor of removal. Forget democracy it is the dictatorship of the mob. Only the small minded would judge society of 500 years ago by today's standards. It is now at the point where no one is pure enough to gain the respect of this lot of anarchists and revolutionaries. Only they in their infinite moral superiority can be acceptable. Disgusting, that in reality they have no moral compass at all in their actions.
ReplyDeleteMan someone who speaks the truth. I believe that if it is desired to remove the statue then let's put it to a vote. If we want to erase history then what will be left. We are meant to remember our past. Our founding fathers were not perfect men in which, by today's standards no one is. We are to remember our past good and bad. To remember that we are a great nation built upon the sweat and blood of our citizens.
DeleteJoe Paterno, Chris Columbus, Donald Trump, Robert Lee, Thomas Jefferson... it’s difficult for people to admit that a false idol that they’ve looked up to for much of their life is actually kind of a scum bag. It takes time. The statue will come down. And for anyone crying it’s revisionist history, you’re wrong. The history books are the history books. But it’s Ridiculous to put these figures on a literal pedestal.
ReplyDelete"Jack Panella, would you please speak out against Columbus' atrocities and demand Panto step aside, a la George Wallace, and take the racist statue down? "
ReplyDeleteJudge Panella is unable to speak out publicly on an issue that arguably could come before him.
"Is this about Mayor Panto being racist?, the Christopher Columbus statue debacle?, or a Lafayette zoning issue?. All three could be separate articles within themselves but to group them all together it's difficult to decipher what the author is attempting to expose."
ReplyDeleteA story about zoning, by itself, would have no appeal. Panto's accusation of racism makes it more interesting. His hypocrisy makes it even more interesting. So I combined all three. If I failed, I tried.
Panto needs to re-evaluate his position on the Columbus statue. He appears to be personally invested in keeping it because his mommy and daddy threw some money into its construction. It may not need to be destroyed. He could easily move it to a museum, removing the incorrect accolades now attached to it, and replacing that plaque with literature of accurate history of what is recorded about the man. Part of that history can include the social awakening of society that prompted its removal from a place of respect.
ReplyDeleteIf Panto keeps fighting to keep it where it stands, he will be remembered poorly and eventually a future Mayor will remove it.
Will Judge Panella attend this years October 12 commemoration? No need for comment; a simple yes or no will suffice. Just days ago, you defended Judge Morganelli's decision to opine on current events.
ReplyDeleteAs a well trained Democrat, Panto just accuses anyone he disagrees with as being racist. This practice of labeling everyone and everything racist only minimizes/normalizes the ugliness associated with real racists, those people who hate people of a different race.
ReplyDelete10:20, you would sound less like a redneck if you acknowledged that racism exists. I'm not holding my breath...
ReplyDelete"Panto = power play. He strong arms his agenda past his rubber stamp city council (except Peter Melan). Citizens of Easton be damned."
ReplyDeleteIn fairness to Panto it is a disease. The same thing is happening in Northampton
county. Bobbleheads bowing to the glorious leader.
So now Panto is playing the race card. In the past Sal wanted to give driver licenses to illegal aliens but then later on he had most of the picnic tables removed from Hugh Moore Park to prevent the Spanish folks from taking over the park. Sal says he is "transparent" yet his brother gets a job at the bridge commission. As for the zoning issue, Sal is just an operative for Lafayette College. If the college tells Sal to shit then Sal says "when-where and how much". The mayors lies when he denies the zoning change isn't to benefit Lafayette College. And speaking of Easton City Council, councilman Roger Ruggles is another Panto stooge. At one council meeting a new bill was introduced and councilman Ruggles pretended to find something wrong with the proposed bill and it was tabled. Then Mayor Panto comments "good catch Roger". What a bunch of B.S. The two frequently have breakfast together in downtown restaurants. It was all staged ahead of time. Play acting. I wonder what the college is planning next that has caused the Mayor to swing into action.
ReplyDeleteThe bridge commission is a state job not a city job. Not sure how Mayor Panto could get him the job.
ReplyDeleteRegarding "affordable" and "high density" housing, might I suggest Sal Panto tell his PD to stop sleeping and start patrolling? Start on any corner, observe, you will see drug deals and deafening car stereos and car exhausts ruining this city---all of this transplanted from NJ/NY where noise is the rule.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Columbus, meh. These excercizes are purely cosmetic. We need deeds not symbols to stigmatize racism. Panto needs the votes from the Italian community, aged as they are they still vote reliably. Note the the Castel di Lucio Club is now "El Club", I predict 1 generation and bronze Columbus will be headed to the scrap yard.