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Wednesday, December 09, 2020

New Faces Coming to Lehigh County

Antonio Pineda
In Northampton County next year, five at-large County Council seats will be up for grabs. The fate of those who run may very well be tied up with what is going on nationally. If Biden is doing poorly as President, expect to see Democrat seats filled by Republicans.  In Lehigh County, however, it's a different story. Instead of at-large seats, voters will be asked to fill district seats. This is where a person can chart his own course among people who know him and vote for him, not his party. 

Though he's only 62, Lehigh County Comm'r Marc Grammes is calling it quits as Commissioner in District One. That district includes most of the northern half of the county. 

Announcing his candidacy to succeed Grammes is Antonio Pineda. 

An environmental engineer, Pineda is a like-long Lehigh Valley resident who earned his B.S. from Columbia University in 2013.  He currently works for Buzzi Unicem. 

As might be expected from an environmental engineer, he is an avid supporter of open space and farmland preservation, where Lehigh County has excelled. As might be expected from a Republican, he wants to keep taxes low and wants to keep the community safe by supporting law enforcement and DA Jim Martin. 

Pineda has run for office before, both in Whitehall Tp and for an at-large seat. Unfortunately for him, he's been more of a pinata than a Pineda in those contests. Perhaps the third time is the charm. 

What I like about this guy is that he served as an Assistant Football Coach at Dieruff High School over the past four years. I like his commitment to our urban youth, and am sure that experience has given him insights into the Lehigh Valley that few of us have.

Incidentally, Percy Dougherty in District Two is also stepping down That will be a great loss for Lehigh County.I know few people with his institutional knowledge. 

I'm also told that District Three Commissioner Amy Zannelli is stepping down and running for Magisterial District Judge. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one. 

If you have a campaign announcement, please forward and I will alert my readers. BOHare5948@aol.com

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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 9, 2020 at 12:49 AM

    I've met Pineda. Good dude. and I'm a life-long D

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 9, 2020 at 1:06 AM

    Bernie maybe you could ask candidate and Mr. Environmental Engineer for Buzzi Unicem why the hell Buzzi isn't doing something about the periodic environmental disasters Buzzi is causing to the Bushkill Creek. All they have done is make excuses for the creek running dry and killing thousands of fish, when power goes out. They came up with a proposed solution years ago to provide a second independent power feed from the grid, so that if one source fails they can switch to the other. This was supposed to be in the budget 2-3 years ago, and now in newspaper reports they say "it is too expensive." Buzzi's operation was allowed to go 50' feet deeper back around 2000, and since then sinkholes have ravaged the creek, caused multiple houses to be demolished, and the loss of two bridges on Rt 33 at a cost of $5 or 6 million, that are going to have to be replaced again in a year or two at an even greater cost because the "new" ones are sinking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bernie O'HareDecember 9, 2020 at 1:18 AM

    He doesn't run the company, and has only been there since January, so ease up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 9, 2020 at 2:47 AM

    Ah, conditional responsibility. I smell the scent of a new mancrush in the making.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 9, 2020 at 9:51 AM

    Bernie -
    Keeping with the Lehigh County theme, any word on your rent mayoral candidates meeting?
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bernie O'HareDecember 9, 2020 at 10:24 AM

    I believe they will meet this week.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousDecember 10, 2020 at 9:50 AM

    1:06 You're up pretty late Don. Better take back the aggregate in your driveway to fill in the hole.

    ReplyDelete

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