Joe Welsh, Executive Director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, knows a little bit about Easton. He worked there as Easton Business Administrator. He practiced law there. He lived (and may still live) there. So when he speaks about that City, it would be wise for people, especially those who come from outside the area, to listen. In a letter to Easton Housing Authority (EHA) under the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute's banner, Joe condemns a recent attempt by the EHA to demand $16,000 a month in rent, up from the current $1. This gambit is the work of EHA's Executive Director Tyler Martin, a recent Philly transplant. Welsh slams Martin for wanting to enrich absentee landlords on the backs of Easton's children. He calls this shortsighted idea "Robin Hood in Reverse."
Easton's Boys and Girls Club has existed since 1974, and served 463 children during 2020-21. It's after school meal program provided 3,422 dinners. Its summer meal program provided. 922 breakfasts, 2,732 lunches and 2,652 snacks. It runs seven different programs, from sports and fitness to lexia reading. Its goal is to help all children reach their full potential as "productive, caring, responsible citizens."
It has served as a stopgap from a sad "school to prison" pipeline affecting many disadvantaged youth. It pretty much stopped the racial violence that plagued Easton in the early '70s. It instead has produced role models like Kenny Brown, who is currently Easton City Council VP.
What Martin is proposing would pretty much be the death knell for one of the most positive programs in the Lehigh Valley.
Below is Joe's letter.
LVJI Letter to Easton Housing Authority by BernieOHare on Scribd
Hold on, the Easton Housing Authority is renting the Boys and Girls Club space for $1? How is that right? Is the Housing Authority doing the same for other not-for-profit entities?
ReplyDeleteI don’t know that $16,000/month is the right number (or if that’s even what’s been proposed), but $1/month isn’t right either.
I say figure out a fair number based on square footage and charge whatever rent that works out to. Or sell the property to the Boys and Girls Club at a reasonable price.
This isn’t about the good works that the Boys and Girls Club does, it’s about fairness. The Club can raise money like any other non-profit does to pay their rent. It shouldn’t fall on the Housing Authority to continue to subsidize them.
Instead of people writing angry letters to the Housing Authority or trashing them in a blog post, supporters of the Boys and Girls Club should be thanking the Housing Authority for giving the Club a free ride for all these years.
If the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, Mayor Panto, or any of the other politicians and supporters listed in the letter really want to do something, let THEM pony up to cover a reasonable rent for the Boys and Girls Club. The Housing Authority has already done more than their fair share.
A little curious as to if this proposed rent increase would cause the housing authority to lose their Tax exempt status in this case???
ReplyDeleteThe new influx that has infected the local human human services need has been stealing from the children in more than this one incident. There's a problem of putting daycares in hazardous waste dump sites and than reaping federal funds from the exorbitant fees paid per child. This is not to mention the grants scalped to put the face paint on the pig. Than there is the fact that these human services nonprofits have become land holding corporation's to fake property money's made whenselling said properties.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Joe! Keep up the good work with LVJI.
ReplyDeleteWhat does running a community center have to do with an authority's mission of providing affordable housing to low and moderate income citizens? The club should seek money through established funding sources, and not from an authority that's strayed from its mission. I agree with 3:14 AM. The issue isn't the worthiness of the club. The issue is the mission and economics of the authority.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear arguments against helping out the less fortunate amongst us one of my favorite lines from Augustus in the series “Domina” comes to mind:
ReplyDelete“The State, the City of Rome, all of it, everything, me, rests on a single unspoken agreement.
Half a million shit-poor Romans agree to let a few hundred senators live in luxury right in front of them. Why? Because, we agree to give them the bread they need, free, every day of the year. And that is why they don't tear us and our families to fŐ˝ck¡ng pieces in our beds.”
No good deed goes unpunished.
ReplyDeleteSheriff’s department is hiring
ReplyDeleteMy initial thought is that the rent increase is wrong. Perhaps the B and G club can explain what it is doing and can do about cutting down on youth gang activity, school misbehavior and other anti-social acts our young people engage in in Easton and the EASD.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of salaries are being paid at this youth center??How much is director Dean Young being paid????
ReplyDeleteDean ,is being paid a modest salary for the long hours and devoted time he spends on that occupation. You and I would not probably do the same. He puts in his time at a greater intervals than most people. So it’s not him . He’s not a subject of dispute.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no reason for the Housing Authority to have been subsidizing the Boys and Girls Club in the past, and they certainly shouldn’t be expected to do it forever.
ReplyDeleteThe money has been coming from the wrong source all along.
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