At their Thursday night meeting, Northampton County Council voted 7-0 (Ken Kraft and Dave Holland were absent) to approve a $1,250 per month license agreement with Shiloh Baptist Church for 150 parking spaces during the 18 months it will take to raze and build a new parking deck at the courthouse campus. This parking deck is on Easton's south side, so a shuttle will also be needed to ferry employees and jurors from there to the courthouse. They did so after some tough questions from Council member Nadeem Qayyum.
Public Works Director Mike Emili told Qayyum that the monthly rate was based on what the county had paid to St. Anthony's in the past for parking at their lot, which is located just two blocks away. He acknowledged that a lease agreement is being finalized there as well.
Qayyum wanted to know whether the county explored the possibility of renting out space at Easton's 3rd Street parking deck, which is only about a half mile from the courthouse but all uphill. He indicated the price at Shiloh is 166% higher than getting a permit in Easton.
Emili said that there is insufficient space at Easton's parking deck, but that deck is pretty much empty during the day. Its use is heaviest in the evening, according to city officials. They will let me know how much space they have available on a daily basis sometime next week.
Emili said a shuttle would run every 15 minutes between Shiloh and the courthouse. On jury days, a bus will be used.
Executive Tara Zrinski said, "We are also looking at the work from home policy to modify that to reduce the number of individuals, and we believe that, uh, these two strategies (alternative parking and remote work) together will get the people who need to work on premise here, and the people who can work from home occasionally will be able to do so."
21 comments:
$1250 for the lease, then how much for the vehicles and drivers? Seems like quite an expensive venture when finding a place (St. Anthony’s) with walking distance was feasible.
There are several different ways this could have been approached but as usual the most complicated and confusing for the public will be the way to go. The County knew well in advance of the problems they would be facing. Why couldn't they have planned this project to be accomplished in increments. For example....multi tier parking across from the Courthouse i.e. the Milidas parking lot. When finished that may have been utilized as a park and fee area or special permit area for jurors only. Then proceed down the street and make that area a two tier parking area. Then come back and rip down the present parking deck and build a new deck. They can float a bond for all kind of crazy things and stretch the cost out over twenty to thirty years. McClure knew this problem existed during the eight years of his administration but instead of dealing with the issue he cut taxes one mil (the equivalent of 10 million dollars) so he could claim no tax increase and he cut taxes so he could run for Congress. That tax cut cost the County 40 million dollars over four years. Lots of money to resolve the parking deck issue in a timely and most appropriate manner.
During covid the "remote workers" wouldn't even turn on their computers. They used the remote worker status to hang out in their houses and sip lates' all day long and got zero county work done. It was a disaster and people were punished/written up for their cheating, what makes you think it's going to work now?
What’s the cost of the shuttle?
No one’s asking? St Anthony’s lot is one block from the Courthouse. Walking distance.
A church not even in the same area as the courthouse gets the contract?
The pastor of this church already living in a million dollar house in Lower Nazareth Township. God is good. Praise his name.
The $1250 a month should cover he and his wife’s wardrobe bill. Check the website.
Grift. Grift. Grift.
Whole situation stinks.
Craig Dally was beaten by a fraction of a second in the finals of the Nazareth Adult Soapbox Derby on Saturday, and this is more important?
Praise the Lord and pass the collection plate. Real christens would have done it for have the cost as a community service. Guess the furnace fund needed money.
That's nice for the court house on a set schedule. What about the jail employees who work middles??? What do they do when their is no parking at all. Everything is filled. Park six seven blocks away. Walk back to your car at 11 or 11:30 at night. Is the shuttle 24/7. We have 24/7 operation.
Just keep passing the collection plate to all the grifters!
What a shitshow! Is there any hope for this County under the present Exec & Council?
Follow the money and see who frequents worship at Greater Shiloh and Nadeem's questons will be answered. *wink wink nudge nudge*
My writing must have been unclear. The county is negotiating a lease with St. Amthony as well. That will probably be the spot for courthouse employees while the Shiloh lot will be used primarily for jurors.
During COVID, the remote work option did fail. But I feel that with proper training and supervision, it will work as it does in the private sector. The problem at the courthouse is that many of those jobs require a physical presence. You can't guard an inmate while sitting on the Chesterfield.
I've told you that St. Anthony will likely have a lease as well. As for shuttle cost, Emili said there is an RFP for that service, so that cost is unknown. I am sure it will be expensive.
I was there! I was riding my bike and the cops let me slip in and watch the race. It was awesome to watch!
When you went to school, didn't you learn how to spell the word "Christian"? We all make spelling mistakes, but come on!
You will likely park at St Anthony or at one of the county lots across the street and walk a block.
Is that shuttle going to be there to take them after to their cars after shifts at 11 at night or 6 am in the morning. Because at 1 pm those lots across the streets will be full. Don't worry everyone that has a reserved spot in the parking deck has one in the lots also.
"You can't guard an inmate while sitting on the Chesterfield"
You haven't seen the new humanoid robots they've put out recently, have you? Just remote in with VR goggles. The (dystopian) future is now!
No.
Is it possible to do a RTK request to find out who all has reserved parking and what their position/job title is? Also what criteria there is to warrant a reserved spot? It’s really sad to see citizens drive past spot after spot(a lot of which are empty) of reserved parking only to have to park even farther away
I am sure you could do a RTK. All the judges, the DA, the Exec and cabinet, some spots for sheriff vehicles and a few other reserved spots for county people that have to drive around as part of their job. John Stoffa refused to take his spot and walked the hill until he had to get his hip replaced. Jeff Hawbecker used to park with the deputies and other employees and refused to take his spot.
If you are coming from points west, I would highly recommend coming in via bike so long as you can store some work clothing once you arrive. I often would run in from home and then would wash and change around in the men's room. Jim Onembo walked in one day as I was changing around and was shocked that someone would actually use a washroom to wash. If the weather is under 80, you could ride in with business casual.
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