Alberta Scarfaro Announces MDJ Candidacy in Whitehall

(Blogger's Note: I had hoped to attend Alberta's announcement, but gave an excuse she would understand. My grandson had a basketball game last night.  I know she is a great Whitehall fan and have seen her at plenty of games over the years. In addition to being a great mother who overcame many obstacles, she has a great quality - common sense.  Below is her announcement:)    

WHITEHALL, PA: To a full house at Maza Middle Eastern Cuisine in Whitehall, Alberta Scarfaro announced her candidacy for Magisterial District Judge in Whitehall’s District 31-1-07.

Scarfaro discussed her family’s history in the Lehigh Valley and emphasized the role that the Whitehall community has played in her life and in the life of her family.

“This campaign isn’t about winning an election; it is about serving a community, our community.  I look forward to earning your support, not to win an office, but to serve our community.  I look forward to serve as judge, not to advance my own career, but to provide justice and compassion in service to our community.”

Scarfaro didn’t shy away from her personal story, including the passing of her husband nearly fifteen years ago and the challenges of raising two children as a single mom.  She beamed when she discussed her children’s accomplishments, both graduates of Whitehall High School.

Scarfaro also hinted at what kind of judge she would be:

“I know both the just and compassionate side of the law and I am ready to work hard and to dedicate my time to delivering that justice and compassion.”

She added, “I understand the needs of our community and I recognize the utmost importance of everyone’s right to equal and just due process.  I will protect our citizens by serving in this office with integrity and as a fair and impartial judge.

Pointing to her education—Scarfaro holds a Master of Public Administration, in addition to degrees in paralegal studies and political science—and her life experiences, Scarfaro emphasized her desire to serve the Whitehall-Coplay community.

“I say all this today to punctuate one point that I hope you’re remember: This is about community. Our Community. The community that helped me raise my kids. And the community to which I want to give back.”

About Alberta Scarfaro

Alberta Scarfaro is a resident of Whitehall Township, where she has raised her two beautiful children.  Raised in the Lehigh Valley herself, Scarfaro is an active figure in the community, serving on the Whitehall Zoning Board, including two terms as Chairwoman, and as a member of the local Rotary.  She previously served as President of Football Booster Club for the Whitehall High School football team.

Scarfaro is a graduate of Kutztown University, where she studied political science and also holds a Master of Public Administration.  She is certified by the Minor Judiciary Education Board of Pennsylvania.

Hozza Seeking Third Term as Whitehall's Mayor

FROM ED HOZZA CAMPAIGN: Last night, Whitehall Township Mayor Edward Hozza, Jr. announced his intention to run for re-election to the seat he has held since 2008.

“It has been my pleasure to serve the citizens of Whitehall over the last eight years,” said Mayor Hozza. “I look forward to building on my progress in bringing Whitehall into the 21st Century while also remembering our Township’s history.”

Hozza continues to work as Whitehall’s “full-time mayor” and hopes to work to improve the lives of its citizens every day in the future. He has successfully balanced seven budgets over his two terms as mayor When Mayor Hozza took office, the township was at its debt level in 33 years and the township has seen its debt level decrease to its lowest amount since 2003. At the same rate, Whitehall Township will have its planned lowest debt payment in 2017 due to Mayor Hozza’s focus on paying down the township’s debt. By implementing a non-essential personnel hiring freeze, bidding contracts into categories, and switching healthcare providers, Mayor Hozza has saved the residents of Whitehall Township over $5 million during one of the country’s worst economic periods. Whitehall has also stabilized its pension obligations at a level that reduces future liabilities and burdens on taxpayers, stabilizing the budget.

Mayor Hozza also continues to work towards a safer Whitehall for both its residents and visitors. He has begun to plan for future succession plans for the police department by approving the promotions of several officers and has approved technology upgrades to improve information sharing and make the department more efficient. He also reviewed the existing ten-year fire apparatus replacement schedule and expanded it to include every new apparatus for the next 23 years.

“Public safety has been and will continue to be one of my chief concerns over the next four years,” said Mayor Hozza. “I have already begun to study the feasibility of a new police station to replace our current aging one and have studied the possible legal ramifications of the prospect of mandating body cameras on our police officers.”

With Whitehall’s reliance on a strong commercial tax-base, Mayor Hozza has reenergized economic development in Whitehall over the last eight years and will do so moving forward. He resurrected the Whitehall Township Industrial and Commercial Development authority to advocate for redevelopment in the township. His main focus has been the redevelopment of the former Lehigh Valley Dairy and Mayor Hozza continues to call for a tax incentive for developers to reuse the property. He plans on continuing to pursue a CRIZ designation for Whitehall along with a TIF and LERTA for the dairy property with other government entities in the township.

Mayor Hozza also sees Whitehall’s economy moving away from a sole reliance on retail to one focusing on other sectors like the healthcare industry. “With the aging population of both Whitehall and the country as a whole, the need for medical staffing over the next 30 years will skyrocket,” said Mayor Hozza. “I look forward to an announcement on the plans of Lehigh Valley Health Network on their intentions for their 143-acre property they own along MacArthur Road.”

Mayor Hozza demonstrated his dedication to open space preservation in Whitehall Township by working with federal, state, and county agencies to purchase the Prydun Farm, the first case of new open space in Whitehall Township since the implementation of its new strategic plan. Mayor Hozza also worked with the Ironton Rail Trail to complete the paving of the trail by the end of this year and helped to implement the construction of the D&L Trail through Whitehall.

Mayor Hozza is a member the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, which granted Whitehall Township its Transportation Public Safety Award last year for the State Route 145 Safety Improvement Project. Hozza is also a member of the Pennsylvania State Mayors’ Association, the Pennsylvania League of Municipalities, and he and his wife, Denise, are active members of the Whitehall Chamber of Commerce and are active members of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church

Blogger's Note: What is less than apparent in this news release is Hozza's great sense of humor. I sat next to him during meetings in which he had me rolling on the floor. He needs to be able to laugh because Whitehall is the fourth largest municipality in the Lehigh Valley. (The largest are Allentown, Bethlehem, Lower Macungie, Whitehall and Easton.)

Commissioner Jerry Palagonia, a former Township police officer, is also running.

Palagonia To Run For Whitehall Mayor

Whitehall Township Commissioner Jerry Palagonia will officially announce his candidacy for Mayor of Whitehall this evening at 5:00 p.m., at Amore Italian Restaurant located at 2449 Mickley Road in Whitehall. The restaurant is located near the intersection of MacArthur Road and Schadt Ave., near the Walmart Supercenter.

Palagonia is currently in his fourth term as a Whitehall Township Commissioner. He spent 28 years as a Whitehall Township Police Officer, and recently retired as the Director of Security for Fellowship Manor.

Whitehall's current mayor, Ed Hozza, Jr., appears to be gearing up for re-election.

Both Hozza and Palagonia are Democrats.

How 'Bout a CRIZ For Whitehall, Coplay and Catty?

Many of the same problems that plague the Lehigh Valley's three cities - poverty, aging infrastructure, dying Main Streets and abandoned industry - are also present in Northampton County's 19 and Lehigh County's 8 boroughs. They also exist in older Townships like Whitehall, whose population now exceeds Easton. While it makes sense to encourage growth in the Lehigh Valley's urban core, most planners and legislators forget that these boroughs matter just as much as our cities. It's easy for them to forget, too, because boroughs lack the staff to make their needs known. For any economic development program to be successful, that attitude has to change. Believe it or not, Pennsylvania's new City Revitalization and Improvement Zone (CRIZ) program may open the door a crack. Whitehall Township's Jeff Warren and Howard Lieberman are trying to push that door open. This is their story.

The CRIZ program is available to cities with 30,000 or more people. So far, only Bethlehem and Lancaster have received this coveted designation. On up to 130 acres, new taxes can fund development. Unlike Allentown's more controversial Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), only new development can be rewarded. An existing business poached from another municipality is ineligible.

Whitehall's Howard Lieberman and Jeff Warren

How has the CRIZ cracked the door open for boroughs? It authorizes one pilot zone for a township or borough with at least 7,000 people. So far, there's been no zone designated. Warren, a Whitehall geophysicist, and Leiberman, Executive Director of Whitehall Industrial Commercial Development Authority (WTICDA), would like that designation. That Township's population now exceeds 26,000 and it would probably qualify for a pilot program on its own. It certainly has the inventory. .

Take the former Lehigh Valley Dairy property, for example, which is one of the first things you see when getting off Route 22 and into Whitehall. This gigantic 271,000 sq ft building, has been rotting away for the last 25 years on a designated brownfield, with no buyer or developer in sight. Sitting on nearly twenty acres, it is certainly Lehigh County's most prominent, if not largest, eyesore.

But it's a great property. Almost at the corner of Route 22 and McArthur Road, it provides for easy access to a major interstate. It's within a quarter mile of 18,000 residents, people who could use a job. Over 120,000 vehicles drive past it daily. How something like this could remain undeveloped so long is a mystery. It's about a block north of Allentown's border. It is the heart of the Lehigh Valley's urban core, but its status in a township makes most tax incentives and other resources unavailable.

In addition to the dairy, Whitehall has been attempting to market the former Dent Hardware Manufacturing, former Thomas Iron Works and Whitehall Waterfront.

But Warren and Leiberman think the pilot program, to be truly effective, should be able to cross municipal borderlines and include other properties. They point to Catasauqua's former FLSmidth Manufacturing and Coplay's former General Supply. They'd like to see those properties combined with Whitehall's for a regional pilot.

So when Governor Corbett visited Bethlehem on March 21, they both made their case, as best they could, to the state's highest executive officer. He told them he wants to see how Bethlehem and Lancaster do before deciding whether he wants to take this economic development tool to the next level.

Criminal Justice System Fails Allentown's Working Poor

On Thursday morning, 2:30 AM, a single mother's car, an old Honda Civic, was stolen from outside her home on the Allentown side of the Fullerton exit. She discovered the theft when she got up for work. Inside her locked car, she had stowed away her purse, with what little cash she had, as well as her bank and credit cards. Along with the car, her purse was gone, too. Because the car is quite old, she had long ago dropped collision and comprehensive from her insurance policy. So essentially, the theft stranded her and her son without a car or money. Though police did respond to her theft report, her low-income status probably means that the thief will never be caught. Our criminal justice system fails the people who need it the most - our working poor.

Allentown police took a theft report and promised to help find the car. The car was found, on Saturday, by the Whitehall police, and this is where the system breaks down.

Whitehall police called APD and asked them to contact the victim so she could retrieve her vehicle. There would be a happy ending. But Allentown police failed to pass the word along for several hours, perhaps because they had more pressing matters. After waiting an hour by the car, Whitehall police had it towed. When word finally reached the victim, the car was already impounded.

When the victim asked whether her purse, money or credit cards were in the car, they did not know and told her she would have to wait until Monday to find out.

When she called impound, she learned that she'd have to pay to get her own car back. The tow would be $137. The storage fee, $35 per day, would be another $105. No matter how early she arrives on Monday, she'll have to pay a full day storage. She could not pick up the car Saturday because she was unable to get the title to the impound before it closed.

So after the indignity of a theft, there's the insult of spending $242 to get her own car back, without even knowing if it will roll off the lot. The storage operator did tell her he'd be happy to keep the car without charge, so long as she brought him the title.

The icing on the cake is a subsequent call from APD.

If she wants them to investigate who stole her car, she's told she'll have to let it stay in impound for a few more days until they can get their fingerprint team to go to work.

Never mind that a neighbor, just a few doors down from this single mother, actually saw the theft as it occurred and probably can provide a description.

This is similar to the situation that confronted an Easton single mother in May, when her car, set ablaze on a random act of criminal mindlessness, had to be towed. She faced a much higher towing fee - $365, which was ultimately paid by an anonymous benefactor.

Had this been a more wealthy person with a better car, there'd be insurance. Had this been a person with nothing, she'd need no car to get to work because she could rely on government handouts.

We have county governments that pays for a drunks' taxi ride home from the DUI processing center if they can't get a ride, but when an innocent crime victim's car is towed by police to an impound, she has to pay money she does not have to get a car back.

Our criminal justice system fails the working poor.

We'll see what happens today.

Whitehall's Going to the Dogs!

Every morning and night, I see a group of ladies promenading up on down Main Street, Broad Street and just about every other street. Who are these streetwalkers?

They are professionals, but not that kind. They're professional dog walkers, and this is their busy time of the year, believe it or not. One of them explained it's always busier when school is out because mom and dad are busy kid walking their children to dance classes, swimming pools and baseball.

Whitehall's Christine Chiu is a professional pet sitter with No Worries Pet Sitting, whose territory covers the entire Lehigh Valley. Its services even includes pet jogging.

Maybe I should sign up.

As you can see above, Christine is organizing a pet parade in Whitehall on September 29. It even includes a Bow-Wow wedding.

I know, from previous posts, that many of you are dog lovers. So I thought I'd give you a early head's up on what promises to be a fun day.

Whitehall's Mike Kuhns Honored for Powerlifting Achievements

State Rep. Joe Brennan, D-Lehigh/Northampton, yesterday presented a House citation to 23 year-old Mike Kuhns of Whitehall, Pa., congratulating him on his numerous powerlifting achievements.

"He has represented Pennsylvania well all around the world," said Brennan.

Kuhns is a 2004 graduate of Whitehall High School, where he was presented the Lehigh Valley Volunteer Award.

In 2009, Kuhns set four "Junior" and "Open" American Record bench press marks, one "Junior" and "Open" American Record squat and one "Junior" Record total. He won a National Championship in powerlifting and became the World Bench Press Champ. He currently holds two open American bench records in two weight classes.

His top bench press is 468 lbs. If he keeps working at it, he may be able to bench press me.

Brennan claims that, to challenge himself in calisthenics, Kuhns also did 255 push-ups, 77 chin-ups and 115 parallel-bar "dips." Kuhns will continue to compete in powerlifting and bench press competitions all over the world throughout 2010.