LV's RACP Grant Winners

The Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is a defined as a commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects. Only a limited numbers of projects are selected and permitted to submit a full application. The following Lehigh Valley projects have made it past the cut and are submitting full applications.

Allentown School District - a $1 million grant for Building 21, a new gentrified high school to keep certain kids away from the student problems at Allen and Dieruf High Schools.

Cedar Crest College - $2 million to replace a grass soccer field with artificial turf, bleachers and outdoor lighting.

Liberty Property Trust - $5 million for infrastructure for Liberty Business Center II in Lower Macungie, including a private road.

Easton PD - $2.5 million for a new police station.

Easton. - $4 million for a new 350-car parking garage on N. 4th Street.

Moravian College - $10 million for a new Hall of Science.

Lafayette. - $500,000 for the Williams Arts Center for a new facility that will permit live theatre.

Throughout the state, over $532 million in new grants are being considered.

Click here for 2015 grants. 

$35,000 DCED Grant Went to For-Profit Company ... in Massachusetts

NorCo DCED Director Diane Donaher came under some criticism last week for a $35,000 grant to Re-Store, a nonprofit business located in Whitehall at the old Circuit City and associated with the Lehigh Valley Habitat for Humanity. It's for start up costs that would enable it to recycle latex paint.

Lori Sywensky, who is with NorCo's DCED depart defended that grant because both ReStore and Habitat for Humanity LV are Valley-wide entities. "We looked at the greater regional good here." Council member Ken Kraft defended the grant because it beats tossing it into a landfill.

Late yesterday, one of my readers discovered that the real recipient of this grant is a company called The Paint Exchange, LLC. It's located in Rockland, Massachusetts.

"Is the NorCo grant helping a Lehigh County nonprofit organization and also subsidizing a for profit company located in Massachusetts?" my reader asks.

It appears that the answer is Yes. From the corporate papers on file at the Massachusetts Department of State, it appears that we indirectly subsidized a Massachusetts company. A reader sarcastically observes, "Real good use of county gaming dollars! Create ZERO jobs for the county while helping others outside the county to profit."

Updated 11 am: As a point of clarification, I should note that this money went indirectly to The Paint Exchange. The direct recipient of the grant was LV Habitat for Humanity. Both ReStore and LV Habitat support regional efforts for affordable housing.

Butterfly House Applicant Bounces $16k Check

Remember the Butterfly House?

Two years ago, Northampton County Council nearly gave $50,000 from its slush fund (they call it a contingency fund) for the "Butterfly House." Anne Houston dreamed up this idea of a halfway house for single women just released from prison. I guess they're still caterpillars then, but as a result of living with Anne Houston, they turn into beautiful butterflies, spreading happiness and joy all over the Lehigh Valley.

But not everybody likes butterflies. Ron Angle, miserable bastard that he is, was still on Council at the time. He voted No, and got out his butterfly net. Turns out that, contrary to what Houston had been telling everyone, she had no lease, no non-profit and no board of directors. What she did have was $100,000 in judgments. And if anyone needed a halfway house, it was Houston. She had just been evicted from a friend's home in Forks Township.

Houston was relying on her connections to get the dough. Her family socialized with Council member Bruce Gilbert, who vouched for the Butterfly House, rating it "squeaky clean." More importantly, she's a daughter of former District Attorney Charlie Spaziani, and has relatives and friends all over the courthouse and at the jail.

Executive John Stoffa, not one of those friends or relatives, held up payment until Council could reverse itself at its next meeting. The day after my story broke, Houston called to tell me she had a new "wonderful opportunity" out of the area, and was giving up on the Butterfly House.

She did not go very far.

At that time, she owed $16,000 to Mary Lou Lordi. Her friend began pressing her for the money, especially after both she and her husband were laid off. So Houston gave her a check, which promptly bounced. After one and a half years of getting a song and dance, Lordi filed a private criminal complaint, with the approval of DA John Morganelli. At a preliminary hearing on the day after Christmas, District Judge Jacqueline M. Taschner found there was enough evidence to send the case to Northampton County Court. "This is not how you treat a friend," Judge Taschner told Houston. The judge also set bail at $20,000.

According to Lordi, Anne's "a good person. She can be a very warm and very kind person. But I feel I don't have any other recourse."

According to some sources, Houston still does some kind of work at the jail, although it's unclear whether she is a volunteer or is being paid directly or through some grant. I'll confirm that sometime in the next week.

Like Anne, I am also the son of a former DA. I ran into problems of my own. Perhaps she and I should form a club or something. I'll ask County Council for a grant.

If there's one thing County Council does not need, it's a contingency fund.