NID Alternatives Meetings Wrap Up

Attended by a small handful of residents, the last of four sessions to take alternative suggestions to (GEDP) for the city's Downtown district wrapped up Saturday morning.

Mayor Sal Panto, who hosted the sessions, said the general consensus from elected officials and the public is that the funding to support the Easton Main Street and Ambassadors programs , but the proposal is unlikely to stand as it was first presented.

In addition, there will be at least two more hearings on the matter.

, doesn't count, Panto said, because only eight days public notice was given, instead of the requisite 10 days.

The next presentation, presumably of a modified proposal, is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. in the mayor's conference room, but the city is likely to move the hearing to the auditorium at the Crayola Factory again due to an expected large audience, Panto said.

Downtown resident and former mayor Mike McFadden said GEDP's first choice of venue was reflective of GEDP's attitude towards the public.

“See, they scheduled it in a room nobody can get into again,” McFadden said. “There's a real issue of trust.”

More than 200 people attended the first hearing, more than even the larger auditorium space could fit comfortably.

Panto said he was unaware the letters with the next hearing date had been posted until that morning.

He added that though as mayor he is automatically a board member of GEDP, but has had little to do with the NID proposal.

“I'm not on the steering committee, and I don't want to be,” Panto said, noting that it would be inappropriate since he and the city council will be voting on the matter. “We will continue to be as transparent as possible.”

He pledged that his office and the city council would continue to work toward making sure the Easton Main Street and Ambassadors programs continue to be funded, but that it might not come from the legal formation of a NID.

“This is my Downtown as much as yours,” Panto said. “We spend money from the general fund for other things in specific neighborhoods. That's what the general fund is for, general needs. And we need a strong Downtown.”

He added that he feels the business community needs the structure of an organization, but that it should be overseen by the businesses themselves and should not be funded by another de facto tax.

“(The steering committee has) full knowledge that council is not in favor of an assessment,” Panto said. “If (it becomes) a Business Improvement District, then we should have the businesses oversee it.”

McFadden said he not only opposed the property assessment of the proposed NID, but that the process has been flawed from the beginning.

“The way this was designed...You could pave my street in gold, and I'd oppose it. There was no oversight,” McFadden said. “(GEDP) had the opportunity to do a good thing, and they really blew it.”