The Bethlehem Patch Poll

Are Challenges to Allentown NIZ a Good Idea?

Bethlehem Township joined Hanover Township this week in approving legal action to stop funding mechanism for arena project?

  This week, Bethlehem Township became the second municipality to decide to sue to stop the application of local earned income taxes to Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone. The NIZ, created in legislation written by State Sen. Pat Browne, R-16, is designed to provide a funding mechanism for revitalization of Allentown’s center city and western riverfront neighborhoods. The first project is to build a hockey arena that will be the home to the Phantoms, a minor league team to the Philadelphia Flyers. Under the law, state and local earned income taxes from the 130-acre zone will be put into a special fund that will be used to pay for the  $158 million arena and other revitalization projects, instead of being distributed among the …

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Jon Geeting

7:48 am on Friday, March 23, 2012

The lawsuit is completely frivolous and isn't going to go anywhere. Municipalities are creations of the state. If the state decides to change the tax laws for municipalities, which is what happened here, there isn't anything they can do about it. It's not like they have some legal right to the EIT revenue. Whatever the state does, they have to go along. This lawsuit is almost certainly going to …   more ›

Road Work Could Create Delays on Township Roads

Route 33 sinkhole gets some attention from highway crews, but that could make for tricky travel in Bethlehem Township.

  If your travel takes you to Route 33 in Bethlehem Township, be ready for some delays this week as highway repairs and maintenance could wreak havoc with your commute, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Today, construction crews are expected to make repairs to the on-ramp from William Penn Highway to northbound Route 33. Expect lane restrictions and delays because of this construction work, which was made necessary by a sinkhole that opened in that area in December. Connecting to Route 33 from eastbound Route 22 could also be tricky today and Tuesday because of brush cutting and litter pick-up planned there. Expect lane closures and delays in that area. The sinkhole repairs shift to the entrance to southbound …

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312-Unit Apartment Complex Clears Early Hurdle

Bethlehem Township Commissioners give preliminary, non-binding approval to development.

  Bethlehem Township Commissioners gave unofficial and non-binding consent to a developer hoping to use part of a pristine 30-acre parcel of land into a 312-unit apartment complex and a small strip mall earlier this week. The land, currently owned by the Central Moravian Church, sits on the west side of Route 191 at Oakland Road, between the north-south arterial and Housenick Park. The church plans to use 5 acres of the property to build a retreat and religious studies center, but wants to sell the remainder of the land for development to fund the center construction. The church was willed the property by Elizabeth Johnston Prime, a daughter of Archibald Johnston, the first mayor of Bethlehem who owned this parcel and the neighboring one …

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Accused Township Streetlight Crooks Surrender

Kearns and McLaine arraigned on charges they stole $832,000 from Bethlehem Township.

  Two Lackawanna County men, partners in a business paid to broker a deal to buy Bethlehem Township’s street lights on behalf of the township government, surrendered to authorities Tuesday and were arraigned on theft and other charges. Patrick J. McLaine, 65, of 201 West St., Elmhurst Township, and Robert J. Kearns, 48, of 1025 Park St., Scranton, were both released after each posting 10 percent of their $50,000 bail. McLaine was also required to surrender his passport and, pending trial, neither man is permitted to leave Pennsylvania without prior court authorization. The two men, working as Municipal Energy Managers Inc., were hired in 2007 by Bethlehem Township officials to work toward buying the township’s streetlights from PPL Corp. …

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Grand Jury: Partners Bilked Bethlehem Township

Township wanted to buy street lights to cut energy costs, instead it had $832,000 stolen, according to grand jury investigation.

  Bethlehem Township taxpayers were bilked out of more than $800,000 by a pair of Lackawanna County businessmen who had been hired to broker a deal with PPL Corp. to buy the township’s street lights, according to Northampton County grand jury, which charged the men on Monday, according to published reports. Patrick McLaine, 65, and Robert J. Kearns, 45, the principals in Municipal Energy Managers Inc., were both charged with theft, misapplication of entrusted funds and conspiracy as a result of the grand jury probe, according to this story in The Express-Times. The township hired MEM in July 2007 with an expectation that it would own its own lights within 18 months and then have lower electricity bills, according to Northampton County …

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Accused Drunk Driver Led Police on Chase

Township woman accused of driving through stop sign at 60mph.

  A Bethlehem Township woman who was ultimately charged with drunk driving led police on a chase along Freemansburg Avenue before she was finally apprehended on Monday night, according to court papers. Tara Lyn Bartek, 23, of 2006 Seventh St., caught the attention of a township police officer because she was allegedly ran a stop sign while driving 60 mph along Emrick Boulevard at Baglyos Circle in her 2006 Saab 93, according to the arrest affidavit. Bartek did not stop her car immediately when the township officer gave pursuit in his cruiser with lights and sirens on, court papers said. She only stopped when she became boxed in behind another car as she drove west on Freemansburg Avenue. After she was caught, Bartek admitted to police that…

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Man Dies Despite Heroics in Bethlehem Township

Van's gas tank explodes causing severe burns to man working on it

A man severely burned has died despite a heroic attempt by a neighbor to save him, according to multiple reports. Kenneth Mitchell, 47, of Allentown, died at Lehigh Valley Hospital on Wednesday about 12 hours after the gas tank in a van he was working on exploded at a garage at 4011 Wilson Avenue in Bethlehem Township. Neighbor Richard Korn saw the man in flames and ran to help. He took off his coat and put it on Mitchell to smother the fire, according to a WFMZ report. Mitchell suffered burns over 70 percent of his body in the fire that broke out around 6:30 a.m. Firefighters from Bethlehem Township, Nancy Run, Freemansburg, Palmer Township and Steel City responded to the scene.

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Bethlehem Township Commissioners Narrowly Elect President

Commissioner Paul Weiss will serve as the board's president, it was decided by a split vote.

Bethlehem Township Commissioners met Tuesday evening, Jan. 3, for their biennial reorganization meeting. Sworn into office by District Judge Joseph Barner were new commissioners Phil Barnard and Martin Zawarsky, along with reelected commissioner Thomas Nolan. All will serve through 2015. Barnard and Zawarsky replace outgoing president Arthur Murphy, defeated by Zawarsky, and third ward representative Jerry Batcha, who did not run. In the matter of electing a president and vice president for the township commission, Commissioner Paul Weiss, who formerly served as the commission's vice president, was elected by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioner Michael Hudak being voted vice president, also 3-2. Zawarsky supported them both, while Barnard …

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Northampton Community College Issues Security Alert

A Peeping Tom, who has yet to be identified, creates security alert at Northampton Community College's main campus in Bethlehem Township.

At 1:37 p.m. today, Dec. 8, Northampton Community College (NCC) sent out an emergency text message telling all students, faculty and staff to "Please read your NCC e-mail for an important security alert." In addition to e-mail, the alert was also described in detail on NCC's Facebook fan page: "On Friday, December 2, a staff member using the ladies room in Communications Hall on the Main Campus (in Bethlehem Township) saw a male come into the restroom and look under the bathroom stalls. The staff member called for help and the man fled. "Last night (Wednesday, December 7) a similar incident was reported in the Residence Hall. Video footage indicates the same individual was involved in both cases. Many parties have been shown the picture, …

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5 Things to Know About the Housenick Estate Project

Plans approved for estate donated to Bethlehem Township

A 20th century mansion owned by the first president of Bethlehem Steel was donated to Bethlehem Township along with money to turn the Housenick Estate into a community park. Township Council voted 3-2 Monday to open the park as soon as the mansion is secure, create public access to the property, use a $2 million endowment to secure grants and donations, restore the mansion and seek its placement on the National Register of Historic Places. Council also voted to disband the Housenick Committee and entrust township staff with all responsibility for advancing the project. But Commissioners Tom Nolan and Jerry Batcha wanted to retain the committee as a force of continuity focused on the project when township jobs turn over, accrording to the …

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