Easton real estate and land use developments routinely bypass the Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board reviews and go to directly to the issuance of construction permits and contracts - for the express purpose of circumventing public review and input. Easton, and Northampton County, put development projects on the "fast track," on the Benito Mussolini model: "I made the trains run on time," to which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill retorted, "In a democracy, the trains don't always run on time."

The Cinema Paradiso redevelopment should have gone before the Easton Zoning Hearing Board because the property lies within the boundaries of the Lehigh River flood plain, just as Lafayette College's proposed "Urban Village" in the vicinity of North Second, North Third, Snyder, and North Green Streets lies within the floodplains of the Delaware River and Bushkill Creek. Yet none of these plans have benefited from Easton Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board review, even though the development is already under contract with Collins and Maxwell, Inc.

Easton's Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board are fraught with partisan politics. The spouse of the Planning Commission's president owns and/or operates an Easton real estate business. Another member is the spouse of Easton's former business administrator. The chairman of the Easton Zoning Hearing Board is chairman of the Easton Democratic Party Committee. Two sitting Easton City Council members voted for the Cinema Paradiso KOZ, as did Pat Vulcano, currently a member of the Easton Area School Board - formerly president of City Council and spouse of the current Council president. Mr. Vulcano also represents Cinema Paradiso owner Abraham Atiyeh in meetings with Easton Mayor Phil Mitman.

Easton's Chief Planner, Barbara Kowitz, has succeeded Robert O'Neil, both as Executive Director of the City's Redevelopment Authority and as Acting Director of Planning and Development. The Redevelopment Authority is Easton's de facto real estate agent - buying, selling, and leasing City-owned property.

Is it any wonder that one of today's local mainstream newspapers reports that the GLVCC (Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce) plans to oversee Downtown Easton development? Easton's president Sandy Vulcano said at the last Council meeting that she happily accepts any kind of development of Easton. Incidentally, Council's former president and current vice-president both accepted campaign contributions from Atiyeh, in the amount of $2,000 and $3,200, respectively.

Easton has ignored and in fact flagrantly violated its own zoning ordinances and wittingly abetted the encroaching developments of Northampton County, Lafayette College, and developer Abraham Atiyeh. The payback to Easton is the hundreds of thousands of dollars in building permit fees. These, together with the 22.4% property tax increase and 14-plus% increase in Water-Sewer-Refuse fees, go toward building a half-million dollar budget surplus for fiscal year 2005 - a false surplus that will be used to enhance Vulcano's and Fleck's reelection campaigns.

Northampton County and its seat Easton are enmeshed in wide-scale manipulation of the real estate market, sidestepping mandated Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board reviews. One instance of this disregard is the development of 179 Pennsylvania Avenue as a political favor to City Assistant Solicitor Joel Scheer. City trucks have since been called in to shore up the roadway at lower Shawnee Drive where excavation on Scheer's property have caused the embankment to crumble down into the street below.

www.billybytes.com invites Eastonians to observe this failure on the part of Easton zoning officials as well as the huge patched crack in the eastern end of the William Simon Building, built on the steep slope rising precipitously above College Drive, just feet from North Third Street, where Northampton County, Easton, and Lafayette College are constructing their "Urban Village."