The city of Easton, Pennsylvania, its parking authority, the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA), and developer Arcadia Properties are withholding from the public the truth about the Riverwalk project - a project that has prompted Pennsylvania Riverkeepers and the American Littoral Society to seek an injunction in federal court to stop the project from proceeding, as described in the August 10, 2007, edition of The Morning Call newspaper.

The Riverwalk project site was recommended by the Easton Area Industrial Land Development Corporation (EAILDC), whose chairman is Andrew Dobb and who was the project manager for the city of Easton’s 33-year-old parking garage located at the intersections of S. 3rd, S. Bank St., and the 300 blocks of Pine and Ferry Sts.

Instead of recommending additional decks to this four-story-high structure, the EAILDC and its chairman Andrew Daub recommended in Riverwalk site, located in the flood plain of the Delaware River and Bushkill Creek.

Before the EAILDC and its chairman Daub recommended the Riverwalk site, it was recommended by Williams Township architect Jeff Martinson of the Martinson Group - a recommendation that Northampton County at first accepted but then rejected as unsuitable.

Martinson has used his influence as the architect for the Easton HIstorical Commission to steer the Riverwalk project back to the location of his original recommendation.

Martinson is aided by the Easton Parking Authority and its chairman Louis Ferrone, Easton Mayor Philip B. Mitman, former Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Director Drew Lewis, current DCED Acting Director John Kingsley, and others, in promoting the Riverwalk site.

At an April 15, 2007, meeting in the Acopian Room of the State Theatre, Mayor Mitman ordered Easton Police Captain Michael Vangelo physically to remove me from the meeting because I was telling the assembled audience the truth about Riverwalk and its companion project, the Bushkill Creek Corridor project in the flood plain of Bushkill Creek between Easton’s 13th St. and the Riverwalk project.

In attempting to remove me from the meeting, Captain Vangelo inflicted physical injuries to my person that necessitated a visit that evening to Easton Hospital for emergency treatment.

An ensuing “internal investigation” by the Easton Police Department of this incident has been covered up, including the eye-witness testimony of Easton resident William “Little Bear” Brennan, Easton mayoral candidate Salvatore Panto, Jr., and Gary Evans, the executive assistant to the president of Lafayette College (which has a vested interest in the Riverwalk-Bushkill Creek Corridor project) Daniel Weiss.