If Easton is so bad, why do they visit us and want to live here?

At the risk of making some instant enemies, I’ve decided to bring up a topic that is long overdue in this humble little sphere of The Easton News—local development (insert scary theremin and organ music here).

I’m bringing this up because if I don’t, I think my head may explode.

Let me start by saying that it is probably fair to say that I am more informed on local zoning, planning and development issues than the average person. I never really sought to be—it just happened. Actively covering nine municipalities and two school districts, which often requires attending three or four evening municipal meetings of various sorts a week will do that to you.

Let me also warn you that, being a loyal resident of Easton, this article is going to be a bit biased that way. In fact, it should be. I may cover other municipalities, but the only one I live in is Easton, and therefore, that is the only one I can really lay claim to.

Not everyone holds that opinion, however, and that is also a bit of what prompted me to write on this subject. It’s an important point, but rather dangerously neglected.

I got a night off from meetings last week and decided to take advantage of my rare freedom at one of Easton’s fine pubs. But instead of enjoying my book as I had intended, I got drawn into a conversation about Easton’s revitalization with some guys who all said they were “local.”

The first was the one who drew me into the conversation. He clearly stated that Easton is a mess and needs a complete overhaul. Drugs, crime, blight, you name it, Easton is falling down, it all sucks, and we should come up with a plan to tear it down and replace it before it’s too late. Also, those folks from Jersey are coming, and there’s nothing we can do about it, so we better get used to the idea of adding some ticky-tack to the city to suit their tastes. We should also invest in some major riverfront “revitalization” like perhaps Baltimore Harbor—it will also help those suburbanites we’re about to be overrun with feel more comfortable. Oh, and we should also take a clue and be more like Hoboken too.

I was more than a little offended at his assessment of the city. Certainly Easton has problems, but this was a bit much. But I decided to stay calm and gather a bit more information.

It turns out the guy does not live in Easton; he lives in—drumroll, please—NEW JERSEY!!

So I ask why, if Easton is so terrible, he is drinking in a bar in Easton. He tells me his mother lives here. Then he goes on about how wonderful Bethlehem is and how they’ve really turned things around and we should be more like them. Then I ask some more about where his mother lives. It turns out she does not live in Easton either, but more west—the direction in which the wonderful Bethlehem lies (that he did not choose to enjoy instead of the evil Easton).

I point this out, but he chooses not to elaborate on this mysterious phenomena. He tells me that no one is doing anything at all here, that even our volunteer organizations are run by lowlifes, at which point I decide the conversation has become so unpleasant that it must end. I just can’t see the point of arguing with a guy that doesn’t know who or what he’s talking about and is convinced everything here must be bad. He decides that if he can’t verbally barrage me further, it is time to go elsewhere (undoubtedly in Easton). Good riddance.

So I attempt once again to read my book, but another gentleman at the bar wants to continue the conversation. He is a construction manager, a transplant from out west who’s lived in Easton, he said, for seven years.

So, being that he’s in the building business and lived in Easton for two years longer than myself, I figure he might know something. He also used the words I brought up earlier, about “being part of the community.”

Well, he’s a nice guy, but it turns out he doesn’t live in Easton either—he lives in Forks. And if he’s been part of the community, I have to ask where he’s been on their zoning and planning issues for the past seven years. The answer? Not at any meetings. He couldn’t even name a single member of either board. And he continued to tell me he lived in Easton.

I got accused of being very negative and not being sensitive of the opinions of others that night. But I can’t really accept that assessment. Refusing to agree with opinions based on no known fact is not negative—it’s prudent. And I can’t figure out how these guys’ opinions, all of who do not live in Easton, somehow, in their heads, have more weight than that of an informed resident who would have rather been reading her book on information theory over a microbrew.

Easton is a jewel of a city, and everyone seems to have an opinion about how it needs to be “fixed.” But the only people whose opinions should really hold any weight are those of actual Eastonians because those are the folks who will have to live with the results and pay the price or reap the benefits of those decisions.

That is the case with every municipality. It would seem that a lot of folks these days don’t actually know what it means to be part of the community—it is definitely more than just coming home at night to the house you bought after your last job transfer and paying taxes on it until your next one, complaining about the neighborhood all the while. And, more than frequenting the neighborhood watering hole, no matter how many buddies you might have there.
It involves actually identifying with and working with members of the community in which one resides, not to mention participating in its growth and management.

And while it is a good thing to keep an open mind and look at ideas that have worked elsewhere, we never want to implement an idea because we want to be another city. I’ve heard all too often about making Easton into New Hope, Manyunk, Jim Thorpe and now Hoboken. But as wonderful (or not) as those place may be, we never want to be them, for the simple reason that EASTON IS WONDERFUL BECAUSE IT IS EASTON.

As one notorious local publisher has stated in a name, “Easton is home.”

Let Hoboken be Hoboken. There is only one. And, there is only one Easton, Pa.

What we need to do is make all the things that are unique and wonderful about Easton even more wonderful and make sure that the new stuff is up to those standards and fits in with Easton’s character. Despite stressed finances, Easton is fabulous real estate in one of the last untapped NYC markets. Yes, they are coming—and we have to make sure that their new development is up to our standards.

We need to never forget that people are moving to the area because it offers a better quality of life than where they are coming from. We need to make sure that the things that made and continue to make Easton great are not swept away or trampled underfoot by folks who don’t understand the value of them, and in fact, many times, are fleeing communities that have been messed up by poorly planned over-development they didn’t take the time to participate in. We need to make sure that the folks who already live here are considered before the folks who we might entice to move here, because they are the people who have made Easton and the surrounding area what it is—the real reason why folks want to move here.

Those from out of state who don’t like it should remember that one must pay a bridge toll to come, but the bridge always has an open eastbound lane, and going back to New Jersey is free, if one decides this side of the river is not to one’s liking.

(Originally published in The Easton News, March 1, 2007)