The Armory at 7th and Northampton Streets in Easton.
Posted by: Noel Jones
In Sunday's Express Times article by Ed Sieger, several Easton properties have ended up on the proposed wish list as recipients for state grants potentially headed our way, thanks to the advocacy of Rep. Bob Freeman. One is the armory at the corner of 7th and Northampton Streets (pictured above), to bring it to rentable condition as a commercial space. Another is the Governor Wolf Building on 2nd Street (pictured below), so that it can be converted into a cultural athenaeum, complete with a museum, performance hall, gallery and classroom space and a cafe, to draw tourism and commerce to the area. Both are slated to get $2 million each, if the proposal goes through. What do you think?
The Governor Wolf Building on Second Street, Easton.
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12 comments:
how much of that $2mil would go to those Jacobs produce bastards to buy the friggin thing? theyve been sitting on this just WAITING for some fed money to come along! I bet the asking price will be over a mil! then another $500K to some 'consultants' to see what its good for and stillnothing will get done cause all the money will be gone.
I love this welfare city...
Actually another $1 Mil is slated for the the Jacobs Produce building...
I may be wrong, but I don't the money can be used to buy buildings outright--it's to be used to fix up historic buildings and promote commerce as I understand it...
Does anyone else know whether or not the grants can be used to purchase buildings as opposed to fixing them up?
wtf would you use fed grants to fix up privately owned properties??? of course it woudl be to buy them... wouldnt it??
Maybe not, this isn't a new idea when it comes to buildings of historical value. I for one support he saving of our history, though I don't think that now is the time for it. Such money would be much better of in the hands of the city to cover overtime and general expenses though that's unlikely to happen, I'd also prefer to see the money shelled out as loans and not grants, but I still wish Santa Claus was real...I've been a very good boy this year ;)
Peace,
David
fyi, the Governor Wolf Building is currently owned by the county...
I'm not all that excited about this. There is an election going on and we will have a new governor. The game and the rules are bound to change after the first of the new year.
Anon 10:08--so you don't think it could get approved before the first of the year?
I'm always amazed how happy people are when our elected officials stand there with their big cardboard checks handing out OUR money to various projects/special interests. It's our tax money to give away, not theirs. Every year the state complains they are broke. Every year our taxes and/or various fees go up. But still the big cardboard checks keep getting handed out. And everybody stands there with a big grin on their faces.
Noel, in response to your post about the project getting done before the end of the year. Think of it in these terms. Financially, you, personally, have only the capacity to do so much. The result-you don't own multiple properties and automobiles. The city is no different. They have many projects going on requiring different levels of borrowing, I doubt that the city is able to add this to its mix of projects. I think they are at maximum capacity.
The city would have to borrow to acquire and apply for reimbursement.
Anon 11:04--I haven't heard a lot of happiness expressed on this one yet--more of either a wary questioning, or in some cases, exasperated tone...I don't think anyone is placing bets yet.
Anon 11:12--you mean if it's a scenario where the money can be used to buy buildings, right? I don't think we've determined that yet--someone was asking about that earlier--it seems from the article that the grants go to the building owners, to encourage them to fix up there buildings, but if that is not the case, I can see where you're coming from--that would be a lot of projects for the city to take on.
Gov Rendell should be thanked. Of course it is our money, we pay state taxes. But if they are going to give them we should get as much as we can. The city has received a boatload of money and I read that the private sector has investred three to one. Not bad odds. Remember it is more difficult to restore some of these buildings like the armory htan build new. There has to be incentives.
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