New money, new Easton web site

http://www.easton-pa.gov/

Slick looking site, it's nice, no, ESSENTIAL to have a great site for a small town city. uglyeaston provides a nice honest counterpoint, though, no?
Seriously, I love this little town. The purpose of the blog is not to denigrate, but rather make an honest, non-political appraisal of where we're at. How else can you fix what's wrong if you don't see waht's wrong?
I think I'll need to get to a City Counsel meeting here before long. I still want a streetlight.

West Ward gets a cool mil

So, Mayor Panto has announced that they are pouring/wasting/directing $1million to perform 'green' rehabs. here's the Morning Call link:
http://www.mcall.com/news/all-a6_3housing.6991586aug18,0,6791479.story

Great news, if it actually amounts to anything appreciable. Really, if you live in the West Ward (I really do HATE that designation, reminds me of the lower 9Th of New Orleans) you KNOW how much work would need to be done to improve the area. And anyone who pays have a bit of attention knows how much opportunity for graft and waste exists with such a govt program (weed & seed, anyone?)
There will be no fixing of what ails the WW until they fix the CORE issues:
1. absentee landlords
2. more rentals than owner-occupied housing
3. too many residents per block
4. apathy
5. ignorance

First off, absentee landlords. I'm sure there are some responsible landlords, but you wouldn't know it from the properties around here. One house across the street moves a new tenant in every few months; they all complain about the landlord.
Second, when you have more rentals than owners, there is no pride in ownership. Now, many renters do have enough self respect to take care of the property, but if you're just renting a run down clapped out apartment for $400/mo, you ain't going to care about how it looks.
That leads us to the 3rd, that being too many people! These neighborhoods were here before cars. The streets are small, the houses close together. So, if you stick 2 families in a house each with 3 drivers, and the property is only 21 feet wide, well, you're going to run out of room.
But, does anyone really care? Does anyone think about these problems? That's points 4 and 5. People that rent don't care about the community; they have no vested interest in the area or property. If they don't like it, they just move on.

OK, rant off.

been busy, made some time today

Perhaps one day, someone or many will follow this blog (or maybe it's just all about me). But for now, I have plenty of 'homes' to show you! This one is on Ferry St. I really don't know where to start; I mean, from the misguided dormer expansion to the never been maintained window trim, to the mismatched handrail, this 'home' screams 'income property'.

A building like this in Easton may very well be cut up into 2, perhaps 3, units. The landlord most likely lives out of state, or if he/she IS local, they never come by. Really, how can you still have any self respect by renting something like this?

I took a few more pictures of other victims, but i will post sometime later.