Zoning Hearing Board appointment withdrawn, Council discussion ensues

City government, Serious Issues 1 Minute

(The latest in a series of posts on City government)

In a post yesterday, Gadfly took a strong stand against one of the Mayor’s nominations to the Zoning Hearing Board.

The Mayor withdrew the nominations (there were two) before the meeting, so a vote was not taken.

Gadfly spoke briefly during public comment  — in rather uncharacteristically strong terms, he now says as he listens to himself — about the wisdom of one of the Mayor’s nominations.

Councilman Callahan raised the subject under New Business as the last agenda item of the meeting, and one hour of “discussion” followed, dominated by Councilman Callahan.

Gadfly urges followers to listen before he makes any comment about the discussion. In Gadville, we always go to the primary source and form our own opinions.

Gadfly strongly urges you to listen.

Gadfly has video and will post it here (see below) after processing. The video will also be posted on the City web site later today (go to the last hour).

After hearing the discussion, Gadfly has one regret about his strong negative stand against one of the nominees.

He should have made clearer that he was implying nothing evil, shady, dishonest about the person’s character. She has an enviable record of public service. On many a City ABC she would be a welcome addition. But in Gadfly’s opinion she was an obvious mismatch in appearance and optics for this position, and the Mayor was tone-deaf in nominating her.

Video now available:

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Published by The Bethlehem Gadfly

Edward J. Gallagher, Bethlehem immigrant, retired, nearly 50 years as Professor of American Literature at Lehigh University, known as "Dr. G" and "Conan the Grammarian" to students, whose virtual world avatar "EdwardScholarhands" stares at you here, has reinvented himself as the Bethlehem Gadfly.

Published

One thought on “Zoning Hearing Board appointment withdrawn, Council discussion ensues”

  1. Gadfly, I had house guests overnight and because of those commitments was unable to attend Council’s meeting last night. Prompted by an email I received later at night we began watching the meeting at a certain point about 45 minutes in. Joined by my visitors, one of whom was from Florida, they couldn’t believe what they were viewing, and considered the behavior of one Councilmember so unprofessional and over the top, that they retired for the night! I lasted to the bloody end and must say that I have never seen such dysfunctional behavior exhibited by an elected official in Bethlehem. That meeting was an unadulterated fiasco.Dana

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