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In the Nov. 4 election for Easton City Council, only voters in District 2 have a choice — Republican Sharbel Koorie or Democrat Julie Zando-Dennis. District 2 covers most of the West Ward.
In Districts 1 and 3, voters ousted incumbents in the Democratic primary, and no Republicans were on the primary ballot.
In District 1, Frank Graziano III, a member of the city planning commission, defeated longtime council member and retired Lafayette College professor Roger Ruggles by nearly 200 votes.
In District 3, Easton Area School Board member Susan Hartranft-Bittinger received the Democratic nomination over first-term incumbent Taiba Sultana (405 votes to 282).
Graziano and Hartranft-Bittinger are unopposed in the general election.
City council has seven elected members, all Democrats. Four members are not up for reelection this year: Mayor Sal Panto Jr., and at-large members Ken Brown, Frank Pintabone and Crystal Rose.
The District 2 seat opened up when Councilman James Edinger declined to seek reelection.
Sharbel Koorie – Republican
Sharbel Koorie, 58, has a lifelong history with the city of Easton.
Koorie considers himself a product of the 1960s urban renewal when the Lebanese neighborhood of Easton’s downtown was demolished in hopes of combating the exodus of business to the 25th Street corridor.
“They got rid of thousands of people without a plan,” Koorie said. “And all we got was a Perkins and a movie theater.” Both businesses on South Third Street are gone, replaced by the new City Hall. (Ironically, Koorie said his office as a code officer in City Hall was in the same spot as his parents’ original apartment.)
Koorie graduated from Easton Area High School in 1985. He worked in the family dry cleaning business and in a lumber yard before starting as a laborer in the city’s sewer department in 1997. A year later, he became a heavy equipment operator.
Eventually, he worked his way to building code officer and has worked in three mayoral administrations in the city: Thomas Goldsmith, Phil Mitman and Panto.
Koorie owns Daddy’s Place restaurant in the West Ward and has had a DJ business for 40 years. He owns and plans to make the former armory property at Seventh and Northampton streets an event center for Daddy’s Place.
The changes in Easton over the last 20 years have been dramatic, he said.
Personally, he would like to see the city spend more time maintaining what it has, because to keep taxes down the city should proceed with regular, small expenditures. By replacing a single truck every year, for example, Koorie said the city would avoid having an aging fleet where every vehicle would have to be replaced every 20 years.
He has also met, with Panto’s encouragement, with the Colalillo family, owners of five ShopRite stores, including one in Bethlehem Township, to consider locating a grocery store at the Family Dollar on Centre Square, a plan eventually considered not feasible.
Koorie sees the future development of Easton moving away from downtown and going farther up Northampton Street and into the West Ward.
Koorie still lives on Ninth Street, in a home he designed for his extended family after purchasing several declining properties on his block.
He has experienced “the failures and the successes of the city,” he said, and would love to take the city “to the next level.”
He also supports construction of age-restricted apartments.
While knocking on doors to talk to residents, Koorie noted three main concerns:
Parking in the downtown and in the neighborhoods.Affordable housing, but not apartments.Walkability, sidewalks, and trees as well as residents’ frustration when grant-funded beautification projects don’t meet their goals – such as the ornate lightposts and holiday lighting that suddenly ends halfway into the West Ward.
“I’m so passionate about this city and really want to be part of its future success,” Koorie said. “We need a diverse mix of talent on city council, and I believe my 25-year experience with the city, my businesses, and lifelong observation of our community growing up here, makes me the best candidate to help take the West Ward and city through the next four years.”
He added, “I know how to take something and make it something.”
Julie Zando-Dennis – Democrat
Julie Zando-Dennis, 64, works as an assistant vice president/senior claims examiner for Berkley Alliance Managers, a major insurance company specializing in professional liability and pollution. She specializes in construction defects.
She and her wife, Ghennifer, an Easton Area School Board member, an educator and a cinematographer, have lived in the West Ward for 18 years. Zando-Dennis said her family is “passionate about making a positive impact in their community.”
Zando-Dennis, a lawyer, is a member of the bar in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She has a bachelor’s degree from McGill University, a law degree from Cardozo School of Law, a master’s degree from University at Buffalo and a master’s of fine arts from Bard College.
She lists her primary focuses as empowering the community, revitalizing the West Ward and improving infrastructure.
“The West Ward has been historically disenfranchised,” she said. “It’s very important to encourage community engagement among the diverse constituencies. Make sure voices are heard and people can control their own destiny.”
Zando-Dennis has been a leader of the West Ward and a volunteer since she arrived in 2007. Before moving into Easton, she contacted the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership for information about the neighborhood and worked with that group as a resident until funding expired.
She is now a member of the West Ward Community Initiative Steering Committee and has been a part of that group since its inception. She was also one of the founding members of the Coalition to Stop the Warehouse, referring to the proposed warehouse at Wood Avenue near the 13th Street exit of Route 22.
“That warehouse will bring noise, air pollution and light pollution to the West Ward,” she said.
She said she also took “swift, principled action” to oppose a proposed zoning variance that would have allowed a gun store selling automatic weapons to open in a residential area. She said she is not anti-gun, but focused on protecting property values and preventing the spread of high-powered firearms near homes, churches and schools.
She is a regular volunteer at the West Ward Farmers Market on Wednesday nights and for National Night Out, and participates in neighborhood cleanups.
To revive the district, Zando-Dennis would support the growth of community-driven initiatives. These include neighborhood cleanups, public art projects, youth programs, festivals, block parties and public partnerships for home improvement.
Regarding neighborhood infrastructure, Zando-Dennis would focus on items that enhance safety such as parking improvements, traffic calming measures and sidewalk repairs.
She is committed to pursuing grant funding to repair and improve sidewalks in the city.
“For two years, I worked on a Choice Neighborhoods grant proposal [for Easton] that, if awarded, would bring approximately $50 million to upgrade low-income housing and approximately $6 million for vital community projects, including transportation initiatives and a media art center that would benefit the entire community,” she said. “Importantly, the center would create meaningful opportunities for teenagers, who too often face a shortage of constructive outlets, by giving them a space to learn, create, and be guided toward positive futures.”
Funding for that HUD program was cut by the Trump administration so the proposal is currently on hold. She is also vice president of the board at Safe Harbor of Easton, which provides assistance and programs for people who are homeless.
“I have spent years fighting for the West Ward and I will continue that as a member of city council,” she said. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”
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