proposed bill<\/a> \u2014 which is being sponsored by Councilwomen Ce-Ce Gerlach and Natalie Santos \u2014 is to set standards and procedures for remedying unsafe conditions and protecting the rights of homeless individuals living on public property.<\/p>\nThe city was criticized last year in August when it posted notices to vacate homeless residents living in an encampment along the Jordan Creek in Jordan Meadows.<\/p>\n
The city cited safety concerns because the area was in an active flood zone.<\/p>\n
The proposed ordinance would require the city to work with representatives from the Commission on Homelessness and Lehigh County to conduct and develop a risk assessment analysis of each known encampment of more than five individuals.<\/p>\n
The proposed ordinance lays out criteria for evaluating each encampment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following such evaluations, the proposed law sets a timeline of requiring a 60-day notice of its intent to close an encampment.<\/p>\n
Council President Santo Napoli said the proposed ordinance will be referred to a special committee made up of the entire council prior to it being forwarded to a voting meeting.<\/p>\n
Liberty Street resident Mary Tomlinson told council she supports the bill and the efforts to structure future evictions, calling the Jordan Creek evacuations \u201ctraumatic and difficult for the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, surrounding communities have established protocols, including lots of collaboration and supports for the people who need to be evicted,\u201d Tomlinson said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWarming stations will be closing soon, and the encampments will be growing, so I hope you all take into consideration this need in our city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Allentown Housing Authority appointment<\/p>\n
In another matter, council approved a resolution to appoint Sherri Brokopp Binder to the Allentown Housing Authority, with a term expiring in 2031.<\/p>\n
Sherri Binder is the wife of new Councilmember Jeremy Binder, who abstained from the vote.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0Tilghman Street resident Betty Cauler\u00a0criticized\u00a0the appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAppointing a councilmember\u2019s spouse to a housing board likely presents a conflict of interest or an appearance of impropriety under Pennsylvania’s Ethics Act, as it involves a familial relationship and potential contract or policy decisions,\u201d Cauler said. \u201cThis situation creates an appearance of a conflict which violates the ethical standards for public trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Councilman Binder was stumping with the mayor before last year’s election, this appears to be quid pro quo,\u201d she said. \u201cAs such, I would ask you all to vote \u2018no\u2019 on this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 Allentown City Council introduced a proposed ordinance Wednesday night that relates to how the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[119,2748,153,155,154,51057,2750,14417,12146,49995,7879,60420,2743,14932,60419],"class_list":{"0":"post-130053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-city-council","10":"tag-bethlehem","11":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","12":"tag-bethlehem-news","13":"tag-betty-cauler","14":"tag-ce-ce-gerlach","15":"tag-encampment","16":"tag-homeless","17":"tag-homeless-encampments","18":"tag-jordan-creek","19":"tag-mary-tomlinson","20":"tag-natalie-santos","21":"tag-santo-napoli","22":"tag-sherri-brokopp-binder"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}