Melan, Panto promote change, stability in Easton mayoral primary

EASTON, Pa. — As the Easton mayoral primary race heats up, Democrats Sal Panto Jr. and Peter Melan are going head-to-head in a battle of a fresh face in local government versus a long-standing legacy.

Panto, longtime Easton mayor and an obvious front-runner, is campaigning for a seventh term.

Melan is aiming to advance from his city council seat to institute a new regime.

• Easton's Democratic primary race for mayor will feature longtime Mayor Sal Panto Jr. and Councilman Peter Melan
• Panto is focusing on further growth and momentum from previous successes, while Melan is advocating for more drastic changes
• Both candidates are interested in pursuing more affordable housing, a significant issue in Easton

One of the hallmarks of Melan’s campaign is to separate the mayor from the city council and establish term limits for the office.

He said that he agrees the city has seen prosperous times and economic development, but believes the time has come for a changing of the guard.

“To me, term limits are important," Melan said. "We should be a city like Bethlehem or Allentown, we should have term limits.

“I don’t think a mayor of 16 years consecutively, and 24 years non-consecutively, really gives you the ‘warm and fuzzies.’ We want new leadership, we want creativity.”

MORE: Panto, Melan to debate at Lafayette College on May 8

Meanwhile, Panto is riding on his previous success, particularly his 2008 return to office, when he said he was spurred into action to address myriad problems.

“Gun violence was rampant throughout the city, drug deals within the city, prostitution on the city streets," Panto said.

"It was a much different city, so the first thing I did was increase our police department by 11 — from 52 to 63 officers. They’ve done a great job of getting crime under control. We reduced crime every year since I’ve been in office.”

But with the current state of the city, there are other issues to address, and both candidates are approaching these topics in their own ways.

The candidates

Melan prides himself as being "born and raised in Easton."

He got a master’s degree at Ohio University, and has been a city councilman since 2015. Melan previously was on the Zoning Hearing Board and was a member of the Police Civil Service Commission.

Panto was also born and raised in Easton, “a product of the South Side neighborhood.”

He attended Notre Dame High School, studied to become a teacher at Kutztown University, and got a master’s degree at Lehigh University.

Panto was the youngest mayor of Easton when he first took the role in the ‘80s, serving two terms before taking on a series of senior management positions outside of politics.

In 2008, Panto returned as mayor of Easton, where he since has served four consecutive terms.

Key issues: change versus legacy

The center of Melan’s campaign is focused on change, most notably when it comes to “neighborhood equality” – giving the West Ward, South Side and College Hill as much attention as the downtown — particularly with development and the status of public spaces such as parks.

“I think we should have equal treatment, equal fairness, equal everything," Melan said. "Not because we like one part of the city more than the rest — I’m not like that. My love and affection is for the entire city, not just one section."

Transparency also ranks highly in Melan’s vision, as he seeks to increase trust in local government.

He said he would like to see more government information advertised and displayed for public consumption, along with more resources on the city website for those searching for common subjects such as opening a business.

Using new technology and data to help residents with more streamlined, efficient services would be an important element for this mission, Melan said.

“I want to showcase our city, and by being transparent and showing people what we’re doing and how we’re doing, I think that gives people the trust that they want in us,” Melan said.

Establishing term limits is another cornerstone to Melan’s campaign, in addition to removing the mayor from the city council.

Melan noted that some may contest term limits by suggesting citizens are welcome to run for election.

But “from my perspective, when you don’t have a law in place that prevents people from being in power for too long, you create that stale environment," he said.

"You want to have people who have fresh ideas, and I think me implementing term limits is massive. Talking to constituents throughout the city, they are absolutely in love with term limits.”

Past as momentum for progress

Panto is relying upon his previous success to serve as momentum for further progress in Easton.

The mayor specifically noted the drops in crime, stable property taxes and successful uptick in development the city has seen during his time in office as indicators of continued success.

“My top priority is to keep the positive changes going for Easton," Panto said. "Positive changes are important; change for change’s sake doesn’t work for anyone.

"I ask people all the time, ‘When’s the last time you changed your family doctor?' You don’t change your family doctor, or your barber, for that matter, unless your barber gives you a bad haircut.

"Usually people don’t like change. And what we’ve tried to do in Easton is give people continuity and stability. And I think that’s what we’ve done in the past 16 years.”

When it comes to the subject of development in the neighborhoods outside of the Downtown area, Panto said, “The difference is the neighborhoods have very small projects, whereas Downtown has very big projects, which get a lot of attention.”

He gave examples of hefty projects in other areas of the city.

“The Simon Silk Mill is a $70 million project, Neston Heights is a $70 million project," he said. "So some of the biggest projects that both really help the neighborhoods are done in the West Ward and the South Side.

“We work every day to make the whole town better. Not everything we do is going to be successful — some things aren’t, some things never come to fruition.

"But the fact is that every day we work hard for the people of Easton.”

To maintain his promise to keep fees and taxes stable, Panto said further development will benefit the city overall, cutting increases without eliminating resources for citizens.

“The one good thing is our developments have given us more money," Panto said. "I think in the next four years, I can honestly say we don’t have to raise property taxes, we don’t have to raise fees. Last year, our garbage rates went up $600,000, but we didn’t raise fees.”

Common ground

Both Melan and Panto counted affordable housing as a pivotal element in their campaigns.

Melan indicated a greater focus on affordable housing via stronger partnerships with developers, along with incentives to encourage development of affordable housing for all residents of Easton.

“We have to be better partners with developers who are going to partner with us to really embrace affordable housing,” Melan said.

“Having one project in South Side is great, but again, we can do better. I think we can also incentivize developers before they come in — ‘Look, here are the zoning laws, we require X percentage to be for affordable housing.’

"When you legislate and you’re transparent about it, they know that if you want to come build 100 apartments, X percentage of that has to be for affordable housing.”

Panto noted the landlocked layout of Easton demands more creative solutions to affordable housing, pointing out his Affordable Housing Task Force’s recommendations have been taken into consideration, and plans are underway for implementation.

“We are already assembling old, blighted homes where we can put people to work, fix them up, and then sell them to people who are 80% median income at an affordable rate," he said.

"We have about 20 so far that are put together. We have not put them out to bid yet, we will be doing that probably later next year."