| Phone blitz preceded crucial waste-to-energy vote
For two days, Allentown Councilwoman Jeanette Eichenwald's phone rang nearly every 15 minutes. When council members took the dais for a re-vote on the proposal last week, they stared going down at 450 people packed into council chambers and hallways outside feed, she said. Kevin Lott, the business manager for the Lehigh Valley chapter of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, said his members called a few of the council members because they wanted to see the project come to Allentown with its 200 construction jobs and 20 jobs in the plant. Eichenwald and Councilman Ray O'Connell didn't change their minds and voted again to reject the binding 35-year contract. "I did get a great deal of nasty phone calls, which I didn't really appreciate, and I do have an alarm system in the home, and I started putting my alarm on," said Mota, who joined council last month. "There are millions of dollars at stake and they will stop at nothing," Eichenwald said. Last month, council's split 3-3 vote wasn't enough to pass the agreement for the plant, but it was on the spot clear the company wasn't giving up. 15 vote to see what the company could do the second time around to win approval for its contract. O'Connell said that's when the calls began ald said, in her case, she thought the union and other supporters of the project crossed a line with their constant phone calls and messages. "That they would go to such lengths . Union members downplayed that claim, saying they were only making their positions known. Delta Thermo CEO Robert Van Naarden, who has dedicated to using local union laborers, said the company didn't try to influence council's vote but to better educate people on the project. This time council approved the plan in a 4-2 vote, paving the way for construction this year on the Princeton, N. "I was surprised how many members took this seriously," he said. "We reached out to them, but I told [union members] these people are public servants and that's not an easy thing to be, so be respectful and be polite," he said. |
Monday 12 March 2012
Phone blitz preceded crucial waste-to-energy vote
