Dec. 29, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Years ago, the Da Vinci Science Center sought public money to move to Easton. It got some money but the move never happened, as city and Northampton County officials grew skeptical of the Boondoggle-to-Be’s plans.
Skepticism is a good trait. Unfortunately, local governments and non-profit organization’s boards don’t have enough of it. Thus public money flows to nonsensical projects touted by people who aren’t on the hook when the plans fail.
The Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle is Exhibit A, but at $3.1 million or so of public dollars wasted, it is small compared to what may be happening at Da Vinci’s $75 million site in Allentown.
The Da Vinci plans for Easton kept changing. They wanted to do something, anything, with taxpayers’ dollars. For the story about what could have been The Da Vinci Boondoggle on the Delaware, see this link to Bernie O’Hare’s Lehigh Valley Ramblings blog.
As O’Hare reports, Easton Mayor Sal Panto and others became wary when Da Vinci’s focus kept changing, and Northampton County Council member Ken Kraft led the effort to cut off county money to the center. Da Vinci wound up in downtown Allentown, a win for Easton and Northampton County.
Allentown lost by winning.
There’s more to come on Da Vinci, including why people don’t want to go there, why the Cedar Crest College location was preferred by customers and some of the numbers behind the disastrous first year at 815 W. Hamilton St. in Allentown.
The information I used is public and available to traditional media. We will see if they follow it. The public has a right to know how its money is wasted. My item on Da Vinci is available at this link. It’s backed up by Da Vinci’s tax form and a statement from the center.
Local media has followed up on The Bethlehem No-Op Co-Op Boondoggle and PBS39’s relentless quest for cash while it sits on an $80 million pile of public dough.
Da Vinci deserves the same scrutiny.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 