Brief, but formal dedication ceremonies will finally take place at the two parks in West Easton which, in late 2015, the former West Easton Council made name changes.
The Keystone Ave. park was renamed, Gerald W. Gross Park. The park on 9th Street was renamed, Louis Niko Park. They were honored with the parks being named for them in appreciation of their long tenure serving the residents of West Easton as public officials and volunteerism in activities over the years.
I’m expecting that the dedications will take place separately at each park, beginning with the one on 9th Street, then moving to Keystone Avenue. Each dedication should likely last no more than 15-20 minutes with a Keynote Speaker saying a few words at each. As plans are finalized on the agenda of the events, I will provide an update in a future post regarding exact start times.
UPDATE 3/28 – Dedication at Louis Niko Park will commence at 10:00 am. Dedication at Gerald W. Gross Park will follow at 10:30 am.
It shouldn’t have taken so long to get this done.
Most of 2016 went by with no new signs being delivered. By the time the signs did arrive for the Gerald W. Gross Park, cold weather was arriving and a dedication ceremony to be planned might have seen it being done with snow flying, so it was delayed.
Nobody thought to order a sign for former Councilman Louis Niko’s Park, nor did anyone follow through on an award plaque for Mr. Niko that had been previously approved. The lack of a plaque being given to Mr. Niko only came to my attention when I did a previous article on Council motions and then asked if the award had been ordered at a following Council meeting.
I recently got approval from Council to order a sign for Mr. Niko’s park, which will arrive in time for the dedication. I’ve assumed responsibility for Mr. Niko’s sign and it won’t take 6 months to have his sign made, as it did for another Councilman in charge of the Mayor’s new signage. It will take me less than 3 weeks to have it delivered.
Mayor Gross has been a public official for more than 51 years, serving as both a Councilman and then our Mayor. Mayor Gross will be retiring at the end of his current term which will conclude when a new Mayor is sworn in on January 8, 2018. At that time he will have 52 years of public service. Now well into his 70’s, Gross is looking forward to relaxing and enjoying time with his wife and family.
Former Councilman Louis Niko resigned in 2016 due to health problems. Mr. Niko served on Council for 47 years before poor health made it impossible for him to attend Council meetings and he submitted his resignation. Mr. Niko at times served as Council President and Vice President during his years of public service. He is also well known by older residents as the Santa Clause at the Christmas Party that West Easton used to hold for children of our borough. He was also featured in a 2008 NY Times article, regarding that role he enjoyed playing.
Between both of them, you will see almost 100 years of Borough leadership and that doesn’t include the time given to Borough activities and volunteerism, outside of Council Chambers, by both men.
UPDATED 9:00 AM
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
