Politics & Government

City Says No to Check Casher

Whitehall woman had hoped to set up shop in Ferry Street storefront.

The has denied the request of a Whitehall woman who wanted to set up a check-cashing service on Ferry Street.

Marilenia Evangelista has worked for her sister's check-cashing business in Allentown, and wanted to open a similar service at 345 Ferry St.

Attorney , who represented Evangelista, told the board at its Monday meeting her business would provide an essential service for people who can't afford checking accounts. The city has an existing check cashing operation in Centre Square.

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He also noted that landlord Joseph Kassis had been having trouble finding tenants for that building. Cohen asked Kassis what happened to one of the previous tenants, a bail bondsmen.

"I think he's in jail," Kassis said, and the room cracked up.

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Yet the issue of a check cashing operation was no laughing matter to city planner Brian Gish, who called it a "predatory" practice because of the high interest rates such places can charge.

"Were this an altruistic financial insitution, like a community credit union…we'd be whole-heartedly behind them," Gish testified.

Cohen said Gish was ignoring the economic realities of some of Easton's residents, and said his comment "speaks to me of an effort to save people from themselves."

But the zoners sided with Gish, saying that a check cashing operation wasn't an appropriate use for the building, and that having a vacancy of a few months didn't represent a hardship.

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