Lehigh University professor gets 5 days in jail for blighted building
EASTON Could a Lehigh University professor wind up in jail for allowing a building he owns in Bethlehem to deteriorate to the point that city officials fear it could collapse?
That prospect became all the more real for Alvin Kanofsky on Wednesday, after a Northampton County judge found him guilty of a slew of criminal citations he was issued over the condition of the old Goodman Furniture store on East Third Street.
A 77-year-old physicist, Kanofsky was sentenced to five days in county prison and fined more than $30,000 by Senior Judge Leonard Zito. He was ordered to report to jail on Monday though Zito said he will defer that date if Kanofsky files an appeal, as he has done repeatedly in his fight with Bethlehem over the property.
The court appearance marked just the latest in legal battles between the city and Kanofsky, who has owned the three-story, 21,000-square-foot building in the heart of the South Side Business District for three decades.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bethlehem-blighted-goodman-furniture-store-appeal-lehigh-professor-20160824-story.html