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By TONI COLEMAN tonic@leader.net
Saturday, January 29, 2000 Page: 2A
WILKES-BARRE – Two businessmen involved in the Keystone Opportunity Zone
say their involvement in the Perry Block Partnership, which applied for tax
breaks under the KOZ, does not constitute a conflict of interest.
Larry Newman, consultant to the Luzerne and Lackawanna County KOZ program,
and Todd Vonderheid, vice president of economic development for the Greater
Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, co-signed an LA Bank loan made
to Perry Block Partnership.
Both say they are good friends with Stephanie Jacobs, president of the
partnership, and her fiance Gregory Lull, owners of the property at 37-45 W.
Market Street.
“The fact is I had every intention of being a partner of the pro ject,”
Vonderheid said. “At that time (the property was designated for the KOZ), I
said I better not be a partner anymore. I don’t want to be perceived as
receiving a profit from a publicly funded program.”
Newman said he never tried to be a partner in the venture, and he had no
involvement in the property being placed in the tax abatement program. Mayor
Tom McGroarty didn’t reveal his choices for the KOZ program until one day
before the state’s deadline, Newman noted.
The men believe their involvement with the property was motivation for
McGroarty to publicly rebuke the owners as frauds. McGroarty said the owners
do not qualify for a tax break under the KOZ program because, he claims, they
falsified their application.
Call Coleman at 829-7236.