Not too many people living in South Whitehall contracted JDS*, but I did in 2014. I was at a township commissioner meeting when a commissioner told David Jaindl that he knows that what is good for Jaindl is good for the township.
Now understand that the building we were in was on former Jaindl land, as was everything else between Cedar Crest Blvd. and Rt. 309. The current crop of commissioners came into power opposing the current development at Cedar Crest and Walbert, but that was not a Jaindl project.
The company birthday card above stresses community, but is community really above business for the company? Do the current commissioners genuflect to Jaindl as did their predecessors? Needless to say, I'm exercising my knack of offending everybody with this post.**
*Jaindl Derangement Syndrome,
** I spend much more time thinking about Trump than I ever did Jaindl, but seeing the birthday card took me back to 2014. P.S. I support the current commissioners, and think that they're doing an excellent job.
Maybe Jaindl hasn’t dropped enough warehouses in SWT, but I would say that many in the Valley would dispute the niceties spewed in the birthday card.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that he is “building a legacy that will be remembered for generations”, I don’t think it’s necessarily a good one.
BTW, nothing shows true respect, appreciation, and honesty like a birthday card, supposedly from those who are on YOUR payroll and produced on YOUR company’s dime.
Jaindl should be OK as long as he stays close to JB Reilly, Joe Topper , Pat Browne, Hashaan Batts, Sy Traub and the Philly/south Jersey Gang.
ReplyDeleteanons@9:37/2:07: The Jaindl family doesn't "have" to stay close to anybody, and can have a seat at any table, anywhere. Considering their wealth and land holdings, they do exhibit consideration to the communities.
ReplyDeleteGiven all of that power, wealth and community consideration it would have been it would have been appreciated had the Jaindl family demonstrated one ounce of effort to mitigate the destruction of the once All American city of Allentown.
Deleteanon@6:03: Mark Jaindl purchased the former Lehigh Valley Trust bank and finished the restoration for an event facility. I don't think that it has had any success, but he continues ownership. He also did a much more attractive job with the waterfront NIZ, than Reilly did with the Hamilton portion.
ReplyDeleteThe streets of downtown Allentown are deserted after dark. When else has that happened since the city's founding in 1762 ?
ReplyDeleteThe land that he has developed over the years would have been developed anyway by some other entity had the Jaindls not owned it.
ReplyDeleteHe does employ a lot of local people in the turkey operation and the other businesses he is an owner/investor in (A-Treat, the golf courses, etc.), as opposed to just being a developer/land speculator who maybe at best employs a sidekick and an admin assistant. I've done some business with him, and while he always came off as a little arrogant to me personally, he always kept his word, didn't try to play any sneaky games, and he followed through on his end of the deal. There are a lot of other local businesspeople I can't say that for.
I suspect many people with JDS are just envious of his wealth, and incorrectly think that if he didn't own certain tracts of land, they'd stay farms forever and not get developed.
anon@12:09: I don't disagree, and credit him for LESS farm land being developed. He owns and even rents more land for turkey feed.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of farm preservation, it mostly goes to the landed gentry, being compensated for land that they never intended to develop anyway.
More of a joke are the programs (Community Action) to make farmers. They could never stand the hard work involved, and if they could, who is going to buy them a farm....us?
I didn't and don't really have "JDS", but I was offended by the attitude of some of the commissioners at that time.
Sorry, Mike, I'm confused by this. You say the "current board" is doing an excellent job, but what accomplishments are you referring to? Only two members remain from the Ridge Farm-era board. The rest of that board—the one responsible for many accomplishments in the Township—was voted out in last November's blue wave.
ReplyDeleteThe two new commissioners have yet to establish a record of accomplishments. The only thing that distinguished them during the election was the "D" behind their names.
Here's one of the "current board's" earliest accomplishments—right out of the gate in January.
ReplyDeleteTwo new commissioners signed Siegel's letter, publicly taking a position on a land-use matter. In my view, that created the appearance of prejudgment and could lead to calls for their recusal if a similar federal land-use issue comes before the board in the future. (Notably, the experienced board members did not sign the letter.)
If that happens, South Whitehall could lose the participation of two commissioners on an important vote. That doesn't strike me as putting South Whitehall first, nor does it strike me as doing an excellent job.