Allentown As Landlord

Over the years I have known quite a few professional rehabbers. Not all rehabbers are created equal. Some put out a nice product, while others give the house a lick, a promise, and a coat of paint. Never the less, all these entrepreneurs cost the taxpayer nothing. While the house is being repaired and sold, real estate taxes are paid.

On the other hand, the bureaucracies also dabble in real estate. While the private investor is a one man band with a pickup truck and cell phone, usually the bureaucracy has a staff and overhead, at tax payer expense. The properties they acquire tend to remain dormant for many years, and dilapidate in the process. Witness the fenced houses across from the Verizon Building on Linden Street. Witness the Schoen Furniture building on Hamilton Street. Much of this real estate was acquired during Bill Heydt's first term, some even earlier. The bureaucrats would reply that they're keeping these properties out of the "wrong hands", or that they're placing them with responsible owners. The transiency of center city, both residential and commercial, would seem to dispute those assertions. Although Mayor Pawlowski now seeks to sell some city real estate as a tax band-aid, none of these acquired properties have attracted buyers. I've been in few, time has rendered them beyond repair. Instead, now he must resort to sell important long term city assets, such as Bicentennial Park and the Park Department maintenance building across from the stadium.

But it's a newish mayor, with new bureaucrats in the agencies, so guess what? Here's a list more houses we are now in the process of acquiring;

Properties to be Acquired by Eminent Domain by the Redevelopment Authority

914 N 4th Street
615 N 6th Street
616 N 6th Street
906 1/2 N 6th Street
735 N 7th Street
121 N 9th Street
112 N 10th Street
112 N 11th Street
318 N 13th Street
902 N 18th Street
377 1/2 - 379 Allen Street
393 Allen Street
536 Allen Street
511 Chew Street
1112 Chew Street
1002 - 1006 Club Avenue
320 N Fountain Street
369 Liberty Street
533 Liberty Street
392 Pratt Street
1202 Union Street

These will join the list of 62 other properties, which the City has owned since as far back as September, 1996

Pa. Legalizes Prostitution

see post at Poliblog

Allentown Saved By A Cheeseburger

This past week at the Job Forum in Washington, President Obama made it clear that he will use stimulus money to prevent state and local governments from adding to the unemployment figures. How Allentown got to lead off the President's Recovery Tour is a matter of speculation. Some contributed our selection to being an important swing area politically; personally, I thank Billy Joel. Although Allentown truly fit the definition of the rust belt at the time, so did fifty other cities, such as Buffalo. Living here in Allentown has a ring to it which I think will finally pay off for us, twenty seven years later. I can only assume that during the time it took Obama to eat that cheeseburger, he and Pawlowski bonded enough for one of those local bailouts; Pawlowski has never been shy about sticking his hand out.

photocredit:Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call

Obama Here In Allentown

We who live Billy Joel's song, know that living here, and visiting here, are two different things. Obama's visit here yesterday cast Allentown in a favorable light. Mayor Ed Pawlowski did a good job representing the city, especially the previous evening on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. Obama's charisma heartened his supporters and students at the local community college.

As a person of the fifties, especially from Allentown, I was disappointed at his resigned surrender of our manufacturing future. In a town where Western Electric, General Electric and Black and Decker manufactured products, it's hard to get excited about caulking rowhouses. No tangible plan was presented to encourage loans to remaining manufactures. I know he came to listen, I assume he heard what they said, but did he understand what they meant?

photocredit:Don Fisher/The Morning Call

Sports Memorabilia

I believe that soon our memories of Bicentennial Park could be reduced to memorabilia. This blog expects the Administration to propose selling the ball-field to Lanta. It is my hope, that if this travesty is attempted, Allentonians step up to the plate. This field for youngster dreams, which has been so important to thousands of people over the years, cannot be sold to plug 1% of the budget for one year.
Abe Simon towers over his cornerman in the late 1930's.

Obama's Allentown Visit

Mayor Pawlowski has shocked the Allentown business community, by announcing that President Obama will visit Nikita's Bar, in the 700 block of Turner Street. Allentown is the first stop on the President's White House to Main Street Tour. Pawlowski said it was time for him to "get real".

This is a recovery tour, not a stimulus package tour. I have given the Brew Works every conceivable grant, and then even more in-kind considerations.

It was assumed that the visit would center on the Brew Works, which was the focus of the Mayor's economic development in his first term. The Fegley's, Brew Works owners, declined comment.
Nikita's was scene of an armed robbery last week. The Secret Service, speaking anonymously, said "We can protect the President where ever he chooses to visit".