Hardball on Penn Street

When I addressed the School Board at the end of March, I already knew that they made a mistake last spring hiring Zahorchak. I asked them if they were capable of moving beyond that poor choice, or would they circle the wagons and blindly endorse his endless ideas, in order to justify their previous decision. Today's Morning Call headlines the tension between the Administration and the teacher's union leader. Although I read the story three times, beyond the headline and bold print, it says very little. We know that the Superintendent attempted to intimidate the union leader. Nobody wants to comment, and the School Board postponed the vote approving the layoffs and budget. There is also tension between some School Board members and the Administration, and between two camps in the school board. A few members realize that they were elected to represent the parents and students, not just support the Superintendent. Intimidation has also been used against those board members who question Zahorchak's tactics, and his Pathway to Success plan.

Penn Street is where the Administration Building is located.

Pawlowskitown

Guest Post from Mike Schware
The other day I was driving through my neighborhood and came across a small section of roadway that was being resurfaced. Near the barricade was a half-sheet of plywood, painted blue, with the following message painted on it:
Allentown Alive
Public Works Project
Ed Pawlowski, Mayor
I had seen these signs a few years ago during Ed’s first term, but thought they had long-since been retired. Apparently not. They certainly conjured up the same feelings within me that they did a few years ago, when I viewed them as the cheesy invention of a small-minded politician.
It takes a lot of nerve to claim credit for even the most basic city services, such as road resurfacing. These projects – funded with our tax dollars – go on no matter who is in office. Maybe Mayor Ed would like to put his name across city police cars and fire trucks as well. I don’t think he’s gotten around to that - yet.
Ed certainly has no problem with self-promotion. His name has been added at city entryways. His photo is emblazoned across countless city publications and the city website. We even get a self-serving video message from the Mayor before the feature
film when we attend Movies in the Parks with our families. Of course all this is also funded with our tax dollars, but adds nothing to the service received. We also somehow even hear of the Mayor’s “private” works of charity, such as his current trip to Haiti.
I then thought of the plaque that sat on President Reagan’s desk that said “There is no limit what a man can do or where he can go as long as he doesn’t mind who gets the credit”. What a contrast between a great President and our Mayor. Maybe the Mayor’s never-ending need for recognition and publicity is part of the reason that so little has actually improved in our city.
If the Mayor feels the need to post a sign on public works projects, might I suggest that he replaces his name with the following:

Thank You Allentown Taxpayers

I know that might be asking a lot, but I can always dream.

Mike Schware

Shenanigans Continue

Although City Council has a short memory, I do not.


According to an article by Jarrett Renshaw in today's Morning Call, the long term (more than ten years) operator of the restaurant at the golf course has been out maneuvered by Mayor Pawlowski. Although his bid was identical to the successful bidder, the winner provided better answers to a questionnaire; so much for the concept of respecting an existing tenant and his track record. The new tenant, Allentown Brew Works, also has a track record with the city and taxpayers. Jarrett Renshaw writes, "The awarding of the Brew Works contract continues a long line of public support to the Allentown Brew Works, which has enjoyed more than $4.5 million in local, state and federal loans and grants to renovation and construction. The public support includes more than $90,000 in direct taxpayers support from the city of Allentown for design and facade improvements. In addition, the Allentown restaurant sits in a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which means it's exempt from most state and local taxes until 2011."
The decision was not officially made by Pawlowski, but by his five-person committee of city officials. Rumor of this shenanigan has been circulating town for several weeks.
reprinted from December 24, 2008

Since I wrote about the golf course in 2008, grants to the BrewWorks continue. We have reached over $7million dollars.*In 2009, City Council continued the KOZ tax free zone by deciding that the upper floors never benefited, and somehow it became a separate location, resetting the clock for ten more years. Anybody concerned that the BrewWork may have received preferential treatment can be reassured by our city government. On Wednesday evening, in regard to a new money for the upper floors, Councilman Julio Guridy said,* "We need to make sure people in the community know how to get that money," City Business Development Manager Ted Collins said*the city is trying to improve its outreach, but that its resources are limited. "It's my aim and interest to continue to grow this. I am six months into this position and I have already identified, along with you, that our outreach needs to improve," he said.

I'm reassured, are you?

*Scott Kraus, The Morning Call, June 20, 2010

City Hall Insults The Neighborhood

This is a post which I spend a week trying not to write. It is a story of favoritism and abuse of power. About four years ago a homeowner, in a quiet south side neighborhood, moved out and rented the house to his brother. Under Allentown regulations this property hence became a rental property, and subject to license and inspection procedures. As it turns out, these brothers are childhood friends with an Allentown inspector. The second brother, the tenant, has been disruptive in the neighborhood by every criterion relevant to code enforcement. The property became unkempt and subject of numerous police calls, including the SWAT team. All calls for relief from surrounding properties seemed to end up with the family's inspector friend, and brought no relief from the problems. Allentown has been very pro-active with problem properties. In the first eight months of 2010, 342 properties received orange tags, forcing the property to be vacated. Most tags were issued for problems significantly more minor than those occurring in the subject of this post. This past October, the bank foreclosed on the property. The tenant legally became a squatter. A neighbor's complaint resulted in another inspector discovering that the bank owned property was an unregistered rental, and he issued a 30 day to vacate tag for illegal occupancy. It appeared that finally the neighbors would get relief from the trash, noise and police calls. The childhood friend inspector intervened, and the 30 day notice was never enforced. My efforts with the inspector on behalf of the other property owners (including myself) were to no avail. I have spent the week documenting the problem up the chain of command, right to the Mayor's office. Although the property is in gross violation of code, the illegal tenant is allowed to remain. Although in the last eight months police have surrounded the property several times in complete violation of the disruptive tenant ordinance, the occupant remains. In typical City Hall fashion, they have circled the wagons around the inspector, around their own. They are now actually trying to work with the bank and make him the homeowner. The top photo is the back yard on May 9, 2011, with years worth of garbage. You will be happy to know that a city contractor has now been hired to clean the property and cut the grass, at your expense. The City's course of action is a total insult to the neighbors. I did see some inspectors today, they were walking around my property.

UPDATE: I understand that the occupant is a disabled US Veteran so that may have played into the equation. City Official June 16, 2:02pm

Mr. XXXX, I understand that he is a disabled veteran. I don't know if you have received all my emails, first to the inspector, then XXXX, then XXXX. Two years ago I had to treat his unattended green swimming pool with bleach, (because the city complaint was repressed) last year I had to paint his totally peeled porch.... He has no legal basis in that house whatsoever..... Frankly, the situation is an outrage. You may want to check the police reports. Twice police have surrounded the house in the last 8 months alone... Is this social work or code enforcement? Michael Molovinsky
p.s.. he is not physically disabled, and I don't know if his mental health issues are military related, nor is it relevant to code
enforcement. I do know that he is family friends with an inspector who has put myself and other neighbors off for years. He is the same inspector who has issued hundreds of orange tags to other properties in the same period for much less problems.

Being a disabled veteran is not the reason for this favoritism, but the excuse now being used. I have no doubt that at least some of the hundreds and hundreds of units vacated by the same inspector, also housed a few disabled veterans.

Step Right Up, Prize Every Time

Years ago, a popular feature at carnivals and fairs was the weight guesser. For a mere few quarters he would guess your weight within a few pounds. His success didn't matter so much, because the prize cost less than they charged to play the game. The Administration has offered up phenomenal numbers of expected arena attendance. Although Pawlowski once said 2.5 million, for the City Council Eminent Domain vote, he used 1.5 million. To achieve that number, the hockey team would have to play 365 home games a year, to over 4,000 people each night. Yesterday, another shill for the arena boosters wrote another opinion piece. This gentleman used the figure of one million. The hockey team will play forty home games, and even if they achieve 5,000 viewers each game, the arena must still draw 2,500 people each remaining night of the year to reach the one million mark. The Sovereign Center in Reading works very hard to reach their declared yearly total attendance of 500,000. I suppose this arena is like the old weight game; The advocates are not using their own money. How far the guess is off has no consequence to them, they still win.

The weight and age booth at Dorney Park in 1948

Resetting the Demographic

The bill and resolution for another grant to the BrewWorks has become routine at Allentown City Council Meetings. Since Pawlowski was Director of Community Development, that location, 812-814, has received over $6 million dollars in grants and loans. How much of that must be repaid, or will be forgiven, is a subject for forensic accounting. Last night's request ($360,000) was small potatoes in comparison. What was interesting were the crib notes given to council.
Priority status/Deadlines, if any
Immediate. Please arrange to have this resolution reviewed and voted on in the same night.
Why should Council unanimously support this bill?
Council should unanimously support this bill because it promotes development in the central business district, moves a KOZ project forward, and offers opportunity for new office space on Hamilton.

The approval came one meeting after endorsing the forced expulsion of the merchants in the 700 block. I suppose it was considered better form to separate the victims from the benefactors. There appears to be no limit on what the Administration will do or spend to reset the demographic. They keep thinking success is just one more project away.