Traveling Arena Show

Ed Pawlowski has been on the show circuit, selling the arena to the disenchanted. Last night he performed for CUNA.* After a woman complained that she lost her job at a day care center torn down for the arena, Pawlowski explained about a Community Benefit Agreement. Although there will be no instruction on becoming a hockey player or real estate tycoon, she can train to hand out peanuts, like a monkey, at the arena events. CUNA prided itself on not criticizing the project, how civil. The audience for today's show, real estate developers, might be tougher. Pawlowski softened up this group by filing a $50million dollar lawsuit against one of it's members. Needless to say, these performances should have occurred before the hole was dug.

 *Scott Kraus/The Morning Call/April25,2012

Understanding The Implications

Attorney Jerome Frank must have been surprised last night. Hanover Supervisors declined to vote* on the newest proposal from Allentown to settle the lawsuit filed against the arena project, before understanding the implications.

"I'm not going to have supervisors accept an offer minutes after they get it," Broughal said of the new offer presented behind closed doors Tuesday by Allentown attorney Jerome Frank. "I need some time to review it. We need to make sure we fully understand all the implications."

The Allentown Commercial and Industrial Economic Authority (ACIDA) always approved Frank's agreements and contracts even before they were finished being written. Due diligence is something Frank never encountered in Allentown. Besides ACIDA being a rubber stamp, there is the new Arena Authority, and of course the famous Allentown City Council. The big push now is the notion of completing the arena for the 2013 minor league hockey season. To meet this most important of deadlines, we expelled merchants with an illegal threat of eminent domain. Gave out $20 million in pocket money to Reilly. Spent $45-million on acquisition, demolition, and excavation. Signed documents before they were finished being written, and operated under a law with serious constitutional flaws. I would think that before the Leigh Valley goes on the hook for up to $600million dollars, they should tell the Phantoms to keep playing where they are for another season.

  *Matt Assad/The Morning Call/April 24,2012

Two Few Benefit from Arena

When Lee Butz addressed the Chamber of Commerce Real Estate Luncheon last week,  he inadvertently made a prophetic statement.

"Allentown is on the brink of tremendous resurgence due to the creation of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone," Butz said. "If implemented properly, it's going to be a huge benefit to every business in the Lehigh Valley and every individual in the Lehigh Valley and a tremendous opportunity for every developer in our community. 

"I said implemented properly. The reason I said that is it is incumbent on us to make sure the benefits of this don't just go to a few people."

What seems odd and ironic is that so far only two developers have approved projects; By approved, I mean that those projects will be financed by bonds, repayable by taxes. The two developers are J.B. Reilly and Butz himself. Since when is two even a few? Butz also received the largest contract of his career to build the arena complex, including an office building and hotel, to be owned by Reilly. Just as Hanover Township was joined by other townships in it's lawsuit against the NIZ, other developers may end up joining Atiyeh's lawsuit.

Small Victories

In the best case, molovinsky on allentown chronicles my efforts in community activism, in addition to being a source of analysis for local issues. Last week a small victory resulted from such efforts. Our local dignitaries broke ground for a new garage at Lanta. Several years ago, when the garage plans were first announced, it was to be built on the parking lot of Bicentennial Park. Allentown needed money, and Lanta had a grant to build a new garage. Lanta claimed that the ball park property was the only feasible location, and the City claimed that Bicentennial Park had outlived it's usefulness.

Bicentennial Park is virtually the history of baseball in Allentown. First opened in 1939 as Fairview Field, it was home to the minor league team of the Boston Braves; The Allentown Dukes played there through 1948, when Breadon Field was built in Whitehall, site now of the Lehigh Valley Mall. Over the years thousands of Allentown kids had the yearly thrill of playing "Under The Lights". In addition to hosting the Allentown Ambassadors, it currently serves women's fast pitch softball. In addition to the outrage in our park system, I will be adding the ballfield as a topic in my upcoming SPEAK OUT ALLENTOWN MEETING. from Lanta Mugs City, May 14,2009  

I conducted a meeting at a small local church, which attracted a couple members of City Council and the Hunsicker Family, who led the drive to build the park, decades ago. City Council went on to pass a resolution recommending that the park not be sold, and Lanta did eventually figure out an alternative space for the garage. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the dignitaries invited to the ground breaking, nor were my efforts mentioned in the newspaper article, but a small victory, never the less.

Baseball Memoirs, June 3, 2009

The Wages of Greed

Shown above are former customers with a former merchant, in a former store, in a former building on Hamilton Street. They are all gone now, replaced by a hole and lawsuits. When I first starting blogging about the arena, over a year ago, there wasn't too much interest. I wrote about fairness, level playing fields and the years those merchants had invested in Hamilton Street. They pleaded to no avail with the Administration and City Council; They even had a meeting with Pat Browne. They are an industrious people, and landed on their feet. I cannot say the same for Allentown. If it was greed or arrogance, apparently the Reilly/Pawlowski/Browne cartel reached for a little too much. Townships have joined townships defending their tax-base against the EIT grab. Developers outside of the NIZ will now also legally assert themselves to remain competitive. As Pennsylvania cuts back on services, local representatives will have to explain their vote for HOCKEY-GATE. As the bonds are delayed, if not cancelled, a local banker and bank will have to hope for repayment. J.B. Reilly is now sitting on a square block of inter-city apartments, not the clientele he envisioned. One thing is for certain, if the project gets back on track, the pot will not be as sweet as the big boys hoped, nor should it.

 April 16, 2011 Involuntary Conversion
 April 19, 2011 Late, and Maybe Wrong
 April 19, 2011 Hailstorm at City Hall
 May13, 2011   Hardball for Hockey
 May 17,2011  A Quick Learner
 May 18.2011  Another Day, Another Battle
 May 19,2011  The Night Hamilton Street Died
 May 21,2011  Pawlowski's Sham
 May 24,2011  A Better Arena Site
 May 27,2011  Exaggerating the Arena
 May 30,2011  Stealing Allentown's Treasures
 June 2,2011   Ripping Out Downtown's Heart
 June 3,2011   Open Letter to Lee Butz
 June 8,2011   Moving the Gooks 
 June 8,2011   Molovinsky Takes Aim
 June 15,2011 Asians Offered Rickshaw Concession
 June 17,2011 Step Right Up, Prize Every Time
 June 28,2011 Arena Shell Game
 July 7,2011    Raw Cookie Dough
 July 14,2011  Allentown's Double Standard
 Aug. 25,2011New Twist to Arena Dance
 Aug. 26,2011Arena Gets Press Pass
 Sept.  8,2011 Allentown's Future
 Sept.11,2011 The End of the End
 Sept.15,2011 Who Needs Shopping
 Sept.20,2011 Allentown's Malaise
 Sept.21,2011 Your Esteemed Opinion
 Oct. 3, 2011   Korean on Mayor's Menu
 Oct. 6,2011   Allentown's Tea Leaves
 Oct.11,2011  Unhappy Campers
 Oct.14,2011  The Morning Call Forgets The Meat
 Oct.20,2011  Who Thinks You're Dumber
 Oct.23,2011  Future Downtown Arena Attendee
 Oct.27,2011  Allentown Picks Winner, Then Announces Contest Rules
 Oct.31,2011  Gentrification Day in Allentown
 Nov.3,2011 Pawlowski's Palace of Sport
 Nov.5,2011 Secrets From The Shadow
 Nov.14,2011Public Arena Meetings
 Nov.20,2011Selling The Arena
 Nov.30,2011Arena Dooms Old Allentown
 More Hockey Arena Posts from the molovinsky on allentown  archives will be added later in the week

Pawlowski's Expensive Hole

Allentown eventually had success with former mayor Heydt's hole at the Hess's site, the PPL Plaza was built. Although Pawlowski's hole is much bigger, and has cost much more, eventually private developers would build separate buildings for real tenants. With home hockey games only 40 nights a year, and the Sands already having booked first rate acts as a draw to their casino, the arena is doomed to failure. The hotel plan is a moronic pipe dream. Who will want to deal with 7th and Hamilton for a medical appointment at the proposed sports medicine center? After 5 years of failure, the Arena Authority will hire a new manager. In 10 more years, Allentown will tear it down. I prefer leaving an expensive hole.

reproduced from an update on a previous post