City Without Spending Limits

The Destination Dog Park plans are elaborate. Although the pony for each pooch is an exaggeration on my part, the plans are elaborate, never the less. The park would cost close to $One Million dollars when completed. Our former park director got to include the plan on his resume, even if pooch doesn't get to play there. Seems that the designers probably never actually walked around the area, by Dixon and Mack Blvd. If they had, they would have realized that the ground feels like a sponge; it is a wetland. Well, the important thing is de plane, the plan. The plan was paid for by the Trexler Trust, trust in Weitzel. The Forest Stewardship Plan was created after yours truly, this blogger, leaked that the Administration was planning on logging South Mountain. After The Morning Call appropriated the tip without attribution, Weitzel covered for Pawlowski, and we now have a stewardship plan. I also take credit for having the light posts removed from the Cedar Park paths plan; I suggested that they should be careful when changing the light bulbs in the flood plain.* Weitzel and his expensive plans are gone. In a recent letter to the editor, Friends Of The Parks President Karen El-Chaar, lamented his departure as the loss of a visionary.

* My archivist reminds me that Weitzel denied that lights were planned for the path on the west side of Ott St.  What was planned, and discarded partly because of my efforts,  was the plan to turn the stone house by the rose gardens into a cafe,  and built a wedding pavilion across the creek from the rose garden.

Arena Push Poll

Muhlenberg College and The Morning Call have collaborated on another one of their famous polls, famous for wrong conclusions. In 2005, they had Heydt ahead of Pawlowski by 7 points. Pawlowski won by 20 points. Were they 27 points off, or worse, were they trying to effect the election? Was their intent to keep the Republicans content and at home? These polls are conducted by Chris Borick, Muhlenberg's political science professor. During a Presidential election, the Morning Call photographed a group of people whom Borick claimed were undecided, and analyzed their responses to the debate questions. By coincidence, I knew half of the people. Although they may like to proclaim themselves independent and undecided, they were committed Democrats.
 Their newest mistake is that valley residents look forward to the Allentown Hockey Arena, and think that it's a good idea, because 58% of respondents felt the arena would have a positive impact on Allentown.

"Politics aside, financing fight aside, Lehigh Valley residents see this as important to Allentown," Borick said. "Despite all the negative news, the public is fairly positive about what this can do for the city — and that includes people from inside and outside the city."

 Although  the pollster himself concluded in 2009 that the public doesn't appreciate their taxes used for such projects, the poll   ignored how people feel about the misappropriation of their taxes for this particular  boondoggle.    Why this push poll now?  It appears to be a response to the  the current  controversy to add support for the arena project.  Pawlowski should buy him lunch.     The Molovinsky Survey of Allentonian Opinion, conducted early morning in diners throughout Allentown, thinks the arena is in the wrong place, and they probably will not go there. I would have more respect for their poll, had they done it before they dug the hole.

It's de Plane, It's a Plan

Believe it or not, Pawlowski's Plane, I mean plan, for Allentown in 2005 was Weed and Seed, a stock federal government plan that produces little to no results. In 2005, when I called Pawlowski's plan crabgrass, he replied, At least it's a strategy! His plans have grown more ambitious. By 2006, he outgrew Weed and Seed and was counting on townhouses to revitalize Allentown. We gave the neighborhood parking lot near 8th and Walnut, along with KOZ designation, to Nic Zawarski to build townhouses. The last ones were just sold at auction, for 50cents on the dollar. The Fegley family formed a real estate LLC and purchased them. Decades ago, a controversial City Councilman proposed that we drop a bomb on Allentown and start over. Ironically, the city was in much better shape then. Although Pawlowski didn't drop a bomb, it looks like we did. We now have a Transformational square block hole, and every township in Pennsylvania suing us. Pawlowski even wants to close the airport where de plane lands.
The plane arrives

Ignoring The Blueprint

Back in the early 2000's, when Ed Pawlowski was Community Development Director for Mayor Roy Afflerbach, Trexler Trust suspended it's support for the Allentown park system. The yearly park grant was put into an escrow account. It had been discovered that the Trexler park grants were being diverted, and used for the general fund of city operation. To prevent that sort of misuse in the future, the Trexler Trust in 2005 commissioned a master plan for the park system, suggesting what sort of projects would be an appropriate use of their funds. The comprehensive plan, from a Philadelphia land use planner, took inventory of the entire park system, making recommendations for each separate park. It concluded that Cedar Park was being overused, loved to death. In the meantime, back at Tammany Hall, Ed Pawlowski ran for Mayor in 2005, with some of his closest advisors being Trexler Trustees. The Park and Recreation posts were combined, and a new director was hired. Greg Weitzel, with a graduate degree in recreation, was fresh from building a destination playground in Lewisburg. With Pawlowski and Company distracted with their Transformation Schemes, Weitzel commissioned more Destination plans, ignoring the expensive Trexler blueprint. When Weitzel, like Elvis, left the arena last week, he took with him plans for a destination water park at CedarBeach.  Had he stayed, we would be competing with Dorney Park.  The Trexler Trust remains under Pawlowski's influence, ignoring their own mandates.

Allentown Becomes Reillytown

molovinsky on allentown exclusive*
Just as William Penn gave this town to William Allen two hundred and fifty years ago, Pat Brown, Jennifer Mann and Ed Pawlowski have now given the town to J.B. Reilly. Actually, Reilly's getting a better deal than Allen, because the existing taxpayers will underwrite all his new acquisitions. This blogger has learned that with three exceptions, Reilly has purchased the square block across from the arena; that would be from 7th to 8th, and Hamilton to Walnut. The exceptions are the LCCC Portland Place building, and two adjoining store fronts. All other properties are either under an agreement of sale, or have one pending. One of the sellers claim that they were initially approached by a strawbuyer, who used language of eminent domain, similar to the tactics employed on the arena side. Although the offers appear fair to generous, several of the sellers supposedly felt they had little to no option. Although I initially thought that the threat of domain was an idle threat, perhaps it is possible. City Council really doesn't know what authority they gave the City and it's agents, when they signed that dotted line. One council member hoped it wouldn't result in just some rich white guys getting richer; Guess what? Just as the general public was not aware that the NIZ taxing mechanism could be used by approved private parties, few people understand that property taxes** will be used if the earned income and sales tax fall short. In addition to the block outlined above, Reilly's City Center Investment Corp., funded by an initial $20million from the City Authority, and a yet disclosed second amount, is buying up both sides of Hamilton, from 5th to 10th Street. Additionally, he is purchasing the property north of Linden Street, to Turner Street. Several displaced former merchants who owned property on Hamilton, will now be tenants in Reilly buildings.

City Center Investment Corp. is a visionary real estate development and management company....We look forward to welcoming many tenants to live, work and play in what will be an inviting, accessible urban community.

Considering that Reilly hasn't been given the keys to the city, but rather the city itself, let us hope he succeeds.

*When The Morning Call reads this post, and produces their own longer version, with charts and maps, will they give this blog appropriate credit?
**Our trusted elected officials insist that property taxes cannot be used.(May14,2012)
Reprinted from January 9, 2012, as a companion piece to the Reillyville Video at LV Ramblings

Great Balls of Fire

The Morning Call doesn't refer to me as disdainful, misguided and dour for nothing; I take them to task. No doubt they considered Sunday's piece on the arena epic. Although I have already criticized it for verboseness and style, allow me to redress some errors of substance. The largest area ever submitted to a redevelopment bulldozer was the Lehigh Street hill, near South 6th Street and the now closed racquet ball club. Three square blocks were then leveled. Like the arena project, the displaced were a minority, who received little consolation for their ordeal. This morning's article continues to minimize the abuse recently suffered by the displaced merchants. Last summer, the newspaper dismissed the merchants as selling discount clothes and cheap electronics. Today, one very short paragraph was used to dismiss their twenty years on Hamilton Street. They're conveniently dispatched by saying that they were overpaid for their property. They could have written how the day care center never reopened, or one merchant  ended up on Hanover Avenue, with no foot traffic or business. The laborious article is written with a wildfire theme. The reporters marvel themselves with the imagery; Inferno,firestorm,burning, extinguishing the flare-up,spark,etc, etc, WE GET IT. The article minimizes the City's arrogance and secrecy, instead, elaborating on accusations that the townships are being punitive toward Allentown. While they briefly gloss over the insider deals,  they write that municipalities and developers have been colluding on the lawsuits. They quote Alan Jennings defending Allentown and the project, but omit that as an advocate for the poor, he's on the wrong side of the issue. The article concludes with an insider explaining what a catastrophe it would be for Allentown, and the Lehigh Valley, if the arena isn't built. Although it would be a catastrophic for Pawlowski and Reilly, the rest is meant as an ultimatum. The article ends with threats about a wildfire and scorched earth.