The NIZ Bonds

During the 1950's, the big television show was the $64,000 Question. Back then, that was a lot of money. Turns out, even though the contestants went into an elaborate soundproof booth, some players knew the question and answer beforehand. Although the second string developers, Joe Clark and Albert Abdouche succeeded in getting their properties included in the NIZ zone, will the NIZ Authority float more bonds for their projects? I'd bet not.

Obama's Israel Policy

Israel survives in a dangerous part of the world.  Israel is too small of a country, and it's enemies too numerous, for any miscalculations regarding it's security.   Before the tragedy unfolded in Libya on Tuesday, Netanyahu spoke out about Iran. "Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,"    Obama has declined to meet with Netanyahu later this month, citing scheduling conflicts. Apparently for Obama, another campaigning opportunity comes first,  and Israel's security is somewhere further down the list.

Allentown's Destination Dog Casino and Park

Recently, this blog hosted a guest post from a dog owner upset about the riparian buffers and grow zones blocking both access and view of the creeks. Also recently, I announced my new identity as park ranger, actually walking the parks on a regular basis. I can tell you that the dog owners love their four legged companions, the companions have healthy digestive systems, but not all owners are good at picking up their companion's deposits. All regular park walkers know that they must watch where they're stepping. Before Greg Weitzel left with his $million dollar resume, in addition to the Destination Water Park, he commissioned plans for a Destination Dog Park. Local environmental coalitions are not happy about the location, the park borders Trout Creek. Intentionally programming doggie deposits into our waterways is not considered Best Practice. As an advocate for preserving the historic features in our park system, I was disappointed to see both the park department, and Friends Of The Parks, hold a fundraiser for the doggie casino this past Saturday. This park department has not budgeted one dollar, or expressed one concern, about the condition of the deteriorating WPA stone structures throughout the park system.

Morning Call's Catch-Up

The Morning Call's feature story on the potential over supply of hotel rooms is nothing new to my regular readers. This blog has often said that the new arena hotel will reduce the Holiday Inn to a flop house, and be another nail in the coffin of the Americus, shown here in better days. According to the article, the Holiday is operating at about 38% occupancy. To think that the arena will sprout enough activity to support two hotels, much less three, is a pipe dream only possible with taxpayer dollars. I believe that if the Americus is to have a future, it will be as apartments. I also believe that ownership will be wrestled away from the current owner, before NIZ financing would be bestowed upon a favored developer for that conversion. Last, but not least, a revelation about my recent editorial in the paper. It was modified by the Morning Call staff to spare a City Council member my frank evaluation. I have inserted the unedited version with the previous post announcing the editorial.

Good News For Joe Paterno Fans

If the memory of Allentown, Pennsylvania is any indication, in about 30 years, the name of Joe Paterno should return to Beaver Stadium with full respect. Back in the 1940's, Allentown was the powerhouse of high school sports. It's football team compiled a record of 60-3-3. In basketball, between 1945-1947 they won 60 straight games, and both sports were coached by one man, J. Birney Crum. Over 20,000 fans would pack the Friday night football blowouts. Allentown set out to build the biggest, most elaborate high school football stadium in Pennsylvania. However, when the stadium was completed in 1948, Allentown High School was under suspension by the PIAA, for using 21 and 22 year old ringers on it's basketball and football teams. Information about this unfortunate misunderstanding is now hard to come by. Birney Crum's image has been completely restored. In 1982, they renamed the stadium after him. From the current school district website: Crum was much more than a demanding, hard-driving coach. He was also a soft, kind-hearted man who took care of the people in his AHS program. Crum recruited boys to go back to high school to finish their education. It doesn't mention that he recruited them back to play football and basketball again, until he got caught. Time is kind to former coaches. Birney even married one of the former cheerleaders, after she graduated. Expect to see Joe Paterno's statue back in 2042.

Forrest Gump card courtesy of Bob Lemke

City Council's Waterloo

An Editorial in The Morning Call, click on Photograph City Council's Waterloo: In the past year Mayor Pawlowski has ushered two major agendas through City Council with long term obligations, the Arena Project and the Trash To Energy contract. Both projects were controversial, had opponents, but didn't demonstrate that City Council can assert itself as an independently minded body of city government. Although both those projects involved enormous sums of money and outside interests, the mayor is once again at the door of City Council, with yet another monumental project. His newest plan, to lease the water and sewer systems for 50 years, will have unprecedented consequences. Three generations of Allentonians will experience both rate increases, and likely, less responsive service. Although Pawlowski can summon a few supporters to endorse his plan, opposition is widespread, from practically everybody who has a water meter in their basement. The plan would transfer some city workers to a private company, and result in disruptive bumping and reorganization of both street and park workers. If City Council cannot protect such a primary municipal service as water, existing since 1905, for whom do they serve? If City Council yet once again accommodates the mayor, their complicity this time will have repercussions. Each new increased water bill will remind the voters of this betrayal. For a primarily young City Council, with political ambitions of their own, they will gamble their future career with this vote. One Councilman, Michael Schlossberg, who is going to Harrisburg unopposed as a State Representative, is resigning early from Council to evade this damaging baggage. Another, Peter Schweyer, also wanted to run for State Representative, but was sidelined by the district mapping controversy. Supposedly, both Schweyer and Guridy would also like to run for Mayor in the future. A "Yes" vote on the water scheme could well be their Waterloo. The water bill will remind the voters, four times each year, for the next 50 years, that City Council elected to be nothing more than a rubber stamp.