Allentown's Poverty Industry

Yesterday, a division of Allentown's poverty industry had its annual meeting, they call it Upside Allentown.  Most of the poverty business is run by Alan Jennings' Community Action Committee of Lehigh Valley. Six local institutions pony up and write off about a $million a year for Upside. The cast of characters and beneficiaries has remained the same for over two decades.

Although CACLV* provides its cast of administrators a steady job, by what yardstick do we measure its accomplishments? I would certainly hope not litter, double parking or crime!

What sustains the business is political correctness. Besides this blog, nobody would ask such questions.

Upside Allentown is administered by a division of CACLV called CADC.  Next week the mothership, CACLV, has its annual toast to poverty.

Dead At The Water

Dead in the water is an old expression. Allentown's waterfront NIZ project is dead at the water. This past week the local media reported that Jaindl has tenants lined up, but is waiting for all the pieces to be in place, before starting construction. Whoever those commercial tenants are, they sure must be flexible.

This weekend our overpaid, underworked, ghost voting state representative Mike Schlossberg was in Washington, begging for a grant for project's piece of the rail trail. He is getting better at fibbing. He actually claimed that they need the grant, so that the residents of the 1st and 6th Wards can mingle with the future tenants of Waterfront. I believe that Jaindl wants the grant, but he sure doesn't want those ward citizens mingling with his future millennials.

Talking about dead liquid, the Neuweiler building is in worse shape than ever. Even the plywood covering some of the broken windows is rotting away. If the AEDC allows one cent of tax money to be used by Ruckus to rehab that building, Scott Unger should be put in jail. That building is now beyond saving.

brewery circa 1950

I Watched The Debate

For most of my life I have been registered as an independent. Recently, Rick Santorum stated that he agrees with 90% of what Trump does, and 20% of what he says. I would change those figures to about 50% and 5%. While I think that Bill Weld has traits to support, his chances of getting on the Republican ticket aren't much better than mine.

With the above options in mind, last night I stayed up to watch the Democratic Debate. I was hoping to maybe find someone to reluctantly support.  Soon I fantasized about trap doors, so that I could pull a lever and drop some of the contestants off the stage. Then I started thinking about a dart gun, so I could tranquilize Bernie, and energize some of the others.

Toward the end of the long evening, I put on my record player and fell asleep.

Alan Jennings Misspeaks

Alan Jennings has declared that because of Judge Anthony's prejudicial rant, he should resign.  Jennings seems to have personified Anthony's comment about Allentown being a cesspool, to the people who appear before his bench.  Earlier this week I read on social media that Anthony singled out Puerto Ricans in his rant.  He did not, his admonition was directed against the increasing shootings,  not a particular person, and certainly not any particular ethnicity.

It pains me to write this post.  Although Jennings and myself are on different ends of the liberal/conservative spectrum,  I appreciated our rapport over the years... I even had appeared on his NPR show twice.

Coincidentally this week, I wrote about Allentown first having a poverty industry, and now a violence industry.  Alan was the main force behind the poverty industry.  I once wrote that his organization doesn't just give out fishing poles, that they give out fish markets.  He's disappointed in the judge, and I'm disappointed that Alan wrote this letter to the editor.

photo:The Morning Call

They Shoot Landlords, Don't They?

When I ran as a long-shot independent for mayor in 2005, against Ed Pawlowski and Bill Heydt,  the first thing I did was take The  Morning Call reporter on a tour of the properties that I managed.  As an intercity landlord, operating apartments between 4th and 12th, Walnut and Tilghman Streets,  I knew that  downtown apartments could  become problematic for Allentown.  After the WW2,  it became fashionable to live in a twin or small ranch, and Allentown's row houses began being divided into apartments.  Those apartments were mostly occupied by singles or childless couples, and helped keep downtown and Hamilton Street vital, long past many of its sister cities.  In the 1960's, despite the thousands of converted apartments,  center city was clean, and Allentown was the All American City.  Both the tenants and landlords were hard working and conscientious.  As the urban poor from New York and New Jersey discovered the clean streets of Allentown, and its moderately priced apartments,  a steady influx of new residents arrived daily.  These changes were not encouraged by the landlords.  Nobody ever purchased a building hoping to replace their conscientious middle class occupants, with a poorer, more problematic tenant base.  Various social agencies staked many of these newcomers to the first month rent and security deposits.  Although politically incorrect, I said at the time that Allentown was creating a poverty magnet.  My phrase and analysis back then is now recognized as an unintended consequence of such programs.  During Heydt's administration, Allentown passed a Rental Inspection Law.  Some viewed  this as the solution to the rental problem, I didn't fully agree;  You cannot legislate pride of ownership. Bad operators could, and easily did, cross the T's and dot the i's.  Pawlowski's solution has been to tag buildings as unfit for habitation, so many,  that the process itself has created blight.  Halls of Shame, either by the city or private groups, only stigmatize both the property and owner, but don't produce a solution.  The programs in place, if applied with more flexibility, can work.  The school district is starting to show concern about the consequences of more apartments and students.  Recent zoning changes allowing the conversion of commercial space by right, rather than by variance, will be an additional challenge.  At the end of the day,  all landlords want to see their investment appreciate.  The city must learn to work with that basic incentive as a vehicle for change.

reprinted from June of 2015

Shootings Now Normal In Allentown

When I looked at the digital version of the Morning Call Monday morning, the weekend shootings were the 7th story down the page. The Friday and Sunday shootings were lumped together in one article. By Monday afternoon the shooting story was at the bottom of page.

When shootings have become so commonplace in a city this size, we are indeed a cesspool. When our elected officials are so incensed that someone would dare use that term, it is they who should apologize. They should apologize for thinking that the citizens should consider this level of violence as normal. They should apologize for wanting to put image above safety.

As for the ones who say we should stop complaining, and join them in the marches for harmony, I feel no sense of security from their performances. They for the most part are either being paid to work in the new violence industry, or hope to be elected.

Years ago I complained about the poverty industry.... Those groups and organizations that specialized in the poor. Now that we have a violence industry,  the advocates for the poor seem like the good old days.