NIZ Attracts Interlopers

Allentown's NIZ was a boutique legislation that allows private property to be publicly financed. Never mind that it was created by the biggest beneficiaries's childhood friend, who became a state senator. On the up side, for the most part, the beneficiaries have been local boys. That is about to change. 

The Morning Call had an excellent report on a New Jersey firm muscling in on our tax dollar giveaway. They learned their lesson well from the first interloper, Ruckus Brewery.  Ruckus was set up with the Neuweiler Brewery by Mike Fleck, before he went to the pokey with Pawlowski.  Ruckus managed to raise money from their NIZ approval and get possession of the brewery without actually spending any of their own money. For that fund raising, they changed their name to Brewers Hill.  Previously they never even had experience with actual brewing or real estate...Never underestimate the value of a political connection.

Like Ruckus/Brewers Hill, the new player promises to relocate their office here to Allentown. Sprinkle in a promise of affordable housing, and the Allentown welcome mat is out.  They have agreements now with Brewers Hill, and options on neighborhood properties. 

Personally, I preferred my tax dollars benefiting the local boys, like Reilly and Jaindl.

photocredit: Robert Walker

Allentown's Democratic Mayoral Primary

While I prefer not to make election endorsements, I was inadvertently drawn into opining about Allentown's mayoral race.  Joshua Siegel put up a hit piece against Matt Tuerk on facebook.

Siegel is a disciple of Mark Pinsley, who seems to still control South Whitehall commissioners, even though he is no longer one. Pinsley, among his more notable progressive antics, stood with the Make The Road shooting protesters at Dorney Park, while still a commissioner. Current  South Whitehall commissioner Matt Mobilio, also a Pinsley boy, is now supporting Ce-Ce Gerlach for Allentown mayor, since Siegel decided not to run. 

Anyway, back to the hit piece. Siegel, using a Monopoly Man caricature, accused Tuerk of being a good old boy, with nothing new to bring to Allentown. The piece was intended to boost Ce-Ce.

I believe that the only qualified Democratic candidates for Allentown mayor are O'Connell, Guridy and Tuerk. Each would bring something different to the 5th floor.  O'Connell's mayoral experience would bring continuity.  Guridy's longevity on council likewise has prepared him for the position. Tuerk's background might well provide needed economic benefit for Allentown. 

While I'm content for the Democrats in Allentown to pick their own candidate for mayor,  it's disappointing to see the tactics being deployed.

poster shown above from May 2019 Primary Election

Allentown Planning Puppies Make Little Barks

The Allentown Planning Puppies are adorable. Although, they approved Reilly's Tower of Condo Speculation,  they are concerned about Hamilton Street losing its historical character.  I have no idea what these puppies are talking about;  there hasn't been any historical consideration on Hamilton Street since the Pawlowski era began, and certainly there is no character.

Allentown's Preservation League also chimed in.  They don't mind historical buildings  being demolished for new development, but they don't think that buildings should be demolished for speculation, like the former Elks Club on South 8th Street.  Of course,  those enablers didn't protest at the time. Understand that the arena complex demolished 37 buildings, of which 34 were historic, and several were unique, one of a kind in Allentown.  Reilly just demolished another square block for his now, put on hold,  twin mega towers.

When the Hamilton Street treasure shown above, in the 700 block,  was demolished for the arena,  save for this blogger, there was no concern for its loss.  There wasn't a sound from any of the puppies mentioned here.

The current office condo project must still go in front of Allentown's zoning board, and Historical Architectural Review Board.  Oh, the suspense,  will the Reilly project get the final go ahead from the city?

reprinted from July of 2016

UPDATE FEBRUARY 11, 2021: When I wrote the above post over four years ago, I offended some of the people on the enabling commissions. Likewise, the current people on various commissions may be offended now.  I photographed most of the buildings that were demolished for the NIZ.  I met with the first group of owners, who were displaced for the arena. They were not even properly, much less richly, compensated as the more recent sellers.  My purpose is to record an account of how the former mercantile district was transformed into an essentially privately owned, but publicly financed, urban office park. Such an account has not been compiled by the local newspaper, which had a vested interest in the project. For the most part, certainly the early part,  they functioned as a promoter, rather than a reporter.

NIZ Injuries To Allentown

The NIZ has fostered various injuries on the city and it's citizens.  Reilly's dashed hopes for a mega project, encompassing an entire block, 7th to 8th and Hamilton to Walnut, resulted in the displacement of numerous  businesses and residents.  Furthermore, we lost rich history, such as the Elks Club.  Yesterday afternoon the paper ran it's second story of the day promoting Reilly's much smaller, substituted office condo project. The article is called  Five Things To Know about the new project.  There's actually six, and the sixth is that the paper never stops promoting Reilly's interests. This morning the paper continues with it's third piece on the new building, within two days.  Putting aside this endless cheerleading by The Morning Call,  the NIZ has surely peaked. Although a number of tenants were poached from different locations,  there was no net gain for the region.  A responsible Harrisburg would be analyzing  the consequences inflicted on the area.  However,  responsibility and Harrisburg have never been acquainted.

As I commented yesterday, Talen workers will be isolated down at the river, almost punished, if you  will.  The surrounding 6th Ward certainly doesn't provide much ambience.  Expect our local and state taxes to be expended there, to embellish Jaindl's position. The tearing out of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Old Main tracks through that parcel is another history victim of the NIZ.

photo of former Elks Club on S. 8th St., prepared for demolition, to make way for now cancelled mega-project by J.B. Reilly

above reprinted from May of 2016 

 

UPDATE FEBRUARY 10, 2021: Four years later from writing the above piece, an update is in order.  Reilly did build out the square block with more offices and apartments. He also did so at 6th and Walnut. It all looks the same, devoid of architecture and any feeling of community.  He also secured Talen as a tenant, slowing down Jaindl's waterfront plans. Jaindl is now just starting his first building. The Morning Call continues their promotion of Reilly's City Center Real Estate, and Reilly now owns the Morning Call building. While resented for it, I continue to speak out against the loss of the town's identity.

Freight Trolleys and Shenanigans

This was supposed to be a Men's Stuff post, about the working cars on the Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Doing research for the previous post on that company, I became fascinated that they operated a freight operation with the trolley cars. I started acquiring documentation and photographs about the working cars necessary for such an operation. They built power substations throughout the valley that generated electric, then converted the AC to DC for their use. The rolling stock required coal trolleys, wire stringing trolleys, snowplow trolleys, and etc. I will present these black and white photo treasures in future posts, because I got side tracked by a shenanigan; you know me. Lehigh Valley Transit operated out of the Fairview Carbarn, which Lanta still uses off of Lehigh Street. Despite a trolley fleet that covered the entire City, plus the remainder of the Valley (Bethlehem and Easton), all the Men's Stuff working cars, and trolley service to Philadelphia, Lanta now needs Bicentennial BallPark because they acquired five (5) new hybrid buses? Supposedly these five new buses require a special garage. Although the Fairview facility now handles 78 regular buses, the ballfield has to go because of the five new hybrids.

men only: enlarge freight trolley by clicking on image

above reprinted from May of 2010

UPDATE July 4, 2019:  Attempting to save the ballpark, I organized a meeting at a center city church.  Attending the meeting were two city council members and families involved with Bicentennial Park.  Pawlowski and Lanta finally backed off, and the ballpark remains. Some people who attended that meeting became interested in Allentown politics, and attend council meetings to this day. Pawlowski's shenanigans have since caught up with him.

reprinted from July 4, 2019

More Cigarette Tax For Reilly

The Morning Call reports that T&B Tobacco, a fixture on Linden Street forever,  has sold out to J.B. Reilly's NIZ empire.  While the Call article spelled out some of the NIZ financial benefits,  it didn't reveal all the trade secrets.

The newspaper has never been overly frank about Reilly's NIZ.*  Their building at 6th & Linden was included in the NIZ zone,  even when originally the zone was limited to only the other side of Linden Street. Reilly now owns the Morning Call building, with the paper's presence there limited to distribution only. However, since that first map,  everything about the NIZ is subject to flexibility.  The NIZ status of parcels within the zone can be traded for parcels outside the zone. 

Even the addition of the cigarette state tax was a profitable afterthought. While Reilly and the NIZ can now use the Pennsylvania cigarette tax for their real estate debt service, prior to the NIZ,  that tax went to CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program.

While this blog has published many posts about the NIZ and the paper's promotion of it*,  recently I have refrained from pointing out the obvious.  However, a quote from the seller of the tobacco outfit is too much to ignore.  He states about the NIZ, “It sure beats the hell out of how things were 20 years ago,"   It certainly does for him. In addition to the undisclosed $millions he received for his business, Reilly also gave him $2.5 million for his old tired building. 

* The current reporter is much more forthright about the NIZ than his predecessors, who wrote outright  promotions for Reilly's City Center Realty.