The Neuweiler Story

Allentown's NIZ was a boutique legislation that allows private property to be publicly financed.  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

above reprinted from February of 2021

UPDATE MAY 18, 2022: With the recent news about Neuweilers, I decided to revisit the brewery posts. The post above is just one of dozens I have written on the brewery since 2008. I may have somewhat more knowledge about the topic than the Morning Call's changing cast of reporters, because I had actually sat down with the last private owner. In 2007 Pawlowski said that "We have to get it out of the hands of this guy," It was also the last time that any property taxes were paid on the property. While the city took procession supposedly because no improvements were made, likewise nothing has been done since, fifteen years later. Actually, the property now is in considerably worse condition. But in addition to no taxes being paid in all these years, we have been paying the salaries of the bureaucrats in the various controlling agencies since the property was confiscated.

Whether demolished or restored, or a combination of both, we all want to see change at the property. But understand that we as taxpayers will be paying for that change with our diverted state income taxes. Understand that although the project will be publicly financed, it will be privately owned.

Those interested in an account of the situation from 2007 until now, can use the search engine of this blog's sidebar... simply type in Neuweiler brewery.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 15, 2022: A recent headline in the Morning Call put this money pit back on this blog's front burner. It referred to investment coming to the river. It all these years of NIZ promoting, the Morning Call has never clarified that the investment is our money, our diverted state taxes. Perhaps the new crop of young reporters don't fully understand that. I can appreciate that it's hard to understand how privately owned buildings can be completely publicly paid for....Credit outgoing state senator Pat Browne for that grab of the century. As for Neuweilers, before the recent owners signed over to the current owners, they were given a couple $mil in seed money by the public authority. An enterprising reporter or investigator, might want to track where those dollars went.

Down the road, when some local cheerleader strolls up to the new bar at Neuweilers, and orders the first brewski,  he'll have no idea how many $millions and $millions it really cost the taxpayers.

UPDATE JANUARY 27, 2023: Demolition has begun on the brewery, only the iconic front tower portion will remain.  That portion has been so structurally compromised from neglect, that its preservation is only possible because of our unaccounted for tax dollars. I'm amused how people are so excited about the project, but so oblivious to the true story about it, outlined above. There are a few civic notables relieved that scrutiny, so far, has been limited to this blog.

No Investors Need Apply

Mayor Pawlowski can't stand private investors, if he didn't give you a grant, your not worth crap. In the early 70's the City and Redevelopment Authority gave control of the Neuweiler Brewery to a friend. Under the City's watch, windows were removed and exterior walls broken through to remove the brewing tanks and piping for scrap. All metal, wires and any object of value were crudely ripped out in an orgy of demolition. With a large opening in the back wall smashed out, the basement was used as a free landfill by a roofer. Still the building remained iconic, because of its rich industrial architecture. In 2003 a New Jersey investor bought the building for over $200,000 in the condition shown in the photograph. The building has been in that condition since the late 70's. HIs hope was at some point the City would appreciate the landmark and cooperate in its revival. He must have found the building citations from the Pawlowski administration mind-numbing; can you image being held responsible for carnage committed by a previous owner under the City's watch. Also this week the City punished the owners of the Livingston Apartments for their stubbornness about keeping magnificent heavy metal doors not listed in their Home Depot code book. Mayor Pawlowski, afraid someone might want to invest private money in Allentown and pay real estate taxes, had the Neuweiler owner jailed when he came to Allentown this week to discuss the property. Our new Mayor, along with our new Director of Codes, and our new Redevelopment Director plan to steal, excuse me, i mean seize the brewery.

above reprinted from May of 2008

ADDENDUM MARCH 15, 2023: The Morning Call currently has a photo spread of the demolition work occurring on the brewery.  What the paper doesn't reveal, or even know, are the secrets buried in the rubble. I have been following and reporting on the real story for over fifteen years, even meeting with the previous private owner. 

While most residents only care about seeing the finished project, tomorrow I will review what this project really cost, in both money and integrity. When it finally opens, it will be a very expensive brewski.

Pawlowski Degrees Destiny

In 1934 Perry Minich and his bride opened a jewelry store on the side of the elegant Americus Hotel. The post depression years weren't that easy for a merchant in luxury goods, but they had faith in Allentown. They were rewarded by Allentown's boom years during the 50's . In 1981 a robber entered the store, pushed Mrs. Minich to the floor, then shot and killed her. The Minich family carried on with their Allentown business. Their nephew, who witnessed the tragedy, took over the store. One by one, in Scranton, Easton, and Wilkes-Barre, hotels of the Americus vintage, closed and were boarded up. The Americus, a white elephant, although a dollar short and a day late, stayed open. Enter new Mayor Ed Pawlowski, self-designated real estate expert. He decided because the hotel owner was controversial, and had been demonized in regard to other properties, he could execute a forced sale. He erected a scaffold around the building, declared it unsafe, and ordered the existing merchants to vacate. For those really familiar with the situation the irony abounds. One week after the scaffold was erected, a window fell out the Schoen building, controlled by the city, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Although transient tenants will be offered relocation money to de-convert apartments in Old Allentown, three merchants of the Americus got nothing. While almost seven million dollars in grant money was offered outside developers to purchase the hotel, the city confiscated insurance proceeds from the existing owner. Pawlowski ended what had endured over seventy years through good and bad times, through tragedy, and it will cost the taxpayers many millions to ever put this humpty dumpty back together again. 

above reprinted from April of 2008 

ADDENDUM MARCH 14, 2023: The Morning Call recently noted Albert Abdouche's accomplishments with the Americus Hotel, as well they should. Abdouche purchased the hotel at a tax-sale, and restored it under his own volition. Although now finally benefiting from some entitlements, for the first years he went it alone on his own. In this era of replacing Allentown's historic mercantile district with new nondistinctive buildings, it's a pleasure to celebrate a restored gem of our past.

Molovinsky On Anytown

I'm afraid that you my readers are going to be submitted to a little introspection. Let's say that my therapist threw in the towel, and that you're him/her for now. 

Allentown is no longer governed by native Allentonians. Oh, there's still a few on council, but their days are numbered. Mayor Tuerk took his crew to the Dominican Republic in year one,  and I expect more Caribbean trips.

Things look challenging for what was my main mission, the traditional park system with its WPA structures.  The new park director's background is in trails. When Pawlowski bailed out a developer by purchasing two brownfields, Basin Street and the old fertilizer plant, the excuse was connecting the parks... I called it connecting the neglect. She also has a background in trees and stormwater runoff. The Wildlands Conservancy, aka Woke Incorporated, pushes riparian buffers. They and the park department just ignore the reality that the storm sewer system goes UNDER those buffers, piped directly into the streams and creeks. The buffers serve no purpose but to block view and access to the water, and incubate invasive species.  Although I have done some good with my mission, I'm looking to pass the torch in these silver years. 

From Facebook we learn that the most enthusiasm for Allentown groups rests with nostalgia...which shops had the best cheesesteaks and chili sauce.  As a blogger on Allentown, I'm feeling more and more like Don Quixote fighting windmills. 

As a creature of habit, I'll still get up early and write, but perhaps the title will become Molovinsky On Anytown.

Greg Weaver Art Scene

For about ten years, mid 70's to 80's, Allentown was graced with a one man art machine. Greg Weaver studied at Carnegie Mellon and then returned to the Valley to become artist, promoter and inspiration to dozens of local artists. His large studios, which moved from one low rent location to another over the years, became hubs for innovation and social activity. He was very prolific with his work, and generous with his encouragement. A typical monthly bash involved perhaps a poster by Mark Beyer( now an internationally known underground comic) performance by a jazz group such as Gary Hassey,(Greg also had a band) and perhaps a new showing by a local artist, such as Barnaby Ruhe. The loft parties were always mobbed, by many of the same people who now attend the Museum social events. This art "scene" cost the taxpayers nothing, it was done by artists, and it was real. Greg suffered from diabetes, and eventually lost his sight. Although blind he continued to produce art and inspire people until his death. Several of his works are in the Allentown Museums' permanent collection and his memory is in the hearts' of his friends. The image here is from Mark Beyer, representing an invitation to a Weaver event.

reprinted from September of 2007

At Least She Isn't White

As a blogger, I get called with pitches for one thing or another. In regard to the school superintendent situation, I told a recent caller that it's no topic for an old white guy. In the past I had blogged about Allentown's superintendents often. My archives indicate no less than a dozen such posts. 

A few supers ago, Allentown decided that its top person should look like its students...That meant no whites need apply. The issue now seems to be that the current person serving as interim super is not of the majority minority. 

The same board members now claiming to endorse a search had enthusiastically hired Carol Birks as interim. At the time, I wondered why someone from the existing administration couldn't serve as interim. It's no surprise to me that the board now wants to hire her permanently. To add another layer of irony, the consultant now warns that searches motivated by race preference are illegal. 

Although I remain an old white guy who knows that there is no winning when writing such a post, I also remain a blogger.