An Eminent Domain Failure

During the early 1970's, Allentown demolished the entire neighborhood between Union and Lawrence Streets. It was, in a large part, home to the black community. How ironic that we destroyed the cohesion of a neighborhood, but renamed Lawrence Street after Martin Luther King. The only remnant of the neighborhood is the St. James A.M.E. Church. Going up the hill today we now have a vacant bank call center on the east, and the Housing Authority Project on the west. A whole neighborhood existed in from both sides of Lehigh Street, including black owned shops. The houses were old and humble, but people owned them, many for generations. Some blacks at the time wondered if the project was Urban Renewal or Negro Removal?
above reprinted from January 24, 2011 (then titled Downhill on Lehigh Street)
You don't have to go far from Hamilton Street to see an eminent domain failure; Only several blocks and 40 years. Fortunately, for our imported leaders, memory of this debacle has faded. Allentown now wants to discard the most historic mercantile block of Hamilton Street, so that an out of state developer can force feed hotdogs to people from Catasauqua, at minor league hockey games.
reprinted from 2012

Editor's note: By any criterion, including my own, the NIZ is not a failure. However, I proudly present this analysis of a previous urban renewal project. For those inclined toward reading only optimistic and happy promotion, may I recommend the Morning Call.

Smoke And Reality Of The NIZ

Ce-Ce Gerlach in her debate with Ed Pawlowski on Business Matters had to keep calling the mayor out on his distortions about the NIZ. He referred to a position of waitress at the Hamilton Kitchen as transformative. Although it may be life changing for that particular woman, being a waitress is nothing novel or prosperous for hundreds of others in the Lehigh Valley. Ce-Ce pointed out that the quality of her life at 9th and Walnut won't improve until there are grocery stores and pharmacies in her neighborhood. Toward the end of the program Pawlowski finally did concede that the jobs going to the local folks are entry level. Funny to see a Democrat defending trickle down economics. While Ce-Ce would like to see inclusionary zoning for the new upscale flats, Pawlowski had a slip of the tongue and referred to it as exclusionary. I believe that neither Ce-Ce or suburban apartment owners need worry about gentrification in downtown Allentown, it won't happen.

When Puppets Think They're Real

Ray O'Connell is poised to be the next Allentown City Council President. Julio Guridy is spinning the change that he is granting the position to O'Connell, because it will be good for him to be president for a year. He notes the big decisions, such as the water lease and the NIZ, as his legacy. Michael Schlossberg, on a recent Business Matters, noted his involvement in the NIZ by voting for eminent domain. On Pawlowski's facebook page, a friend compliments him as the architect of the NIZ and Allentown's revival. I'm sure that when J.B Reilly is depositing the state income tax checks into City Center's account, he doesn't care which of the puppets wants to think of himself as real.

Zeppelin Over Jerusalem

The German airship LZ127 Graf Zeppelin was in service from 1928 to 1937. Two of it's 590 flights were over Jerusalem. The first occurred on March 26, 1929. It was a night flight, during which they dropped mail into the German colony at Jaffa. The second flight, pictured above, was from Cairo on April 11, 1931. The ship hovered above the Church of Holy Sepulchre for several minutes.

reprinted from July 2013

Over The Dam In 2014

For this early morning edition blog, 2014 is under the ice and over the dam. Between fighting to preserve Wehr's Dam, running for office and providing reality checks about downtown Allentown, it's been a busy year. I believe that the unvarnished truth is a commodity in short supply in the Lehigh Valley. From the main stream media, out of town readers would think that Allentown has turned completely around. We who actually plug the meters on Hamilton Street know that although the new buildings are in place, the promised commerce has yet to begin. So far even the arena events can be counted on one hand. Mayor Pawlowski had read so many promotions about the New Allentown in the local paper, he thought that he could ride that bus to Harrisburg. Although the articles about success were premature, I do believe that real change is coming Allentown's way.  molovinsky on allentown will be glad to celebrate that success when it arrives, but in the meantime will tell it like it is.

Scott Armstrong On Poverty

I read with trepidation Alan Jennings op-ed titled “9 things to do to end poverty”. By his own admission he and CALV have failed to “achieve victory” on the very same goal. Common sense would therefore dictate that his advice be greeted with a good deal of skepticism. Rather than deal with his argument point by point it is perhaps wiser to question his premise that his/CALV’s approach to ending poverty works and we just need more of it. What Alan seems not to have learned, after a lifetime of effort, is that in America only the poor can truly save themselves from poverty. If it were otherwise, the fruits of Alan’s and the government’s best intentions, efforts, and investments would be apparent. Sadly, the nation’s approach to ending poverty has failed. Why? Because Alan Jennings and other well intentioned liberals who, with the best of intentions, fashion themselves as champions of the poor, make the faulty presumption that the poor need a savior rather than a goal. With the exception of his fourth point which states that women make poor choices in men, Alan’s op-ed is filled with what society must do for the poor rather than what those in poverty need to do to lift themselves from poverty. The truth is all the white guilt and good intentions won’t change the outcomes of those born into dysfunctional circumstances unless a message of self sufficiency is delivered with the aid. The lesson that waiting for the government or one of its agencies to solve one’s problems and/or resolve personal fiscal situations is an exercise in extended futility has been learned by all except those who fashion themselves has champions of the poor. Alan’s last point perhaps sums up the problem neatly; “Get off the couch. Stop griping and do something about it. Get together with someone with whom you don't agree but with whom you share a common concern. Look for common ground. Agree on a solution. And get to work. Justice shouldn't have to wait.” Mr. Jennings doesn’t hesitate to deliver the message that “the reader/society”” needs to work harder to solve the issue of poverty. Alan’s recipe for success seems to perpetuate dependency by asking only those who don’t need assistance to heed his call for action and imply to those in need that their only hope is outside help. Denying agency to the poor serves the interests of no one other than their ostensible saviors. In admitting failure Alan should recognize the flaw in his/society’s current approach, and then all those who seek to end poverty should look for solutions that actually work.
Scott Armstrong

City Center Monopoly Money

City Center is the name of J.B. Reilly's center city real estate company, he owns most of the new buildings in the taxpayer funded arena district. I have been comparing it to a movie set or an amusement park, where Reilly keeps priming the pump, hoping that Frankenstein City comes alive on it's own. Near the end of a recent  Morning Call article on a new gift card program, we learn that indeed the restaurants are being peppered with gift card bearing customers, donated by Reilly, and distributed to Air Product employees. I do believe that the monster will eventually rise on his own, but how much of our state taxpayer dollars it will take is anybody's guess.

Cloning Yuppies For Allentown

When molovinsky on allentown began almost five years ago, I used to say that It's good to be Butz, I must now add, but it's better to be J.B. Reilly. In today's Morning Call we learn that "under Allentown's arena block master development agreement, if City Center determines a hotel is not feasible, it could build apartments or offices instead."  That is news to me, and as a blogging naysayer I'm more informed than most. All state taxes in the 130 acre NIZ will be going to pay for the arena complex. Reilly will own from the second floor up on two portions of the complex, one on Hamilton Street, the other on 7th Street. Lehigh Valley Hospital will the the tenant on the Hamilton portion, while the 7th Street side may well now be apartments instead of a hotel. Reilly is also building apartments on the other side of 7th Street, at the Linden Street corner. Although I have no background in office development, I do know the apartment market. No upscale apartment development in center-city has ever met it's target demographic without substantial subsidy, and then only with limited units. There are not enough Yuppies in Allentown to occupy the current supply of loft apartments, much less without Reilly's new apartments. Perhaps he can use his influence with Lehigh Valley Hospital for a clandestine Yuppie cloning laboratory.

Reprinted from January 2013.  Since the Morning Call has taken upon itself to promote the NIZ,  as a public health service,  this blog will  conduct reality testing.