Breakfast At Tiffany's With Pawlowski

On the morning of March 10th, the Chamber of Commerce is proudly,* no less, hosting breakfast with Mayor Ed Pawlowski, at the Renaissance. For a mere $99 dollars, $49 for members, you can learn about all the development news in Allentown's NIZ. The event is being sponsored by Alvin Butz and the other benefactors/beneficiaries of the Allentown regime. I'm sure that the defenders of this event will say that it was scheduled last year, like the Rotary's State of the City.  Instead of the sponsor's table, perhaps there will be the subpoena table.

* although the word proudly was used in previous years, for some reason it does not appear on the Chamber event news announcement this year.

Arena Steals From Taxpayers, Reichley or Wrongly

The Allentown School District has filed a lawsuit against the Arena for not paying property taxes,  yet containing retail businesses, which compete with taxpaying businesses.  Defense counsel for the arena claims that this is permitted by the NIZ state law, as enacted in Harrisburg.  Unfortunately, for the taxpayers, this case is being heard by Judge Douglas Reichley.  Reichley said "The curious thing is that none of those entities are here. None of those [businesses] appear to be complaining."  I find that statement very telling.  While you wouldn't expect to see the few small pre-NIZ surviving business owners at such a  court case, you might expect Reichley to make a relevant disclosure;  Reichley didn't mention that previously he was a state representative,  who passed the NIZ.

photo from the Chickie's & Pete's at the arena

Allentown's Arena District, A License To Steal

The owners of PPL Plaza, who are losing Talen Energy to Jaindl's waterfront NIZ, have sued the NIZ for the unfair playing field that the NIZ has created.  Attorneys for the NIZ say that the Plaza owners made a bad business decision in 2006, and overpaid for the building.  Of course the Plaza owners are correct,  an unlevel playing field is an understatement.  To add insult to actual injury, the NIZ board has decreed that Jaindl can apply a percentage of the taxes paid by the Talen workers for his debt service.   The Plaza owners were not the only owners hurt by the NIZ.  Among losses by other owners, Doug Frederick is losing Morgan Stanley, Boyertown lost Penn National, and the Masonic Temple lost Buckno Lisicky.

Although Pawlowski and The Morning Call like to say that Allentown has been revitalized,  in truth the revitalization has mostly centered on the wallets of J.B. Reilly, and a few other chosen individuals.  While the pre-opening arena hype spoke of 140 events a year, the white elephant stands idle, all but for a few dozen nights.

I have heard speculation that Pawlowski's overdue indictment might be related to pending charges against some principles involved in the NIZ,  but I don't believe that they are the fish to be fried.  Unfortunately, the NIZ was given a license to steal, from your elected midgets in Harrisburg.

Pawlowski Coming Home To Roost

The consequences of our ambitious mayor from Chicago are coming home to roost, shootings and bodies piling up. The national searches, like for the former police chief, came to naught. His campaign funds, first for governor, and then for United States Senator, are now being used for his defense fund. His refusal to resign, and a newspaper which confuses the press with promotion, has created a slow motion, suspended animation of reality. But, let me say that the reality is not so good anyway.

We have a poverty rate of about 60%, most of whom have no interest in local government. While we have a set of self serving phonies willing to replace our current elected officials, there are some sincere citizens devoting their energy for a better Allentown. You can see them at the City Council meetings asking questions, which are seldom, if ever answered.

ADDENDUM: In 2005, when i ran as an independent for mayor, although shut-out by the Morning Call, i warned about the poverty magnet;  A number of competing programs were actually inducing the poor to move to allentown, in droves.  Pawlowski  contributed to this situation in a number of ways,  funding such organizations with community block funds.  Ten years later,  he thinks that we can build our way out of this situation with a hockey arena,  apparently not.

photocredit:The Morning Call

The Farr Tract; Political Correctness vs. Property Rights

Harvey Farr and his widow left LVHN a 50plus acre tract of land, which they want permission to subdivide, to maximize its value. They are faced off against the Wildlands Conservancy, which claims that it wants to buy the land to preserve it, and Ron Beitler, who is confusing his personal land preservation preferences with his commissioner duties. Although Chris Kocher and his Wildlands Company states that they want to apply for a grant to purchase the land, here's a molovinsky on allentown exclusive; The Wildlands have told other parties over the years that they want their land for preservation, but needs grants. They eventually end up with some of these parcels through donation, but seldom actually ever purchase any of them. They tried to tie up one such parcel on South Mountain for over a decade, hoping that the Wildlands would eventually inherit the property. But here's the real crux of the situation; I knew Harvey Farr, and if it was his desire that the land be preserved by the Wildlands, he would have given it to them.  He didn't give it to them,  and now they're trying to steal it.

ADDENDUM: I believe that Lower Macgunie has already abused the property rights of LVHN on at least on two occasions, by not responding to plans for age restricted housing. Furthermore, I would think that attorneys for the hospital should insist that Ron Beitler recuse himself from any deliberations concerning that parcel, which is already zoned for residential development.

giant flag hung from the Farr Building in 1917

The Morning Call Cheesesteak Sunday

For those of you who thought that The Morning Call couldn't get any more cheesy, wait until tomorrow. The Sunday feature will be on guess what, Vince's Cheesesteaks.  A reporter was offended last fall when I stated that the paper is in the bag for Reilly's NIZ. He thought that I was insulting the journalistic integrity of his associates. My apology, certainly the paper should be concentrating on cheesesteaks.  The promotion shown above was on page 2 of Friday's paper.  Under The Morning Call, in the right hand corner, it reads, The Lehigh Valley's First Source for News.  It's becoming the first source for cheesiness.

Allentown, Cheesesteaks and Murder

Allentown's news yesterday was dominated by cheesesteaks and murder. The cheesesteak story was a contrived Morning Call promotion for their beloved NIZ. While one of J.B. Reilly's props, Tony Lukes, was folding, the paper was promoting the failure as success. They even immediately sponsored a cheesesteak contest, to promote Vinces, the replacement for Tony Lukes. If all that promotion wasn't enough, cheerleader and columnist Bill White did a blog on the cheesesteaks.

Meanwhile, back in the real Allentown, a woman's body was found discarded in a trash bin. If that wasn't urban crime enough, a detective got shot pursuing a suspect in the case. What's our suburban NIZ patron to think about all this? Is that cheesesteak worth getting shot over? I write this with some hesitation. I know that the Morning Call won't stop promoting the NIZ, but they might stop reporting the news.

Morning Call Spins Hard For Reilly's NIZ

When Tony Lukes opened up last year, I was amazed at the hoopla bestowed upon them by The Morning Call. While Zandys' spends their money advertising in the paper every week, the Call wrote promotion after promoting for the cheesesteak competitor. Shown above was but one picture of Pawlowski and Peter Schweyer at the opening.  I was going to write today about the paper's recent promotion of Reilly's Strata 2 loft building, however, I never seem to catch up with their sellout journalism.  Now, that Tony Lukes have decided to turn off the grill, the paper spins that the failure is actually success, because another sandwich vendor is going to take over the space.

 I understand growing pains, and yes, Vinces will do better with a $6 steak sandwich than Tony Lukes did with a $10 sandwich, but to spin closings as growth, strains credibility.  Of course, when it comes to NIZ and The Morning Call, there never was any.

ADDENDUM:  The Morning Call has now started a name your favorite cheesesteak place contest. I  sent the following message to the the owners of Vince's;   i wish vince's success at the new location, but must say that if you guys were opening up on union blvd, there wouldn't be a word written by the morning call, nor a "favorite steak shop" contest. it's reilly's face their trying to save, not yours.   m molovinsky aka political blogger