Morning Call Reporter Greatly Offended

Let's start an office pool on when Morning Call reporters become paid PR flacks for JB or the NIZ. Not one mention in this story that the building was rushed ahead because of the failure of the Walnut Street project to materialize. And exactly who are these Philadelphia companies forming the line to move to Allentown? Are there no questions asked?  Comment on Morning Call story about Reilly's New Office Condos

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 I take great offense to the PR crack. No one has followed the NIZ -- from its warts and damage to the state tax payer to its benefits to Allentown -- more than us. We did print an entire story saying exactly that yesterday. Here's the link.   Reply by Matt Assad on Morning Call comment section

Mr. Assad, actually you had written three stories within two days on Reilly's new project.   Understand that every project, or even tenant, of  Reilly's is treated like news, which is then repeated, again and  again.  Understand that everyone else has to pay to promote or advertise their real estate, and pay dearly.  I snickered yesterday about the dining review of Vince's Cheesesteaks.  After numerous articles about their opening,  the paper now does a dining review on them,  on a cheesesteak?  You may take offense,  but we're also offended, at the wholesale promotion of Reilly's NIZ.  To my knowledge, except in your comment above,  you or the paper had never previously linked the words NIZ and damage.

I understand that you're offended.  I can also believe that the Morning Call genuinely believes that the NIZ's  benefits to Allentown deserve special treatment.  I suggest that it has gotten enough special treatment. By the way, someone has chronicled the NIZ's warts and damage more than the Morning Call.

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

Subsidizing Pawlowski's Water Deal

Readers of this blog may take the municipal news reports at face value, but I don't.  One of the reasons I write this blog is because I discovered, over my years of gadflying, is that the public is on a need to know basis.  Reports yesterday indicated that the Lehigh County Water Authority has to raise it's suburban rates because of aging infrastructure.  Some of their pipes are now 50 years old.  Actually, for a water system, they're a youngin.  Furthermore, most of their system is much newer.  What you will be actually doing is subsidizing the ill advised water lease from Allentown.

The water lease was a bad deal for both sides.  Bad for most of the Authority's customers for the reason stated above.  Bad for Allentown because that payoff by the Authority will be squandered, as opposed to being applied to Afflerbach's bad police pension deal.

So, we now have new bad deals to cope with old bad deals. What a surprise!

Reilly's NIZ Party Ending

J.B. Reilly is starting to turn off the lights, the party is ending. The plans for the mega-project with towers at 7th and Walnut and 8th and Hamilton, with an internal park connecting them, is on hold. Instead, he's developing a condo office project at 6th and Hamilton. Although his reporter at the Morning Call spun it as positively as he could, there's no way to hide the downsizing of the plans. Selling condo offices means that in spite of beating the bushes, the supply of commercial rental tenants is drying up.

It must be discouraging for Jaindl's waterfront plans, and I can't see Harrisburg sweetening the pot.

I do give his apartment tenants in the Strata Lofts credit for energy conservation. I never see any lights when I drive by.

Weighing In On 1948

1948 was a good year for Allentown and the Lehigh Valley. Mack Trucks, Lehigh Structural Steel, General Electric and almost all factories were going full steam. President Truman stopped by to give a speech. The Allentown Cardinals played the first game in their new ballpark, Breadon Field. The baby boom was going full tilt:



The school district unveiled Lehigh Parkway and Midway Manor Elementary Schools and the new professional style football stadium. Donald Hock was Mayor, and although the last beer was being brewed on Lawrence Street at Daeufer Brewery, the Paddock joined many new restaurants opening that year. Photo's from Dorney Park in 1948.

reprinted from 2009


ADDENDUM: Assuming a photograph on the Morning Call website is color balanced correctly, the wooden coaster at Dorney is no longer Dorney Coaster Yellow. Painting the coaster the same shade of yellow was an important tradition at the park, even when ownership changed hands. They don't make Lehigh Valley traditions like they used to.

Pawlowski's Taste Of The Arena

People ask me all the time about the corruption in Allentown. On Sunday, the Morning Call had an excellent exposé by Emily Opilo on contributions to Pawlowski, being investigated by the FBI. A consultant on parking matters from Philadelphia contributed $26 thousand dollars to Pawlowski, while making proposals for private management, regarding the arena garage.While details can be found in the Morning Call's article, allow me to present a Readers Digest version of Pawlowski's legal problems. 

While Mayor Ed sat in his office at 5th and Hamilton, he saw a $Billion dollars worth of development two blocks north. While Ed wasn't directly in the Arena/NIZ loop, opportunity may have presented itself, especially in the currency of campaign contributions. Although Ed isn't shy in his own right, mix in his aggressive campaign manager, and you can imagine a Soprano style collection agency.

Ed's Philadelphia criminal lawyer insists that he did nothing illegal. That burden of proof will apparently fall to the FBI. What concerns me, as a small town political blogger, is our government by default. People want to limit their involvement to a vote once a year. Then, they're willing to base that vote on mailers and robo calls.

The Second Battle For Wehr's Dam

Regular readers of this blog know that two years ago I started a prolonged battle to save Wehr's Dam. Joined by several energized people, including the descendants of Wehr's Mill, we prevailed on the South Whitehall Commissioners to halt plans by the Wildlands Conservancy to demolish the iconic dam. Unfortunately, that turned out to be only a reprieve. The Wildlands and Commissioners have now conspired to put the dam issue to referendum, linking preserving the dam with approving higher taxes. Time has marched on, and some of the veterans of the last battle are now dealing with issues of aging. I will not allow the referendum go forward without noting its devious intent. I will not permit the beauty and magic of that place to be destroyed, without identifying the true motives in play. Those interested in saving this icon of our past can stroll down to my recent posts on the dam. For more background, use the search engine on the right sidebar with Wehr's Dam.

photocredit: K Mary Hess

Morning Coffee With Molovinsky and Pawlowski

In my post yesterday, I showed this selfie with my early morning coffee. A reader noticed that I have lost weight; Thank you for that, but the picture is flattering. What really amazes me in the morning is Pawlowski's facebook posts. Here is a man who marches forward, despite those damn indictments. Talk about cherry picking, every piece of good news about Allentown is shared on his page,  even including pictures of actual  cherry blossoms.  Someone, from out of town, reading his feed would have no idea about the cloud hanging over him, and subsequently Allentown. Yesterday, he had about ten postings, including one by the Urban Land Institute, praising Allentown as a success for it's innovative private/public use of funds for development. Considering that over $70 million of state taxes went for that private/public debt service last year,  it's certainly a success for J.B. Reilly's portfolio.  Apparently, these urban planning bureaucrats, delusional as Pawlowski, don't know the difference between real development,  fairy dust and tax dollars.