Stepchildren Of Allentown's Corruption

Back in the day before the FBI raid on Allentown City Hall,  those interested in corruption in Allentown were pretty much limited to myself and O'Hare.  Missing in action was the Morning Call.  Although they would occasionally use this blog as an unattributed source, they avoided my most controversial exposés.  Among them was my revelations about the Neuweiler Brewery.

Although the FBI and  Justice Department decided to prosecute Pawlowski and Company on nine deals,  I suspect that the menu actually had many more choices.  Among them may have been the current Neuweiler Brewery deal.  When Ruckus Brewing was introduced as an applicant for the Neuweiler Brewery, I wrote about it here, way back in 2013.  My research revealed that Ruckus had no experience at the time in either actual beer brewing or real estate.  What they did have was a business consultant very connected to the administration in Allentown, Mike Fleck.

Although Pawlowski and Fleck were indicted and convicted,  the Allentown Commercial Industrial Development Authority proceeded with handing over the brewery to Ruckus.  Ruckus received numerous deadline extensions on their application, and represented the brewery as a done deal to raise cash. All these irregularities were previously reported on this blog, and ignored by the local press. They are currently permitted to rent out space as is in a building in which the previous owner was arrested and jailed for not correcting code violations.

When shenanigans occur in Allentown,  this blog is often the first source to chronicle the questionable activity.

For the full story on the Neuweiler Brewery, please follow the links provided below. 

Post on Neuweiler Brewery from May 29, 2008

Post on Neuweiler Brewery July 11, 2012

Sequel to July 11, Post (July 16, 2012)

Post on Neuweiler Brewery May 2, 2013

Post on Neuweiler Brewery Jan. 31, 2013

The Neuweiler Brewery, A Pawlowski/Fleck Shenanigan, July 8, 2015

Morning Call Catches Up To Molovinsky On Neuweiler Sept. 30, 2015

Allentown's City Council Broom

There are at least a couple of facebook groups devoted to Allentown politics. It is on these groups where one finds opinions about Allentown from those who care most about local politics, besides just at election time.  Over and over I keep seeing people post that Allentown needs a clean broom sweeping.  Although I wouldn't argue with that notion longterm,  they must remember that city council is picking the next mayor.

Some people are even suggesting that the chosen candidate should ask all the department heads to tender their resignations, and that each person in each position should go through an reevaluation.  In all due respect,  let us keep a working city government. There are buildings to inspect.  There are streets to repair.  There are taxes to collect.

Roger MacLean, the acting mayor, is an experienced administrator.  I expect that whoever gets appointed as interim mayor will also have experience.  There are many competent people working at city hall.

The opinion by acting solicitor Dan McCarthy that O'Connell and MacLean are ineligible to be appointed interim mayor on April 6 seems to be gaining steam,  especially with council retaining McCatrhy at least through that date.  Ironically, Candida Affa has been calling for a new face that isn't tainted for the top spot.  Nobody is more tainted than her,  having been Pawlowski's last diehard supporter. She is throwing the last hand grenade in Pawlowski's behalf.

It is my hope that council and the city avoid a purge mentality, and we can benefit from their existing institutional knowledge.

1962 postcard of Allentown City Hall

Charlie Thiel's New Campaign

In addition to Charlie Thiel submitting his application to city council for interim mayor, he has taken to publicize his bid on social media. Although council has sought applications, the $64 thousand dollar question is whether O'Connell and MacLean are eligible themselves under the charter? While it is common knowledge that O'Connell wants the appointment, the next question centers on MacLean; Does he want to remain mayor beyond the current 30 days? If so, but he and O'Connell are advised that they are ineligible, only then does Charlie's application become viable.  Assuming we reach that point, the vote lies with 7 people, not the public, which Thiel is now reaching out to.

On the subject of the upcoming appointed interim mayor,  I was victimized by a fabrication the other day from Bernie O'Hare in his post promoting Ray O'Connell, and I chose to refrain from setting the record straight.  My reply will have to wait until which time the new mayor is appointed.  Unlike pompous O'Hare,  I have no desires or delusions about being a junior kingmaker.

Among other members of the public who have expressed an interest in the mayor vacancy are Nat Hyman and supposedly Sam Bennett.  Council will start public deliberations on March 26.

Rapper Fabolous, The Aftermath

Sometimes a blogpost has an afterlife, and yesterday's post on the Fabolous concert seems to fit that bill. Feedback on facebook was extensive, and Fabulous himself used his page to explain his short appearance. Seems as if he was restricted to about a 20 minute show, in order to prevent the venue from charging the promoter a surcharge.  He showed grace about his show being shorted, and appreciation for his fans.

My post yesterday was criticized for repeating things reported in The Morning Call,  which referred to the audience as unruly, both inside and outside the arena.  Others found my post racially insensitive, for repeating what they referred to as stereotypes. There was pushback against me using the word riot in my blog title.

Needless to say, I do not determine booking criteria for the PPL Arena. While the Morning Call article might have that effect, this blog does not,  despite my illusions of grandeur.  However, what does occur to me is that those who defend the crowd behavior as normative are doing this genre of music no favor.

photo of Fabulous performing at PPL Arena

Allentown's Hip Hop Rap Riot

According to news sources the hip hop rap concert at PPL arena over the weekend was quite a raucous event.  Audience members were supposedly climbing over the seats to get pricer seats than they paid for.  The headliner was Fabolous.  After the event a street brawl erupted outside at 7th and Hamilton, which resulted in eight arrests, after the Allentown Police called for backup from surrounding police departments.

For a city which wants to make that area a dining destination, perhaps such street theater should be avoided?

The Morning Call actually reviewed the concert as if it was a cultural event.  That's like reviewing the clothing fashions worn by gang shooters.  Anybody who buys and reads newspapers could care less about what the reviewer thought about the performance. The arena is financed with our state taxes, taxes which have to be made up with more taxes.  Why would management rent to an outside promoter and allow such a high risk act?  Were they kowtowing to political correctness?  The paper then ran a subsequent article, outlining five things that went wrong with the show.  There was actually a sixth problem,  they should have never allowed the show in the first place.

photocredit: WFMZ/Channel69

Post Pawlowski Allentown

Living here in Post Pawlowski Allentown, with the drama over,  is more relaxing.  Although Ed Pawlowski was entitled to the best defense his former campaign fund turned defense fund could afford, there was a little too much Jack McMahon for my taste.  McMahon was here previously to defend Pawlowski's police chief's son.

Pawlowski is scheduled to be sentenced in late June.  While I certainly agree that he should be on unsecured bail and is no flight risk,  he is a home risk.  It's a burden to the public to be submitted to his continuing social media presence, where the only remorse expressed is that he cannot continue to lead Allentown forward.

While forced to surrender his fifth floor office at City Hall, Pawlowski continues to hold office on facebook, where both he and his uninformed followers still proclaim that he loves Allentown, and that he revitalized it. They both ignore the facts that the NIZ happen because of others, and that he wanted to ride that confusion out of town, either to Harrisburg or Washington.  The only thing that he can hope now to get from those places is a pardon.

The Rise And Fall Of Ed Pawlowski

I may know a little more about Ed Pawlowski than others, because in 2005 as an independent, I ran against him as the third person on the ticket.  Before working for Afflerbach,  Pawlowski worked at the Alliance For Building Communities,  which is dedicated to low income housing.

As Pawlowski gave the same speech to every city group during that campaign,  he didn't seem terribly insightful to me.  His campaign power point presentation, night after night, actually became painful to endure.  I also noticed that he injected that little half laugh into his replies,  intended to connote sincerity.

After being elected, he practiced cronyism to a level not previously seen in Allentown.  Jobs and positions became anything but merit-based at City Hall.  During a candidate night at the NAACP, he pointed out into the audience and told certain people that they would be hired if he was elected.  Helping him succeed with this pandering was the Morning Call reporter assigned to the election, who never reported on these incidences.  Every article was written to make Pawlowski shine.

Although City Council earlier in 2005 had rejected the concept of a managing director in favor of keeping a strong mayor form of government,  they allowed Pawlowski to hire his own managing director soon after being elected.  This person,  like Pawlowski, was not from Allentown.  They combined the Park and Recreation Departments,  and hired someone with a recreation background from Penn State. The next three park directors all had the identical background.

Pawlowski's resignation speech delivered yesterday afternoon repeated all the misconceptions fostered unto his supporters by both himself and The Morning Call;  It is the notion that Allentown is better off now than before he became mayor.  Certainly there are new buildings on Hamilton Street.  Certainly J.B. Reilly is much better off than before the NIZ, which Pawlowski had nothing do to with, but is Allentown really better off?  I think not.   In yesterday's speech, Pawlowski mentioned that he rejuvenated the parks.  Although he purchased a catalog of plastic playground equipment, the parks are much worse off now. One pool has closed since he became mayor, and another is slated to close. The iconic WPA structures are barely hanging on. Truth be told, the little work done on them is because of my efforts. Besides neglecting our traditional park system, he abused the former small merchants of Hamilton Street. He concentrated all his efforts in center city, ignoring both south and east Allentown. Although he and The Morning Call may like to think that his administration was accomplished, I think that he was one of the worst mayors in Allentown's history.

Students of this blog may realize that although I criticized his park and other policies from the beginning, I never accused him of pay to play. However, after following the trial, there was no doubt that he was guilty as charged. His resignation becomes official at 5:00pm today. Although I don't drink, I'm almost tempted to go to happy hour tonight.

Park Follies And Misappropriations

Over the years this blog and myself have established credibility and expertise on Allentown's traditional park system and the WPA. I must report what I consider to be a major shenanigan by the mayor. $1.3 million dollars was taken to purchase two heavy industrial areas, to supposedly add to the park system. This $million plus dollars was taken from the water/sewage lease, which is being used as the mayor's discretionary fund, instead of the dedicated pension relief,  promised at the time. $950,000.00 was used to buy the parcel at Union and Basin Streets, near the city sewage plant. This is one of the oldest industrial areas in the city, and certainly not needed for more park land. Allentown has not been able to maintain the existing park land, or the features within it. The Fountain Park Pool has been abandoned, and the WPA structures are crumbling. The other just purchased parcel is the old fertilizer plant location,  along Martin Luther King Dr., west of the crumbling Schreibers Bridge. We have an administration with no memory or knowledge of Allentown's past. Anybody who knew what went on at the fertilizer/rendering plant, would not want their grandchildren playing there. The city's rationale for these purchases is to expand the biking paths and connect the parks. That's the folly, and now the misappropriations. Allentown has supposedly allocated money to engineer the repair of the leaning WPA wall in Lehigh Parkway. I know why the wall leans. Years ago, the stone shoulder between the park entrance and wall was blacktoped. As cars and city trucks drive around the curve, pressure is exerted against the wall. That strip of asphalt needs to be removed, and the stone buffer restored. The problem with the engineering study is that it's the third time it has been appropriated. In the last two budgets money was actually budgeted to repair the wall, now the process begins again. What happen to the previous appropriations? Must molovinsky on allentown now also establish expertise in forensic accounting?

reprinted from June 26, 2014

UPDATE JULY2015. The wall collapsed in Lehigh Parkway, closing the traditional entrance to the park.. Over the past several years I had met with two park directors and the city engineer, to no avail, trying to save the wall. Recently, I have reported a problem to the current park director about the Union Terrace WPA structure, that needs immediate attention. The new parcels, rather than connecting the parks,  are connecting the neglect.

UPDATE MARCH 8, 2018: Local news sources are reporting that Mayor Pawlowski is expected to resign today.  If this welcome news will have a positive effect on the park system remains to be seen. A potential mayoral contender told me that if he were in charge, I'd be working for the park department, planning WPA renovations.  I never asked for a job, nor do I want one.  However, when I did ask City Council to appoint me as a volunteer liaison on WPA matters,  I was met with silence.  A park employee told me that there is significant money in the new budget for WPA repairs.  Again, that is nothing new. How it will be appropriated remains to be seen.  There is one thing for sure;  Whoever the new mayor might be,  whatever the park budget might be,  my advocacy for the WPA structures will continue.