Allentown's Race For The Drain

Allentown will be funding a mentor program for the tune of $1.5 Million, that pairs former bad boys with current bad boys, hoping to make them good boys. In former days, Allentown would instead invest such money in a few more police officers. However, we are now progressive enough to try the programs that have failed in the larger urban centers. This year the city will use its American Rescue Plan dollars, while Ce-Ce Gerlach hopes that in the future years, it will a routine item. 

The Credible Messengers Program will be administered through a division of Promise Neighborhoods.  That organization and administrator represent the Defund The Police mentality.  For this mentality to be endorsed by the mayor, and condoned by the police chief, is a sad indicator of Allentown's future.  In my opinion, both of them might themselves need mentors.

Years ago such youth were helped by Big Brothers. Now everyone, instead of volunteering, wants to be paid through supposed non-profits. Bad behavior has become a growth industry.

With posts like these I won't be invited to the Community Pat On The Back Fests.  But, someone has to wave the Caution Flag.

ADDENDUM DECEMBER13,2022: Bernie O'Hare visits mentor program.

Allentown's $10 Million Dollar Joke

Allentown is embarrassed about the Gateway appearance entering downtown Hamilton Street from the west.  Allentown has a lot to be embarrassed about, but the condition of the sidewalk is the least of its problems.  People are concerned about the lack of people on Hamilton Street, and more so, the character of the ones that are there!

Our city leaders and planners are taking about a new sidewalk and new trees. Over the years I have seen them reconfigure that sidewalk at least half a dozen times. Add trees, cut down trees, wrong trees, right trees, add bricks, remove bricks, and never have those things mattered.  

What's sad is these planners know that it doesn't matter, that it's a joke, yet they still do it.

If the new buildings in the above rendering of the new Gateway sidewalk/tree project look lifeless and nondescript, it is because those new buildings are lifeless and nondescript. If I have offended any of the planners, then we're even.

The Night Hamilton Street Died

What was once a thriving block of Hamilton Street will now be turned into a ghost down. Even now, although not the golden age shown above, the block between 7th and 8th does business. Still hosting three chain stores, the block had survived, despite one arrogant mayor after another. The Family Dollar Store is one of their most successful branches. Rainbow (jeans) and Rite Aid also anchor the block, along with successful independents. In a night of shame, one of the most shameful acts was Julio Guridy, interrupting the merchants so that Mayor Pawlowski could educate them. Pawlowski said that the arena could attract up to 1.5 million people a year, and that everyone will benefit, even relocated merchants. Considering that the hockey team only actually attracts 3,000 people to 40 home games, Pawlowski is off by about 1.4 million. In reality, the stores that remain on the south side of the street will now face an empty arena and much less foot traffic. The upscale restaurants, such as Sangria and Cosmopolitan, will suffer, because their patrons will avoid the nighttime traffic congestion. Lou Belletieri told Council that he operated a restaurant across from the Wilkes-Barre Arena, and did no business, what so ever, from it. Councilman Michael Donovan said that although he feels for the merchants, he owes the other 118,000 citizens The Pawlowski Palace of Sport.* He actually owed them the courage to say no to this ill conceived plan.* 

*Palace of Sport is a borrowed term coined by a blog reader. Donovan was joined by five other councilmen in his yes vote. 

above reprinted from May 11, 2011 

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 8, 2022: As it turned out, the arena was a pretense for the Browne/Reilly NIZ. Although there is now a $Billion dollars of new construction (owned by one man), Hamilton Street is deader than ever. The arena sits empty almost all year, and the hockey games draw only a fraction of the 2011 estimate. Although, as an advocate for the former merchants, the 2011 post above is very tough on Guridy and Donovan... Allentown benefited from both of them, and their service as councilmen.  

Opposition to the NIZ scheme, and a continuing chronicle of it, were/are limited almost exclusively to this blog.

Sign Of The Times

As Allentown eagerly awaits the opening of the Cosmopolitan Restaurant and banquet facility on 6th Street, lets go back in time. Before the former Sal's Spaghetti House was demolished on that parcel, preservationists from Bucks County saved the historic sign. Had the couple been somewhat more familiar with Allentown's history, they may have realized that the sign was neither very historic or iconic.

Before Hamilton Street was bi-sected architecturally by the now gone canopy, the street was lined with large neon signs, many of which were much more elaborate than Sal's; That sign became historic by default. Interestingly, the Sal's sign for most of it's


business days, said Pat's. Pat's and the sign go back to the mid 1950's. In the late 70's, the business was taken over by Sal, and the P and T were simply changed to an S and L. But time goes on; Sal's family is now in the sauce business and have a most interesting website.

1963 Pat's advertisement courtesy of Larry P
Hamilton Steet watercolor by Karoline Schaub-Peeler
photo of Sal's sign by molovinsky                                                 

reprinted from 2010

ADDENDUM JUNE 17, 2022: The Cosmopolitan proved to be too cosmopolitan for Allentown. While the owner's deep pockets kept it open for a few years, even the next more modest reincarnation couldn't complete with the new NIZ subsidized competitors. 

A recent article in the Morning Call heralds the $Billion dollars invested by J.B. Reilly's City Center Realty on Hamilton and adjoining Streets...That money of course is diverted state income tax, and is our investment, not his, but he gets to own it. Although this blog was hoping to restrict itself to history for a spell, the Morning Call's omission on this and other matters compels me to retain this blog's political bureau.

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 7, 2022: I have learned from local photographer Christopher Elston that in addition to the Sal's sign, the Colonial Theater sign also was salvaged. Both signs are apparently in the city warehouse on S. 10th St.. Elston recently rescued the Beachhead Comics sign.

Allentown's Hole

Allentown doesn't have much of a political memory. The Morning Call changes out its reporters about every 6 months, and most political activists eventually have lobotomies out of frustration. Never the less, some of you may remember Heydt's hole. After he torn down Hess's, the hole sat there for 18 months while a group of investors failed to find financing for a amateur hockey arena. (The one built later in Bethlehem folded and now is for sale) Now, eight years later, Pawlowski has a hole. Announced with great fanfare, a local developer would build the Cosmopolitan on the site of Sal's Spaghetti House. It makes me nervous when they name a restaurant before they built it. Anyway, Pawlowski bought Sal's, and the city paid for the demolition.(Through one of its Authorities) Then the city gave the Cosmopolitan a $50,000 restaurant grant. Yes, we gave a brick-less name $50,000. I think some of the city puff bloggers were even making reservations for dinner. Back to the hole; as a sidewalk supervisor I was surprised to see the excavators dig under the adjoining Sovereign Building and pour pylons under its footers. Perhaps they were mining, mining for grants. Those pylons have enabled the developer to remove his equipment. and let that hole sit there now for over two months, with no danger to the adjoining building. I'd say about $50,000 worth of work has been done. Last month the city applied for a low cost Liquor License for the Cosmopolitan. Last week, after the Pawlowski Administration had an embarrassing "no comment" in regard to Johnny Manana's, a backhoe was moved back to outside the Cosmopolitan site. Is that backhoe a Pawlowski Prop? Does the developer sense the time is ripe for renewed grants? Does Pawlowski need a new ribbon to cut? *

* There could be legitimate reasons why construction has halted on the Cosmopolitan. However, last month the developer's attorney declined to comment on an explanation.

reprinted from August of 2008 

UPDATE March 7, 2017 The developer(s) would go on to build the high end restaurant with their own capital. It was built pre-NIZ, and represented more faith in Allentown than many others shared at that time, including this blogger.

ADDENDUM OCTOBER 24, 2019: This will be my final post of a three part series about the former short lived Cosmopolitan Restaurant.  In 2008 and 2017 this post was titled Pawlowski's Hole.  I have changed the title to address a downside of the NIZ...modern buildings, such as the PPL Plaza and the Cosmopolitan,  cannot compete against the tax subsidized NIZ and are vacant.  Of course the real problem is that the NIZ is not just tax subsidized, but rather paid for completely with our state taxes.  So, while the NIZ has created a real estate empire for one man,  despite a $billion dollars of new buildings,  Allentown residents still had a 27% tax increase.... That is one bad joke on the taxpayers.

photo/molovinsky

Molovinsky, The Morning Call, and News

The article about Hooks Seafood restaurant closing states that this type of failure isn't unusual in an urban renewal area, according to experts. So says the Morning Call.  The article also states that The $6 million renovation of the long-closed Sal's Spaghetti House included a crystal chandelier from Hess's department store.... As you can see from my photograph above, Sal's wasn't renovated. The long closed former spaghetti house was demolished, and a new building was constructed in its place.  Now, I can understand the paper not knowing this, after all, the building is over a quarter block away from the newspaper building.  Assuming that people at the Morning Call read the paper, apparently nobody caught the error, twice. This was the second time in about a week that this misinformation was printed. However, this post is about the important part of the story, not covered by the paper.

The restaurant was built pre-NIZ. Save for a $50,000 city grant, the entire cost was borne by the owner. It happens that the owner and his wife were retired from a very lucrative business, and always wanted to own a high end restaurant. Opened as the Cosmopolitan, it was high end indeed.  When that failed to attract enough well heeled, it was transformed into the more price friendly Hook Seafood. However, with the NIZ and Reilly's hospitality group of eateries, the market was now over-saturated.

The owner of the restaurant when asked about lack of foot traffic downtown stated, "I'm not going to get judgmental or say anything negative." Those are traits that nobody accuses this blogger of having.

photocredit:molovinsky- site of the former Sal's Spaghetti House being prepared for new foundation

reprinted from March of 2017

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 5, 2022: My photo above is from August of 2008. Today's reprint is based on correcting the historical record. The Morning Call's premise of Sal's being rebuilt was used on Wikipedia, and yesterday that misinformation was recycled on Allentown Chronicles, a facebook group that I administer...There was nothing rebuilt about the Cosmopolitan, it was a completely new building, including the foundation.

Morning Call Fog

Those of us who still subscribe to the Morning Call are used to seeing the same stories, over and over. They even use the same opinion writers, over and over.  While I think that it would be fair to call me a critic of the paper, even I was surprised by a recent article on a restaurant closing.

The article went into what the menu had been, and where they had sourced the ingredients. They clearly took the article about the opening, and did some reverse writing, like reverse engineering on some electronic product. 

Defenders of the paper, if there are any, might say but you too use reprinted posts. But please remember that this blog is the very early morning musings of an aging troublemaker. And, last time I checked my mailbox, nobody is being charged for a subscription here.

My addendum on yesterday's reprinted post, about the abuse the former merchants suffered under the Pawlowski administration, takes us back to the recycled Opinion Writers at the Morning Call. Alan Jennings took great exception to my description of his recent editorial, opening and closing his comment by calling me a liar. He insisted that he wants market priced housing, not affordable housing (he used the term low-cost housing in his editorial), after sections of Allentown are cleared of the current obsolete substandard housing.  He doesn't detail who would pay for the acquisition of those buildings and their demolition. Currently, converted row houses are selling for about $125K per apartment, so a three unit row costs $375k...A block of them would easily cost $5million dollars. 

In addition to Alan Jennings, the Morning Call Opinion stable includes Don Cunningham. Although Cunningham himself was a former General Services Director in Harrisburg, he hasn't said or written one word about the State Hospital outrage. That is where the state spent $20million to tear down buildings, so that Reilly could purchase the parcel for $5.5million.  I suppose in Jennings' world, the taxpayer would pay untold $millions to clear away the downtown Allentown tenements, so that ?market rate/low-cost? housing could be built.

Hailstorm At City Hall

Sara Hailstone, Allentown's Director of Community Development, was expecting to meet with several business owners concerned about being relocated by the hockey arena. Instead, she was confronted by a conference room full of merchants and several of their representatives. She started the meeting by questioning the presence of the Morning Call reporter, Matt Assad. Several merchants said they requested his presence. Hailstone got an earful from merchant after merchant, complaining of everything from poor communication by the city, to alleged outright intimidation by the strawbuyer, Summit Reality. She conceded that the City is the undisclosed buyer, and agreed to proceed with more respect for the merchants. I'll leave more details of the meeting to Assad's coverage, presumedly tomorrow. I'd like to mention an irony that only an old timer, like myself, can appreciate. Over the years we have invested untold $millions on Hamilton Street. We put up the canopies, we took them down. We have reconfigured the parking spaces endless times. We have created a Parking Authority that charges meter rates as if we were a destination. We burdened the merchants with endless regulations concerning their signs and their security gates. At the end of all this, what we essentially have, are those that were in the room today. Save for them, we would have no downtown. We have rewarded their lifetime of work, loyalty and investment with deceit and threats. UPDATE: Matt Assad's article in today's paper pretty much tells the story of the meeting, but softens the tone present. Assad must maintain some working relationship with Hailstone, I do not. The merchants were very annoyed by tactics utilized by the city agent. A Korean daughter spoke of the pressure inserted on her father, and the effect on his blood pressure and health. A hispanic woman told of her 11 year old sister being harassed on the phone by the strawbuyer. She even wondered aloud if their minority status encouraged the disrespectful attitude. As the merchants revealed their resentment, Hailstone's body language and replies stiffened. Sam Hong, of New York Fashion, would like the Mayor to visit his store. Although two stores wide, and a major merchandizer on Hamilton Street, Pawlowski has never visited. Considering that he has been Mayor for 5.5 years, and Community Development Director for 3 years before that, perhaps he's not coming.

above reprinted from April of 2011

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 1, 2022: Alan Jennings recently retired from his leadership at Community Action Lehigh Valley. His career was largely based on influencing and connecting with large donors to fund his social agency. On his facebook page, he's currently complaining that the Lehigh Valley isn't represented on Shapiro's transition team. On his recent Morning Call editorial, he's complaining that Allentown lacks affordable housing, despite all the new construction. It's obvious that J.B. Reilly, the NIZ Czar, had the ultimate connection in Harrisburg. Perhaps connections and influence don't always serve the highest public interest?

I fought against the NIZ since it was first announced over a decade ago. I defended displaced merchants and others against its inequities. I still see it as a private bonanza for a few, and a future case study in the lack of government ethics. Occasionally, I get a call from a student studying the local WPA. On that topic, most of their searches come down to this blog. I expect future students studying the NIZ, will also be calling me.

photocredit:molovinsky