Mayor Pawlowski has declared today Tom Petty Appreciation Day. Apparently, we appreciate that Mr. Petty is willing to come to Allentown for his normal large fee. I have no doubt that a group like the Eagles, which normally plays bigger venues, was compensated for the difference. In his column today, Bill White is gloating that Pawlowski proved the naysayers wrong. Would that be those who feel that using the cigarette tax, originally designated for children's health insurance, to pay for private office buildings is a misappropriation of taxes? Let us hope that for $700 million of taxpayer dollars that the NIZ is indeed a success. Despite one gushing article after another by The Morning Call, even Bill must know that it's somewhat premature to evaluate success after the opening night venue. More inappropriate is Petty Appreciation Day. There's a nameless man who has been picking up litter in the West Park neighborhood every day for twenty years. I think that he should be ahead of Petty in getting that certificate.
Isn't most of that $700 million in the form of loans that will be paid back with interest? Doesn't it create jobs? Doesn't it revitalize the hub of the Lehigh Valley? It's not like it's taxpayer money to restore a dam or an 80 year old rock wall that doesn't create a single job once the job of restoration is done.
ReplyDeletemr. delong @4:24 peppered my campaign page this morning with antagonistic questions and comments. he's either a sock puppet for the blog mentor, or he's stalking on the mentor's behalf. never the less, i will answer the questions once, then go away mr. delong.
ReplyDeletei have stated previously on my blog that the taxpayers are invested heavily in the arena and NIZ, and i accept those facts. my current bewilderment is the news treatment by the morning call, which could best be described as promotional. the loans are being paid back with state income tax money from the workers now located there, mostly from elsewhere. those state taxes were previously used for other citizen benefits. how many new jobs, that didn't exist elsewhere in the valley or state, are created remains to be seen. it does revitalize center city allentown.
i support preserving wehr's dam. how much repair it really needs remains to be determined. i support maintaining the wpa structures. they are the icons of the allentown park system, and are irreplaceable.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI usually do not become involved in inane political commenting...But I could not resist giving a one line rejoinder to this alleged Mr. Delong @ 4:24pm
"A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED", and leave it at that.....PJF
I say talk to me a year or two from now and let's see if we have "regular" traffic coming thru A-town. Special events are nice, but we need to have people who regularly wake up in the morning and say, "Let's visit Allentown today and have some fun!"
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, MM, the people who moved to Allentown and weathered the storm before it became "fashionable" to be here should be given an APPRECIATION DAY. No doubt.
Alfonso Todd
www.alfonsotodd.com
Well I was at the show last night, and I gotta say, downtown looked amazing. We were at a packed Brew Works and then we really did stroll over to the arena for an incredible show.
ReplyDeleteThese appreciation days for artists like Petty are just for fun. It's OK to have some fun once in a while. After all, so many people were absolutely thrilled about Petty's arrival in the valley, me being one of them.
We didn't experience any problems at all. Like, none. It was an awesome evening. Truly spectacular. We'll have to see what the long term affect of this is, but I am quite happy with my experience downtown last night. I saw a lot of my suburban neighbors, and all of the restaurants were packed. It really could not have been any better. I wish you had come out to see the event. :)
I'm sure the people of Reading were giddy like Bill White the day after the first event in their downtown arena. Giddy now? Hardly.
ReplyDeleteIt always takes time to see if something is a long term success or a flash.
ReplyDeleteIt does appear that the early disaster stories were a bit over stated.
As glitches are fixed it should be increasingly more successful. In the long run the parkway bridge and the new parking capacity being added should be a help with the glitches.
It remains to be seen if the new funding will offset the lost state revenue. At least the school district in the short term will benefit from increased real estate taxes.
Comrade Molovinsky,
ReplyDeleteThe Proletariat certainly should not concern themselves with any increased real estate taxes, to speak nothing of alleged lost state revenues.
The transformative Palace of Sport is entirely too big to fail, far too important to moving the City Without (Spending?) Limits forward to progress.
Very much looking forward to the Professional Bull Riders coming in the second week of October, as I'm sure you are, Comrade.
Kindest regards,
COL. VIKTOR TIKHONOV
Soviet Red Army (retired)