The Bricks Of Allentown

When Mildred Gehman* portrayed the house on the southeast corner of 12th and Walnut Streets in 1950, it was already about 60 years old. Another 60 years have passed, and the house still looks the same today. The bricks of Allentown hold up well. Yesterday, as I passed the corner of Madison and Chew Streets, I noticed three buildings in a row wearing a new orange tag, Unfit for Human Habitation. I have seen many clusters of these orange tags. They are generally handed out to one unfortunate owner or another, by one inspector. Recently, I received a phone call from such a hapless owner. His two buildings were tagged for some superficial reason, such as peeling paint. Everybody knows who has painted, or paid to have his house painted, that the stuff starts peeling off in short order, since the lead and other emulsions have been removed. Back to hapless owner. Because his buildings were tagged, the tenants were forced to move. In addition to the disruption in the tenants lives, the owner was denied the income stream to meet his debt service. Upon completion of the work on the list, the inspector then created a new list upon re-inspection. The re-inspections required scheduling specific inspectors, such as plumbing and electric, and dragged out the time frame. The primary inspector then inflicted a third list on the owner. Over a year has passed, his two buildings remain vacant, and the owner is out over $Thirty thousand dollars. Buildings on 12th Street, just north of Chew, have been tagged so long that the orange is fading on the notices. The city can mistreat rental operators because the public has little to no sympathy for that class of ownership. Several years ago, Allentown passed a Point Of Sale inspection law, which requires inspections of all private houses for sale. Welcome to the bureaucracy. To post a comment pertaining to a specific property, owner or inspector, you must must use your name.

 *Mildred Gehman,1908-2006, starting teaching at the Baum Art School in 1946. At that time, Baum was on the southwest corner of 12th and Walnut Streets, across the street from the house shown above.

above reprinted from May of 2012


UPDATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2019: Years ago, I would occasionally blog about some property owner who was being victimized by Pawlowski's City Hall. Although Pawlowski has been exorcised from the building, I'm afraid that the attitude he fostered apparently remains in some segments of middle management.

Last month, I reported on an east side homeowner who was being bullied by a nearby business owner, who has a connection at city hall. While the property next door to her,  also owned by the bully, is in a distressed condition, she is getting the citations, and being taken to court. After verifying the situation myself,  I called upon a middle supervisor for relief on behalf of the homeowner.  The reply seems to be the inspectors doubling down, and circling the wagons.  From the bully's distressed adjoining property, they rephotographed the homeowner's property, looking to fabricate more violations.

I can understand some residual arrogance remaining in the code department middle management... after all, Pawlowski ruled the roost for 13 years, and used some of those guys as his henchmen.  What they don't understand is that this blog started in 2007,  largely to fight such inequities.