When I started molovinsky on allentown in 2007, one of its missions was to expose Pawlowski for the phony that he was. At that time, community activists and fellow bloggers were still entranced by him. I was accused of harboring sour grapes, because I was an independent opponent in the 2005 election. Within two years, blogger Bernie O'Hare starting noticing that little people in Pawlowski's way were squashed. We joined forces about Lanta and the bus stops, about the abuse of the minority merchants and other assorted bruised victims. During the Pawlowski trial, the FBI agent mentioned Bernie's blog, and Bernie subsequently credited my influence on him.
Yesterday I participated in an intensely heated court hearing for a homeowner, who I believed was being harassed to accommodate a code supervisor's friend. A code officer testified that he noticed the violation over the fence from the adjoining property, which is owned by this friend of the supervisor. This adjoining property is a mess, but no enforcement ever seems to occur there. The court certainly tried to accommodate the city, by allowing the inspector to cite an item not on the complaint. The judge was finally forced to find the homeowner not guilty, when she produced a permit from 2002, demonstrating that the item was indeed grandfathered. Although the city had falsely testified earlier in the hearing that no such permit was ever issued, the judge seemed to have no issue with that, or the other improprieties. In addition to the code officer, the code supervisor himself attended the hearing. Neither the Director of Community Development nor the mayor were interested in my concern that the rights of a homeowner were being violated. I'm particularly offended by the notion of public officials using the machinery of the state to settle personal grievances.
During those pre FBI years, I referred to having a bunker to take refuge in. After the recent dealings with community development and code, I have once again opened the bunker, and am stocking it with provisions, in case it proves necessary.
photo of blogger in bunker
Mike, Fortunately you live outside the city limits, those of us on the inside are subject to harassment. I can state that code enforcement/health department was used to punish local restaurants that hosted Republican events. This ended their involvement in hosting such events. Likewise when we were meeting Latino congregations after services to discuss Republican beliefs and aims in the city the same thing apparently happened and these ended as well. This is the Allentown the Morning Call praised and city Democrats supported. This helps explain the near total voter apathy, resistance is futile. It's best to mind one's own business and kiss the ring when necessary.
ReplyDeletescott@8:20, as a long time property manager, I'm very familiar with Allentown code and its history of being weaponized, especially under Pawlowski. This case which I involved myself with was unusual, because it concerned a very outspoken woman. In addition to being harassed, nobody I interacted with up the food chain had any sympathy for her, and were indifferent to code being used in this manner. My concern is with her rights, I'm afraid that they will continue harassing her. Also I must wonder how isolated or common this abuse is?
ReplyDeleteYour questions are valid as it is difficult to believe this is an isolated incident. For years those who ran the city wanted residents to understand "you can't (and shouldn't) fight city hall". Thanks for taking up this cause.
ReplyDeleteWe have an Alternative Folks....His name is Tim Ramos, along with Joe Hoffman for Council !!
ReplyDeleteWe have lived in what is now called "The War Zone" for over 40 years, of the 50 years that I came back from overseas.
We need to change our City Government structure, and clean up the City before any of the children of our old (many of them "passed") neighbors, would consider moving back to Allentown.
"The Old Allentown Curmudgeon" (80 in couple of months)
Left Allentown 12 years ago and haven't looked back.The political machine will not change
Deletethe homeowner is being victimized and it may well continue. However, people like the supervisor, Bob Sandt, will now know that the public will be informed how they're misusing their position and our tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteYet no one believed me when Bob Sandt was a housing inspector and overlooked code violations at a property I rented from Joe Clark and the fact that Bob Sandt was very unprofessional when he came to the property, didn't introduce himself as a city inspector and didn't have his city ID visible till I questioned who he was. Then when we had an electrical fire due to Joe's neglect, Bob Sandt said we could stay in the property when we had no electricity cause PPL pulled the meter till the city could investigate. When I questioned Bob Sandt on how we could stay there with no electricity, no heat, and no hot water, his exact words were, "you have flashlights, don't you". There was something obviously fishy about the whole situation. Then when the director of building standards and safety came to the property because we were complaining, the director dismissed everything and even gave me attitude. When I questioned that Bob Sandt missed violations that were obvious, I was told maybe it wasn't that bad when he was there. However the violations were safety violations that anyone could see. We had to call the fire department again cause the oil furnace chimney shoot was corroded through and was producing Carbon monoxide. The oil tank had a crack and was leaking. Electrical wires were exposed. This was all stuff anyone that wasn't blind could see.
ReplyDelete