Joanne is a long time caregiver in Easton, but she chose to buy a house in Allentown. It's a house you will not see on a house tour, but she is rightfully proud of it. It's on a busy street, in a poor section of town. Her house, the only one decorated for Christmas, is the gem of the block. This holiday season she was rewarded for her efforts by receiving an inspection notice from the City of Allentown. She knew that in recent past, her house had been bought and sold for double the money, by one of the city's non-profit housing agencies, so all the safety issues had been addressed. She knows it's not a rental, under that inspection program, or up for sale, under that inspection program, so why the inspection? Seems that Mayor Ed started the home sale inspection program at the wrong end of the curve, and we hired more new inspectors than new police. Allentown has rolled out its old "systematic" inspection program for a few lucky sections in center city. You who live in Midway Manor, or the south side, and certainly the west end, need not worry. Worry is what this post is about. Joanne is really upset, she feels this unwarranted inspection is an intrusion upon her privacy and time. She received no consolation from her call to City Hall, on the contrary, she was told about administrative search warrants, and that somebody better open the door at the designed time. Her anxiety resulted in a coworker contacting Bernie O'Hare, who in turn contacted me. Bernie and I will keep you informed about how Allentown treats this woman; so far, not well.
reprinted from December of 2008
UPDATE October 2, 2019: A lot has happened since I wrote this post eleven years ago. Mayor Pawlowski has been incarcerated for his strong arm methods, and his code inspectors are now code supervisors. Although blogger Bernie O'Hare and I no longer team up on stories, people still contact us individually, when they feel that the bureaucracy is abusing them. Such is the case with an Allentown woman on Hanover Avenue. As her court case gets closer, you'll learn more about the Pawlowski era bullying still embedded at city hall today.
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ReplyDeleteMy wife and I bought our house in Allentown a little over four years ago. Growing up in the area, there was always a palpable charm to living in a true neighborhood. We are early 30s professionals on the verge of starting a family - the exact demographic any city needs to thrive. However, all our friends are buying homes just over the border in South Whitehall or Breinigsville. They always cite the poor schools and high taxes. What they do not know is that it is much worse than that - moving to the city and getting to know the local politicians/government entities has left us wanting to flee. These are the people making decisions on the future of Allentown? The ineptitude seems insurmountable. Both our sets of parents fled the city to raise their kids decades ago. Our gripes are met with "told you so's". Even though the city's potential is obvious, the power structure and corruption is so entrenched, why stay and fight when greener pastures exist elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteWOW! What a great comment from "a hand from above". The truth hurts but it is the reality we live with.
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