Feb 9, 2022

The Morning Call Awakens To Allentown's Monster


After being subservient for over a decade, The Morning Call finally decided to investigate something about the NIZ. After the paper submitted a Right To Know request, Pat Browne changed the law to thwart their inquiry. I have often said that the NIZ was written in pencil, and has been changed numerous times, as J.B. Reilly and other benefactors sought ever-expanding opportunities. 

In my view, the Morning Call was almost complicit in the NIZ's early shenanigans. They had no issue with being included in the first map, although their building was across the street from the district's main zone. Reilly would end up owning the Morning Call building for use in the cigarette tax add on amendment. That map itself has become a historic relic, because amendments to the NIZ law now allow the NIZ to trade for property outside of the district. 

This blog was vindicated by the FBI when Pawlowski's deals were adjudicated. The NIZ may never be deemed illegal because our elected dolts signed off on it, but it may well become a case study in government ethics.

Shown above, I'm flanked by Pawlowski bagman Mike Fleck and NIZ Authority lawyer Seymour Traub as I'm complaining about how former property owners were bullied into selling. While back then the Morning Call's Bill White labeled me misguided for my criticism of the NIZ, the paper is now finally beginning to see the monster they helped promote. 

4 comments:

  1. State taxpayers have been in the ‘red,’ operating at a loss, since Day 1 of this scam. No one seems to want to talk about the amount of NEW tax dollars generated for the state by this failed plan. Why? There are none.

    Remember, if a business or individual moved their spending from someplace else, already in Pennsylvania, into the Allentown NIZ, the was no state revenue gain at all.

    The NIZ has been a money pit for Pennsylvania taxpayers. I am amazed the program continues on.

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  2. anon@6:03, you're correct that all the tenants have been harvested from elsewhere in the valley, redirecting their taxes to Reilly's debt service. Years ago I revealed that the LVHN department heads relocated their offices to the NIZ, putting their payroll taxes into Reilly's pot. Save for this blog, there has been no scrutiny of the NIZ.

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  3. I am not from Allentown but I am curious. If taxpayer dollars are being used to finance these buildings shouldn't they have a vested interest in their equity when it comes to ownership of the buildings. So if one is sold shouldn't they get the percent back of the tax dollars invested to finance it?

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  4. It's a very unique program...Publicly financed with diverted tax dollars, but privately owned. Only in Pennsylvania, we made a connected millionaire a billionaire. Save for this blog, there has been no scrutiny...The local paper actually promoted the scheme.

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