Sara Hailstone, Allentown's Director of Community Development, was expecting to meet with several business owners concerned about being relocated by the hockey arena. Instead, she was confronted by a conference room full of merchants and several of their representatives. She started the meeting by questioning the presence of the Morning Call reporter, Matt Assad. Several merchants said they requested his presence. Hailstone got an earful from merchant after merchant, complaining of everything from poor communication by the city, to alleged outright intimidation by the strawbuyer, Summit Reality. She conceded that the City is the undisclosed buyer, and agreed to proceed with more respect for the merchants. I'll leave more details of the meeting to Assad's coverage, presumedly tomorrow. I'd like to mention an irony that only an old timer, like myself, can appreciate. Over the years we have invested untold $millions on Hamilton Street. We put up the canopies, we took them down. We have reconfigured the parking spaces endless times. We have created a Parking Authority that charges meter rates as if we were a destination. We burdened the merchants with endless regulations concerning their signs and their security gates. At the end of all this, what we essentially have, are those that were in the room today. Save for them, we would have no downtown. We have rewarded their lifetime of work, loyalty and investment with deceit and threats.
UPDATE: Matt Assad's
article in today's paper pretty much tells the story of the meeting, but softens the tone present. Assad must maintain some working relationship with Hailstone, I do not. The merchants were very annoyed by tactics utilized by the city agent. A Korean daughter spoke of the pressure inserted on her father, and the effect on his blood pressure and health. A hispanic woman told of her 11 year old sister being harassed on the phone by the strawbuyer. She even wondered aloud if their minority status encouraged the disrespectful attitude. As the merchants revealed their resentment, Hailstone's body language and replies stiffened. Sam Hong, of New York Fashion, would like the Mayor to visit his store. Although two stores wide, and a major merchandizer on Hamilton Street, Pawlowski has never visited. Considering that he has been Mayor for 5.5 years, and Community Development Director for 3 years before that, perhaps he's not coming.
above reprinted from April of 2011
ADDENDUM DECEMBER 1, 2022: Alan Jennings recently retired from his leadership at Community Action Lehigh Valley. His career was largely based on influencing and connecting with large donors to fund his social agency. On his facebook page, he's currently complaining that the Lehigh Valley isn't represented on Shapiro's transition team. On his recent Morning Call editorial, he's complaining that Allentown lacks affordable housing, despite all the new construction. It's obvious that J.B. Reilly, the NIZ Czar, had the ultimate connection in Harrisburg. Perhaps connections and influence don't always serve the highest public interest?
I fought against the NIZ since it was first announced over a decade ago. I defended displaced merchants and others against its inequities. I still see it as a private bonanza for a few, and a future case study in the lack of government ethics. Occasionally, I get a call from a student studying the local WPA. On that topic, most of their searches come down to this blog. I expect future students studying the NIZ, will also be calling me.
photocredit:molovinsky
I was at the hockey game last night, and I can tell you the arena was about 1/4 filled, at best. I didn't notice if anybody was walking to the arena from a Hamilton Street restaurant when I arrived (I wasn't), but I can confirm that everyone seemed to be making a beeline for their cars once the game was over.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the lack of a crowd was because the game was mid-week, a lingering fear of covid, or the on-ice product. But I can tell you it was Military Appreciation Night, with many free tickets being given out to active-duty military members and veterans (including their families). So you would have thought the arena would be nearly filled for a game with the rival Hershey Bears.
In any event, it certainly wasn't the throng of people we were told it would be when the arena was being built and those merchants were displaced. I seem to remember Ed Pawlowski telling residents that there would be at-capacity events, AT LEAST every other night when he was advocating for his political contributions (I mean, for the arena).
That obviously hasn't happened. Perhaps those crowds still exist in Pawlowski's dreams while he sleeps in his prison cell.
The Poverty Pimp Alan Jennings should slither away into obscurity his failures to address poverty despite such a massive war chest is indicative of utter incompetence.
ReplyDeleteAlan made a good living as the director of that sham much better than 99% of actual pimps, I stopped donating to the local NPR station after hearing he was a part time host.
Uncle Remus
If Allen was honest with himself and anyone cared to look into what happened to their donations they all would recognize little to nothing has changed for all their effort and contributions. In fact things have gotten steadily worse and dependency rather than self reliance is the fruit of there efforts. Nothing to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing up (now retired) Alan Jennings and the continuing "affordable housing" con that continues to drain city finances.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Jennings and the democrat office holders he has helped elect haven't noticed, but Allentown isn't short on people living below the poverty line. It also isn't short of those under the poverty line moving INTO the city.
Now I understand that more funding and bigger budgets are good for non-profit organizations and even better for their executive directors (like Jennings) who then get to raise their personal salaries as well. But Allentown's been giving more and more to CACLV for DECADES and the problem isn't getting any better. In fact, the problem is getting worse.
No city can attract and house a disproportionate share of the poor and remain healthy. This is not to denigrate those living in poverty but rather a realization that there needs to be more of a balance for a city to thrive.
Now I realize that groups like CACLV (and Jennings) got very good at playing politics and helping to elect politicians that would blindly continue to shovel cash at the group in exchange for votes and campaign contributions from supporters of the group. But wouldn't it be nice if the current Mayor and members of city council would put city residents first and end the CACLV gravy train?
I'd like to think that at some point they have to realize that each dollar they continue to shovel at groups like CACLV is actively funding the city's demise instead of making things better. Or maybe they know that and just don't care.
If decades of spending and tens of millions of dollars spent doesn't make it obvious, what will?
anon@7:31: As someone who was at that meeting at bequest of the merchants, and a scrutinizer of the NIZ ever since, it is my opinion that the arena was a pretense and justification for the NIZ. Even the arena entrance building is jointly owned by Reilly. Obviously the success of the arena doesn't really matter to Reilly, or there would be many more events.
ReplyDeleteanon@7:50: The gainfully UNEMPLOYED flocked to Allentown, because several organizations were very generous with their handouts and incentives, Community Action being one of them
Scott@8:05, I once posted how Alan gave out fish markets, instead of fishing poles. His organization provided many jobs...Dan Bosket has been on the payroll for over 20 years, calling people racist in his spare time.
Mike, I thought you were better than this. You have embraced (and allowed all three of your readers to embrace) Donald Trump's approach to responding to the world against him the same way he responds: by lying. You're a liar. You make stuff up and you don't check the facts. I am not going to waste my time responding to each and every one because I've already wasted too much time on you.
DeleteFirst, you characterize my op-ed as calling for more affordable housing. Bull shit. It was a piece explaining the problem. I have routinely said we don't need MORE affordable housing, we need more market-rate housing, we need to tear down the obsolete, substandard housing, replace it with parking, green spaces and market rate housing. I have consistently pushed back on the opposition to gentrification, calling, in fact, for gentrification. CACLV did more to increase homeownership, stop predatory behavior that led to lost homeownership and assisted homeowners who were losing their homes to foreclosure. CACLV was a NATIONAL leader in fighting predatory lending.
I'll also waste my time responding to all three people who actually read your blog. First, the chicken shits who won't give their names are now attacking a private citizen. High profile people are fair game for libelous and slanderous attacks; private citizens are not. So, Mr. Future Lawsuit Target, you better hope I don't find out who you are.
Responding to your lies and fabrications:
Do you know how much I was paid? I built a little nonprofit into a $30 million powerhouse. For that I was paid $110,000 annually. I would challenge you to find another organization, for-profit or non-profit, that even comes close to comparing. Most make more than twice what I was paid. Many of them are mad as hell at me for denouncing the pay they collect for their work. When the Board of Directors tried to give me raises, I turned them down, not wanting a disparity between my wages and my lowest-paid workers. I actually instructed my CFO to defy the Board. Ask my wife and three daughters how they felt about those sacrifices. Who else would do that? And you still lie about it?! (And, by the way, I put my three daughters through Allentown schools. Even some of today's people of color in leadership positions who criticize white folks for moving out of the city have done so themselves. I haven't.). So, asshole, try again.
Next, the city's failure to recover. Both you and that wacky dude Armstrong made this claim. Anyone who knows me knows that I have been painfully frank about my work at the agency, consistently expressing my frustration and apologizing for not being more effective. In my time there we distributed 150 million pounds of food, sheltered 4,000 homeless families with kids, weatherized 25,000 homes, helped 4,000 households to become homeowners, rescued 1,200 homeowners from foreclosure, helped a few hundred people buy their first home, arranged community benefits agreements with banks that merged (nearly $1 billion in such commitments), lent almost $10 million to small businesses that couldn't get bank financing, revitalized Seventh Street, passed a referendum to fund open space and municipal parks and pulled off a fair housing effort that the National Association of Realtors uses to train real estate agents nationwide. That's only part of our results. Know of any other nonprofit that can come close to that kind of impact?
Mike, you know better. Despite our differences, you and I have had a cordial relationship. But letting idiots like Armstrong and the cowardly losers who don't give their names perpetuate misinformation should be beneath you.
Alan, hoping this is the last time I have to do this.
Alan, you sold out Allentown"s low income renters when you remained publicly silent when your pal and poker buddy Ed Pawlowski gutted the voter approved Rental Inspections Legislation. For that betrayal alone you deserve eternal condemnation. As well, the fact remains the city's income demographic has declined annually for well over a decade while blight spreads. So yes, tell us exactly what you accomplished and why you should be above criticism. You have been a public person for years just as I have been, therefore when you make public statements you should not be surprised when you get public criticism. I don't cry when people like you slander me, it comes with the territory. Forgive us for having learned to be jaundiced about self proclaimed white knights who expect accolades for achieving little to nothing of substance. The city is filled with such people, you are merely one of many. Perhaps this explains why the city never improves.
DeleteI have been slandered with many names but never before have I been called " a wacky dude".
DeleteAnd your continued spewing the accusation that I wasn't true to the licensing initiative that our agency led is the biggest lie on this page. I criticized Ed in a speech to the Rotary Club, on my WDIY radio show and in an op-ed. Not only are you wacky but you are a lying little twerp. "Wacky dude" was kind.
DeleteYou idiots believe what you want to believe. The biggest reason for poverty rising has been the number of people coming here from NY and NJ, where their affordable housing program is called "Pennsylvania." Unlike Trump, I couldn't build a wall.
The fact is, the agency I ran is recognized far and wide. We got a lot done and made a huge difference, just not as much as I had hoped. Show me another nonprofit that will express such disappointment publicly.
Wow, you criticized Pawlowski in a speech to the Rotary Club, WDIY and an Op-Ed.
DeleteThe fact is you supported Pawlowski both before his conviction and after.
And spare me the shots at Trump. Your support of the politicians that have ruined this city, including an actual criminally convicted politician that you associated with personally, tells me everything I need to know about your judgment.
Does anyone know if the newly built apartment buildings accept, or maybe forced to accept, Section 8 Housing Vouchers? If those buildings do participate in this government assistance program the posted regular monthly rent amounts could be significantly lowered, making many more ‘affordable’ to low income people available.
ReplyDeleteAlan Jennings@11:12, I haven't been called a "liar" since the last email from your bud, Mike Miorelli, you both must think very highly of yourselves. As a side note, you should know that although Miorelli prints you, Iannelli and Cummingham, over and over, he wouldn't give me any space for over five years to report a conspiracy against a duly voted referendum(Wehr's Dam).
ReplyDeleteBecause you feel so comfortable calling me liar, allow me to betray a confidence and report that you have lobbied in Washington DC to have Pawlowski pardoned, whose "lies" you apparently found useful.
In my world there were two kinds of housing, public and private. Private was "market rate" by definition. (although there are different levels to the market). Here in Penna, we have a new kind, Browne/Reilly>publicly financed, privately owned.
Alan, this may well be NOT the last time you have to do this. I pulled my comment off YOUR facebook page yesterday, but this is MY page. Here sacred cows like the Wildlands Conservancy, Community Action Lehigh Valley and the NIZ are not off bounds. While you got paid 110K, I get nothing, except occasionally called a liar and other insults.
Alan, This "wacky dude" and you have friends in common. Let me just say I was struck by the fact your current thinking has evolved back to the views we all seemed to share twenty years ago. That's twenty years lost isn't it Alan. Forgive me for harboring ill feelings about this. That's a weakness of mine, I can't let go of what could have been achieved.
ReplyDelete