Mar 1, 2023

Molovinsky vs. Parking Authority

Although the Morning Call went out of their way to under-report it, there was a third candidate in the 2005 mayoral election,  independent Michael Molovinsky.  During the campaign I held three press conferences... One about subsidized housing, and the other two about the Parking Authority. The paper only reported on one,  and for that one they invited the Authority's director at the time, Linda Kauffman, to refute my allegations.  Of course the paper never revealed their connections to the Authority. 

The Authority had bailed Park & Shop out of the dwindling downtown parking business by buying their lots.  The malls on McArther Road were going full tilt, and Hamilton Street was dying a quick death.  Morning Call owner Miller owned most of Park & Shop, along with Jack Leh and Harvey Farr. 

Both the Morning Call and the Parking Authority would continue to serve the establishment and each other for the next three decades. This would include the Parking Authority purchasing Morning Call shed property, such as their parking deck. The Morning Call never reported that the Authority fabricated merchant surveys to justify meter increases to Allentown City Council, as documented by this blogger. More recently, not clarifying the nexus between the Authority, the Morning Call and the NIZ.  The Morning Call was included in the NIZ map, although it was across Linden Street from the district. Authority surface lots sold to selected developers at taxpayer inconvenience, was also not clarified.  

Wednesday's Morning Call article about ticketing parents waiting to pick up their children from school, was the first article critical of the Authority in memory. Of course the Morning Call no longer has assets to protect,  they're no longer even a tenant in their own previous building. While the recent article was a welcome development, don't expect too many revelations from them...Their editor and culture is still very much establishment oriented.

I'm shown above in 2005 at a press conference on housing that the Morning Call attended, but didn't report on. I documented that the property was already remodeled and sold three times at taxpayer expense, and that the most recent subsidized "owner" had also defaulted.

above reprinted from November of 2021 

ADDENDUM MARCH 1, 2023: Recently, Betty Cauler urged me to write about abuses by the Parking Authority. I in turn urged her to organize and publicize on Allentown Chronicles, a facebook group...She did so with vigor. Enough noise was generated that both the local media and Authority Board have responded. Cauler and company may succeed in taming the beast.

Both this blog and Allentown Chronicles remain available to those confronting abuses of power.

6 comments:

  1. I've lived in Allentown for 30 years and received 1 ticket for street sweeping that was completely and totally my own fault. I love that there is at least one enforcement agency in Allentown that takes pride in a high level of service delivery. To me, the Allentown Parking Authority employees are diligent and professional enforcement agents/public servants enforcing this City's parking laws. I love that parking enforcement (a necessary evil) in a large city has been expanded to 24 hours. The converted rentals near my home often violate the parking laws in Allentown (unregistered/uninspected vehicles, storing junk vehicles on the street long term etc..) and I'm glad for the responsiveness of APA. I only wish they were in charge of enforcement of double parking. That would be awesome!

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  2. MM -

    I can only assume that the comment you received yesterday was from someone with ties to the Parking Authority. If not, I suggest they get out and talk to other city residents.

    I've lived in Allentown for over 40 years, and the Parking Authority is out of control and the worst it's ever been. I've seen them repeatedly ticket people parked a foot or two beyond the legal limit, and mind you this is in areas that are not marked in any way for 'no parking'. I've also seen them walk down the street and write down info on cars whose inspection stickers will expire the following month so they can immediately write the ticket when the calendar changes.

    Now some might delude themselves into thinking that this exemplifies diligent, professional service. I couldn't disagree more.

    In unmarked areas, why not issue warning tickets? The same for those with inspection stickers expiring in the next month. I won't even get into expired vehicle registrations, where the public is at a disadvantage because there are no longer stickers on the license plates (while the Parking Authority has plate readers).

    I presume the Authority was set up to serve residents of Allentown. Unfortunately, they've morphed into a bureaucracy more interested in raising revenue than serving those who live here.

    Nor do they make downtown (or elsewhere in the city) an inviting place for outsiders to visit. I've seen people ticketed outside Hamilton Street restaurants while temporarily parked outside to pick up an elderly family member (they had actually parked in a garage after dropping the family member off but had to then go back to pick up when finished with their meals). Those people won't be coming back to downtown.

    I could continue, but the abuses highlighted by Ms. Cauler and others at the Parking Authority meetings are even worse.

    I agree with 11:52 a.m. (3/1) that converted apartments are a problem, but increased ticketing isn't solving that problem. It's very likely that the renters are displacing homeowners on a block, forcing them to park in marginal spots. So it doesn't target the problem. City Hall and the Zoning Department need to start doing their jobs on rentals and illegal conversions.

    By all means, have the Parking Authority available 24/7 to respond to actual complaints. They can come out and move abandoned vehicles or mark those that have been in a spot too long. They should certainly be available to immediately tow anyone parked in front of a fire hydrant or someone's garage door. But we don't need the Authority patrolling the city looking for issues that aren't really a problem.

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  3. MM - Could you also alert us when Betty is trying to rally people to Parking Authority meetings? I don't use Facebook (I'm likely not alone), so I'm not sure that I can see what's being posted over on the Allentown Chronicles.

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  4. Off topic and not for publication on this article: I saw a headline on MCall.com that the Wehr's Dam repairs were completed, but the article was behind the paywall.

    I know the answer but still have to ask: Did they give you any credit for saving the dam in the latest article?

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  5. anon@9:03: It is an important issue, but there are too many issues and meetings to commit to making announcements here on the blog. The Authority lists board meetings on their website, under "about". Cauler also has been attending city council meetings.
    anon@9:05: no private citizen names were mentioned

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  6. Check the Call 3/3/23 for 3 articles about our wonderful parking authority... https://www.mcall.com/2023/03/03/allentown-parking-authority-muschick/ Seems the populace is fed up regarding their antics!!!

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