In 1934 Perry Minich and his bride opened a jewelry store on the side of the elegant Americus Hotel. The post depression years weren't that easy for a merchant in luxury goods, but they had faith in Allentown. They were rewarded by Allentown's boom years during the 50's . In 1981 a robber entered the store, pushed Mrs. Minich to the floor, then shot and killed her. The Minich family carried on with their Allentown business. Their nephew, who witnessed the tragedy, took over the store. One by one, in Scranton, Easton, and Wilkes-Barre, hotels of the Americus vintage, closed and were boarded up. The Americus, a white elephant, although a dollar short and a day late, stayed open. Enter new Mayor Ed Pawlowski, self-designated real estate expert. He decided because the hotel owner was controversial, and had been demonized in regard to other properties, he could execute a forced sale. He erected a scaffold around the building, declared it unsafe, and ordered the existing merchants to vacate. For those really familiar with the situation the irony abounds. One week after the scaffold was erected, a window fell out the Schoen building, controlled by the city, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Although transient tenants will be offered relocation money to de-convert apartments in Old Allentown, three merchants of the Americus got nothing. While almost seven million dollars in grant money was offered outside developers to purchase the hotel, the city confiscated insurance proceeds from the existing owner. Pawlowski ended what had endured over seventy years through good and bad times, through tragedy, and it will cost the taxpayers many millions to ever put this humpty dumpty back together again.
above reprinted from April of 2008
ADDENDUM MARCH 14, 2023: The Morning Call recently noted Albert Abdouche's accomplishments with the Americus Hotel, as well they should. Abdouche purchased the hotel at a tax-sale, and restored it under his own volition. Although now finally benefiting from some entitlements, for the first years he went it alone on his own. In this era of replacing Allentown's historic mercantile district with new nondistinctive buildings, it's a pleasure to celebrate a restored gem of our past.
What amazes me is that some still defend Pawlowski’s crimes as somehow being victimless. He used city government to crush people’s hopes, dreams and lifetimes of work.
ReplyDeleteNo mayor - and no government- should have that power.
What Pawlowski did was pure evil. He deserves far more than the paltry 13 years he got.
anon@6:31, Alan Jennings has been lobbying to get Pawlowski pardoned, and the Morning Call gives Jennings an open invite to write editorials, promoting him as a great humanitarian. His "humanity" apparently doesn't include concern for taxpaying homeowners.
ReplyDeleteThe true gem of this whole urban rejuvenation. The one man who really has the cojones to make a difference.
ReplyDeletePawlowski was a typical liberal who fancied himself as an urban planner, economic development expert, and evangelist all rolled into one. His type is what ruined American cities for the past half-century and is currently finishing the job in most. The people who have made the Americus Hotel new again deserve our gratitude. I was there for a luncheon banquet last August and was amazed at its beauty and quality.
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