A lead story in today's Morning Call features the temporary construction jobs created by the arena, which will end by 2014. Although the article was written by two reporters, and included proud quotes from the city's community development director, none of them know or appreciate the thousands of jobs that block provided for over 100 years. The Palace of Sport and False Hope is not being build on previously vacant land, but on Allentown's mercantile history. While the reporters wrote about what the job means to one construction worker, they never showed the same sensitivity toward the displaced former merchants. Ironically, over the years, those 34 demolished buildings provided the paper with many advertising dollars. We will see how much revenue comes to The Morning Call from the arena.reprinted from January of 2013
The Morning Call is willfully blind and deaf to the failure that is the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement District. A failure, at least, to 99% of the taxpayers paying for it.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, I think you should dust off your camera, and hike down to 6th and Turner street. There you can take a picture of the “former sprawling”Morning Call Campus.
ReplyDeleteThere you will find a huge pile of rubble at least a story and a half high.
I wonder how much tax revenue that area brings to the City of Allentown and the State of Pennsylvania now?
A former Advertising and Downtown Merchant.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget!!! The Morning Call also fell victim to the NIZ!!! Look at the advertising in any edition of the paper… what do see? Ads from the MEGA hospital systems in and out of our area. Lehigh Valley Health Network, St. Lukes Health Network, Geissinger Health Network, Jefferson Health Network. Then there are the nursing homes, hearing aide, wealth management companies.
No more Department stores, National 5&10 stores ( the precursor to the Dollar Stores) and small Mom & Pop businesses lining Downtown Main Streets all over the greater Lehigh Valley.
Now you don’t have to get a paper delivered to your front door… you can check the obits at 3:00 am on line.
Just as long as you don’t FLAT LINE!
Just Sayin!
Every time I drive around seeing new medical facilities almost on every corner, I am convinced the only industry making money in America now is HEALTHCARE.
DeleteFurthermore, that whole Covid (now suspicious) episode was very lucrative to our medical community.
Yes. The hospitals...errrr, Health NETWORKS...are more numerous than drugstores, which are closing like crazy. Funny how the geniuses in the medical industry now refrain from giving babies antibiotics, just months after recommending an experimental vaccine for them.
DeleteSoooo, have you ever seen a hospital here in the Valley … that isn’t in some form or another under construction, or renovation?? The health networks ARE the LARGEST employers in the Valley for sure!
ReplyDelete