molovinsky on allentown exclusive*
Just as William Penn gave this town to William Allen two hundred and fifty years ago, Pat Browne, Jennifer Mann and Ed Pawlowski have now given the town to J.B. Reilly. Actually, Reilly's getting a better deal than Allen, because the existing taxpayers will underwrite all his new acquisitions. This blogger has learned that with three exceptions, Reilly has purchased the square block across from the arena; that would be from 7th to 8th, and Hamilton to Walnut. The exceptions are the LCCC Portland Place building, and two adjoining store fronts. All other properties are either under an agreement of sale, or have one pending. One of the sellers claim that they were initially approached by a strawbuyer, who used language of eminent domain, similar to the tactics employed on the arena side. Although the offers appear fair to generous, several of the sellers supposedly felt they had little to no option. Although I initially thought that the threat of domain was an idle threat, perhaps it is possible. City Council really doesn't know what authority they gave the City and it's agents, when they signed that dotted line. One council member hoped it wouldn't result in just some rich white guys getting richer; Guess what? Just as the general public was not aware that the NIZ taxing mechanism could be used by approved private parties, few people understand that property taxes** will be used if the earned income and sales tax fall short. In addition to the block outlined above, Reilly's City Center Investment Corp., funded by an initial $20million from the City Authority, and a yet disclosed second amount, is buying up both sides of Hamilton, from 5th to 10th Street. Additionally, he is purchasing the property north of Linden Street, to Turner Street. Several displaced former merchants who owned property on Hamilton, will now be tenants in Reilly buildings.
City Center Investment Corp. is a visionary real estate development and management company....We look forward to welcoming many tenants to live, work and play in what will be an inviting, accessible urban community.Considering that Reilly hasn't been given the keys to the city, but rather the city itself, let us hope he succeeds.
reprinted from May of 2012
ADDENDUM APRIL 25, 2024:He has succeeded more than perhaps he even hoped for. In addition to owning mostly all of downtown, he now also owns the former State Hospital parcel. Twelve years later since this post, critical analysis of the NIZ scheme is still mostly limited to this blog. The Morning Call acted as outright promoter for many years, and still treats CityCenter press releases as news. Reilly now even owns the former Morning Call building itself. New state senator Jarrett Coleman is the only legislator questioning the benefit of Reilly's windfall in regard to the taxpayers.
Reilly can't believe his luck at the Northridge project, he got everything he wanted and couldn't believe how easy it was. The City let his engineers design a mass apartment complex right out of east block USSR design manual from the 1950s. The townhouses and doubles are designed like classic suburban sprawl from the 1970s. The City was never represented by a professional planner and the City Council gushed with enthusiasm over the extremely flawed designs.
ReplyDeleteWhat Jarrod is doing demonstrates what the others aren't. They are nothing but tools of the powerful not the people they are supposed to represent. On Allentown, last Tuesday we went out to dinner to celebrate, we decided to stay local so we went to Bethlehem, on the way over we figured a Tuesday evening would be quiet. It wasn't, it was alive with people their to enjoy themselves and plenty of places to do it. On the way out of the restaurant I was chatting with a guy waiting for a food pickup. We were surprised to discover we were both from Allentown and agreed our city center is a dead zone we rarely frequent. If we go local, its Bethlehem.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Mayor Stupid is busy trying to make Reillytown East less accessible.
ReplyDeleteToday’s news article details plans to constrict Hanover Avenue to one lane in each direction between Carlisle Street and Irving Street. The plan will add a left-hand turn lane and add bike lanes on each side to replace the second vehicle lanes.
This is supposedly being done to make things safer along that portion of Hanover Avenue. In reality, it will make things more dangerous.
First, two lanes of traffic currently back up at the traffic lights, and reducing Hanover to one lane will only make the backups twice as long.
This will lead to a free for all of people trying to pass illegally by using the turn or bike lanes.
In addition, the bike lanes will only get used during certain months, since we (gasp) live in an area that gets harsh weather in the winter.
Since these facts seem lost on Mayor Stupid, I can only hope that City Council has a say in this and stops the plan before more money is wasted. But relying on City Council to show some common sense is a long-shot at best.
He needs to be voted out next year.
DeleteAnyone who spends time downtown should realize most of the residents ride their bikes and motorized scooters on the sidewalks and will be unlikely to ride within dedicated lanes on a street.
Delete10:17 - I agree, but will go one further. Do we really want to encourage bikes into the street along what is already a very busy road?
ReplyDeleteWhile I immediately think of adult bikers when I hear proposals like this, will it also draw middle or grade schoolers into those lanes? If so, that won’t result in a good outcome.
Separately, if you’re taking that stretch of the road down to one vehicle lane in each direction, will they be moving the bus stops off of the Hanover as well?
If not, they’re creating a traffic nightmare on what should be a major road artery between the East Side and downtown.
Again, there seems to be a disconnect between what City Hall says it wants (more people downtown), and what it does (reduces ease of access). It’s the same thing they’re doing with the one lane of Hamilton at the monument.
Neither of these decisions will make it easier for people to visit the city (or either of the Reillytowns).
I’m guessing that Jennifer Mann is still a major player behind the scenes and has maintained an incredibly low profile.
ReplyDeleteIt’s difficult to believe that the Hipster Mayor makes any major decisions on his own.
Who really runs the political machine in Allentown?
This isn’t a rhetorical question.
I have met the mayor enough times to know he is a good guy trying to do what he thinks is right. This is where the complements stop. He has several glaring weaknesses as a leader. Yes, he tries to be nice, and in city politics nice gets you nothing but disrespect. This said, his main problem is his vision for the new Allentown is a shiny, harmonious, woke city where we bicycle or take Lanta everywhere we want to go. He has big plans to achieve this and to his credit he has been up front about it. He has stated he wants to make it more expensive to own a car in the city, and make it harder to park a car. Worse, he plans to reconfigure several main traffic arteries to restrict traffic flow. In other words, he wants to turn Allentown into Boulder Colorado( where he is from). Boulder is an elite, white woke enclave, it is the furthest thing from what Allentown is, but being the dreamer Matt, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, believes he need only click his heals together to make it happen. Sadly for Matt, very few Allentonians share is gauzy vision of Allentown as this sort of arcadia. If he is given the time to turn his vision into reality this city will become impossible to live in if you have a car or want to get somewhere with it.
ReplyDeleteYes, Matt is a nice guy, a good husband and father. Yes, he’s well intentioned and he is certainly visible in the community. Unfortunately he lacks the chops to be in the position of Mayor.
DeleteAllentown is a city in serious decline in spite of all the NIZ development.
Boulder is a wonderful place, you should be proud to have the 15 minute city it will make your life better.
ReplyDeleteYes Boulder is a wonderful place but this is Allentown. We should all be alarmed by Matt's vision of the 15 minute city. Look up Boulder the fifteen minute city if you don't know what we are referring to
DeleteThe Mayor needs to realize that we live in a free society where government bureaucrats don’t get to decide what our “needs” are and how we should be able to travel.
DeleteI'm familiar with Boulder. Boulder's average home price exceeds $1M. If anyone thinks Boulder is a model for Allentown, their first move should be relocate Penn State to Hamilton Street. The Allentown commute is primarily outbound now to jobs and merchants and many trips take but 15 minutes or so. Focusing on transportation or housing as features to revive Allentown, once again broadly misses the mark.
DeleteIf the Mayor wants to make it more difficult to own a car, why doesn’t he lead by example and get rid of his city-provided Ford Mustang? My suspicion is that he (naturally) believes he is important enough to have one, much more so than the rest of us peons he supposedly serves.
ReplyDeleteIf he wants to turn Allentown into Boulder Colorado, I’d suggest it would be better if he just went back there and stayed there. He can even keep the car.