When I ran as an independent for mayor in 2005, my message was shunned by The Morning Call and the establishment. I stated that Allentown had become a poverty magnet, and very soon that density of poverty would create urban problems not normally associated with cities this small. Multiple social agencies were giving hardcore transients "move in" money. Lo and behold eleven years later, despite a $Billion dollars of development, the city still thinks that the problem is a lack of affordable housing.
Allentown doesn't suffer from lack of affordable housing, Allentown suffers from too much affordable housing, and too much political correctness. Stand across from a corner market and watch three generations of people throw their empty snack bags on the sidewalk, even though they are only 25 feet away from a trash can. We don't need $2 an hour parking meters, we need $25 dollar littering fines. We don't need a Parking Authority, we need a Littering Authority.
The City and the NIZ board are going to do a study about affordable housing, hire a consultant and probably include some local neighborhood advocates. The Morning Call will write some articles about it. When they come up with a solution they should share it with Detroit, Camden, Los Angeles, and the other 100 poor urban centers. Gotta love government studies.
ADDENDUM: If the above sounds harsh, understand that as someone who grew up in the 1950's, Allentown was a wonderful place to throw away, and thrown away it was. Although the town has changed radically, that toothpaste is not going back into the tube. New pragmatic leadership is needed. Nothing could be less relevant to overall Allentown than a few blocks on Hamilton Street.
above reprinted from July of 2016
ADDENDUM MAY 3, 2024:In an addendum I would like to point out how things have changed and improved in the last eight years, but this is Allentown. There's certainly no lack of new buildings on Hamilton Street, funded by diverted state taxes and owned by one man. To his credit, he is sharing his windfall with various institutions, most recently DeSales University.
Allentown leads the area in the amount of people living at or below the poverty level, and home prices are far below surrounding municipalities.
ReplyDeleteEven for those inside City Hall that are woefully lacking in common sense, those statistics should make it clear that we don’t need more affordable housing.
While I used to give the city’s “leaders” some slack by thinking they’re just ignorant dolts, that they continue to push the absurd idea of even more “affordable housing” makes me believe their actions are far worse.
Nobody is that stupid, and I can only conclude that they are willfully selling the city out to the few developers who will profit from even more of a bad idea.
I have not read the new zoning proposal, but comments suggest that it makes it easier to add units to a property in an attempt to increase affordable housing....beyond short sighted!
DeleteHow complicated can the business lessons be at the the business school? Will they go further than how to get your own elected official to write legislation designed to benefit yourself uniquely then quietly slip into into omnibus bill at midnight before it is voted on. A follow up course would involve doing the same with legislation to shield all of your projects that spring from your special legislation from right to know laws.
ReplyDeleteThen reward these questionable practices by naming buildings and squares after the official?
DeleteMM - Great point about rewarding the politicians.
DeleteMaybe instead of making donations to colleges, Reilly should just be writing the textbooks.
Recognizing that the previous 100 years of converting single family owner occupied homes into multi-family tenant occupied homes had resulted in the hyper population density that ruined Allentown's quality of life, City policies in the late 1900's were: deconversion, blight removal, comprehensive code enforcement, public nuisance abatement, demolition, elimination of illegal units (garages, attics, basements, sheds, rear yard houses) and promotion of ownership of single family owner-occupied homes. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
ReplyDeleteIt has been said many times on this blog that there is no institutional memory left in city hall or city leadership. I've been here long enough to remember when good ideas sprang out of city hall and leaders had a clue. The city was definitely headed in the right direction in the late 20th century. Roy stopped all that dead in it's tracks and it has been all down hill since.
DeleteScott@12:07: I heard tell that someone who lives adjoining West Park is erecting a statue of Bill Heydt in their backyard, then removing their fence and hedge, so that Bill will grace West Park, much as Harry does Trexler Park. :)
DeleteIt wasnt just Bill Heydt..it was outstanding supervisory employees (i.e. Ross Marcus, Jon Hammer, Eric Weiss etc.) that made such a difference. The relationship between the APD and the neighborhood groups was very strong and many neighborhoods had their own community police officer (often patrolling on bicycle) that they would see daily and could discuss problems with.
DeleteBill was the last good mayor this city head. He was focused on reducing density, balancing the books, and cleaning up the city. He was always a presence at community meetings and events. He wasn't afraid to say what he though and say it to peoples faces. He was no politicians. I respected that. he and I didn't always agree and we were both cut from the same, "let me tell you what I really think of your idea" clothe. He could dish it out and take it. Great guy!
DeleteIf there is any mayor in Allentown over the last 50 years that deserves a statue, it would be Heydt.
DeleteNot mentioned thus far in the “more affordable housing” discussion is the effect on the Allentown School District.
ReplyDeleteThe district is already struggling to properly educate the students that it currently has, and test scores are among the lowest in the area. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what adding even more units (which means more people/students) will have.
So City Hall’s obsession with adding more affordable housing seems to be again working against the better interests of the district.
But where are the District’s school board members speaking out about this? Missing In Action as usual, since they’re all part of the same incestuous cabal that governs the city, many of whom already have their eyes set on higher office instead of the jobs they were elected to do.
Have you been to a school board meeting lately? If not, it's a must do. Then you will understand everything.
DeleteNot to mention the 36 people displaced from four homes this week. This is a Allentown has become warehouses that houses far too many people in one tenement but not in reillyville. In that local it is like a ghost town except on hokey night than the traffic bucks and makes it seem as if it is populated.
ReplyDelete8:48 is correct. I remember when downtown was mostly occupied by older folks of German heritage, living in single family houses as recently as the early 80s. Post WWII need for housing had already accelerated conversion of large old houses into flats. The landlords were responsible, paid their tax bills, as did the renters. Most of the renters didn’t have cars, or had one car per household. This all changed and the planning commission predicted this 30 years ago when it was becoming obvious that no one would want the old houses and the downtown gentrification predicted in the late 70s wasn’t going to happen (ie. 8th street), or had already peaked, and passed. I’m afraid Allentown is on track to follow Detroit as a depressed city. Allentown needs some insightful real estate programs like what Baltimore has done with owner-occupied homesteading. The irresponsible, littering, transient renters need to go somewhere else. Allentown police also need to enforce traffic and parking laws to protect citizens. Yesterday, on a trip to the farmer’s market I witnessed 2 drivers breeze through stop signs and one blow through a red light, all within 3 blocks of Allen High.
ReplyDeleteThe ills of Allentown are fixable and I'd venture to write that they're fixable without any new laws or ordinances being passed into law. However, these ills will not be fixed until Allentonians demand that their elected officials FIX IT.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 6:14 whole heatedly!!! The rush to make new rules/laws/ordinances is beyond stupid. It takes just a little bit of intelligent enforcement, and some of the problems would disappear. How did the "don't come into Allentown with your loud stereo/exhaust" mandate work out for you??? Still sounds like Pocono on race day in my neighborhood!!!!... ALL NIGHT LONG... but the police just can't seem to find the perps, even tho' they can be heard for MILES!!! Seems like it's intentional and the desired result to this scribe!!! But what do I know???
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