Of course if some NYC couple decides to relocate to the reborn Allentown, they will be in for quite a surprise come dinner time. They will find that the restaurants are only open for a few nights a week. They will find that the coffee shops close at 6:00PM. They will find that the stores mentioned are the only stores there are. They will find that they have moved to a Potemkin Village.
The cheerleaders I referred to in the first paragraph all have some things in common. Either they have a business, or they're a newcomer with no frame of reference, or both. Some others are former Allentonians, also in the dark about the realities. Although this blog is in its eighteenth year, I have only resorted to off color language in this last week. Like Popeye, I could only take so much for so long.
I've said for years, if we still had news media that did comprehensive investigative, detailed reporting, the Allentown 'Rebirth' story could be presented in a 3-4 part featured report that could win someone a Pulitzer Prize.
ReplyDeleteThe Allentown 'Rebirth' story has all the makings that would have strongly appealed to the old CBS 60 Minutes program (when that was still legitimate). This is a saga full of mystery and intrigue. It directly effects every taxpayer in Pennsylvania, a state known for political corruption and corporate funny business.
This is indeed a curious 'rebirth.' The entire episode done in secrecy and obfuscation. Imagine how taxpayers outside the Lehigh Valley would react if they truly understood how many of their tax dollars have be squandered here. A true money pit that grows deeper by the year.
I just watched a U-Tube, 10 worst places in Pa ,Allentown made the list. This included Philadelphia, Mahoney city and Shenandoah. It may fly to the new generation, but old timers like Mike remember Allentown's crowded streets on Thursday nights. The loop were young people from the outskirts came to Allentown and the Fairgrounds . At least 6 or 7 movie theaters and of course Hess Brothers.
ReplyDeleteIt’s all theater.
ReplyDeleteThe irony in this post is amazing.
ReplyDeleteIf the NIZ hadn’t been written by a friend of the one man who is the sole beneficiary of the state tax break, and if that one man had the ability to find tenants beyond those already in state, the NIZ could have been the best legislation ever written in PA.
A competent NIZ board could had advertised the opportunity to nearby NJ and NY companies, and they could have built their own buildings as they flee those high-tax states for a golden opportunity in nearby Allentown. The NY Times would have been writing about these companies being poached by Pennsylvania.
Instead, we got one person with a limited Rolodex controlling almost all the property in the NIZ whole poached in-state companies, often from inside Allentown itself.
At worst this is an example of the indirect cost of corruption. At best, it’s the biggest missed opportunity in Allentown and PA history.
The “journalist” was paid to write this piece. This kind of “journalism” happens regularly. It’s the same with music and art reviews. It’s the dirty little secret of the business.
ReplyDeleteanon@8:24: I suppose that's possible. And who do you allege paid her?
DeleteWho paid for this promotional puff piece is a good question. I don’t suspect that we will ever know how the transaction was conducted. I don’t think that a particularly large amount of money was required and the payment was likely done through intermediaries once or twice removed.
DeleteThere is certainly plenty of loose change sloshing around the greater NIZ boondoggle.
My hunch is that it was a legitimate piece, not a paid for article. To an outsider spending a couple hours in town, it looks impressive.
Deleteanon@8:20: The irony is indeed rich. Pat Browne's wife put the NYT article on her Facebook page, as did a city council member's wife. In my mind the NIZ is criminal, and their board is beyond complicit.
ReplyDeleteGood post Mike. Your spot on. A movie should definitely be made on Allentown. "Once the all American city"
ReplyDeleteCall it the Fleecing of Pennsylvania Taxpayers.
DeleteNo one cares.
DeleteUrban centers all over the country are disaster zones.
Considering all the poaching of corporations already in Pennsylvania, the job shifting, consumer spending shifting from (in example) Bethlehem to Allentown, the success of this NIZ scheme can onlyy be called dismal.
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to bet, after 15 years of the NIZ, the state of Pennsylvania has received NO additional revenue from that same district then it was already receiving without the NIZ being created.
I'm not accepting additional comments that the NYT article was a paid for promotion about Allentown.
ReplyDeleteHow could a reporter from the most prestigious newspaper in the English speaking world get a story so wrong?
ReplyDeleteThis isn’t a rhetorical question.
A story on the remarkable renaissance in Easton would have made sense.
This reads like an April Fool Day story.
Mike if we look at little deeper the once homes have become rooming houses. Than there are facts that some city dwellers are now living in basements and garages? The writer must have stayed on Hamilton Street and viewed goggle maps to write this spin.
ReplyDeleteanon@2:27: To everyone who I refer to as a cheerleader the story is accurate. Details like diverted state taxes and redirected cigarette taxes only annoy a blogger like me, and my readers. John Q public loses no sleep over such things.
ReplyDelete