Allentown Afterthoughts

We have several commissions, committees, or councils created by City Council….  I have recommended to Council that we require not only a written report, but also an annual presentation to Council that includes policy recommendations for 1, 3, and 10 years.

It’s a good idea, from City Councilman Michael Donovan.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. is seeking to sell its Bethlehem casino, only nine months after its opening, according to a person with direct knowledge of high-level discussions.

That was fast.

AEDC’s Matt Tuerk, on Allentown’s potential craft-manufacturing niche:

One of the challenges that economic developers in Allentown face when trying to recruit new businesses to the city is that many 20th-Century era manufacturers are looking for enormous buildings or tracts of land on which to do business. Allentown’s dense urban environment has no green fields of over 25 acres to build gigantic, big-box industrial buildings nor does it have a large amount of 300,000 square foot buildings to meet the requests of corporate site selectors. Allentown was fully built out in an industrial era that demanded smaller buildings, more compactly built and suitable for a smaller number of employees. Those buildings, few larger than 50,000 square feet are perfectly oriented to capitalize on a new industrial revolution in which there are many small manufacturers employing 20 to 100 people. 735 Mill Street, beneath the Albertus Myers Bridge, is a perfect example of the type of building that should be very attractive to the next wave of manufacturers. This building, constructed before the days of massive industrial parks, consists of fewer than 35,000 square feet on a 1.6 acre site. Inexpensive and full of character, this could be the home of one of the army of micro-manufacturers that will transform the American economy.

From Andrew Kleiner’s indispensable Remember blog:

I also feel, and I told city council this last evening, that this plan will bring new business to the city and will begin to alter our image. I am 26 years old, and as a lifelong resident of Allentown I can say easily that most people my age have moved to Bethlehem or Philly and Allentown has not yet given them a reason to stay. Let’s give people a reason to stay.

Amen.

Nice post from RenewLV’s Crossroads on the Allentown Parks Plan and its inclusion of “Complete Streets“—planners’ code for pedestrian and bike-friendly roadways.

Nice Call story by Steve Esack on a food and coffee cart run by the ASD’s special education students.

Armed with grant money and a deadline, Salisbury Township is again trying to coax the school district into selling 49 acres at the base of South Mountain for open space and parkland.

It was a scandal when the school board, back in 2008, rebuffed the Township’s offer—despite an outcry from nearby residents and the whole region about the open space-devouring development. They’re getting a second chance to do the right thing.

I hear very good things.

Scott Kraus, a strong Call reporter and contributor to the newspaper’s Pennsylvania Ave. blog, comments on barbs traded between the Democrats and Republicans  over the stimulus one year later:

How is it possible that [the GOP's] Spain and [left-leaning Keystone Research Center's] Herzenberg are living in the same country? Could the truth lie somewhere in between? But the political rhetoric, which also seeped into the Lehigh Valley’s 15th Congressional District, shows little sign of finding what was once called “the vital center.”

This is a good example of the frustrating tendency of many journalists to assume that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The facts might fall mid-way between the two partisans’ statements, or they very well may not. It’s the journalists’ job—and it’s a hard one—to try to sort out the truth.

Reminds me of an exchange on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show back in 2004, during the presidential race, with Stewart and correspondent Rob Corddry:

JON STEWART: Here’s what puzzles me most, Rob. John Kerry’s record in Vietnam is pretty much right there in the official records of the US military, and haven’t been disputed for 35 years? ROB CORDDRY: That’s right, Jon, and that’s certainly the spin you’ll be hearing coming from the Kerry campaign over the next few days. STEWART: Th-that’s not a spin thing, that’s a fact. That’s established. CORDDRY: Exactly, Jon, and that established, incontrovertible fact is one side of the story. STEWART: But that should be — isn’t that the end of the story? I mean, you’ve seen the records, haven’t you? What’s your opinion? CORDDRY: I’m sorry, my *opinion*? No, I don’t have ‘o-pin-i-ons’. I’m a reporter, Jon, and my job is to spend half the time repeating what one side says, and half the time repeating the other. Little thing called ‘objectivity’ — might wanna look it up some day. STEWART: Doesn’t objectivity mean objectively weighing the evidence, and calling out what’s credible and what isn’t? CORDDRY: Whoa-ho! Well, well, well — sounds like someone wants the media to act as a filter! ‘Ooh, this allegation is spurious! Upon investigation this claim lacks any basis in reality! Mmm, mmm, mmm.’ Listen buddy: not my job to stand between the people talking to me and the people listening to me.

On Friday I received a polite email from Bill Villa:

Dr. Pooley, Can we meet in person? To discuss your pledged research … I’m just really curious to see what you’re like in person. When & Where’s good for you? Bill Villa 610.428.xxxx

Here is my reply, which is the very last thing I plan to ever say about the Villa-O’Hare dispute:

Hi Bill, First of all, sorry that it’s taken me a couple of days to get back to you. No internet connection and taking care of my kids by myself this weekend: a recipe for no email. I believe that you are sincere in your desire to meet, but I need to decline because (and here I know you’ll think I’m self-indulgent) of the “(for now)”-style threats and legal claims you’ve made on your blog. I have spent some time looking into the last two years regarding your conflict with Bernie O’Hare and others. I had planned to spend more time, but have decided to completely drop the matter after the threatening language that keeps getting added to your site. I won’t be commenting on anything related from this moment on. You effectively closed the conversation down with pre-emptive insults and threats. I’m done. My earlier point about friendly fire seems relevant. Thanks, Jeff