According to The Allentown Commentator, a local yahoo group, community leaders are being asked to narc their neighbors. This message is being circulated by Oberführer David Paulus, Housing Rehabilitation Supervisor.All residential properties in the City of Allentown , offered for sale on or after January 31, 2008, must have a buyer notification inspection performed. It is the primary responsibility of the seller to request the inspection from the City. Attached is a procedure memo for you and your group's information. If you see any properties being offered for sale by Owner, after that date, please notify us. The City relies on our neighborhood groups to be our eyes and ears in the community. Thank You.
Vee have vays of making you cooperate. Ask Zee Weikel vhat happened vhen she tried to have a yard sale. Loyalty oaths are next.
Update: Kay Pickel, President of Cmmunity Watch #7, 12th to 20th Streets, has already urged "everyone to boycott this."
30 comments:
I was ratted on once for failure to obtain a (then) $10 permit to pave a driveway. The date was May 7, 1994. My probation officer just restored my Internet privileges and I'll be shedding the ankle bracelet soon. I've retaliated for years by having the narcs inundated with unsolicited information from truck driving schools the Tempurpedic Swedish foam mattress sleeping system. I thinks the rats actually brokedown and bought a mattress in '99. I keep constant watch on their property for any sign of unauthorized home improvement. I've called the local constabulary several times to report suspicious hammering. I think they're finishing their basement by sneaking in framing lumber stuffed in their pants. Either that, or the guy has one long ... oh just forget it .... I agree that permit ratting creates ill will.
Keep up the good work!
That's right Bernie! Let um know the deal!!!
STOP SNITCHIN!!!
Ain't nobody calling A-town on me. That's whaz up!
Halla Back.
I find this interesting. In Nazi Germany, Jews were scapegoated for everything. They were the cause of all of Deutschlanbd's problmes. Unfortunately, many A-town Jews know the story on a very personal level, and can tell what happened much better than I.
In the land of the free and home of the brave, things are so much different. In addition to hating Jews, we can hate blacks and Hispanics, too. Aren't we lucky?
Whoopee!
In this latest comment from Pawlowski's propaganda machine, the implication is that the only Allentonian who won't rat out his neighbor must be a gangbanger. And ghetto language is used to make you realize how different and superior you all are to those damn niggers.
Only a nigger or a gangbanger won't squeal.
Well, even Allentown happens to be part of America. In America, we'll report people who commit murder, rape or other atrocities. But American citizens, as a rule, do not narc each other over petty matters. And any government that encourages us to do so is about as unAmerican as you can get. We resent governments who ask us to spy on each other.
But here we have Allentown apologists for a Democratic mayor encouraging behavior we would never tolerate in our national leaders.
What's sad to me is that some of these apologists will do anything, including raising the spectre of race and abandonment of ideologies, just for the opportunity of being Lord over Allentown, and it ain't that grand a shire.
But go ahead, be good little Germans.
This is the type of screw up that concerned me regarding the Allentown buyer notification program. When Ed forced Eric Weiss to "retire" and brought in his own inexperienced and unqualified replacement, I was watching for an otherwise good idea to go very wrong. Mr. Weiss, a lifetime City resident, is one of the most accomplished building code professionals in the state. Under his leadership, I would fully expect this program to be succesful, with no Gestapo "turn your neighbors in" policies.
Now we have code enforcement officials asking neighborhood groups to act as real estate vigilantes? Shouldn't the seller's real estate agent be responsible for this? Don't real estate agent's certifications and licenses require them to follow all applicable laws?
Yet another stupid and humiliating PR mistake by the City of Allentown. What next?
Are you really comparing Allentown in 2008 to Nazi Germany ?
Not completely, but I'm very concerned by some of the things I see, and there are a number of analogies.
1) In A-town, is a blind and irrational devotion to its mayor, even when he promotes things that are contrary to his own party's ideology.
2) There is a tendency in A-town's population, especially as reflected in the MC Reader forum, to scapegoat minorities, instead of poverty, as being the cause of all problems. This is coming from both Dems and Rs.
3) The complete and utter disregard for Hamilton Street merchants, mostly minorities, while pandering to others, is appalling.
4) It is increasingly apparent to me, and some of the commenters who defend Pawlowski actually concede this, that Pawlowski's plan is to sweep the poor out of the way so that the city looks nicer. We saw that with the new transit station, changed bus routes, and most recently with yard sales.
5) All the puff blogs about A-towen that hide the truth are heavy evidence of a propaganda machine.
6) I really resent any government that encourages citizens to rat out fellow citizens over petty matters like a housing inspection ordinance. The memo I quote actually goes so far as to state that the city is relying on community leaders "to be our eyes and ears." This is fascisim, plain and simple. The author of that memo should be given a few days off to reflect on his role as a public servant.
7) The gangbanger comment is just another attempt to marginalize a portion of A-town's population and promote a racist attitude. Instead of distrusting your government, like any good American should, you are being told to distrust your neighbor.
So Allentown 2008 is not Nazi Germany, but all the seeds are there. I am sensitive to the very real atrocities committed by Nazis, and I am genuinely concerned about A-town and our country. We are on the brink of financial disaster, many people are close to homeless, we are being told to distrust each other, and too many Allentonians are willing to make fun of older people like Zee Weikel than be concerned about her condition.
4:08PM
Bernie K, is that you clean and sober?
That's not BTNP. He never posted that early in the day. Actually it's around this time you could expect to se his inimitable style. Of course, if clean and sobere, who knows? But there was not one reference to my inflatable doll.
I am offended by the use of the swastika and the use of the 'N' word. It was unecessary to make the point.
I am sure others will share your view. Some will be genuine. Some won't. I'm not sure what category you're in. I believe it was very necessary, especially after two days of listening to fanatics sneer at a 75 year old woman who tried to make a few dollars at a yard sale.
The post by Allentown apologist Thug Life proves this. It was designed to bring out the latent racism prevalent in Allentown and much of the LV. And this appeal to racism is done to promote the agenda of a Democratic mayor. There's something very wrong with that. I want to spell that out quite clearly. Hence my use of the woird nigger.
The people who were most surprised by the evils of nazism, if history is any guide, were the Germans themselves. When a government starts asking people to report each other, and when there are fanatics who defend irrational decisions by its mayor, I think it's time to make a comparison.
I spelled out my reasoning in an earlier comment. I am very aware of the atrocities committed by Nazis. But history can repeat itself. We need to remember that, even if the message bothers us.
I agree that this memo may have been poorly worded, but the point of the city's is not to turn neighbors into busybody vigilantes. The purpose of the housing inspection law is to improve the housing stock in Allentown.
Simply put, if houses are sold in Allentown they should be inspected. If people alert the sellers to the new law and/or alert the city of homes that are listed for sale, they will ensure that more homes in Allentown are improved.
Housing inspection laws are proven to help build stronger communities. They are not the punitive attacks on residents that you characterize.
So what if Fuhrer Pawlowski wants to march the minority merchants of Hamilton Mall off to foreclosure camps and deport them? That'll teach them to bitch about bus stops!
And BOH's inner bigot appears. This blog is going downhill quick. Never thought I'd see swastikas and the repeated use of the n-word.
BOH, you are a joke to even draw the comparison. What a petty little man with a twisted world view.
Nazareth Uber Alles!
I agree that this memo may have been poorly worded, but the point of the city's is not to turn neighbors into busybody vigilantes. The purpose of the housing inspection law is to improve the housing stock in Allentown.
Simply put, if houses are sold in Allentown they should be inspected. If people alert the sellers to the new law and/or alert the city of homes that are listed for sale, they will ensure that more homes in Allentown are improved.
Housing inspection laws are proven to help build stronger communities. They are not the punitive attacks on residents that you characterize.
No, no, no! Its the first step to the Final Solution.
You see, people like BOH and all the people that continually BITCH about everything and never DO anything never are happy. They say clean up Allentown and then bitch about the technique used. They say hire more cops and then bitch about their taxes going up. Actually, BOH does not care. He criticizes Allentown from afar, from his hamlet of 6,000 people and nary a minority. Yet BOH is the compassionate man of the people. Bitch bitch bitch. Its tiresome.
And no, I'm no operative of the powerful. I'm no friend of the mayor and have to horse in this race.
the moral authority on which pawlowski instituted the home inspection law has proven to be faulty. when i questioned why start a new procedure without a supervisor, they responded a new director would be announced; his own personal history of code violations means that now there still is no director of the dept. pawlowski told the morning call the public had ample opportunity to speak out against the inspections, before my forum, in reality the public didn't even know about this ordinance until my efforts. finally, asking our community leaders to corrupt their mission by reporting their neighbors, YOU APOLOGISTS can spin all you want, but this is an unnecessary law implemented in an undemocratic method and will not stand.
How is it faulty?
Molovinsky, you are the one talking about "the poverty magnet." Cheap dilapidated housing have anything to do with it?
You may label ME an APOLOGIST (I like the CAPS) too but in reality I'm in the "give the guy a chance" camp.
I have no strong feelings about Allentown's Housing Inspection Ordinance. I see both sides. I do believe it was rushed through a lameduck council on a busy night with other matters on the agenda, including the firing of a police officer. The city probably could have benefited from a little more dialogue.
But that city memo, Rob, is aimed precisely at turning Allentown citizens into busybody vigilantes. It's a little scary, to be honest. And it's completely un-American.
My use of the swastika and the word nigger, though harsh, is intended to make Allentown apologists realize exactly what they are doing. In addition to that fascist memo, someone posts a comment that emulates gangbanger language, appealing to the bigotry so prevalent in A-town and the rest of the LV.
As far as being from Lilly white Nazareth is concerned, I'm sure they'd pay for me to move to Allentown. I've been a thorn in their sides, too.
Actually the demographics in the Nazareth zip code are pretty much identical to the demographics in the west end zip. What happens in Allentown affects my quality of life in Nazareth. Your problem is my problem. My problems affect you, too. And I have several family members who work and live there, and I spend lots of time there myself.
And believe it or not, I am not someone who just sits back and moans about things. Although I have no political ambition, I believe the office of citizen is much more powerful than most people constantly think. I do attend meetings, do ask questions and do make suggestions. I even write ordinances myself.
I'm no partisan, either. If anything, I tried to find good things about Pawlowski. But he seems to have abandoned the very best things about the Democratic party. Maybe it's different in Chicago.
But you folks in Allentown had better wake up because your local leaders are displaying some disturbing tendencies. And it looks like the cheerleaders are transforming into brownshirts. And no, I do not say this lightly.
hayshaker, in regard to the poverty magnet, the bricks are not the problem. it is the same buildings that were here when allentown was the all-american city. while pawlowski wants to inspect private houses, at the same time he's still giving millions through the community block grants to the organizations which keep attracting more problems to allentown so these very agencies can continue to grow themselves. inspecting the apartment houses was a popular notion, it easily passed by referendum. while on the other hand, pawlowski and company had to sneak around to pass this; how would this fair on a ballot question?
I think it is patently offensive to compare Allentown to the horrors wreaked upon a defenseless people by Nazi Germany. You should be ashamed.
I don't and I'm not. The third comment, posted by Thug Life, makes me feel this comparison is overdue.
anon 6:41. o'hare has made it very clear he in no way trivializes the holocaust, but the issue is whether a city government should encourage its citizen leaders to work for it, rather than their neighbors.
From the Commentator
Misuse of city resources
The memo that the administration sent out to the city's community
groups asking them to turn in properties that are up for sale so that
they may be inspected, serves to illustrate the role the
administration believes these organizations should fill. Like Roy
Afflerbach before him Ed Pawlowski believes the groups exist only to
serve the city/administration. It is an unfortunate reality that too
many of today's "community leaders" in Allentown would not dispute
this notion.
It wasn't so long ago that Allentown's many civic community
organizations were vibrant, pro-active and growing. Roy Afflerbach
changed that, he vilified and politicized any disagreements between
his administration and the individual groups. Many of these groups had
a long history of speaking out on behalf of their better interests.
What they weren't used to was their leaders being swatted down and
personally impugned by the administration and the paper for merely
expressing a civic disagreement. In this poisoned atmosphere many of
these civic leaders simply left. Some moved out of the city, others
just disengaged from their community.
What is left of Allentown's community organizations are for the
most part merely a servile shell of what used to be. It doesn't
surprise me in the slightest that Ed Palowski felt comfortable asking
them to do his dirty work. He thinks it's their job.
Scott Armstrong
"What is left of Allentown's community organizations are for the
most part merely a servile shell of what used to be."
Well thanks for belittling my volunteer efforts... jerk! Some of us could care less what the mayor is asking us to do and are more interested in working with our neighbors. The fact that you view us in that light is horribly insulting.
Last week I stopped reading LV Poliblog... after reading that comment I'm done reading this one too.
Anon 8:47,
You stop reading a blog bc you disagree with what someone says in one of the comments? You must have stopped reading the MC many months ago. Either that you agree with all the racist and sexist remarks made by the commenters there.
Scott Armstrong's observations are welcome, whether you like them or not. People who wish to defend or attack what is going on in A-town are free to express them, and I don't construe Scott's remarks as coming close to a personal attack.
This is nothing. Wait until you retire to Florida and the condo Nazis turn you in because your lawn is 1 inch above the approved height.
You're right! I've read about the crap that goes on down there.
Godwin's Law!
I know, Liza.
But technically, no, bc I started off by making the comparison.
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