Allentown's Systematic Inspections Being Conducted in Entire Weed 'n Seed Area

If you live in Allentown's designated Weed & Seed Community, expect a "systematic" home inspection. Where is this community? It's a a "48 square block area which stretches North to South from Tilghman Street to Hamilton Street and East to West from the Lehigh River to 8th Street. It makes up a large portion of what is known as the 1st Ward and the 4C's community."

With the goal of achieving a "totally rehabilitated neighborhood," Allentown intends to inspect every owner-occupied home in those 48 square blocks. So far, 516 owner-occupied homes have been inspected so far in the 1st and 8th wards.

I spoke with someone in Allentown's vast home inspection bureaucracy on Tuesday. I won't use his name because it might get him in trouble and, to be honest, I forgot to ask him.

He did his best to justify this supposedly systematic home inspection, which is really targeted at a certain area of the city. He told me that the financial officers who accompany housing inspectors are city employees, not some loan officer looking for a commission. That's a relief. But when a financial officer is accompanying the inspector, isn't that a pretty good indication that the inspector intends to find problems?

He told me Bethlehem and Easton do this, too. But when I mentioned that housing inspectors there denied conducting systematic inspections, he acknowledged those cities only inspect when homes are sold.

This apparatchik also told me his inspectors have helped many people and may have even prevented some disasters, and I believe him. But even he had to acknowledge that if the city tried to do this anywhere else, it would be on the wrong side of a lawsuit faster than Mayor Pawlowski can run away without leaving a tip. It's unfair to force homeowners to undergo an indignity that the city is afraid to try anywhere else. It's also an invasion of privacy.

On top of all that, isn't there some potential for mischief? Won't a city inspector who moonlights for an electrical or roofing contractor be tempted to find a problem? Why is someone who uses city approved contractors given more favorable treatment than a homeowner who hires his own people? I have a list of the city-approved contractors, and you can peruse them yourself to see if you can find anything unusual. I'm told that if a homeowner elects to borrow money or apply for a grant through the city, it will seek "open bids" from those approved contractors.

I think systematic home inspections should be voluntary, but a different mindset prevails among many bureaucrats and housing non-profits. The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, for example, recently lobbied for and got draconian changes in housing law to have a conservator appointed and actually take over a home when an owner fails to keep it up to code. Now they condescendingly talk about "training" judges on enforcement.

Did I mention that Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is President of the Board for the Housing Alliance of Pa?