Local Government TV

Monday, August 17, 2009

Frey Fries Pawlowski in Cedar Creek Park Interrogation

It's safe to say there's no love lost between Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski and Geza Frey, whose Down Low nightclub has been shut down as a result of a city-sought injunction. Not surprisingly, Geza has contributed $1,000 to Tony Phillips' mayoral campaign.

At Thursday night's city council session, Geza was eventually shut down again, but not before making clear that (1) the misinformation concerning Cedar Creek comes from the city itself; (2) Pawlowski's administration missed three opportunities to meet with the public; and (3) the Mayor attempted to get some local churches to play the race card. You can see the full video here, and below is a transcript of the last three minutes.

Frey: Why was noting mailed to the residents of the close proximity of the park until recently, now that that the project is ready to begin in a few weeks?

King Edwin: I'm sorry, what was your question?

Frey: Why was nothing mailed to the residents that live right by the park until recently?

King Edwin: We had done an extensive planning process and it went out. We put out public ---

Frey: The first time I received any mailing was this week.

King Edwin: We apologize for that. It's not typical in the park process, but we try to engage the public the best way we possibly can. I've outlined for you all the things that we've done. It's not like it's hidden from anybody in any way, shape or form. We had two publicly publicized public meetings.

Frey: I've been to the last three meetings and I've seen nobody from the administration until now.

King Edwin: Well, let me address that. The last meeting was just a courtesy of the floor, I was on vacation. It's the first time I've taken vacation in ---

Frey: One of these meetings you were in the building.

King Edwin: Can I finish talking please?

Frey: Sure, sure!

King Edwin: One of the meetings I was on vacation. Greg was here for a certain portion of the meeting and then he had to go and watch his kids because his wife was out that particular evening. [Blogger's note: Actually, Weitzell had has daughters with him at the meeting in question, and left only once it became apparent the public would be allowed to speak.]

The meeting before that, we were told by city council, and President D'Amore and I had talked, that two of three council people were not going to be there and the committee did not constitute a quorum and thus the committee could not have met. Councilman Phillips, to my understanding, did the meeting anyways. I was in the building for an interview with Channel 69. I had a prior commitment. I left the building because of that prior commitment, so it wasn't like we were trying to avoid. Had we known that the meeting was actually going to be taking place, we would have had somebody there from the administration, to start answering some of these questions.

We have tried our very best to do what we can to get this information out to the general public. I think we've gone - quite honestly - above and beyond, in many cases. You look at other planning processes that we've had in the city, this plan has probably been out there longer, has gotten more scrutiny, has gotten more input, has ... uh, we've had it on the web site, it was in city hall right here for at least a year ...


Frey: I know, but the pictures keep changing.

King Edwin: No, the pictures don't keep changing. That's part of the ... the exact plan that was out out there, if you look at the plan itself, it says possible proposed, you know, skate park. Possible, proposed. It doesn't say it's gonna actually be part of the plan. It was just the initial vision. We took in comments on that vision. It hasn't changed since the very beginning. There's been no bait 'n switch here in any way, shape or form. We have tried to give the most detailed information that we possibly can to the general public.

Now, realizing that there were concerns by people who live around the park, we sent out that letter. We also made sure that we worked with council and Council President D'Amore and I had talked, we set up this special meeting specifically to go through this time and express to you - the residents - what exactly is

Now, realizing that there were concerns by people who live around the park, we sent out that letter. We also made sure that we worked with council and Council President D'Amore and I had talked, we set up this special meeting specifically to go through this time and express to residents what exactly is happening because, as you saw, there's a lot of misinformation ...

Frey: Well, that's the thing with misinformation I wanted to ask you about. There was a lot of misinformation given this past weekend and I wanted to ask you why did you reach out to the churches and ask them - tell them - this is a race issue and a discriminatory issue.

D'Amore: Hold on. Mr. Mayor, you can answer that if you want to, but your time is up, sir.

King Edwin: I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

26 comments:

  1. guy breaks laws and contributes to the incumbent mayor's opponent. The mayor just got my vote. I won't vote for a guy that takes money from a guy that violated state liquor laws and wouldn't accept responsibility.

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  2. why don't you print the list police calls to the down low, especially the three and four AM ones for shootings and stabbings?

    Or how about the raid that resulted in a dozen arrests for dog fighting during the week?

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  3. anon 7:18, the mayor had your vote, but i suspect he'll come to regret your support, especially the interview.

    i don't think it was a good evening for pawlowski. packing the house with shills reeked of manipulation. likewise, council members who praised democracy in action appeared gullible.

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  4. First let me say that the Park issue has nothing to do with club issue. Secondly, I/nor my corporation was ever charged with any criminal charges in regards to alchohol or the dog incident .In the six years the club was in operation, 2 individuals who where not associated with the business were charged with possesing liquor and pled guilty,both admitting no connection to the club. In regards to the dog incident, my former manager was charged and immediatly fired, he committed this crime unbeknownst to myself, I trusted him as the only person with a set of keys to the club. It was poor judgement of me to do this, i did not condone nor participate in any of the crimes. Im not going to go on defending myself because I have moved on past this unfortunate time in my life. In regards to my support for Tony, When i met Tony, I was reaching out to the city for help in hiring APD for security at my establishment , and he was the only one who offered to hear my concerns. Another reason I support Tony is that he was a police officer and resident in Allentown for a long time and he cares about this town. He beleives in transparency in government,which Pawlowski does not.
    Thank You
    G. Frey Sr.

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  5. You mean in summertime, Wetizel could find no one to babysit his little children so he could have stayed and participated in the "vision" of Cedar Creek Park?

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  6. How does Mr. Frey support his family now that his club is closed?

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  7. just watched your video. Mr. Frey is accurate about parking issues at the pavilion area as last week's health care rally drew several hundred cars, and they parked everywhere and anywhere in the neighborhood. One can only imagine what is about to happen when park dept. (we think said) it plans to add another pavilion to the two already in existence. Again, we can be wrong about the additional pavilion.

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  8. Man, If Ed Pawlowski Lied to the Churches leaders for support and tried to make the cedar beach issue into a racism thing ,that is just very sad. If he lies to a church ,imagine how much other stuff he lies about. He just lost my vote.

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  9. Wow D'amore was quick to intervene in the last question asked of the mayor. I wish that one would have been answered. Talk about seperation of church and state.

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  10. "guy breaks laws and contributes to the incumbent mayor's opponent"

    The anonymous personal attack. Gee, quelle surprise. Why do those always appear whenever Pawlowski is challenged?

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  11. "You mean in summertime, Wetizel could find no one to babysit his little children so he could have stayed and participated in the "vision" of Cedar Creek Park?"

    Actually, Weitzell had his children w/ him that evening, following Lady McBeth's orders. So Pawlowski was definitely off.

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  12. "park dept. (we think said) it plans to add another pavilion to the two already in existence. Again, we can be wrong about the additional pavilion."

    That;s what they said. But remember, that plan is just a vision.

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  13. Just wanted to thank you Bernie for doing what WFMZ, The Morning Call and the city itself failed to do and that was... video the meeting for those who couldn't attend or could not fit in the room.

    Shame on those (I mentioned) for their lack of providing transparency even though they may speak of it. This is the only coverage of that meeting anywhere.

    Those providers have enormous budgets and somehow found it financially undoable to tape and upload.. while Bernie spent only for a couple of batteries and of his time. Their failures to do so speaks volumes. It's pretty dam sad that bloggers are the only watchdogs left. And they do it with ZERO funding. Even criticized, in multiple instances, by these very same for doing so.

    "Town Hall Meetings" don't exist in Allentown. It seems this is the only way we can get one!

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  14. LVCI, Thanks for the kind words. I'm terrible w/ video, but wanted to get portions of that meeting up so people could see for themselves. I thought the frey-Pawlowski exchange was important, as were the comments of the citizens. I was frankly appalled by Guridy and Howells and should have taped them, too.

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  15. "the Mayor attempted to get some local churches to play the race card."

    This is nothing new from our Mayor , this is one of his frequently used tactics, the difference here is that someone actually called his bluff on it!

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  16. The Mayor's Worst NightmareAugust 17, 2009 at 10:56 AM

    These are the top 6 things I can recall that standout to me as some of The Mayor's failures

    1. The Mayor lied about a surplus in the budget
    2. Everyone knows about His pay to play antics
    3.The closing down of small businesses (which is his agenda) (all of whom did not use any grant /taxpayer money)
    4. his ignoring of 3 months of illegal alchohol sales at the Golf course (Brew works)
    5. His constant promises to churches (grants,buildings,land to relocate,jobs)in an effort to capture voter support and in exchange for city jobs
    examples:
    Ismael Arcelay(Life Church)Mayors Assistant,
    D. Jones (life Church)(Lehigh comissioner),
    Sammy Martinez(weed and Seed)(life church)
    Pastor Charles (3rd Day-Midnight Basketball)
    Pastor Randy (Life Church-Midnight Basketball)
    Kevin Easterling (Life Church(Parks).


    6. economic development , He has not made any significant improvement in bringing in Tax paying Business and/or Jobs created.
    K.O.Z. And Tax - exempt types are not economic development

    I encourage everyone to please feel free to add more that i might have Forgotten. Let's see how many we can come up with!

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  17. What Anon 10:56 presents is unbelievable.

    Just imagine in the private sector that was your record. Imagine if one of those citations were true.

    Would you still have a job?

    I watched only two of Bernie's videos regarding this issue - the one of Mr. Geza Frey and the one of Mr. Michael Molovinsky. Those videos are incredible.

    Those two videos should awaken and open the eyes of most people.

    Bernie, you don't have any dirt on me, do you???

    Peace, ~~Alex

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  18. Hmmm! - Guy loves the mayor of Allentown. Hates the Morning Call, their legal representative and the DA.

    But the legal representatives partner is a snake in the riparrian grass (not poisonous, Dr. 10,000 snake bites will assure you).

    So the snake in the riparrian grass is best buds with King Edwin who this guys loves to kiss up to and interview on his blog.

    Now how do you rationalize and justify that connection? Something seems to be missing here.

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  19. P.S. Riparrian Grass Snake = Trexler Trust trustee. Now is it clear?

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  20. For a guy from the other side of town when I spoke about issues related to the Cedar Beach Issue I was on mark ... Examples --- Flooding, parking, statements of proponents, and playground requirements .... When the developer of the plan tried to answer for Council a point I had raised, City Council President said my time was up when in actuallity the developer did most of the speaking and I still had things to say .... I told D'Amore my time was not up and kept on speaking ... Hey I was on the mark concerning legislator per diems too at the County Commissioner meeting .... I thinking now that I can say anything outrageous and it won't be reporting ...The so-called political loser but political winner in the real positive sense .. But then again I better not say that then it will be reported ... And I would be slammed unmercifully .. Oh shut up Dennis, They might say to me that I can come into the room, but be quiet please ... No political waves please .. We don't want to listen to yo ... You deserve to be listened to but we don't want too so there .. Even issues related to your own back yard you can not speak on ... Even your home ... This is the outer limits we control the horizontal, the vertical, etc. Your qualified but the powers that be don't want that secret known ...

    signed ---

    Dennis Pearson

    P.S. why can't I make Googe work

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  21. Dennis, You have every right to address your government.

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  22. Hey angry priest, aka you are no Freddy Blaise, in the private sector with that record he would be head of a health insurance company or at least a Wall St. CEO.

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  23. Is that a compliment? Maybe I don't read so well?

    Peace, ~~Pencil Neck Geek

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  24. Hey Big Bossman, angry priest, I think Ohare has at least a half dozen warrents out on him.

    Time to "Give him some nightstick justice".

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