Peter Luukko, President of Comcast-Spectacor, who will operate the arena, keeps comparing the Allentown project to the John Lebatt Centre in London, Ontario as a comparable. The facilities are certainly comparable, but the cities aren't. London is a city of almost 370,000 people, about 3 times the size of Allentown. It is a major urban center in both Ontario and Canada. I'll bet the demographics of London versus Allentown are much different, too.
Gary Blockus cites the increase in restaurants and businesses around the arena site in London, after it was built, and draws the conclusion that it was the arena that did it. Perhaps, but London is a major urban center and the new nightlife and commerce could also be attributable to other factors. His "anecdotal" observations are just that, anecdotal.
He also cites Washington, DC and the Verizon Center and New York City (Bryant Park, really) as examples of how more police can clean up a city. What is he smoking?
Finally, this sports maven compares the safety of walks across suburban parking lots in Hershey, Wilkes-Barre, and even Philadelphia as comparable to the urban core travel from parking to arena in Downtown Allentown.
Holy Brew Works, Batman, we have another FDAA style apologist! And on the sports pages, no less. It sure looks as though this "column" by a Morning Call sports staffer was intended to balance the news side's questioning of the Arena, its many shortcomings and lack of transparency. I could be a cynic and say that I hear that Jeff Vaughan - mouthpiece for the Arena and J. B. Reilly brother-in-law - and Morning Call Content Editor David Venditta are old friends, but I won't, because it's probably not relevant.
One last thing, Blockus talks about how he used to walk - in 1980 when he moved to Allentown - from his apartment on South 13th Street to work at 6th and Linden Street after 4 PM and then home again after midnight with no fear. Would he do that now? A year from now? Not sure, but one thing I do know, it's going to be hard for him to do it anytime soon. He lives in Laury's Station in North Whitehall Township. That makes walking to work a bit difficult.
That's the bad news. The good news is, his EIT is not going to be driving back to North Whitehall Township and the Parkland School District with him.
It's staying in Allentown, thanks to the NIZ.
44 comments:
There's another big diference between London, Ontario and Allentown: IT'S IN CANADA.
For those who don't know it, Canadians love hockey while most Americans really don't care. That means Canadians would go to a hockey game in a blizzard or probably a war zone. Just getting Americans out of their living rooms is tough enough, but go to Allentown? Come on.
Despite the yapping from their excited cheerleaders, Easton and Allentown are still dangerous places after dark. Easton featured a daytime shooting recently, just blocks from the courthouse. These are not safe places. A police corridor can make the walk from box to parking lot a bit safer. But that doesn't come close to the eventual transformation being touted.
Again,
The arena will be a box that people will drive to. They will see or attend something inside the box. They may buy or eat something in the box. When the reason they are there is finished they will return to their cars and leave. What will happen in the box will stay in the box.
Scott Armstrong
The Lehigh Univ Prof says if the Cheerleaders had any success stories to point to, they would.
So, Abra-Cadabra ...
Welcome to captial city of Canada!
Like hell TMC pays no attention to articles and comments appearing in the local Blogosphere ...
... like hell your hard work, Comrade O'Hare, in throughly documenting this $160.0 million some-odd-dollar BLUEPRINT FOR CRONY CAPITALISM is not having a tremendous impact educating the public with respects to the facts, figures and machinations of CHAIRMAN PAWLOWSKI's PALACE of SPORT, something that USED to be the exclusive domain of the Lame Stream Media.
You are a dangerous man. And, you are extremely lucky I'm not running this People's Democratic City Without Limits ... YOU, Comrade O'Hare, would be joining Molovisnky breaking rocks in a Siberian Gulag lickety-split.
Shaibu!
VIKTOR TIKHONOV
Allentown's comparable is Reading, PA and Allentown's arena project is comparable to the Sovereign Center. Yeah, sure, the size of the facility is different, but generally the same theories and hopes and dreams apply to both projects.
It's omission in any analysis of the Allentown arena is blatant. Why? For all of Reading's interest and money, the arena has done nothing to fix the systemic problems of the City. It's still very poor.
London's metro population is roughly half of Allentown's, the population desity is roughly half, and it has a much higher non-native (Canadian or American) born population than Allentown.
If anything, Allentown's population and demographics are much more favorable to a project like this.
Dream on.
This guy should put his money where his mouth is and move to Allentown if he thinks vast improvements are on the way. Its real easy to weigh in from the comfort of the Parkland School District and from a municipality that is run competently by responsible elected officials, not by Chicago style politicians.
Yes, AHL hockey is a great product and will be successful in Allentown despite all the challenges of the site. My main objection is the unecessary black cloud hanging over every aspect of the arena from the sneaky pocket lining by the Brownes to Pawlowski's campaing contribution shakedown of every single person or company involved in the arena. For me, the politicians are creating pessimism where there should be optimism.
London is a city of almost 370,000 people, about 3 times the size of Allentown.
You'd think you'd do just a modicum of research before just blathering out another anti-Allentown, anti-sports rant.
The Lehigh Valley completely dwarfs London Ontario doubling it's metropolitan population.
Allentown metro: 816,012 people
London metro: 474,786 people
Just come out and say you hate sports and don't think we should be enjoying sports on a regional level on the taxpayers dime. That I recognize as a valid argument (by a a foo-foo writer perhaps, but otherwise valid).
The arena will be a box that people will drive to. They will see or attend something inside the box. They may buy or eat something in the box. When the reason they are there is finished they will return to their cars and leave. What will happen in the box will stay in the box.
Unless some cool shit opens up around it. All doom and gloom by the naysayers. Be positive for once in your life.
Allentown's comparable is Reading, PA and Allentown's arena project is comparable to the Sovereign Center.
Reading's metropolitan population is half that of Allentown. Again, people, a bit of context and less ass-talking.
Stop your bitching.
Stop your moaning.
Don't sweat the obvious PAY-TO-PLAY, CRONY CAPITALISM, what have you and buy tickets to the $ 160.0 million dollar PALACE of SPORT now.
Or else!!!
FUTURE DOWNTOWN ARENA ATTENDEE's MINOR LEAGUE GOON SQUAD
"Less ass-talking"
Sorry.
Still ain't buyin' no stinkin' ice hockey tickets.
But, feel free to hurl insults at the people you are trying oh so hard to sway!
NED BRADEN
Why must we go all the way to Canada to find a "success story"?
"Unless some cool shit opens up around it."
You mean gunfights and mayhem and chalk outlines? That's cool shit. Allentown is Dodge City set to hip hop music. People who keep up on news and fear for their personal safety aren't going to Allentown. The relative size of Reading to Allentown to a city in another country doesn't matter when you've been shot or stabbed.
Yes, I hate sports, especially ice hockey, as one might clearly ascertain from visiting :
http://www.goironpigs.com
And NO, I just do not think the Government, be it local, State or Federal, should be in the risky business of financing magnificent $ 160.0 million dollar PALACES of SPORT ...
... particularly at a time when THE MORNING CALL runs front page headlines decrying the Commonwealth of PA as being $ 500.0 million dollars in the red.
Okay, smear time!
Arena proponents have lost all credibility in evaluating the arena's cost and benefits.
When I watched Sara Hailstone's chilling responses to Craven's questions on the WFMZ report about paying too much for properties, I was convinced that this project has no benefit of critical thinking and Alelntown's leadership and staff will do absolutely anything to accomplish this project.
Reading and Allentown are surely comparable, regardless of size. Both their downtown areas, blocks in each direction, are comprised of census tracts of poor minorities with high unemployment living in blocks of rental housing in old housing stock, with the majority of kids in their school districts on free and reduced lunch.
And in Reading, the arena did nothing to help that poverty situation, nor the financial situation of Reading. It still had to do Act 47. It still has a massive deficit.
One argument in favor of Allentown's arena over the Sovereign Center is the level of hockey. The AHL Phantoms will draw Flyers fans and other attendees from as far away as the Poconos, Philadelphia metro and western New Jersey, whereas the ECHL Reading Royals might only draw from the immediate Berks County area. Also, the Phantoms in Allentown will generate some nice regional rivalries with the Hershey Bears and SWB Pens (Imagine a Winter Classic at J. Birney Crum!). That said, the arena will not transform Allentown and is likely a $160 million boondoggle.
Allentown would have been better served by creating the NIZ and using the profits to bulldoze blocks in each direction and develop new housing to build a new middle class that can rebuild the taxbase and support the downtown.
The arena will be fun but you'll spend a ton of money for a few pounds of impact. Everybody's got an arena. It's this decade's version of an intermodal building. No city was ever turned around because of it's presence.
AHL franchises don't stay in any city for too long. What is the plan after the Phantoms leave (and history indicates they will in fewer than ten years)?
This project was not properly vetted and has lots of shaky question marks.
Frankly, so what if a sports writer supports the arena. The Call has been anything other than a cheerleader about it, nor about much else that happens for the positive in the Valley.
I, for one, am pretty pleased about it and expect it to be a success. What happens around it will depend on the guts and entrepreneurship of others, but the anchor is there.
As for walking around downtown, I had a downtown office for 15 years, from the late 80s into the early 2000's and never had a problem with crime, night or day, on the street or at the building. I'm not naive about the issue and you have to be careful anywhere, but let's not over-blow the risk.
Finally something positive is happening in downtown Allentown and I refuse to let the usual naysayers think their carping is going kill it before it even happens.
Bernie: I've been to London, Ontario. There is absolutely NO COMPARISON between London and Allentown. Demographics and crime rates are also not even close. London is very clean for a city it's size and you are very safe virtually anywhere in the city at any time of day. This writer does not know what he's talking about. Plus, hockey in Canada vs. the USA is not a fair comparison either.
I have been following your coverage of this closely and don't disagree with many of your criticisms - particularly the ridiculous conflicts of interest. Its just a game of chess for insiders. In addition, the PA EIT law at issue here makes no policy sense at all. However, it's projects like this that urban planners have been pushing for a few years now as a way of downtown revitalization. In some cases, it works. Downtown Cleveland and the Baltimore harbor area are examples of where it can help.
But I think this arena will have serious access problems that I don't see have been addressed. At this point, I just don't know if I'll feel comfortable bringing my kids there.
The Phantoms will have 38 home dates a season. Attendance will depend on the quality of the product on the ice. Hershey does well in attendance because they are consistent winners (60-20 two seasons ago, for example).
But, remember this: if the Phantoms average 6,000 a game over the course of the season, that's less than 230,000 total.
Musikfest draws that many in one weekend. Without a large, indoor venue.
Retired ASD teacher here.
Musikfest's attendance is GREATLY exaggerated, but I see your point.
True financial gain comes to an area when persons who would not otherwise be here come to visit. They need food, fuel, and sometimes lodging. They might also shop someplace new to them.
When locals spend their money at an Allentown arena venue, most will just be shifting their payments from one local vendor to another.
The key will be staging events that bring in a significant amount of visitors from outside the Lehigh Valley.
North American Traveler here
Take me out to an Ice Hockey game; Take me out the Crowd; Buy me some Brockwurst and some beverage tonight; Be careful to get out of town tonight; Root, Root for the Phantoms; If they don't win its a shame. For its one, two, three goals you have a wonderful...... hat trick ,
And you know what the crowd may react by throwing hats, teddy bears, rubber ducks, rubber hoses, brass knuckles, knives and guns to the ice.
Ice Hockey is a great game in persons. I remember seeing the Flyers in person during the Stanley Cup Years. Ice Hockey is king in Canada. Baseball had its day in Toronto when the Blue Jays were the Kings of Baseball. And in those years I was lucky to get a ticket to the Sky Dome now called Rodgers Center.
If the Bethlehem Steel forced me to go to Lackawana after the closure of the Plant in Bethlehem , Toronto would have been the closest Major League City to me. But the closest Ice Hockey team would have been the Sabres with Maple Leafs in Toronto being the Second Closet. For Football I would have the Bills(Andre Reed) and Canadian teams in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and London.
Allentown Stadium is not comparable to the sovereign center for one simple reason. The main tenet will be the Phantoms who are the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers a very popular NHL team 1 hr south. No offense to the Reading Royals (I've went a couple Royals games and enjoyed them....) but they are an affiliate of a team 7 hours away and play in some independent league. You have to love Hockey to watch them. Casual fans will go watch the Phantoms since they are an affiliate of the Flyers. They regularly drew very very well at the Wachovia center competing directly with the big club and the dozen or so other pro teams in the area. Don't underestimate the value of an anchor like the Flyers
The Phantoms are here to stay. The big league club likes their farm team an hour away. It's why the Philllies wanted Allentown for their AAA team. The Phantoms will draw back a lot of their old base of fans. They will fight - a lot - and that will always bring crowds.
The biggest impact will be concerts. If they can get Live Nation or something running the show, they will get some big acts.
As for the access issue, the Fairgrounds concert venue holds nearly 15,000 people. Add the Fair attendance to that and it's WAY more than will attend a Phantoms game. Traffic isn't that bad and the Fairgrounds are arguably in a more difficult location.
Wow.. How are you going to respond to all these people who believe that the arena is going to incredible?
Since Rolf posts multiple comments on each post it looks like there is a bigger hate group than there really is. You also have people who post here like Scott who has been a huge opponent that anything that the Mayor does dating back 4 years ago.
Get it through your head that this is an amazing project and everyone will win from it. I cant wait to opening night and watch a video like this on the jumbotron. Why you hold your breath and stop your feet like a 5 year old in Nazareth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMcXkbfLdrE
Also it is hilarious that Emmaus reports that they will lose a 30K at most a year from EIT... cry me a river.. 30K is a joke.
To add to that, the population of Emmaus is 11,313. I will be liberal and say that there is four people living in each house that is in Emmaus. Taking that number and dividing it by 30K will equal and increase of taxes of 10 per year. That it itself is a hilarious. $10?!?!?! That is it?
Retired ASD teacher here.
Assuming you are correct, SoonTOBe..,
I say, drop the entire measure from the ordinance. It's just not worth all the ill will, bad PR, etc.
Here's a project that will approach $200 million dollars. Who needs a few pennies from Emmaus and other municipalities?
The concept can't be so fragile that we need to scrape a few crumbs from the tables of others.
"The Phantoms are here to stay?"
Really?
Once upon a time, the Phantoms were literally freakin' right across the street from the Flyers ...
... but what would I know?
http://www.goironpigs.com
"CHAIRMAN PAWLOWSKI's ICE HOCKEY HISTORY FOR DUMMIES : PHILADELPHIA FLYERS' FARM CLUBS"
PS - Today is my birthday. I am very happy to see someone actually spelled my name correctly. Thanks, you would be amazed!
PS II - I think it should be "STOMP your feet"
:)
Alles gute zum Geburtstag!
Who needs a few pennies from Emmaus and other municipalities?
Why shouldn't the municipalities chip in a few pennies since their citizens will surely benefit culturally from the development? Hell, maybe someone might actually go to their podunk town on the way home.
IronPigPen - Um, they razed the Phantoms home arena. Of course they had to move. I think you should look into how minor league affiliates interact with their big league teams.
And enough with the ridiculous posts already. It was funny the first 17 times, now it's just sad.
Will spectators be able to carry concelled weapons into the Arena? They'll need them when they leave after dark!
Retired ASD teacher here.
9:02am-
Because this type of taxing behavior sets a DANGEROUS precedent!
Anon 9:04,
You do know that the American Hockey League went through 63 DIFFERENT CITIES in its first 73 years of existance, right?
Please, don't take my word for it. Do the actual research. Facts are a stubborn thing.
Anon 9:04,
I HAVE researched how the Philadelphia Flyers interact with their American Hockey League affiliates.
Here is what I discovered :
Quebec City, QUE ... 67/68 to 70/71
Richmond, VA ... 71/72 to 75/76
Springfield, MA ... 76/77
Portland, ME ... 77/78 to 82/83
Springfield, MA ... 83/84
Hershey, PA ... 84/85 to 95/96
Philadelphia, PA ... 96/97 to 08/09Glens Falls, NY ... 09/10 to present
Looks like the Flyers' AHL farm club affiliate gets around.
I sincerely wonder how long they will stick around at Chairman Pawlowski's magnificent $ 160.0 million dollar Palace of Sport?
I mean, hey, look at the history!
I think comparing Allentown to Reading is appropriate because many arena-proponents insist on saying that the arena in the downtown will "change Allentown's fortunes." I don't feel that Allentown's fortunes can change because there is a downtown arena, and I would always point to Reading because:
-Reading's demographics are alarmingly similar, with respect to city population, to percentage of minorities, and by income and crime.
The size of Berks County v. Lehigh Valley is less critical that you think, compared to the others.
If you are hanging your hat on this $150 Million arena becoming a magnet, drawing visitors, who will then "discover" Allentown, encouraging them to invest in Allentown, to move to Allentown and to make Allentown whiter and more affluent (that's what you're implying), I and others are just saying that that's a real stretch.
Allentown does need to become more safe and more affluent, with more stake-holders that sideline sitters and welfare receipients, but the way to do it probably does not include a trip or two through the "Palace of Sport".
VOR
How much of THEIR OWN MONEY do the Brooks Brothers have invested in Chairman Pawlowski's magnificent $ 160.0 million dollar PALACE of SPORT?
I am talking about cash UP FRONT, not the amount of rental payments the Phantoms are expected to be making in the first few seasons.
Coca-Cola (Taxpayer?) Park cost roughly 50.0 million dollars to build. Lehigh County took out a bond for roughly $ 30.0 million dollars (which the IronPigs HAVE done well to pay back so far) ... So, the IronPigs put up about $ 20.0 million of THEIR OWN MONEY FIRST.
How much are the Phantoms kicking in UP FRONT FIRST?
Never, ever forget ...
... once upon a time ...
I tried to go to bat for Coca-Cola Park when The Morning Call ran a fateful article "WHY ARE WE FINANCING STADIUMS?".
What a nasty little experience THAT was!
Where were all the Cheerleaders when I was at the plate for Coca-Cola Park and the college professors were throwing serious 105 mph heat and clucking me flush on the head?
Good thing I had my helmet on.
No, some things are not forgotten and never will be.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/24/pennsylvania-city-pays-big-bucks-to-buy-off-businesses-clear-way-for-arena/?test=latestnews
We made National News!! Fox picked this up.
"Why shouldn't the municipalities chip in a few pennies since their citizens will surely benefit culturally from the development? Hell, maybe someone might actually go to their podunk town on the way home.
9:02 AM"
I drive to Emmaus from a northern Norco township often. Shangy's, Lee Gribbens on Main, The original Armetta's, a real cool country furnishings store my wife digs, etc. Don't need no stinkin' arena to draw me in. Safe, clean, welcoming. I gladly spend my money there.
Now, I did by a cup of coffee at the DD on 7th St once last year. Drive thru of course, and two drinks at virtually deserted Cosmo ('cept Mayor Mancave was alone eating dinner at the bar) to see what all the hub-bub was about.
Trust me - Allentown needs them way more than they need Allentown.
-Clem
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