Last Week's NIZ News

Pawlowski's hole

Its proponents claim that Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) is just the ticket to what Mayor Edwin Pawlowski has called the Queen City's "transformation." It's a special 130-acre zone, in the downtown and along the riverfront. It  includes plans for a hockey arena, office buildings, a wellness center and other improvements. But a perceived lack of transparency, and the diversion of state and township tax money to fund these projects, has done more than raise eyebrows. Lawsuits spearheaded by Hanover and Bethlehem Township have thrown a legal monkey wrench into the mix. Not only is next year's hockey schedule threatened, but the NIZ itself is under serious attack.

Here's what has happened in the last week in this fast-moving story.

Monday, May 7.

LVRamblings obtains a copy of a letter from Hanover and Bethlehem Township attorneys, rejecting Allentown's offer to settle the Townships' legal challenge. Attorneys Jim Broughal and Jim Preston complain about the City's "bad faith" refusal to release financial information, and call on the City to limit the NIZ to the area surrounding the hockey arena proposed at 7th and Hamilton Streets.

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski takes his battle to the Internet. In a blog called "Pawlowski Press," he argues that "we can either reap the benefits of this opportunity to renew Allentown or we can bear the burden of squandering it."

Zero comments.

Townships begin receiving a condescending missive from Mayor Pawlowski "to help our neighboring communities better understand the impact of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone and to clear-up various inaccuracies that have been propagated and reported in the news media."

Previously, Pawlowski has referred to places like Historic Nazareth as "the boonies of Northampton County."

The Great NIZ Debate airs on WFMZ-TV69's Business Matters. NIZ supporter Jeff barber argues that a healthy Alentown will lead to a healthy Lehigh Valley, but also refers to displaced merchants as "a bunch of cancer, and we cut the cancer out of Allentown."

"Which cancer was the merchants?" asks LU Professor Steve Thode, NIZ opponent.

Tuesday, May 8.

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski distributes "NIZ Key Talking Points" to his supporters. "There is much misinformation being propagated concerning the Allentown Areana [sic] development and the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ)," he claims in an email. "I need your help in geting [sic] the facts out."

Catasauqua Borough and Upper Saucon Township authorize their Solicitor, Jeffrey Dimmich, to file a separate constitutional challenge to the NIZ. Dimmich tells The Bethlehem Press he intends to raise issues not contained in the original litigation. He questions whether the matter can ever be settled. Other municipal bodies that have voted to sue, in one way or another, include Bethlehem, Bushkill, East Allen, Hanover, Lehigh, Lower Nazareth, Lower Saucon, Palmer, Plainfield, South Whitehall, Upper Nazareth and Whitehall Townships; Hellertown and Stockertown Boroughs; and the Whitehall-Coplay School District.

Wednesday, May 9.

Williams Township Supervisors vote unanimously to support a NIZ challenge by a statewide association of township supervisors. Township resident Joe Schiller tells the Board to keep the pressure on Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski. "Maybe he'll make the developers pay for this instead of the Townships," Schiller argues.

Thursday, May 10.

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, which represents the interests of 1,455 townships in the Commonwealth, votes to intervene in the NIZ litigation started by Hanover and Bethlehem Townships. Executive Director David Sanko tells The Express Times that the NIZ is a "license to raid your neighbor's chicken coop."

Friday, May 11.

Allentown renews its plea to accept its settlement offer. It denies withholding financial information, claiming it won't have them itself until June. It also claims that it is unable to redue the size of the NIZ because it has already incurred debt based on the 130-acre tract.

NIZ Board Chair Sy Traub and NIZ developer J.B. Reilly withdraw from a breakfast forum on NIZ ethics, to be hosted by DeSales University. Lehigh University's Dr. Stephen Thode, a vocal NIZ opponent, is one of the listed panelists.

Morning Call Columnist Paul Carpenter, in what has to go down as the most idiotic statement of the year, likens NIZ opposition to "jumping off the Titanic before it hit the iceberg."

He must be an excellent swimmer.

Former City Council member Michael Donovan, an original NIZ supporter, tells LVRamblings that the project has become too focused on enriching developers. "Nobody is thinking about the population of Allentown, but the wallets of private developers," says Donovan.

Upcoming

Will more municipal governments vote to sue, or to support the intervention by PSATS? Will anyone have breakfast with Steve Thode?

Stay tuned.