Allentown's NIZ is a 130-acre tract (40 acres downtown and 90 acres along the riverfront) set aside for redevelopment in legislation that applies only to the Queen City. Virtually all state taxes, as well as the EIT of workers within the NIZ, will be used to help finance a hockey arena, luxury hotel, offices, parking garages and other improvements.
A legal challenge to the constitutionality of the NIZ, spearheaded by Hanover and Bethlehem Townships, has attracted a baker's dozen of local municipal government. Developer Abe Atiyeh has filed a suit as well.
Council also heard from LU Professor Steve Thode, who was there on behalf of around 50 local developers. Thde suggested the NIZ should be smaller.
Ron Angle, from the peanut gallery, thundered that Council should have joined the litigation. He called the resolution "great grandstanding, but not where you get results."
Ken Kraft, a trades union business agent representing many of the union workers who will be doing the construction, refused to disqualify himself. Council Solicitor Phil Lauer ruled there was no conflict despite my objections.
Like Kraft, Lamont McClure voted against the resolution as well. McClure said he'd prefer to sit back and "watch how this plays out."
(Translation: I don't want to piss off the unions.)
Scott Parsons appears to have voted against the resolution because it does not go far enough. "We need a seat at the table," he stated. "We should take a leadership role." Parsons likened the NIZ to "spot zoning."
As Kraft and McClure were swayed by the unions, Peg Ferraro voted NO because of her love for bluebloods. After all, she just had lunch with J.B. Reilly. "I think Allentown needs help," she stated.
Barb Thierry, who sponsored the resolution, spoke about an uneven playing field. Bruce Gilbert complained there should be a NIZ in every city. Bob Werner condemned the entire process. "Th mechanism this was built on is wrong, dead wrong," he stated.
But Council president John Cusick, who has spoken forcefully against the NIZ before, told his colleagues they wre missing an even bigger point. At the same time that the state is proposing drastic cuts for human services, it is diverting millions is state revenue "that will exclusively benefit one city and a few developers."
17 comments:
I drove by 7th and Hamilton this morning, what a beautiful, beautiful hole in the ground they have there. Nothing quite like it anywhere!! I guess they could turn it into a park!!
Once again, the county now cries about the NIZ zones while at the same time sitting idly by and letting lehigh county, Allentown, and Easton carve up all the casino money that should have gone to the county..Even half of the county's money is swallowed up by county municipalities that arent even contiguous to the casino..One of them is a player in the NIZ suit..What a joke??
Yes, the casino in the anti-NIZ, true revenue sharing. You are selfish.
Kraft blew it. Even the slightest hint of conflict should have any elected official recuse themselves from the vote as well as the discussion. Shame he did not have the balls to do the right thing!!
X games motocross track soon to be at arena loction. This all complements of Allentowns political parasites trying to fill there pockets with public funds. This is at the cost of the children so that would make a good place to play.
Wow...Cusick the voice of reason?
Gilbert..Now there's a conservative! Government handouts for the lot of ya!
Peg...it will come back to you (she had hoped, anyway). Don't worry Maggie, you'll get another chance to carry the water.
An overused cliche, but, this council surely is the bar scene from Star Wars.
The bulldog, even in exile, still willing to show them the light and the way.
-Clem
No, ZOID, Kraft did not blow it, he clearly stated that the question was run up to the state ethics committee, and the council solicitor (an angle hack) agreed that he is not in conflict by stating his opinion. If we follow your logic Angle himself should not be able to speak because he has interests in it being destroyed by litigation (just ask Abe whom he speaks so highly of all the time) and he will tell you
Word is the NIZ will allow Peg to place her trailer near the river. They had her from the words "single wide."
Boo NIZ, yeah Casino Cash give away. The tinfoil is pretty thick!
"Boo NIZ, yeah Casino Cash give away. The tinfoil is pretty thick!"
As Dr. Thode has noted before, you're comparing apples to hand grenades.
Bob Werner talks about the process was wrong. Sorry Bob but thise townships were represented by state reps that voted for it -- three years ago. The townships should blame them, not the city. But now the city recants and awards back the EIT. My union said to vote for you becasue you wanted to create jobs. I don't know who to blame -- them or Panto whose huge win and voter turnout in Easton allowed you to beat Dowd evfen though you lost the suburbs. Don't forgert where you came from --- and its only been a few months.
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The above comment is from an anonymous troll. Unable to deter people from this blog with rational argument, the troll is trying to scare you away by claiming it has a "virus." The only virus is in the demented psychology of the troll.
Anon 1:02 Blame Krill !!! If he wouldnt have run, Dowd would still be there. Please dont think Werner represents the unions, he doesnt.. Unfortunately, he'll go against the unions every chance he gets...
bt
Yet we are ok with Stoffa "gving" millions of casiino fee dollars to Lehigh County and Allentown.
The turth is like kyrptonite to O'Hare and Stoffa.
We can't rewrite history. The casino is what it is. Even if u were right....2 wrongs do not make a right. In other words let's make a better decision this time. The niz is a vacuum sucking up money from the rest of us. The whining about Stoffa and the casino is history. Move on. What we do not need on council is a majority who puts unions above the rest of us....Think about that before you vote.
Fear the truth about the casino.
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