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Thursday, June 14, 2012
Commonwealth Court To Hear NIZ Arguments in ... September
The Commonwealth Court has ordered all parties involved in the NIZ litigation to file briefs, and will hear arguments in September. With that timetable, I think there is no way Allentown can float bonds and build a hockey arena in time for next year's season. Private funding is a possibility, might be viewed as a very risky investment.
23 comments:
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O'Hare putting his usually spin on things. It will be heard in September because the court is in recess till then. However, O'Hare fails to mention that and tries to make things sound worse than they are?
ReplyDelete!*
DeleteUm, it won't be heard until September. Given that timetable, I don't see a decision for at least another month. Assuming that the townships lose, there will be no time to float bonds and build a hockey arena this year unless there is private financing. It does not matter why the case will not be heard until then. What dies matter is that when it finally is heard, it will be too late to do a damn thing. And that assumes the Townships lose.
ReplyDeleteWhat about if Browne and cronies amend the law Bernie?
ReplyDeleteI suspect that if they remove the EIT, that will satisfy the concerns of most townships. Whether the statute is unconstitutional ill no longer have any direct bearing on them.
ReplyDeletePoint of Order. The briefing schedule is only for the POs, not for the underlying merits of that case. That is why the intervenor's brief is due first. If the law gets amended first, I imagine you will see additional POs filed noting the mootness of petitioner's case as they would be divested of standing.
ReplyDeleteBernie, I don't understand why the municipalities don't take the Allentown settlement deal. If the NIZ law gets amended and the EIT is cut out, then they get the same result the mayor offered but without the 1% development kickback. If this amendment is going to happen, they would be insane not to take the settlement.
ReplyDeletePublius, Actually, a demurrer pretty much addresses the merits. But let's assume you are right about this being preliminary. That just means even more delay, well beyond September. And if the NIZ is changed to remove the EIT tax grab, most townships will likely be happy to walk away bc they will get pretty much what they asked for.
ReplyDeleteSome say they could gain more by participating in that development fund, but (1) that is illegal; and (2) they don't trust Pawlowski.
Publius, you misread the townships and their level of justified distrust for Pawlowski Aside from his complete lack of tansparency, he lied to them. His Financial Advisor promised in bruary that he's be back in March with answers to all their questions, as well as the figures. The following month, he failed to appear. Someone in the office said she had the figures and would have them out the next day or so. Then about a week later, there was an email stating the figures would be supplied by, of all people, Senator Browne. After that, Pawlowski finally sent a letter saying the figures would be released in June.
ReplyDeleteAs if this were not bad enough, city officials denied having information n a Palmer Tp RTK request, though it was later revealed that information had been supplied to the state.
On top of the stonewalling and lies, Allentown has been playing games with RTK requests addressed to multiple townships.
They do not trust the Pawlowski administration. They think they would be insane to participate in an illegal development fund taken from an unconstitutional law with a Mayor who has lied to them.
The only resolution is amedning the law.
Well, it is stupid if they don't get involved in the development fund. Because I guarantee you no court in this Commonwealth would upset a brokered agreement on something so political. There are, after all, very convincing arguments that the law is in fact totally legal (and constitutional).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't believe that the P.O. is being raised in the nature of a demure--instead it would fall under Pa.R.C.P. 1028(a)(2) (failure to conform to rules of court, etc.). The proper procedural motion there is a motion to strike. And you are right, it might just cause more delay, but, if the defect cannot actually be procedurally cured, i.e., joining every municipality in the country, it might just be over in September.
Bernie. The argument that the townships didn't have the numbers back in January is insane. Back in February I actually did some back of the envelope calculations in the comment section to you blog and came within about 10% of the actual numbers. Chris Coacca using another methodology did the same thing and also came out right about on the money. If the municipalities couldn't have done the same with access to their own tax info they are pretty lame at their jobs. They must have known they were talking about peanuts all along but they wanted to make a political point. If they really cared about not being able to put "salt on the roads" like Finnigan opined about in the Morning Call then they would be happy to take the development money. But, no, is just silly politics--it was a game and it ended up hurting everyone. That's dumb.
ReplyDeleteIt is not insane. It is reality. Of course, many could do estimates of their own, but would not be sure until they saw the exact figures telling them how much was being stolen. Having been promised that information, they had a right to rely on it. After the promise was repeatedly broken, they had a right to question the credibility of Allentown.
ReplyDeleteWant to talk about insanity? It's insane to do business with someone who steals from you and then lies about how much he has stolen.
I hope this goes to court and the city/state wins. The lawsuit against the plaintiffs for the delay costs is going to be huge. They will wish they dropped the deal.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the lawyers that Allentown and the state have hired? Big names from Philly and Pittsburgh. Little old Bethlehem lawyers stand no chancen .
They will love reading your assessment. Gee, I had no idea that a quality of a lawuyer is determined by where he hangs his shingle.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteGov. Corbett has created a siminlar arrangement for SHELL OIL.
Dear Anon 1:35,
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, fancy lawyers from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh can't MAKE ME buy overpriced tickets to the transformative $ 220.0 million dollar Palace of Sport.
Sue the pants of that concept sometime!
:0
"off of that"
ReplyDeleteYou get the message.
The ILL-WILL and BAD BLOOD will last a long, long time even after the PALACE of SPORT has been ram-rodded down my throat.
Can you say, "Public Relations Disaster"?
Yes, I know you can!
MR. ROGERS IN THE NIZ NEIGHBORHOOD
(2) they don't trust Pawlowski.
ReplyDeleteThere you have it! Problem Number 1 is that the region's townships and boroughs do not trust this guy. His letter he sent reaching out to the townships and boroughs did more harm than good since his diplomatic skills are deplorable. A better leader would have met with the townships and boroughs ahead of the legislation with credible data on EIT, inspired some trust and this whole mess could have been avoided. That IS Pawlowski's hole in the ground!
I love arrogant NIZ Cheerleader Lawyers.
ReplyDeleteArrogant NIZ Cheerleader Lawyers are just so special and wonderful.
I kiss their ass.
They will figure out how to FORCE the stupid taxpayers to buy Phantoms tickets becuase they are too smart for everyone.
And then they will give me free tickets to Chairman Pawlowski's VIP Box because I shill for them!
SHAMELESS BOOTLICKER
"THEY WANT THE HOLE"
ReplyDelete"There's a certain class of middle-aged white guy who doesn't care about the massive practical consequences real people would suffer if the Lehigh Valley's biggest city get stuck with a giant hole downtown, because it's about Teh Principle (yes, please refer to original draft credited below)!
How dare they take 10 cents a year from me to help those brown people!
Assholes."
written by JON GEETING
http://www.jongeeting.net/?p=6533
-----------------------------
NIZ Cheerleaders with the Progressive Liberal Democrat playbook play the Race Card - AGAIN.
Who would have thunk?
"How dare they take 10 cents a year from me to help those brown people!
ReplyDeleteAssholes."
???
That was a joke? right?
What "brown" people will benefit from this hockey arena?
Final arguements will not be heard until 2013 .... trust me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, rewritting the law and taking out the EIT does not settle the constitutional issue.
This will not be settle quickly and it this point who would want to buy bonds with all the negative publicity concerning this arena project????
Believe it or not the Morning Call put up a story about the NIZ this morning.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-pa-arena-law-20120614,0,4850824.story