Governor Corbett's revised budget, which appears likely to be his final budget, will reduce funding for seven human services programs by 10%, or $84 million. Those programs provide support for the mentally challenged, the homeless, the disabled, the weakest and most vulnerable segment of our society. Those who have no lobbyists clamoring for them in the land of midnight payraises.For years, CACLV's Alan Jennings has boasted that he is their voice. He sure has a strange way of showing it in his latest polemic - A Revelation.
Instead of uttering a peep for them at this crucial time, Jennings instead complains about municipal opposition to Allentown's controversial Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ). Never mind that it's an unconstitutional law that diverts local tax revenue from townships and small boroughs and into the hands of greedy developers. Never mind that the state is suffering from dwindling revenue. Never mind that $15 million in hijacked cigarette and state income taxes would go a long way to helping restore those cuts.
Jennings would rather complain about the use of his state taxes to pay for interstates, forgetting that he has a voice in electing the people who make those decisions. He never bothers to point out that townships and small boroughs have no say in the election of Allentown officials.
Taxation without representation. I thought we fought a Revolutionary War over that little principle.
Playing the race card, Jennings goes on to claim that "most of us in Allentown look different than our suburban neighbors."
Really?
Gee Alan, I'm a white male, well past the age of fifty, with thinning hair, and I don't live in Center City. I look a helluva' lot like you!
The only real transformation in Allentown will be in the collective net worth of a few well connected real estate developers and hockey team owners. The poor will remain poor.
And voiceless.
But as white guy Michael Molovinsky observes, LV bluebloods will throw Jennings a bone or two if he continues waving the pom poms.
30 comments:
Alan needs to stop blogging late at night.
If CACLV had a board with any teeth, it'd tell Alan to stop it. CACLV isn't just about Allentown and it isn't just about the "we are the victims" line he's tiredly drug out time and time again.
War on Poverty is the longest war America has been in and we've never won a battle. Perhaps it's time for new generals.
What kills me is there is no reason for his rant. None. The issue appears to be decided. And at a crucial time in the state budgeting process, he wastes his time and CACLV resources to drive a wedge between townships and cities. A white guy who does NOT live in center city, he still manages to play the race card. And at the same time, wonders why we all can't just get along. Incredible.
Alan, instead of moving the agenda of JB Reilly, I thought your mission was to help the poor and disadvantaged. Instead, you are comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted.
I'm unwilling to go that far. I believe Jennings has a good heart and has done much good. But his stance on the NIZ, and his willingness to let it distract him from his core mission, is very troubling to me. I have said this to Alan in person. he knows how I feel. I suggest that if you want to call him a "fraud and failure," you should have the decency to identify yourself. I have no problem with anonymous observations. I do have a problem with anonymous personal attacks. Take a look at the first comment criticizing Alan. It is not personal.
The poor will no live right next to a major employment center.
The poor will now live right next to a major employment center.
But not for them.
The problem with Jennings is that he's too much of a victim.
It's always somebody else's fault or somebody oppressing someone else.
It's never been about empowerment and personal responsibility.
Here are the facts. Jennings makes almost $100K. Poverty is worse, not better (that $100K buys a lot of meals and blankets). He's part if an industry that skims as much money through "administration" as they actually deliver to the needy. When the chips were down, Jenninfs threw in with those who view the poor and minorities as a cancer to be cut out. He' s a phony, evil, false prophet. His entire career has been a sham. Facts are facts.
BO: Great summation. I'd say Alan is a disappointment and leave it there.
VOR
"SOCCER DENYING IMPOVERISHED CITY SHOWS STADIUM RISK : MUNI CREDIT"
by Romy Varghese
www.bloomberg.com
06/21/2012
-------------
must read material for all NIZ Cheerleaders about the "success" of PPL Park in Chester, PA
I have been a supporter of CACLV and Alan Jennings for many years. I believe Alan has been one of the most influential Lehigh Valley citizens for over a quarter century. He has accomplished things that few others could and has never used his influence to accumulate great wealth for himself. Over the years his methods have usually involved creating coalitions of people with various economic, social and political beliefs and uniting them to address issues on which they could find common ground. These issues have included banking and credit practices, housing, homelessness, hunger and urban investment. It is a great surprise to me that Alan has not perceived that the only common ground uniting most people in regard to the NIZ is the offense that they are taking to the egregious actions involved in both its development and implementation. Many liberals, conservatives and moderates can find much more to dislike in the current NIZ than they can find any grounds for its encouragement. For most people, this is not about disdain for Allentown itself or its residents. It is about a policy and methodology that is wrong on so many levels that it creates a unity of opposition, not a broad base of support.
According to The Morning Call, the average cost of a minor league hockey rink built in the last 10 years is $ 80.0 million dollars, oddly enough.
No one has ever built a hockey rink for more than $ 100.0 million dollars with a minor league team as the main tenant.
Chairman Pawlowski's transformative Palace of Sport is reportedly expected to cost $ 158.0 million dollars.
(before the cost overruns, which WILL arrive)
Have a nice day, Alan Jennings.
http://www.goironpigs.com
A $50K grant to the City of Allentown for Semiquincentinnial (250th) Celebration. Now we know who paid for the banners and design of the new logo.
Let's talk about this alleged racism by Lehigh Valley realtors.
Will CACLV actually publish a report or is this just another hit and run news conference?
I'm surprised LVAR has been so tolerant of Jennings and his group regarding this. I'd be fighting mad being accused of being racist with no facts backing up the assertion.
Quoting Bloomberg:
“Stadiums tend not to be good neighbors at developing the areas around them,” said Victor Matheson, who teaches sports economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. People are often “grasping at straws” when they turn to such venues in hopes of spurring economic gains in depressed communities, he said.
ryan conrad, ceo of the realtors, is a NIZ, networker and administration supporter. he supported the administration's point of home sale law, which puts the city between a seller and buyer, despite dozens of private inspection services. if he puts the city in front of the homeowners, why shouldn't he put jennings ahead of his own realtors. privately, many of them resent the organization and it's member fees.
Alan Jennings has made a life out of supporting programs to increase poverty ( he's succeeded) in order to insure his continued employment as a professional assistance skimmer. He wouldn't stop to piss on the poor were they aflame before him. They are cancer, remember.
This conrad guy sat in as the head administration law judge in a hearing against the slumlord next to me that is destroying my property every storm. At the barristers club the local beer joint for lawyers, realators sit in to protect the people for judges.
Going to be a sight when the long arm of the law smite them?
A fact as it relates to some fellow citizens: "Sometimes, people aren't working because they will not work."
Even if the 7th to 8th to Linden to Hamilton site becomes a big employment opportunity for presently out of work minorities, there's a really great chance that you will still see people hangin' around, up to no good, gettin' pregnant, lookin' for trouble.
I am waiting for someone to demonstrate to me that Allentown is somehow different than, say, Reading. Or is it really different than Chester, or say, Camden? We can readily see how stadiums have turned those failing urban war zones into hip, chic, trendy urban attractions, haven't we?
On the issue of development, Allentown should do what they damn well please, only do not use my tax dollars for a stadium. In one man's opinion though, Allentown stands about as much chance of climbing out of its hole with the stadium as did Reading, Chester and Camden, plus numerous other cities across the USA. I am betting Allentown ends up with an underutilized $200 million gym, surrounded by some office buildings, which cannot help solve the fundamental problems which have brought this once proud city to the current depths.
Alan Jennings? I'm surprised and disappointed in the direction he is heading.
VOR
Bernie, The Allentown debt crisis just made the New York Times:
With No Vote, Taxpayers Stuck With Tab on Bonds
Published: Tuesday, 26 Jun 2012 | 11:47 AM ET
"Such situations leave states facing painful quandaries, Ms. Reinhart said. In Pennsylvania, not only are Scranton and Harrisburg struggling with bond guarantees, but another troubled city, Allentown, is defending itself against lawsuits by surrounding communities, accusing it of a convoluted plan to make their residents backstop an authority’s bonds for a new hockey arena. Construction has stopped on the arena, and residents are living with a big hole in the ground and a cloud of uncertainty."
Such a high profiled article will do wonders for the marketability of Atown bonds.
I saw that, and think the article is assuming these will be GO bonds.
Bernie -
If not GO bonds, then what? I thought that was part of the reason they wanted the local EIT in the mix.
Have they formally announced the type of bonds they'll be selling, or is that just another secret surprise waiting for us?
Anonymous said...
Let's talk about this alleged racism by Lehigh Valley realtors.
Will CACLV actually publish a report or is this just another hit and run news conference?
I'm surprised LVAR has been so tolerant of Jennings and his group regarding this. I'd be fighting mad being accused of being racist with no facts backing up the assertion.
1:56 PM
good post.
Considering LVAR agents are registered with the state and all showing appts are recorded, this story seems hard to believe.
The NIZ is a complete fraud. Will help none of those that need help the most. The NIZ will do for Allentown what the casinos did for Atlantic City. Still a run down and corrupt city. How many of AC's mayors have gone to jail? Let's also look at who already got hosed in the NIZ. The poor snooks that sold their property with the threat of condemnation pressuring them to move. Once the NIZ legal fiasco gets settled, probably later this week in Harrisburg, it may dawn on the sellers that their property was really worth many multiples of what they received as compensation. Alan and his buddies can take credit for that.
This is just a publicity stunt, ryan conrad and the kings head cheerleader jiggles and giggles were seen at sangria's bustin a slob? Alans in on it with the morning gag?
Jennings is a relic of failed government hand out programs. The guy in your picture is typical of the bums that he advocates for.
Who do you think runs the CACLV Board but two of Stoffa top Economic development people. Connect the dots and it all becomes clear.
Don't you ever get tired of blaming everything on Stoffa? This is why i delete you. You are not even rational. Go get help.
LVHN is supposed to have a banner financial year. One of it's best.
Imagine that. In one of the most challenging economic periods in history.
Are they Jennings friendly? Maybe a new source of funds to help the poor.
Allen is very bright,not an idiot.
He is/has been/a sell out.
He pals around with the big white money guys,not the folks.
The last thing he wants is a board with brains or balls to challenge his bullshit ego runs. He wants true believers.
He's had some descent board members over the years and it's always ended badly.
He has never been a coalition builder unless he's in charge or it serves his purpose. His ego is too big for coalition building.
Emma T said it years ago,"Allen Jennings thinks he's Allentowns own Jesus Christ." And you can look that up.
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