I ask that question in a news analysis for this week's
Bethlehem Press. I do question whether Historic downtown and South side merchants can compete against a new Promenade at the publicly subsidized Martin Tower, where zoning changes certainly make it a possibility. I also remain appalled at the shabby treatment that City Council gave to 100 merchants at their meeting last week, where they were denied the right to speak at a public hearing for three hours. Finally, I am doing research, and believe the influence of pay-to-play is much greater in Bethlehem than many realize. Allentown and Bethlehem both suffer from crony capitalism. I'll have more about that next week.
16 comments:
Really? Where the Hell were you when county executive Callahan was around?
How can you find graft and corruption when little or nothing has been done in Bethlehem since 1 January 2015? bobo don't do and his so-called C&ED person aren't exactly moving any mountains. Can't even get a leaking building fixed. Why pay when there is no play?
Not just Downtown and South Side, what about the Westgate Mall, whose new owner is trying to make a go of it?
He is sinking $5 million into it. Not sure if he is getting any assistance.
Pay to play is everywhere in the Lehigh Valley. Cities, boroughs, townships. Non-profits. County agencies. It hides in plain sight. It's just that nobody is minding the store. If it weren't for you and Mike, it'd stay happily hidden.
It comes in two forms. There is the "electoral" form like you see in Allentown and Bethlehem.
There is the "board" form where board members vote to purchase services and items from each other under a facade of allegedly fair bidding rules. Very few people are on boards out of civic interest. They are there to make money. These boards count on ignorance and a lack of will.
Ignorance in not knowing the board action even exists or connecting the pieces.
Lack of will in that even if you know, you've got to fight through all the RTK requests and roadblocks they will place in front of you until you give up.
Generally, I'm against letting the government decide the winners and losers with the benefit of tax incentives. It puts people on disparate footing in the marketplace. For instance, if you had Shop A and Shop B competing for business and Shop A received tax incentives that Shop B did not, Shop A could charge lower prices because it's not carrying the same debt service. It also leads to corruption at worst or ethical conundrums at best, which is what we've seen in Allentown and what looks pretty icky in Bethlehem here.
When you have blighted areas, like the old brownfields in Bethlehem, the choice is to wait for a White Knight to come in and save the area, or to create incentives to draw development in. I don't think many rational people argue against those types of incentives because we all see what happens when properties get ignored for years and years. If they bring in jobs and revenue, all the better.
Now, Martin Tower is an odd duck because the costs to renovate the thing is probably the same has tearing it down. The best bet is to start over and see what you have. I think the best use for the property isn't a large scale retail establishment or high density housing, which is the only two things that would make a developer any money considering what they have to do with the tower. It's a shame the property couldn't be used as a park of some sort because it is beautiful land, right near the Monocacy and Burnside Plantation.
I remember Donchez saying the tower should remain when he was on council. Now it is OK to take it down. Once again we all see that Donchez just can't make a decision. Depending who talks to him this week next week he may be for keeping it. He doesn't want to have to make decisions he just wants to be Mayor. He is a fraud. As far as Karner is concerned what has she done since being appointed by Donchez? NOTHING! She couldn't care less about our City. This was a political appointment that Donchez was told to make. He had not met her at the time of her appointment. He was told who gets what job. There are many things that will come up when we get closer to the next election. We all know at the city that Bob is not running the show.
I have filed an extensive RTK to find all these things out. But since you seem to know everything, maybe I should withdraw it and allow you to educate us. Of course, you'll have to ID yourself.
Bernie, wasn't Martin Tower designated a landmark because it had been built with Bethlehem Steel? Wouldn't that complicate attempts to re-zone/tear it down?
It was designated historic, but that won't stop people from knocking it down if that is what they want.
whether it is this admin , this council , this govt, or that party in control , they have all been doing this for decades.
this entire scam is about as shocking as water is wet.
any one who works in a union , can tell you all about pay to play, kickbacks, money laundering in to campaign coffers, and so on.
once again this scam/scandal in the making continues to demonstrate waste , fraud and corruption. The difference between today and yesterday , is that more people than before, know. more people are informed thanks to citizen journalism, and more people take an active role in using a place like this to discuss these issues.
the net is a wonderful tool to stay up on the locals scandals and this is one , just like Allentown.
Doesn't Councilman Callahan work in some capacity for JG Petrucci whom would benefit from any dollars generated from the CRIZ??
Former Mayor Callahan works for Mike Perrucci, and that may be confusing you. I believe he has no financial relationship with any of the CRIZ developers, and have looked at his statements of financial interest.
Bernie, you are right, but I believe his boss involved here: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/03/bethlehem_developer_gets_first.html
This is not Bryan Callahan's boss. His boss is the BASD. This is John Callahan's boss. That's what I said.
Thanks!
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