Opinions Online, 10/17/15

Blogger's Note: Opinions Online is a regular Saturday feature. If you'd like to express your opinion on any topic, click on the Opinions Online button on my left sidebar. You can also call 385-325-2564. In addition to these submissions, I am taking some comments from throughout the week and re-publishing them here.

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Martin Tower needs to come down. It is not economically feasible unless at the taxpayer's expense to repurpose it as apartments or a multi-tenant office building. Too much asbestos, too expensive to run new plumbing and electric for hundreds of apartments, put in sprinklers, all new finishes inside and out, etc. etc. etc. It's a giant rotting penis that is a testament to the waste, excess, and false pride that helped bring the Steel down.

I am told the current owners have done little to zero in terms of maintenance in the last 10 years besides cut the grass, and the inside is in poor condition.

I'd like to see the site redeveloped as 1/5 townhouses that the average Joe can afford (<$200k), 1/5 as upscale apartments (like the ones behind Lowes), 1/5 as more upscale "cottage" type relatively small single family homes on small lots, and 2/5 open space. No retail. And not just because Main Street is crying up a storm. One need only to look a mile away at the Schoenersville Road corridor, plenty of decrepit retail sites there that are dying for redevelopment in to more modern facilities.

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No new state budget, should signal the voters in this state, that we have failed at electing every incumbent politician. What we have elected is a bunch of ambitious, self serving, power , money hungry, group of men and women, who cater to special , or personal interests, which will aid in their re-election. They have forgotten, or ever understood that they were probably voted in by people, from both parties, who expected them to maintain the strength of the commonwealth, an to serve the interests of all people regardless of political affiliation. They obviously can't, or won't, as salaries, benefits, vacations, and other freebies continue. Two party politics, means you never compromise with the other party. They believe there is no need to look at the other parties proposals, and as they show up on their desk , they are probably dispatched to the circular file. The two party system is failing us at the state and national level. We need to scream at these legislators to ["COMPROMISE"], or we need to scream for their removal. enough political posturing as the champions of the people, and work toward actually becoming them.

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I'm disappointed that the Lehigh Valley continues to reward bad behavior. A few weeks ago the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission presented an award to the Chrin Companies for the new interchange on Route 33. I noticed that Chrin paid for some of the event so there may be some quid pro quo but it looks bad to be rewarding Chrin for chewing up valuable land for warehouses, something we don't need more of and rewarding a company that continues to drag its feet with delay after delay at fixing its landfill.

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This comment is somewhat redundant having been mentioned here and on other blogs, but IMHO is worthy of rehashing. The ANIZDA Board publishes no minutes or financials of any kind on their website. Even their agendas which are published are "skimpy" and lack the time of the meeting, only the date. Now we recently learn, that apparently, they don't even show financials to their own members? Beyond the pale! Traub, Frank, & Hailstone should be embarrassed. While they may or may not have good intentions, these practices only serve to fuel the belief that there is rampant skulduggery . It reminds me of the Wizard of OZ, "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".

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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.

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Rich Fegley: Days after the FBI raided Allentown City Hall, Hillary Clinton returned a $1,000 donation from Ed Pawlowski.

Hillary Clinton campaign refunds Ed Pawlowski donation

Ed Pawlowski is "Public Official #3", correct? If the FBI was given permission to spend large sums of money and many man-hours investigating Ed Pawlowski and the City of Allentown, I am very confident that Public Official #3 will be going to jail. The FBI has been looking closely at Allentown since at least 2012.

Alan Jennings has now resigned from ANIZDA to avoid a possible conflict-of-interest with donors giving money to his organization, CACLV.

Hillary returned $1,000 of Pawlowski money to avoid a conflict-of-interest.

Who has received money from Pawlowski and his related PACs? You would all do well to give the money back now before Public Official #3 is convicted. When he is convicted, I hope we all remind one another who was on Pawlowski's "team".

Joe Hanna, Joe Davis and Jeff Glazier are a few of the people that should return Pawlowski PAC donations. When Public Official #3 goes down, politically you go down with him.

Who else is on Pawlowski's "team"?

Pawlowski, other top Allentown Dems form PAC to fund local candidates

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From Save Green Pond: People have been asking how they can contribute to Malissa's campaign.

The best thing, if you live in Bethlehem Township, is to vote for Malissa on November 3. And get others who live in the township to vote too! It WILL make a difference in this election.

You can also donate to Melissa's campaign. Malissa is self-funding, so any size donation is welcome- as a matter of fact, she says she loves small donations because they are from people who really care.

Malissa's campaign account is called "Friends of Malissa Davis".
Please write checks to "Friends of Malissa Davis" and mail to:

Friends of Malissa Davis
4282 Windswept Drive
Bethlehem PA 18020

You can also visit the Facebook page "Malissa Davis for Bethlehem Township Commissioner at Large" (I know it is long!)

And please forward this email to other Bethlehem Township residents who care about the future of their township.

Thanks!!

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Did Abe secure himself a zoning variance for the parking lot at Building 21 while he was making deals with the city, to park all of those tractor trailers there? Assuming they're for the show at the PPL Center. Guess there wasn't enough room in the AOW parking lot for all of them this time (BTW, wonder what the zoning is for tractor trailer parking there as well?)

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I have been following the election a bit. I got a robo call about Hayden Phillips wanting to turn Gracedale into a corporation. Is this true. I know there was a resolution that talked about studying a possible sale of the home again! Mr. Barron has my vote if that is the case. I am disappointed that Mr. Phillips would go down this road.