Allentown State Hospital Fiasco

State officials who know much better than the rest of us decided some years ago to close most state hospitals, including Allentown State Hospital. Residents there would do better in community mental health programs, they said. You've seen the results  Severely mentally ill people wander the streets. Instead of being treated in a hospital, they now flood county jails and nursing homes. 

In the meantime, Allentown State Hospital's 200-acre campus sat empty and dormant while state officials considered how they could top their initial blunder of closing it down. They came up with a scheme so incredibly stupid that you have to wonder whether they themselves should be committed.

Our betters in Harrisburg wanted to spend $15 million to tear down the buildings so the tract be sold to a wheeler-dealer from Doylestown for pocket change. After this scheme was exposed here in Blogistan,  our state oligarchs decided to drop the Doylestown developer. But they went ahead and demolished the buildings anyway, with no developer waiting in the wings at all.

They made sure to brush away multiple attempts by Allentown developer Nat Hyman to save the state the expense of demolishing anything and paying cold, hard cash for the site. He was barred from the site and Browne changed the law when Hyman sued to stop the shenanigans. They also disregarded advice from the state's own Historical and Museum Commission. That state agency concluded that the main state hospital building not only retained its structural integrity, but should be listed with the National Register. 

They probably chuckled when 7,300 people signed on online petition asking that the state hospital be preserved. After all, why on earth should our elected officials ever listen to the people who put them in office? The unwashed masses clearly fail to understand how a representative democracy works. 

Eventually, in 2020, and without a redevelopment plan, the buildings all came tumbling down as though they'd been hit by a Putin cruise missile. The only one deemed worthy to stand was an air monitoring station that could measure the dust from all the pollution created. You can ignore everyone else, but not environmentalists. 

After turning a strategic site between Bethlehem and Allentown into an urban desert, our Harrisburg optimates waited nearly two years before bothering to solicit bids for redevelopment. These were promptly rejected as "nonresponsive" so State Senator Pat Browne could try again with a direct sale. 

On his way out the door, following a disgraceful primary loss, Senator Pat Browne's parting gift to J. B. Reilly is right up there with his previous present to Reilly, the Allentown NIZ.  That bill enabled Reilly to build and own a $Billion dollars of new real estate, paid for with diverted Pennsylvania state taxes.

Browne's proposed new law gives the 195 acre State Hospital property to Reilly for $5.5 mil, or just over $28K an acre. The bill, if passed by the general assembly, sells the property to Reilly with no competitive bidding from other developers. Browne's proposal has already been endorsed by the General Services Office, State Representative Mike Schlossberg and mostr of our so-called leaders. 

Browne's gift to Reilly is also the ultimate FU to state taxpayers.

Because the NIZ already allows land swaps, the taxpayers could end up paying for Reilly's new buildings. Such a swap should be prohibited on the former hospital grounds, as it would be an injustice for all taxpayers throughout Pennsylvania.

Other developers and the City of Allentown don't matter.

When asked, Hyman, one of those discarded developers, issued this response:

"I wanted to buy and redevelop the State Hospital site because I believe it is a once in a generation opportunity for Allentown. It is an opportunity to create a new town square for the east side and bolster the finances of the City through desperately needed real estate taxes. City Center is certainly the preeminent developer in Allentown and more than capable of doing a great job with this site. My issue however is with Pat Browne and Mike Schlossberg. Once again, they both are involved in back room dealings shrouded in secrecy and a lack of transparency. The voters have rightly dealt with Pat Browne and this directed sale is another example of his arrogance and his parting shot to the voters as he walks out the door. As far as Schlossberg, you may recall that when I offered $2.3m to buy the site with the buildings intact, he attacked me personally and said that the demolition was necessary to attract a much higher price for the site and a profit for the taxpayers. He claimed to know more about development than I do, despite all of the buildings that I have redeveloped in the City of Allentown. Well, he spent $15m in demolition costs and sold it for $5.5m. He lost the tax payers $10m. He must be held accountable for that.”

The deal seems in direct conflict to the General Service mission, of disposing property in the best interests of the public. With Browne's departure, Schlossberg apparently wants to position himself as the developer's best legislator.

In Allentown government, Mayor Matt Tuerk is actually on board with this absurdity. A man who supposedly had the inside track on economic development has been relegated to the third wheel of the Browne-Reilly bicycle. Councilperson Ce-Ce Gerlach expresses concern about gentrification. That is the least of Allentown's problems. State Rep wannabe Josh Siegel excuses this breach of fiduciary duty to the taxpayer with the hollow argument that at least the property will return to the tax rolls. But will it? Given the state's penchant for corporate handouts and the reality of the NIZ, that seems highly unlikely. State Rep Mike Schlossberg thinks you're either stupid or that you've forgotten his previous claim that demolishing the hospital grounds would make them more attractive. 

As bloggers during the Pawlowski regime, we were amazed by the former mayor's his audacity. However, seeing Browne and Schlossberg in action, we realize what an amateur Pawlowski really was.

Bloggers' Note: This is a collaborative effort by bloggers Michael Molovinsky and Bernie O'Hare.