On Friday, I gave you Mal Gross' Monday morning quarterback review on his father's five years as Allentown's Mayor. Jack Gross pushed policies that, in hindsight, proved to be wrong. He promoted the conversion of row homes into apartments and retail development along The Street (Hamilton St, also called Golden Acres, between 5th and 10th). He made no effort to promote office development on Hamilton. Destroyed neighborhoods were an unfortunate byproduct of the urban development then in vogue pretty much everywhere. Gross drove residents away with one-way streets, parking meters and bright streetlights. Allentown's newest makeover is the state-subsidized Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) with upscale apartment buildings that attract empty nesters and young professionals who work at the hospitals or nearby law offices. From time to time. I now read that Allentown's downtown is empty most nonhockey nights and weekends. If this is true, and I don't know that it is, is this a bad thing? Put differently, does a city need a bustling downtown in order to thrive?
That's a question asked by Governing, using San Francisco as its example. Author Alan Greenblatt posits that these urban deserts are a result of the pandemic. Many office buildings are now empty because people are working remotely, He adds this office recession is also happening in Miami, Austin, Salt Lake City and Boston. With fewer workers in town, restaurants also suffer. And so do city coffers.
But what if a City downtown is actually replete with apartment buildings? Does that avoid the problem? NIZ developer JB Reilly focused on a healthy mix of residential, retail and office. If streets are empty at night, it could be because residents are at home, like most of us.
Here are my two questions? 1) Is downtown Allentown really deserted on nights and weekends? 2) Do you think the office-residential-retail mix brought by the NIZ* can return The Street to its glory days?
After hearing what you have to say, I will seek out opinions from others who know a lot more than I do about redevelopment.
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* The NIZ is controversial, but this post is NOT about the wisdom of this redevelopment tool, It's here. It's whether Reilly's vision can be seen as putting Allentown in a better position than other downtowns.
34 comments:
No ,they farm out code work , and need them every day.
It never ceases to amaze me how stupid some people are. I specifi9cally state this post is NOT about the NIZ. I know it is hated by many, and I myself oppose gov't handouts. This post asks two questions. Is A-town downtown a desert at night and on weekends? If so, is that a bad thing? I have deleted the comment attacking the NIZ as off topic. Don not submit such comments.
Allentown empties quickly after an event at the arena. It's as if traffic control is designed to get you out of downtown quickly. I actually appreciate this. But Allentown is rather quiet for those who stay. The neighborhoods aren't considered safe and walkable. Allentown tried and failed.
Bethlehem is pretty and inviting. With a few exceptions on the south side, the sidewalks seem to roll up a bit early after dinner crowds have departed. Bethlehem tried, but only a little, and succeeded as much as it wanted.
Easton is vibrant most of the day. Dinner crowds give way to bar crowds and the town goes most of the night. It's been a remarkable turnaround. Everyone knows the west ward is still very dangerous, maybe as dangerous as it gets in the LV. It's a case study in gentrification. Easton tried and succeeded, mostly. But gang-related crime has been an Easton thing since Legs Diamond owned the Mineral Springs. It's part of Easton's DNA.
The crucially damaging decision to convert single family row homes into apartments made
on street parking impossible and cost homeownership pride to often disappear. Even garbage pails once placed near back doors were moved to front porches to be convenient for renters.
BOH
Please delete comment regarding parking and garbage. Did not see your instructions at bottom of post. Sorry.
Bernie, you write...
" If streets are empty at night, it could be because residents are at home, like most of us. "
Young professionals don't move into center city, suffer the inconvenience of parking decks, to intentionally stay in at night. Beyond any discussion of the enabling legislation, there is something very wrong, and I submit intentionally misleading, about what we're told and what we read about Reilly City Center Real Estate, aka center city Allentown.
Unfortunately, I apparently have the monopoly, even in the blogosphere, on broaching this topic.
I drove through Allentown yesterday and must say it looks better than it has in years. However I'm still told that you don't dare walk one street down as it's dangerous. Doesn't make me want to go to the city. Quiet at night would be a good thing considering the crime in the city
Downtown Allentown is not safe !
In my experience it is a desert on non-event nights (whether that’s a weeknight or weekend), and even on event nights people drive in, go to the hockey game or concert, and get in their cars and leave. They don’t stay andd go out to eat or for a drink. Same with the Ironpigs - as fun as they are, people don’t stay in Allentown after a game.
And it’s even worse with work/home hitting how many office workers are in downtown Allentown at any given time. A healthy community, whether it’s Allentown or Bethlehem or Nazareth, needs a vibrant downtown corridor to thrive. The combination of limited numbers of people day and night means restaurants can’t survive, stores won’t open, people from the surrounding neighborhood aren’t getting jobs, and tax revenue isn’t being generated to sustain the area. The result is, among other things, you get Allentown screwing the County on the Coca-Cola Park improvements - they continue to have their hand out because they’re not getting what they thought they would out of downtown.
So yep it’s a problem, and will get worse over time.
The Banker
When you get to it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on downtown's Liberty Bell Shrine.
Once you leave the PPL center area, it is like you are in Newark. I would not want to be walking the streets either at night or on the weekends.
The crowds during events are safe. Lots of police presence to deter crime. Also, safety in numbers. Allentown in it's entirety, is not prospering IMHO.
100%
Here are my two questions? 1) Is downtown Allentown really deserted on nights and weekends?
Yes...except for concerts and hockey games at PPL Center....really is eerily deserted on nights and weekends. I would cite Bethlehem as a City that is NOT deserted on nights and weekends. We recently bought a Penn State Creamery ice cream cone on a Saturday night at 8:30 pm, had to wait 10 minutes and had to park several blocks away. The street level activity in Bethlehem is real and its steady and predicable.
2) Do you think the office-residential-retail mix brought by the NIZ* can return The Street to its glory days?
No...I do think Allentown is no longer getting worse (have you been to Reading lately? What a bad scene) and there are reasons to be optimistic about Allentown for the first time in decades. I just don't think that the hundreds upon hundreds of new apartments are generating much street level vitality or sustaining any real business growth. Allentown's problems are too large to be fixed over night (or within 10 - 20 years). ASD is probably the worst problem (Bethlehem lucks out with participation in a high quality regional school system) that prevents families from buying homes in central Allentown. Then the entire downtown is surrounded by deteriorating neighborhoods, decimated housing stock and urban crime/quality of life issues. I just don't believe the political will is there to fix these problems so that Allentown can come back.
I work in one of the City Center office buildings.
1) Is downtown Allentown really deserted on nights and weekends? I would not say deserted. Gauging off of the Allentown Market, Social Still an Bru Daddies (the places I tend to stop in at on my way out of town) on event nights they have great crowds and on non-event nights they drop to a typical crowd for a similar restaurant. There's always people in them. I've lived in other city's including Bethlehem and I think the amount of people out and about after hours is comparable. I will readily admit that this is the center of redevelopment efforts and I can't speak to other areas of the city. I have co-workers in the various apartment buildings and they speak highly of the experience. I agree with you on the premise that many are sitting at home not because of the city but because its what people do particularly in the post pandemic environment.
2) Do you think the office-residential-retail mix brought by the NIZ* can return The Street to its glory days? I am not qualified to speak about the glory days because I am not sure what they were like. I think its better than it was 10 years ago and is on the upswing as long as people support it and make it happen. I sadly feel like a lot of people cheer against it when the best thing to do would be to come downtown and see it for themselves.
Granted this was several years ago, but it was well after the arena had been built and all the mom and pops had been forced out We attended a concert one Sunday afternoon at Symphony Hall. Since it was still light after it ended and the weather was pleasant, we decided to venture up and down Hamilton to see about dinner. It was eerily empty except for a panhandler who asked for spare change. We headed for our car and had dinner in the West End. It’s just not a pleasant area to be.
"" ... ASD is probably the worst problem (Bethlehem lucks out with participation in a high quality regional school system) ... "
Great point in a great discussion. Thanks.
I do not know the answer to question #1
As far as #2: Do you think the office-residential-retail mix brought by the NIZ* can return The Street to its glory days?
No. Times change. People change. The world changes. What might have been a good idea in theory might not always be practical or realistic in real life. When the lightbulb was invented or the wheel or electricity, cars, or airplanes… You name it….. I’m sure people back then couldn’t have imagined what the future was going to hold. Now we have the Internet and cell phones and I’m sure people can’t even imagine what might come next. The Internet and cell phones might be amazing now but in 50 years they might be obsolete.
Even though I may not have made the best correlation, I think the same goes for downtowns. I don’t think Hamilton Street will ever come back to its glory days… Especially as we think we knew them.
Sometimes, we unknowingly fall victim to our own prejudices. Perhaps we view Allentown through our white, suburban skins and fail to see its vibrant, Hispanic population and the thriving business community which serves it. Yeah, people flee the PPL center after an event obviously unable to interpret the Spanish Language offerings in the windows of many businesses.
Bethlehem has a strong student population on its south side and it supports a vibrant economic community. Sorry, I don’t frequent bars that serve students. I avoid the noise and the patrons unable to hold their own.
And, Easton is not the result of gentrification. That is, if you define gentrification as a process of eliminating or displacement of poor in favor of rich. Nothing has really changed housing trends in fifty years. The rich and poor are still here. Recent construction has been aimed at a wealthier tenant but lacking displacement of any poor. The only displacement occurred years ago when blocks of the downtown were leveled for vacant lots that have only found a purpose sixty years later. The displaced have died. A town cannot survive on bars serving a supposedly wealthier class. Parking is a nightmare and there are reasons to believe that many retail operations are troubled. The rental housing boom in downtown Easton is new and not proven to be successful. Until the housing boom most downtown rentals were walk ups located above retail stores. The rentals were unattractive and appealed and still appeal to low incomes. Real gentrification may take place in the West Wards if people purchase rentals, deconvert, and establish single family houses. West Ward still has a high in excess of fifty percent turnover rate. Cannot build a town on disappearing residents.
Anon 101pm - nothing like "You must be racist" if you don't see Allentown for the gem that it is.
Maybe sometime we can disagree without "You must be a racist if you don't agree with me" as the response.
I think a key point in this discussion needs to be how isolated Allentown is within the Lehigh Valley region. I'll bet that 90% of the non-Allentown population in Lehigh County feels no connection, alliance or pride with the City of Allentown. There's simply no regional efforts between Allentown and the rest of the region. The dysfunctional stand alone school system is the prime example. Residents of Hanover (N) and Bethlehem Township who share the Liberty and Freedom schools, most likely feel a connection to Bethlehem and a shared sense of what is best for Bethlehem benefits all of them; they have more in common that just a shared zip code. I just don't see that in Allentown. Once you drive past that municipal boundary line, you live in Parkland or East Penn and you reminisce about how great Allentown used to be and you have no stake in the City's well being.
When the high school basketball game was finished at the PPL Center last week, I wanted to kill some time before I eventually headed back home. The streets seemed empty and the area seemed desolate. To be honest, being outside and alone was very intimidating, especially when you hear of the violence and shootings in Allentown recently. Instead I stopped at a pizza joint on the way home and got a few slices to go.
1 and 2 in the same sentence with a question, do you hear the toilet flush?
@12:29 I get your point and I actually agree with you a little bit….
How many times have we heard our parents or grandparents say something about the good old days of something or this or that was a certain way back then and we just rolled our eyes or shook our head and thought to ourselves that they are old-fashioned.
Now that we are parents, and some of the things that we do, or say, our kids or grandkids laugh at us, or roll their eyes, and think that we are old-fashioned and think we are outdated or not to date on out thinking
I guess the same goes for downtown Allentown since we are on the subject. Perhaps Allentown is in its glory days right now in some people’s eyes and perhaps in 25 or 50 years from now people then will look back back and say these are the glory days. Rinse and repeat for every generation. It’s all in perspective.
My age 30-50 friends who work at PPL HQ tell me that they get in their cars and immediately head out to their suburban homes at the end of the work day, they don't hang out around Hamilton Street. Going out to happy hour nearby with coworkers after working in a big-company office all day is mostly a thing of the past anyway. People just want to go home.
Otherwise if I meet up with one of them for dinner, it's usually somewhere in Bethlehem or out in Lower/Upper Mac.
Stable communities and Neighborhoods bring stability not downtowns. The chamber and economic people use it for free money.
Walking through a parking deck after dark is always uncomfortable, especially if you had to get to your level using filthy, urine soaked staircases or elevators.
1:16. I use the word “prejudice” because it has an entirely different meaning than racist. I too fell into the trap of finding difficulty in not understanding the lack of success in business start ups in downtown Allentown. Then I read an article in the Call that addressed the successes of Hispanic businesses in the 7th Street corridor. I failed to recognize that Allentown’s near 60 % Hispanic population had an impact in the downtown on success or failure. I caution people on assumptions about how businesses survive in today’s world. I had a friend who applied for a bank job in South Bethlehem. The bank called and indicated that the resume was perfect and then asked Can you speak Portuguese reflecting the Brazilian character of the neighborhood. Our cities have changed in thirty years. It is a fact and not racist banter.
It's a replica. If you want to see the real thing go to Philadelphia.
This is exactly the problem right now. It's the answer to any different point of view
I grew up in the 60s and 70s when downtown Allentown was in its heyday. Hamilton Street was filled with stores, including Hess’s, Zollinger-Harned, Leh’s, numerous shoe stores, like Farr’s, Wetherhold and Metzger, jewelry stores like Apels, a furrier, a wedding gown shop, a sporting good store, where you could buy tickets to a Phillies game, and even a store that sold nuts. Hess’s restaurant was a big draw, as well as its Christmas windows filled with unique toys. As I recall, there were multiple parades each year in downtown Allentown, which brought in the crowds looking for cheap family entertainment. There were also restaurants including the A&B luncheonette, Sal’s Spaghetti House, the counter at Hess’s which was sometimes two deep at lunchtime with people buying a slice of pizza or a hot dog. Moreover, there were multiple banks downtown, and 2 movie theaters. There was the Hilton hotel, the Bayleaf restaurant and Park’s Mens Shop too. There were pizza parlors and Solomon’s clock store. Of course, there was PP & L, law firms, and other businesses downtown. With the advent of malls, online shopping, banks in the suburbs, restaurants throughout the Lehigh Valley and the development of safe, and clean downtown Bethlehem and Easton with their unique vibes it’s no wonder that Allentown‘s purported renaissance has not taken off. I used to work at 740 Hamilton Mall during the 80s and 90s, attended the happy hours at the Hilton and the Good Spirit restaurant. I had occasion to visit the Livingston club for lunch and its snapper soup. At the corner of 8th & Hamilton, Isaac‘s Sandwich restaurant was also a lunchtime draw. Sometime in the mid 90s, law firms and other businesses moved to the suburbs. The stores closed down, shoe and jewelry stores moved out, and restaurants like Isaacs could no longer make it on just the lunch crowd. Hess’s became the Bon Ton, then closed and then rained and replaced with a new glass building at $26 a square foot for office space. Sals closed, the A&B luncheonette closed. Kenny’s and the 7th Street Deli closed. Buildings were in decay. One-way traffic, reduced the traffic visiting the downtown. At one point, even the sidewalks on Hamilton mall were unusually slippery when wet. Now, there seems to be a police presence downtown throughout the day. There’s an X-rated video shop, an Allentown police station, and even though the new buildings provide first class office space at $12 a square foot, there does not seem to be folks staying downtown after hours. Oh, the Post Office closed. I’ve been downtown on weekends and have found the restaurants uncrowded. If it wasn’t for a good friend, who works downtown who suggest going out to eat there, I would go to the restaurants at the Promenade shops, the West End, and restaurants in Bethlehem and Easton. Traveling 10 miles to Bethlehem or 20 miles to Easton is preferred to going downtown. Employees working remotely will be the death knell. Sadly, no matter how hard JB tries, I don’t think downtown Allentown will ever come back. Just saying.
Answers to questions:
1) Downtown Allentown is largely empty at night, more so on non-event nights.
2) The residential-retail mix isn't going to bring Downtown Allentown back to its glory days.
You need a large amount of people coming from the suburbs to something other than single-venue events. You can't focus on just Hamilton Street or the area around the arena. People coming to the city know what they see as they travel in. The whole city needs to change.
If I had to cite the three main problems that is preventing both downtown Allentown and Allentown as a whole from prospering (with solutions), I'd say they are:
1) Parking. Parking is difficult for city residents and it's even more difficult for those coming from out of town. Yes, there are parking garages throughout the downtown, but they are not always convenient to where people want to go and (as many have noted) they are not the most pleasant experience as far as safety or cleanliness. Allentown City Hall makes plans as if downtown Allentown is Manhattan Island, and not for the reality that one can drive 10 minutes in any direction and find a restaurant outside of the city with free parking at the establishment they want to go to. City Hall needs to wake up.
Solution: Instead of expanding Parking Authority hours to be 24/7 harassment of residents and visitors, cut their hours back and have them ticket for only the most egregious offenses. In addition, use CDBG money to buy up and tear down interior residential blocks. If you ever walked in some of Allentown's neighborhoods, you'd find homes that are built not just on the numbered blocks or half blocks, but also on the alleys in between. They need to go. It's too many people, and too many cars.
2) Too many apartments, too many conversions, and TOO MUCH "affordable housing". Both the conversion of single family homes to multi-family rentals and the unending approval of apartments has led to too many lower-income people (of all races). It's not a sustainable balance for the city and it's increasing density, straining parking and killing the school district.
Solution: Stop approving new apartment complexes. Provide financial incentives to home-buyers to de-convert housing back to single family homes, and facade grants to homeowners wanting to improve the appearance of their property. Stop funding the non-profits that are bringing more low-income residents to the city. You get what you fund. Take MASSIVE action on this area.
3) Too little focus on police and quality of life issues.
Solution: If you start implementing the policies that are identified in #2, the safety and quality of life issues start to turn around. Still, the city needs more police officers and it needs them to be actively targeting problem areas of the city. The police need to be visible throughout the city, so that people from out-of-town know they are safe.
In addition, litter, noise complaints, unkept properties, and loose animals need to be addressed quickly by the appropriate departments of the city. Get those employees out of their offices and into the neighborhoods to address those issues proactively instead of waiting for complaints.
Would all of that make a big difference in the downtown and the rest of the city? Of course.
Will any of that be implemented by the city's current elected officials, who seem to be more focused on implementing the same policies that are failing cities across the country? Of course NOT.
As usual, results have no bearing on City Hall policy. As long as city residents keep voting for the same low-IQ politicians, they will keep getting the same low-IQ policies.
"Too many apartments, too many conversions, and TOO MUCH "affordable housing."
Outstanding point! I'm so tired of hearing elected officials in Allentown demanding more affordable housing. Allentown already has nearly all of the affordable housing in Lehigh County. Allentown elected officials should instead be asking where is the affordable housing in Salisbury, Lower Macungie, Emmaus, South Whitehall??? I'm for regional solutions to Allentown's problems and it starts with reducing the amount of affordable housing in Allentown and expecting other regional municipalities to accept a reasonable share of affordable housing. Allentown shouldn't be forced to house all the low income people in Lehigh County.
Do not understand the term "white flight" as the problem. Some Whites may have moved out of the city, but other people moved in. So, are people being racist claiming without white people th city can't function? A very puzzling term. There are residents in th city now.
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