Michael Molovinsky has given us yet another reason to be leery of Alan Jennings' appointment to Allentown's Redevelopment Authority. His Batts at Batt is definitely worth a read. But Jennings seems to be friendly with several convicted felons, including Fed Ed.
9 comments:
Batts wanted the Redevelopment Authority to turn over a 2 story former industrial building to his "congregation," with the authority providing a 10 year loan with no interest being charged. He said it was to make up for past racism. I don't think a public agency is even allowed to make that kind of sweetheart deal, but a redevelopment authority does have more flexibility than a municipality in property sales. One of Batt's employees is on the redevelopment board and voted for the sale in a 2-2 vote.
I personally have more faith in Alan Jennings doing the right thing than Mr. Molovinsky. He has done much good in the region, including leading the 7th St. revitalization efforts in Allentown for many years through the Community Action Council of the LV. Some of the criticism of him is not backed up by facts. Yes, he was friends with Pawlowski for many years and supported him when everyone else was running away from Pawlowski. That has more to do with his personality than his ethics. However, I never heard Jennings say that Pawlowski was innocent or didn't deserve prosecution. If Pawlowski had taken the plea bargain, he would free by now. Instead, Pawlowski was so stubborn and arrogant that he got an excessively long jail term.
Any more talk of a No Confidence vote in Council?
To clarify my comment at 10:13, I should have said "I have more faith in Alan Jennings doing the right thing than Mr. Molovinsky has in Mr. Jennings."
In addition to running an important organization that provided weatherization programs for low-income homeowners, Mr. Jennings also helped lead efforts to improve low-income neighborhoods in South Bethlehem and Easton, and to pressure banks into meeting their obligations under the Federal Community Reinvestment Act. He also worked to try to stop some of the mortgage abuses that led up to the 2008 housing foreclosure crisis. Unfortunately, not enough people in power were listening to him at that time.
anon@10:13 and 12:49: allow me to also "clarify"... I believe that Jennings was an excellent appointment by Tuerk for that Authority. However, some sources familiar with the current dynamics thought his vote would go to Batts...hope that they're wrong.
Generally, you have a higher regard for Jennings' programs than I do. He tended to give out Fish Markets rather than fishing poles. He made unemployed business owners. For example, the Allentown Paint Company project was a costly failure...I could cite other examples, but it is not my intention to embarrass individual recipients of these programs.
And yet, Allentown is in an even worse doom loop than ever before re: housing, poverty, despair. All those accomplishments have delivered a worse Allentown. The poverty biz has a keen interest in maintaining poverty to maintain their lucrative jobs. The results are right in front of us.
Come on, Mike! Seriously? Rosemary Rique’s paint recycling business was a county idea. We were partners. It was a neat idea but failed, like some 80% of small business start-ups. It was 20 years ago and we haven’t done it again. CACLV’s various components have, though, trained and made loans to hundreds of micro/ and small businesses. Economic opportunity, not “casework” or hand-outs, are the best approach to fighting poverty. And that’s what we did.
Love how the savior of the poor Alan Jennings lives in a big expensive McMansion out in Lower Macungie. He could get a home in Allentown or Easton for a third the price and donate the rest of the money to the CACLV, UNited Way, etc.
WHAT?!!
Since this coward didn’t have the guts to give his name, Bernie, and you’ve been in both the houses in which I’ve lived and know he’s lying, I’m surprised you ran this guy’s bullshit. Let’s call him Dick Head.
Yo! Dick! In 1980, my family moved into the city of Allentown. Six years later, we bought a modest twin on Gordon Street. About 35 years later we bought a modest Cape Cod on Pennsylvania Street in the city. So, Dick, it must suck looking in the mirror each day and seeing a liar. And a dick.
Alan: I love the "anonymous" comments.
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