"The real story is that none of the merchants were ever told that they could use taxes to purchase a new building, after being displaced by the city. The use of sales tax, 6% of their gross sales, could have been used for debt service on a new Hamilton Street location. To my knowledge, none of the affected merchants, will have a new retail store on Hamilton Street, or will have any benefit from the NIZ. They had asked for a meeting with the city for help, which was attended by The Morning Call, and were never told that the NIZ lever could be used by private property owners. They asked for a meeting with Senator Brown, and were never told about options which could have helped them save their businesses. The explanation by Browne and the Administration that this information was available if they had asked the proper questions, is unacceptable. FACTS ON THE GROUND INDICATE THAT THE LAW WAS APPLIED IN A SELECTIVE FASHION, TO FASHIONABLE PEOPLE." - MOLOVINSKY ON ALLENTOWN / www.molovinskyonallentown.blogspot.com
"Under a law passed in 2009 and amended in 2011, a 130-acre downtown Neighborhood Improvement Zone was established in Allentown, to defray construction costs for a hockey arena and other improvements. But what was largely unknown, until a recent Morning Call report, was that even earned income taxes owed to other municipalities like Bethlehem and Hanover Township, can now be diverted to help support projects in the Queen City. Many local township and borough officials had no idea this would happen, and are disturbed that this could lead to revenue shortfalls in heir own budgets.' - LEHIGH VALLEY RAMBLINGS / www.lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com
"A year ago, Nilda Ventura and her husband, Radhames, took a chance on opening a tiny Dominican restaurant near Seventh and Linden streets. Allentown's downtown hockey arena, these days plowing ahead across the street amid the dust of demolition, was barely a rumor. Now, just as their Sabroso Restaurant has begun to catch on, Ventura is worried that private developer City Center Investment Corp. — which has been buying up land around the arena, including her restaurant, for future development — is trying to push her aside. With four years remaining on a five-year lease, she's been ordered to leave because she mailed her rent check three days after it was due.
Because she rents outside the arena property, she does not qualify for government-funded relocation aid. J.B. Reilly, the developer behind City Center, said his company is merely enforcing the terms of the commercial lease with Ventura it inherited when it purchased her property in November. Reilly signed a Jan. 10 letter telling Ventura she had to "vacate the property immediately."
He said his approach in such situations is to be reasonable, but remaking downtown Allentown will require existing businesses to relocate. Ventura mailed her rent check for $725 to City Center on Jan. 4, after the Jan. 1 due date. A representative of City Center had come by on Jan. 2 to pick up the check, and she wasn't there, she said, because she wasn't expecting him. Her previous landlord, she said, came on the 5th of each month. Artist renderings of the city's gleaming future show the Venturas' restaurant, formerly Paul's Gyros, being displaced by a sprawling convention hall, where a dilapidated row of low-end retail stores now stands.
- The Morning Call - www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-arena-nearby-property-20120125,0,403567.story?page=1
Ms. Patrice Sidoione of The "ALL THAT SALON", formerly in Allentown, PA but forced out "for the good of the arena", predicted this chaos months ago. It started with the closing of the thriving businesses between 6th and 7th Streets and now it has reached beyond the borders and is in the pockets of the surrounding municipalities...
Yes, it's about to get hectic, but I have one question? Why did it take other surrounding locations to be affected for the situation to become a widespread travesty or cause an uproar? THINK ABOUT IT!
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