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| Dan Poresky announces referendum |
The petitions were collected by more than 80 volunteers beginning in earnest at Allentown polling stations on Election Day. Burke said 10 or 15 of the volunteers still have not turned in their petition forms, so the actual number of signatures collected might be even greater than the 2,700 names turned over to City Clerk Michael C. Hanlon.While Burke and the neighborhood groups were organizing to put the issue directly to the voters, property managers were also organizing against the licensing law, and conducted a large meeting, with over 150 landlords.
Among those who received an invitation and attended the meeting was Edward Pawlowski, executive director of the Alliance for Building Communities, a nonprofit organization that works to return apartment buildings to single-family, owner-occupied homes."The thing that impressed me most was how many people turned out," said Pawlowski. "It was a packed house."In 1998, Tom Burke said that he wasn't heading a special interest group with money, and that they had to speak directly to the voters. Likewise, in 2012, Dan Poresky is facing the well financed private water industry, and wants the homeowners to decide the fate of their water system.
photocredit:Colin McEvoy/The Express Times
This blogger was part of the landlord group opposed to the rental inspection law in 1998
molovinsky on allentown has learned that the Pawlowski Administration is trying to put obstacles and roadblocks in the way of the Water Lease Referendum group. Julio Guridy requested an opinion from City Solicitor Jerry Snyder, concerning who can collect signatures for the referendum. In what is a convoluted stretch of the City Charter, Snyder concludes that all petition circulators must be pre-registered at City Hall, with City Clerk Mike Hanlon, just like the Committee members of the referendum. In reality, there was a precedent, the Rental Inspection Referendum of 1999. As documented in the previous post, over 80 circulators were involved in that previous petition, without pre-certification by Hanlon. It appears as if citizen rights under the charter are being repressed.
The former mayor of Rahway, New Jersey was the star witness for Pawlowski's scheme to sell the water and sewage systems. Never mind that Rahway is one quarter of the size of Allentown, or that it's water system operated at a loss before privatization. Their former mayor testified that the private company even installed brand new meters. Never mind that Allentown just installed new meters at taxpayer expense, which will benefit a private company. The most viable answer to the mess that Pawlowski helped create, and failed to resolve, the police pension issue, is a Public Water Authority. Although the NIZ hockey arena just completed a sale of bonds backed by a mere hope and promise, water revenue bonds, backed by the public need for a basic of life, were dismissed as unmarketable. By the questions asked last night, or more specifically, by the questions not asked, City Council handed the mayor a pre-approval on the sale. Although Pawlowski dangled the $200 million plus figure last night, and said that he wouldn't sell for just $40 million, what happens with a $100 million offer? There is a good chance that the citizens will lose ownership of the water system, yet not fund the pension liability in a meaningful way. Things like that happen at a yard sale.
Pawlowski has his way with City Council. Six of the seven members can't say yes fast or loud enough about selling our water system. Never the less, he resents the one dissenter, Jeanette Eichenwald. When she pointed out that the expert witnesses were only from communities happy with their private water companies, and none from the less delighted and actually unhappy, Pawlowski made a barely audible snide snark* at her. It was personal enough that she said that remark was uncalled for, and to his credit, Julio Guridy supported Eicenwald's protest. Later in the evening, Pawlowski accused Eicenwald of being against the privatization from the beginning of the process. Imagine a City Council member having the audacity to be against a mayor's proposal. Pawlowski's indignation shows how ineffectual City Council has become.
When Mayor Bloomberg announced earlier in the week that the New York City Marathon would proceed this weekend as scheduled, all I could think of was Marie Antoinette. Although the entire lower part of Manhattan was still without electric, although sections of the city were decimated, although bodies were still be recovered, he thought the race would boost the spirits of New Yorkers. He thought that maybe some spandex suited yuppie in expensive sneakers would somehow console the residents of Staten Island's east shore, where a whole neighborhood was destroyed, and over twenty people perished. The citizens of Queens, where 80 houses were burned to the ground, could certainly "take pride in the resiliency of New York." Canceling the race isn't good enough, he should visit Staten Island and apologize.
A large explosion rocked the international arrivals hall at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport (DME) earlier today, January 24, 2011. Local officials say that the blast, which was caused by a suicide bomber, killed at least 35 people and left more than 100 injured.