One of the more important issues facing Northampton County right now is making the assessment system fair and accurate. The County hasn’t reassessed in 18 years, but obviously much has changed about home values and especially land values in different neighborhoods during that time. Think of how different Forks Township and Lower Nazareth are today [...]
Bob Donchez’s Old-School Housing Ideas
May 9, 2013 by · 3 Comments
I think Bob Donchez’s goal of increasing homeownership in Bethlehem is actually a really bad idea that will lead to reduced economic development and a less flexible labor market. What Bethlehem actually needs to do is increase its stock of quality rental housing in and around the downtown business districts. It’s not a surprise to hear that Donchez’s [...]
Jaindl Turning Downtown Allentown’s LV Trust Co Building Into Wedding Venue, Events Center
May 9, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Last year I said I thought a high quality wedding venue would be a great addition to downtown Allentown, and lo and behold Jaindl Properties LLC is doing it. The reuse of the beautiful Lehigh Valley Trust Co. building, built in 1910, is especially awesome, and I think it’s a testament to the power of [...]
How Use-Based Zoning Hurts a City’s Economy
May 9, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Tanya Snyder on a new Peterson Institute paper showing that increases in homeownership are associated with increased unemployment: The researchers also found that fewer businesses establish themselves in areas with high home-ownership, possibly because of what they call “NIMBY pressures in action.” Zoning for residential-only and other attempts to curb development prevent businesses from creating [...]
Sell It All
May 6, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Parking lease schemes are horrible, but there’s nothing wrong with selling parking assets. Parking’s not a public good, so there’s no reason for a city to directly own and operate parking lots or garages. Since downtown land is scarce in the LV’s older core cities, it would be much better to leave it to the [...]
Better Hours Needed for Farmers Markets
May 5, 2013 by · 1 Comment
I write some version of this post every year when the farmers markets open, so I’ll keep it short. Farmers markets need to be open when most people aren’t at work. The Bethlehem farmers markets are on weekdays and close before most people get out of work. That’s crazy. Most people are at work between [...]
How the NIZ Is Helping Allentown Service Businesses
May 2, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
If Allentown gets hundreds more workers downtown in general all the time, not just construction workers, restaurants and other service businesses will continue to see elevated demand like this. Increasing the population downtown will create job opportunities for workers all up and down the skills and income scale. Relatedly, it sounds to me like food [...]