South Whitehall Joining NIZ Suit Is Important

Not to put down Bethlehem Township, a community of 23,000 plus, or any of the communities that had been suing against the Allentown NIZ. I'm not going to slight Palmer Township either, a community of 20,000 plus, who like several others, is considering joining the suit. Those are substantial towns. They are both a little bigger than South Whitehall Township (which is around 18,000). South Whitehall joining the NIZ lawsuit is more important though. South Whitehall Township is an immediate neighbor of Allentown. Their turning on this project matters.

They're not the only big shoe to drop. IF Bernie's right, and if Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan was a "no" vote on endorsing the project for LVEDC, this pits the region's biggest two cities at odds. Whether it's right or not, or fair or not, the project's now toxic.

This has become an "Allentown versus everyone else" situation. If that is how it concludes, the arena won't be a success. As for the office space, if the region's not for it, it's basically just Allentown taking tax dollars away from other communities. Some might argue that's good, but who's it good for besides the 118,000 plus people who live in Allentown? At this point, I think Allentown needs to strike a deal, because otherwise, they have made this whole project toxic.