Allentown scandal continues: why did city pay much more for land than their own appraisal?

[JPZenger]

http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2015/08/fed-ed-paid-atiyeh-14-million-for.html

The FBI has been investigating the administration of Allentown Mayor Pawlowski and the dealings of his campaign manager. The FBI conducted a surprise raid on City Hall, ordered the provision of thousands of documents to them, and reportedly had the campaign manager wear a wire for months.

A blogger has recently been looking into a set of land purchases by the city. The properties were purchased for substantially more than the value determined by the city's own recent appraisals. The seller of the properties is on the FBI's list of targets, and had been involved in litigation against the Mayor at the time. That court challenge then disappeared after the property seller bought a company involved in the dispute.

Both properties were extremely flood-prone, which means they had very little value for development.

[packman]

1. Grew up a few miles from Allentown

and doesn't surprise me about local corruption. More local government per square mile, IMHO, than anywhere else in America and every local official - be it city or town manager, police chief, fire chief, land appraiser, tax appraiser, school board member, etc. - seems to want to have a piece of the action. A town across from mine bought land atop a covered dump full of toxic waste to build a new high school and - of course - the land was owned by a school board member. When questioned, the board said it was the cheapest land they could find.