Double armed robbery in 24 hours

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

True, but right now there's not a lot of reasons for people to be downtown and other hotels that are closer to venues. I think only time will tell, honestly.

Optimism is generally the hallmark of lack of planning. A million hotel nights per annum is 2740 rooms. I believe that the Lehigh Valley now has roughly a million overnight hotel visitors. The Valley has well over 5500 rooms to accommodate those visitors.

If you tell me you are going to build an arena with a per seat cost of most venues that host a professional NBA basketball team and a minor league hockey team, and events like the Democratic National convention plus several concerts, then it is natural for me to be suspicious that you will earn a return based on 42 home games of the hockey team. You can ballpark the money you will get from season tickets, parking and food sales. I assure you it doesn't come close to generating enough money to pay for the interest on those bonds.

Same thing with hotel rooms. Now the Holiday Inn Allentown Center City which has been struggling to fill 78 of it's 220 rooms for the last 5 years, would obviously become profitable. If it could double that number of 78 average rooms per night, it would be a profitable venture.

But if you open up an additional 300 high priced rooms in Center City, you are working on a lot of optimism, and a depressing lack of detailed projections. Particularly if you build the new bridge across the Lehigh River then that 1000+ hotel rooms at the airport will be a modest 3 miles away from center city. I assure you that those airport hotel rooms will always be cheaper than the downtown hotel rooms.

[rainrock]

Damn New Yorkers.

[julian17033]

Hey, Breaking news a few minutes ago on WFMZ 69 just stated that there was a shooting at the corner of 9th and Chew streets with multiple shots fired .

Shootings do occur during the daylight hours in center city.

Perfect example as to why I do not venture into center city very often.

[PacoMartin]

People are going to re-act to news stories, and there is nothing you can say. Unfortunately, most violence does occur in homes or among associates in illegal activities. Outside of Columbia in South America, most violence does not easily seep out and affect people walking around in public spaces.

Like I said, in dozens of of trips to Tijuana to charming restaurants and sometimes to hear bands I never felt threatened. But if you read accounts (sometimes in official government websites like below) you would never go there. I am not saying the information is not accurate, it's just that the danger to innocent tourists (i.e. not in Zona Norte looking for drugs and girls) is not that great.

People from the suburbs should try places like Casa Latina Restaurant (527 N 7th St Allentown, PA 18102) or Damascus Restaurant (449 N 2nd St Allentown, PA 18102) or Aci Halal: Turkish, Middle Eastern, Halal (34 N 2nd St Allentown, PA 18101) even if you just get take out, you will be supporting well-run businesses in a needy area of the Valley. It's better than just treating it like a Jewish ghetto in WWII.

Originally Posted by USborderpatrol

Tijuana's murder rate is certainly not more than about 500 per year (San Diego, California has a murder rate of less than 100 per year). Of course, when is a body count an actual body count? The 500 does not include the vast numbers of “others” who find their way into shallow graves scattered across the 10,000 square miles of desert sands from Tijuana to the Sea of Cortez.

The gunfights are constant and the smell of cordite wafts over the border. Here is a report from Nuevo Laredo, where it all was caught on videotape. "Tijuana's violence is worse because Tijuana's cartels have used belt fed .50 caliber machine guns and have fought off special troops flown in from Mexico City."

The violence is more like Baghdad than what should be happening less than one mile from the USA. The city of Tijuana actually has a murder count nearly equal to that of all Western Europe combined. The recent political situation in Iraq averages 560 deceased Americans per year which is about Tijuana's score.

There do seem to be certain issues with the Tijuana Police and all were disarmed for a month. Mexico moved Federal Troops into the city and all 2,300 Tijuana Police Department weapons were forensically examined to attach "dead body" with "police weapon." Unlike Nuevo Laredo, Mexican Army tanks have not as yet encircled the town.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by julian17033

Hey, Breaking news a few minutes ago on WFMZ 69 just stated that there was a shooting at the corner of 9th and Chew streets with multiple shots fired .

Shootings do occur during the daylight hours in center city.

Perfect example as to why I do not venture into center city very often.

I saw that. As soon as I got the Tweet I thought "Ooops, never mind Julian, scratch everything I said."

Chew Street. Shocker.

Man fatally shot on Allentown street - mcall.com

[julian17033]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

I saw that. As soon as I got the Tweet I thought "Ooops, never mind Julian, scratch everything I said."

Chew Street. Shocker.

Man fatally shot on Allentown street - mcall.com

It's OK Matilda, I agree that daylight shootings don't happen everyday.
It's just scary seeing this.
I believe it's not just me that thinks center city crime is getting much worse.

[loose cannon]

Many people in Allentown have no appreciation for the arts. They push baby carriages, smoke cigarettes, and drink 40's. They are overmedicated sedated zombies. They push the carriages by the Brewworks where there might be a poetry reading or a band playing. But, they have no clue, nor do they care. Buying a $1 hot dog at the convenience store and showing off the muffin top is the way they choose to roll.