{"id":126181,"date":"2023-12-20T19:28:16","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=126181"},"modified":"2023-12-20T19:28:16","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T00:28:16","slug":"siegel-offers-thoughts-on-authorization-of-performance-audit-on-neighborhood-improvement-zone-in-allentown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=126181","title":{"rendered":"Siegel offers thoughts on authorization of performance audit on Neighborhood Improvement Zone in Allentown"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG, Dec. 20 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>State Rep. Josh Siegel released the following statement after last week\u2019s state Senate authorization of a performance audit of Allentown\u2019s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, introduced by state Sen. Jarret Coleman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Neighborhood Improvement Zone has been beneficial not only to Allentown, but the Lehigh Valley as a whole. Our region\u2019s success comes from a history of collaboration and the avoidance of a zero-sum game mentality. Our region\u2019s success comes from a mindset that the success of one city or town must not be at the expense of another. I champion smart growth and economic development in every corner of the Lehigh Valley, and Allentown is our economic and cultural hub. Its continued growth and development directly strengthen surrounding communities by providing jobs, culture, art and leisure for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident any audit will show the NIZ has generated new revenue, improved public safety, helped finance necessary public improvements, created jobs, increased property values, and reawakened one of Pennsylvania\u2019s great cities. Allentown\u2019s and the Lehigh Valley\u2019s fates are linked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllentown serves as an example of how to revitalize communities across the Commonwealth from Reading and Wilkes-Barre to Erie and Johnstown. Post-COVID, programs like the NIZ are critical to helping communities reinvent themselves and transform their economic development strategy to focus on quality of place and quality of life.\u00a0The NIZ has made Allentown competitive and compelling for businesses and individuals looking to find vibrancy and increased opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage Senator Coleman to work with us on serving his district and his constituents who need help navigating heavy industrial and warehouse development, increased demand on their infrastructure, preservation of open space and continued investment in their school districts, which attract so many families.\u00a0The 16th<\/sup>\u00a0Senatorial District would be better served by focusing on its unique challenges and opportunities than creating unnecessary controversy around one of the most successful economic revitalizations in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, I\u2019m proud that House Democrats focused on boosting public education funding by $1 billion, leading to a nearly 12% increase in Allentown, expanding the child and dependent tax credit for working families and fighting to help finance new school construction; these reflect a real commitment to Allentown and communities like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nDeclan Shaffer
\nHouse Democratic Communications Office<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG, Dec. 20 \u2013\u00a0State Rep. Josh Siegel released the following statement after last week\u2019s state Senate authorization of a performance audit of Allentown\u2019s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, introduced by state Sen. … Continue reading Siegel offers thoughts on authorization of performance audit on Neighborhood Improvement Zone in Allentown<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/State-Rep-Josh-Siegel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}