Allentown Homeowners Insurance Rates

Allentown residents displaced by sinkhole say city is 'pushing it on our backs'

Hodge owns one of the four homes still rendered uninhabitable by the Dec. 29 water main break and sinkhole that originally damaged eight houses and temporarily displaced about 25 residents from their homes.

But while most of the still-displaced residents await information from their insurance companies, they've all heard back from the city, and they did not like what they heard.
"The city plans to contact the property owners in the near future to learn what determinations have been made by their engineers and insurance companies," Allentown spokesman Mike Moore said.

"The houses are the responsibility of the individual property owners," Moore said. "The responsibility of the city is in the public right of way, which was promptly repaired, restoring utility service and the traveling portion of the street."

It remains unclear what caused the water main break, and whether it caused the sinkhole or vice versa. The hole also disrupted several graves in neighboring Union and West End Cemetery , but none ultimately had to be exhumed.

Hodge said she has been able to recover roughly 10 percent of her belongings from the house, mostly photo albums, clothing and items essential for day-to-day living.

Hodge has been unemployed and looking for work for the last two years. She and her children were qualified to stay at the Sixth Street Shelter due to her financial state.

The one-bedroom apartment is a little tight for the three of them, but Hodge said the shelter has made them extremely comfortable and provided much-needed stability until they figure out their next step.

Dwayne Glover , 44, of 345 N. 10th St., has been put up at a Bethlehem hotel by his insurance company, but that arrangement is only temporary.

Glover does not know where he will go next, but will have to find accommodations for himself, his wife, his 11-year-old twins and his mother-in-law.

happen without a bad main. My first insurance company thought I was joking when I ask for sink hole insurance. They said that they were caused by a water main or sewer line break. That is all well, and good in town where there are those things, but I grew up on a farm and I don't think that a sink hole in the middle of that field came from a water main. I changed insurance companies, so I could have sink hole insurance. I know of seven sink holes that have happened in my neighborhood, since I moved in ten years ago. One closed 25th street in Palmer. One below the rental section of the Home Depot in Palmer, and one right beside the Wawa. They had to inject cement under Helm's Marine on 24th street. If you live in this area you should have sink hole insurance. I switched from one large carrier to another and pay almost (less)the same for more coverage. Shop around, and see who offers sink hole or ground movement insurance.

molovinsky on allentown: A Question of Priorities

I was surveying and photographing demolished Hamilton Street yesterday. My thinking is that there is less asbestos floating around on the weekend. While I worried about the hypothetical, some Allentonians were devastated by the all too real; But first, The Family Dollar story. In the Allentown of my youth, the building held the McCrory Five and Dime. Considering that history, it wasn't inappropriate to end up a dollar store. The building's landlord just had a lucrative 14 months. Purchased for $325,154.00 in November of 2010, the City ponied up $1,100,000.00 in the beginning of this month. There has been a number of such home runs involving the arena, but not within such a short time frame. Meanwhile, Easton Express Times reporter Colin McEvory was checking out the homeowners displaced by last month's water main break and sinkhole on 10th Street. While the City was prepared to exhume graves in the adjoining cemetery, the homeowners have learned that Allentown will Through no fault of their own, they have been made homeless, and in some cases, penniless. While this City can spend $35million to acquire and demolish properties for the arena, we leave the sinkhole victims clinging to the edge of the precipice. Allentown is serviced by water pipes over 100 years old. It is City policy to never admit that a water leak caused a sinkhole. While I won't debate their legal strategy, it's apparent we could do much more for these victims; It's a matter of priorities.

A property owner needs sinkhole insurance. Regular homeowner's insurance does not cover sinkhole damage. My single family home's sinkhole rider is about $100 extra a year, so it's not an expensive policy. If your insurance company doesn't carry sinkhole coverage, SWITCH INSURERS. No property owner in the Lehigh Valley should be without this coverage - we are all on a limestone shelf.

interesting observation. my take is that the city caters to businiess and could care less about its taxpaying citizens. I hope i live long enough to see the new hockey taj mahal sink like the previous structure. time will tell. Downtown will be busy game nights but it will be the same human cesspool the rest of the time. the whole thing reeks of backdoor deals. ahch, the whole thing isn't even worth my time.

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