Jun 30, 2015

Wildlands Conservancy's Thrill Of Hypocrisy

Yesterday, was the last day of the Conservancy's Annual Lehigh River Sojourn. The event was well covered by The Morning Call, with both a reporter and photographer on board one of the rafts. The three day event started with a talk by Chris Kocher, President of the Wildlands. The group gets grants during the winter to demolish dams, and grants during the summer to conduct this educational sojourn on the Lehigh river. Last year, Wildlands spend over $250,000 in grant money on just a study, promoting the removal of Wehr's Dam. Their website stated that the Lehigh Sojourn would take place rain or shine, but doesn't explain why. What Chris Kocher and The Morning Call fail to reveal is that their raft adventure is scheduled to coincide with the water release from the Francis E. Walter Dam in White Haven. It is only because of this dam that the Lehigh has a steady flow of water, and that these hypocrites can get their whitewater thrill.

photo of Wildlands Conservancy hypocrites enjoying dam release by Harry Fisher of The Morning Call

Jun 29, 2015

A Ghost Town Called Allentown


On Saturday afternoon, albeit in a very light drizzle, I parked at 10th and Hamilton and walked down to center square. On the way back, I stopped at Tony Lukes for takeout. Besides the lonely clerk at the empty steak shop, I didn't encounter one other person. When I participated in the NIZ debate several years ago, Pawlowski's NIZ representative said that they were going to eradicate the cancer. That of course referred to the former merchants and their customers. What they have done is trade what they perceived as low life for no life. The plan now is for Reilly to add people to the mix, by building apartments for the milleniums. Not exactly an organic plan for urban renewal.

Jun 26, 2015

The Thin Veneer Of Allentown's NIZ

In the 1930's, wooden buildings would be covered with shingle that looked like brick, it was called tinselbrick. The thin masonry facade of the NIZ buildings is certainly a higher grade imitation, but an imitation never the less. Among all the promotion and ballyhoo, occasionally we get a glimpse of truth from the local media. They wonder if there really is enough tenants for all the new offices? They occasionally wonder if there is enough patrons for all the new restaurants? They reveal that Starbucks itself really didn't come to Allentown, but rather J.B. Reilly leased a franchise for Reilly Center, and is running it himself. In a day or two the paper goes back, and refers to the Starbucks opening as a symbol of the NIZ's success. The hospital was going to open their orthopedic center at 7th and Hamilton. Thinking better of that idea, instead they located it at the Westfield building in South Whitehall. Their arena location instead became their fitness center. We now learn that their employees are demanding increased security before they will use the facility. The arena was supposed to have 126 events a year. This year they will be about 100 short. Although the paper refers to the restaurants and shops, there are no shops. People are wondering if they want to pay $2 an hour to park while picking up their cheesesteak, or drink a beer. Reilly can induce the businesses to relocate for the virtual free rent. The unique NIZ tax arrangement has Pennsylvania taxpayers paying for this business illusion. Enjoy the show, you're paying for it.

Jun 25, 2015

WPA Walls, The Problem and Parkway Solution

To propose a solution to the WPA walls and structures, today the blog moves to Union Terrace, now named Joseph Daddona Terrace and Lake. Union Terrace was the last large scale WPA project in Allentown. The double stairwell shown above leads down from St. Elmo Street. A similar, but larger version graces Lehigh Parkway, just beyond where the wall there recently collapsed. We see that the top of the staircase wall at Union Terrace is missing numerous stones and mortar. This condition allows rain and snow to steep down inside the
wall, and force out the wall stones during the winter freeze cycles. I'm sorry to report that this condition has existed now for four years, and my reports to the previous park directors fell on deaf ears. This is the same condition which caused the failure of the parkway wall. It is imperative that the top surfaces of these walls and structures are maintained. The vertical planes of the walls are much more forgiving, if the tops are kept sealed. I've chosen Union Terrace for this post because of the new retaining wall built there last year, as part of the Union Street bridge replacement. In building the new bridge, it was necessary to remove the previous retaining wall along Union Street. The new wall, shown below, is actually a concrete wall, which was faced with actual stone retained from the previous WPA wall. The top of the new wall was then capped with flagstone like cement pieces, hiding the concrete and making many fewer mortar joints. If this wall method was employed in Lehigh Parkway, the replacement wall section would meet today's construction standards, and blend well with the remaining WPA wall.

Jun 24, 2015

Allentown Park And Pawlowski Nonsense

Yesterday, joining Pawlowski and Allentown City Council, bureaucrats and elected officials from all over Pennsylvania erected some playground equipment in Jordan Park. The event was planned over several years, and involved three Allentown Park Directors; The former, the acting and the new. Pawlowski boasted that it gave him an opportunity to showcase Allentown. If he was more accountable and introspective, he would have taken them to Lehigh Parkway, and showed them the legacy lost for future generations. He would have showed them how Allentown mistakenly allowed it's beautiful WPA heritage to literally crumble, while it concentrated on fads and public relations. Yesterday, proved that anybody can assemble a piece of playground equipment from a catalog in less than a day. I wonder if Pawlowski and the other officials, wearing their matching feel good tee-shirts, could have built one of our irreplaceable stone structures. I never expected an elected official to have that skill, but I do expect them to make sure the icons of this city are maintained.

photo by Emily Paine/The Morning Call

Jun 23, 2015

Allentown's Sad Excuse On It's Park Neglect

Allentown's managing director, Francis Dougherty, told the Morning Call that
"This is not an issue of neglect by this administration, the structures have been neglected for decades."
Mr. Dougherty is wrong on both accounts. Both the Daddona and Heydt Administrations responded to my requests for stone pointing on the WPA structures, and it is very much a case of neglect by the Pawlowski Administration. The city has also conceded that it knew that the Parkway wall needed work for at least the last six years. All of this is the good news. The wall was not simply a barrier for the road, rather it was a retaining wall, holding the road up. The wall was constructed when the road was cut down the side of the Little Lehigh ravine, and supports the roadway. I doubt if the roadway can be reopened before the wall is rebuilt. However, the consequences of the neglect and wall failure get even worse. When Don Cunningham was Lehigh County Executive, rather than properly replace the metal bridge by the police academy, he used a pedestrian only bridge. This means that vehicles cannot reach most of the park from the 24th Street entrance. With numerous runs and events still scheduled this summer, participants will have to enter on the narrow twisty single lane road off Vultee Street. Last summer, the traffic was routed several times on the path to Lehigh Parkway North, near Regency Tower. This is not a proper roadway, but rather just a macadamed bridle path, which goes very close to the 1858 historic triple lime kiln. Hopefully, Pawlowski will not further endanger that sensitive area with vehicles.

panoramic photograph from 1936 shows construction of wall and roadway

Jun 22, 2015

Allentown's Lehigh Parkway Pays Price Of Neglect

Early Saturday morning a section of Lehigh Parkway's entrance wall collapsed onto the bridle path below. This was a result of long time, gross neglect. As an advocate for the WPA, I know more about this catastrophe than others. Today and tomorrow, I will chronicle how this happened, and propose a solution to save Allentown's incredible park legacy.

 In 1928, Harry Trexler commissioned a leading American park architect to design Allentown's park system. When Roosevelt announced the WPA as part of the New Deal, Allentown was shovel ready with those plans. Four thousand men labored throughout the citys' parks, mainly between 1935-37, creating the stone icons which made the parks literally a picture postcard.

Since the early 2000's, when Ed Pawlowski first worked as Afflerbach's Community Development Director, not one nickel, nor one moment, has been spent on the WPA structures. Cracks on the top surfaces of the walls were not kept sealed, allowing water and the winter's freeze cycles to loosen the stones. The Park and Recreation Departments were combined, and a series of new directors, with their background in recreation, were preoccupied with playgrounds.

In addition to the administrators, all originally from out of town with no personal history or feeling for the parks, City Council never asserted themselves on this problem. Understand, that I have lobbied and informed everybody on the WPA neglect for the last decade.

The Trexler Trust also has not exerted themselves on this subject, although they are a major contributor to the park department budget. I was informed that they do not specify how their contribution is spent, but we know that they do have influence.
The Morning Call
The media, specifically the Morning Call, has been a mixed bag. Former columnist Paul Carpenter did  a column on my efforts. Former Opinion Page Editor Glenn Kranzley  featured several of my WPA pieces. However, the paper did not publicize or report on my Parkway WPA tours the last couple of summers.

The section of the wall which fell on Saturday was supposed to be repaired four years ago. Funds were already budgeted for that purpose twice already. The original drainage swale, built as part of the wall, was macadamed over years ago. An overflowing storm sewer, which pushes tons of water against the wall, has never been addressed. The wall had endured decades of neglect. It's a testament to it's builders that it defied so much abuse. While I care about replacing the fallen section, my real concern is maintaining the remaining walls. They need some long overdue attention.

ADDENDUM:  Francis Dougherty, the city's managing director, said that the city has been criticized repeatedly for the deterioration of the structures.
"This is not an issue of neglect by this administration," Dougherty said. 
"[The structures} have been neglected for decades."
 From the Morning Call

Mr. Dougherty, the structures have not been neglected for decades,
but what is your point beyond admitting that the Pawlowski 
Administration has done nothing in it's three terms?

Jun 20, 2015

Molovinsky Called It Years Ago

In his post today, LVCI credits my long-standing concern about the Parkway wall and other WPA structures. The wall collapse this morning was catastrophic. A full post to follow on Monday.

Jun 19, 2015

Racism In The Allentown School District

I've posted before about the local Power Northeast group, which has been demonstrating against what they claim is institutional racism in the Allentown School System. At public school meetings they have worn surgical masks, and turned their back on the board members. Recently, at POWER'S request, four board members met with the group. While those members may have attended the meeting as a responsive and conciliatory gesture towards the groups' concerns, Scott Armstrong is upset that in doing so, they have validated a very negative agenda. We all know that racism is all too real. The horrific shootings in Charleston this week remind us that racial sickness abounds. It is, however, necessary for students to know that their teachers and school support their success. The meeting produced a document which states that systemic racism must be addressed in the school district. It goes further, and states that this racism is the cause of low test scores and the high drop out rates. I don't believe that this is true, but worse, it discourages, rather than encourages, the students. Many of the students live in poverty, and some come from dysfunctional families. These are difficult circumstances for any student to overcome. But, to convey the message that the deck is stacked against them, even in the sanctuary of their school, is a disservice.

Jun 18, 2015

They Shoot Landlords, Don't They

When I ran as a long-shot independent for mayor in 2005, against Ed Pawlowski and Bill Heydt,  the first thing I did was take The  Morning Call reporter on a tour of the properties that I managed.  As an intercity landlord, operating apartments between 4th and 12th, Walnut and Tilghman Streets,  I knew that the rentals would become  Allentown's biggest problem.  After the WW2,  it became fashionable to live in a twin or small ranch, and Allentown's row houses began being divided into apartments.  Those apartments were mostly occupied by singles or childless couples, and helped keep downtown and Hamilton Street vital, long past many of it's sister cities.  In the 1960's, despite the thousands of converted apartments,  center city was clean, and Allentown was the All American City.  Both the tenants and landlords were hard working and conscientious.  As the urban poor from New York and New Jersey discovered the clean streets of Allentown, and it's moderately priced apartments,  a steady influx of new residents arrived daily.  These changes were not encouraged by the landlords.  Nobody ever purchased a building hoping to replace their conscientious middle class occupants, with a poorer, more problematic tenant base.  Various social agencies staked many of these newcomers to the first month rent and security deposits.  Although politically incorrect, I said at the time that Allentown was creating a poverty magnet.  My phrase and analysis back then is now recognized as an unintended consequence of such programs.  During Heydt's administration, Allentown passed a Rental Inspection Law.  Some viewed  this as the solution to the rental problem, I didn't fully agree;  You cannot legislate pride of ownership. Bad operators could, and easily did, cross the T's and dot the i's.  Pawlowski's solution has been to tag buildings as unfit for habitation, so many,  that the process itself has created blight.  Halls of Shame, either by the city or private groups, only stigmatize both the property and owner, but don't produce a solution.  The programs in place, if applied with more flexibility, can work.  The school district is starting to show concern about the consequences of more apartments and students.  Recent zoning changes allowing the conversion of commercial space by right, rather than by variance, could well add to the problem.  At the end of the day,  all landlords want to see their investment appreciate.  The city must learn to work with that basic incentive as a vehicle for change.

UPDATE:  The post above is reprinted from my archives.  I believe that my background enabled me to write a  concise, accurate synopsis of Allentown's downtown housing situation. Today, we learn that Reilly's City Center and other employers and stakeholders in the NIZ are offering $10,000 incentives for their employees to buy houses in center city. I believe that if the plan is properly administered, it can be a useful tool for Allentown.

Jun 17, 2015

Reillytown Reinvents The NIZ

Today's Morning Call is dominated by Reilly's plan to own the entire 700 square block of Hamilton Street. Buried within the article are new interpretations of the NIZ, which has always been nothing but a pliable work of opportunity for Reilly. Conveniently placed after the jump to the paper's last page, we learn that Reilly is increasing his NIZ backed credit line from $185 million to $320 million. We also learn that this new project will be built on taxpayer backed speculation. The paper once again presents his press releases as facts. The apartment portion of the project has been moved from Walnut Street to 8th and Hamilton, supposedly to avoid infringing on the residential neighborhood south of Walnut. Let me translate; The apartments have been moved to avoid and segregate the new sought yuppies from the existing low income population. Let me clarify that I don't think that these projects are bad for Allentown. There clearly has been a stagnation in center city for many years. However, as a long time independent observer of Allentown, no person or project deserves wholesale promotion, with no scrutiny.

illustration from The Morning Call

Allentown's WPA Bounty

When the WPA started in 1935, Allentown was in a unique position to benefit. In 1929 the city decided to expand it's park system, and acquired hundreds of acres for that purpose. We had both the space and the unemployed needing the work. A project was built in almost every park in Allentown; Cedar, Irving, Union Terrace, Lehigh Parkway, Jordan, and of course, Fountain Park. The stairwells leading from Lawrence Street (now Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street (Junction Street) and next up to Spring Garden Street became essential several years later. Hundreds of men would use them every day as Mack Truck turned their production to the War effort. As well built as the stone structures were, they are now over 75 years old. Steps are missing on the Grand Stairway, columns are being undermined at Union Terrace, and these monuments of our past need attention. Although they are beautiful, irreplaceable, and the icons of our parks, they are not a priority for the current Administration and Park Department.

reprinted from February of 2012

Jun 16, 2015

Allentown Crime Down, So Is Credibility

According to Pawlowski and his chief, crime is down in Allentown. If you have any doubts, they produced a 53 page report, complete with statistics and graphs. The report will be an annual production. I do remember the other week when the chief's son was on trial, there was at least four shootings. The report doesn't lower Pawlowski's and Fitzgerald's credibility with me, they didn't have that much. But, the media seems to have some doubts. The Morning Call placed the story on page 7, and writes according to the mayor and police chief. To me, according reflects doubt. That's the very word I used to start this post. Someone should tell Pawlowski and Fitzgerald that there just has been way too many shootings and stabbings for their first annual report to have any meaning.

Jun 15, 2015

Allentown's Lyme Disease Party For Children

Allentown's new park director, following the lead of her predecessors, is closing rather than repairing swimming pools. Worse yet, she is allowing the Wildlands Conservancy to again dictate stream bank policy. Once again, the streams will be blocked from view and access by a uncut swath of weeds and underbrush. Apparently, she took the Wildlands Orientation Course, because this year the barrier is wider than ever. In reality, this is a terrible attractive nuisance for children and pets. They want to see and experience the stream, and will navigate their way through the tick infested mess. In the past, we could count on the Trexler Trust and city fathers to safeguard the traditions of the park system. Those values, like Fountain Park and Cedar Beach Pools, are closed for the season.

Jun 12, 2015

O'Hare To Be Flogged

Taking a lead from Saudi Arabia, Northampton County Executive is planning on having Blogger Bernard O'Hare publicly flogged in Nazareth. Preliminary reports indicate that the local police chief has volunteered to administer the lashes. Full details to follow as they become available.

The Butchers Of Allentown

Those coming here today looking for a story about sloppy civic leadership will be disappointed. This post is literally about butchers, more specifically, some butchers at Allentown Meat Packing Company. A few days ago, while at the Fairground's Farmers Market, I learned that Bobby had passed away. Bobby was the "kid" who worked at my father's meat market on Union Street. Bobby grew up in an orphanage, a hardship which my father respected. One meat cutter that I knew nothing about was Lamont, other than he lived at the WestEnd Hotel. He was a bear of a man, who could carry a beef quarter from the cooler with no effort. I never saw Lamont in the market portion of the shop, he always remained in the back, either in the large cooler or the adjoining cutting room. While my father insisted that people working on the counter change their meat coat and apron several times during the day, no such rule was imposed upon Lamont. Although he would look over the trays of meat before being taken out to the display cases, he never spoke. Last time I spoke to Bobby, he told me that he appreciated that my father had taught him a trade, which he used throughout his life.

reprinted from February of 2014

Jun 11, 2015

Jordan Heights


In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open till about ten years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008
Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

reprinted from June of 2010

Jun 10, 2015

Allentown Rubber Stamping Even Stuns Local Newspaper

Nobody has ever accused The Morning Call of being analytical about the NIZ. To the contrary, I've accused them of blind cheerleading and outright promotion in their articles about the Renaissance. However, even they found the recent Allentown Planning Commission meeting lacking in scrutiny. The meeting pertained to maintaining a warehouse on the waterfront parcel, to take advantage of the  cigarette tax loophole.
Planning commissioners asked developers almost no questions before unanimously approving the proposal, but Chairman Oldrich Foucek III questioned whether the operation, which would have one to two tractor trailer deliveries daily, would have any impact on the health and safety of the community.
Jaindl's attorney answered "No, it won't adversely effect anybody's health or safety, and here's a puppy biscuit for your good question."

Jun 9, 2015

Fading Park Postcards Of Allentown

While Allentown continues it's efforts to establish a dog park, the parks themselves are going to the dogs. Take an aging park system, combine it with an administration composed of people from out of town with no institutional memory of the city, and the the famous images of Allentown are disappearing . This year the dogs got more time in Cedar Beach Pool than the residents. Cedar Beach is closed for the season; Of course, that's what they said when Fountain Pool first closed. The stone stairwell, going down into Union Terrace off St. Elmo Street, is crumbling. The park is now called Joseph S. Daddona Lake and Terrace. With Cedar Pool closed, Irving Park, with the first pool in the city, will be renamed Andre Reed Park. One stone staircase in that park was removed several years ago, rather than repaired. It won't be too long before people look at an old park postcard, and wonder where that picture was taken.

Jun 8, 2015

Allentown's Success Based On Smoke And Dummies

J.B. Reilly and Joe Topper have purchased a cigarette distributorship and moved the business address to their 702 Hamilton Street address. This maneuver allows their company, City Center Own Allentown, to use the $1.60 per pack Pennsylvania cigarette tax toward the debt service on their growing empire. Perhaps this was the conflict of interest which propelled Reilly to resign his position on the hospital board. One would like to think that tobacco taxes are used for health care, not private enrichment.

UPDATE: The above is reprinted from February of 2012. The cigarette loophole proved enormously lucrative.  Instead of relying on employee taxes poached from other places in Lehigh Valley, the NIZ barons could now build more and more buildings, funded by smokers everywhere.  While originally building just for the poached businesses, it allowed the barons to start building on speculation.  The Jaindl Company,  now following that successful game plan, is also purchasing a cigarette wholesaler.  This means that instead of tenants waiting for completion,  we will have new empty buildings waiting for tenants.  It gets much worse if we use a moral compass.  The cigarette taxes had been used to fund CHIP,  children's health insurance, and other health related programs. A large portion of those funds now go to finance these privately owned real estate empires.  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? In the last election for state representatives, seven of the eleven incumbents were unopposed.  They are, to a person, inept and complacent.  Of course, the dirt dumb voters also deserve credit.

Jun 4, 2015

Blogging Lite

I saw this picture this morning on the page of a facebook friend. In real life we don't even know each other. The strawberries were meant to be nothing more than strawberries. Another friend asked where he got them, and the poster gave the address of the fruit stand. I thought how much more relaxing that would be, instead of writing that the mayor should fire the police chief, for being involved in unnecessary tension between different police agencies. I also think that it would be more relaxing to just give directions to farm stands, rather than receiving antagonistic anonymous comments all day. I probably won't turn into a food or puff blogger, it's not my nature, but here's one portion anyway.

Pawlowski Double Downs On Fitzgerald

Pawlowski has put on the happy face by linking on facebook to articles proclaiming Junior Fitzgeralds' not guilty decision, but he knows the situation is far from innocent. Even the most avid supporters I know were disappointed when they found out that the Fitzgerald family turned down the ARD offered by Martin. They believed that the family was defending Juniors' future, so he would  be able to follow his parents footsteps in law enforcement. The Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program would have allowed that, by expunging the arrest record. The Fitzgeralds declined, because Junior would have to admit that he pointed a gun and apologize to the detectives. Supposedly, he was a model suspect because he did apologize while in custody. Handcuffed to a wall in the Whitehall Township police station, Christopher Fitzgerald apologized for pulling a gun on two detectives and insisted he only did so because he was scared. The Morning Call, May 29, 2015. Another condition of the ARD was that their attorney, Jack McMahon, would have to retract his assertion of racial profiling. Even though McMahon was willing to do that, and recommended accepting the ARD program, the Fitzgeralds declined on principle. So, the chief and his family had an opportunity to avoid the trial, avoid the insinuation of racial profiling, and most importantly, avoid the tension with fellow law enforcement, but chose not to. Pawlowski can double down with facebook, but lets hope he's not really proud. The credibility of law enforcement was eroded by a man that we brought here, and are paying to defend it. Although those who defended the Fitgeralds,  before knowledge of the ARD offer became public, are privately disappointed, you won't hear them admit it. It's too politically incorrect, they would rather double down.

Jun 3, 2015

Stairway To Shame


In the mid 1930's, Allentown, and especially it's park system, was endowed with magnificent stone edifices, courtesy of the WPA; Works Progress Administration. This was a New Deal program designed to provide employment during the aftermath of the depression. Stone masons from all over the country converged on this city and built structures which are irreplaceable. The walls and step structures in Lehigh Parkway, as the Union Terrace amphitheater, are legacies which must be protected. Pictured above is the grand stairway from Lawrence Street (Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street, built in 1936. The steps are in a state of disrepair. They lead to the great Union Street Retaining Wall, twenty five feet high and two blocks long, which was completed in 1937. I call upon the Trexler Trust and Allentonians of memory, to insist that these steps are re-pointed and preserved. The current Administration knows nothing of our past, and really has no commitment to our future. Save the things in Allentown that matter.
reprinted from September 2008

UPDATE JUNE 2015:It's seven years later, and I'd like to say there has been some progress, but it hasn't happen. While Pawlowski is on his third term as mayor, we're on our third park director, and not one $dollar has been spent on one WPA project, in all these years. Actually, the state of our historic structures has significantly declined. An indifferent administration allowed The Wildlands Conservancy to demolish the scenic Robin Hood Dam, which was only ten inches high, and was the companion piece to the Robin Hood Bridge. Built in 1941, it was the last WPA structure completed in Allentown. Union Terrace, which was the last large scale WPA project, built in 1937, is rapidly deteriorating. While the park department concentrates on playgrounds and parking lots, it's losing the stone structures which make the park system iconic. They will never be able to be replaced.

Jun 2, 2015

Model Suspect Exonerated

Up to last week, I had never heard the term model used for a suspect. But model suspect was the term a Whitehall police officer used to describe Christopher Fitzgerald, because he was polite, compliant and even cried. His high priced, melodramatic defense attorney, also put on a first rate performance. In a passionate — and loud — crescendo to his closing speech, he implored the jury to find Fitzgerald not guilty, so that he could continue his career path of becoming a police officer like both his parents."Do not put an end to the dreams of this young man today,"  So, young Fitzgerald joins the OJ Club.

If you're ever behind someone who stops his car and jumps out with a Glock, fear not, that's a model suspect. In a few years, if you're stopped by a cop,  who is holding a Glock and crying, fear not.

ADDENDUM: Ed Pawlowski had doubled down on his support for police chief Fritgerald by posting the Morning Call article link on his facebook page. Ed, junior wasn't innocent, he just wasn't convicted.

Jun 1, 2015

Allentown School Board, Witness To Slander

I have heard that lately Allentown School Board meetings have become quite ugly. Members of Power Northeast, wear masks and turn their backs to the school board, demonstrating against what they describe as toxicity and condoned racism in the district. The Resurrected Life Community Church, led by Rev. Gregory Edwards, has become aligned with this movement. They believe that the district has turned into a pipeline to prison. They believe that they have to push back to push forward. Many of their grievances are aimed directly at district superintendent Russ Mayo, actually describing him as guilty of sweeping problems under the rug. While the school board mostly listens silently to these accusations, Scott Armstrong responds.
At last night’s school board meeting a group of protestors made slanderous accusations against the district’s superintendent. I know those remarks had to hurt him deeply. He is a man who has dedicated his life to public education, and he is in the field and at the helm of the ASD for all the right reasons. No one is perfect, there is always room for improvement and solutions can be found. However, those who cast the accusations should understand the road to understanding is not paved by slurs. I chose to speak out against the slander, for the only thing worse than the insults is the silence of those who know the charges are false.    Scott Armstrong
I believe that Jude-Laure Denis, leader of Allentown's Power Northeast, and Rev. Edwards, would be better to continue working on the real issues, rather than scapegoat the district and particularly the superintendent. Although architecturally we look like just a large town, demographically, we have the issues of any large urban city. Allentown is mired in poverty, and those problems which often present themselves in the home life of the students. These problems are shared by all urban areas. The church has embraced and established their RLife programs of pre-school and learning summer camp. These are the types of actions that have meaningful results. The Allentown School District has concerned administrators and caring teachers, what it needs is partnering parents and community.

ADDENDUM: I have decided to link to a YouTube of part of the school board meeting. Addressing the  board is Pastor Paul Patrick.  Although he cites bible passages, I find his berating less than spiritual.