The guy across the top of the post is William Bendix, who played Chester Riley on
The Life of Riley. He ended each episode by saying,
What a revolting development this turned out to be. That was a television series in the 1950's, but the phrase is appropriate to Allentown today.
molovinsky on allentown spends much of it's space on the past, because it was so much better than the present. The Pawlowski Administration and The Morning Call are so focused on the future, because they hope that it's so much better than the present. On Monday afternoon, two teens were apprehended near the high school, waiting for trouble with machetes. Elsewhere, a suspect punched a cop. Our new police chief is driving around getting to know Allentown. Our mayor wanted to use hopeful expectations for this new arena as his ticket out of town. In Chester Riley's world he worked in a booming factory, and his commotions had to do with a neighbor not inviting him to a Sunday picnic. In Allentown, we have
never employed people, smashing your door in. Although this blog shies away from crime stories, we will not sugar coat the revolting development that has become Allentown.
Is machete-fighting a sport?
ReplyDeleteIf so, maybe LVH was correct to put its sports medicine practice at 7th & Hamilton.
These young youth were just waiting for the hokey games to begin at the new downtown arena? The Great Allentown Hospital Circus plays out daily in its original location as the entire rest of the city's quility of life is sinking like the MMO ship?
ReplyDeleteThe soul sale sector aqusition is climbing to all time high as the rest of the city is taken over by blight and degridation this is not to mention the high quality of life that is setting all time lows?
redd
patent pending
redd@9:19, although this post will never be used by the allentown visitor's bureau, i do not consider allentown an unsafe place. i frequent all sections of the city on a regular basis, and feel safe enough. we are no longer the safe zone of my youth, and we may well have a crime factor exceeding our population number, but the reality of crime should not scare anybody away from the arena, although the perception might. it is not the duty of this blog to promote allentown, but rather provide a counter- balance to the propaganda coming from both city hall and the morning call.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Baltimore, and in Washington DC in recent years I suppose my crime tolerance is high versus folks who have lived in Lehigh Valley all of their lives. Many towns and villages are still incredibly unscathed by serious crime. I am still amazed at how beautiful the immediate areas around Bethlehem and Allentown continue to be and how easily accessible the rural country still is. This is an amazing place to live, says I. I guess that pegs me as a *newcomer* - a pejorative I have had tossed at me a few times in the MCall comments sections. I was born in Washington DC and I saw it the same way: beautiful parks; stately brownstones; the different neighborhoods are wonderful. Some are entering a new life through gentrification (Anacostia and sections of North East)..some areas are elite and for the very wealthy only-Georgetown and Chevy Chase. There are dozens of middle class and ethnic neighborhoods in between. My parents grew up in a time of segregation and trolleys and gloved elevator staff, and that's what they knew. We had riots after the King and the Kennedy assassinations. The University of Maryland and other schools had massive demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War. The one constant was change. Our beloved department store Woodward & Lothrop's, closed, then Hecht Company, followed by Garfinkel's and many other local stores. The world didnt come to an end- just the one we knew. Things need to change in Allentown, that's for sure. Maybe the method and the path to this change are not ideal. There is time to influence the future. Some of us marginalized *newcomers* are in fact optimists. We have seen this all before. Hoping for the very best for everyone.
ReplyDeleteDreaming of Justice,
ReplyDeleteI'm from somewhere else as well, and like you saw far worse there. That however is no excuse for what passes for government in the city of Allentown.
Scott Armstrong