Deleted By Pawlowski

On Sunday morning, Ed Pawlowski put a sketch of the proposed renovated Cedar Beach Pool on his facebook page. It's actually very nice, I have no issue with the plan. I do, however, have a issue with the misinformation dispensed by him and his administration, about the parks and other aspects of the city. You can no longer see the scene pictured above. The beautiful little Robin Hood Dam in Lehigh Parkway was demolished by the Wildlands Conservancy, and the vantage point from which this photograph was taken, has been closed since the WPA wall collapsed. Neither of these losses was necessary. I unsuccessfully tried to save the WPA dam, and likewise, unsuccessfully, lobbied for repairs to the wall. Some of my efforts concerning our iconic park system are chronicled on a separate facebook page, WPA-Lehigh Valley Save Our Structures.  Pawlowski deleted a comment and link to that page, that I put on his posting.  However, the proof is in the barriers, which block off Lehigh Parkway to thousands of citizens. The city gladly accepted misinformation from the Wildlands, and also dispensed misinformation and excuses concerning the wall. Pawlowski now states that Cedar Beach pool is closed because of a sink hole under the pool. When it was closed earlier this summer, the city then claimed a leak in the filter system. Now, rather than repair it as previously stated, we learn that a whole new plan for the pool was actually in the works.

Although the FBI is annoyed at Pawlowski's style of hiding things from the public,  that  generally doesn't bother me too much. The voters have the corruption, and corresponding rubber stamps that they endorsed, election after election. However, when it comes to the iconic park system, I become agitated. This unique park system was a legacy meant to be passed on to future generations. To me, it's importance is way beyond Pawlowski's pay-grade.

photocredit: molovinsky

Bill White's Confusion

I had to shake my head reading Bill White's column yesterday. While I often criticize Bill for wasting his bully pulpit on grammar and his reoccurring themes, it's actually better than the revisionism he bestowed upon the Morning Call yesterday.  He wrote, "The Morning Call has focused attention over the years on practices that hinted at pay to play, but those revelations never generated enough heat to trigger legislation or internal reforms." That's news to me Bill, although I realize that the paper has now ended it's eight year  honeymoon with Pawlowski, that only occurred after the recent FBI raid.  By my scorecard, you would have to cite examples of these revelations about pay to play you claim the paper made. Up to recent events, the paper took everything from the Pawlowski Administration at face value.  In reality, the paper, and pardon me for saying, you in particular, were cheerleaders, especially for the NIZ.  You even called me misguided for suggesting that the NIZ was a plan based on layers of inequity; Inequitable to most of the existing businesses in the valley, and segregating against the residents of center city. Although you now write that "Time is running out for politics as usual,"  most of the few local political mavericks have ended up in your Hall Of Shame.  If your memory lapses continue,  you might want to see your physician.

A-Treat Rules In A-Town

Early last night, outside of Allentown City Hall, I watched activist Robert Trotner plea for Bill 39, the legislation against Pay To Play. Now, if he had been praising one of the reintroduced A-Treat flavors, the public would be interested, but political ethics, not so much. The local media did give coverage to Mr. Trotner and his band of eternal optimists, but compared to A-Treat, it's nothing that the public cares to digest. Here in Allentown, there are priorities and values, and things worth waiting for, like the soda flavors of their youth. Now, eventually the ethics ordinance will pass, and the current administration will be replaced by a cast of new characters. But, what the public really cares about are the important things, like watching the monster trucks in the new arena, while drinking a giant-sized A-Treat.

Allentown Burns While Pawlowski Fiddles

Is it just me, or is Allentown in a reactive haze? I keep hearing about the cloud over Allentown, since the FBI scrutinized Pawlowski and city hall. The police chief wants to be anywhere, except here. Pawlowski and his company, Allentown city council, say that they can't blame Chief Fritzgerald from striving for upward mobility, but after only two years? We quietly just gave the fire department a new five year contract that has them dancing in their underwear. While they settle for 2% increase in year two, it's 3% yearly thereafter. Since the scant arena schedule has been criticized, the promoter has announced a new monster truck show, and that he will hire additional part-time peanut vendors.

Things are also rough in the blogging business. Yesterday morning, I met Bernie O'Hare and Lou Hershman for what wasn't Breakfast at Tiffany's. After O'Hare called the waitress a bitch, she refused to serve us. After recently noting that Bernie was on the up cycle of his weight swings, a reader accused me of using 20 year old pictures of myself. I'm pictured above two weeks ago in the deep south, with a 1975 Mack fire pumper, which was made in Allentown.

Allentown City Council

Wednesday night, before a council committee meeting, there is a protest planned against council's slowness to adopt an ordinance against Pay To Play. The protesters shouldn't be too rough on the council, they did take some action, they postponed the committee meeting. It was the Parks and Recreation committee. As a parks activist, I say no loss, they never made a good decision anyway. But, this post is about something else, a police chief who can't wait to get out of Dodge. I thought that Chief Fritzgerald outlived his usefulness when he implied that his son's arrest may have been racial profiling. Ironically, the same high octane Philadelphia lawyer who defended junior Fritzgerald, has now been retained by our mayor. When news broke that senior Fritzgerald was a finalist for a chief job in Kansas, council president Ray O'Connell said that it would be our loss. Ray must be searching for a father figure, because that's a loss we should encourage. We can be sure that the Wichita job isn't the only application that Fritzgerald has submitted. He already has one foot and his brain out the door. The police department's first reaction to the Slam At Shula's was that the singer was being hostile. Understand, that for a quality response like that, we had hired national consultants and spent a year looking before we hired senior. Please spare us such shams in the future, I'd rather that when papa leaves, they just hire junior for chief.

ADDENDUM: The cancelled Parks and Recreation meeting was scheduled for this evening, not Wednesday. Wednesday's Finance Committee meeting has not been cancelled.

The Morning Call Express

While The Morning Call has thrown Pawlowski under the bus, it continues to puff for the NIZ. A recent article on how the zone is benefiting the surrounding neighborhood was just more smoke coming out of that puff engine. Needless to say, they quote Alan Jennings, their go to person for most articles. Alan's organization has the franchise on community benefit, and of course, therefore, thinks that some good has rained on the local peons. The bureaucracy even produced a webpage, Upside Allentown, complete with pictures of smiling intercity children. In truth, the quality of their life has diminished. They now pay double to park, because of the Arena Excuse. Their former shopping center on Hamilton Street was demolished for that monstrosity, and if real success ever come to the district, they will be gentrified away. Meanwhile, former Mayor For Life is getting run over every time he tries to stand up. How flat can they get Pawlowski? While I no longer contribute letters to the paper,  I do see my ideas from this blog metamorpihize into long articles in the paper. For instance, they now acknowledge that the arena sits there empty, night after night. However, they will never admit that it was just a public pretense for the Reilly City Center Real Estate Empire.

One Subject, Two Bloggers

Apparently, both Bernie O'Hare and I are posting on the same subject tomorrow.  Bernie's version will historically be viewable by midnight this evening,  while I put up my posts, while pre-heating the ovens in the family bakery,  around 4:00 AM.   Expect Bernie's piece to be longer, and mine,  of course, more insightful.

Drama At Civic Little Theatre

Architecturally, the 19th Street Theater has no rival. The tile elephant trunks coming down the edges of the facade have delighted viewers since 1928. Up to last year, there was one other Venetian type building in Allentown, in the 700 block of Hamilton, but it was  knocked down to accommodate the arena monstrosity. The 19th Street theater has survived because of it's current affiliation with the Civic Theatre, a non-profit cultural group. Shown above is the Franklin, in the 400 block of Tilghman Street, which survived until 2008. That theater,  built a century ago in 1913,  was also called the Jennette for about forty years.

reprinted from July 2013, then titled, Allentown's Last Movie Theaters

ADDENDUM: When I was a little boy, the Civic Theatre was already putting on productions for both adults and children. As an adult, Barry and Sharon Glassman have been synonymous with the theater's continued vitality. Unfortunately, I have recently received a report that the theater is currently suffering from Founder's Syndrome.

Founder's syndrome is a difficulty faced by many organizations where one or more founders maintain disproportionate power and influence following the effective initial establishment of the project, leading to a wide range of problems for both the organization and those involved in it.

According to this source, half of the staff, and a third of the board, have parted way in protest of the current leadership. I have not investigated this allegation. My gut feeling is that the Glassman's have been the energy and glue which has kept the theater continuously open for the last several decades. I will accept, by moderation, limited comments to this post which may shed light on the current situation.

UPDATE: After several complaints about the current leadership, and requests to provide space for this topic,  not one of the callers has submitted a comment.  Apparently, they wanted me to air their grievances, but they don't want to comment themselves, even anonymously. With that sort of timidity, I don't know how they think that they could run the theater any better.

Mazziotti Traveling Ethics Show

Last night, the Vic Mazziotti Traveling Ethics Show arrived "fashionably late" to the Allentown City Council, according to Bernie O'Hare. We learn that Pay To Play must be legislated away. I'm not impressed with such proposals, naive me thinks I should be able to take such basic concepts of honesty for granted. Last week, in the comment section of O'Hare's post on Mazziotti's showboat ordinance, I took Vic to task. I think that ethics should be on display in every public decision, and that Vic has been lacking in that department, when it comes to Cedarbrook, the county nursing home. Last year, Mazziotti and his fellow reform slate Republicans rejected the proposal to remodel a wing of Cedarbrook into a rehab center, which is the profitable avenue employed by the industry. Instead, after stalling for a year, they now want to re-employ a former consulting firm to repeat a previous study. Last week, when I suggested that the Reformers were stalling until it's time for the bulldozer, Vic sent a message that I should call him. Apparently, he wanted to send me to the Reeducation Indoctrination Camp, operated by the Reform Team. However, yesterday, even the Morning Call noted the stalling on Cedarbrook. "That quest for knowledge has dragged on for months, and commissioners still find themselves in a fact-finding mode."

Vic was late to council last night because the Commissioners were also conducting their own meeting, on Cedarbrook, to decide what kind of questions they should again ask their rehired consultant. Vic states that "We're making a 25-year decision here." It's unclear if he means that the decision will affect the county for 25 years, or if it will take him 25 years to make the decision. At any rate, it's clear that he doesn't want to make any decision before the election in November. I'm actually being kind. The refurbishment could have been completed already, and Cedarbrook on it's way to being viable. Play to Pay regulations don't impress me,  especially when an elected official still play games with a public trust like Cedarbrook.

The Livingston Club, Allentown's Benevolent Oligarchy

Back in the day, when the town had three department stores, the major decisions affecting Allentown's future were made at the Livingston Club. Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. The bank officers of First National and Merchants Bank would discuss loans with the highly successful merchants, many of whom had stores in all three major Lehigh Valley cities. As the heydays winded down, likewise the exit plans were made there. The City of Allentown acquired the Park & Shop lots, becoming the Allentown Parking Authority. Leh's became the Lehigh County Government Center.

The new oligarchy consists of much fewer men, they could all met at a small table in Shula's, and be entertained by watching street people  arrested. The former 1st National Bank location is now a new Reilly building. The former Livingston Club building is now a parking lot, and future site to another Reilly building. Shula's is also a Reilly building....

The Failure Of Fritzgerald, Allentown's Police Chief

I considered Allentown Police Chief Joel Fritzgerald a failure after he implied that his son's arrest may have been racial profiling. One of the reasons Fritzgerald was hired was to quell such accusations, not make them. I was critical of his hiring, Allentown hasn't had much success with national searches. We even hired out of town professionals to conduct the search, spare us such pageantry. Today, we learn that the police department is defending the treatment of the Shula Singer, because he was hostile. I would imagine that most people arrested are hostile. With lawsuits piling up against Allentown's Police Department, should Fritzgerald be in a double down mode? Don't expect Pawlowski to be tuned into this situation, he has his own legal problems.

Morning Call's Watchdog Has Doggie Dementia

The Morning Call has been running a series of articles it entitles Watchdog Report. The latest, on Sunday, rehashes the Atiyeh parcels, purchased by Allentown last year, supposedly for the park system. Associate blogger Bernie O'Hare, reminds us that he connected the dots between the purchase and Atiyeh's billboard company, last week. The Morning Call article also omits the fact that the purchase was first reported here, on molovinsky on allentown, last year. Although Bernie now notices that the paper is a sales agent for Atiyeh's billboard company, they had revealed that fact before. I also learned, or remembered, something new from the paper's story. Former park director, John Mikowychok, testified to city council that the Basin street parcel would allow the city to connect the envisioned trail network. An alternative title for this post was going to be Pawlowski's Toolbox, where I discuss the various department directors, and the distortions that they have uttered for their boss. After Mikowychok was here for only a matter of weeks, before he unpacked his suitcase or even seen the entire park system, he testified on the Wildlands Conservancy's behalf, to demolish the two small dams in Lehigh Parkway. He also apparently testified on Atiyeh's behalf, to purchase those parcels. I had, in the previous years, closely monitored the trail network plan, pushed by then park director Greg Weitzel. Although I attended the meetings on that subject, there was never any mention of a Basin street hookup. Now, I can't blame the paper too much for their memory lapses. They change out reporters like underwear, some have moved on even before they learned to hate me. Bernie O'Hare, his memory is probably affected by his radical weight gain/loss cycles. Don't worry about me offending anybody, they'll forget that they even read this.
ADDENDUM:  O'Hare's article last week did credit this blog with first reporting the land purchases last year.  I have modified the copy above to properly reflect that attribution.

Interviewing Mike Fleck In The Deep South

I found Mike Fleck at a bar on my the second night in Savannah. Bernie O'Hare was initially to conduct the search, but he's currently on the gain side of his current fat/skinny cycle.

Molovinsky:  What are your thoughts on Jolly Joe Timmer passing away?

Fleck:  You mean you came all this way to ask me that? How about Pawlowski and the wire tap?

Molovinsky:  No, I never thought that much about any of the people you represented, nothing would surprise me. Please answer my question about Timmer. 

Fleck:  The man knew polka. 

Besides for a pit stop in Charleston to see a 1975 Mack pumper made in Allentown, it was straight there and back. Can't wait for O'Hare to top out and start the diet, these trips are not my thing.

Sad Sack Voters

As an independent candidate last fall, I was often told by voters that they didn't want to waste their vote on somebody who they thought couldn't win; As if it were a game, and they were betting on it.  In reality, they were truly wasting their vote, on someone they knew would under-represent them. Although we talk about the poor choice of candidates, it's really poor choices by the voters who create the political field. On the national stage, we now have two independent types attracting the early attention. But, in both cases, there is a gimmick. Trump, nominally a Republican, is a well know showman. Sanders, really a left wing Democrat, posed for decades as an independent. He was only elected as an independent because of Vermont's unique character. In the political reality of America, you must be a celebrity to succeed as an independent. The last independent in the Pennsylvania State House was in the 1930's. Locally, party affiliation always seems to be the dogma that wins elections.

With the Mike Fleck controversy,  we here in the blogosphere receive many comments about making better choices in the voting booth. Although, there would be no down side to a change like that, I would be surprised to see the sentiment effect election results. Instead, the normal candidates will just incorporation the word change into their election speeches.

Pushing Anti-Pay To Play

Fellow blogger, Bernie O'Hare, has been pushing Vic Mazziotti's Anti Pay To Play ordinance proposal. Vic tells Bernie, "I'm going to push it," he insisted. "I'm going to push it real hard." Supposedly, in addition to pushing it with the County Commissioners, he's going to push it with Allentown City Council. Bernie would even like to see it pushed in Northampton County. I think it's amusing, especially for a city and county which just erected a $Billion dollars of real estate, with no scrutiny what-so-ever. They would reply that you got to start somewhere, sometime. Vic even wants to push it to the NIZ board. The NIZ board takes their orders only from G-D and Pat Browne. They even declined to stoop so low as to a community benefit agreement. As long as the voters keep electing used car salesman, there will always be add on charges. I think that the citizens got to start pushing back, in the voting booth.

Lesson At Dieruff

A Dieruff High School social studies teacher would not have to take his class very far for a lesson in Allentown's history. Although never elected, East Side activist Dennis Pearson has been complaining for thirty years that the East Side always get short changed in Public Works. Such was the case in the mid 1930's, during the WPA work in Allentown. Roosevelt's New Deal program built the elaborate walls in the south side's Lehigh Parkway. Central Allentown received the magnificent Lawrence Street stairwell. The culturally elite of west Allentown received the Union Terrace Amphitheater, envisioned for Shakespeare. Pearson's east side got a few scattered steps to nowhere. The steps remained, and thirty years later Allentown built Dieruff High School. With expansions and renovations, some of the steps now adjoin the school. Flash ahead to the summers of 2009 and 2010.




I lobbied Allentown City Council members to appropriate some of the $millions of dollars in Cedar Park plans to begin preserving the irreplaceable WPA structures, starting to crumble throughout our park system. East Side elected councilman, Michael D'Amore, assured me that he only signed off on the Administrations plan, with the stipulation that the steps in Irving Park-Dieruff area would be restored at the same time. The work in Cedar Park was completed last year, including $millions of dollars with of recreation equipment from catalogs. The deterioration of the steps around Dieruff continues. Now there's a lesson in government!
photos courtesy of Mark Thomas

reprinted from September of 2011

ADDENDUM: Flash ahead again four more years, and the steps at Irving Park are now finally being repaired, using a $20,000 grant from the Trexler Trust. Although the grant was secured through Friends Of The Parks, it's actually also the fruit of my labor. That organization's director learned of the plight of the WPA structures through meetings I conducted at the Allentown Library in 2011. I then took her on a WPA tour of the parks, and we have been collaborating on the WPA ever since.

At the city meeting last week, I asked the councilmen to compare $20,000  from an outside source, to repair something as tangible as the stone structures, to the $1.4 million of city money, to buy land that we didn't need, nor are using.  I explained that the consequence of the WPA neglect was that our largest park, Lehigh Parkway, is now virtually inaccessible.  Considering that I had approached both previous park directors about the WPA, with no success, I asked council to appoint me special WPA envoy, and to instruct the new director to consider my suggestions in both her plans and budget.

Council didn't respond to my request. I think that maybe they were preoccupied with the mob behind me, the ones with the pitchforks and torches.  As things simmer down from news of  the FBI investigation, and council has to deal with the business at hand,  perhaps they will reconsider my offer.

On Second Thought, Pawlowski Should Stay

Recently, I posted that Pawlowski's resignation was overdue.  I'm having serious second thoughts about that natural reaction to the alleged improprieties. Thinking back on the last council meeting, I realize that for the first time in a decade,  there is the possibility of a dynamic tension on the dais. With the strong mayor wounded, council might actually become the check and balance that they're supposed to be. The old mix seemed to be particularly toxic for Allentown;  A popular mayor endorsing council candidates for several elections. Only a month ago, King Pawlowski was now going to formally expand his picks to the school board and county commission. I suppose that in a more informed democracy we could have both, a good mayor and a working council, but let's be realistic. Here in political zombie land, both isn't coming our way. I'm thinking that maybe the best we can have is a nervous mayor and a nervous city council, they might actually do their job under those conditions.

photograph courtesy of Bottom Feed Photo Service

The Republican Hairstylist

I thought that Marco Rubio did very well last night, but he looks so young.  He should dye his hair gray like I do, to look older (I do it to look more distinguished). Trump, of course. could also use some hair advise. I thought it was unfair of Fox News to not let Huckabee hold his guitar. Maybe some of them should have been able to hold a rifle.  Bush, they should have butched up with some dried blood, a scar and maybe a bandage over his knuckles. Christie should have worn a white Colonel Sanders Suit, and went with a Boss Hogg approach.  Carson needs some anger in his voice, or maybe a prescription induced twitch.  The others blended into the stage curtain.

ADDENDUM: A couple of weeks ago,  I thought that Hillary was a shoo-in.   The Democrats, because of so many Republican candidates, were talking about the clown car.   I have since changed my mind.  Even MSNBC could talk about nothing this morning but the Republican debate.  The large field will dominate the news for many months to come,  and that is the name of the game.

Allentown City Council Minutes, August 5, 2015

When the most civil comments to the dais came from yours truly, you know that it was a raucous meeting. Back in the day of most of my battles with council, Dave Howells was president. Last night Ray O'Connell asked Rich Fegley to sit down about eight times, which is exactly seven more times than he would have gotten from Howells. Back in those days, it would have been a paddy wagon night. Council even got reprimanded by one of it's own, Jeanette Eicenwald. The main accusation last night was that council was a rubber stamp, which is something that nobody can deny. Over the recent years, I had explained to council, on several issues, that they are occasionally expected to vote no; That they were supposed to use their power of appropriation as a negotiating tool. Pawlowski's reputation for reprisal must not be exaggerated, he had transformed council into a simple approval stamp. You will be able to find and read comments by most of the speakers on other media sites. To me, the most entertaining barbs came from Chris Cocca, who wondered how the candidates endorsed by Citizens for A Better Allentown would now shed that association. I recently did a post about the scarlet P/F (Pawlowski and Fleck). Perhaps, those most guilty of Pawlowski's influence have graduated on to Harrisburg, Schlossberg and Schweyer. It's beyond time for Pawlowski to resign.

Pawlowski's State Of Denial

From Pawlowski's Facebook submissions, you would never know that there is a giant shadow of suspicion cast upon the 5th floor of city hall. This morning the mayor linked to another report showing that crime is down in Allentown. Apparently, they are not including white collar crime in those figures. Personally, I find those reports meaningless, considering all the shootings and stabbings that do occur. At any rate, I invite Mayor Pawlowski to attend City Council this evening, and get some feedback from his constituents.

Tea Leaves, Deed Transfers and The Atiyeh Park Deal

Some people read tea-leafs, I read deed transfers. It would be more accurate to say that I study deed transfer. There has only been two weeks in the last 35 years that I failed to scrutinize the list, and those omissions were failed attempts at relaxation. Recently, I mentioned Kenneth Heffentrager and his Tenant Association of Allentown. Kenneth has become a fixture at City Council meetings, complaining about housing and landlords. Kenneth is going to become a very busy boy. For the last several years the deed transfers have been dominated by landlords buying owner occupied houses. Many of these landlords are new to the business, attracted by $25,000, and even cheaper houses in center city. Landlording is tough for experienced operators, and the learning curve is steep. It will take years for the city to identify all the new landlords, and many will walk away when confronted with the realities of their new venture. Although Allentown has a strategy for Hamilton Street, it needs one for the remainder of center city.

ADDENDUM: The above portion was posted in February of 2014, and titled Allentown's Housing Future. In June of 2014, I published about the parcels purchased from Atiyeh, information I also gleaned from the deed transfers. Blogger Bernie O'Hare believes that these purchases by Pawlowski were intended to help Atiyeh finance a billboard company, I disagree. There is also a claim that the Basin Street purchase was to protect the water supply, I disagree. That parcel, off 2nd and Union, is near the sewer plant, the water supply inlets are near 15th St.  A former park director, Greg Weitzel, was indeed obsessed with connecting the parks with bike paths. At the time I opposed those plans, because of the shortcomings in maintaining existing park features. I believe that the Martin Luther King parcel was purchased with expanded park land in mind. I speculate that the Basin Street parcel was included because Atiyeh out-negotiated the city,  and  Pawlowski's indifference to using public resources to further his own agendas.  I do agree that both parcels were totally unnecessary, and a misappropriation of public funds.

The Allentown Apartment Myth, A Molovinsky Thesis

Over and over, people contribute Allentown's problems to center city houses being converted to apartments, as if this occurred recently. Many will be surprised to know that almost all the converted apartments existed for over 60 years. When the GI's returned from WW2, the trend was for small single family houses with small lawns, i.e. Levittowns. The mass conversion of the row houses took place in the late 40's and early 50's, and more less stopped by the early 60's. These "new" apartments were mostly occupied by either singles or childless couples. The tenants were buyers at Hess's and engineers at PPL. Because of them, Hamilton Street remained viable for twenty years beyond the main street in Bethlehem, Easton and Reading. Allentown was voted during this era the All American City. During those 50 years, 1940 to 1990, nobody complained about the apartments or the tenants. Ironically, more apartment inventory has been added recently, by creating "loft" apartments in former commercial buildings. The Urbanists think they can revitalize Hamilton Street with upper story housing. While the proponents mistakenly think that they will attract a middle class demographic, they are in fact just adding to the total inventory and thus the problem. Beside the urbanists, advocates for low income housing still demand more units. In reality, it's apparent we have an abundance of low income housing. Recently, there has been a trend to built new, center city single housing; attempting to attract a middle class with disposable income to bolster Hamilton Street. Neighborhood parking lots have been sacrificed for this concept.* In fact, we are just building tomorrow's rental houses. Allentown, unlike larger cities, is a horizontal community. There is no reason, geographic or otherwise, which compels the middle class to move to center city.

Allentown would currently be better served with a moratorium on new housing of all sorts in center city. Considering that over 7000 units exist, owned by 5000 different owners, deconversion hopes are unrealistic. Strict enforcement of current zoning standards, concerning square footage, parking, etc. would suffice in reasonably curtailing additional living units. By limiting supply, demand can improve the quality of life for everybody.

The above post is reprinted from November of 2009. I present it today as a counter point of view to associate Bernie O'Hare's post about what went wrong in Allentown. O'Hare assigns too much emphasis on scattered site Section 8.  I managed numerous buildings in center city Allentown.

 *This post was written in 2009, and the new housing refers to the then new townhouses at 8th and Walnut, and others planned for more Parking Authority lots. Those "new" townhouses have since been sold at auction for 50 cents on the dollar, and are in fact now rentals.

photograph of 10th and Chew Streets, 1948

Smelling The Roses In Allentown

Last summer, I posted about the city purchasing two parcels supposedly for the park system, using funds from the water and sewage lease deal. The transactions interested me, because the last thing the park department needed was more area to not take care of. Although the main stream media never picked up on my revelation, a pit bull from Nazareth now has that bone. Although this blog chronicles the short comings of the park department, especially in regard to the WPA, there is one section, of one park, which receives no criticism.

Paul Pozzi started working for the department in 1979. In 1985, he joined the small crew at the Rose and Old Fashion Gardens. For the last decade, the gardens have been solely under his magnificent care. We who take solace in that magic place owe him a debt of gratitude.

photo by molovinsky, flowers by Paul Pozzi

Morning Call Exclusive; Molovinsky Running For Mayor

SPECIAL FROM THE MORNING CALL: While the Sunday edition of the Morning Call will discuss the boring white bread on the horizon, such as Bennett, Guridy and Thiel, Wednesday's edition will feature Molovinsky's incredible plans. Moving back into Allentown, it is rumored that he has leased the former penthouse at the Americus Hotel. Below are excerpts from Wednesdays paper, where Molovinsky is interviewed by special assignment and former Call reporter, Naryl Derl.

Naryl Derl: Let me apologize for the shabby treatment I gave you back in 2005. 

Michael Molovinsky: Let's both move on, and save Allentown from the current scandal. 

Naryl Darl: Are you moving into the Americus?

Michael Molovinsky: Nothing has been signed yet, Reilly wants me in the new Strata lofts above Shula's. I told him I would only consider it if I pay full freight, but he can't understand that. I have declined a $20,000 campaign contribution from him, he can't understand that either.

Naryl Darl: What do you think differentiates you from the other candidates?

Michael Molovinsky: I'm honest.

Complete interview will appear in Wednesday's edition of The Morning Call.