South Whitehall Commissioner Woes

Poor Matt Mobilio had to take down his commissioner facebook page, too many complaints. On his personal page he laments the perils of public life.

In the 13 months as an elected official I've accomplished more than I could have hoped. But the toxic nature of social media has made me question everything I've done, everything I hope to do and my own ambitions for higher office. My point is, your local politician is, many times, someone really trying to make a positive difference. Someone without ill will, someone who has a family and sincere intentions. I truly believe I can do more, solve serious problems and make Lehigh County a better place. For the most part we dismiss our detractors as haters and know-nothings. But sometimes, it's damn hard to go on.

Talking about damn hard, let's talk about Wehr's Dam. It wasn't that long ago that you publicly wondered aloud how the township could get out from under the obligation of keeping the dam, as voters chose by referendum. You're probably aware of the conspiracy by the Wildlands Conservancy to complicate the dam repair by interacting back channel with the state.

Mobilio doesn't support the dam or the voters' referendum to preserve it.  I've been fighting since 2014 to save the dam, and must be one of the know-nothings to which he refers.

As for your ambition for higher office,  you're apparently a student of the Mark Pinsley School Of Office Jumping.  As Pinsley stood with the protesters about the Dorney Park shooting,  you publicly support the striking municipal workers.  You publicly support Ce-Ce, who as a council member marched against the Allentown Police. While you wokettes are entitled to your personal private sentiments,  as public officials, you should be more circumspect about your public messaging.  Unfortunately, you currently have control over my tax dollars, but you will never get my vote, for any office to which you may aspire.

photocredit: Wehr's Dam by Tami Quigley.  

Pocket Change At Molovinsky Blog

After 14 years of publishing this blog early morning every weekday, holidays included, a change is in order. Henceforth, the blog will appear sans the rigid schedule. I have installed an email widget on the web version sidebar, for those desiring free home delivery.

Crimes By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

The top photo shows the Robin Hood Bridge, before the Wildlands Conservancy demolished the little Robin Hood Dam, just downstream beyond the bridge. The dam was only about 10 inches high, and was built as a visual effect to accompany the bridge in 1941. It was the last WPA project in Allentown, and considered the final touch for Lehigh Parkway. Several years ago, the Wildlands told the Allentown Park Director and City Council that it wanted to demolish the dam. The only thing that stood between their bulldozer and the dam was yours truly. I managed to hold up the demolition for a couple weeks, during which time I tried to educate city council about the park, but to no avail. If demolishing the dam wasn't bad enough, The Wildlands Conservancy piled the broken dam rubble around the stone bridge piers, as seen in the bottom photo. I'm sad to report that the situation is now even worse. All that rubble collected silt, and now weeds and brush is growing around the stone bridge piers. I suppose the Wildlands Conservancy considers it an extension of its riparian buffers.

The Wildlands Conservancy is now going to demolish Wehr's Dam at Covered Bridge Park in South Whitehall. The township commissioners are cooperating, by having a grossly inflated price associated with repairing the dam, to justify a disingenuous referendum. Sadly, by next spring I will be showing you before and after pictures of that crime.

top photo by Tami Quigley

above reprinted from August 2016

UPDATE: To everyone's surprise, especially the Wildlands Conservancy and the South Whitehall Commissioners, the referendum to save the dam was approved by the voters in November of 2016. The Wildlands Conservancy and the South Whitehall Commissioners are now conspiring to have the dam demolished anyway, by exaggerating its problems with the Pa. DEP...I have documented the communication between the Wildlands, State and township,  As for Lehigh Parkway, the Wildlands Conservancy should be made to remove the former dam rubble that is despoiling the vista of the Robin Hood Bridge piers.  I have been trying to interest the Morning Call about the voter suppression in regard to the Wehr's Dam referendum.  In today's paper there is an article about the danger high hazard rated dams pose to residents downstream.  I hope the paper's article today is a coincidence, and not intended to serve the Wildlands conspiracy about Wehr's Dam.  BTW,  Wehr's Dam is rated low hazard, because it poses no danger to residents.

reprinted from November of 2019 and before

The Trains Of Union Street

Up to the late 1960's, Union Street, between the Jordan Creek and Lehigh River, was  crossed by numerous train tracks. In addition to the main tracks for the New Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley Railroads, the area hosted many sidings for the industries that once huddled along this historic river front area.  There was a small rail yard with five sidings between the UGI gas storage tank, which dominated Allentown's skyline, and Allentown Meat Packing Company.  The photo above dates from the late 1940's.  The map below from the early 1930's.



Small rail yard on bottom left of map. Allentown Meat Packing was the former H.H. Steinmetz Co. in 1932.

reprinted from 2017

Biden Throwing Baby Out With Bathwater

Although Nikki Haley wisely warned the Democrats against the indiscriminate tossout of everything from the Trump Administration, Biden appears to being doing exactly that.  

When he stopped the Keystone pipeline project,  he put thousands of workers on unemployment.  As Texans sat in the dark last week, even liberal ones may have had the time to contemplate the benefit of more North American energy, not less.  If that didn't slap their face, perhaps the crossing of asylum seekers at the border this weekend will. Iran sponsored militias rocketed a base in Iraq, which should remind Biden of reality in the middle east.

While I understand that the Trump revulsion will not allow the admission of any previous good policy, perhaps Biden will have the good sense to at least rebrand some of those policies.  Energy and security shouldn't be compromised for political reasons.

Racial Divide In Allentown's Upcoming Primary

A white mayoral candidate was recently taken to task on facebook for mentioning a black woman's role in his childhood.  When I observed that there would be no satisfying those intent on fostering racial divide, I was informed that there was no divide, just some good intended cultural sensitivity training taking place.  

While I refrained from any further exchange, I did follow the training taking place, and took the liberty of checking the trainers' pages. While they claim no racial divide,  I could not find one white candidate being supported for any office by any of the trainers.

The Morning Call inadvertently launched some of the current campaigns this past summer, with one article after another on the social justice marches taking place.  An article this weekend ties the summer marches and the spring campaigns together. 

It is my hope that if any of these campaigns succeed, that those newly elected mature into officials with a wider agenda. 

Turning Allentown's Blight Into Success

The recent article about Allentown in the New York Times used the B word.

Aided by tax dollars that would otherwise go to state or local general funds, developers should be able to offer attractive rents to companies that bring in new workers — who in turn might move into or buy new apartments and support new shops and restaurants in what had been a blighted urban landscape.

The writer of the Times piece is from New York City. We know that, because even J.B.Reilly, who hopes to rent apartments to the new office workers, isn't building condo's to sell in center city Allentown, or as he says, city center Allentown. 

While that writer is from NYC, this writer is from Allentown, and will now tell you how to change blight into success; You simply move it around the corner and up three blocks. The merchants and shoppers previously referred to as blight on Hamilton Street, are now being touted as the success of 7th Street. On Hamilton Street they had to compete with both the memory and expectation of better days. On 7th Street, things have been so dire for so long, the same shops and people now look like success. We could debate the sociology of my observation. We could become offended or defensive, but taking the show around the corner did change the perception. 

Talking of turning the corner, readers may soon notice a change in this blog. Although molovinsky on allentown will continue to write the unspoken, there are  few too vestiges of the old commerce and values to reference. While nobody will identify me as an advocate of the Arena and Neighborhood Improvement Zone, reporting will shift more to the future.

above reprinted from March of 2014

UPDATE FEBRUARY 19, 2021: Well, I never did climb on board with Allentown's new agenda.  This blog actually may well have contributed to Pawlowski's indictment.  My scrutiny then turned to the Morning Call, its lack of candor about the NIZ, and their protection of local sacred cows. The paper now has its own problems, as a hedge fund may soon be their new owner. 

Allentown's growing diversity seems to be dominating the upcoming local elections, with insinuations of racial insensitivity as a main theme.  My new project,  facebook group Allentown Chronicles, has me now more often revisiting Allentown's past, than its present or future.

photocredit:urban shopper, relocated from Hamilton to 7th Street/michael molovinsky

A Snowy Morning In Jerusalem

Snow is a rare occurrence in Jerusalem, but on January 10th (2013) it snowed 6 inches, the biggest storm since 1992.  Although this blog concentrates on local political commentary, I do indulge in a few distractions. Among those are local history, boxing from the Joe Louis era, and stories from the Holy Land.  With all topics, the quality of the visual image presented here is paramount to me.

reprinted from February of 2013

The Valley Of Cronyism

On Thursday I was a guest on Lehigh Valley Discourse, WDIY's program hosted by Alan Jennings. Despite some distractions, I was able to bring up one of Lehigh Valley's biggest problems, cronyism. Cronyism and sacred cows run the valley. An Op-Ed piece in this weekend's Morning Call illustrates the point. Because they hire veterans, Nestle is lauded for its plans to build another large plant, this one in central Pennsylvania. Their Lehigh Valley plant is at capacity for water usage. Of course hiring veterans sounds like a good thing, but sucking the water out of Pennsylvania to fill plastic bottles all over the world is a problem.  The Op-Ed is essentially a public relations piece for Nestle, presented as an editorial.

Here in Allentown we face higher water prices because LCA wants to implement a back door price hike, by increasing the residential billing cycle. (each bill contains a minimum charge, effectively resulting in an increase) We are in essence subsidizing the profit margin of Nestle and other commercial users.

Nestle was brought to the valley by Don Cunningham, now director of Lehigh Valley Economic  Development Corporation. Apparently, the Morning Call has no problem with a Nestle feel good editorial piece, but try and submit something critical about the local sacred cows and cronyism to the paper. Expect no reply, much less seeing it printed.

above reprinted from July of 2018

UPDATE FEBRUARY 17, 2021: Nestle's local operation has been purchased by a large holding company.  In 2009, its then recent expansion in the valley, and the threat to our own water supply, were only covered by this blog.  The Morning Call would not cover the concerns of local environmental activists at the time.  Nestle made continuing donations to the Wildlands Conservancy, also ensuring their silence.  The Morning Call itself is now being acquired by a hedge fund.  While we don't know how this acquisition will affect their staffing,  they have already been a lapdog to the local sacred cows for well over a decade.

The Wagon Trail

Most of Lehigh Parkway lies in a deep ravine. The slope up to Lehigh Parkway South, across the creek from Robin Hood, is very steep, about 60 degrees. Unknown to many people, there is a diagonal trail on part of the slope, which comes out halfway up the hill behind the Stone and Log House.

We kids, who grew up in the Parkway, called it the Wagon Trail. I believe it was part of the Kemmerer Farm (Stone and Log House), which dates back to the late 1770's. In the 1950's, the foundation of a small kiln was still visible on the trail. The subsequent years had not been kind to the old trail,  and it is no longer maintained by the Park Department. About halfway between it's entrance and exit on the hill, the trail has been blocked by a large fallen tree. People had dumped debris on the trail, and it remained there for years.

In April of 2010, I organized a cleanup.  The park director at the time cooperated on the project. I agreed that no power tools would be used, and he arranged for the city to pick up the rubbish.

It is my hope that any new administration will realize that our parks are more than just space to cram more recreational gimmicks.  They are steeped in history, and places where children can explore.

reprinted from previous years

NIZ Attracts Interlopers

Allentown's NIZ was a boutique legislation that allows private property to be publicly financed. Never mind that it was created by the biggest beneficiaries's childhood friend, who became a state senator. On the up side, for the most part, the beneficiaries have been local boys. That is about to change. 

The Morning Call had an excellent report on a New Jersey firm muscling in on our tax dollar giveaway. They learned their lesson well from the first interloper, Ruckus Brewery.  Ruckus was set up with the Neuweiler Brewery by Mike Fleck, before he went to the pokey with Pawlowski.  Ruckus managed to raise money from their NIZ approval and get possession of the brewery without actually spending any of their own money. For that fund raising, they changed their name to Brewers Hill.  Previously they never even had experience with actual brewing or real estate...Never underestimate the value of a political connection.

Like Ruckus/Brewers Hill, the new player promises to relocate their office here to Allentown. Sprinkle in a promise of affordable housing, and the Allentown welcome mat is out.  They have agreements now with Brewers Hill, and options on neighborhood properties. 

Personally, I preferred my tax dollars benefiting the local boys, like Reilly and Jaindl.

photocredit: Robert Walker

Allentown's Democratic Mayoral Primary

While I prefer not to make election endorsements, I was inadvertently drawn into opining about Allentown's mayoral race.  Joshua Siegel put up a hit piece against Matt Tuerk on facebook.

Siegel is a disciple of Mark Pinsley, who seems to still control South Whitehall commissioners, even though he is no longer one. Pinsley, among his more notable progressive antics, stood with the Make The Road shooting protesters at Dorney Park, while still a commissioner. Current  South Whitehall commissioner Matt Mobilio, also a Pinsley boy, is now supporting Ce-Ce Gerlach for Allentown mayor, since Siegel decided not to run. 

Anyway, back to the hit piece. Siegel, using a Monopoly Man caricature, accused Tuerk of being a good old boy, with nothing new to bring to Allentown. The piece was intended to boost Ce-Ce.

I believe that the only qualified Democratic candidates for Allentown mayor are O'Connell, Guridy and Tuerk. Each would bring something different to the 5th floor.  O'Connell's mayoral experience would bring continuity.  Guridy's longevity on council likewise has prepared him for the position. Tuerk's background might well provide needed economic benefit for Allentown. 

While I'm content for the Democrats in Allentown to pick their own candidate for mayor,  it's disappointing to see the tactics being deployed.

poster shown above from May 2019 Primary Election

Allentown Planning Puppies Make Little Barks

The Allentown Planning Puppies are adorable. Although, they approved Reilly's Tower of Condo Speculation,  they are concerned about Hamilton Street losing its historical character.  I have no idea what these puppies are talking about;  there hasn't been any historical consideration on Hamilton Street since the Pawlowski era began, and certainly there is no character.

Allentown's Preservation League also chimed in.  They don't mind historical buildings  being demolished for new development, but they don't think that buildings should be demolished for speculation, like the former Elks Club on South 8th Street.  Of course,  those enablers didn't protest at the time. Understand that the arena complex demolished 37 buildings, of which 34 were historic, and several were unique, one of a kind in Allentown.  Reilly just demolished another square block for his now, put on hold,  twin mega towers.

When the Hamilton Street treasure shown above, in the 700 block,  was demolished for the arena,  save for this blogger, there was no concern for its loss.  There wasn't a sound from any of the puppies mentioned here.

The current office condo project must still go in front of Allentown's zoning board, and Historical Architectural Review Board.  Oh, the suspense,  will the Reilly project get the final go ahead from the city?

reprinted from July of 2016

UPDATE FEBRUARY 11, 2021: When I wrote the above post over four years ago, I offended some of the people on the enabling commissions. Likewise, the current people on various commissions may be offended now.  I photographed most of the buildings that were demolished for the NIZ.  I met with the first group of owners, who were displaced for the arena. They were not even properly, much less richly, compensated as the more recent sellers.  My purpose is to record an account of how the former mercantile district was transformed into an essentially privately owned, but publicly financed, urban office park. Such an account has not been compiled by the local newspaper, which had a vested interest in the project. For the most part, certainly the early part,  they functioned as a promoter, rather than a reporter.

NIZ Injuries To Allentown

The NIZ has fostered various injuries on the city and it's citizens.  Reilly's dashed hopes for a mega project, encompassing an entire block, 7th to 8th and Hamilton to Walnut, resulted in the displacement of numerous  businesses and residents.  Furthermore, we lost rich history, such as the Elks Club.  Yesterday afternoon the paper ran it's second story of the day promoting Reilly's much smaller, substituted office condo project. The article is called  Five Things To Know about the new project.  There's actually six, and the sixth is that the paper never stops promoting Reilly's interests. This morning the paper continues with it's third piece on the new building, within two days.  Putting aside this endless cheerleading by The Morning Call,  the NIZ has surely peaked. Although a number of tenants were poached from different locations,  there was no net gain for the region.  A responsible Harrisburg would be analyzing  the consequences inflicted on the area.  However,  responsibility and Harrisburg have never been acquainted.

As I commented yesterday, Talen workers will be isolated down at the river, almost punished, if you  will.  The surrounding 6th Ward certainly doesn't provide much ambience.  Expect our local and state taxes to be expended there, to embellish Jaindl's position. The tearing out of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Old Main tracks through that parcel is another history victim of the NIZ.

photo of former Elks Club on S. 8th St., prepared for demolition, to make way for now cancelled mega-project by J.B. Reilly

above reprinted from May of 2016 

 

UPDATE FEBRUARY 10, 2021: Four years later from writing the above piece, an update is in order.  Reilly did build out the square block with more offices and apartments. He also did so at 6th and Walnut. It all looks the same, devoid of architecture and any feeling of community.  He also secured Talen as a tenant, slowing down Jaindl's waterfront plans. Jaindl is now just starting his first building. The Morning Call continues their promotion of Reilly's City Center Real Estate, and Reilly now owns the Morning Call building. While resented for it, I continue to speak out against the loss of the town's identity.

Freight Trolleys and Shenanigans

This was supposed to be a Men's Stuff post, about the working cars on the Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Doing research for the previous post on that company, I became fascinated that they operated a freight operation with the trolley cars. I started acquiring documentation and photographs about the working cars necessary for such an operation. They built power substations throughout the valley that generated electric, then converted the AC to DC for their use. The rolling stock required coal trolleys, wire stringing trolleys, snowplow trolleys, and etc. I will present these black and white photo treasures in future posts, because I got side tracked by a shenanigan; you know me. Lehigh Valley Transit operated out of the Fairview Carbarn, which Lanta still uses off of Lehigh Street. Despite a trolley fleet that covered the entire City, plus the remainder of the Valley (Bethlehem and Easton), all the Men's Stuff working cars, and trolley service to Philadelphia, Lanta now needs Bicentennial BallPark because they acquired five (5) new hybrid buses? Supposedly these five new buses require a special garage. Although the Fairview facility now handles 78 regular buses, the ballfield has to go because of the five new hybrids.

men only: enlarge freight trolley by clicking on image

above reprinted from May of 2010

UPDATE July 4, 2019:  Attempting to save the ballpark, I organized a meeting at a center city church.  Attending the meeting were two city council members and families involved with Bicentennial Park.  Pawlowski and Lanta finally backed off, and the ballpark remains. Some people who attended that meeting became interested in Allentown politics, and attend council meetings to this day. Pawlowski's shenanigans have since caught up with him.

reprinted from July 4, 2019

More Cigarette Tax For Reilly

The Morning Call reports that T&B Tobacco, a fixture on Linden Street forever,  has sold out to J.B. Reilly's NIZ empire.  While the Call article spelled out some of the NIZ financial benefits,  it didn't reveal all the trade secrets.

The newspaper has never been overly frank about Reilly's NIZ.*  Their building at 6th & Linden was included in the NIZ zone,  even when originally the zone was limited to only the other side of Linden Street. Reilly now owns the Morning Call building, with the paper's presence there limited to distribution only. However, since that first map,  everything about the NIZ is subject to flexibility.  The NIZ status of parcels within the zone can be traded for parcels outside the zone. 

Even the addition of the cigarette state tax was a profitable afterthought. While Reilly and the NIZ can now use the Pennsylvania cigarette tax for their real estate debt service, prior to the NIZ,  that tax went to CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program.

While this blog has published many posts about the NIZ and the paper's promotion of it*,  recently I have refrained from pointing out the obvious.  However, a quote from the seller of the tobacco outfit is too much to ignore.  He states about the NIZ, “It sure beats the hell out of how things were 20 years ago,"   It certainly does for him. In addition to the undisclosed $millions he received for his business, Reilly also gave him $2.5 million for his old tired building. 

* The current reporter is much more forthright about the NIZ than his predecessors, who wrote outright  promotions for Reilly's City Center Realty.

Allentown's WPA Watchman

Being a self appointed watchman over Allentown's WPA structures is an act in frustration. Since I started posting about the neglect of the structures in 2008, I have seen nothing of substance done. Actually, besides the steps at Irving Park being rebuilt, I have seen nothing done at all. While rebuilding that small staircase was positive, many negatives occurred in the meantime. The meantime has been over seven years. Also in the meantime, another set of steps were removed from Irving Park. The staircase at Union Terrace is deteriorating to the point where that structure is in jeopardy. The repair to a remaining staircase at Irving was done with a $25,000 grant from the Trexler Trust. In the last seven years, the park department's budget has been over $25 million dollars. The playground at Cedar Beach cost $1 million. Pawlowski has rejected my offer to be a liaison on behalf of the WPA structures. I'm pictured above standing over the former WPA wall, after it collapsed this summer, closing Lehigh Parkway's classic entrance. This city's history and future are tied to our park system and other quality of life issues, not just some private/public new buildings. I know there's no big money or national attention to be gained in fixing an old wall, but we have a responsibility to the things which made this city unique.

above reprinted from October of 2015

ADDENDUM OCTOBER 5, 2018:  On Wednesday evening,  city council confirmed Karen El-Chaar as the new park director. Her three predecessors, all appointed by former mayor Pawlowski, had an identical background...All three were from out of town, and had a masters in recreation. None of them had any appreciation of the iconic WPA structures, or Allentown's traditional park system. That system was a destination in Pennsylvania, and over the years the subject of many picture postcards.

After advocating for the WPA for over a decade,  finally a park director is in place who has an understanding of the significance of these structures in our park system.  As the former long term director of Allentown Friends Of The Parks,  Karen El-Chaar is schooled in both the traditional park system and the current recreational expectations of the public.  Mayor Ray O'Connell made an excellent choice.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 5, 2021: Karen El-Chaar has been delivering results in regard to the WPA. The double stairway in Lehigh Parkway was repointed last summer, although the landings on that structure remain to be done.  If we end up with a new mayor come November, I hope that there is the foresight to retain El-Chaar.

Barbarians Sack Allentown

As Mayor Pawlowski stood last week across Hamilton Street from the former buildings, now reduced to rubble, I thought of the barbarians sacking Rome. The Knerr Building, constructed in 1892 at 707 Hamilton Street, had withstood many changes in the last 120 years. Built for John Knerr to sell groceries and confections, it's four floors served various businesses over the century. Although this past New Year's eve, the Mayor spoke of Allentown's 250th anniversary, it's a history for which he has limited knowledge and less appreciation. As a student of Allentown's architecture and past, I was offended to hear him and the other mayors boast about the 40 temporary demolition jobs. The wrecking contractor was astute enough to remove the monumental and historic Knerr facade ornamentation, before knocking the building down. He will sell it in some other city, where history is respected and valued.

reprinted from February of 2012

ADDENDUM: The above post is reprinted from 2012. Although I accept the arena and NIZ as the new reality, there are uninformed progressives who believe  the demolition of that square block of Allentown was of no consequence. I know better; We lost some significant architecture and much history. One must wonder if the new structures will last 120 years.

Allentown, All Future No Present

Except for the 800 block of Hamilton Street, the merchants of center city are on their own about snow and litter. After the snow finally melted, the parking spaces and sidewalks were back to the accumulated litter and left over leafs from the fall. Although disruption of service can be expected with so much construction, what we're seeing is total disregard for the existing, taxpaying businesses of downtown. Although their state taxes are being funneled to the beneficiaries of the NIZ, they are not receiving even basic service. Although Pawlowski and Company may think that they can deter service until the arena project is complete, do a cleanup, and people will come, the locals don't roll that way. Perceptions and patterns are made over time, and a few new shiny buildings won't change that.

above reprinted from December of 2013

UPDATE FEBRUARY 3, 2021: Seven years since I wrote the post above, so I suppose the future is here now.  The arena has been built, there are many new shiny buildings, and Pawlowski has been removed. The former merchants of Hamilton Street are all gone now, and there's no longer even a pretense of Hamilton as a shopping venue. While there's many new office workers, real revitalization only exists in the developer's brochures.

Growing Up Allentown

Life in Allentown during the 1950's was pretty easy, compared to nowadays. Whether you were an office worker or factory worker,  there were plenty of jobs. Whether you lived in the west end or center city, all the neighborhoods were clean, well maintained and relatively crime free. The school system was the envy of the county, and people finagled to get their children enrolled in it. Allentown High School had championship teams in multiple sports, and the football stadium was one of the most lavish high school stadiums in the country. The park system was the subject of numerous picture postcards. Likewise, downtown was widely known, with Hess's being a destination. All the above attributes would stay in place throughout the 1960's, into the early 70's.

I bill this blog as the intersection of politics and history in Allentown, and the greater Lehigh Valley. Although I will continue to speak out on current events of concern, I suspect that this page will turn more and more to history. Perhaps nostalgia is so appealing because the current reality is so disillusioning. 

Although my archive of older Allentown pictures is extensive, I invited Ozzie and Harriet Nelson to illustrate this post.

reprinted from July of 2016

A Different Past For The Baby Boomers

Little Lehigh Manor was built for the returning GIs after the War. It was a self contained development of several hundred brick twin houses, nestled between Lehigh Parkway and Lehigh Street. It had its own elementary school, and nearby grocery stores. Although this development may have been more idyllic than some older areas in Allentown, it shared its best feature with the rest of the city... It was a neighborhood. I hear these same memories from people in my generation who grew up on the East Side, across the river in the Ward, or center city at 9th and Chew. Great mentoring occurred at the Boys and Girls Clubs, and another dozen organizations devoted to the community's youth. Although there were economic differences and poverty, they seemed to have less of an effect on quality of life and opportunity than now. Perhaps it was the massive number of children from the Baby Boom that created a communal sense of caring among the parents and organizations, but something special seems missing today.

reprinted from January of 2013

picture dates from around 1949. An enterprising photographer brought a pony around the neighborhood as an alluring prop.