Was Parkway Story Squashed?

When I saw the story on the 5 O'clock news, I realized I would need no tuxedo for the Emmy's, but they did cobble together a short piece and air it. A friend who stays up very late, emailed me that the segment did not appear on the 10 PM broadcast. I have confirmed, as The Banker wrote, that there is no reference at all on the web page, even on page two with stories about bread rising. Makes me wonder....

Just Got The Call

69 WFMZ TV is going to do a short blip on the Boat Landing excavation in Lehigh Parkway this evening.

TeNSion in BLoGOsphERE

Despite the best efforts of some well intended intermediaries, there still exists tension in the local blogosphere. Bernie O'Hare goes banana's when I write about events I didn't attend, and he did! So here's another one Bernie, don't slip on the peel. According to O'Hare, there was no article in today's Morning Call, Tony Phillips owned the room last night at the NAACP Debate. But don't count Pawlowski out with that constituency. Last time, and I was there in 05, Pawlowski made pandering an art form. He pointed out to the audience and said, "If i"m elected, there's a man who will work at City Hall, that women will work at City Hall." They both now do work at City Hall, and they remember. I suspect when local black people get inside the booth, they will not be able to resist voting for Tony. I recall black republicans last year saying that the historic opportunity to vote for Obama was irresistible. I would suspect the real value for Phillips last night was to energize him for the remaining two weeks of the campaign.

Andrew Kleiner and I have been having issues. Now I realize he's been studying environmental science now for five weeks, but I still thing I know a thing or two about the park. According to Andrew and the Wildlands Conservancy, without the riparian buffers being installed, our streams are doomed. Now I know the creek isn't measurably wider than it was 70 years ago. I know this because they haven't lengthened the bridge at Robin Hood, yet it still spans the creek. I think the old timers knew more about conservation than their given credit for. Replace the willow tree's which have died out from old age, hurricanes and disease, and you will stabilize the banks and yet still provide both visual and actual access to the water. The Conservancy and other advocates for the riparian buffer remain mute about the paving over of large sections of Cedar Park and the digging of wells by the County at the streams' headwaters in Lower Macungie. Until they're willing to speak out against the real threats to the park and stream, they compromise themselves.

Allentown's Park Plans

Allentown's park plans can best be described as schizophrenic. What made our parks so iconic was the visual contrasts between the woods, open spaces and the water. We are now getting the worse of everything. The streams will be hidden by plants, called riparian buffers. The open spaces will be either planted with tree's or occupied by some recreational venue. Although the beauty of the park system had more less survived for 80 years, it's glory days, like Allentown itself, will soon be but a memory.

In the 1950's my father's uncle worked for the park department. He would drive a tractor with a large gang mower behind, and cut large portions of Lehigh Parkway in a single day. Today, witness Cedar Beach area, all the open spaces have been planted with trees. Park workers must toil with riding mowers in and out and around each tree. The remaining open area will soon be occupied with the Destination Playground.


The open area between the creek and Honochick Drive on the west side of Ott Street will be occupied by three additional paved paths. Access and view of the water will be cut off by bushes.

The environmentalists are appeased by the riparian buffer and being allowed to plant more and more trees; they remain silent about all the paving. The recreationalists are appeased by paved paths and remain silent about losing the park's viewshed. The viewshed is what we see and what made our park system nationally known. The parks cannot be everything to everybody. Those who may have protected the parks in the past have become politicized. I find our parks too precious not to speak up.

Trexler Smiles, Landing Revealed

I believe that today, for the first time in decades, General Trexler had something to smile about. Most people never understood why three steps were near the lower entrance of Lehigh Parkway; they seemed to lead nowhere. This morning eight people joined a grass root effort to unveil, for the first time in decades, the structure I called the Boat Landing.

Buried under the dirt and grass were several more steps leading to a landing. Chris Casey was the first to arrive and cleared these steps and the first landing himself. A second set of steps led from the landing to the main landing on the creek. These second steps had a foot or so of ground and plants.

The quality and condition of the stonework is excellent, as was all our WPA icons. I will be polite and say only that it was a crime to have let this neglect occur. On the main landing the accumulated earth was two and half feet thick. The crew dug out the curving retaining wall several yards in each direction, and cleared off the top of the wall.

Eight people working four hours managed to reveal about one third of the landing at the bottom of the steps. It was a thrill to realize we were standing at creek's edge as the WPA architects had envisioned. I stood there often as a boy. There still remains a large portion of dirt to remove at the steps base, but you can now experience the Boat Landing.

The retaining wall and the landing continue for fifty feet or so in both directions. Unfortunately a huge tree has grown on the landing to the right, but the left appears reclaimable.

We who worked there today, hope to return and clear off the remainder of the dirt at the bottom of the steps.

Perhaps others will be motivated to clear off the remaining portion of the landing to the left. Now that might even be an idea for the City; imagine restoring an irreplaceable icon instead of buying something from a catalogue. I'm most grateful to all those who helped today, and will reveal their names with their permission.




ADDENDUM:Michael –

I just wanted to thank you for organizing today’s cleanup at the “Boat Landing” in the Lehigh Parkway. It’s not often that one gets to help unearth a treasure while barely leaving home, but that’s exactly what happened today.

It was truly impressive what big difference a small group of people can make. I can’t even estimate the amount of dirt that was moved with nothing more than a few shovels and a lot of hard work.

We can only hope that the City and the Trexler Trust will become aware of this location and start giving all the great structures in the Parkway the care they deserve.

However, the best part of the story for me came after we all left. I got home and my daughter Lucy (age 7) wanted to know how things went. We hopped in the car and soon we were walking up to the stairs leading to the landing. The sun was shining, and the sunlight trickled through the trees and onto the freshly-exposed stairway.

Lucy asked if she could go down to the landing by the water and next thing I knew we were both there at the waters edge, standing on what had been buried only a few hours earlier and marveling at the beauty of the location.

We spent a few moments there - a father and daughter both enjoying something completely “new” to us (even though the landing is over 70 years old). We talked briefly about what was – and more importantly what could be again.

Thank you for making that moment possible, and I hope many others take the opportunity to visit the landing in the near future.


Mike Schware


P.S. – After visiting the landing, Lucy and I walked further upstream and saw the remnants of the bridge to the island (near the water fountain). The remaining supports of the bridge confirmed what you had told me earlier about the island being much smaller years ago.

Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pa.

This was the scene which was chosen to represent Allentown's parks during the golden era of picture postcards, circa late 1940's. The card is captioned simply, Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pa.. Shown at the park entrance, it was called the lower entrance, was the magnificent Boat Landing.* Lehigh Parkway is still there, while Christmas lights provide a gaudy distraction, the WPA treasures deteriorate under debris. Please join Chris Casey, myself and others tomorrow morning, as we attempt to clear and reveal a portion of our proud past.

* Boat Landing is my term for structure, lower entrance near Regency Tower, meeting at 10:00 am, Saturday Oct. 10th.

Allentown's Love Canal

The phone rang at midnight last night, it was Dan Mest, neighborhood activist in the St. Paul's area. Dan's one of those guys you don't hear that much about, but if you live in center city, your life's better because of him. The Jackson Street Playground is just one result of his efforts. Back to last night; seems that City Council suspended their rules and bought the parcel from the Atiyeh family along Martin Luther King Drive. Council didn't see fit to suspend the rules about the Cedar Beach Project, but that's my spilled milk. Last time I heard about this property was when the Rev. Afaf Atiyeh Darcy was complaining to Council last month that her rights were being violated. Seems that no operation meet the approval of Zoning or Code, even as a tree nursery. Here's Dan's concern; that property had previously been a fertilizer and chemical plant, and is only a half mile from our water plant intake pipe. He's afraid we purchased a huge liability with no due diligence. Consider this post be to printed in pencil. I didn't attend the meeting last evening. I don't know where we are getting the money. I assume it will be an extension of the Park System, although there is no money in the budget for the WPA restorations. I do know that the land lies level with the creek and is very much in a floodplain. I do know that Dan's concerns about chemical contamination are probable. More to follow.....

ADDENDUM: LAST EVENING CITY COUNCIL APPROVED A RESOLUTION, AUTHORIZING THE CITY TO PURSUE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE OWNER FOR PURCHASE. MOST OF THE PROPERTY LIES IN SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, AND ANY PURCHASE WOULD BE IN TANDEM WITH THE TOWNSHIP. ACTUAL PURCHASE WOULD AGAIN REQUIRE COUNCIL'S APPROVAL.

Second Job

Advertising revenues have been down here at molovinsky on allentown, so I've taken a temporary second job at The Lehigh Valley Political Blog. How long they will keep me on there remains to be seen. At any rate, you're welcome to visit me there anytime.

Heavyweight Championship of the World

On March 21, 1941, my mother's cousin Abe Simon, son a of Jewish egg and butter salesman, fought Joe Louis for the title in Detroit. Lasting 13 rounds, he earned another title shot against the Brown Bomber a year later in Madison Square Garden. After retiring he acted in several movies, including On The Waterfront and Requiem For A Heavyweight.

REPRINTED FROM MARCH 8, 2008
Administrator's note: I'm reprinting these photo's and captions in a much tighter time frame then originally posted, to give the viewers more of a feel for this period in Simon's career.

Our History Discarded

One of General Trexler's first land donations to the City of Allentown was some acreage along the Little Lehigh. He wanted to make sure that the quality of the water supply for the city was protected. The above photograph shows one of first things built in Lehigh Parkway. Please note that the retaining walls on the park entrance road have not yet been built. On the previous post Anon 8:49 PM asks;
Has the City showed you the complete inventory and locations of all the WPA sites?
Not to sound too presumptuous, but I believe the current Administration is learning about the WPA sites from this blog, starting with Stairway To Shame. (Stairway To Shame compiled from two posts written in Sept. 2008) The photo shows the spring pond and ornamental bridge. Although water still comes from the spring pipe, residents today would have a hard time locating this image, although it's in a very prominent place.







The spring pond has been allowed to become overgrown, but the stones lining the pond are for the most part still there, buried under a few inches of dirt and tall grass.

Likewise the bridge is intact, but obscured by high grass. Now, I'm not a fan of the low mowing, high mowing and riparian buffer zones. Giving the advocates of those programs the benefit of the doubt, there can be no justification, whatsoever, for letting our historic treasures be overgrown and buried. The spring pond and bridge is right next to the parking lot in Robin Hood, the City now calls it Hole Number One of the Disc Golf Course. Hopefully the City will have enough consideration for General Trexler to weedwack the bridge, so that a father and his children can have a moment like the one shown at the top of this post.

Save A Treasure

Yesterday I had an amazing experience, following the footsteps of Andrew Kleiner, I decided to research the WPA items at the Lehigh Valley Historical Society; like Andrew, I found that particular documentation lacking. But, from out of nowhere, an elderly lady handed me a photo from her pocketbook; a picture of the Boat Landing she had taken with a Kodak Brownie camera in the early 1940's. She had the picture with her because she had shown it to several friends who also lamented the loss of our icons.












Today I went to the park to photograph the remaining element of that structure, the steps, to write a post I intended to title "Lost Treasures". Despite my fear of ticks and other organic matter, I proceeded down the steps and pushed the bushes aside. There to my surprise, I found that the retaining walls were mostly still there.

Emboldened by this discovery, I went over to the other side of the creek and worked my way through the riparian buffer; there to my utter amazement I saw that the curved creek walls of the landing have withstood the years of time. Despite decades of neglect by our Park Department, I believe that a half dozen people equipped with a few clippers could unveil a lost treasure. There is a few large trees which have grown on the landing, and there are missing stones, but most of it still exists, waiting only for a few urban archaeologists with an appreciation of what once adorned this park. Will you join me in this act of civil unvandalizing and help restore this gift from our past?

Figment Of My Imagination

Dear Mayor Pawlowski,
Forgive me for saying this, but I'm very disappointed in the changes made to my town. After my wife passed away, I moved to the senior high-rise at 8th and Union St. I can see the old Mack Transmission Plant from my window, I worked there for 40 years. I understand now it's a indoor go-cart track, I find that a bitter pill. Actually pills are why I'm writing. I used to walk to the Rite-Aid on Hamilton Street. With that closing, I don't think I can walk out 7th St. to the old Sears. Forgive me Mayor, that's before your time in Allentown. The other Rite-Aid used to be Levines Fabrics, they bought it from Sears. The Army Navy store was across the parking lot. Anyway, back to my problem. Now I can't even catch the bus on Hamilton anymore to go visit my daughter in Catty. What have you done to me? My neighbor, a nice widow, tells me you gave that Mexican Restaurant lots of our money and they don't even pay their bills? Never ate there, what were you thinking? Anyway, sorry to bother you, I know you're a busy man, but I don't know where I will get my medicine from, and I'm upset. Sorry.

PhotoCredit: molovinsky

REPRINTED FROM JULY 27, 2008

ADDENDUM: Due to problems with the building on 7th Street, Rite-Aid has relocated back to its old building on Hamilton Street. They had moved to 7th Street because after the bus transfer stops were taken off of Hamilton Street. and moved to the Lanta Treatment Center, their volume decreased 40%. Although that Mexican Restaurant, Manana's closed, we're now going to be subsidizing two new restaurants on the same corner.

Simon Fearless Against Bomber

The 1941 June edition of Ring Magazine featured the Abe Simon vs Joe Louis fight in March. Editor-writer Nat Fleischer was in awe of Simon's courage against the unbeatable Brown Bomber. Fleischer wrote "They (fans) saw Abe Simon give the Bomber the greatest battle he has had since he won the crown..." Although Simon Lost by TKO in the 13th, this image of Simon grinning at Louis while taking the 8 count in round 7, is one of my favorite photographs of that fight.

REPRINTED FROM APRIL 14, 2008

The General Gently Weeps

General Trexler died in an automobile accident in 1933; had he lived a few more years and seen the completed WPA Projects throughout Allentown's Parks, it would have made him very happy. How he would feel about the go-kart track at Cedar Park is another question.

The Administration does not refer to these macadam paths as a go-kart course or an event midway, but rather as paths to facilitate multi-generational activities. Fortunately in the past, the Trexler Trust would have never tolerated the park being destroyed in this fashion, much less be paying for it.

Unfortunately the current Trustee's are minions of the Administration, which wants a recreational theme-park with a little nature in it. Contrast the $hundreds of thousands$ to be spent on this blacktop, with not one dollar allocated for the iconic WPA stonework.*


Currently the walls and structures in Lehigh Parkway are probably the most seen and used WPA structures.

However, without a doubt, the constructions in Fountain Park are both the most monumental and historically important.

The massive stairway rises off of Martin Luther King Drive and climbs up to Union Street.








The construction continues on the other side of Union Street with a colossal retaining wall which is several blocks long.








Contained in this wall is a tunnel leading to another mammoth stairwell which climbs up to Spring Garden Street.



These steps were used over the years by thousands of Mack Truck workers going to the factory on S. 10th Street, and thousands of kids going into the park to play.


*The Park Department is seeking bids to repair the WPA stonework. At this time no money has been budgeted for this purpose, but the go-kart track is fully funded.

Several photographs are courtesy of Andrew Kleiner.

$100 a Week

In 1935, a Jewish boy earning $35 a week carrying 300 pound blocks of ice, was offered three times more to fight; win, lose or draw. For one hundred dollars a week, Jock Whitney, British aristocrat and sportsman, owned Abe Simon. Abe won his first 14 fights, 12 by knockout. On his climb to fight Louis in 1941 he would knock out 27 opponents, including Jersey Joe Walcott.

REPRINTED FROM APRIL 3, 2008

Cedar Fair Midway

Unfortunately this post isn't about the Cedar Fair which owns Dorney Park, it's about the City of Allentown and Cedar Creek Park. Citizens who attended the City Council Park Meeting on Aug. 13th were told that the park plan was a living, breathing work in progress. As shown in the diagram below, that progress has resulted in a new circuit path in the Rose Garden side of the Park, which can serve no use other than a midway loop for special events. The new additional path is below or south of the stream and has two cross paths which bisect the open space even more. I have seen go-kart tracks with more open space. Seeking an explanation for this unnecessary path beyond use as a midway, the Park Director said I would have to ask his landscape consultant. Ironically in 2005, the Trexler Trust hired the prestigious firm of Gannett Fleming to study the Allentown Park System. Their conclusion on page 30 of a 143 page report:

The City’s reputation for hosting major regional events is unparalleled, However, too many of the activities are placed in the same limited locations within the City. This exerts excessive impacts on a few parks and their adjacent neighborhoods.... Lessen the impact of holding several major events at Cedar Creek Park

Cedar Creek Park, as we know it, is essentially being destroyed by Pawlowski and Weitzel. I don't blame them, they have no ties to the area or knowledge of parks. The dereliction of duty by the Trexler Trust is unforgivable. The plan clearly violates the
conclusions reached in the very study they sponsored. Stewardship of the park system is their primary mandate; Shame on them. Shame on Friends of the Allentown Parks. Shame on the Environmental Advisory Council. Shame on the Rose Garden Neighborhood Association. Enjoy your Go-Kart track, I remember when it was a nationally recognized park.

The Monster's Bounty

The Parking Authority, beside the prison, is the only growth industry in Allentown. Donny Cunningham, who is a little Eddie Rendell in training pants, wants some of the monster's loot. The Authority writes over 100,000 tickets a year, mostly to low income center city residents and hapless shoppers trying to patronize Hamilton Street. Although most pay at gestapo headquarters, and the rest get burped in district court, constables chase down the remaining 25%. Constables are mostly paid out of costs put on the defendant's bill. Don Bureaucrat Cunningham inserted a clause in his new budget to hire more County Deputies to collect this $1.7 million dollars, earning about $360k in fee's. In an article in today's Morning Call by Robert Orsenstein, Constable Association President Thomas Impink is quoted about the irony of some governments privatizing functions to save money, while Lehigh County seeks to take over something already privatized. Cunningham will hire five new Deputies, although Constables pay their own insurance and support staff. Although those opposed to this scheme will have to make their feelings known very quickly to County Commissioners, there is an opportunity today to confront The Monster itself.

Craig Friebolin asks all citizens of common sense and fairness to join him today at 4:00 pm as he confronts the Parking Authority at its Board Meeting, 10th and Hamilton Streets.

The Blogger

We here in the Valley are blessed to have the THE BLOGGER EXTRAORDINAIRE to both inform and conform us. Tirelessly attending one meeting after another, five nights a week at the midnight hour he bestows praise upon the deserving and criticism upon the weak. Bending the truth like putty, faster than a speeding Lanta Bus, all opposing comments are dismissed as non sequiturs, personal attacks and off topic.......to be continued

OPEN MIKE

This posting is intended to provide an opportunity to comment on any topic, or on an earlier posting.

Getting Carpentered

There are many politico's who would rather not hear Paul Carpenter's voice on the other end of the phone. A few told me in the past they hoped not to be "Carpentered", meaning they didn't know if they would end up being flattered or battered until they got the morning paper. Carpenter has been kind towards me; He defended me against a NAACP official who implied my 2005 Platform contention that Allentown has become a poverty magnet was racist. My efforts to have the WPA stone structures put on the park department repair agenda were accomplished by the publicity his article generated. Today, Tony Phillips benefited from his perspective. Carpenter believes Tony's right to privacy was abused. His point of view is not much different than O'Hares, but Carpenter doesn't defend Tony by personally bashing those who feel differently. Although the news staff at The Morning Call has been reduced to a skeleton crew, thankfully, both Bill White and Paul Carpenter have been retained; That is, unless I end up in White's Hall of Fame, or get Carpentered.

Parking Authority Preys On Poor

Although the shopping district in Allentown has shrunk down to only Hamilton and 7th Streets, the meter district remains as it did during the heydays of the 1950's. The meters extend from Walnut to Chew, from 5th to 10th, well over 1000 meters in 20 sq. blocks. Parking meters extend out to 10th and Chew Sts, three full blocks beyond the closest store.* These meters are a defacto penalty for the residents, mostly tenants. In essence, it is a back door tax on Allentown's poorest citizens. The apologists claim the tenants can purchase a resident meter pass, however their friends and visitors cannot. To add insult to injury, in 2005, to help finance a new parking deck for the arts district, the Parking Authority doubled the meter rate and fines. Testimony to City Council permitting the rate increase indicated it was favored by the merchants. At that time I documented to the Council that in fact the merchants were not informed, much less in favor. The vote was 5 to 2, with Hershman and Hoover dissenting
* I used the above copy on my posting of October 3, 2007. In the past several weeks the Parking Authority finally removed the meters in the 900 block of Chew St, 50 years beyond their legitimate need.

There's a new thorn in the side of the Parking Authority, his name is Craig Friebolin, and here's his message


Come One, Come All! To what may just be the greatest show on earth! The Wednesday September 23, 2009 - Allentown Parking Authority Board Meeting at 4pm! I'll be there (with a few others) to amaze and astound you! It will be a board meeting like none you've witnessed before! Chock-full of News Worthy information the general public WANTS TO KNOW! While it may not be the Jerry Springer Show; Tempers will Flare and that always makes for entertaining news, right?

More Parlor Tricks by O'Hare

The blog dispute occurring between Bernie O'Hare and myself will certainly not be one of the posts which I repeat in a year or so, it's somewhat embarrassing. However, it is necessary for me to use this venue to set the record straight; Bernie now declares not only was my post of last week on Tony Phillips mean spirited, but I'm dancing on Phillip's grave. Over at O'Hare's blog we go back and forth; me explaining how Bernie double talks and him double talking, until we reached the banned in Boston stage; Bernie announced he will delete my replies, so here's the rest of the debate;

Bernie O'Hare said...
LVCI,

In Pennsylvania, assault includes the battery. In Pa., a person is guilty of assault if he attempts to cause or intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another. Even if there is mutual consent, it is an assault.

Police filed no charges. I do not have the police report. From everything I've read, I'm unable to conclude that Tony was guilty of assault. It seems more like self-defense, pushing someone away who launches an assault herself.

Bernie O'Hare said...
LVCI, There is nothing in Jarrett's account that leads me to conclude there was an assault. If someone attacks you and you push the person away, that is NOT an assault. That's why Tony was never charged. Bethlehem police, and many of our local police departments, take allegations of domestic abuse quite seriously.

2:13 PM


Here is what Jarrett Renshaw actually wrote in The Morning Call Sept. 16th

During the investigation, Lopez repeatedly insisted that she was not interested in filing charges and that she just wanted Phillips to pay her medical bills, the police report states.
Police talked to Phillips and he claimed Lopez was physically aggressive with him and she pushed him and then he pushed her to the floor, according to the police report.
Bethlehem Detective Mark DiLuzio said Tuesday the incident is listed on the police report as a simple assault. He said no arrest was ever made.
"We are reopening the investigation because the victim said all she wanted was Phillips to pay her medical records, which he never did." Diluzio said.*

It is not my purpose to print the above news report to rehash this incident between Phillips and the woman, but to show the hypocrisy of O'Hare, who routinely presents distortions as facts rather than concede an error on his part, and accuses anybody who points this out of attacking him.

The biggest damage to Tony in the blogosphere wasn't from my blog, it was from O'Hare. His absurd distortions and contradictions ended up keeping the topic on the front burner all week.

* The Morning Call reported this morning that the Phillips will not face simple assault charges because the statute of limitations has expired.

New Graveside Tears

In August of 08, after about a year of blogging on conditions at Fairview, The Morning Call ran the story shown above. I did manage to organize a small meeting between the cemetery operators and the public later that fall. Yesterday I received the following comment, submitted to a posting from that period.

Patti from California has left a new comment on your post "New Graveside Tears":

My family is buried at Fairview and 2 weeks ago I visited and was appalled at the horrible conditions and total lack of maintenance throughout the cemetery. I have been trying to reach Loretta or David most of the summer and was told they had taken an extended trip out of the country. (business must be good) They seem to be back now - but still no way to actually talk to them.

My mother is 97 - plans to be buried there with her parents and my Dad. I could cry at the thought ....

I googled Fairview and was led to your blog. Loretta told me in May I could get our plot maintained if I invested in their endowment for $1000. After seeing the total lack of care there, I feel like I would be throwing the money away. What do other people think or do about this appalling condition?

I feel sorry for this family, Fairview may have been a well maintained place when the father was buried there many years ago. I believe the cemetery is in better condition than it was two years ago, but that's not saying very much. I will occasionally revisit this topic, to at least continue a small noise on behalf of these families.

O'Hare's Bag of Tricks

This morning when I read The Morning Call, I knew Bernie O'Hare
would be blaming everybody but Tony Phillips. Bernie keeps pulling the same tricks out of the bag. He gets away with it by pummeling the commentators who disagree, and intimating the other bloggers. Bernie is the Pope of the local blogosphere; nobody has more readers or produces more posts.

I wrote a post titled 'Stupid Is As Stupid Does', although I did question Tony's intelligence in the last line, the post itself makes a case that Tony acted stupidly, people in his camp had said the same thing, and I suspect Tony would concede as much. In the comment section I later elaborated that I don't think that Tony is stupid, but certainly did a stupid act.

Bernie so often refer to snarks, so often refers to ad hominem attacks. UNLESS THEY SERVE HIS PURPOSE. In his last three posts about Tony, here are some of the things he said about me; mean spirited, likes to kick people when their down, silly, made a stupid claim, holier than thou...

Bernie's usual reply to such criticism is that the comment is a non sequitur or off topic. In his bash anyone in his way defense of Tony, he made a distraction out of the difference between a "setup" and a "conspiracy". He justified this semantic word-game because a reporter from the Express Times pointed it out. Two days later when I commented that a columnist from The Morning Call used the "setup" expression, he mockingly asked if I thought this person was an authority?
Bernie, he's no authority, but neither are you.

In Bernie's post today he chides two other bloggers beside myself, and ends by raising the race card.

As a new guest poster on Lehigh Valley Poliblog, I considered placing this post there; but just yesterday they made peace with Bernie after a year of discord, and I don't want to upset their apple cart. Most bloggers would rather take a few shots from the Pope than challenge him, not me, I had enough.

Tony Phillips was contrite and publicly apologized. It would have been nice if Bernie let him have that dignity.

The Final Crack

Tony Phillip's candidacy suffered another crack today; The Morning Call revealed that the infamous internet chat was really with a former mistress posing as a fresh item. Although Tony tried to do some damage control, even blogger Bernie O'Hare won't be able to put him back together again. Last week Bernie took off the gloves defending Tony, accusing critics and myself of being mean spirited and worse; also not properly distinguishing between the terms "setup" and "conspiracy"!

After the previous articles Tony was already toxic. At a recently held Republican Rally he was neither present nor mentioned. There are those who feel that personal life, especially sexual, is private and should have no bearing on public officials; Tony has given them a full plate.

More Weeding, Less Talking

From the archives, July 31,2007
Allentown has a few icons, such as the PPL Tower, the 8th Street and Tilghman Street Bridges. In Europe many bridges date from the middle ages, there are even Roman bridges still in use. It seems here in Allentown we cannot even keep an 80 year old bridge together. Earlier this year County Executive Cunningham and Mayor Pawlowski had a press conference under the Tilghman Street Bridge, while on the top weeds and saplings were growing out of the road bed. The bushes and weeds are still there, on both bridges, eroding away magnificent irreplaceable structures. Lets hope these great silver tongued planners stop waiting for penn-dot, and get around to buying a bottle of weed begone.
UPDATE: When I was a kid I grew up in Lehigh Parkway South, this was a development of twin homes built for the returning GI's, the streets were named for planes built during the war; Liberator, Catalina, and Coronado.(Queen City Airport was a WW2 plane factory). Getting into the rest of Allentown was a bit inconvenient. To go downtown(Hamilton St. was the Shopping Mecca of Lehigh Valley) you would have to go over the 8th Street Bridge. To get to the east side you would go down the Lehigh Street hill, up to Union and then over the river. Getting to points west required going over the stone arch bridge near Regency Towers. Construction of the 15th Street bridge finally connected the south side with the rest of Allentown. The metal deck, which was annoying from day one, was supposed to be temporary. So here we are, fifty some years later, being told the bridge is ready to be replaced. Is there anyone in authority who remembers how difficult it was to navigate Allentown before the bridge? So now the decaying 8th Street Bridge will absorb the traffic during construction of the new 15th Street Bridge? Allentown meanwhile defers simple maintenance, like rail painting, because of promises from Harrisburg? We truly are slow learners.

UPDATE: Lipstick on a pig; Allentown now has hung banners on the 15th St. bridge lightposts, distracting drivers attention somewhat away from the rusting rails.

UPDATE: Sept. 15, 2009. The railings on the 15th St. Bridge have been painted. The Linden Street Bridge, an iconic stone arch bridge over the Jordan Creek and Historic Rail lines has been torn down. No repairs have been done to either the 8th Street or Tilghman Street Bridges. Both the silver tongues are insured of re-election. We're still slow learners.

REPRINT OF POST FROM JULY 31, 2007