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.

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.

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. Although many resources has been spent on the Park system in the last few years, none has been used to maintain these most important treasures. Please join me on Tuesday, September 6 to organize a group dedicated to the preservation of the WPA Structures. The meeting will he held in the lower level of the Allentown Public Library. Invitations have been extended to the Park Department and Trexler Trust.

Allentown 1951

1951 was a good year for Allentown. Industry found the combination of location and work ethic conducive to production. Western Electric had built their new plant on Union Boulevard in 1948. General Electric joined Mack Trucks on the south side. General MacArthur himself visited the fair that year. Hamilton Street benefited from a retail genius, Max Hess. When the Allentown High basketball team won the state championship that year, the celebration took place late that night, at 7th and Hamilton. Although Lehigh Valley Diary was built in the late 1940's, there was very little way out on 7th Street. The Allentown Cardinals played at the stadium, Breadon Field, now occupied by the Lehigh Valley Mall.

Armstrong Questions Acting Superintendent

Guest Post by Scott Armstrong
New Superintendent OK With Duplicity?
The following quote from Russ Mayo who has been promoted to acting superintendent appears in today’s Morning Call article, “The human cost of school reform”
“Russ Mayo, who was elevated from deputy superintendent to acting superintendent Thursday, defended his former boss.
Mayo said Friday he never witnessed or heard of Zahorchak threatening an employee. Mayo said Zahorchak's Pathways plan presented a clear vision that will be continued.
‘I always felt personally comfortable with asking him questions about it and even at times challenging him on it,’ Mayo said. "The thing I admire most about him was his focus was constantly on the students, which was clearly his concern in the district."
The following information is also from today’s Steve Esack’s reporting:
“On July 6, 2010 — five days into his new job — Zahorchak called a meeting of more than 20 administrators in which he outlined plans to seek $40 million in grants for six schools, sources at the meeting said. During the meeting Burdette "Buddy" Chapel, then principal of Harrison-Morton Middle School, asked Zahorchak if principals would be let go. Zahorchak, tapping his finger on the table for emphasis, said no.
The meeting ended and Chapel, along with the principals of Central Elementary, Trexler and Raub middle schools, and Allen and Dieruff high schools wrote the grant proposals and submitted them on Friday, July 16.
Their proposals said the schools would install a new governance structure and did not include language about removing principals, according to a copy of an original grant proposal obtained by The Morning Call.
The grant applications, however, were changed over that weekend to say: "The current principal will be removed from the current school-based governance structure," according to the final application filed with the state Department of Education. As a result, Allentown won $7.8 million for six schools and four of six principals — at Harrison-Morton, Central, Allen and Dieruff — were reassigned to other administrative duties.
"We wrote ourselves out of a job," one of the four said.
On Sept. 7, 2010, Zahorchak issued a news release announcing the district had secured school improvement grants. It did not say principals would be removed.”
Clearly then deputy superintendent Russ Mayo had to be aware of his immediate superior’s duplicity in this matter; telling the principals that they would not be let go, then immediately rewriting the grant applications to do exactly the opposite. Yet, Russ Mayo took no action to set the record straight or protest the deception. This would seem to demonstrate a clear lack of integrity and moral fiber. This begs the question; is this the best we can do to fill the void left by Zahorchack's departure?

Scott Armstrong

Editor's Note by Molovinsky: Mr. Armstrong is a candidate for the school board, and the parent of two boys who went through the Allentown School District. I personally approve Mr. Mayo's appointment as acting superintendent, and presume he was attempting to quell the storm down on Penn Street. I look forward to the much needed scrutiny Mr. Armstrong will bring to the board and administration.

Zahorchak Departs

Although the school board president said Zahorchak's departure was necessary to save money, and the newspaper dutifully reported that, we can't afford too many savings like that. Lets add up the savings. Effective principals removed from our schools and hidden in closets down on Penn Street. Remember Falko? Successful principal who kept Allen under control, removed and reassigned to the never implemented Over Achiever Academy at 4th and Allen. Remember the hundreds of honor students pleading with the school board to stay at Allen and Dieruff, where they participated in the extra curricular activities and mentored their fellow students. Remember all the additional administrators hired, including Joyce Marin, revealed on this blog. This blog recognized last fall that Zahorchak had more ideas than we either needed or could afford. Let's hope that the school board learned something from this expensive lesson. Take your time with the next hire, your instincts aren't that good.

Fire Him Now, October 13, 2010
The Nickel and Diming of Allentown, November 9, 2010
White Charter School, February 21, 2011
Defending A Bad Decision, March 2, 2011
Allentown School District, April 1, 2011
Caution, unconfirmed rumor, April 14, 2011
School District on Front Burner, April 30, 2011
Pathways To Success, June 2, 2011
The Idea Man, June 8, 2011

Hardball on Penn Street, June 24, 2011
Zahorchak's Politics Compromise School District, June 29, 2011

The above is a partial list of the posts this blog brought to bear on the appropriateness of the board hiring Zahorchak, and his performance in that position. I have omitted my posts about The Morning Call not crediting this blog in their coverage, despite scoops, and direct comments from school board members and the superintendent alike. The posts above speak for themselves.

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.

UPDATE: Mayor Pawlowski, forgive me again, but I'm no younger since I wrote this letter in 2008. Since then, that Mexican restaurant, I think it was Johnny Tomorrow, has closed. The drug store did move back to Hamilton Street, but they say that you're going to tear it down? They say you're going to tear down the whole block and build a hockey game. I get my prescriptions at the drug store, but my other things at Family Dollar, where will I shop? They haven't raised my Social Security in two years. Oh well, I guess you know what's best. When did we vote on that? I was sick last November. Thanks for listening. Mayor?

PhotoCredit: molovinsky

Allentown's Grant Programs

News media reported that the roof collapsed on 7th Street because of the heavy rain. Actually, the roof collapsed from neglect during a heavy rain. I don't know anything about the building, but I do know about roofs. Well, actually, I do know a little about the building. The operators of the hardware store received a substantial facade grant. Allentown has been very generous with grants to startup businesses, on both 7th Street and Hamilton Street. A number of these businesses closed within a year, but the building and facade remained improved for the landlord's benefit. This blog documented such grants on Hamilton Street, and The Morning Call later did the story. According to The Morning Call, the owners of the 7th Street building could not be contacted after the collapse this weekend, their phone numbers had been disconnected. I assume that they were more available during their tenant's grant process. I understand the temptation by elected officials and bureaucrats to want to dress up the downtown street fronts, especially with the taxpayer's money. Maybe the Facade Program should be renamed the Charade Program.

UPDATE: In theory the idea of subsidizing manufacturing facilities, potentially large employers, through tax incentives can be justified, although the devil often lies in the details. The idea of subsidizing small retail through grants is increasingly proving to be little more than short term delusion.

The Bicycles of Allentown

produced by Gary Ledebur, Netherfield Studios, Philadelphia
contains adult content

reproduced from March 15, 2010

City Mocks Neighborhood

I wanted to make you aware that the neighbor's garbage is piling up again out back and there is a notice on their door dated mid-June that it is illegal for anyone to be occupying the residence until the house passes inspection. Beyond the fact that they are still living in the house....Aug.5,11

When city inspector Ed Wilson first placed the vacate within 30 day notice on the house in early May, he stated that the occupant would be out by June. When I contacted him in mid June, he told me that the Lonnie Glase, another inspector, said that he would handle the case. Glase is an old family friend of the occupant, and thus began the abuse of the neighborhood.
This blog, and my calls and emails to Glase's superiors, resulted in Glase tagging the house again in June, but it was meant only as a stalling tactic to protect his friend, not enforce the law evenly. Ironically, most of the hundreds of orange tags throughout Allentown were placed and enforced by Glase.
Taxpayers will be glad to know that much of the initial garbage was removed at their expense by the city contractor. The lawn is being cut by the city contractor. The occupant was never the owner, and there is no chance of reimbursement to the city, generous of Glase. Although the occupant is a veteran, so are many of the neighbors whose property is being devalued by this blatant violation of equal enforcement of the law. This is the second installment of this post. Two months have passed. In this post I revealed the inspectors' names; the one whose authority was disregarded, and the second, who is ignoring the law. In the third installment, I will include the email correspondence with the chain of command.

first installment June 17, 2011

A Sign of the Times

Apparently, while myself and another one hundred citizens were pleading with City Council during the summer of 09, the Mayor was ordering a bronze thank you card. This plaque graces the rebuilt Ott Street bridge, which bisects Allentown's Amusement Park, formally known as Cedar Beach Park. From the paddle boats on the eastern end, to the new exercise apparatus at the western end, step right up, there's something for everyone. Extra parking permitted on the grass, between the trees.

As a local history buff, I'm familiar with a few other plaques which cite the then mayor, but believe that this one, immortalizing a city council, may be the first. Of course this may be the first city council to never vote no. The amusement park is water under the bridge. Although we ordered every conceivable item available in park recreation catalogs, it's now time to save the icons of our park system, the WPA structures. Hopefully this council will want to add it's name to those monuments.

WPA Meeting September 6, 7:00pm Allentown Library, lower level. Public and City Council invited.

Growth Industry In Allentown

Yesterday I went to the Social Security Office, across from the prison, to discuss my retirement options. I was given number 199. In addition to retirement, Social Security also dispenses money for disability. I would say from the gray hair, there were
about three of us contemplating retirement, all the others were for disability. A few middle age men were carrying their fake canes. The canes aren't fake, it's the disabilities. I saw one such gentleman walk in from the parking lot, clearly the cane bore no weight, and was merely a prop. Most of the people waiting were quite young, in their twenties. Disability has been expanded to include mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, additive personality and anger management. I will say many of them did look angry to me. It was hard finding a parking space. Business also looked good at the prison. If Johnny Manana's had gotten these crowds....

this post first appeared November 18, 2008

Comment Spawns Post

Occasionally, a comment results in another post. Yesterday, my post on the Poverty Magnet received a comment from someone identifying himself as a former council member.

former councilman said...
Anon 2:13 - You are right. With the current debt and baby boomers costs to medicare and social security only the middle class has enough money to pay the bill. Molovinsky writes a blog entitled "Poverty as a Growth Industry" and wants to avoid posts on taxes. He is living somewhere else. Ledebur thinks the tax cuts for the rich are to blame. He is wrong. It is Defense, Medicare and Social Security costs, current and those looming in the out years, that will bring this country to its knees.

August 6, 2011 5:42 PM

It is not apparent to me that the federal tax rates are related to the local poverty magnet, but former and current council members certainly contribute to that dilemma.. Actually, all council members, with few exceptions, are part of the problem, starting with Heydt's first term. I know that the former councilman commenting yesterday is in the problem group. The few exceptions have either passed away, or have enough accountability to comment by name. Since the Heydt era, the Community Block Grants have been used to subsidize various social agencies, which attract more poverty to the city. (Previously they were used for infrastructure) Each year the agencies and city officials meet in the council chamber. Have you ever watched the fish feed at the trout hatchery? I assume that the commenter feels that former councilman connotes expertise. I have attended too many council meetings to share that assumption.

second in the Bastard Series

Poverty As A Growth Industry

When I ran as an independent candidate for mayor in 2005, I was shunned for my politically incorrect statements. The Morning Call declined to run my photograph, allow me to participate in their sponsored debate, or profile my candidacy. Because I said that Allentown had become a poverty magnet, the NAACP president asked me to prove that I was not a racist. Since that time the community has learned that I never was a racist, the term Poverty Magnet is used by no less than Alan Jennings, but poverty continues as a growth industry. While the NAACP president was questioning me, he never disclosed that he was employed by Jennings. If organizations such as Jennings' Community Action Committee of The Lehigh Valley just serve existing poverty, or help attract more to the valley, remains a taboo question. As a center city property manager for many years, who asked thousands of people why they moved here, I knew the answer. Putting aside the Poverty Magnet, one thing is for certain; poverty is a growth industry. Jennings and other poverty entrepreneurs would have you believe that they alone provide for the poor among us. Actually the city, county and state have thousands of employees and millions of dollars for that purpose. Jennings' organization became so large, that when he complains of one cutback, another branch is receiving grants. Three years into the great recession, a state sponsored job training program is finally cutting back. Considering the want ads have been non-existent, who have they been training for what? Jennings will go on. Years ago Habitat for Humanity built a few houses on N. 5th Street. Although the newspaper article stated the new owners put in sweat equity, in fact, they could hardly get near the place. Different congregations were literally lined up and waiting to work, they needed a coordinator to keep it from being too crowded and dangerous. There is always a corporation or a church looking to feel good about itself. Occasionally, there will be a bastard like me, to question what's really going on.

this post was written with a grant from the Council of Bastards

N. 6th Street

Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to 301 Jordan Street, it was a modern house, just built in 1895. The suburbs then were between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

excerpted from a July, 2010 post
photo N 6th St., 1949

A Memory Loss

I believe Milton Carrero is the new health reporter for The Morning Call. I suppose new is a relevant term. He's been there for six months now, by current Morning Call standards that might make him an old timer. He's been doing some good health stories about people, he might also consider one about the lack of institutional memory at the paper. Yesterday, his story about a caring Emmaus hairstylist, Shirley Klotz, was touching. She made a special effort for a client who lost her hair from chemotherapy. What might not be known, is that this hairstylist was also news years ago, while operating a salon on 15th Street in Allentown. At that time, she intentionally put herself between a client and an armed robber who entered her shop, getting shot for her good deed. The shop was directly across the street from Roy Afflerbach's house, then mayor of Allentown. The trauma chased her and her customers out of Allentown, to Emmaus. It also changed the perception of the neighborhood, from being away from the problem zone, to being part of it. Mr. Carrero not only interviewed a caring person recently, but a genuine hero.

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.

reprinted from October 10, 2009

I will be conducting a meeting on Sept. 6, 2011, dedicated to preserving the monumental WPA structures in our park system. The park department will send a representative. Please consider joining us, at 7:00 pm, in the lower level of the Allentown Library.

Saving Our Treasures

Yesterday, I had an amazing experience. I decided to research the WPA items at the Lehigh Valley Historical Society. Although I found that particular documentation lacking, 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 and help restore this gift from our past?


UPDATE: The above post was written in October of 2009. Although I succeeded in organizing a small group of volunteers who would indeed reveal the steps, I've had less success with the Park Department and Trexler Trust in regard to preserving our WPA monuments. Please join me at an upcoming meeting for the Friends Of Allentown's WPA Heritage.

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 7:00pm Allentown Library, Lower Level Conference Room

History of The Boat Landing

The feature shown in the photo, from the Mack Truck Magazine of 1943, shows a beautiful stone masonry structure in Lehigh Parkway that was allowed to go to ruin. We kids of the Parkway called this the "boat landing". It is located near the end of the park near Regency Apartments. I use the present tense because remnants of this edifice still exist, buried under dirt and debris. Other attractions lost in that section of the park include the Spring Pond near the Robin Hood parking lot, and the bridge to the "Island", plus the mosaic inlaid benches which were on the island. ( Island halfway between parking lot and boat landing). Neither the Mayor or the Park Director knows that these centerpieces ever existed. These are irreplaceable architectural treasures well worth restoring.

reprinted from May, 2009. First in a series of reprints documenting the uncovering of this treasure after 50 years.

Have Gun- Will Travel

Richard Boone played Paladin, a sophisticated hired gun who lived in an upscale San Francisco Hotel between assignments. According to Samantha Marcus of The Morning Call, Paul Blunt is an Easton lawyer who will negotiate for a fee, for both school boards and teacher unions. Zahorchak has hired Paladin, I mean Blunt, to negotiate with the Allentown Teachers Union for the next contract. Considering all the financial consequences of a contract, I can't fault the hire per se. With all the questionable, new full time administrative positions Zahorchak has created, it's good to see this important task outsourced to a true professional.
Perhaps when it's time to hire a new superintendent, the school board should consider outsourcing that decision.

The Debt Crisis

When Eisenhower was President, I think he addressed the public about three times a year, on one of three networks. Media historians view the Nixon-Kennedy Debate as the beginning of politics as an audio visual experience. On a parallel track, at the same time our candidates needed to sell better to a visually literate audience, our news has become much more tabloid. Today, we actually have comedians and disk jockeys providing analysis on dozens of networks. Although our President addresses the nation about once a week, the level of public comprehension is debatable. The only sure conclusion is that we have been successfully polarized. The box, which now is a flat screen, has us conditioned to contrived drama on reality shows. The current one is called the debt crisis.

Allentown Post Office 1934

In the 1930's, the "New Deal" was good to Allentown. As I noted on earlier posts, our park system was enriched by monumental stone construction under the WPA. We also received one of the architectural gems of our area, the magnificent art deco post office. Constructed during 1933-34, no detail was spared in making the lobby an ageless classic. The floor is adorned with handmade Mercer tiles from Doylestown. Muralist Gifford Reynolds Beal worked thru 1939 portraying the Valley's cultural and industrial history. This incredible 74 year old photograph is the contractor's documentation of the project's progress. The back of the photo states; Taken Sept 1 - 34 showing lobby, floor, screens, desks, completed & fixtures hung

UPDATE: I have reinstalled the photograph with a version that will enlarge when clicked.

Reprinted from Jan.15, 2010

Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad

The "Iron Bridge" was opened in 1857, was 1165 feet long, and 104 feet above the Jordan Creek. In WWI, weight restrictions caused the P&R (the owner of the line at that time) to start filling over the bridge. Tunnels were constructed for Iron Bridge Rd., the former Slatington Trolley (using the same bore as Iron Bridge Rd.), and the Jordan Creek (2 bores). The result today is a large tree covered fill to the west of Cedar Crest Boulevard. John G Frantz

The Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad began in the mid 1850's, to haul iron ore from western Lehigh County to the furnaces along the Lehigh River near Catasauqua. Remnants of the line exist from Seiple to Alburtis, where it connects with the East Penn Line. Active spurs of today's C&F, operated by Norfolk Southern, serve the warehouses west on Tilghman Street, and Route 78. Until 1935, a passenger train operated on the line between Alburtis and West Catasauqua.

19th Street Pride

The merchants of the 19th Street area, aka West End Theater District, have refurbished the WW2 Monument on the corner of 19th and Allen Streets. The tarnished brass plates shown here have been removed, professionally polished, and reinstalled. The background has been painted a dark battle ship gray, providing more contrast to the bottom dedication plaque. New landscaping had been completed earlier in the summer. How this monument came to be placed on private property was still a mystery last month. While West Park houses several war memorials, other scattered site memorials also exist. My West End is a blog dedicated to news and plans for that neighborhood.
photo from My West End blog

Stairway To Shame

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

UPDATE: This Post first appeared September 18th, 2008. Although $Millions of dollars have been spent on the Park System since then, and new attractions have been built, the WPA monumental stone structures go unattended.

Thursday July 21, 2011

Looking at today's Morning Call, I thought of the Crocodile Dundee movie. He's in a hotel room and looks at a television for one second, seeing I Love Lucy. He says yep, saw that before. What he meant was last time he saw a television, I Love Lucy was also on. He thought the machine only shows I Love Lucy. Back to today's paper. Headline was someone charged with murder in Allentown. Alan Jennings was crying that he may have to lay off a few people from his Poverty Is A Business programs, and grants and city employees were helping Fegley's Brew Pub reduce their garbage fees. I didn't even know that Allentown has a Sustainability Coordinator. Needless to say that not everyone will read these stories the way I do, but we didn't turn into the Allentown we are today by accident.

comments will appear tomorrow, best one wins a burger at the BrewWorks.

UPDATE: Bernie O'Hare reports that Northampton County taxpayers will fund Jenning's Only Suckers Make Their Own Mortgage Payment Program

Supermarket Comes To Boom Town

The concrete monolith still stands five stories above Lehigh Street at the Parkway Shopping Center. Currently it sports a clock and a sign for St. Luke's medical offices. It was built in 1953 as the modernistic sign tower for Food Fair supermarket, which then was a stand alone store. Behind it, on South 12th Street was the Black and Decker Factory. The shopping center would not be built to decades later, connecting the former supermarket to the bowling alley built in the 60's. Food Fair was started in the 1920's by Russian immigrant Samuel Friedland in Harrisburg. By 1957 he had 275 stores. 1953 was a rough year for the butcher, baker and candle stick maker; the huge supermarkets were too much competition, even for the bigger independent markets, such as Lehigh Street Superette; it was further east on Lehigh, now the site of a Turkey Hill Market. The sign tower also remains at the 15th and Allen Shopping center, which was another stand alone Food Fair. That parcel remains an independent supermarket. Food Fair would eventually absorb Penn Fruit, which had a market on N. 7th Street, then turn into Pantry Pride. When the Food Fair was built, there was as yet no 15th Street Bridge. Allentown only connected to the south side by the 8th Street Bridge and the Lehigh/Union Street hill. (stone arch bridge, near Regency Tower, was route to West End) Allentown was booming and Mack Trucks were rolling off the line, a block east off Lehigh Street, as fast as they could build them. The factories on S. 12th st. are now flea markets. Mack Headquarters is being sold to a real estate developer. Perhaps those concrete monoliths are the monuments to better times, by those of us who remember.

reprinted from June 14, 2009

The Sunday Drive by Cedar Beach

The Sunday ride took us past SportsFest at Cedar Beach. Although the event is very successful this year, it's been a rough summer on the park. Mayfair, Stellar and Sportsfest turn the grass into a virtual parking lot. The Rose and Old Fashion Gardens looked well tended, but with less flower beds and variety. The return of the paddle boats indicate no will to remove the land bridge, which helps stagnate Muhlenberg Lake. Although some homage has been paid to environmental concerns by allowing the stream banks to grow al naturale, recreation is now clearly king.

Saving the Queen City Airport

When I grew up on Liberator Ave., I would walk up Catalina Ave. toward school, which was at the end of Coronado. The streets were named for the Vultee-Consolidated WW2 planes, and the neighborhood was next to the airport built as part of the war effort. Vultee Street was built to connect the hangers with the Mack 5C plant, which was given over to Vultee-Consolidated for plane part manufacturing. Today this small airport is known as Queen City, and is threatened by Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

1944 was the first full year of the operation for the company's Allentown, Pennsylvania factory. Consolidated Vultee handled over $100M in wartime contracts at their Allentown plant where they produced TBY-2 Sea Wolves, components parts for B-24 Liberator bombers and other essential armaments and products for the war effort.

Pawlowski covets this unique part of our history to expand the tax base. What he doesn't understand is that more housing or commercial space is not in Allentown's best long term interest. Unfortunately, long term interest is not a term understood by our current leadership. There is a whole development of started houses off S. 12th St. and Mack Blvd. which were never completed. There are filled in foundations on 8th Street, also never completed. More housing is the last thing both the real estate market and school system need. Likewise, the existing commercial sector has been struggling to maintain an acceptable occupancy rate. Queen City airport is an unique asset to Allentown. If LVIA does successfully expand, a separate airport for small planes is very desirable for safety. Considering Pawlowski's predetermined objective, I question whether he should have been appointed to the LVIA Board.

Dennis Pearson, long time community activist from the East Side Rittersville area, reports last night(Sept. 23, 2010) that a portion of the State Hospital grounds had been given to the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Corporation. Just last week, Dennis requested that the City inform him of any plans concerning that land. Although representatives of the Administration were present, nobody had the consideration to response to Pearson's statement. These open spaces in Allentown, both Queen City and the State Hospital, are too important to let Pawlowski and Cunningham squander them for a short term, politically expedient, tax fix.

Malcolm Gross, an associate of Pawlowski, was just appointed by the court to overseer the $16million dollar payment due to the Fuller family by the Lehigh Valley Airport. The Airport Authority should sell the Fuller land that it never used, and retain Queen City.

portions reprinted from September 23, 2010

Slow Learning in the Valley

We're slow learners here in Lehigh Valley. When you read what they call a paper, the local news needs no date. We decided to make our airport even less competitive, by charging more for parking and flights. They need the money to pay for the land they never needed or used. They are once again remodeling the airport to make it nicer for people who don't use it. Over in Easton, Sal Panto marches ahead with his Al Bundy Museum of High School Sports. He also is still pushing his brew pub idea. If he combines them, we'll have the real Bundy experience. On the other side of the Valley, Allentown picked it's official bird as part of becoming a Bird City. There was a time when Allentown was full of robins; Now we have robbers. Just remember, we're just one project and speech away from turning everything around. Time to increase parking meter fees in Allentown.

Under Construction, Temporary Inconvenience, Permanent Improvement

Allentown's Double Standard

I've always maintained that the City Planners couldn't organize a children's birthday party, much less real urban planning. I have evidence to make my point. Take 7th Street for example. Those familiar with that venue know how many times the city has changed the bricks, sidewalks and street lights. The Hispanic business district that developed there was in spite of the city, not because of it. When I attended a meeting with Allentown's new Community Development Director, Sarah Hailstone, and the affected merchants of the hockey arena, I snickered when she said that the city would help the merchants. I actually uttered my birthday party line. Olgie Moreno-Prosper, of New Generation Learning Center, is finding out exactly how helpful the City can be. She has 13 years invested in her current location. Her application to move her daycare center to another location has been denied by city zoning. Allentown's a small place. The zoning board member who spoke against her center, because of traffic concerns, is well connected with the city. His wife is on the Allentown Parking Authority. The Authority is allowed to rent space for a daycare center in the bottom of their parking deck on Linden Street (the old Hess Brothers Deck), with an entrance on the corner of the alley which runs under the deck. Between the traffic and fumes, what could be a worse location than that? Gotta love Allentown.

A comment placed on The Morning Call website, about the article, pretty much sums up the mentality of both the City and many citizens against the displaced merchants.

FutureDowntownArenaAttendee at 1:09 AM July 14, 2011
"So they're telling us 'Take your little day care and move it out of the city of Allentown because we don't want it,' " she said Wednesday. "That's the message I got." (day care owner)
HEY HEY GOODBYE.

link to Morning Call article by Elizabeth Murphy, photograph by Kevin Mingora

Turning Out The Light

The train tower on Union Street was demolished in 1971. It survived years beyond need because the gates were never automated, and the remaining track was used for switching freight cars. The junction yard behind the State Hospital property, near the border with Bethlehem, is still active. The freight trains travel south Allentown toward Emmaus several times a day. In the quiet of early morning, you can still hear that whistle almost everywhere in the city.

photograph by Dave Latshaw is part of the Mark Rabenold Collection

Union Street Slowdown

By the early 1960's, things had slowed for Allentown's manufacturing base and the rail freight cars that served them. Train lines had consolidated, and tracks and spurs had been removed. Remaining plants were supplied by trucks, and people traveled by bus and car. The remaining train station would soon close, but the term rustbelt had not yet entered the vocabulary. Western Electric (AT&T) on Union Blvd. was now making transistors, and there was still confidence in the new economy. Allentown was the All American City.

The Union Street Train Tower

The Union Street crossing was a busy place. It was located between the Jordan Creek and south 3th Street. Virtually all the train lines serving Allentown converged here. The Lehigh Valley Railroad's old main line also crossed Union Street further east, toward the Lehigh River. Allentown was at this time served by two train stations, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station which was built over the Jordan Creek, and the New Jersey Central, which still stands as a closed restaurant and bar. This photograph, from 1930, is first in a series which will chronicle both the demise of our railroad era, and manufacturing base. Today, the tower is long gone and only one track survives. It is used by a private short line operator.

photograph from the Collection of Mark Rabenold

The World of Mirth

Allentown at one time had two very productive railroad branch lines; The West End, and the Barber Quarry. The Barber Quarry, for the most part, ran along the Little Lehigh Creek. It serviced the Mack Truck plants on South 10th, and continued west until it turned north along Union Terrace, ending at Wenz's tombstone at 20th and Hamilton Streets. The West End, for the most part, ran along Sumner Avenue, turning south and looping past 17th and Liberty Streets.

The Allentown Economic and Development Corporation has received a $1.8 million grant, toward a $4 million dollar project, to restore a portion of the Barber Quarry branch to service it's industrial building on South 10th Street. This building housed Traylor Engineering, which was a giant back in the day. Recently it housed a fabricator who President Obama visited on his Allentown photo opportunity mission. The business has since closed, but let's not have that reality stand in the way of grants. Last summer, I fought against Allentown's Trail Network Plan, which catered to the spandex cyclist crowd. The new trail was to be built on the Barber Quarry track line. Not only didn't the AEDC oppose the plan, it's director was an advocate. Now they will be funded to develop that which they wanted to destroy. Where do I begin in Allentown's World of Mirth?

The wonderful photograph above shows the World of Mirth train at 17th and Liberty. World of Mirth was the midway operator at the Allentown Fair during the 40's and 50's. In the background is Trexler Lumber Yard, which burnt down in the early 1970's. The B'nai B'rith Apartment houses now occupy the location.
photograph from the collection of Mark Rabenold

UPDATE: The Barber Quarry branch was not the primary railroad access to the Mack plants on South 10th Street. The branch only provided service to Mack Plant #2 on South 10th and Mack Plant #1 on 7th and Mill Streets which both closed for manufacturing in 1924 in favor of Mack #3,3A,4 and 4A on South 10th. These were served by the Reading Railroad Mack Branch. There was a switchback that connected the Barber Quarry to the Reading west of Traylor Engineering and Manufacturing Co. Yet, that was built by the Reading to serve Traylor and did not provide access for the LVRR to Mack #3,3A, 4 and 4A.

Also the western terminus was not wenz's on Hamliton Street. The branch crossed Hamilton and served several businesses including Yeager Fuel on North St Elmo, several silk mills and Pepsi Bottling at 2100 Linden Street. The bottling plant closed in 1963 which then became a city parks department building. The LVRR sold and removed the track north of Hamilton street in 1969. Accordingly, in 1970, the Wenz company became the western most shipper and receiver on the branch. update information from anonymous comment in November of 2010

reprinted from November 29, 2010

Boxing Eggs

When I was a little boy, I would work at my father's meat market, boxing eggs. The job was pretty straightforward. I would take eggs from a big box, and put them in small boxes with folding lids, each of which held a dozen. If I did a whole crate without breaking an egg, I did a good job. The real adventure was the drive to the shop. We lived just off Lehigh Street, and would take it all the way to Union Street. The many landmarks are now gone forever, only remaining in my camera of the past. Shown above in 1952, is the portion of Lehigh Street near the Acorn Hotel, which is not visible in the photograph. Before reaching the Acorn, you drove under The Reading Railroad bridge overpass, which recently has been dismantled and removed. That line served the Mack Plant on S. 10th Street. Just beyond the area pictured, the Quarry Barber railroad spur also crossed Lehigh Street, at the bridge over the Little Lehigh Creek. That line also crossed S. 10th, and served Traylor Engineering, now known as the closed Allentown Metal Works. Just last week Mitt Romney was there, to rebuke Obama's former visit to the site. Mayor Pawlowski is now rebuking Romney, but none of them really know anything about it's past. A half block away, on overgrown steps built by Roosevelt's WPA, a thousand men would climb home everyday, after working at Mack and Traylor. Freight trains, on parallel tracks, from two different railroads, were needed to supply those industrial giants.

After my father rounded the second curve on Lehigh Street, we would head up the steep Lehigh Street hill. It was packed with houses and people. At the top of the hill, we would turn right on to Union Street. Going down Union Street, Grammes Metal was built on the next big curve. Grammes made a large assortment of finished decorative metal products. Beyond Grammes were numerous railroad crossings. The Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks crossed Union, as did the Jersey Central and several spurs, near Basin Street. It was not unusual to wait twenty-five minutes for the endless freight trains to pass. A two plus story tower gave the railroad men view and control of the busy crossing. A few more blocks and we were at the meat market, in time for me to break some eggs.

Raw Cookie Dough

I had told City Council that the Arena plan was half baked, it's actually more like raw dough. Yesterday, board members of the Allentown Parking Authority wrote one of the most unconvincing letters I have ever read. Referring to the parking deck by City Hall; They can choose to leisurely walk the three blocks to their destination or, perhaps, jump on a trolley that could be traversing the city's business district ferrying customers from one end of town to the other...Visitors from northern suburbs can park in our lot located between Turner and Chew Streets on North Ninth.... Numerous other such examples exist of ample, convenient off-street parking... Would you believe the title of this letter was Parking, traffic no problem for arena.

Elsewhere, in yesterday's paper, we learned that viewers trying to exit the fireworks from Bethlehem's Steelstacks caused a massive traffic jam. Here in Allentown our plan is to attract a 1.5million people a year to one way streets in center city, with parking conveniently four blocks away. Some Old Allentown people think that this project will be their saving grace, good luck with that.

My Missing Chip

There seems to be much outrage over the jury verdict concerning the Florida murder case. I may know less about it than anybody else in America. I know that a young mother was accused of killing her daughter; that's all I know. I haven't watched or listened to one minute of the case, or one minute of the other tragic cases that have dominated our media for the last decade. I don't understand our preoccupation with these tragedies; I'm missing the chip. Today, and in the next month, that jury decision will be the topic of endless speculation. Television is dominated by crime shows, especially with autopsies. I can only hope that those fascinated by all those things, never have it visit upon their real life. For this post, I choose no photograph. Please restrict comments to the psychology of the public fascination, not particulars of this tragedy.

Israel Must Defend

The world loves to read about a Jew bashing Israel. Al Jazeera routinely uses Jewish writers for that purpose. They're not that hard to find, the far left and Jews go together, like pastrami and rye bread. Recently, The Morning Call dug up a good one for their Another View Column. A former Marine, whose mother's relatives died in the Holocaust, was joining a new flotilla to Gaza. Although the writer, Ken Meyers, draped himself in a partial Jewish heritage and military service, he left out a few details about himself. He parted with the Marines in opposition to United States military policies. He believes any attack against Iran should be an impeachable offense. Meyer's editorial is full of adverbs of distortion. The Israeli blockage of Gaza is not illegal. Nor is Gaza a killing field or Ghetto. Everyday, hundreds of truckloads of food enter Gaza from Israel. Many of the thousands of missiles fired at Israel by Hamas came aboard ships to Gaza. That is the purpose of the blockade, and numerous weapons have been seized from boarded ships. In Meyer's portrayal, Israel attacked the previous flotilla and killed nine peace activists. According to international law, Israel legally boarded a ship, and nine provocateurs were killed by Israeli soldiers defending themselves.

Mr. Meyers is welcome to try and break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. However, he should remember, unlike himself, Israeli Marines support their government, and will do what is necessary to defend their fellow citizens.

UPDATE:Meanwhile in Haiti and Sudan for example, the people are desperate for need and for such "Humanitarian Flotillas" that never seem to come. Where are these so-called "Humanitarians" when people actually need them?

photo of Gaza City

Growing up Parkway

I'm a baby boomer. I was born in December of 1946. As soon as my mother climbed out of the hospital bed, another woman climbed in. I grew up in the neighborhood now called Little Lehigh Manor, wedged between Lehigh Street and the top of the ravine above Lehigh Parkway. That's me on our lawn at the intersection of Catalina and Liberator Avenues, named after airplanes made by Vultee Corporation for the War. We had our own elementary school, our own grocery store, and the park to play in. On Saturdays, older kids would take us along on the trolley, and later the bus, over the 8TH Street Bridge to Hamilton Street. There were far too many stores to see everything. After a matinee of cartoons or Flash Gordon, and a banana split at one of the five and dimes, we would take the bus back over the bridge to Lehigh Street.




Not that many people know where Lehigh Parkway Elementary School is. It's tucked up at the back of the development of twin homes on a dead end street, but I won't say exactly where. I do want to talk about the photograph. It's May Day, around 1952-53. May Day was big then, so were the unions; Most of the fathers worked at the Steel, Mack, Black and Decker, and a hundred other factories going full tilt after the war. The houses were about 8 years old, and there were no fences yet. Hundreds of kids would migrate from one yard to another, and every mother would assume some responsibility for the herd when it was in her yard. Laundry was hung out to dry. If you notice, most of the "audience" are mothers, dads mostly were at work. I'm at the front, right of center, with a light shirt and long belt tail. Don't remember the girl, but see the boy in front of me with the big head? His father had the whole basement setup year round with a huge model train layout. There were so many kid's, the school only went up to second grade. We would then be bused to Jefferson School for third through sixth grade. The neighborhood had its own Halloween Parade and Easter egg hunt. We all walked to school, no one being more than four blocks away. Years ago when I met my significant other, she told me she taught at an elementary school on the south side, but that I would have no idea where it was.

compilation of two posts from June 2008

reproduced and retitled from Dec. 21, 2009

The Stumble Bum called Allentown

Allentown wakes up today to more mediocrity by our unimaginative leaders. Although the school budget passed, and less teachers were laid off than feared, Zahorchak's Pathway to Failure is evident. Teacher Union leader Debbie Tretter was amazed by the final figure of 112 furloughs. Her union would have actually granted wage concessions if Zahorchak would have agreed to less than 120 layoffs. Positions restored in art and social studies demonstrate how his plan only caused unnecessary anguish, as illustrated by a 10th grade student, Holli Bossons, in an editorial today. In another editorial we learn that the Fegley family looks forward to the arena. Isn't that grand, after they received 99.9% of all incentives and grants given in Allentown. Wonder how the pizza guy feels in the 700 Block, he's getting the boot after building up his lunch trade for a decade. Yesterday, was a full day here in Allentown. Mitt Romney visited the closed Metal shop, which Obama had touted as a symbol of hope. Mayor Pawlowski called Romney's visit a cheap shot, while he gushed gratitude to Obama two years ago for honoring us. I heard a rumor that the Fegley's are going to get another grant, for a pizza oven....

under construction, links and lies to be added.