Mack Line Overpass

It was just a few years ago that the train overpass at the junction of S. 6th and Lehigh Streets was removed. Although the line ceased operation decades earlier, the overpass remained as a silent monument to our industrial past. One half block of S. 10th Street was serviced by two different rail spur lines. Lehigh Valley Railroad served Traylor Engineering, while Reading served the Mack Factory.

Time Moves Slowly In Easton

Reprinted From November 23, 2009: Business, in the center cities of the Lehigh Valley, is a fragile thing at best. Even Bethlehem, considered the most successful, is more charm than dollars. Essentially, these prior centers of commerce have been reduced to three separate economies. The upscale restaurants serve a clientele, mostly in the evening, that has absolutely no interaction with the surroundings. The tourist venues, fixed or seasonal, also provide little revenue for the surrounding shops. Last, but not least, you have an urban population and the bus people. Bethlehem has managed to maintain an upscale demographic living in it's center city, but this post is about Easton. (Allentown only has one such person living on Hamilton Street, she is the Community Development Director)

The Morning Call has published three stories about the High School Sports Hall of Fame, which will occupy part of the new parking deck and Lanta Terminal, several blocks south of Center Square in Easton. Easton Mayor Sal Panto, perhaps hoping to once again see his high school picture, has been cheerleading this effort. Although there is no question that this is a moronic idea doomed to failure, grants are available, and Panto can't resist a grant. The pending failure of the Sports Museum is the good news; the destruction of the bus people economy is the real consequence. Allentown should have taught Panto an expensive lesson. (Lanta doesn't care about lessons or merchants) People waiting to transfer buses, as they do now at Easton's Center Square, will shop if the store is very close and convenient. They will not walk. They will not make an additional stop and wait for another bus. They don't buy much, but there's many of them. Now, they will sit on benches at the Easton Lanta Transfer Terminal and watch school children come to the Al Bundy Museum on field trips. Panto will wonder why business died on Northampton Street.
reprinted from November 23, 2009, then titled Selling Easton's Soul

UPDATE: Over four years later, Al Bundy and Sal Panto have announced that they're canceling their long planned date. The parking garage and Lanta Terminal will now house Easton City Hall.  I first started writing about Easton's planned parking deck when it was scheduled to be behind the Wolf Building, going back to last century. I understand now why Panto supports Pawlowski for governor, time and projects move very slowly in Easton.

From Homeless To School Director

This is my second post on Ce-Ce Gerlach; The first was this summer, when I covered her block party fundraiser to buy uniforms for the students. Yesterday, I decided to sit down with Ce-Ce and learn more about someone in Allentown's future. She has been instrumental in attempting to share Allentown's good fortune from the arena's NIZ, with the city's less fortunate inter-city residents. Ce-Ce talks their language; She lived in her car for six months, about five years ago. Only 27 years old, she has emerged as a spokeswoman and advocate for Allentown's silent majority. Coming from the poor side of the tracks in Washington D.C., she knows first hand how little of opportunity can spill over from affluence, to a nearby population mired in the poverty cycle. In addition to being a leader on the coalition for community benefit from the NIZ, and the school board, she is on the city's Human Relations Board. She's open to more responsibilities, and even elected offices, in her mission to improve lives in downtown Allentown.

Temporary Inconvenience

Urban renewal projects are nothing new to Allentown. Every couple decades some Mayor thinks he has a brighter idea. In a previous post, I showed the historic Lehigh and Union Street neighborhood, totally destroyed by city planners. Today, an under used Bank calling center sits awkwardly alone on that Lehigh Street hill. The picture above shows another hill of merchants and residents, fed to a mayor's bulldozer. The picture is from 1953, and shows Hamilton Street, from Penn Street down toward the railroad stations. At that time we still had two stations, The Lehigh Valley Railroad and The New Jersey Central. The current closed bar and restaurant occupies the Jersey Central. Everything on Hamilton Street, west of the bridge over the Jordan creek, with the exception of the Post Office, was demolished up to Fifth Street. Government Center would be built on the north side of the street, and a new hotel on the south, to accommodate the many anticipated visitors. Recently we had to remove and replace the facade of the county courthouse, which leaked since it was constructed. The hotel is now a rooming house.

Unannounced plans are underway for a new hotel to service anticipated visitors to Pawlowski's Palace of Sports. It will be up to some future blogger to document how that hotel becomes a rooming house.

reprinted from July of 2011

Junkyard Train

Today, once again we ride a freight train of Allentown's great industrial past. In the early 1970's, the Redevelopment Authority tore down the neighborhood on either side of the Lehigh Street hill. At that time they had persuaded Conrail to move the the Barber's Quarry Branch line exclusively to the southern side of the Little Lehigh. The branch had crossed over and back to service the great Wire Mill. After crossing Lehigh Street, the train would proceed along the creek passing under the 8th Street Bridge. At the 10th Street crossing it would service another great industrial giant, Traylor Engineering.
In 2009 President Obama visited a successor, Allentown Manufacturing, which has since closed. The line would continue along the creek until it turned north along Cedar Creek to Union Terrace. After crossing Hamilton Street by the current Hamilton Family Diner, it would end at the current park department building. Nothing remains of the line, the tracks were removed. The Allentown Economic Development Corporation recently received a grant to rebuild the line to 10th Street, even though the plant Obama visited has closed. The neighboring former Mack Plant now houses a go cart track. How the money will be squandered remains to be seen. The top photograph was taken by local train historian Mark Rabenold in 1989. It shows the later relocated section of the track that was just east of the Lehigh Street crossing.

UPDATE: The County Commissioners recently denied a request by AEDC to grant KOZ status to the closed Metal Manufacturing building. Although the company never cited lack of rail service or property taxes as the reason for closing, the rail grant is still on the table. $Millions of $Dollars would be needed to lay bed and track from 3th and Union to S. 10th Street, to service an empty building; Truly, The Track To Nothing.

reprinted from October 2012

Dennis Pearson's Excellent Water Lease Explanation

The Allentown City Council is proud that it passed a budget council members claim is in the black. But it was done by leasing our water and treatment facilities to the Lehigh County Authority, which assumed the debt through its lease-purchase and compounded it with more debt ($320 million in total as compared to $167 million).
As an Allentonian, I am glad our financial situation is in the black. But continued fiscal responsibility is a necessity to keep it in the black. We don't need irresponsible actions that occurred in our past to be repeated in the future. But as an LCA user, I wonder how the authority will pay back the debt it assumed and what my share of the debt payback will be through my future user charges. You see, the pension debt has not disappeared. It was just transferred to LCA via the lease agreement.
Time will tell if the authority will be able to handle this debt to produce a soft landing for us water and sewer users in Allentown. What we don't want is a hard landing. A hard landing would be more expensive and stressful for consumers. We don't need irresponsible actions that occurred in our past to repeat in the future.                                                          
Dennis Pearson

The above appeared as a Letter To The Editor in The Morning Call on Sunday December 8th, 2013

I Must Respectfully Decline

                                                      photo by Tami Quigley

Last spring I conducted a well attended tour of the WPA structures in Lehigh Parkway for  Friends Of The Allentown Parks. We ended the tour at the last WPA structure built in Allentown, the Robin Hood Bridge. This fall I unsuccessfully tried to save the dam, which was built with the bridge as part of the beautiful setting. The Wildlands Conservancy had a grant to remove the dam, from which they also harvest administrative fees. In a crass act of destruction they removed the dam, and piled the broken dam rubble around the beautiful stone piers, destroying a classic view which Allentown had enjoyed for over 70 years. A naturalist told me the other day that the project even disappointed from his environmental point of view. The stream is no deeper, the silt didn't reduce, and a large portion of the former stream-bed is exposed. Although I recognize and support Friends Of The Parks as a most worthwhile organization, I must respectfully decline their invitation to conduct another tour this coming spring. It is apparent that this Mayor, City Council and even the new park director have no appreciation of the irreplaceable gifts that were bestowed upon our park system so many years ago.

Just Out Of View and Gone In Allentown

The photo above means a lot to me, for the things just out of view and now gone. You're at the crossing tower on Union Street, near 3th. There's another gate stopping the eastbound traffic, which has backed up toward the Jordan Creek. The same train has also blocked traffic further down the line, at Basin Street. It's the early 1950's and the tracks from the two rail lines, Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central, cross here. At the end of Union Street you can make out my father's market, Allentown Meat Packing Company. The whole side of the building is a sign, painted directly on the brick in red and silver, Retail Meats, Wholesale Prices. You'll pass Morris Black Building Supply and The Orange Car before you get there. You'll also have to cross another set of tracks, which was the Lehigh Valley old main, before they built the Railroad Terminal over the Jordan Creek, at Hamilton Street. Our commercial past is now consigned to memory and future urban archeology.

Moving Allentown's Freight

The Lehigh Valley Transit, in addition to moving people on the trolleys, also moved freight. In Allentown, the freight house was behind Front Street, near the former A&B meat plant. The Kutztown and Reading Trolley Company also had a freight house in west Allentown, which would decades later become the home of former mayor Joe Daddona, at Union Terrace. UPDATE: Forty five years later, in 1951, we're back at the freighthouse. Notice that a window has been added on the building's side, with only the memory of the earlier sign still present. In another year, both passenger and freight service are gone, with the end of the trolley era.

East Side Memories

Man! How things have changed - Cigarette in ash tray - two chili dogs and black coffee - and he had a cigarette dangling from his lips as he made your doggies from the open grille - Man! what a sauce. Just doesn't exist today. Must have been those ashes!!
photograph and commentary by Carl Rubrecht

reprinted from February of 2012

Molovinsky's Nostalgia Train

I suspect that this blog will be spending a lot of time in the near future in the distant past. Frankly, I don't see much news to report on. I'll leave the arena news and Pawlowski's proclamations to The Morning Call. In a few weeks he'll be cutting the ribbon on the 15th Street Bridge, and we'll hear about infrastructure, and what he could do for all of Pennsylvania as governor. In truth, that bridge was on the books since 1985. In truth, they accomplished more work in a week on the high priority arena, as South Allentown dangled for almost three years without the bridge. In the picture above we're back in 1946. Allentown would be serviced by trolleys for another six years. In center city, the main north and south lines were on 6th and 7th Street, as were the stores. Here, the trolley is on 6th, between Turner and Chew Streets. Graf Court, one of Allentown's first apartment houses, shown on the left side, is still there. Out of view, on the upper right side, was the Jewish Community Center, now Alliance Hall.

click on photo's to enlarge images

On The Bus With Pawlowski

Long time readers of this blog will be surprised to learn that I have been on the campaign bus with governor hopeful Ed Pawlowski. Of course I'm not allowed in the bus, but have been staying on the top luggage rack, as he goes from one town in Pennsylvania to another.  This will be the first in a series of reports on how the march to the governor's mansion is progressing. Last week, candidate Pawlowski released his education plan for the Keystone State. In it Pawlowski states,  He (Corbett) has sacrificed public school funding in order to fund more corporate tax giveaways that in some cases businesses didn’t ask for or even need. That’s not the way to put our economy back on track. I suppose that Ed forgot about the biggest tax giveaway in state history, Allentown's $Billion dollar NIZ hockey arena complex.

Lehigh Valley News and Commentary

The Lehigh Valley International Airport, which has just completed a $multi-million dollar remodeling of the terminal, will increase fees to the remaining airlines by 11%. Although the airport management has succeeded in reducing the number of carriers from eight to four, one of which drives it's passengers to Newark on a bus, it's feared that one or two of them may continue service. If all had gone as planned, within a year or so, the airport would have transitioned to the Lehigh Valley Bus Terminal. Elsewhere in the news, Pennsylvania will extend the meaningless comment period to Allentown's trash/sewage to energy project. Although the project has already been approved, and construction permits have been issued, the environmentalists were allowed to question the project after the fact, and may now continue to do so.

Supermarket Comes To Boomtown

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 2009

Allentown's Grim Future

By the time you hear of a stock, the anticipation of that business's success has already been built into the value. Although the arena won't open for another year, that event will be anti-climatic. The election results said that Allentonians don't think that Pawlowski can walk on water. An underfunded opponent, campaigning for only eight weeks, took 40% of the votes. The Morning Call, favorable to the Arena Project, cannot help but report the violence in center city. Suburbanites, many of whom haven't been downtown in decades, will only come reluctantly, if at all, and then leave very quickly. Those expecting a recipe for pumpkin pie are at the wrong blog.

Blogging, The Last WatchTower

Anybody who buys The Morning Call on Monday knows what slim pickings is. The paper is produced on Friday, with a one man weekend crew, to cover the police blotter. There's hardly enough paper to cover the bottom of a bird cage. That leaves the news junkies forced to read garbage like this. Even the blogosphere is slim pickings. Bernie O'Hare, arguably the dean of local blogging, says that I'm lazy and preoccupied with choo choo trains. I actually haven't done a choo choo post in over six minutes, that's how long it took me to read the paper this morning. Truth to be told, I am fascinated with how much Allentown has changed within the last 50 years, and the railroads are a good metaphor. In my youth, the city was serviced by rail branch lines with dozens of sidings, supplying many industries with raw materials, to produce products distributed all over the country. Those industries fostered a large middle class, and a high standard of living. We were the truck capital of the world, we were home to the first transistors, and a retail legend. The tower shown above in 1963, and the gas tank in the background, were on Union Street. Although they are both now gone, this lazy blogger will continue to combine history, news and commentary for those of us who still remember a different era.

Choo Choo History

A reader from the last post asked if any history was available on the engine shown above. This off-rail locomotive, built on an automotive chassis, was produced by the shop of CNJ in 1955 for parades and celebrations.  It's shown above at the National Model Railroader's Convention, in May of that year. By 1956, the air-horns shown in the previous post were added.

Thanks to Mark Rabenold and Dave Beazley, local railroad historians.

When Business Paid The Freight

Believe it or not, there was a time not so long ago, that businesses actually paid their own way. They did not expect, nor did they receive, any incentives from government. In this recent election, the County Commissioner's rejection of the TIF for Costco was an issue used by their opponents. We have come so far down the path of subsidies, that those who dare to oppose these giveaways, are accused of costing the community jobs, and taxes for the future. Over the years, Allentown gave out dozens of KOZ's that never produced one dime or benefit for the taxpayers. For example, the former Cata garment building on Linden Street was given a KOZ when it became a self storage facility. It was then purchased by the city for the arena, and is now part of the NIZ. Between the KOZ and the NIZ, the taxpayers are shortchanged for 41 years. It could even be longer, if down this road the NIZ turns into XYZ. All these programs have a very real cost to the taxpayers. The government units must make up this lost revenue in other ways, either by fees or taxes. When you buy a ticket for the new arena, what's it really costing you?

photo: Hamilton Street in 1956, before KOZ, NIZ, TIF, and CRIZ

When Allentown Worked

Regular readers of this blog know that I often visit Allentown's better days of the past. I even belong to a nostalgia group, where someone recently asked where everyone's parents worked. Many group members are in their 50's and 60's. Here was the question; When we grew up the best jobs for our dad's was the Bethlehem steel and mack trucks unless they were lawyers or doctors or had another profession occupation I know my my mom worked in a factory all her life and I think most of them have closed. Where did you mom and dad work and are the companies are open? Over 90 people responded, actually constituting a survey. In current Allentown, this would be a study, which taxpayers would have to pay for; Here, it's on the house, no charge. Fourteen of the fathers worked at Bethlehem Steel, while five worked at Mack Trucks, and five worked retail on Hamilton Street. The others worked at Allentown's many other industries, one or two here and there. Only two respondents said that their fathers weren't much for working. Twenty mothers were stay at home, while eight worked in various sewing factories. The remainder worked as teachers, nurses, factory workers and various other jobs. One person wrote, "My parents sound like the scene you described. My dad worked at Beth Steel and my mom at Penn State Mills on a sewing machine. They owned their own home and sent me to college where I graduated without the burden of a loan. Thanks, Mom and Dad." Shown above was the General Electric plant on S. 12th Street, just beyond the old Mack 5C.

Allentown's Study of Convenience

Shown above was a gritty industry from Allentown's industrial past. Going back to the early 1900's, the Wire Mill was along the current Martin Luther King Drive, just east of the Lehigh Street hill. Before they tore down the entire neighborhood, in Allentown's first redevelopment in the 1970's, that plant was long gone. Before King Drive, the road along Fountain Park was called Lawrence Street. Those few blocks east of Lehigh was named Wire Street. As mentioned in yesterday's post, a new study has recommended that the Little Lehigh corridor become Allentown's new industrial section. The AEDC has purchased the former Allentown Metal Works on S. 10th Street, and received an initial grant to restore the former rail line, which ran along the creek. A current grant was used to pay for the Study of Convenience. Just a few years ago, I attended a City meeting hyping the former rail-bed as a Trail Network, connecting all of Allentown's parks and emphasizing the stream.

Allentown's Industrial Hoax

Allentown's looking to identify an industrial area, where an investment in infrastructure can produce jobs. The Allentown Economic Development Corporation hired a consultant, to tell them what they wanted to hear. Never mind that we have an industrial area, already complete with infrastructure. Shown above is the area along the Lehigh River, where industry began in Allentown. The working railroad line is still there, as are the industrial buildings, and even industrial tenants, including Air Products. Problem is, that area is now slated for Pawlowski Transformation Number Two, turning the industrial reality into a commercial and residential hope to be. Enter AEDC and their choo choo project. Many years ago, Traylor Engineering on S. 10th Street, was serviced by the Barber Quarry rail spur. That rail branch has been completely removed, from it's start back at 3th and Union Streets. Last year, the AEDC purchased Traylor's successor, the vacant Allentown Metal Works, and sought a grant to rebuild the branch line. The bureaucracy of the AEDC would actually spend $millions of dollars to rebuild a railroad line, on the speculation of attracting an industrial tenant. Low and behold, the new study they and the City have commissioned, recommends this very nonsense.

Back To The Future With Emma

Although the Progressives, who campaigned against the waste to energy plant and the water lease this year, didn't like Emma Tropiano back in the day, or now, here's a history lesson they may find interesting. Shown above is Emma camping out by the entrance to Kline's Island on October 13, 1989. Her statement to the press. "The deal with the Lehigh County Authority to open Kline's Island to outside sewage sources has promoted massive development in western Lehigh County, drawing potential commercial and industrial development away from Allentown and resulting in higher taxes for city property owners." She was running against The First Mayor For Life Joe Daddona's fourth term. His reply. "It's obvious once again that Emma, because of her lack of knowledge and understanding of a problem, is shooting from the hip and hitting herself in the foot." She was also outspoken about the direction the city was heading in: Is Allentown in an ugly decline, with drugs, crime, filth and mismanagement rotting away the core of the Queen City, as challenger Emma D. Tropiano insists? Or is it squarely facing its problems and coming up with sound, creative solutions, as Mayor Joseph S. Daddona says?" The Morning Call, Nov. 5, 1989.

LVIA, Destination Failure

Shown above is the director of Lehigh Valley Airport. What struck me about the photo was the empty terminal behind him. Despite the airport's failure, they never stop remodeling, expanding and charging more for parking. Recently, I bumped into Tony Iannelli, Chairman of Airport's Board of Directors. I asked him if the intent was to sabotage the airport? I wondered why they would hire Charles Everett for director, when he failed to produce results, working in the same capacity, for the previous private management company? Iannelli indicated that the problems were industry wide, shared by all airports, of this size and type market. I was not surprised that the recent air show was a financial failure. It didn't seem like a forward looking idea for a commercial airport. Over the years, this blog had a number of posts about the failed ideas pursued by this airport.* Yesterday, Bernie O'Hare presented Steve Thode's chart documenting the steady decline of LVIA. The comments there support one of my contentions; People would support a convenient local airport, if only it would offer something; LVIA offers expensive parking, with inconvenient flights to nowhere.

*Flight To NoWhere, February 12, 2009
*Dressed Up With NoWhere To Go, November 29, 2012
*Sabotaging The Airport, March 27,2013

photocredit:The Morning Call

Pending Approval

Today we learn that the Waterfront Project gained approval from the Allentown Planning Commission, who would have thought? The other day we learned that Joel F. Fitzgerald will be Allentown's first minority police chief, pending approval by City Council. Even Julio Guridy, Council President, couldn't imagine what the reporter was referring to. He told her that he never heard of a police chief candidate not being approved. Actually, I never heard of anything not being approved in the last 8 years.

Woodman's Controversial Letter

Thanks to Bernie O'Hare, everybody in the local blogosphere knows who Wayne Woodman is; according to Bernie, he's Scott Ott's puppet-master. I personally never subscribed to that theory, but then again, I think more of Woodman and Ott than Bernie does. Yesterday, Woodman, as Republican Party Chairman, sent out an email summing up the election. He praised Scott Ott for running a positive campaign, and yet remaining competitive. He complimented the victors in Lower Macungie, but wondered if they were Republicans of convenience. One victor, blogger Ron Beitler, already took exception to that insinuation. But, what brings me to this post, is a thank you to Scott Armstrong, for his efforts in the Allentown school board election. Scott had been critical of Woodman's lack of attention in regard to Allentown. Bob Smith Jr., has stated that he believes that the Republican abandonment of Allentown cost Ott the election. I wondered if Woodman's overture to Armstrong indicated a change in strategy for future elections. In reality, school board members cross file. The only candidate registered only as a Republican lost, coming in last. We will see in the next election if Woodman continues to court Armstrong, and if the party gives Allentown more attention.

Allentown's Fading Memories

I have written recently that the market for Allentown memorabilia was closing fast. With so many new comers to the area, and the graying of the old timers, those interested in acquiring such objects are far and few between. Nostalgia is a different story. The internet allows former Allentonians to remember the good old days. In Allentown's case, many feel that the expression is unfortunately very true. Shown above is the first mayor for life, Joe Daddona, with Willie Restum. Willie was a nationally known sax player, who never forgot his Allentown roots in the Syrian 6th ward. Adding to this blast from the past, is Willie wearing the Allentown All American City tee-shirt. This post was for the subset, born in Allentown before 1960.

A Governor's Choice

On October 24th, I was forced to change my police chief prediction from Ted Kohuth to Joel Fitzgerald. Kohuth had made sense for the department and the city. As a local law enforcement officer, he had the respect of the department's rank and file membership. His appointment would have avoided the rancor that had come with the last out of town appointment, Chief Kuhns from Chicago, under Afflerbach. Pawlowski had been part of that administration, and knew of that disruption first hand. By mid October, blogger sources were telling me that Pawlowski had decided to go with his governor quest, rather than the APD's morale. Fitzgerald will play well in Philadelphia, his home town. For picking the first minority police chief of Pennsylvania's third largest city, Pawlowski continues his narrative as a innovator. Joe Biden called Pawlowski to congratulate him on his overwhelming victory in last week's election. Nowhere in the narrative does it say that his opponent only decided to run this past spring, as an independent, and spent the summer in Ukraine. On the road to Harrisburg, Pawlowski will get much more milage from Fitzgerald than he would have ever gotten from Kohuth.

UPDATE: 6:00a.m.  According to The Morning Call, Fitzgerald was the top choice of the Allentown Police Union.

photocredit:Emily Robson/The Morning Call/November 11, 2013

Israel Defense Forces

Benny Gantz, Chief of Staff for the IDF, stood on the tracks at the station in Berlin on Saturday, from which Jews were deported to the death camps.

Today too, we are required to deal with hostile states and organizations that seek to harm us, but unlike the past, we face our enemies from a position of strength – stronger than ever before.We won’t allow the horrors of the past to return, we will not allow those who seek our harm to raise their heads. We won’t be helpless when facing our enemies. The nation of Israel will always have the most protective and skilled force. Against any threat, from any distance, we will be fortified and independent in our abilities to defend ourselves. We won’t bow our head before any danger that threatens the Jewish people in its land. The IDF is the Jewish people’s answer to the incinerators, gas chambers, the pits and the killings.

Gantz is the son of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor,  who began his military career as a paratrooper.

The Night of Broken Glass

In 1938,  on the nights of November 9 and 10, the Nazis whipped up anti-Jewish riots in a pogrom now known  as Kristallnacht.


During these two nights,    synagogues were set on fire and  thousands of Jewish shop windows were broken.



Ninety one Jews were killed.  30,000 were arrested and taken to camps, a harbinger of the Holocaust.

reprinted from previous years

The Blame Game

Much as already been written about the Muller/Ott race. Although I don't profess more insight than my fellow bloggers, I don't have their hate of Ott/Woodman, and therefore perhaps a more objective viewpoint. First of all, at less than 48/52, it was a close race. Although I keep reading about the money wasted by Woodman, in reality, Muller/Fleck spent an extraordinary sum. In addition to endless oversize flyers, they canvassed Allentown with hundreds of workers for two days. Those couple thousand votes probably cost $25 each. Some pundits feel that Woodman erred in not fielding Allentown candidates, to help bring out the Republican base in the city. I spent three minutes and interviewed that entire base, they did vote. The Allentown Republicans fielded excellent candidates in recent elections, to no avail. Due to the white flight out of Allentown, the closest suburbs, such as South Whitehall, now have a more Democratic composition than in years prior. Finally, lets not underestimate the power of negative advertising in politics. While Muller sent out one negative flyer after another, Ott did not respond in kind. Scott Ott took pride in running a positive campaign. He's a much nicer guy than me.

The Inside Out Of Pawlowski's Victory

I suppose with a 61/39 win, Mike Fleck, Pawlowski's campaign manager, can still claim an overwhelming win. We here in A-Town know better. Michael Donovan, who didn't decide to run until the beginning of summer, was a restrained candidate. He was away for the summer, and didn't begin to campaign until September. In two months, with a little more than $10,000, he took a 40% bite out of Pawlowski. Both The Morning Call and Muhlenberg College did what they could to defend Pawlowski, by not sponsoring their traditional televised debate. Bill Heydt, former two term mayor, told me that he expected Donovan to get no more than 15% of the vote. What's the real message for an incumbent who used a $600 million dollar construction project for his photo backdrop? The message is that Allentown realizes that the arena will be no panacea for the city's real problem, crime, with no real solution in sight. It also says that the Transformation of Allentown is more in Pawlowski's head, than in the perception of it's citizens.

Knock and Drag in Allentown

The Democrats started it years ago in large urban centers. They hire workers, or solicit union volunteers, to go door to door, dragging voters to the booth. Yesterday, center city doors in Allentown were hung with reminders to vote. Here's yesterday's email blast from the local Democratic machine.

.November 4,2013 NEWS ADVISORY PA AUDITOR GENERAL EUGENE DePASQUALE TO JOIN GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY AT MAIN GATE TONIGHT Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale will join local Lehigh County Democrats tonight at their “Get Out The Vote” Rally which starts at 6 p.m. at the Main Gate in Allentown. Local Democratic elected officials, candidates, and community organizers will be on hand to energize and encourage democrats to get as many voters to the polls tomorrow as possible.

With the excuse of voter suppression, we now have the absurdity of no voter ID required.  Combine no ID with knock and drag,  the potential for voter manipulation, if not outright fraud, is overwhelming, with no method of verification in place.

The Morning Yawn

The Morning Call is always sparse on Monday. They compose Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Friday, so besides the Allentown police blotter, there's no local news. The limited space is filled with stories with no time line, like today, on Martin Guitar. Half of this limited local space today is filled with the voter checklist for tomorrow's election. If Monday's papers aren't worth the price, today's deserves a total refund. The voter checklist, all two and half pages, or half the local section, is from last May's primary. Wonder if it will matter?

The Marketplace Speaks

Allentown's experiment in fine dining is over. Sangria is becoming Billy's Diner, and the eloquent rooftop bar at Cosmopolitan was converted into a dance club. Although the club will have different hours and a separate entrance, the restaurant cannot escape it's downward transition. Allentown simply does not have the ambience to support upscale dining. I'm pictured above, in my younger days, at a club in Brooklyn.

Open Letter To Mayor Pawlowski

Mr. Mayor, I don't know if you remember me, Mr. Molovinsky allowed me to use this newsletter to write you before. Maybe you remember, I live in the senior highrise on Union Street, and used to get my prescriptions at the Rite-Aid on Hamilton Street. Maybe you remember, I used to work at the Mack factory on S. 10th Street, but that was long before you even heard of Allentown, much less lived here. Here's my question. I was a union guy and usually voted Democratic anyway, but why is there no one else on the ballot this year? Why are those City Council candidates putting their posters all over town when they have no opponents? I don't use a computer, but my daughter prints out Mr. Molovinsky's newsletter for me. We have been walking up to Hamilton Street and looking at that hockey stadium, holy cow! My buddy, on the next floor, says that you're running for governor or president. I said, No, he's running for our mayor again.

p.s. Mr. Molovinsky took this picture of me a long time ago.

Lehigh County's Opportunity

When Matt Croslis endorsed Scott Ott on Thursday, the politics of old cried pay to play. Muller's henchmen, and their sycophants in the blogosphere, even rumored and fabricated details of the payment. Croslis has now vetoed the very amendments that Ott and the reform commissioners passed at the budget hearing. The IT budget, the same sex health benefits, the crime center, and the tipster budget, are all back. Truth be told, the old establishment which Muller represents, cannot understand independent thinking. In their world, if you're not touting the establishment line, you must be receiving some payoff. It's refreshing to see new people, like Croslis and Ott, assert independence. It's nice to know that the voters on Tuesday have the opportunity to rid themselves of business as usual.

The Donovan Factor

The Donovan campaign has some wheels, not so much as a viable shot for mayor, but it's effect on the contested race of the election, Muller vs. Ott. The Republicans in Allentown are no factor, the six of them may, or may not vote. My guess is that Donovan will get their default vote. The group in play is those Democrats and independents that are disillusioned with Pawlowski. Each vote that Donovan gets, may well be from someone who would have otherwise stayed at home, but now in the voting booth, will vote for Muller. Conventional wisdom has Ott winning in the suburbs, but Muller sweeping Democratic Allentown. If Donovan increases the turnout in Allentown, Muller benefits.

UPDATE: It would be ironic if Donovan voters were to vote for Muller, particularly those who were against the water lease deal. Ott was against the water lease deal, recognizing it as a bad deal, and voted against extending the charter of the LCA. Muller is on the LCA board and voted for the water lease deal.     from an anonymous comment

County Executive Endorses Scott Ott

Democratic County Executive Matt Croslis Endorses Scott Ott for Executive ALLENTOWN, PA – Today, Democratic County Executive Matt Croslis endorsed Scott Ott for Lehigh County Executive. This major cross-party endorsement affirms Scott Ott's results-oriented approach to governance. “My goal as County Executive was to be transparent and collaborative in an effort to put people before politics,” said Executive Matt Croslis. “This approach has been successful in large part because of the working relationship I have developed with Scott Ott. I believe Scott will bring a fresh perspective to Lehigh County and that he will work tirelessly to find new and innovative ways to provide the necessary services of County government in the most cost effective manner. It is my hope that my endorsement will promote bipartisanship and continue to put the interests of the County residents before politics.” "I'm honored to have the support of Matt Croslis," Ott said. “During his time as county executive, we haven't always agreed, but I could always count on Matt to tell the truth, which made it easy to work together with him to find solutions for the taxpayers we represent. I'll continue to work to make local government more sustainable, accountable, focused and effective."

UPDATE: The Morning Call reports endorsement

The New Jobs Of Allentown

J.B. Reilly said this week that the downtown development is bringing 3,000 jobs to Allentown's $600 million NIZ. Between the National Penn Bank, and his other prospective tenants, that figure seems high. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, and considering everything else he's gotten, we can easily throw that in, each job will cost the state taxpayers $200,000.00. Now, this is nay-sayer math, but then again, this is a blog. Talking of nay-saying, last night over 200 unemployed  packed into a center city church, hoping for some benefit from the NIZ. I think a church was an appropriate venue, because that will take a lot of prayer. As I had written in a previous blog post, the new jobs, except for the peanut vendors at the arena, will be white collar, college degree required. This brings us to the photograph shown above. As they demolish the former Gallery Building in the 900 block of Hamilton Street, we see that the steel beams were fabricated at the former Lehigh Structural Steel. At one time, the buildings on Hamilton Street were built by entrepreneurs, to accommodate our prosperity.  Now they are funded by taxpayers, hoping to steal another town's employees.

Bernie's Spin Cycle

Many of my readers also read Bernie O'Hare's Ramblings. Yesterday, I was asked if Bernie was on the Democratic payroll, and I replied that he was not; You couldn't pay someone to carry water that enthusiastically. However, Bernie was good at mixing a little fact, some out of context quotes, and old fashion prejudice, to create his recent narrative against Ott. In Bernie's World, the Republican Chairman and his commissioner wife dispense silver shekels to certain candidates, to produce Judas's, who he also refers to as lapdogs. According to Bernie, this chairman is an evil manipulator, who doesn't allow Republican candidates to run in Allentown proper, to control voter turnout for the county. Bernie even has the local conservative talk radio host not believing the Republican candidate. Yes, the party chairman is wealthy, they often are. It takes a person who is pretty financially comfortable to devote so many hours to something which has no salary. No one ran as a Republican candidate in Allentown because it has become a fool's errand, with the Democratic registration advantage and straight lever pulling. The radio host always uses a devil's advocate approach to interviews. He supports the candidate that Bernie portrays he doesn't believe. Don't believe everything you read on the blogs, unless of course, you're at this site.

UPDATE: This post was edited to clarify that any ethic insensitivity by O'Hare was an  isolated incident.

The Truth In Lehigh County

The Executive race in Lehigh County seems to be the hottest item on the November 5th ticket. It seems that it's being waged mostly by mail, with large colors flyers arriving in your mailbox every few days. Tom Muller has both the upper hand in quantity sent, and the lower hand in negative advertising. He has portrayed his opponent as just an unqualified school bus driver and camp counselor. Although Ott and his fellow Commissioners approved all 15 bridge replacements except one, for historical preservation reasons, Muller and the two Democratic Commissioner candidates raced to bridge, and complained that Ott jeopardized public safety. Here in the blogosphere, Bernie O'Hare has been handling Muller's campaign. Shown above is the Truth Machine that O'Hare insists that Ott submit to. Although Bernie cannot guarantee that the human body can survive the current that the machine uses, he now calls Ott a liar for not submitting to the test. It's a tough year to be a candidate.

Lehigh County Business As Usual

I've never been to the Lehigh Country Club, it has always been the bastion of the local blue bloods. My blogging associate from Nazareth is in his final sprint to bloody the waters against Scott Ott. Although I don't have his affinity for promoting candidates, fairness requires some balance in the blogosphere. Tom Muller's fundraiser was held at the country club. His campaign contributor list is a who's who of Business As Usual in the valley. The big contractors/developers are all there; Butz, Boyle, Marcon, and Perucci. The law/accounting firms are there; McCarthy, Sorrentino and Portnoff. In this world, overlooking the golf course, donations are either $2,500 or $5,000. The voters next week will have a choice between accountability to the taxpayer, or business as usual.

Less Than a Thankless Job

Scott Armstrong has become the teacher's target on the Allentown School Board. He's conservative, vocal, articulate, and not afraid to write letters to the editor, or bloggers, for that matter. The budget game every year between the State and the school district was particularly harsh this year. Although the district always ends up with more than initially budgeted, it necessitates teacher layoffs and bad feelings, before some portion of the teachers are reinstated. Added to the mix this year was a schism between board members with teacher backgrounds, and the conservative members. There's even a Facebook page to vilify Armstrong and David Zimmerman. Further adding to the disharmony, that Facebook page was taken over by a couple who were targeting Armstrong on their infamous long enemy list, before he even considered running for the school board.

I was accosted today in a public venue by an acquaintance who happens to be a teacher. I have known this person for years and said hello as he is neighbor who lives around the corner from my home. While trying to remember his name he said it with the words “why do you hate teachers." I asked him to repeat and he complied. Surprised, I said I have many friends who are teachers and dislike none of them, however I do have a problem with the teachers union as its primary mission is that of a labor union. The conversation went south from there and he wouldn't leave me alone as I tried to purchase meat from a stand at the market. I had to explain to them why he was angry at me. I was on the school board and he was a teacher, I had been vocal about the damage defined payment pensions are doing to public schools. They gave him no sympathy. His attempted explanation that was met with only frowns. Seeing this, he retreated. I told the merchants that this happens to me all too often because I dare to speak for the taxpayers at school board meetings. While I completed my transaction he stood off at a distance, as I walked by him on my way to the exit, he said, “Scott, no one in the neighborhood likes you." This is a public school teacher.                                                                                                                                                             ScottArmstrong

I find the teacher's attitude toward Armstrong disturbing.  This first person account by Armstrong is not an isolated incident.  I have read similar sentiments by teachers who should know better.  Putting aside the Facebook page by the cyber/stalkers/Bullies,  some  rank and file teachers have indulged in the personal attacks.  The school board represents the public and taxpayers, who have not demeaned the members who are teachers.  Why should the teachers not extend the same tolerance toward the  conservative members?

Personnel Change Complicates Prediction

Last month, with assistance from my in house psychic, I claimed that Ted Kohuth would be Allentown's next police chief. Recently, it came to my attention that the psychic was also working for another local blogger, in violation of company policy. She has been suspended, pending a full investigation, and temporarily replaced by a well respected telepathist from the old world. Dr. Caligari tells me that Mayor Pawlowski has now been thinking about Joel Fitgerald, the police chief from Texas, with deep roots in Philadelphia. The blog regrets any inconvenience this change has caused the betting establishment in Las Vegas.

Allentown's NAACP Candidate's Night

Last time I was at a NAACP candidate's night, I was a candidate.  Unlike Michael Donovan,  I really was the independent third man on the ticket, not the relabeled second Democrat.  The evening was rather explosive, because the organization's president, Dan Bosket, asked me to prove that I wasn't a racist.  I had said earlier in the campaign that Allentown was becoming a poverty magnet.  That phrase has now become main stream,  even Alan Jennings uses it.  At the time, in 2005,  it was outspoken and controversial.  Ed Pawlowski was there, running for his first term as mayor, against previous Republican mayor Bill Heydt, and this outspoken independent.  Heydt lost and hasn't been heard of since,  but I've never stopped advocating for the Allentown that I believe in.  Pawlowski spent the night pandering. He looked around the room and said that if he was elected, there was a man who would be working at city hall,  there was a woman that he would hire.  I said that I would hire no black people,  nor would I hire any brown or white people.  Afflerbach, the current mayor in 2005, had just given the store away to the police union, and I thought an austerity program was in order. Pawlowski would get elected, and ignore the problem until this year,  then sell off the water we drink.

Flash ahead eight years, and the NAACP had a  candidate's night this week.  Although I didn't attend, I did sit down with Michael Donovan yesterday morning.  Dan Bosket is still the organization's president. Dan works for Alan Jennings in Allentown's growth industry, poverty.  In addition to Pawlowski and Donovan,  unopposed county commissioner David Jones and Julio Guridy were there.  Despite the campaign signs all over Allentown, the four City Council candidates are unopposed. Things don't change much in Allentown, and I'm still an outspoken independent.

The Morning Pawlowski

Although I subscribe to The Morning Call, yesterday they delivered The Morning Pawlowski. Had Pawlowski's campaign manager published the paper, it could not have been more favorable. Playing on the brand name of the hotel, the headline stated that a Renaissance was coming to Allentown. The subtitle was a Pawlowski quote about epic transformation. Anybody looking for balance or reason in the article would come up empty handed. Marriott hypes their Renaissance chain of hotels for guests interested in discovery. What there is to discover near 7th and Linden Streets is beyond me. Will their guests be visiting the 7/11 store of convenient shooting on the corner?

photocredit:Michael Kubel/The Morning Call/October21,2013

Political Science 101

Local professors of political science have been collecting Tom Muller's campaign flyers. They will be used as source material for future courses about negative campaigns. Each successive 8 1/2 X 11 flyer is more negative than it's predecessor. Campaign manager Mike Fleck told the National Enquire, A man's gotta do, what he's gotta do to win. Muller's business experience has been sanitized. Scott Ott's experiences have been marginalized. Ott's comments as a commissioner have been taken out of context. Muller's campaign is being assisted logistically and financially by the Democratic State Committee. Muller keeps telling everybody that his heart isn't into politics, apparently, neither is his conscience.

Wildlands Conservancy Dictates Park Policy

In the picture above, a representative from the Wildlands Conservancy supervises the placement of the broken dam rubble around the bridge piers. Although this placement radically defiled the aesthetics of the classic bridge, no one from the park department or city was  assigned to overseer the project. This spring the new park director will receive an award from the Wildlands for his cooperation in conservation, and the Conservancy will announce the new projects for the park.