In a Town Without Pity

A few years ago Donald was living under the 8th Street Bridge, until he graduated to sleeping on the floor at St. Pauls Church. Last night he implored Allentown City Council to do something about the homeless crisis, so that he and others can survive, besides from the good will of a few angels. A couple of those angels were also at Council last evening. Donald thanked Diane Teti for her help in the last year. Councilwoman Eichenwald called her one the righteous, a compliment of biblical proportion. Speaker after speaker told council that the time and weather has come for the Administration to address the issue. Council President Guridy and City Administration Manager Dougherty suggested a Lehigh County committee, until Teti assured them that the committee was part of the problem, not the solution. Teti wants them to open City Hall on freezing nights, to provide shelter to those who can not find shelter elsewhere. Council, which was to meet about this problem on February 12th, did agree to meet sooner because of the cold weather. I have seen them in the past suspend the rules, and vote on a spontaneous resolution, but that didn't occur last night.

Logging South Mountain

Rich Fegley doesn't know what to worry about next. In addition to the water lease, the trash and sewage to energy plant, the homeless, now he's discovered that they're logging South Mountain. In a furry of emails today between Fegley and Chris Kocher of the Wildland's Conservancy, Fegley was assured that the logging is occurring on privately owned land. Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but Fegley should know that this blog disclosed several years ago that Allentown had plans, and even a contract, to log the mountain. The Morning Call picked up on my scoop, and the ensuing story embarrassed Pawlowski into backing off the plan. At that time neither the Conservancy, the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council, or the local college science professors expressed any objection. Today, Fegley copied all the above parties and media with his concerns. From my recent experience with the Conservancy and the environmentalists mentioned, concerning the dam at Robin Hood, I wouldn't take their word on anything.
in the picture above the light green wooded area is under supervision of The Wildland's Conservancy

The Conservancy, with the support of the "environmentists", demolished the dam and piled the broken dam rubble around the stone bridge piers, depreciating a place of beauty since 1941.

No Room At The Inn

Although it's campaigns took in over $2 million dollars in contributions last year, WFMZ reported that the Allentown Rescue Mission rejected some homeless during last week's record cold,  despite having empty beds. The Rescue Mission, with a $3 million dollar annual budget, has become very administrative, just hiring a Development Director, and seeking a new CEO. Meanwhile, Reverend Baumann at St. Pauls Lutheran Church on South 8th Street, has actually been giving the homeless shelter from the cold, with a $6 thousand dollar budget. With that modest amount of money he served the homeless over 300 times last year. Community activists Diane Teti and Rich Fegley have also lent their energy to this homeless crisis. They intend to bring the problem to the attention of City Council Wednesday evening. A town spending $600 million on new development should be able to provide some warmth to their unfortunate.

The Pioneers of Israel

When the Syrian tank entered the gates of Degania Alef, in the early morning hours of May 20, 1948, it was greeted with molotov cocktails: It hasn't moved since. Started by Russian immigrants who arrived in 1909, sitting on the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, it's the oldest Kibbutz in Israel. When Moshe Dyan was born there in 1915, they were still under Ottoman rule. He was named after the first defender killed, in 1913.
reprinted from November 2010

A Force of Israel

When the combined Arab armies attacked newly declared Israel in 1948, Ariel Sharon was then only twenty years old, but already a force that they would have to face in battle over the next 34 years. Israel's great general was born in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1928. In 1973 he turned the tide in Israel's favor against the surprise Yom Kippur attack, by leading his armored column across the Suez Canal, getting behind the Egyptian forces. The warrior died yesterday.

The History Mission of molovinsky on allentown

Since it's inception, molovinsky on allentown has published local history along with political commentary. Allentown has become a city of immigrants; Whether it's our from out of town mayor and his from out of town staff, or our new population demographics, it's difficult to find someone who has lived here for more than twenty years. Redevelopment is nothing new to Allentown. Entire neighborhoods and portions of Hamilton Street have disappeared in the past. There has never been a shortage of new bridges or political ambition. This blog, unencumbered by considerations of political correctness or business promotion, posts these short historical markers, as reference points for the curious.

When opened 1913, the Eighth Street Bridge was the longest and highest reinforced concrete arch bridge in the world. The Lehigh Valley Transit Company organized the Allentown Bridge Company in 1911 for the sole purpose of building the bridge. The structure operated as a toll bridge from its November 17, 1913 opening until the 1950s, at which time the toll was five cents for an automobile. The concrete standards that once supported the trolley wire are still standing. Harry C. Trexler, founding member of the Transit Company and Lehigh Portland Cement Co., was a principle player in the construction of this bridge. General Trexler's grave-site, in Fairview Cemetery on Lehigh Street, affords unique views of the bridge and center city Allentown.

The Movies of N. 8th Street

Two movie theaters were on the unit block of N. 8th Street, separated by one building. The Earle was demolished in 1961 to create another Park & Shop lot. The other theater, the Cinema, ceased operation in 1953, becoming a warehouse for the Farr shoe chain. The theater was built in 1917 as The Strand, but changed ownership and name in 1930. The lobby portion of the former Strand/Cinema still stands today, now being used as a tax service business. In the late 1970's, I operated a photographic darkroom business in part of the space.

A Box of Chocolate in 1953

As a boy being dragged along on a shopping trip, I was sometimes rewarded with a box of chocolate from Loft's. After waiting for my mother as she looked through endless racks of clothing at Hess's, we would take the escalator to the fifth floor and have the parking ticket validated. Before walking back to the modern parking deck at 10th street, we would detour to 8th, and buy the candy.

The Promise of Daryl Hendricks

The mayor and city council were sworn in last night. According to The Morning Call, Pawlowski patted himself on the back with vigor, then told a white lie. He said that he will work with members of his administration to weave respect and accomplishment. Pawlowski is known as an autocrat, he may work with people, but not people below him. But this post isn't about Pawlowski, or Lehigh Parkway's Robin Hood Bridge pictured above, it's about the promise of Daryl Hendricks. Hendricks just retired as a captain from the police department, and is the only new face on council. Last night he said,"I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious of a matter to be left to the politicians,...I will do my best to fulfill those duties you have afforded me and bestowed upon me." City Council had an opportunity to exert themselves this past fall and prevent a parkway gem from being despoiled, as shown above. Except for Jeanette Eichenwald, exerting themselves has never been a forte of this council. Hendricks has a needed institutional memory and knowledge of Allentown. Regardless his political ambitions, he could fulfill them as an independent voice on council.

Pawlowski's Facebook Responses

Having a problem with Allentown city government, you might want to try Facebook instead of City Hall. Early this morning,  Mayor Ed Pawlowski used Facebook to assure Joanne Bauer that he would have the new police chief investigate her complaints. Joanne had her car stolen, and that was only the beginning of her ordeal. She wasn't happy with the way the Allentown Police responded, or didn't, along each stage of the crime. Bernie O'Hare will report on Joanne's full story tomorrow.  The mayor regularly answers questions on his Facebook page, but also reaches out to concerns posted on other pages.

UPDATE: Bernie O'Hare has an excellent post on Joanne's ordeal, and concludes that the Allentown Police Department fails it's citizens, partially because of low man power.  I had similar experiences with the police department 20+ years ago, when manpower wasn't an issue.  In truth, gathering evidence from a stolen car would be a low priority task in the best of times.  While it's a trauma for Joanne, Pawlowski managed to gain some public relations miles from the incident, via Facebook.

Allentown Weather Forecast

Expect chairs in the street and angry neighbors. Smaller streets and alleys will see no service. Center city shoppers should expect no cleared parking spaces, but parking tickets continuing throughout the day.

Auburn Street train tower, 1964

High Culture - Free Admission

Getting Mail by K Mary Hess       Photos of Lehigh Valley                                                      

The $4 million Dollar Question

The Morning Call reported today, in an excellent article by Emily Opilo, that Allentown spent $4 million in legal fees, consultants and public relations to shepherd through it's controversial water lease. An issue not addressed by the article was the failed referendum by the citizen group. The referendum didn't fail with the voters, it failed to get on the ballot, despite containing about 4,000 signatures. It was determined by election officials that the referendum wording put the initiative into the realm of the city charter, and required a different time frame than that used by the petitioners. With the administration spending $4 million on opinion benders, imagine the pressure that might have been applied to those empowered to reject placing the referendum on the ballot.

The Gentle Giant

For a few years Abe Simon was the biggest man in the ring. Because of his size and the family's need for income in the 1930's, Abe got into the ring, and fought the best of them. He was a gentle man and didn't have the usual boxer's temperament. He had a winning record, including knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott. He endured 13 rounds of punishment in his first title fight with Joe Louis, earning him another chance, and another beating by Louis. Those interested in the Louis era can click on December of 2012 in the archive section, on the right sidebar of this blog.

Allentown, All Future No Present

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

Allentown Bureaucrats Living The Dream

The Morning Call and assorted Allentown bureaucrats treated each other very well this weekend. One article lauded how the new office space in the NIZ only has upsides, with none of the anticipated losses to existing commercial landlords. They overlooked a few harsh realities previously reported here at molovinsky. The Masonic Temple is losing it's large and substantial tenant, Buckno Lisicky Accounting. Lehigh Valley Health Network will add insult to injury by steering it's patients to the inconvenience of appointments at 7th and Hamilton. Another article in The Morning Cheerleader referred the the business incubation programs by Allentown Economic Development Corporation. They incubated a go-cart track in the former Mack Factory and shared office space in Fountain Park. They're currently working with some marketing teenagers, which have received their 37th option extension on the Neuweiler site.

A Jewish Christmas Card

Most Jews experience some conflict during the Christmas Season. This is essentially a Christian nation, and to totally ignore that reality could be perceived as rude. Although Abe Simon proudly wore the Star of David on his boxing trunks in NYC, he also sent out Christmas cards to his non-Jewish associates. Simon, in 1942, was the last Jew to fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.

reprinted annually

The Diminishing Tracks of Allentown

I have been intrigued with the trolley freight, although I have no personal memory of the service. This photo from March of 1952 shows the end of that era, with a freight trolley being loaded on a flatbed rail car, for a short run to Bethlehem Steel to be scrapped. Within a year there would be no more trolley service of any kind in Allentown. Within two decades many of the businesses serviced by the trolley freight would be gone. In another decade most of the railroad tracks would also have vanished.

The Allentown Arena and Crime

The recent spate of violence in Allentown begs the question, how will crime effect the success of the Arena project? The damaging factor is the perception of crime, which has it's own lingering consequences. The hockey games will succeed, but the spinoff business will never materialize. The fans will scurry back to their inconvenient parking places, and clog N. 8th street as they flee the city for the safety of Catasauqua. Although the BrewPub may pick up a few customers, Sangria and other high end places will wither. Anybody foolish enough to open an upscale shop will be hard pressed to honor their lease.  Although this post is meant as an opportunity for readers to address the crime question, I will host no comments on any specific crime. They are tragedies, which leave grieving families.

UPDATE: This post is revised from December 2011. Although Sangria has come and gone,  all the new office workers will have a very positive effect on the daytime Hamilton Street  lunch business.

Capernaum By The Sea

Matthew 4:13: And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum,...

Capernaum, the city of Jesus, is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The foundation of the Synagogue of Jesus, is beneath the ornate 4th century synagogue, partially restored by the Franciscans in the early 1900's.

Mark 1:21: he entered into the synagogue and taught

Nearby, the modern Church of St. Peter's House was built by the Franciscans in 1990. It's glass floor reveals the lower walls of the 5th century octagon church, which was built around the walls of St. Peter's House. Also there, shown in the photograph, is the Greek Orthodox Church of the Twelve Apostles. It was built in 1931, during the British Mandate period (1917-1948).

reprinted from May 2013

The Train Of Lehigh Parkway

With the 15th Street Bridge closed, as people detour over the  Schreibers stone arch bridge,  few will be aware of the industrial past surrounding them. The Barber Quarry railroad branch line crossed the road, just south of the bridge. On the left was the Union Carbine's Linde plant, the concrete loading dock is still visible. Although the last train ran in the early 1980's, the wooden railroad trestle is still there, to the west and south of the bridge. The area is now used as part of the disc golf course. The photograph was taken by Dave Latshaw in 1976, and is part of the Mark Rabenold Collection.

reprinted from April 2013

Bill Villa

I'm one of the seventy or so people on the Villa victim list. Bill and Angie Villa write Lehigh Valley Somebody, which they use to attack a continuously growing list of people in the valley. When you're on Villa's list, he contacts your employer, and complains that you're sadistically provoking him, even though in truth he's harassing you. If the boss doesn't comply with Villa's demands, then the boss goes on the list, and Villa contacts the boss's superiors, making the same demand. It is in this way that all the local college deans made the list. Also included are ministers, priests and bishops. On one of the posts near the top of his blog he writes his comments. He adds, subtracts and deletes them at will, but they're all written by him, and all contain links to even more insults. I've become one of his most frequent targets, because I'm one of the few to speak out. In retribution, he takes comments from my readers out of context, and attributes them to me.  I receive harassing and insulting comments to my blog every day, sent anonymously,  containing  language identical to that found on his blog.   On Friday, I received an email from him containing several attachments, including an insulting face in the hole picture of myself, Alfonso Todd and a third person.  It turns out that someone sent the Allentown School District a complaint about Angie Villa, and Villa mistakenly speculated that I may have been involved. I decided to forward Villa's email to the school district.

Ms XXXXX, I will be forwarding you two emails I received this morning from Bill Villa. I request that you forward this email, and also the two forthcoming ones, to all board members, and Superintendent Mayo. Apparently, Bill Villa is upset about some letter identifying Angie Villa as a "bully". I have no knowledge of XXXXXXXX, but find these emails harassing and threatening, including an insulting face in the hole photo. Please get a grip on your teachers, and request that they no longer contact me in any way. Thank you, Michael Molovinsky

Although I wasn't involved, Villa didn't hesitate to threatened me with additional email and insinuations. I decided to write the school district a second note.

Ms. XXXXX, Again I request that you forward this email to Dr. Mayo and all members of the school board. As I stated in my previous email, I do not know the person who apparently sent a letter concerning Angie Villa, nor did I have knowledge of, or participate in any letter, in any way. However, the Villa blog, http://www.bloggingdottie.blogspot.com/ is unquestionably a vehicle for bullying. I do not have an opinion if Angie's participation in that blog should effect her employment, but, as a victim of that blog, I resent any excuse on their part that their blog is defensive or investigative; It is pure aggression. Michael Molovinsky

It's a funny thing about Bill Villa,  he attacks dozens and dozens of people in a continuous vicious manner with distortions and lies, but describes himself as a victim if anybody dares to speak back.

UPDATE: How do bullies respond to an allegation of bullying, by more bullying. Bill Villa copied me an email he send to the district. In it he attempts to discredit the woman who he claims sent the original complaint. He also attempts to describe her as on a mission for Alfonso Todd, who he also attempts to discredit. Lastly, he states that I may or may not be involved, motivated to defend Alfonso. While he paints a picture of the Villa accusers as motivated by revenge for his good deeds, he continues to bully and harass them in real time. I have received threats of subpoenas and having my credibility diminished with the school board.  In the letter he attempts to disassociate Angie Villa with their blog, Lehigh Valley Somebody, by signing his name with that blog, and hers with her education blog. Angie is a full partner with the Somebody blog, and all it's aggression. He ends the letter suggesting that if the school district receive another non-credible, and foaming at the mouth lunatic "complaint letter" about The Villas, they should consider ignoring it.

I'm one of the seventy or so people on the Villa victim list. Bill and Angie Villa write Lehigh Valley Somebody, which they use to attack a continuously growing list of people in the valley. When you're on Villa's list, he contacts your employer, and complains that you're sadistically provoking him, even though in truth he's harassing you. If the boss doesn't comply with Villa's demands, then the boss goes on the list, and Villa contacts the boss's superiors, making the same demand. It is in this way that all the local college deans made the list. Also included are ministers, priests and bishops. On one the posts near the top of his blog he writes his comments. He adds, substracts and deletes them at will, but they're all written by him, and all contain links to even more insults. I've become one of his most frequent targets, because I'm one of the few to speak out. In retribution, he takes comments from my readers out of context, and attributes them to me. He sends harassing and insulting comments to my blog every day, thousands of them in the last couple years. On Friday, I received an email from him containing several attachments, including an insulting face in the hole picture of myself and Alfonso Todd and a third person. It turns out that someone sent the Allentown School District a complaint about Angie Villa, and Villa speculated that I may have been involved. Although I wasn't involved, Villa didn't hestitate to threatened me with additional emails and insinuations. I decided to write the school district myself.

Pawlowski's Parade

Today, Mayor Pawlowski will be leading a parade over the new 15th Street Bridge. While in his mind it's a great accomplishment, people of Allentown can only say it's about time. While the arena complex has been progressing with hundreds of workers, even at night and weekends, the bridge was a project in slow motion. Worse yet, Pawlowski owns some of the blame for the prior bridge's demise. As Community Development Director, starting in 2002, he allowed the metal bridge to continue rusting away. The rust continued under his tenure as mayor for two terms. Today's parade will be but one more video opportunity for his governor race, but will not impress the locals, who have been inconvenienced for years.

Did The Pawlowski Administration Lie?

...I presented information to City Council this evening (December 18, 2013) that shows how Allentown now stands to lose more than $113,000,000 over the 35-year Delta Thermo Energy Incinerator contract. I plugged the recent $40.44/ton that Easton's Mayor Panto signed with Chrin into the financial projections that Mayor Pawlowski and PFM presented to City Council and the Public. The original projections from the Mayor and PFM used a starting landfill cost of $92.29/ton. The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association has told the PA DEP that the public was given false and misleading information regarding tipping fees. Quoted from the PPWIA letter to the PA DEP: "Representatives from Delta Thermo Falsely Exaggerated Landfill Tipping Fees". landfill fees that the Mayor and PFM used were "Falsely Exaggerated" I have warned the Mayor and City Council that the financial projections from PFM were useless. Only Eichenwald and O'Connell voted against this incinerator. A $113,000,000 LOSS after the Mayor claimed a $25,000,000 SAVINGS seems like an issue for the citizens of Allentown. $40.44/ton Landfill cost to Easton from 2014 to 2020. Allentown will pay DTE $119.37/ton in 2020. Almost a $3,000,000 loss in 2020 alone. These numbers are real losses in my book. The Mayor and PFM used the wrong starting assumptions. They were way off. Did they lie? 
Rich Fegley
Blogger's Note: The above is a comment by Rich Fegley submitted to an earlier post on this blog. I also have a copy of the letter from The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association(PWIA) to the Pa. DEP. Allentown City Council made a decision based on very erroneous information, which should be legally revisited in light of this fact.

Allentown or Zombietown

When I think back to the excitement and pride which was Allentown this time of year, back in the day, I cringe at what we have become. Although there's a little buzz about the arena, when you divide the state taxes diverted by the people who will attend, it's a very expensive ticket. Circumstances have conspired against Allentown; Demographically, center city keeps becoming poorer. We have become a one party town, not benefiting by a meaningful civic discourse. What was once a powerful local newspaper is now in an idle mode, waiting for another consequence of corporate takeover. This blog will continue to write about both history and politics, but will never blend them together into some sort of artificial smoothie.

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria

The Church and Theology School in Alexandria was established by the Apostle Mark in 60AD. Most of the early converts were common Egyptians who spoke Coptic. Although Christians became the majority before the Arab invasion in 636, by the 12th century they were the minority. The concept of monasteries in Christianity was started by the Coptics in the deserts of Egypt. Currently, the Coptics are threatened by transitions in Egypt, let us pray for their safety.

photograph of St. Marks Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt.

reprinted from December 2012

Doing Less With More In Allentown

While Mayor Pawlowski spent the weekend in New York City auditioning for governor, Allentown got zapped with an ice storm. Previous to the Big Water Sell Off this summer, here in the Little Apple, all departments would help out during a storm or other emergency. With the loss of the water department to the Lehigh County Authority, that system has been disrupted. Although we loss some efficiency, we will not see a corresponding savings. A previous undisclosed expense involved in the water transfer was creating a new department for the storm sewer system. Furthermore, apparently $150 million has been designated for the pension fund, as opposed to an earlier projection of 160. What's $10 million among friends and taxpayers?

photocredit:Tay Ney/The Morning Call/December10,2013

A Park Protester From The Past

`Green' Curtain Blocks Sledding And The View
January 09, 1992|The Morning Call
To the Editor:
Hold your sleds girls and boys! Others, too, on the alert! With the planting of a dense cluster of 60 evergreen trees and the erection of a "No Sledding" sign, creating a veritable iron curtain, the park and watershed people have once again undertaken their repetitive effort of the past 45 years to eliminate a most popular sledding slope in Lehigh Parkway. The motive -- crass self-interest in defiance of public good. The effect -- an impassable barrier and concealment of a magnificent vista of "one of the finest valleys in Eastern Pennsylvania."
Children and adults from the 400 homes with longtime and easy access to the slope and others arriving in cars have enjoyed sledding here after school and into the night and throughout the day and night on weekends. Yet sledding is but one of the attractions of this enduring slope. In summer children and teachers from Lehigh Parkway Elementary School have enjoyed a walk down the slope and into the park for a break from book and blackboard. Birders, joggers, hikers and others on a leisurely stroll engrossed in their particular interest have found the slope irresistible.
For a host of others, this opening into the park after a long stretch of woods presents a charming vista and urge to descend. Interest is immediately evoked by the sight of a mid-19th century log house (now tenanted by a city employee whose privacy is further enhanced by the closure of the slope) and a historic wagon trail leading past the site of a lime kiln to tillable lands of earlier times.
The view takes in an expanse of meadowlands, now groomed, to the Little Lehigh River and up the western slope to Lehigh Parkway North. Indeed, a pleasant view to be esteemed and preserved for generations to come. It was distressing on New Year's Day to see a family and their guests intent upon a walk down the slope suddenly stop in amazement and shock as the closure became evident.
The cost in dollars through the years of the park peoples' fixation on destroying the Parkway slope must be staggering indeed without dwelling on other deliberate depletions. Typically, the placement of the 1991 "No Sledding" sign employed a team of four men with three vehicles -- a backhoe, a panel truck, and a super cab pickup truck, the latter furnishing radio music.
BERT A. LUCKENBACH
ALLENTOWN The Morning Call, January 9, 1992
reprinted from May 25, 2010

I grew up in the same neighborhood and spent my childhood winters sledding on the same hill. Mr. Luckenbach would also be saddened that the historic Wagon Trail is now also blocked off, near it's exit halfway on the hill. I suppose children, mittens and sledding is too passive a recreation for this Administration's taste.

reprinted from January 2012

Christmas Past In Lehigh Valley, 1962

Allentown Is Not The Only Place It Snowed This Weekend

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.