Issue With Morning Call Editor

On Friday afternoon Mike Miorelli, editor of the Morning Call, clarified for their readers that although the paper is giving up their work space, the paper will continue on, with the staff working from home. He wrote, "Our commitment to the Lehigh Valley and our readers is as strong as ever."

Well, I'm not sure about that. I do know that Mike Miorelli feels no commitment to the residents of South Whitehall, at least in regard to Wehr's Dam.  Although he knows that the Wildlands Conservancy interacted directly with the Pennsylvania DEP to complicate the status of Wehr's Dam, he will not allow my opinion piece on the impropriety of such ex-parte communications.

Mike Miorelli knows that the director of public works in South Whitehall, Randy Cope, is the son of a former Wildlands official, and that the Wildlands is determined to demolish the dam. Cope has made no good faith effort to defend the structure.  Although Miorelli knows that the voters of South Whitehall approved a referendum to keep their cherished dam, he ignores a commissioner wondering aloud how the township can get out from under that obligation?

Miorelli is apparently committed to what he deems important.  For other topics, seemingly, not so much. Not only doesn't his staff have a work place, the public doesn't have a voice. While he has positioned himself as the gatekeeper of opinion in the valley, truth has suffered. Whether you're the CEO of St. Lukes, or just a citizen advocate for a dam,  democracy needs an open opinion page.

ADDENDUM: Because of censorship at the Morning Call opinion page, I will reinstate a blog feature from years ago, OPEN MIKE. For this alternative public square on any subject of concern,  label your submission Open Mike, and submit through the comment windows. They will be collected and printed periodically as a special post. All Open Mike submissions must contain your name and phone number for verification.

photocredit:Wehr's Dam by Jason Fink

Smoking The Morning Call

This post concludes my trilogy on Donald Miller's legacy; a former newspaper is now a cigarette tax dodge, allow me to elaborate.  Under Miller's leadership the paper grew in its physical plant,  circulation and influence.

My post on Wednesday explained how Miller's influence continued after his death through the Century Fund, which after 25 years is ending.

My post yesterday explained how the Morning Call has compromised its journalistic credentials with nonsense stories, glorifying anybody with a bullhorn shouting profanities.  Worse yet, are the stories that the paper refused to print over the last decade.  The improprieties of former Mayor Pawlowski were first covered by me,  until fellow blogger Bernie O'Hare joined in. It took years later, only after Pawlowski was indicted, for the Morning Call to report on the crimes.  The current construction under the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) is not without controversy.  Only I sat with the former merchants in city hall, when the city was using straw buyers and intimidation to force them out of their properties and livelihood. Only this blog reported on the deception being used. Not only didn't the Morning Call report on what was happening, they were part of the deal. The newspaper building was included in the zone,  even though it was across the street from the district.

Yesterday, it was announced that the paper is vacating its building at 6th and Linden. For the last several years they actually have been a tenant there, with Reilly's City Center Realty being their landlord. It was also revealed that Reilly filed suit against the paper, which has not paid rent since April. Their departure will not hurt Reilly, because most of the building is used as a cigarette warehouse and distribution center. The NIZ allows Reilly to use all state taxes generated by all his different buildings' tenants for his debt service. Under this insanely lucrative arrangement, he has been able to build $1 billion dollars of new construction at the taxpayer's expense.  Not only has the Morning Call failed to report on the details of this legislation, they actually promoted each new building with a news article.  In addition to this taxpayer funded money tree arrangement,  the NIZ law also allows Reilly to use the cigarette tax, previously designated for children's health purposes. He purchased a cigarette wholesaler, and relocated it to the now former Morning Call building.

You might say that Miller's legacy is now being smoked on the corners of downtown Allentown.

The Morning Call As Justice Warrior

As is my style, yesterday's post on the Century Fund was brief. In however brief a style I care to post on this blog,  the topics are nevertheless extensively researched.  While others may have chosen to list all the beneficiaries of the fund and the amounts received, I preferred to present a condensed version, hopefully distilling the essence. While that post concerned Donald P. Miller's legacy,  today we dissect the remains of his Morning Call.

In Miller's era, reporters stayed on a beat for decades, and knew the back stories; they had institutional knowledge of Allentown.  We are now two media conglomerates away from Miller's family owned paper. The current editor in the front office assigns politically correct topics to the reporters, for a dwindling audience who could care less.

In yesterday's paper, we learn that people who live in center city own fewer houses than those in the suburbs. The article concludes that hispanics must have less opportunity here in the valley.

“It is absolutely systemic racism. Whatever the power in control decides what they want to do, they can exert their power onto others,” said Becky Bradley, executive director of the commission.

I will not comment on the article or the organizations quoted in it, or those who work in what I refer to as the poverty industry, but I will throw an insight on the fire they try to ignite.

From working in center city real estate, I can tell you that these oppressed victims are very glad to be here. They consider both the housing and quality of life immensely better than from where they came. 

Lengthwise this blog post exceeds my preferred template by far. In conclusion, I ask the paper for whom they are writing? The victims referred to in the article don't read the paper, and the suburban home owners who do, are tired of hearing endless renditions of the same drumbeat.

photocredit:Stacy Wescoe

End Of A Century

When Donald P. Miller owned and operated the Morning Call, he and a few associates more or less ran Allentown.  Fortunately, they were a benevolent oligarchy.

When he passed away, his fortune funded a trust, which has been one of the wizards behind Allentown's curtain. There are several such trusts or foundations in the valley.  They are very much a closed society.

Miller's trust, The Century Fund,  was specified to end in 25 years, which will be reached this coming year.

The Fund is contributing about a third of its remaining assets  ($20mil) to established local cultural institutions,  such as the symphony, library, art museum, theaters and colleges.  A third will be contributed to the Allentown School System, and the remaining third to another fund, the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.

A Crime By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

REPRINTED FROM JULY 2018

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

The Wildlands Conservancy should be made to remove, piece by piece, all the rubble that they piled around the bridge piers, despoiling the bridge's beauty. City Council should refrain from ever again permitting The Wildlands Conservancy to alter our park designs.

JULY 9, 2018: It has been five years since the dam's destruction in 2013, and the bridge piers look more disgusting than ever.

UPDATE AUGUST 11, 2020: Last week's storm Isaias caused unprecedented damage to the iconic bridge. The top of one of the stone piers was battered off, and now lies on the bridge deck. The rubble placed around the piers in 2013 narrows the channel between the piers, and raised the water level... neither of which helps the bridge in high water events.

Lehigh Parkway Bridge Decimated In Storm

The crowning glory of Lehigh Parkway was completed in 1941, the Robin Hood Bridge. Its curved stone end piers, and its two oval middle piers, were designed to compliment and mirror the long stone entrance wall into the park.

As a boy in 1955, living in the housing development above the park, I remember marveling about how high the water arose the morning after Hurricane Diane.

As an advocate for the WPA in 2020, I'm saddened to see the damage that Isaias inflicted upon the bridge last week. The stone top of one the stone piers, which serves as a wall and railing anchor, was smashed off and lies on the bridge, which itself is full of debris. With perhaps record high water, I speculate that a tree trunk or limb battered the stone buttress loose.

The main park entrance wall is in the process of a long overdue stone repointing. We now have an extra, unexpected repair which must be made.  I am optimistic that both the city and Trexler Trust will meet the challenge.

The Soliloquies Of City Council

At the end of Wednesday's City Council meeting, when the city clerk bought up a counter resolution submitted by the public, the opportunity arose for soliloquies by both Ce-Ce Gerlach and Joshua Siegel.

Although Gerlach claimed that she was abandoning her notes, it was apparent that many of the phrases were already committed to memory.  Gerlach wondered why a city mired in evictions, revenue losses and the pandemic could concern itself with her personal support of BLM.  She couldn't understand why a public censure was contemplated, instead of private calls to her by her council colleagues. She wanted to protest publicly, but be reprimanded privately.

Siegel's soliloquy was about the Moment of Moral Reckoning. He spoke of mental health. He spoke in admiration of the speed of the mobilizing, and the new energy of the protesters.  When questioned about f.ck the police,  he claimed that while raising his clenched fist in solidarity, under his mask he was only saying defund the police.

Siegel's soliloquy was even more rehearsed than Gerlach's.  It's almost a tragedy that such a performance is hard to see on the council camera system. Perhaps he can repeat the performance sometime in the future?

Night Of The Censure

Wednesday was a night of dueling censures at City Council. Although the resolution against Gerlach and Siegel was dropped,  there was a motion likewise against Zucal, Hendricks and Affa, for attempting to suppress freedom of speech.

At the end of the tag team match, it was up to referee Julio Guridy to restore order to the arena.

The merits of the resolutions has been discussed in length here on this blog, and elsewhere...What concerns me is the future of council and the city.

Although I just wrote the other day that Siegel and Gerlach miscalculated, perhaps the misread lies with me. While I have no doubt that they would be tarred and feathered in a Lehigh County vote, this is Allentown. This is the city where a indicted mayor cobbled together his fourth victory with assorted fringe groups by attending birthday parties.

There are those who feel that a Hyman candidacy can be a saving grace for the Little Apple, a back to business for a fragmented city. Regardless of who gets the top office in the next election, I see city council becoming even more progressive. In my vocabulary that's not a compliment.

screen-grab from Imantrek's Red Bokeh Society

Yellow Journalism

I was informed yesterday that this and O'Hare's blog practice yellow journalism. This description is supposedly circulating among the social media sites frequented by the progressive elements in our community.

Although I cannot speak for O'Hare, I can tell you that in my opinion both of us have often been called much worse.

What is circulating from these groups is an air of intimidation. People who know that these new leaders are not what they claim to be, or what the Morning Call reports that they are, don't want to become their victims. There's plenty of information out there, but nobody to quote.

The new leaders are saying that their political power got city council to drop the resolution against Gerlach and Siegel. I think that they're confusing pitchforks and torches with democracy. I think that they're confusing a woke editor at the Morning Call with Democracy.

Normally, I attribute credit for the photograph or illustration that I use at the top of a blog post. However its creator, and many other people in this community, do not want their identity revealed in this climate.

ADDENDUM: In the Morning Call's  recent report that the censure resolution against Gerlach and Siegel was dropped,  Hendricks and Affa state that the paper treated the resolution as if it was against Black Lives Matter. The local BLM movement and its minions on social media certainly did portray the censure as such, but not the paper. BLM said outright that if you're for the Blue, you're against BLM, it's one or the other! While the local BLM did succeed in getting Daryl Hendricks and Candida Affa to back down, they haven't intimidated the general public.  A petition is circulating that Gerlach and Siegel should resign.

Gerlach and Siegel's Miscalulation

The resolution to censure Ce-Ce Gerlach and Josh Siegel would not have passed Allentown City Council. That would have required four votes, meaning that either Cynthia Mota or Julio Guridy would have had to go along with the resolution. Current news from the grapevine is that council's enthusiasm for the resolution has waned.

After Pawlowski resigned, and Cynthia Mota nominated Hassan Batts for appointed mayor, this blog was the first to report that she worked for him at Promise Neighborhood. Batts is a mentor for the local BLM efforts. Julio would have delivered a long speech about how difficult the decision is, but in the end he would have voted against the resolution.

As private citizens, of course, there would be nothing wrong with Gerlach and Siegel marching with BLM. But, since they chose to run for city council, which has oversight over the police department, they have an obligation not to participate in any such public controversies. They are expected to be honest brokers in all police matters, including contracts, hiring and personnel.

Josh Siegel's mentor is Mark Pinsley. When a drug-crazed Dorney Park menacer was shot after terrorizing women drivers on Hamilton Blvd, Pinsley stood with the protestors, even though he was just elected as a South Whitehall Commissioner. That election also didn't stop him from running for state senator and then county controller. Siegel likewise has political ambitions beyond city council. 

Although apparently a censure is not coming their way, both Gerlach and Siegel miscalculated public sentiment about law and order. In the march up Hamilton Street they may have received adulation and high fives, but they garnered no appreciation beyond the marchers, quite the contrary.

ADDENDUM:Censor advocate Ed Zucal was forced to drop the resolution, as he ended up standing alone.  Bernie O'Hare elaborates on Siegel's far left positions.

Ce-Ce Goes Through The Tunnel

When Ce-Ce started her involvement in Allentown years ago, I was a more than a supporter, I was a booster. I blogged about her several times.  Likewise, when she decided to run for city council, I supported her.  Recently, with her support of the Maingate Noise Exemption Zone, I became somewhat disillusioned.

I watched Ce-Ce's youtube before she marched with the local BLM that Saturday, when Allentown had just seen the Sacred Heart video taken by the passerby, which was somewhat out of context.  As both a council person and a woman of color, she was conflicted. Her conflict was understandable, her course of action is the problem.  Even when the full video became available, and the policeman was exonerated,  she remained entrenched with those challenging the city's police.

Others members of Allentown City Council are not conflicted. A resolution of censure was drafted toward her and Josh Siegel, because of things said and done while they actively participated in that protest march.  This weekend she participated in additional BLM protests, in Palmerton and Emmaus, even though there have been no incidents in either one of those communities.  A member of city council should understand that she represents the city,  especially with our neighboring municipalities.

In  facebook posts by the local BLM activists, we are told that if you support the Blue, you're against the BLM, it's one or the other.  I would hope that our city council members who are supporting the local BLM  are not against Allentown's Blue.  At any rate,  when Cc-Ce went through the tunnel this weekend to Palmerton, she left my support behind.

photo: Make The Road congratulates Ce-Ce last November

Police Support In Allentown

Since the BLM became active in Allentown with calls to defund the police,  there has been a demonstration outside city hall at each council meeting, never mind that the council meetings are closed to the public because of Covid-19.  Wednesday night, for the first time, there was a demonstration in support of the police.

With first hand knowledge of how much Allentown Police have helped in complex situations, psychiatric nurse Danielle Scott organized the Back The Blue demonstration.  Also joining the group in support of the police was a motorcycle club.

I'm a psych nurse and rely pretty heavily on law enforcement to take custody of our residents for 302 petitions when they are at their very worst- angry, paranoid, psychotic, decompensated, violent, and a danger to themselves or others. These officers respond with care and compassion.... Danielle Scott

These are trying times. The virus has reduced the earned income and other revenue streams for the city.  Allentown is borrowing $16 million to cover the revenue shortfall.  The police force is down from the recommended and previous staffing levels. While I'm sure the police department appreciated the show of support, hopefully it also reminded city council that most city residents do not want to see the police department further depleted.

photo courtesy of Janet Keshl

Enid Santiago and Emma Tropiano

Readers of this blog know that for the last two days I posted about Enid Santiago, and her loss in the June 2nd primary election to Peter Schweyer.  Although Santiago lost by 55 votes, she has been claiming election fraud and corruption. The county election board granted her a hearing yesterday to consider her complaints.  Center stage, as mentioned in previous posts, was Ev Bickford darkening some ovals that were too faint for the scanner to read. Santiago was also complaining of several people, including her mother, who were turned away from voting. Santiago explained that Puerto Ricans use hyphenated and/or double names and/or multiple surnames, and that the poll workers should allow for every possible combination. It appeared as if the board entertained every possible irregularity that she could throw at the wall, and with each subsequent complaint becoming more frivolous, they allowed her lawyer to drone on for five hours.

In 1997 Emma Tropiano lost the Democratic primary by one vote. Although she was very upset, and pursued appropriate challenges, she made no allegations of stealing an election by systematic rigging, fraud, and corruption.  Worse yet for Allentown's future, is the cast of so called leaders who support Santiago's failure to accept that she lost the election.  Even the local Republican party, ever trying to ingratiate themselves closer with the hispanic community,  petitioned the DA to investigate irregularities on her behalf.

At the end of the hearing Ev Bickford was sacrificed on the alter of wokeness by the Election Board,  with their recommendation that she be investigated by the District Attorney and the Penna. Attorney General for violations of the election code.

If Chief Election Clerk Tim Benyo thought he had a problem getting people to work the polls for the primary, wait until November.
 
The future of local politics in Allentown looks indeed bleak.

Bernie O'Hare also posts on the hearing

Enid Santiago's Continuing Campaign

Although the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in Allentown was cancelled this year because of the coronavirus, a short notice, alternative event was organized for this past Sunday.  Billed as Puerto Rican Day March and Gathering, it started at 10th and Hamilton and proceeded to center square.

Among the event's co-hosts was Enid Santiago, pictured above wearing the black tee-shirt in the center.  She was featured in yesterday's post on the contested state representative race.  While I was initially disturbed to see nobody wearing a mask for the group photo,  promotion for the event did encourage masks.

While the Lehigh County Election Board formally considers her complaint about election fraud this morning, Santiago has organized a corresponding demonstration in front of the government center.  She is not going gently away.

The photograph above was taken by the photographer/videographer Director Hitman VSF,  and shared on several facebook pages.

Blogger Bernie O'Hare also has a related post this morning.

Republicans Ask DA To Investigate Santiago-Schweyer Primary

Say what you will about Everett Bickford, but no one can deny he's colorful. Years ago his alter ego was Apples The Clown. He also was a nondenominational wedding minister whose "Sapphire" package cost $100. In recent years, he or she often wears a dress and prefers to be called Erika. Occasionally, when the mood strikes him, he wears pants and becomes Everett again. Everett, or if you prefer, Erika, is also an election judge. During the June 2 primary, he was caught darkening some pale circles on the recent paper primary ballots. Bickford contended that he was only darkening those circles already inadequately filled in by voters. But some say he was darkening them for just one of the candidates, incumbent State Rep. Pete Schweyer. Enid Santiago, his opponent, lost the race by 55 votes and wants a new election. And now, the county Republican party wants Lehigh County DA Jim Martin to investigate.

I have known Everett (Erika) a long time. He was one of those who stood up for minority merchants on Hamilton Street in 2007 when LANTA summarily eliminated several stops that essentially ruined their businesses.

Republicans claim their sole motivation is to insure voter integrity, regardless of who the candidates are, or even to what party they belong. I suppose a cynic might wonder if they feel that Santiago would be a weaker opponent against their candidate come November, except that there is none.

No Republican is running in the race.

It is my impression that Election Chief Clerk Tim Benyo runs a tight office in Lehigh County. However, I suppose that the process can never suffer from too much scrutiny.

But be careful what you wish for. I've been hearing ugly rumors about this race. The parties spreading these stories are unwilling to speak on the record, so I am unwilling to repeat them. But they have nothing to do with Everett or Erika. If the rumors are true, this story will continue. 

Blogger's Note: This story was a co-written by fellow blogger Bernie O'Hare.

photo: Ev Bickford performing wedding ceremony

The Meek Fail To Speak At Fairgrounds

Although I spoke out against the Noise Exemption Zone for the Maingate nightclub at city council,  I decided not to attend the LCB hearing at the club itself. That decision was based on the fact that I would be again speaking for people who were still too meek to do so for themselves.

Candida Affa lobbied the 19th Street Civic Theater not to oppose. The West End Alliance also didn't say one word about the noise exemption zone. When two such groups won't speak out, let them endure the consequence of their timidness.... and there will be consequences. I do however feel bad for the numerous elderly living in the neighborhood. The city failed to inform the neighborhood, and the Morning Call's reach is less and less.

If the zone is put into effect, the Maingate will become one loud place. For those elderly living nearby with hearing impairments, they'll be able to feel the beat.

The livability of the neighborhood still has a couple of chances. The LCB must approve the zone. Although almost no opposers showed up, perhaps the LCB saw through the charade. Furthermore, the Maingate license is still under review, because of its previous history of noise complaints.

For the city to have lobbied for a Disruption And Noise Zone is almost beyond belief.  Candida herself previously advocated for a nuisance ordinance, after the shootings on lower Hamilton Street.
If everything goes the Maingate's way, they will no longer be under the LCB noise levels. Although the city says that they will use the same noise level, it's naive to believe that the same politics which sponsored a special exemption zone for them, won't likewise turn a deaf ear to any complaints.

Hootchy Nights At The Allentown Fair

Morning Call columnist Bill White had a piece earlier in the week where he lamented that  Bobo the dunking clown was no longer at the fair. Although that's about as funky as it got for Bill in his era,  we older Allentonians remember much hotter nights at the fairgrounds. Up to the late sixties the fair had girly shows. I'm going back to the era of Gooding's Million Dollar Midway and Benny's Bingo. I'm going back to three midways packed between the Farmer's Market and Chew Street. I'm going back to when the fair only started after Labor Day.

I mentioned in one of my previous fair posts that Fred Schoenk and I made and sold printed t-shirts at the fairs during high School. At the Kutztown Fair we were hired by the burlesque show owner to letter a new banner for his show tent...as high school boys we would have paid him for the experience.

reprinted from September of 2018

photocredit:molovinsky...Black rock and roll review with strippers, 1969 Allentown Fair

Wildlands Conservancy Responsible For Fish Kill

reprinted from July of 2014

In their indiscriminate haste to remove all dams in the Lehigh Valley, the Wildlands Conservancy is responsible for the massive fish kill this week at the Fish Hatchery. When General Trexler had the trout nursery expanded, they also revised, just upstream,  a small dam, to insure and regulate a water supply for the nursery. Last fall the Wildlands gleefully demolished that dam, removing an important component of the trout nursery. Although the heavy storm Monday night occurred hundreds of times in the last century, this time the dam wasn't there to regulate the fast moving water. Over 1,400 fish were flooded out of the holding pools and died. Last summer, I watched the Wildlands Conservancy give a power point presentation to Allentown City Council on dam removals. When I invited City Council to Lehigh Parkway to defend the Robin Hood Dam, the Conservancy crashed my event, and asked the council members instead to come with them to the trout nursery dam, to see their wonderful plans. I hope yesterday that the Conservancy had the decency to help pick up the dead fish.

The lesson here is that not all dams are without purpose.

The Morning Call article on mcall, Tuesday afternoon, contained a paragraph describing how the fish hatchery workers believe that the dam removal factored into the fish kill. That paragraph was edited out of both the hard and soft copy editions Tuesday evening.  I have no doubt that that the deletion was done to shield The Wildlands Conservancy.

Reggie Rickard an Allentown resident who has been volunteering at the hatchery for 45 years said the fish kill is probably the worst in the hatchery's recent history. Initially, he estimated as many as 2,000 may have been killed, but the final tally was about 1,400.

Fish have been lost in other heavy rains storms, but Rickard said this was a major fish kill. He and other volunteers who joined city workers in collecting and counting the corpses Tuesday believe the death rate may have been exacerbated by recent upstream dam removals on small streams.

photo:April Bartholomew/The Morning Call/July15,2014

ADDENDUM: Above I have combined and reprinted two posts from July of 2014. The fish hatchery again experienced a massive fish kill in this recent storm of August 2018. The former fish hatchery dam, and its removal in connection to the fish kills, has been removed from the Morning Call archives and the memory of its news' reporters. However, this blog knows the truth, and so will my readers.

reprint from July of 2014

UPDATE JULY 23, 2020: The Morning Call continues to protect the Wildlands Conservancy, and will not report about the Conservancy's back-channel with Pa. DEP to demolish Wehr's Dam, nor will allow any opinion pieces about it.

Hearing On Maingate Noise Exemption

Tomorrow the LCB will hold a public hearing on the Noise Exemption Zone, in essence spot zoning, to accommodate the Maingate Nightclub. Because Allentown enacted this ordinance, the LCB is legally compelled to consider the ill advised measure.

I attended the council meeting last February, and it was city government at its worst. Club owner Dominic Germano had the meeting packed with supporters, designed to intimidate anybody there to speak in opposition. The City of Allentown, although proposing to alter the character of the neighborhood, failed to notify the neighbors.  One neighbor in attendance only learned about the council meeting that day from this blog. Such notification is usually standard in all zoning matters, and this is zoning. The sacrifice of the neighbors' quality of life, for one businesses' profit, was supported by the mayor and city council. Some council members seemed especially committed to Germano's business interests. The meeting even accused and demonized the residents of senior high rises and the hospital for complaining about the noise.

Police Chief Glenn Granitz made it clear that although he would enact whatever council decided that night, that the police department was already spread thin, and certainly didn't need any additional responsibility.

The Maingate was never told by the LCB that it couldn't operate, but that it has to conform to the normal noise limits governing all other establishments. We don't need a city hall to make exceptions, but for a city to enforce the rules in a equal manner

LCB   Noise Exemption Zone Hearing 
                                              
Thursday July 23,  11:00 AM at  Maingate Nite Club
                           

Nap Times At The Morning Call

I have become a public critic of the Morning Call. Some of you may be surprised to know that although my name will only be seen in that paper for an obituary or crime victim report, neither of which I'm anxious for, their staff and management regularly read this blog.  I communicate with the reporters and the management, and occasionally, one of them even starts the dialogue. Recently I emailed a reporter to complain about some choice of topic being reported upon, and got this reply.

Thank you for your email. I've been furloughed by Tribune Publishing for the week of July 19-25, during which time I cannot check or respond to emails or work-related phone calls. If you have a news tip, please email news@mcall.com. I look forward to responding when I return.

Tribune mother ship seems to be imposing a financial time out more and more on the paper's staff. Some readers of this blog, and of a facebook group that I also administer, hope that some local investor(s) will take over the paper, and make it more reflective of their perspective...That's not going to happen. It may be eventually purchased by another national media chain, but I doubt that their modus of operation will be any different. I also doubt that there would be a change of personnel, except perhaps even less employees. As in marriage for better or worse, we are stuck with this local paper. I for one hope that it continues in business. I am informed by the local coverage and realize that far too many cities our size no longer have a local paper.

New Comment Policy In Effect: Anonymous comments are again permitted. All comments must be approved.

Morning Call Dreams

Current and former employees of The Morning Call are circulating a petition to protect the paper from a hedge fund that buys newspapers. The petition states that;

THE ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL HAS BEEN OUR REGION’S SOURCE OF LOCAL NEWS AND THE WATCHDOG THAT KEEPS GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE.

While I certainly hope that the Morning Call stays in business, and I appreciate the local articles and news they report, they overstate their role in keeping government and corporations accountable.

Currently they are running an opinion piece criticizing Easton's Columbus statue, even calling it a public health hazard for minorities, because of its infrastructure carbon footprint. They include no less than 16 photos with the nonsense piece of woke tripe. Meanwhile, their opinion page uses the same cast of contributors year in and year out, and routinely rejects material questioning the status quo, or their selected, protected sacred cows.

Recently, the CEO of one of the largest institutions in the Lehigh Valley was refused space on their opinion page, and had to sent a private letter to the community. They refuse to print my exposé on South Whitehall's conspiracy to demolish Wehr's Dam, despite the voter's referendum to save it.  They were a decade behind on Pawlowski's shenanigans, and never scrutinize their current landlord, City Center Reality.  They are more of a lapdog, that dreams it's a watchdog.

New Comment Policy In Effect: Anonymous comments are again permitted. All comments must be approved. 

Waiting In The Wings In Allentown

The Morning Call is featuring a story on the recent protests and the leaders thereof. The theme is that Allentown is now a minority-majority community, and these new groups are the new message.  Never mind that during the recent protests the chants included We Demand Or...., Defund The Police and F*ck The Police.

Other minority-majority communities which had the same dialogue decades ago, such as Detroit and Chicago,  have high crime rates, despite ample minority representation.  Cities which have ostracized their police departments, like Baltimore, have officers routinely stand down  or call out sick.

Allentown's demographic changes have been reflected in its changing governance.  Currently, three of the seven council members are from minority communities. The police department is headed by a chief respected by all sectors of the population.

I believe, factoring everything in, that Allentown is doing fairly well.  The strawberry pie in Hess's Patio is never coming back. Most people now in Allentown don't even know what that reference means.  Even those who want changes should be careful what they wish for.

photocredit:WLVR-FM

ADDENDUM: I expect this post to be my last in regard to the event of last Saturday, and the protests that followed thereafter. In addition to those events, the Morning Call treatment of the story also deserved examination. I suspect that their coverage was more sympathetic to the protesters, than to the sentiments of their remaining paid subscribers.

UPDATE JULY 17, 6:30PM: Although the district attorney determined that the police acted reasonably last Saturday, those same "leaders" glorified by the Morning Call are now calling for the officer to be fired and more demonstrations, starting tonight.

A Park Problem In Allentown

reprinted from May of 2018

Ray O'Connell invited me to his office this week to talk about problems with the WPA structures in the park system.  My invitation was a long time coming.

In 2009, I started conducting a series of meetings at the Allentown Library, to inform the public about the deteriorating condition of the WPA structures.  In subsequent years, I organized a group effort to unearth the Boat Landing, which was buried decades earlier by a former park director.  I convinced the former water shed director to unearth the Spring Pond, which was allowed to become overgrown.  I unsuccessfully attempted to save the miniature dam, which was built to complement the Robin Hood Bridge in 1941. The city foolishly allowed the Wildlands Conservancy to destroy this charming accent.  I conducted tours of the Parkway, both public and private.

This week I proposed to Mayor O'Connell that the park department simply spend $25 thousand each season(out of their $3 million dollar annual budget),  and have one structure repointed. Two years ago, Karen El-Chaar from Friends Of The Parks, secured a grant through the Trexler Trust for $25 thousand.  With that modest amount she had the steps repointed at Fountain Park.  El-Chaar attended my meetings years ago, and became interested in the cause.  Unfortunately, the city government works in a much more bureaucratic fashion. Also in attendance this week was park department foreman Rick Holtzman, who elaborated on the process.  Work is preceded by an engineering study, which can end up costing as much as the work.  Bids are then put out, and responding stone masons must be bonded in order to be eligible to bid.  Consequently,  very few contractors bother to bid, and the prices are much, much higher than they need be.  However,  that is Mr. Holtzman's dilemma....  My mission is to point out what needs to be done,  and publicize the progress, or lack thereof.

For over a year I have been lobbying for the landings to be repaired on the double stairwell in Lehigh Parkway.  If these landings are not repaired this season, the steps themselves will be jeopardized.

I appreciated Mayor O'Connell's time.  The park department, despite the bidding process,  is managing to open a dog park and build a skateboard park.  Several years ago they managed to spend over  $1.5 million buying two unnecessary new parcels.  Since I started advocating for the WPA over a decade ago, the park department has built numerous new features, and spend many $millions of dollars doing so.  In all those years they have not done one thing for the WPA.  They rebuilt part of the Parkway wall,  but only after it fell down from neglect, closing the park entrance.  It is now time that they start maintaining the structures which first made this city's park system a destination.

reprinted from from May of 2018

UPDATE JULY 16, 2020: The remainder of the entrance wall, including the double stairwell, is in the process of being repointed, courtesy of the Trexler Trust. Although the deteriorated landings are not included in the specifications, I am hopeful that Allentown/Trexler Trust will include them.

Morning Call Changes Tune

The lead Morning Call article about the police incident at Sacred Heart Hospital changed its tune and subtitle as yesterday progressed. In the earlier version, they quoted an expert on police use of force, who stated that the officers did nothing wrong.

In the next version of the story they featured a local black professor, who criticized the police for wanting to control the man, rather than treat his apparent illness. It seems to me that this professor has his policemen and doctors mixed up. The opinion of the policing expert is still in the article, but now at the end, beyond the attention span of many readers.

I cannot recall an article which changed its tune so drastically. I cannot help but wonder if the progression was organic because of the additional expert, or editorially the paper decided it was unfashionable to side with the police.

Tonight Allentown City Council will be besieged by those invested against the police, hopefully council will defend our blue line.

picture of upcoming book by professor quoted in Morning Call article

Allentown's Floating Opera

In John Barth's famous story Floating Opera, the author notes that the town folk can only see that part of the performance as the barge with the actors floats by. They do not know what happened before or after the floating stage is within their view.  So it appears with the incident Saturday night in front of Sacred Heart Hospital.

While the short video, which circulated social media Saturday evening, ends the policeman's knee on the sick man's head, it doesn't show that it was only there for a total of about five seconds, and only there to facilitate getting a spit shield installed, to protect the hospital personnel from germs.

At the midnight demonstration Saturday night, and again last night during the protest march, the leaders were demanding the name of the officer. They were demanding that the police be defunded. They were chanting F*ck The Police. 

If ever there was a thankless job, those police officers have it. 

photocredit:Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call
Full video at hospital from WFMZ

Saturday Night Protest In Allentown

What may turn out to have been an officer's knee momentarily on a defendants head while being constrained and handcuffed, brought the justice warriors and virtue signalers out in force on Saturday night. Shouting that if they don't get what they want, they will burn it down, the march went up Hamilton Street to the police station at 10th.

Although Mayor O'Connell and Police Chief Granitz came to the protest to explain that an investigation will be conducted, the protesters persisted to know how soon they can expect satisfaction?

The video ends one second after the officer uses his knee as an extra hand. Did it remain there, and for how long?  Although social media called it a knee on the neck, that also isn't clear, and it appears that the knee is more up toward the combatants ear. Those that are leading these groups, and so anxious to ferment tension, are not unlike those who yell fire in a movie theater.

So far two city council members, Ce-Ce Gerlach and Josh Siegel. have joined ranks with the protestors.  Gerlach at least questioned her dual role as a resident and council member,  while Siegel thinks that his council cohorts who favor due process,  must go.  He clearly doesn't belong behind the dais.

Allentown and its minority populations are lucky to have Glenn Granitz as chief.  I know of no previous chief in Allentown's history who has been more available and responsive to the public.  The protesters must also realize that he is administrator of the police department,  and that those officers, as anybody else, deserve due process in any inquiry.

screen shot of Chief Glenn Granitz facing protesters Saturday night.

UPDATE JULY 13, 2020: Although molovinsky is usually published weekdays, this was posted Sunday morning, in reaction to the protest Saturday night. The normal schedule will resume tomorrow.

UPDATE 9:00AM:WFMZ has changed its website copy to reflect that the policeman's knee was on the defendants head, not neck.

The Mighty Atom

Years ago at the Allentown Fair, as one would push through a sea of carney delusion, tucked back by the 4H animals was an island of reality. There, in an old battered truck, an ancient Jewish strongman performed incredible feats of strength, to sell only homemade kosher soap. Standing on a platform on the rear of his truck, flanked by photographs from his performing youth, he would bent horse shoes and bite through nails. Many years earlier, my mother as a little girl in Bethlehem, saw him pull a truck uphill with his hair. Even as an old man, like a reincarnation of Samson, his grey hair was still long.
In the summers of 1964 and 1965, myself and a friend,(Fred Schoenk, retired Allentown art teacher) made and sold printed tee-shirts at the fair. We had the honor to know Joseph Greenstein(The Mighty Atom) and his wife. For those interested, there are various articles on the Mighty Atom and even at least one book. Enjoy the fair!

reprinted annually since 2007

The Allentown Fair has been cancelled for 2020 because of the coronavirus. 

A Bridge Still Stands

Last night, Glenn Solt, project manager for Lehigh County, came to the county committee meeting prepared with a twelve page report, and the engineer who wrote it. They testified that the condition of the Reading Road Bridge has deteriorated, the cost of repairing it has increased, but that the cost of replacing it has gone down. Solt is determined to rid Union Terrace of that old stone arch bridge. Never mind that it was completely rehabilitated in 1980, 156 years after it was built in 1824. Never mind that Hamilton Street Bridge is a quarter block north, and a new Union Street Bridge is being built a half block south.

Michael Molovinsky, an Allentown blogger who has previously written about the bridge, accused the county of exaggerating the condition of the bridge and the cost for rehabilitating it rather than replacing it. Molovinsky said the bridge's historic value is irreplaceable, "Let me be frank: Mr. Solt has no feel for history whatsoever," Molovinsky said. "... This bridge cannot be replaced. It's that simple." Colin McEvoy/The Express Times/June28,2012

This was the first bridge built west of Allentown, crossing Cedar Creek, on the route west to Reading, and one of the last remaining stone arch bridges. Although I would like to see a stake driven through the project, technical legalese demands that I periodically appear and defend our history and culture. The bridge replacement funds were approved years ago, and the matter at hand is a small contract for engineering studies.

reprinted from 2012

ADDENDUM: I'm happy to report that I would continue campaigning for the bridge, and eventually convinced the County Commissioners to save the structure.

UPDATE JULY 9, 2020: During his time as County Executive, Don Cunningham and his project manager Glenn Solt, managed to demolish several historical stone bridges. Worse, these losses were misrepresented as progress. When Allentown replaced the 15th Street bridge (Ward Street) traffic was detoured over Schreiber's Stone Arch Bridge, built in 1828.

Journalism And The Southern Strategy

Even before Trump took office in 2017, I noted on this blog that the Pink Hat Movement was unprecedented for a not yet inaugurated president. Before too long those feelings were labeled Trump Derangement Syndrome. That term quickly lost favor. With so many people so vehemently opposed to Trump, it became assumed that anybody who felt less or differently must be the one with some psychological disorder.

While some media companies with market share targets took sides before the election, there still remained those journals interested in objectivity. As a lifelong student of media, I found the reaction to Trump fascinating. His opponents, no matter how sophisticated in media/message, have come to believe that they are opposing the devil, and that his end justifies any means.

Prior bastions of journalism, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, have also abandoned  objectivity...defeating Trump is now seen as a crusade, a righteous mission.

Yesterday, the Times published a headline that Trump's Southern Strategy of using racism is failing. Two years ago such presumptions of strategy, much less racism, would have only appeared as an opinion piece, if at all. The supposed firewalls between news and opinion apparently no longer exist. A month ago, Senator Tom Cottons' piece calling for Trump to quell the riots resulted in the resignation of the Times opinion page editor.

I don't know what is going to be taught in journalism courses as our colleges attempt to restart. I do know that ideals of objectivity can go into the newspaper museum, right alongside of the old lead letters used to set type.

ADDENDUM: This post was intended  only as an observation about the current state of journalism,  not as an evaluation of candidate Trump.  In addition to molovinsky on allentown,  I also publish another blog,  Rainy Morning Chronicle.  Rainy Morning has a facebook page where I occasionally boost the posts.  Facebook,  while constantly prompting me to use the paid service,  rejected the link to this post.

Urban Renewal In Allentown

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 June 2011

UPDATE OCTOBER 7, 2019: Quite a bit has changed since I wrote this post in 2011. Many historic mercantile buildings of Hamilton Street have been replaced by large glass boxes. Although the amount of new construction and office workers is notable, revitalization has yet to occur. Come 5:00PM, those new workers can't wait to get out of Dodge. The former mentioned mayor has been incarcerated. The new hotel mentioned, subsidized by our tax dollars, sits virtually empty.

Saving The Spring Pond

As a small boy growing up in the twin homes above Lehigh Parkway, I would go down the steep wooded ravine and cross the Robin Hood Bridge. The stone lined spring pond and miniature bridge was just the first in a series of wonderful WPA constructions to explore. Last year, when I organized the reclamation of the Boat Landing, my memory turned to the pond. Although overgrown with several inches of sod, I knew the treasure was still savable.





In the spring of 2010 I met Mike Gilbert of the Park Department, and pitched the idea of a partial restoration. On May 26th, I posted A Modest Proposal, which outlined my hopes for the pond. By July, Gilbert had the Park Department clear off the remaining stones, and clean up around the miniature bridge.


Park Director Greg Weitzel  indicated to me that the pond features uncovered will be maintained. Any further clearing would be at the discretion of Mike Gilbert. In our conversation he also stated that there are virtually no funds available for the preservation of the WPA icons.







I will attempt to organize a group and contributions for this most worthy cause. Between the Spring Pond and The Boat Landing there was once a bridge to the island. Wouldn't it be nice if a small boy could go exploring.

above reprinted from previous posts

UPDATE August 2013Mike Gilbert has retired, and the Park Department has a new director. Although grass and sod are starting to again cover the remaining stones that surround the pond, the miniature bridge is still visible. I will make it my mission to again pitch the new personnel.

UPDATE June 18, 2014. The grass and sod has reclaimed the stones that surround the pond. Only the very top of the miniature bridge is still visible to those who know that it's there. Unless there is an immediate intervention, it's days are numbered.
HISTORY IS FRAGILE

UPDATE February 2017:In 2015, in cooperation with Friends of Allentown Parks, I supervised college volunteers to clear the new sod off the pond stones, and the new bush off the miniature bridge. Allentown is on its third park director since this post was first written, and has acquired two large parcels to create new parks. To be planning additional parks, when our existing park features are left to abandonment, is incredibility poor management.

UPDATE May 1, 2018:  This past weekend the pond, miniature bridge and spring channel to the creek were once again cleared.  The work was done by volunteers from Faith Church, Asbury Church, Igesia De Fe and Salem Bible Church,  through Karen El-Chaar, director of Friends Of The Parks. Although the park department provided assistance in the two clean ups over the past several years,  they have  not provided ongoing maintenance to the site.  Understand that in the past few years they have constructed the exercise area at Jordan Park, the cement disc golf pads in the parkway and other recreational features. It is long overdue that the WPA structures be returned to the regular park budget and schedule.

UPDATE JANUARY 14, 2020:  Karen El-Chaar is now Director Of Parks. Hopefully she will have a soft spot for this particular WPA structure. I continue trying through this blog and facebook to keep these structures on the public agenda.

The Island Of Lehigh Parkway

The scene above shows part of the Boat Landing, with the island in the background. Please note the bridge leading to the island. The island, bridge and landing were created by the WPA. Although the island still remains, as does its stone piers, the bridge is long gone. The boat landing, although buried, was partially recovered in 2009 by myself and a number of volunteers. The island, as remaining, has lost its shape and has been enlarged from deposits carried by the Little Lehigh. The island was created by the WPA in the mid 1930's, by excavating a channel on its south side. It is the intention of the park department to eventually allow mother nature to fill in the channel. Park philosophy has changed from manicured to al natural. It is my hope that the excavated portion of the boatlanding will be retained.

As a boy I played on the island and especially remember the concrete benches inlaid with tile. It was indeed a special place.  Although the island will never be restored, it is my mission that the remaining WPA structures be maintained.   In the photo above, note the path overlooking the stream and island,  with no weed wall in the way of the view.

The Boat Landing

Getting to the Boat Landing, for six year old boys who lived above the park in 1953, was quite an adventure. There were three other wonderful WPA structures to navigate on the journey. Unfortunately,  poor foresight by a previous park director has erased some of the WPA's monuments in Lehigh Parkway. As the postcard from the mid-50's above shows, the Boat Landing (my name for the structure) was a source of pride for the city and park system. It is located at the end of the park,  near Regency Apartments. I use the present tense because remnants of this edifice still exist,  buried under dirt and debris. Other attractions lost in that section of the park include the Spring Pond near the Robin Hood parking lot, and the bridge to the "Island", plus the mosaic inlaid benches which were on the island. ( Island halfway between parking lot and boat landing). Neither the Mayor or the Park Director knows that these centerpieces ever existed. These are irreplaceable architectural treasures well worth restoring.

UPDATE: The above post was written in May of 2009. Later that year I organized a small group of volunteers, and we unearthed a portion of the boat landing. The next year I prevailed on the Allentown Water Shed Foreman, Michael Gilbert, to expose the remaining stones around the Spring Pond and remove the growth hiding the Miniature Bridge.

Trexler Smiles, Landing Revealed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ADDENDUM:Michael –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike Schware

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

I organized the excavation shown above in 2009. We did return and remove the remaining dirt at the bottom of the steps.
reprinted from two separate posts combined

Saving A Treasure

Yesterday (repeat post from 2009) I had an amazing experience, I decided to research the WPA items at the Lehigh Valley Historical Society. I found that particular documentation lacking. But, from out of nowhere, an elderly lady handed me a photo from her pocketbook; a picture of the Boat Landing she had taken with a Kodak Brownie camera in the early 1940's. She had the picture with her because she had shown it to several friends who also lamented the loss of our icons.

Today(2009) I went to the park to photograph the still only visible remaining element of that structure, a few steps.

I went over to the other side of the creek and worked my way through the weed wall. There to my utter amazement, I saw that the curved creek walls of the landing have withstood the years of time. Despite decades of neglect by our Park Department, I believe that a half dozen people equipped with a few clippers could unveil a lost treasure. There is a few large trees which have grown on the landing, and there are missing stones, but most of it still exists, waiting only for a few urban archaeologists with an appreciation of what once adorned this park.

ADDENUM: In the fall of 2009, a half dozen people helped me uncover part the boat landing, buried for over 40 years. It ended up requiring much more than a few clippers..   It required pickaxes, shovels, and wheel barrel after wheel barrel of removing earth.

Amazing as this feat was, The Morning Call never wrote one word about it. 

UPDATE July 1, 2020: The photograph shown above was from an elderly widow, who took the photo from the island on her first date with her future husband. At that time the island was maintained, with a walking bridge to it. The island now is completely overgrown.