The Milkman Of Allentown

Years ago, on the quiet, clean streets of Allentown,  the mornings belonged to the milkman, until people got up for their jobs. The streets are still quiet in the mornings, but they're not clean, and very few people get up for a job. Over the decades, center city became entrenched with the professional low income, migrating from the bigger cities. The Historic District, and other endeavors, served only as a finger in the dike for the middle class. As welfare rules tightened, the under-motivated became dependent on Social Security Disability, a life long de-motivator. On Monday, as the Budweiser Clydesdales walked down the street at noon, half the city's population was still asleep. As Allentown builds a shiny new arena, hoping for a revival, those very people they hope to attract have moved on and away from that urban malady, not inclined to return.

above retitled and reprinted from September of 2013

UPDATE AUGUST 17, 2021: Monday mornings are recon day for me in center city.  As usual, I found Hamilton Street deserted, with other streets strewn with litter.  Ninth and Chew might be the litter epicenter, but I have no empirical data to support that observation. I do know that years ago even a parade wouldn't have generated  that much trash.  Talking of data,  the Morning Call reports that while the Hispanic population of Allentown grew to 54%,  the whites decreased by another 25%. The article goes on to say that more translators are needed, because although most Spanish speakers know English, when they get stressed, they revert to Spanish.  When I get stressed, I revert to blogging. 

They Shoot Landlords, Don't They?

When I ran as a long-shot independent for mayor in 2005, against Ed Pawlowski and Bill Heydt,  the first thing I did was take The Morning Call reporter on a tour of the properties that I managed.  As an intercity landlord, I knew that  downtown apartments could  become problematic for Allentown.  After WW2,  it became fashionable to live in a twin or small ranch, and Allentown's row houses began being divided into apartments.  Those apartments were mostly occupied by singles or childless couples, and helped keep downtown and Hamilton Street vital, long past many of its sister cities.  In the 1960's, despite the thousands of converted apartments,  center city was clean, and Allentown was the All American City.  Both the tenants and landlords were hard working and conscientious.  As the urban poor from New York and New Jersey discovered the clean streets of Allentown, and its moderately priced apartments,  a steady influx of new residents arrived daily.  These changes were not encouraged by the landlords.  Nobody ever purchased a building hoping to replace their conscientious middle class occupants, with a poorer, more problematic tenant base.  Various social agencies staked many of these newcomers to the first month rent and security deposits.  Although politically incorrect, I said at the time that Allentown was creating a poverty magnet.  My phrase and analysis back then is now recognized as an unintended consequence of such programs.  During Heydt's administration, Allentown passed a Rental Inspection Law.  Some viewed  this as the solution to the rental problem, I didn't fully agree...You cannot legislate pride of ownership. Bad operators could, and easily did, cross the T's and dot the i's.  Pawlowski's solution has been to tag buildings as unfit for habitation, so many,  that the process itself has created blight.  Halls of Shame, either by the city or private groups, only stigmatize both the property and owner, but don't produce a solution.  The programs in place, if applied with more flexibility, can work.  The school district is starting to show concern about the consequences of more apartments and students.  Recent zoning changes allowing the conversion of commercial space by right, rather than by variance, will be an additional challenge.  At the end of the day,  all landlords want to see their investment appreciate.  The city must learn to work with that basic incentive as a vehicle for change.

above reprinted from February of 2014

UPDATE AUGUST 16, 2021: In the seven years since I wrote the above post, the migration of poverty to Allentown never slowed down. The school system is now officially distressed. Shootings and violence are now a weekly occurrence. There are those who say that the new crime is in line with the increase in population, they are wrong. A slight increase in population doesn't account for a large increase in crime. Allentown is now a very different city than it was for most of its history.

Arrogance Of the Morning Call

When I saw the Morning Call pushing a opinion piece by Joshua Siegel and Ce-Ce Gerlach on defunding the police (they don't use that phrase)  yesterday,  I thought how persistent the paper is in promoting Ce-Ce.  When I scrolled down the article and saw her oversized picture, I thought how arrogant the editor actually is. 

Someone please remind Mike Miorelli that Allentown rejected Ce-Ce in the mayoral primary, even though he repressed the story on her poor judgement about dropping a minor off at a homeless camp. Although she has been indicted for failing to follow proper social work legal mandates, the Morning Call features her recommendations about social workers?

Someone please remind editor Mike Miorelli that there were two homicides last week.  We don't need more social workers,  we don't need editors pumping their favorite candidates, we need more police.

The Livingston Club, Allentown's Benevolent Oligarchy

Back in the day, when the town had three department stores, the major decisions affecting Allentown's future were made at the Livingston Club. Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. The bank officers of First National and Merchants Bank would discuss loans with the highly successful merchants, many of whom had stores in all three major Lehigh Valley cities. As the heydays winded down, likewise the exit plans were made there. The City of Allentown acquired the Park & Shop lots, becoming the Allentown Parking Authority. Leh's became the Lehigh County Government Center.

The new oligarchy consists of much fewer men, they could all met at a small table in Shula's, and be entertained by watching street people  arrested. The former 1st National Bank location is now a new Reilly building. The former Livingston Club building is now a parking lot, and future site to another Reilly building. Shula's is also a Reilly building.... 

reprinted from August of 2015

Mistake Of Parking Authority/Lanta

At the Allentown Speak Out forum*, Zee, an elderly neighborhood woman, referred to the new Lanta Terminal as Port Authority. She has a point, did Allentown need a Port Authority? In reality the mission of both the Parking Authority and Lanta has become political and distorted, to the detriment of those whom they were intended to serve. I have referred to the Parking Authority in previous posts as a Frankenstein monster who preys on Allentown's poorest residents. Its appetite has recently expanded to include poorer merchants. If it wasn't enough for Lanta to remove the transfer stations from the historical stops near Hamilton Street, the Parking Authority now provides eating and shopping venues for their captured bus riders at the "Terminal". Once upon a time, in Allentown's heyday, the parking meters were monitored by two meter maids in golf carts, employed by the police department. The original mission of the Parking Authority was to facilitate parking for the merchants' behalf. Lanta was suppose to provide the public with transportation to those destinations which enhanced the economic well being of both the riders and the community. The new Allentown Transportation Center fails to serve both the merchants and the riders, conversely, it serves itself by being a mini-mall with virtual prisoners. Allentown City Council now has a member who is on the Lanta Board. The previous Council had a member on the Parking Authority. All the merchants are suffering on Hamilton Street, and already three are closing their doors; City Line Creamery, Hamilton Perk Cafe, and Mish Mash Boutique. The Terminal, new or not, should be closed, and the transfer stops on Hamilton Street should be restored. The public interest is better served by the survival of the Hamilton merchants, than the utilization of the parking deck's adjacent Lanta Terminal.

reprinted from January of 2008

UPDATE AUGUST 11, 2021: As you can see from the above post, I have been fighting against the shenanigans that be for many years.  The former merchants that I defended no longer exist, at least on Hamilton Street.  Those former undesirables of Hamilton Street are now touted as the success of 7th Street. Even the Lanta Prison Complex has now been reconfigured, to now accommodate the new power that be, Reilly's NIZ.  While I have been reporting these manipulations for over a decade, the Morning Call has not only remained silent, they have actively profited from these deals. 

*Allentown Speak Out...Over a decade ago, I held a series of town hall type meetings at a small church in center city.

The Allentown Parking Authority Monster

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

UPDATE: The post above is reprinted from September 2009. I have published dozens of posts on the Parking Authority. In 2005, I conducted two press conferences on their abuses; One conference was at 10th and Chew Streets, and concerned the oversized meter zone. The second conference, directly in front of their office, concerned the fabricated merchant survey that they  presented to City Council. Old tricks die hard. Forward ahead to 2015, and the Parking Authority will once again penalize both existing merchants and residents.  The new plan is to double the meter parking rate from $1 an hour, to $2, and extend the metering time to 10:00pm.  They claim that the merchants are in favor of this plan. Although I will not conduct my own survey, as I did 2005,  their survey defies logic.  Why would any of the few surviving merchants want their customers submitted to a destination city parking rates in Allentown? Despite the hype,  Allentown is not Miami Beach or N.Y.C.. In reality, just as the taxpayers are subsidizing the arena zone,  now the merchants and residents will be subsidizing the arena plan through punitive parking rates.

UPDATE Memorial Day Weekend 2015: I did end up asking several merchants, and no, they were not surveyed. Eight years from the original date of this post, and the Authority is still up to the same shenanigans.   Reilly's City Center tenants, merchants and customers will get a free pass for the Authority's inconvenient parking lots. Other existing tenants in the NIZ, such as the south side of the 900 block of Walnut Street, will not be eligible for residential parking permits.  If you have a problem with any of this, remember, you must now put money in the meter at night, before  complaining to City Council.

UPDATE MARCH 20, 2020:  As of noon yesterday, the Parking Authority suspended tickets in the residential permit zones.  However, normal parking meter tickets will continue.  This would have of course punish merchants still open for business during this virus crisis. However, while there are virtually no merchants left on Hamilton Street since the NIZ revitalization, the punishment would have mostly affect the minority merchants on 7th Street....or in other words, life as usual in Allentown. Governor Wolf has declared that all non-essential businesses must close. Will the monster also now stand down?

UPDATE OCTOBER 20, 2020: Numerous voters trying to drop off their ballots at Government Center at 7th and Hamilton, report that the monster has awoken, and is giving out tickets. 

UPDATE AUGUST 10, 2021: I've been writing about the Parking Authority corruption for over fifteen years.  You will not read about this corruption in the Morning Call, because the paper has always benefitted from their association with it, going back to the days of Park & Shop.

Shootings Now Normal In Allentown

When I looked at the digital version of the Morning Call Monday morning, the weekend shootings were the 7th story down the page. The Friday and Sunday shootings were lumped together in one article. By Monday afternoon the shooting story was at the bottom of page.

When shootings have become so commonplace in a city this size, we are indeed a cesspool. When our elected officials are so incensed that someone would dare use that term, it is they who should apologize. They should apologize for thinking that the citizens should consider this level of violence as normal. They should apologize for wanting to put image above safety.

As for the ones who say we should stop complaining, and join them in the marches for harmony, I feel no sense of security from their performances. They for the most part are either being paid to work in the new violence industry, or hope to be elected.

Years ago I complained about the poverty industry.... Those groups and organizations that specialized in the poor. Now that we have a violence industry,  the advocates for the poor seem like the good old days.  

reprinted from September of 2019 

ADDENDUM AUGUST 9, 2021: In addition to this blog, a couple years ago I started a facebook group named Allentown Chronicles. On that page I limited posts to history and occasional local politics, I disallowed crime reports. Nostalgia is nice, but if it hides current reality too much, it becomes delusion. This past week we had two homicides in Allentown, with another nearby. The strawberry pie in Hess's Patio isn't coming back, and we can't keep ignoring the blood in the street.

Parkway's Keystone Deteriorating

When the wall along the entrance road to Lehigh Parkway collapsed, the entrance had to be closed, until they could construct a new wall. The closure wasn't because of the missing upper portion acting as a guard rail, it was because of the lower portion, which was a retaining wall holding up the roadway itself. In the mid 1930's, the road was built by the WPA, by cutting into the side of a steep ravine leading down to the Little Lehigh Creek. It was essential to shore up the exposed side of the road with a wall.

Halfway down the road is the centerpiece we call the Double Stairway. Steps from two sides lead down from the road, to the bridle path and creek below. Although very architectural, it too is an elaborate retaining structure for the road. This architectural masterpiece is in structural jeopardy. Although the vertical walls are in decent shape, the problem is the landings, both at the top and down each set of stairs. These flats surfaces have degraded, and water is seeping down into the steps below, undermining the structure from within.

The Double Stairway was designed in 1928 by one of the leading landscape architects in the United States. He was commissioned to design this masterpiece by General Harry Trexler. The stock crash of 1929 and the Great Depression put off the construction until Roosevelt's New Deal in 1935, when the WPA utilized the blueprints.

Allentown could never afford to create such an icon now, nor can we afford to lose it from neglect.

reprinted periodically since 2010

UPDATE OCTOBER 25, 2019: Although the years have passed, and now I even have a good rapport with the current mayor and park director,  the stair landings still have not been repaired and continue to deteriorate.  Worse yet, it is my understanding that there is money in the budget for the repair, but it is being delayed to study the problem. The previous administration studied the entrance wall, until it collapsed. What these stairs need is less study and some immediate attention from a masonry contractor.

UPDATE AUGUST 6, 2021: The study was completed, and the Trexler Trust paid to have the vertical walls of the structure repointed, but the problem landings remain in their deteriorated condition. This is the equivalent of painting the walls of a house, while ignoring a leaking roof. On a positive note, the remaining entrance wall, from the double stairwell down to the Robin Hood Bridge, is being repointed. It is my hope that the park department has the sense to repair the landings.  The landings and steps have further deteriorated, approaching being a hazard.

photocredit:molovinsky

Carry In, Carry Out Doesn't Work For Allentown

The current national park philosophy, adopted by Allentown, is Carry In/Carry Out.  In our environmentally woke time, the belief is that people will take their trash with them, after they guzzled their sports drink.  Allentown accordingly removed most of the trash containers from the parks, instead installing larger capacity containers, which only have to be emptied once a week.  While previously one man and a pickup truck removed the bags, now a dump truck, two men and crane are used to extract the 8ft. long bags from a pit below the containers. 

It all sounds wonderful, until you drive through downtown Allentown any Monday morning...It looks like there was a parade every weekend.  The litter in Allentown is astounding...Many throw their trash down even if there is a container within several feet.  Parents throw down their trash in front of their children.

Rather than less trash containers in our parks, we should have installed more.  There is nothing Allentown  can learn from national park bureaucrats.  Our traditional park system was second to none.

Weitzel's Water World

Although other accounts of last night's meeting may indicate that the Swimming Toward The Future plan was drowned by City Council, its DNA lives in the new resolution.  Council thinks that somehow, they must get something from the $80,000 study.  It was not done in vain; Weitzel used it as part of his resume to secure his new job in Idaho.  Mike Schlossberg wisely pointed out that a future Council may misconstrue the passing of even a  revised resolution as essentially approving the contents of the plan. The Council will be changing dramatically. Schlossberg will be going to Harrisburg, with Schweyer not far behind. Julio Guridy, and his protege Cynthia Mota, indicated pleasure with Weitzel's Water World.   Francis Dougherty is the mad scientist who will nurture the DNA, until which time the monster can be resurrected. Dougherty is both the former and current Managing Director of Allentown. During his first term, he is the one who brought Weitzel to Allentown.

The politicized Trexler Trust is still on board with Water World. Weitzel's plan was his most ambitious to date. The destination water park would fill the entire section of the park near the Ott and Hamilton Street intersection. That plan should be formally rejected.  A new plan should be created which simply indicates that Allentown will conform with ADA regulations, and strive to open and operate our five swimming pools in a clean and safe fashion.

both pictures from Swimming Towards The Future presentation

above reprinted from May of 2012 


ADDENDUM OCTOBER 8, 2018: This past weekend one of the many congratulations on facebook to Karen EI-Chaar was from former park director Greg Weitzel. Weitzel, who now works in Idaho, wrote that he hopes to see El-Chaar at an upcoming national recreation convention. 

One of my achievements in regard to the WPA was making Ms. El-Chaar, in her former capacity as director of Friends Of The Parks, more familiar with the importance of the WPA in our park system. Ms. El-Chaar is now the new director of Allentown Park and Recreation. Although I'm encouraged that she asked me to reconvene my previous WPA group, I realize that an additional mission must be advocating for the traditional park system, of which the WPA is just one part.

When Ms. El-Chaar attends these groups she will be surrounded by Weitzel types, who think that being a park director is ordering recreation equipment from a catalog, the more the better. Frankly, Allentown's unique park system has been corrupted. We have historical structures, such as Bogert's Covered Bridge, rotting away. We have outside conservation groups blocking both view and access to the streams with weed walls. Although I will continue advocating for the WPA, I will not become silent on the other issues. 

ADDENDUM AUGUST 4, 2021: I'm proud that I and this blog fought Weitzel and Pawlowski tooth and nail against this water park plan and other absurd excessive plans, designed for their careers, not the city's betterment. Move ahead nine years and we can't even keep the swimming pool free from vandalism...Imagine the yoke around our neck that the water park would have been. 

Although we now have a mayor and park director dedicated to the city's best interest, I will nevertheless continue to speak out for our traditional park system.

Hoops and Trash

The A-Town Throw Down is a major basketball tournament at Cedar Beach, and a feather in Allentown's cap.  Step child of the former SportsFest, it brings together over 70 boys' and girls' teams in top quality competition. Although Throw Down doesn't refer to trash, unfortunately litter was everywhere Sunday morning. While the park department can be faulted for the overflowing trash by the apparently not enough containers, that doesn't explain the trash under the benches and bleachers, and on the parking lot and grass area used for extra parking. It doesn't explain the litter elsewhere in the park.

In addition to the athletic competition, the tournament is a learning event. Hopefully a few words about littering can be added to the curriculum next year.

A Midsummer Night's Dream on Hamilton Street

Early Saturday morning I bumped into a Hamilton Street merchant I know, there's not that many of them nowadays. He told me about the Blues, Brews & Barbeque*, and that he was hoping for a crowded Hamilton Street...He certainly got his wish.  If the crowd was fortified from a pent up demand from the pandemic, regardless, people were there in force.  People who enjoyed themselves are likely to return for the next event. 

The diverse, middle class crowd resembled Hamilton Street of yesteryears. While Allentown cannot sponsor a festival everyday,  I'm sure that J.B. Reilly had pleasant dreams Saturday night. 

While people are not used to me writing something positive about downtown and the NIZ, I'm more than happy to report on good days there.

*kudos to event coordinators Miriam Huertas and Betsy Kohl

photocredit:Jeff Barber

Molovinsky As The Dour Prophesier

When I ran as the third person in 2005's mayoral race, The Morning Call gave me almost no press.  In addition to not reporting on my most important press conference, they excluded me from their sponsored debate.  My platform back then was that Allentown was becoming a poverty magnet, which would in the coming years adversely effect the housing stock and school system.  Now, don't misunderstand,  I don't think that Allentown was ready to elect an independent in 2005.  But,  the city would have benefitted from hearing my platform.

Flash ahead 12 years, and the paper is now covering all 9 candidates running, and covering them extensively.  What has changed?  The main change is the current reporter assigned to the city beat, Emily Opilo... She is excellent.  Unfortunately, for me and the city,  in 2005 the reporter was about as biased as they come.  Not surprisingly, he ended up being Mike Fleck's last employee, working on the Pawlowski senate campaign, until the FBI came to town two years ago.  Bill White now continues the bias against me, and labels me dour.  Bill White, until this eleventh hour and year, enthusiastically supported Pawlowski... That alone is enough to make someone dour.  I accept that label as a badge of my independence.

We now have Pawlowski, after installing surveillance cameras downtown, wanting gunshot sound locators.  He didn't mention that we would be needing those things back in 2005.

reprinted from May of 2017

Two Butchers From Allentown's Past

Those coming here today looking for a story about sloppy civic leadership will be disappointed. This post is literally about butchers, more specifically, some butchers at Allentown Packing Company. A few days ago, while at the Fairground's Farmers Market, I learned that Bobby had passed away. Bobby was the "kid" who worked at my father's meat market on Union Street. Bobby grew up in an orphanage, a hardship which my father respected.

One meat cutter that I knew nothing about was Lamont, other than he lived at the West End Hotel. He was a bear of a man, who could carry a beef quarter from the cooler with no effort. I never saw Lamont in the market portion of the shop, he always remained in the back, either in the large cooler or the adjoining cutting room. While my father insisted that people working on the counter change their meat coat and apron several times during the day, no such rule was imposed upon Lamont. Although he would look over the trays of meat before being taken out to the display cases, he never spoke.

Last time I spoke to Bobby, he told me that he appreciated that my father had taught him a trade, which he used throughout his life.

reprinted from 2014

advertisement shown above from December of 1949

Allentown Meat Packing Co.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Jordan and Chew, and butchered in a small barn behind the house. He would deliver by horse and wagon to his customers, corner markets. The house is still there, the barn, long gone. My father, and one of his brothers, acquired the H.H. Steinmetz packing house in 1943. Operating as Allentown Meat Packing, by 1950 they closed the slaughter house, and converted the front of the plant into a meat market open to the public. That continued to 1970, when it was leased to an operator who sold meat by freezer full packages. In 1975 the building was torn down, as part of a long term lease agreement with A&B, who wanted the space for parking. The photo was taken just prior to demolition. 

reprinted from previous years

The Butchers Of Allentown

photograph by Bob Wilt

A&B (Arbogast&Bastian), dominated the local meat packing industry for almost 100 years. At it's peak, they employed 700 people and could process 4,000 hogs a day. The huge plant was at the foot of Hamilton Street, at the Lehigh River. All that remains is their free standing office building, which has been incorporated into America on Wheels. Front and Hamilton was Allentown's meatpacking district. Within one block, two national Chicago meatpackers, Swift and Wilson, had distribution centers. Also in the area were several small independents, among them M. Feder and Allentown Meat Packing Company.

Allentown Meat Packing was owned by my father and uncle. The area was criss-crossed with tracks, owned by both LVRR and Jersey Central. All the plants had their own sidings. This is an era when commerce was measured in factories and production, not just relocated office workers.

Molovinsky On Allentown occasionally takes a break from the local political discourse to present local history.  My grandfather came to Allentown in 1891 and lived in the Ward on 2nd Street. By the time my father was born in 1917, they lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets.

reprinted from previous years

Dead Artist Premium

This weekend I attended the show and auction of Greg Weaver artwork at the Penn State Campus in Center Valley. Although the show was very well done, I didn't stay long. Although the bidding was high, none of the money will benefit Greg or his wife, who have both passed away. Greg and I were friends in the 70's. He would frequent my photo shop, and I would enjoy his loft parties. Greg's loft moved from one low rent location to another over the years. It's fair to say that he made virtually nothing from the art that people were bidding against each other for this past Friday night. Those now benefiting from his mystique, an artist who went blind and continued producing art until he died young, hope to establish an alternative museum for local artists. I would like to see a permanent Weaver collection and designated room at the Allentown Art Museum. 

reprinted from December of 2014 

ADDENDUM JULY 26, 2021: Either this coming fall or spring, I will sponsor an art show for Jessica Lenard, at a gallery yet to be determined. She was a contemporary of Weaver, who was also producing art in Allentown during that era.

Morning Call's New Pet Pol

As somebody who has been trying to get a letter published in the Morning Call for five years, I was amused by a large picture of Mark Pinsley which accompanied his latest letter. Pinsley is a political opportunist, who runs for bigger offices, after just getting elected to a smaller one. Although no longer a South Whitehall Commissioner,  he still presides over their meetings, and was front and center at their recent new building ribbon cutting.

The reason that I was so amused is that the editor was recently touting the opinion page as a town square for various opinions. The reality is those opinions, for the most part, better conform with his, or there's no space at the page for you. This is Pinsley's second letter published within a month, and the paper even provided a link to the first one.

Pinsley just recently announced his newish political quest, state senator. With such an agenda, years ago the paper would have never run his oversized picture with his letter, which was actually just a campaign piece. 

With Ce-Ce tainted with bad judgement, Mark is now the new best in show.

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.

Allentown, A Revolting Development, Chapter 10

Over the years I have used Chester Riley as a meme on numerous posts, most of which complain about the declining quality of life issues in Allentown. Chester was the star of a 1950's sitcom called The Life of Riley. Every episode, after his workday at a factory, he would have to solve a family dilemma within the allotted 30 minutes of his TV show. 

So much has changed in Allentown as I watched that program every week as a little boy.  Fathers coming home from the factory with their curved black lid lunchboxes are a thing of the past.  Now a days, Allentown factories are mostly a thing of the past.  Worse yet,  father's coming home is also for too many a thing of the past.

Last evening, while driving on busy Tilghman Street, two cars following each other skidded through a red light, and then swerved across the two lanes to turn off at the next corner. 

Several years ago Morning Call columnist Bill White described me and this blog as dour and misguided. Of course at that time he and his employer were still praising Pawlowski and Allentown. I'll take dour over indicted, and I'll take the old Allentown over the revolting development it has turned into.

Morning Call Donates In-Kind To Ce-Ce

Since the Morning Call has publicized Ce-Ce Gerlach's Go Fund Me campaign, complete with a link, her contributions have risen 600%. One anonymous ponied up $500. Seeking $100,000 to defend against two misdeameaner charges is almost a crime in itself. While the paper for 6 days solicited funds for her, remember they have been invested in her for a long time. 

Ce-Ce was one of the Morning Call's Go To people. They have a stable of people they quote time after time on certain subjects... Iannelli for business, Jennings for poverty, Borick for politics, and Ce-Ce for affordable housing. 

While Ce-Ce may well end up too tarnished to keep her Morning Call post, editor Miorelli is apparently in a damage control mode regarding her.

Front & Union Streets 1958

In the mid 1950's, Midas Muffer's first shop in Allentown was just off Front & Union, just west of the former Hamilton Street Bridge. The current bridge was built in 1959. 

Shown above, in addition to the muffler shop, is the Russ Bankes auto repair/ gas station, and the rear of the C Keller & Sons Moving and Storage warehouse, which faced Hamilton Street. The section of Front Street between Hamilton and Union was eliminated for the new bridge ramps. The gas station was torn down to accommodate the new bridge's Union Street off ramp. The warehouse would remain until destroyed by a fire in 1982. 

The former muffler shop was later torn down to build a larger auto body shop. That newer building is now Los Primasos Tire Shop.

click on photo to enlarge

The Fountain Of My Youth

Just west of the Robin Hood Bridge is a fountain which quenched the thirst of my summer days. Built during the WPA era, it overlooked the creek. Although the water was turned off years ago, so now is the view. The weeds and assorted invasives growing are not a riparian buffer. Science says that a buffer has to be 25feet wide to be of any value. A reader described this thin strip of wild growth as neglect, masquerading as conservation. All it does is block both the view and access to the waterway. It denies our current citizens the beauty and experience for which the parks were designed. Although the Wildland's Conservancy would like you to believe that the Allentown Parks are there to be wildlands, in reality they were designed by landscape architects, to provide the citizens of Allentown with what Harry Trexler called serenity. He did also appreciate conservation, but for that he created the Trexler Game Preserve, north of Allentown. There are places in the parks which can accommodate the riparian buffer zones, without compromising the intended public experience of waterway view and access. Riparians could be created and maintained in the western side of Lehigh Parkway, between the pedestrian bridge and Bogerts Bridge. In Cedar Park, the riparian section could be in western side, between the last walking bridge and Cedar Crest Blvd. It's time that the parks were given back to the citizens of Allentown. They are not funded, or intended by our tax dollars and the Trexler Trust,  just to be a venue for the Wildland's Conservancy to harvest grants.  Let a child again giggle by the creek's edge. Let us get back our intended park experience.

reprinted from August of 2013

ADDENDUM: I have lobbied the park department to leave the creek accessible in a couple small areas in Cedar Park.

Lesson At Dieruff

A Dieruff High School social studies teacher would not have to take his class very far for a lesson in Allentown's history. Although never elected, East Side activist Dennis Pearson has been complaining for thirty years that the East Side always get short changed in Public Works. Such was the case in the mid 1930's, during the WPA work in Allentown. Roosevelt's New Deal program built the elaborate walls in the south side's Lehigh Parkway. Central Allentown received the magnificent Lawrence Street stairwell. The culturally elite of west Allentown received the Union Terrace Amphitheater, envisioned for Shakespeare. Pearson's east side got a few scattered steps to nowhere. The steps remained, and thirty years later Allentown built Dieruff High School. With expansions and renovations, some of the steps now adjoin the school. Flash ahead to the summers of 2009 and 2010.




I lobbied Allentown City Council members to appropriate some of the $millions of dollars in Cedar Park plans to begin preserving the irreplaceable WPA structures, starting to crumble throughout our park system. East Side elected councilman, Michael D'Amore, assured me that he only signed off on the Administrations plan, with the stipulation that the steps in Irving Park-Dieruff area would be restored at the same time. The work in Cedar Park was completed last year, including $millions of dollars with of recreation equipment from catalogs. The deterioration of the steps around Dieruff continues. Now there's a lesson in government!
photos courtesy of Mark Thomas

reprinted from September of 2011

ADDENDUM: Flash ahead again four more years, and the steps at Irving Park are now finally being repaired, using a $20,000 grant from the Trexler Trust. Although the grant was secured through Friends Of The Parks, it's actually also the fruit of my labor. That organization's director learned of the plight of the WPA structures through meetings I conducted at the Allentown Library in 2011. I then took her on a WPA tour of the parks, and we have been collaborating on the WPA ever since.

At the city meeting last week, I asked the councilmen to compare $20,000  from an outside source, to repair something as tangible as the stone structures, to the $1.4 million of city money, to buy land that we didn't need, nor are using.  I explained that the consequence of the WPA neglect was that our largest park, Lehigh Parkway, is now virtually inaccessible.  Considering that I had approached both previous park directors about the WPA, with no success, I asked council to appoint me special WPA envoy, and to instruct the new director to consider my suggestions in both her plans and budget.

Council didn't respond to my request. I think that maybe they were preoccupied with the mob behind me, the ones with the pitchforks and torches.  As things simmer down from news of  the FBI investigation, and council has to deal with the business at hand,  perhaps they will reconsider my offer.

above reprinted from August of 2015

UPDATE JULY 15, 2021: Since this was written seven years ago, Mayor Ed is in the pokey. Although convicted for receiving payoffs on about ten contracts, I believe that the FBI actually had a much larger menu of corruption from which to choose 

Because of my blunt outspokenness,  city council never acknowledged my work with the parks and WPA structures.  However, the former director of Friends Of The Parks, Karen El-Chaar, is now park director, and she does have an appreciation of the WPA.  The problem now is budgetary,  appropriating funds for repairs. Several structures remain in peril...I will continue to speak out.

The Morning Call's Mistake

Mike Miorelli, editor of the Morning Call, had a recent piece where he touted the paper's Town Square, as a place where the community can be heard. He did add the following caveat.

Some of you haven’t always been happy when submissions were rejected for various reasons. Some may have been too promotional. Some alleged things that were not verified by our reporting.

"Not verified by our reporting" is quite a story in itself. If something was reported, there would be little need for a member of the public to write in. But more importantly, just because their reporters couldn't verify it, doesn't mean that it isn't true. I have a long standing spat with the paper about Wehr's Dam. When their reporter asked public officials if they if did anything behind the scenes, the officials replied "certainly not." Public officials not admitting to their shenanigans is par for the course. One would think that a paper which was oblivious to a corrupt mayor for over a decade, might realize that public officials don't admit and confess to every reporter's question. 

The paper could simply add a disclaimer that the opinion expressed is that of the writer, and not theirs. They could say that they have not verified the information in the letter. In truth, their editorial page is not a town square, but an echo chamber. It echoes their opinion, or the opinion of their pre-approved go to submitters.

Brightline Of Florida

While Biden and the new administration are promoting their $Trillion dollar infrastructure program,  and an improved Amtrak would supposedly be a benefit,  the Republic Of Florida has its own program, with no cost to the taxpayers.

The privately owned high speed train has been operating since 2018 between Miami and West Palm Beach.  Richard Branson, who spent this past weekend near outer space, envisioned a high speed Virgin Train brand between Orlando and Miami. While Virgin is no longer involved with the project,  the extension from West Palm Beach to Orlando is being built.  The Brightline extension requires seventeen new bridges and 170 miles of track. The new track is next to the old existing single track, now in use for freight.

The project is not without controversy. While very few towns would have a station or benefit from the high speed line, the train will be speeding through them.  A concern is the danger imposed by such high speed at all the crossings.

The new bridges are a massive undertaking. Shown above is the bridge construction over the Crane Creek in the Space Coast area.  A temporary bridge was constructed to hold the massive equipment necessary to build the new bridge.

Florida was developed a century ago by Henry Flagler and his train company. Private enterprise does still exist.

Crimes By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

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 buffers.

The Wildlands Conservancy is now going to demolish Wehr's Dam at Covered Bridge Park in South Whitehall. The township commissioners are cooperating, by having a grossly inflated price associated with repairing the dam, to justify a disingenuous referendum. Sadly, by next spring I will be showing you before and after pictures of that crime.

top photo by Tami Quigley

above reprinted from August 2016

UPDATE: To everyone's surprise, especially the Wildlands Conservancy and the South Whitehall Commissioners, the referendum to save the dam was approved by the voters in November of 2016. The Wildlands Conservancy and the South Whitehall Commissioners are now conspiring to have the dam demolished anyway, by exaggerating its problems with the Pa. DEP...I have documented the communication between the Wildlands, State and township,  As for Lehigh Parkway, the Wildlands Conservancy should be made to remove the former dam rubble that is despoiling the vista of the Robin Hood Bridge piers.  I have been trying to interest the Morning Call about the voter suppression in regard to the Wehr's Dam referendum.  In today's paper there is an article about the danger high hazard rated dams pose to residents downstream.  I hope the paper's article today is a coincidence, and not intended to serve the Wildlands conspiracy about Wehr's Dam.  BTW,  Wehr's Dam is rated low hazard, because it poses no danger to residents.

reprinted from November of 2019 and before

Crime And Punishment For Allentown

Readers of this blog, and the facebook group Allentown Chronicles that I moderate, know that I shy away from crime reports. Quality of life in Allentown certainly hasn't improved in the last decade, despite all the new construction on Hamilton Street. 

The map shown above was produced by WFMZ to illustrate a spat of stabbings and shootings the other night in center city.  The recent May primary election featured several candidates who advocated defunding the police, in favor of more assets going to social agency intervention.

At the western end of the map is the West Park neighborhood, where I lived for over a decade. As a resident I would take more comfort in more police, not more social workers.  

While the defunders made the most noise during the primary campaign, fortunately, they didn't get the most votes. Come 2022, I hope that the new mayor understands that he has a mandate to increase the police presence.

The Dam Story

I believe that Wehr's Dam will be preserved, but it may cost much more than was needed. Here's how it came to pass.

By 2014, the Wildlands Conservancy was well entrenched in South Whitehall Township. The son of their chief financial officer was director of parks.  They had an ally as the president of the commissioners. The Wildlands helped design the new park master plan for Covered Bridge Park, and took the liberty of showing Wehr's Dam no longer there. The Wildlands approached the commissioners with a proposal to demolish the dam at no cost to the township.  Yours truly was in attendance, and outraged by the disregard of both history and beauty.  The dam has been a destination for generations, and it is the only location where you can see water go over a dam and under a covered bridge in one place.  The commissioners agreed to defer their decision to allow for public notice and input. An article on the meeting generated interest by other dam defenders, including descendants of the Wehr family.

The state had recently inspected the dam, and found it to be in good condition.  They identified a small crack on one face that needed to be addressed, and some bank erosion downstream that also needed attention. It is rated a low hazard dam because a failure would have no consequence or risk to people or private property.  It was originally overbuilt as a promo for the local fledging cement industry. It is a massive concrete wedge sitting on a massive concrete platform.

The Wildands commissioned a study which was intended to show how expensive repairing the dam would be.  Although the water at the foot of the dam is only a few inches deep, they even hired a scuba driver.  They presented the commissioners a report showing that it would cost close to a million dollars to restore the dam. Never mind that there was no necessity or reason to restore a low hazard scenic dam to as new condition.  While the commissioners were actually on board with demolishing the dam, by now there were political considerations. Thousands of people had rallied in defense of the dam, and over a hundred were now attending the meetings. The commissioners decided to commission their own study, again designed to encourage demolition. The new study put the cost of restoration at 600K, again unnecessarily rebuilding a portion of the low hazard dam. When the commissioners put the issue to voter referendum, they never expected the voters to approve the cost and possible tax increase. It was their plan that the voters would decide to do away with the dam, at no political consequence to themselves.

The Wildlands Conservancy started undermining the dam by sending their engineering reports to Harrisburg, which is anti-dam anyway. South Whitehall should have never condoned the Wildlands interfering with the legal status of township property.  But rather than reprimand the Wildlands,  the park director, now public works director of the township, awarded them the contract to oversee the Greenway Project in the park. 

It took me five years and three editors at the Morning Call to get a story about the dam. Although I provided the reporter with all the information, they chose to take all the inflated costs at face value. If it is naive on their part, or covering up for the Wildlands and establishment,  I do not know. There will be a new board of commissioners starting in 2022...Hopefully they will defend the dam with Harrisburg, and save the taxpayers some unnecessary expense preserving our history.

pictured above in 2014, I'm starting the fight to save our dam

Morning Call Whitewashes Wehr's Dam

The reporter in yesterday's Morning Call article about Wehr's Dam went out of her way not to mention me. I say this because for five years I have been urging the paper to write about the status of the dam's repair.  After a heated discussion with the current editor this past February, he finally assigned a reporter to the topic, one year after agreeing to do so in February of 2020.  Although the reporter did use some material that I supplied her with, and she did interview a former commissioner I recommended,  for an advocate in her article she used someone not involved with the issue since 2016.  I suspect that the reluctance against mentioning me came from her boss's attitude about me and other bloggers. 

Worse than my slighted ego is the whitewashing of what has transpired, and the chicanery of the Wildlands Conservancy.  The reporter quotes a Wildlands director saying... 

“We don’t go pushing it if it’s not wanted,” she said. “It’s really the township’s call."

Actually, they did go pushing, and they pushed very hard.  The Wildlands communicated with the state back channel attacking the structural integrity of the dam.  The reporter knows this, because I supplied her with copies of the letters.

The only reason the township is beginning the repair permit procedure is because one of the main Wildlands supporters, Tori Morgan, lost the primary election.  However,  the director of public works in the township, Randy Cope, continues to stall, because he is the son of a former Wildlands director and joined at the hip with them.

Had the Wildlands Conservancy not muddied the waters with the state, the dam repair would have cost 50K and been done five years ago.  It will now cost 700k and take years.

photocredit:Gregg Obst

ADDENDUM: In the last state inspection all the state wanted was one small crack filled in, and the one bank downstream fixed. The township allowed the Wildlands Conservancy to go back-channel with the state DEP, and raise numerous superfluous issues in an attempt to fiscally condemn the dam. We will now have a dam way over-repaired, costing the taxpayer 10 times more than necessary. Hopefully the new commissioners will reconsider the township's relationship with the Wildlands Conservancy.

The Vegetable Gardens Of Allentown

When Charles M. Ritter passed away in 1964, his obituary headlined that he was a star athlete at Allentown High School when graduating in 1910. He spent most of his working career at Kuhns and Shankweiler, a major men's clothing emporium at 7th and Hamilton. In 1948 he was president of the Kiwanis Club.  During that era,  many men belonged to one service club or another.

He and his wife Anne lived near 12th and Linden, where his row house yard was dominated by a summer vegetable garden.  They had an outside cellar entrance,  basement stove and sink to facilitate canning vegetables.  

Their long, old harvest table shown above probably came from his rural childhood home in Orefield.  By summer's end it was covered with mason jars filled with vegetables, like those grown in hundreds of other backyard gardens across Allentown.

Morning Call Malarkey

Mike Miorelli published an editorial on Sunday about the charges against Ce-Ce Gerlach. He defended the paper not publishing the allegations against her before the election...  But there was never a political consideration given to not publishing that story. We would have done the same for any politician, or official for that matter, of either party.

Mr. Miorelli, not quite for any politician. You certainly didn't extend that courtesy to Emma Tropiano, when you assigned a reporter to ambush her at the Women's Club debate.

You certainly didn't extend that courtesy to me in 2005,  when your daily debate promo only showed pictures of two candidates, when there were three on the ballot. In addition to excluding me from the mayoral debate, you never ran a profile on me, or published my picture.

You certainly didn't hesitate to write an explosive article about Marty Northstein, right before the congressional election.

Mike Miorelli can claim that the paper treats everybody fairly, but its victims know better.  

UPDATE JULY 6: Blogger Bernie O'Hare reacts to Miorelli's explanation.

A Fixture of Hamilton Street's Past

The store cabinet shown above began its commercial life at Edwin H.Young's,  one of Allentown's first drug stores, located at 639 Hamilton Street. At some point in the mid 1930's Lloyd Buchman acquired the shelf and drawers for his book store at 920 Hamilton Street.  Aral Hollenbach acquired the business from Buchman's widow, Florence, and moved it to 1021 Hamilton.  After Hollenbach died, his widow Naomi continued operating the store, still called Buchman's, and stayed in business until the mid 1990's.

The drawer and shelf unit, with such a long Allentown history, is for sale by Alderfer Auction this coming Thursday.

Link to sale. 

Ce-Ce's Morning Call Merry-Go-Round

Just when I thought I was done writing about Ce-Ce Gerlach and The Morning Call, another doozy graces the paper... Paul Muschick, the columnist with whom I usually agree,  defends the embattled council woman. He thinks that she shouldn't resign, even citing that Pawlowski stayed on as mayor until forced out by his court conviction.  He argues that Ce-Ce hasn't been convicted yet, and is henceforth entitled to retain her council seat. I wish that columnist Paul was writing satire, but unfortunately he's serious.

Paul Muschick sets the Allentown governance bar pretty low when Pawlowski is the gold standard. Paul cites that you're innocent until proven guilty, but in Ce-Ce's case she has admitted dropping the boy off at the tent city and not reporting it, which is illegal for a social worker.

Ce-Ce championed for increased social worker response, financed by defunding the police, but ironically personified the weakness with that ill-conceived theory. 

The Morning Call has taken to printing exclusive reports, only visible to paying subscribers.  That  strategy eludes me as a business incentive.  In the case of this particular column by Muschick, perhaps paying customers shouldn't have to see it.

The Morning Call Massaging

The Morning Call has been massaging the local news over the decades... Yesterday's Ce-Ce Gerlach story is just one of the latest examples. When the paper gets caught in these awkward positions, they do damage control. Yesterday they put Gerlach's disclaimer in their headline... I have not committed any crimes.  The paper knows that it has already been established that she dropped the boy off at the tent city, and that as a mandated reporter she failed in her duty, and that is legally a crime.  Nevertheless, they printed her disclaimer in the headline as damage control, not for Gerlach, but for themselves.  Ce-Ce was one of their go to people, whom they have quoted dozens of times about affordable housing.

But exactly who is the Morning Call? The Morning Call for the last number of years is mostly Mike Miorelli. As the long time editor, and now as publisher, these omissions and decisions reflect his opinions.  The amount of verification necessary for a story depends on his attitude about the person or topic.  While I disagree with him, and him with me, on numerous topics,  I must admit he still puts out a good paper with ever decreasing facilities and staff.

AMENDMENT JULY1, 2021: A lot happened overnight at virtual 6th & Linden....The corner is still there, but the paper isn't. Emperor Miorelli has now given Gerlach the thumb down, and the new city beat reporters (Shortell and Hall) have started to dig her political grave.  I seldom now link to Morning Call stories because too many of my readers hit a paywall, and recently the paper has started exclusive articles, only visible to their subscribers.

Morning Call's Go To People

I have often complained about the Morning Call's go to people.  They ask the same people over and over for their opinion about certain topics....Tony Iannelli about business, Alan Jennings about the poor, Chris Borick about politics and Ce-Ce Gerlach about the NIZ and affordable housing.

While Ce-Ce came in fourth in the May 18th mayoral primary,  many had considered her the person to beat. While the separate candidate election treatment was fair enough,  Ce-Ce's name had long become a regular in the paper.

When the news broke today about Ce-Ce being charged by District Attorney Jim Martin for her less than responsible action with a runaway youth,  frankly, I suspected that the paper had purposefully sat on the story until after the election.  However, I've been assured by the reporter that although the allegations were widely known on facebook and O'Hare's Ramblings,  they could not be confirmed independently by the paper.

I do believe the reporter that he couldn't go with a story that couldn't be confirmed.  Unrelated to the Ce-Ce story, there will now be a new reporter for the city (Allentown) beat, because the current one is coincidentally taking a management offered buyout.*  He hadn't been on the job long enough to have what I would consider institutional knowledge of the city or players. The same was true for his predecessors...it has been at least a decade since anyone had the beat long enough to know the back stories.  That problem with the paper only gets worse.

* The city beat reporter's departure actually occurred this past Friday, but he is credited as a contributor to today's MC story.

UPDATE 5:25 PM:  The Morning Call story has been amended with quotes from both Gerlach and her attorney, but with no indication of such amendment.  Ironically, Gerlach's attorney calls the charges politically motivated.  From my viewpoint,  the editor not insisting on the story before the election, despite it breaking on social media in early May, was politically motivated. 

Blogger LVCI also reports on the Gerlach case

UPDATE JUNE 30 1:58AM: In addition to the Morning Call updating the story, they also changed the headline to include Gerlach's denial of any criminal act. After using Gerlach as one of their go to people for so long, the charges must be awkward for the paper. Blogger Bernie O'Hare also notes the paper's shortcomings in regard to Gerlach in his post today.

The Fountain Pool Of My Youth

While I've been involved in many issues in Allentown over the years, defending the park system of my youth is the one I find the most rewarding.  It's not my personal memory lane I care about, but rather an iconic park system that was in itself a designation. 

I remember the picture postcard racks in the dime stores on Hamilton Street.  They were full of postcards of the Allentown parks,  including the rose garden, and along the different creeks. The card shown above is the former Fountain Park Pool, now closed for many years.  Although most of my swims took place at Cedar Beach Pool,  our gang would visit the other four pools when one of us could borrow the family car.

Although budget and staffing concerns have closed several of the pools, wanton destruction now ruins the remaining.  Cedar Beach had to close because of broken glass in the pool. The spray park at Bucky Boyle closed because of a contaminant dumped into the drain. 

We're now in an era when we need police in the schools.  I suppose we'll soon need them at the park pools as well.

Around The Corner

Yesterday's post about the zoning hearing for Rite-Aid, out on North 7th Street, showed a classic 1950 black and white photograph of Hamilton Street. Today, we go right around the corner, on South 7th Street. Being the oldest blogger in the valley, and being an aficionado of old photographs, you will be submitted to these excursions. Before we begin, a few notes about yesterday's image. Notice that there are many more shoppers on the north side of Hamilton, than the south. This phenomenon always existed. Were the better stores on the north side? Real estate prices and rents were always higher on the Hess's side. OK, lets go around the corner. The Suburban Line Bus is getting ready to head west, the county poor home being the last stop; Today it is known as Cedarbrook. The Lehigh Valley Transit Company had their main stop a block west, on S. 8th Street. The bus is parked in front of the YMCA, which housed a market at street level. If the photograph was extended on the right side, you would see the monument. Across Hamilton Street is Whelan Drug Store, that location currently occupied by a bank. The billboard above, then advertising local Neuweiler Beer, was a prime sign location. Behind the drug store stands the Dime Bank, which will remain as part of the new transformational Arena Complex. Glad you could join me, now get off the bus, and back into 2011.

reprinted from November of 2011