The Mad Men Of Allentown

Back in the day, the titans of Allentown would fill the five barberchairs of the Colonial Barbershop, 538 Hamilton Street. That was when the town had three department stores. That was when Wetherhold and Metzger had two shoe stores on Hamilton Street. That was when Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Livingston Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. By 1995 all that was gone, but Frank Gallucci, 82, would still give some old timers a trim. The Colonial Barbershop property, closed for many years, has been purchased by J.B. Reilly. It is my pleasure to present this previously unseen portrait of Gallucci, toward the end of his career.

photocredit:molovinsky

reprinted since 2013

ATTENTION: Any local candidate for the November 2021 election is welcome to forward a short position piece for publication.

Our Elected Goodness Squad

While I normally maintain a firewall between Molovinsky Property Management and Molovinsky On Allentown,  a recent letter to the editor must be addressed.  County Commissioner David Harrington and City Councilman Joshua Siegel recently wrote that tenants being evicted should be represented by public defenders. 

As a manager involved in evictions over the decades, I can attest to the fact that a large segment of tenants don't pay rent out of choice, rather than any hardship, even during the pandemic.  A public defender is a lawyer paid for by the taxpayers. Needless to say their first move would be to request a continuation, or more time and loss for the property owner. Most property owners never recover the rent not paid prior to eviction. Landlords have been squeezed between the eviction moratorium and municipalities & banks wanting their taxes and mortgage payments.

While the public at large never loses sleep over the problems faced by landlords, if Harrington and Siegel had their way, they would be subsidizing the delinquent tenants.  With so many businesses not being able to find employees to hire, we know that there are people eagerly milking the pandemic.

Taxpaying homeowners should also wonder what else these elected officials are being so generous about with their money.

ATTENTION: Any local candidate for the November 2021 election is welcome to forward a short position piece for publication.

The Trexler Greenhouse

The former greenhouse at the current Trexler Park was the pride of Harry and Mary Trexler. The General was very specific in his will about its future;

I, Harry C. Trexler declare this to be my last Will and Testament: ......into the Treasury of the City of Allentown, for the perpetual maintenance of said Park, (Trexler) as well as the Greenhouse thereon located. This bequest shall include all the plants and other contents of said Greenhouse (1929)

Although nobody in charge of Allentown remembers, the greenhouse was a thing of wonder... Full of banana trees and other tropical plants, it was a true escape from winter for all visitors. The park director at the time touted all the money in maintenance to be saved if it was demolished. A couple years later the same director replanted the creek banks by the intersection of Cedar Crest Blvd. and Cetronia Rd.. That planting cost $750,000. I recall the price, because Longwood Gardens built a new greenhouse for that same amount, we had just lost our greenhouse, and only had a new creek weedwall to show in its place.  

Several years ago Allentown Park Department cut down all those plantings, and we now have nothing to show for our loss of the greenhouse. Even back then, I was an advocate for the traditional park system. Current visitors to Trexler Park don't notice that the weed wall has been cut down, and certainly don't know that they lost a beautiful greenhouse in the backstory.

reprinted from 2014. Postcard of Trexler duckpond from the glory days of the Allentown Park System

ATTENTION: Any local candidate for the November 2021 election is welcome to forward a short position piece for publication.

Allentown Archeology

When it comes to the history of industrial Allentown, the railroad buffs are among the current experts. Our heavy manufacturing base moved it's materials on the tracks of several railroads. The Front Street area was crisscrossed with tracks and sidings. The West End Branch ran along Sumner Avenue, crossed Tilghman Street, looped around 17th Street and ended near 12th and Liberty. The Barber Quarry Branch ran along the Little Lehigh until it then followed Cedar Creek. It crossed Hamilton Street near the current Hamilton Family Restaurant and ended at what is now the Park Department Building. The rail buffs are current day archeologists, looking for remnants of those glory days. Shown above is a portion of the Barber Quarry pier and track. This is at the bottom of Lehigh Street hill, near the former bank call center, near the former Acorn Hotel, in a former city still called Allentown.
photo courtesy of Mike Huber, Coplay
related posts
The Train of Lehigh
Parkway
The World of Mirth
Lehigh Valley Railroad Piers
Depot at Overlook Park

ADDENDUM: This remnant of the previous railroad bridge is part of the Wire Mill Bridge over the Little Lehigh 

reprinted from 2011 

ADDENDUM: Any local candidate for the November 2021 election is welcome to forward a short position piece for publication.

Only The Best For Public Housing

For an Allentown historian with an interest in photography, the photo above is as good as it gets; Eleanor Roosevelt visiting Hanover Acres, Allentown's new public housing project in 1942.  Paul Carpenter has a column where he brooded about public housing recipients complaining that they can't smoke, while living on our dime. I'll do him one better. They're now griping about it in new housing, Overlook Park. Hanover Acres and the newer project, Riverview Terrace, were both torn down several years ago to construct new townhouses. It's supposedly a mixed income project, with homes both for sale, and Section 8 rentals.

Over the years Hanover Acres became a "terrible" place to live, a crime-ridden eyesore. Overlook Park, the $88 million development that's sprung up in its place, however, is "beautiful." Daniel R. Farrell, executive director of the Allentown Housing Authority, described turning Hanover Acres into Overlook Park as "an amazing transformation."The development features 269 rental apartments and room for 53 single-family homes.

It was built by Pennrose Properties, which specializes in politically correct and politically connected housing for profit. They have done well in Allentown with Mayor Ed. Not long before Hanover and Riverview were demolished, they were completely remodeled, with high end kitchen cabinets and counters. Shown below is yours truly, in Little Lehigh Manor, built in 1944. Those brick houses of the same vintage are still new enough for home buyers today. Most of Allentown's existing row houses were built between 1895 and 1930. If Carpenter is upset about smoking, he should drive over to Overlook Park and see what they're now smoking in.

reprinted from July of 2012

Depot At Overlook Park

Old timers have noticed that the contractor's building on Hanover Avenue transformed into a community center for Overlook Park. But only the oldest, or train buffs, realized that the building was the freight depot and office for the Lehigh & New England Railroad. Lehigh & New England was formed in 1895, primarily as a coal carrier. The line ran from Allentown to Maybrook, New York.

In 1904 it was acquired by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The line ceased operation in 1961. Among it's infrastructure were impressive bridges across both the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, both of which were dismantled. Ironic that a remnant of our industrial era is being utilized by the successor of a public housing project.

reprinted from February of 2011

Mike Schlossberg For Himself

In an exchange this weekend on facebook, Mike Schlossberg revealed that he is opposed to the most sought after reforms in the State House. He said these are things that he doesn't want to do.  He is against term limits, or reducing the statehouse size, and would happily fight against such reforms.

In December of 2015 he was caught ghost voting, which is reaching over and casting the vote of someone not present. The missing representative confirmed that Schlossberg did not have his permission.

Schlossberg typifies the worse problems in Pennsylvania state government...Career politicians focused on their pensions, not value for the taxpayers. Consequently, we have one the highest income tax rates, one of the highest gasoline tax rates, and one of the largest state houses.

Quick To Cast Judgement

Allentown's upcoming squad of political hopefuls is very quick to cast judgement. When a school board member cited systemic racism in defending a salary, and I used the word reparations in a blog title,  I found myself on the wrong end of their bullhorn. Never mind that the blog premise was overpaying for unknown results, they were eager to brand someone. 

Joining the fray was none other than vote seeker state rep Mike Schlossberg.  He took the opportunity to comment that just because a person has a blog doesn’t mean they have an opinion with any value.  I think the same can be said about of the opinions stated by some state representatives. 

While there certainly isn't anything wrong with people in positions of leadership looking like the majority of citizens they serve, such as with new police chief Charles Roca, making that the criterion can be very limiting. In regards to the school district, the school board was obsessed with the superintendent "looking" like the students, as if the students ever knew who the super was anyway.

Allentown To Pay Dearly For New Superintendent

Allentown School District has stepped up dearly by giving the new school superintendent a salary($230,000) beyond the average taxpayer's dreams. It is  probably beyond the new superintendent's dreams also, because it exceeds what his superiors were earning back in Ohio. 

School board member Phoebe Harris defended the salary because of the years of systemic racism. She believes that we are paying up for the best. Mr. Stanford may turn out to be the best, but needless to say that should be determined by performance and longevity, not proclamation. Sorry to report that the board's decision was unanimous.

On the bright side, for both reason and taxes, former school board member Bob Smith Jr., (who is running again for his old position), criticized the starting salary as ridiculous. 

ADDENDUM: This morning, when this post was placed on an Allentown issues group, it created quite a controversy. An Allentown activist declared that the title was a slap to the face of every black person in Allentown. The premise of the post was that the new unproven superintendent was being paid or overpaid an incredibly high salary. The genesis of the early morning quippy title was the school director citing systemic racism in the discussion defending the salary. I hope that black readers take the title as unintentionally insensitive,  as opposed to an intended slap. 

UPDATE 3:46: State Rep Mikey Schlossberg decided to join the fray and accuse me of racism. I can only hope that if he writes such a resolution, that he only votes on it once. In the back and forth, he didn't acknowledge my comments about his ghost voting.

UPDATE 9/25/21: I modified the post title to end the distraction from the salary issue.  If the new super works out, how much will they have to pay him at the contract renewal? How much will it cost for parity in the administration office?

Phoebe Harris shown above in 2017

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 Molovinsky,

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

A Personal Memoir

I'm not sure memoir is a good title, rather than facts and records, I have hazy recollections. Assuming my memory will not improve at this stage of the game, let me put to print that which I can still recall. In 1960 my father built Flaggs Drive-In. McDonalds had opened on Lehigh Street, and pretty much proved that people were willing to sit in their cars and eat fast food at bargain prices. For my father, who was in the meat business, this seemed a natural. As a rehearsal he rented space at the Allentown Fair for a food stand, and learned you cannot sell hotdogs near Yocco's. He purchased some land across from a corn field on Hamilton Blvd. and built the fast food stand. In addition to hamburgers, he decided to sell fried chicken. The chicken was cooked in a high pressure fryer called a broaster, which looked somewhat like the Russian satellite Sputnik. The stand did alright, but the business was not to my father's liking, seems he didn't have the personality to smile at the customers. He sold the business several years later to a family which enlarged and enclosed the walk up window. Subsequent owners further enlarged the location several times. The corn field later turned into a Water Park, and you know Flaggs as Ice Cream World.

I'm grateful to a kind reader who sent me this picture of Flaggs

reprinted since 2009

ADDENDUM: Allentown and its environs have changed considerably in the last 60 years. While Yocco's is still a very viable business in the suburbs, the center city demographic changes no longer supported selling hot dogs at 625 Liberty Street. After 85 years, that store closed in the summer of 2016.  Flaggs (Ice Cream World), rather than being outside of town, is now on the way to Hamilton Crossings.

Have Wrench, Will Travel

During the Pawlowski regime, the city vehicle maintenance contract was given to the mercenary contractor Constellis, which had absorbed the infamous Blackwater soldiers of fortune. 

One division of Constellis dedicated to such vehicle contracts is named Centerra. The annual Allentown contract is for $2.4 million, plus additional expenses. 

When the FBI came to Allentown to investigate Pawlowski the potential menu was very long, eight years of contracts. I was told recently by some current and former city workers that their work is sometimes hindered by a shortage of working vehicles. Also this summer Centerra employees threatened to strike over wages, supposedly less than industry standards. Ironically, their quest for higher wages was supported by the local municipal union and city council members, which will eventually increase the cost of privatization. 

While the current contract is good through 2023, hopefully the new mayor will evaluate what option is actually in the city's best interest.

Manny Pacquiao Not First Boxer To Run For President

In California these days, everybody walks around with a yoga mat strapped to their back. That certainly wasn't the case in the 1930's, when heavyweight contender Lou Nova studied yoga. Nova was the World Amateur Heavyweight Champion and a proponent of clean living. He won his first twenty two fights as a professional. His promoters said he perfected the Cosmic Punch. Only 6'2", he fought in the era of giants. He handed giant Abe Simon his first defeat after thirteen victories, eleven by knockout. Nova knocked out 6'4'' Max Baer twice. The 1939 knockout is one second away, in the above photograph. Baer himself had won the championship by knocking out Primo Carnera, the Italian giant who was 6'6" and weighed 284 lbs. Baer lost the championship to the Cinderella Man, Jim Braddock. Joe Louis took the belt from Braddock and held it for twelve years, being arguably the best fighter in history. Clean living didn't serve Lou Nova so well with the notorious dirty fighter Two Ton Tony Galento. Galento almost gouged his eye out, putting him in the hospital for weeks. Nova got his shot with Louis on September 29, 1941, but fell in six. Nova would go on to act in movies and even was a write-in candidate for President of the United States. He dropped out of the campaign because his mother was afraid he would catch a cold shaking so many hands. She wasn't afraid of him being in the ring with some of the toughest men in the world.

reprinted from December of 2012

Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan on born on a kibbutz near the Sea of Galilee in 1915. When he was 14, he joined the outlawed Haganah, an underground defense force to protect Jewish settlements from Arab attacks. Although caught and imprisoned by the British for two years, he would fight for them in Lebanon during WWII, losing his eye. In the 1948 War of Independence, he fought on all the fronts defending Israel... By 1953 he was Chief of Staff of the Israeli Armed Forces. In 1956 he led the Suez Campaign.

In 1967 he was Defense Minister for the Six Day War. He remained in that position through the War of 1973. Although a genuine hero in every sense of the word, he was held responsible for the initial success of Egyptian forces in the surprise attack on Yom Kippur (1973), and would resign from his position.

Israel is too small of a country and its enemies too numerous, for any miscalculations regarding its security.

reprinted from April 2010

Ezekiel's Tomb

Ezekiel's Tomb is south of Baghdad, in Al Kifl. The tomb dates back to the 6th Century B.C., during the Babylonian exile. Prior to creation of Israel in 1948, 100,000 Jews still remained in Iraq; Today, there are eight.

Last year Hebrew lettering was covered over in fresh plaster, in a process to turn the ancient Jewish shrine into a mosque. Fortunately, word leaked back to Israel and to the Jews of Iraqi descent. That community's history in Iraq spanned 2,700 years, 1,000 years before the birth of Islam. The renovation is now under international scrutiny, and hopefully the Jewish elements will remain. The photo shows Iraqi Jews in front of the tomb in 1932.

Conflicting reports: There are conflicting reports, both about the condition and intentions for the shrine. Here is an article from The Jerusalem Post, dated May 2010, which claims that there has been no damage (recent) to Jewish inscriptions.
NY Times recent article, Oct. 19, 2010

reprinted from previous years

this post was pre-programmed to post on September 16

In The Public's Best Interest

I always snicker when I read that J. B. Reilly's latest proposal has to go in front of this commission or that committee. None of those appointed puppies have ever turned down one of Reilly's NIZ projects.  Shown above is the frame and plywood construction of the Strata Flats building #1. Many years ago when I built a very small four unit building in center city, I was told it had to be all masonry to meet fire codes.

The other day Matt Tuerk praised Reilly's City Center Development Company's completion of the Lanta Terminal. The terminal was reconfigured so that City Center itself could build yet another apartment complex. The compliment bothered me, because Matt may be Allentown's next mayor.  Councilperson Candida Affa followed suit with a comment that City Center gets it done right and fast. Our public officials and the people that they appoint are supposed to scrutinize development and construction in our city.  It is inappropriate for them to hold preconceived ideas that someone always does the job correctly.

Candida Affa was Ed Pawlowski's biggest fan on council, and the last member to concede that he violated the city's trust.  City Center construction may indeed do good work, but taking that for granted is not good policy.

This post is not meant to imply that plywood plaza shown above does not meet current codes. However, in this era of public/private partnerships, it is not in the public's interest to make assumptions that everything will done properly.

photo of Plywood Plaza aka Strata Flats

The Misconception Of Hamilton Street

There's not many mid size cities that can boast having two national chain stores within one center city block, Allentown could. Not too many cities could say that one of those stores was one of the biggest producers in a chain of over 7000 stores, Allentown could. There's not many cities that are ignorant enough to tear down their most successful block, a virtual tax machine, Allentown is. This horrible mistake took a combination of political arrogance and public misconception. The arrogance is well known, so let me concentrate on the misconception. The perception was a few undesirable people, buying cheap things. The reality is Family Dollar sells the same merchandise in their suburban and rural stores. Rite Aid fills the same prescriptions and sells their standard merchandise. The new upscale stores, visioned for the arena front, will never produce the sales tax produced by Family Dollar and Rite Aid. The arena will never have that amount of employees, nor produce that much earned income.* The traffic congestion and lack of parking for arena events will destroy the new restaurants. Welcome to the white elephant, welcome to the ghost town.
Shown above and below is the early morning delivery to Family Dollar, every week of the year.
*sales tax and earned income currently going to city and state will now go to debt service for arena
reprinted from December 5, 2011

ADDENDUM OCTOBER 8, 2019: While The Morning Call promotes Allentown's new NIZ zone, only this blogger documented the reality of the former Hamilton Street. While the Moravian Book Store could have been restocked from a small hand basket once a month, the previous Family Dollar Store needed a full tractor trailer every Sunday.  Retail is virtually destroyed on Hamilton Street. Over seven years later, and the Morning Call is still deceiving about Hamilton Street, and this blog is still delivering the truth.

City Hall Insults The Neighborhood

This is a post which I spend a week trying not to write. It is a story of favoritism and abuse of power. About four years ago a homeowner, in a quiet south side neighborhood, moved out and rented the house to his brother. Under Allentown regulations this property hence became a rental property, and subject to license and inspection procedures. As it turns out, these brothers are childhood friends with an Allentown inspector. The second brother, the tenant, has been disruptive in the neighborhood by every criterion relevant to code enforcement. The property became unkempt and subject of numerous police calls, including the SWAT team. All calls for relief from surrounding properties seemed to end up with the family's inspector friend, and brought no relief from the problems. Allentown has been very pro-active with problem properties. In the first eight months of 2010, 342 properties received orange tags, forcing the property to be vacated. Most tags were issued for problems significantly more minor than those occurring in the subject of this post. This past October, the bank foreclosed on the property. The tenant legally became a squatter. A neighbor's complaint resulted in another inspector discovering that the bank owned property was an unregistered rental, and he issued a 30 day to vacate tag for illegal occupancy. It appeared that finally the neighbors would get relief from the trash, noise and police calls. The childhood friend inspector intervened, and the 30 day notice was never enforced. My efforts with the inspector on behalf of the other property owners (including myself) were to no avail. I have spent the week documenting the problem up the chain of command, right to the Mayor's office. Although the property is in gross violation of code, the illegal tenant is allowed to remain. Although in the last eight months police have surrounded the property several times in complete violation of the disruptive tenant ordinance, the occupant remains. In typical City Hall fashion, they have circled the wagons around the inspector, around their own. They are now actually trying to work with the bank and make him the homeowner. The top photo is the back yard on May 9, 2011, with years worth of garbage. You will be happy to know that a city contractor has now been hired to clean the property and cut the grass, at your expense. The City's course of action is a total insult to the neighbors. I did see some inspectors today, they were walking around my property. 

UPDATE: I understand that the occupant is a disabled US Veteran so that may have played into the equation. City Official June 16, 2:02pm Mr. XXXX, I understand that he is a disabled veteran. I don't know if you have received all my emails, first to the inspector, then XXXX, then XXXX. Two years ago I had to treat his unattended green swimming pool with bleach, (because the city complaint was repressed) last year I had to paint his totally peeled porch.... He has no legal basis in that house whatsoever..... Frankly, the situation is an outrage. You may want to check the police reports. Twice police have surrounded the house in the last 8 months alone... Is this social work or code enforcement? Michael Molovinsky p.s.. he is not physically disabled, and I don't know if his mental health issues are military related, nor is it relevant to code enforcement. I do know that he is family friends with an inspector who has put myself and other neighbors off for years. He is the same inspector who has issued hundreds of orange tags to other properties in the same period for much less problems. Being a disabled veteran is not the reason for this favoritism, but the excuse now being used. I have no doubt that at least some of the hundreds and hundreds of units vacated by the same inspector, also housed a few disabled veterans.

above reprinted from June of 2011

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 13, 2021: During the Pawlowski regime, city code enforcement was weaponized.  As both a landlord and blogger, I took on substantial personal risk to expose the Pawlowski regime for its corruption.  While the Morning Call borrowed some my other blog posts without attribution, they never once used ones about city hall shenanigans...That's why Pawlowski got away with things for so long. 

I'd like to tell you that city hall is completely cleaned up, but it isn't. Just two years ago I had to defend an east side woman from code abuse. While things are certainly better at city hall, it's still filled with people who were appointed and promoted during Pawlowski's three terms. While there's still a residual arrogance of power there, I'm hopeful for a more accountable city hall as time passes.  

Although the years have slowed this blog down somewhat, I'm still on patrol.

Morning Call Pushing Pinsley

The Morning Call editors continue to publicize Mark Pinsley, trying to help him fulfill his current quest to become a state senator.  They are currently using bold type for Pinsley's name on his letter to the editor, featuring it on their digital version. Normally those blocks do not contain a letter writer's name, much less in bold type, normally reserved only for a reporter's by-line.   

There's only two constants at the Morning Call anymore...A local political agenda, and the silence of the former and remaining staff. While a recently departed reporter told me that she was free to write what she chose,  she still put out the company line, even through she was being shown the door. I suppose even those recommendation letters have a price.

A Good Vote For The Wrong Reason

On Wednesday night Cynthia Mota made a good vote for the wrong reason. When voting for Charles Roca as the new police chief she said “We need our leaders to look like the people they’re serving and Chief Roca reflects that..." When a city puts color or ethnicity first before competence, it's compromising the best results for the citizens. 

This time for Cynthia Mota the result was good, which is more than can be said for many of her votes. During the Pawlowski corruption rampage, her first vote as a council person was for a private company to import garbage to Allentown, which they wanted to mix with sewage and burn for energy. Fortunately, that plant was never built because of funding shortages. She also nominated Hasshan Batts for replacement mayor after Pawlowski's resignation, without revealing that she worked for him. That conflict of interest story was first broken on this blog, and used by the Morning Call without attribution.

Roca appears to be an excellent choice for new chief. A Dieruff graduate, he rose through the department ranks. He's taking the top post for a very hardscrabble job. It burnt out his predecessor, who moved away to Mayberry. I for one will be giving the new chief latitude. I won't be looking at short term crime reports, but instead for long term trends.

photocredit:Wanda Genao de Salas

Violence And Tooth Fairies

When this blog first began in 2007, I would write about the poverty magnet.  Those bureaucrats and agencies set up to assist the poor managed to attract a lot of clients to Allentown. They offered free move in money and were very successful in their mission.... Allentown is now officially impoverished.  In addition to the poverty industry, we now have graduated into the violence industry.

We are told that if we redirect some of our policing funds to those agencies set up to combat violence, we will reduce crime in the community.  I will leave details of the program to those woke enough to believe in such notions.  However,  they might want to consider that despite spending $155 million dollars on such programs, Philadelphia had 500 killed from its 2,200 shootings last year.

Although I write about things which are thought about by many but left unsaid by most, I have no delusions about effecting change.  However, I will note that many who care about quality of life issues have already moved out of Dodge. 

artwork by Mark Beyer

The World Of Mirth

Allentown at one time had two very productive railroad branch lines; The West End, and the Barber Quarry. The Barber Quarry, for the most part, ran along the Little Lehigh Creek. It serviced the Mack Truck plant and Traylor Engineering on South 10th, and continued west until it turned north toward Union Terrace, last ending at Wenz's tombstone at 20th and Hamilton Streets. (years earlier it crossed Hamilton St. to the former bottling plant in the park dept. garage) The West End, for the most part, ran along Sumner Avenue, turning south and looping past 17th and Liberty Streets, ending near 12th St.

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

reprinted from 2010

photograph from the collection of Mark Rabenold

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 Takes Over South Whitehall Township

When the Wildands Conservancy placed the son of their Chief Financial Officer as park director about a decade ago, they never imagined that they would actually officially take over the township.  At that time the township was still being professionally managed, and positions were filled by job searches.  In the ensuing years, mostly under the leadership of Tori Morgan,  loyalty and obedience replaced professionalism.  When one director moved on, his assistance was moved up. When that person moved on, perhaps his secretary would then be appointed director.

Former park director Randy Cope, who morphed into public works director, is now the new township manager.  His father's Wildlands Conservancy was given the Greenway Project contract.  Their  deceitful backchannel communication with the state, trying to condemn Wehr's Dam financially,  has turned that $50k repair into an unnecessary $750k capital project. Cope never defended the dam's structural integrity, although he knows how massively overbuilt it is. In my world, rather than being promoted, he should have been fired.

I was hoping that with a couple new commissioners, and more to come, that South Whitehall was turning the corner from the Morgan era.

A new facebook friend on Allentown Chronicles suggested that I befriend both candidates for Allentown mayor, in order to help my WPA advocacy.  Although the advice is sound, she doesn't know me or this blog very well.  Likewise, although I was encouraged about the new faces on the South Whitehall dais,  their poor decisions will be front and center here.

ADDENDUM: I'm shown above at Wehr's Dam in 2014, when I started the fight to save the dam. At that time the commissioners were more than willing to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy and allow them to demolish the historic dam,  which was already a destination for over 100 years and the reason that Covered Bridge Park was created.  That 2014 fight resulted in the 2016 dam referendum, which the commissioners never expected to pass. It took me five years to get the Morning Call to write about the damn dam story, and then rather than report what really happened, they instead whitewashed what had occurred. 

The Great Allentown Fair

The Morning Call website is hosting an archive of Fair Pictures from over the years. Being a fan both of fair pictures and black and white photography, looking at the 111 photos presented was a treat.

The photo shown above, which I will get back to, reminded me of one of my unique fair experiences. In previous posts, I have discussed that both my father and myself had stands at the fair. While my father learned that you couldn't sell hotdogs near Yocco's, I learned that drunks leaving the beer garden loved to buy printed T-shirts.

But today's post has to with George Kistler, long time City Clerk during the 1950's and 60's. George loved the fair, and loved sharing his fascination with a large group of people. I was fortunate enough to be invited several times. The routine was always the same; Dinner at a local stand on the eastern side of the fairgrounds, followed by the wrestling show. I remember photographing Andre The Giant.

The Morning Call fair picture above is none other than Jim "Super Fly" Snuka, who was recently back in Allentown, for a most regrettable reason.

reprinted from September of 2016

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

All Inspiring Isn't

Allentown's new official slogan, All Inspiring,  isn't too inspiring at all, to me anyway.  As homeowners face a huge school tax increase, a new slogan is actually annoying. In what universe did the administration think that they should spend our money in that way? In addition to the new slogan, our squandered resources bought us a new logo, which graces new street banners. The banners are unimaginative, and the typeface is too small to read.

While I could have photographed one of the new banners for this post,  I decided on Charlie Tuna.  Many decades ago when Charlie was first introduced, he wasn't today's likable character.  Instead he would dress up and try to look good, while the narrator explained that Starkist wanted tuna that tasted good, not that just looked good.   

In fairness to those who think that a new city slogan isn't nonsense, I was also critical of City Without Limits, ten years ago when that brainchild was born.  In my world a city develops a reputation, it doesn't buy a slogan. Mayor O'Connell said that you wouldn't wear the same clothes for ten years, but then he's much better dressed than I am.

Perhaps as time passes the new slogan and banner will look better to me, but I doubt it.

Allentown Desecrates Its Dead

The sadness of having a loved one buried in Allentown's Fairview Cemetery never ends. After the initial grief, every visit to the unkempt cemetery adds salt to the wound.  Over a decade ago I tried to focus community attention to the poor conditions at the cemetery, including a Morning Call article.  A few years ago, Tyler Fatzinger's efforts cleaning up the cemetery resulted in another article.

A recent widower wrote, "Went to the cemetery today. It was so bad you could not see her grave with all the weeds and grass. Fairview cemetary is a joke. When are the politicians going to do something?" 

Fatzinger managed to get conditions at the cemetery on the radar with Sweep, the city code department which enforces lawn violations. While the neglect has been occurring for decades, the magistrate allowed the cemetery operator to request a continuation.

Buried at Fairview is the history of Allentown. Numerous mayors, Max Hess Senior, Jack Mack, John Leh and General Harry Trexler are among the notables buried there.    

It is past time for the mayor and city council to exert themselves about this continuing problem.

Courting Mediocrity In Name Of Wokeness

Allentown School System tabled naming the new elementary school after General Hays, a nurse who became the first woman general in the army.  An incredibly accomplished person, Hays would have been the first woman an Allentown School is named after.  Hays had served in WW2, Korea and Vietnam.  However Hays, who graduated Allentown High in 1938, had a defect, she was white.

The local black leaders want someone who reflects the current diversity of the system.  Rev. Gregory Edwards and Phyllis Alexander both wrote the school board complaining about Hays.

Perhaps they should name the school after Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.  She instructed the police force not to arrest for minor infractions, like theft and prostitution, during the virus crisis.  Large groups of young people were running amok in center city Philadelphia, scooping up everything their backpacks could hold. Meanwhile at City Hall, woke mayor Jim Kenney stayed silent about this decline in civilization. Only this weekend, after a merchant and citizen backlash, did Outlaw and Kenney finally reverse policy.

Philadelphia inner city kids were taught a bad lesson by their police commissioner and mayor. Likewise,  Allentown students are being neglected, not by a lack of computers, but of leadership by the school board. They had done well in choosing Hays, and should stick to their decision.  Character and accomplishment should be more important than complexion.

photo of Hays being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Westmoreland in 1971  

above reprinted from May of 2020

UPDATE AUGUST 27, 2021: The new school did end up being named after General Hays. However, the school board again has a major challenge, hiring a new superintendent. The previous one was hired because of his color, and only used the position as a stepping stone to a bigger district. Last time the board was obsessed that the new superintendent had to reflect the minority majority status of the district students, as opposed to competence being the yardstick. The three finalists this time have to submit a youtube interview.  Let's hope that video production technique, or background music,  isn't the new yardstick.

Lunch At Allen

Up to the mid 60's, students at Allen High could leave the building for lunch. Scattered in alleys around the the school, garages had been converted into lunch shops and hangouts. The Hutch was in the alley between 17th and West Streets, in the unit block between Hamilton and Linden. Suzy's was behind the Nurse's Dormitory, between Chew and Turner. Another was across Linden from the Annex. They all had the same basic decor, a few pinball machines, a few tables and a small lunch counter. Most of the business was during lunch period, and before and after school. It's my understanding that occasionally a kid or two would skip school and hangout all day. Today these garages, turned into luncheonettes, have long ago reverted back to garages. Most of the current residents of West Park probably don't even know about this commercial history right behind their houses. I missed photo day at Allen for my yearbook, but if anybody has a picture of the gang from the Hutch, I'd appreciate a copy.

reprinted from previous years

The Sunday Drive

My family wasn't much for recreation.  My father worked six days a week, from early morning until early evening.  We did go for a long car ride on Sundays.  Back then gasoline was cheap, and having no destination wasn't thought of as wasteful.  Children were more content to sit in the back seat and look out the window, now they want a video screen in the vehicle.



Even children's play then involved more imagination and interaction.  Howdy Doody was just a puppet on strings, who spend most of his time talking to an adult, Buffalo Bob, can you imagine?

 Sitting in that back seat in the mid fifties, I might well had



my "coonskin" hat with me.  Fess Parker was a genuine American hero.  It mattered little if he played both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, both were king of the wild frontier.  The ride probably lasted for two hours and then we would go to a restaurant to eat dinner.  Compared to now, there were very few restaurants.



My mother would cook all the other meals that week, and we probably ate out more than most.  Supermarkets were the new rage in food shopping, but the butcher, baker and candle stick maker were still going strong.  If my father headed west or south, chances are we ended up at Shankweiler's Hotel, famous for chicken and waffles.   They were at the intersection of Old 22 and Route 100.  The building still exists and currently is a bank.  The family also owned another hotel on Route 309, which had an adjoining Drive-In movie venue.



If my father headed north or east,  we would end up at Walp's, which was on the corner of Union Blvd. and Airport Road.  Walp's was a much more urban place.   While Shankweiler's was an old country inn,  Walp's was built as a modern restaurant.  I enjoyed those rides, they were a learning experience.

reprinted from previous years

The Fountain Park Flood Wall

Last week I used this photo in regard to the water lease controversy. It shows the rear of the Allentown water plant on Martin Luther King Drive. Although I identified the railroad track as part of the former Barber Quarry Spur route, a mystery remained. The rail line itself was on the south side of the Little Lehigh Creek. It would past Schreibers Bridge, and end up past Union Terrace, behind the present day Hamilton Family Dinner. An inquiry to Mark Rabenold, local train historian, was in order. Wow... that's a rare photo, indeed! What you have there is the remnant of the siding that used to cross a short trestle/bridge over the Little Lehigh creek and once serviced the city's water works. You're right in that it came off the Barber branch. According to Dave R. Latshaw's article on the Barber branch in the 1988 Proceedings of the Lehigh County Historical Society.

"Initially coal was unloaded from hopper cars standing on a siding located along the south bank of Little Lehigh Creek and was carried across the creek by donkeys pulling two-wheel carts over a bridge built by Col. Harry C. Trexler directly behind the pump station. In later years a conveyor operated by electricity hauled coal from cars spotted on branch track to storage bins at the pump station. Circa 1910, the water department constructed a railroad bridge from the branch to the pump station. This bridge allowed the movement of coal in hopper cars directly to the boiler house....In August 1936, because flooding of Little Lehigh creek on occasion threatened the pump station and filtration plant, municipal authorities approved construction of a flood wall along the creek's north bank. In addition, a pit was built to allow dumping coal between the tracks and a conveyor then lifted coal from the pit to a coal pile on the east side of the boiler house." "Because only one car could be dumped at a time, the branch train pushed a car loaded with pea coal to the dump pit at least twice per week." "Railroad service to the water department ended in the 1946-1947 era."

The wall, which still protects Fountain Park from flooding, was another project of the WPA. 

reprinted from April of 2013

The Perfect Storm

In August of 1955, the Lehigh Valley got hit with Hurricane Diane, one of the most powerful to ever hit the area. The flood stage reached by the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers has never been seen before or since. 

The Allentown Parks weathered the storm fairly well. Unfortunately now, fifty four years later, our beloved parks are about to be destroyed by the perfect storm. In 2005, for the first time ever, we elected an outsider for Mayor. In 2007 he hired an outsider for Park and Recreation Director. This gentleman, well qualified in recreation, has no background in parks. In 2002, because the Afflerbach Administration was misusing Trexler Trust funds for operational expenses, those funds were frozen by Court Order and accumulated. In 2005 The Trexler Trust paid for a study of appropriate park projects, done by an outside firm from Philadelphia, for future guidance on how its funds might be used; also during this year certain members of the Trexler Trust became involved in the effort to elect Pawlowski. By 2008 the Perfect Storm had formed to assault the historic view of our Park System; an outside park director, an outside mayor, a huge amount of money and a politically supportive Trexler Trust. The plans for Cedar Creek Park offend almost everybody who grew up in Allentown; most of us didn't learn of them until recently, long after they had been funded by City Council. They include a Destination Playground above Cedar Beach Pool and a Wedding Pavilion in the Rose Garden. Ironically, the Philadelphia Study, known now as the Master Plan, calls for less use in Cedar Park. 

The WildLands Conservancy will plant a Riparian Buffer Zone throughout the Park System. As these bushes grow higher, except for a few places, park goers will not be able to see or approach the creeks. As the Riparian Buffers grow wider, more recreational venues are planned in the remaining green spaces; including skateparks, additional parking lots, additional picnic pavilions and restrooms. The Conservancy refers to seeing the creek as the old fashioned English and French Park values. What the Conservancy fails to understand is that our parks are not wildlands, they are parks. What the mayor and park director fail to understand is that thousands of Allentownians treasure our old fashion park values. Although much of these projects will be funded by the Trexler Trust and other grants, the maintenance costs will be borne by the Allentown taxpayers. I and other old fashion types will continue in our attempt to defend our parks. 

Addendum: Of the $3.8 million dollars Mr. Weitzel was allocated to remodel our park system, $482,000.00 may be spent on professional services and consultation.

above reprinted from August 2009

UPDATE AUGUST 23, 2021: Twelve years later, and I'm still fighting for our former traditional park system. The Wildlands Conservancy and their riparian buffers have denied Allentonians view and access to the creeks for over a decade now.  Ironically, because the storm sewer system is piped under the buffers, directly into the creeks, the buffers serve no positive benefit. On the contrary, they become overgrown with invasive species. In compliance with a EPA recommendation to mitigate invasives,  the buffer was recently temporarily cut back in sections of Cedar Park near the Rose Garden. I continue to lobby the park department to groom the park as originally designed.

Pennsylvania's Plum System

Julio Guridy, Allentown's current longest standing council member, lost the vice presidency of council last night. Last year he lost the presidency, which is the current backdoor to being mayor. With Pawlowski's pending baggage, this could well be the year that a council president moves up, via resignation. However, don't cry for Julio, once Allentown's rising star. About a decade ago, the power brokers in Philadelphia got Julio appointed to the Joint Toll Bridge Commission, with which he has earned close to $100 grand a year ever since, for an unnecessary position, involving very little time.  These positions are political plums, and have existed in Pennsylvania forever.

above excerpted from January 2016

UPDATE NOVEMBER 28, 2019: The 2016 post above was not intended to disparage Julio Guridy, but rather the commission system in Pennsylvania.  A woman in Easton was just appointed to a commission by Governor Wolf, and is receiving congratulations by numerous political types, from both parties. Likewise, as with Julio,  this post is not meant to disparage the woman. Such appointments represent what is so wrong about this state. The congratulations represent what is so pervasive about the system. Wolf ran as a reformer for his first term, but quickly put aside any such notions.  One thing's for sure, nobody will be offering this blogger a no-show commission job for being a good boy. 

UPDATE AUGUST 20, 2021: When Julio lost his bid for mayor this past spring, he still retained the plum consolation prize, his state commission seat and check from Harrisburg. Julio has been collecting this check since 2005, when he was appointed by Rendell. While I don't blame Guridy for his good fortune, I do blame our state representatives for their silence about these commissions, and lack of any reform in Pennsylvania.

Hope And Opportunists

I have been impressed with acting police chief Charles Roca.  Yesterday he announced forming a Community Board to enhance rapport with the various neighborhoods.  The Morning Call, in covering the story, put loudly forward opportunist Hasshan Batts of Promise Neighborhood. They quoted Batts "..The police have the information and data and they can share with the community..." While Batts thinks that the police department should provide him with data to justify his ever increasing empire, Roca's intent was that the community will come forward with information to help investigate crimes. Batts called on the city to invest in programs. “It is the community’s role to nurture and support the village,” What Batts means is that the city should invest more in his organization. The Morning Call has the same old stale stable of people they quote for various topics...Unfortunately Batts is now their community crime go to person.

Roca is an experienced police officer who has been on the force more than nineteen years. While he knows that information about violence and shootings seldom come from affected neighborhoods,  the outreach nevertheless is a very positive gesture. Community activists, such as Wanda Genao de Salas, were hopeful about Chief Roca's visit to Stevens Park. The above photo is a screen grab from her facebook page.

The Bricks Of Allentown

When Mildred Gehman* portrayed the house on the southeast corner of 12th and Walnut Streets in 1950, it was already about 60 years old. Another 60 years have passed, and the house still looks the same today. The bricks of Allentown hold up well. Yesterday, as I passed the corner of Madison and Chew Streets, I noticed three buildings in a row wearing a new orange tag, Unfit for Human Habitation. I have seen many clusters of these orange tags. They are generally handed out to one unfortunate owner or another, by one inspector. Recently, I received a phone call from such a hapless owner. His two buildings were tagged for some superficial reason, such as peeling paint. Everybody knows who has painted, or paid to have his house painted, that the stuff starts peeling off in short order, since the lead and other emulsions have been removed. Back to hapless owner. Because his buildings were tagged, the tenants were forced to move. In addition to the disruption in the tenants lives, the owner was denied the income stream to meet his debt service. Upon completion of the work on the list, the inspector then created a new list upon re-inspection. The re-inspections required scheduling specific inspectors, such as plumbing and electric, and dragged out the time frame. The primary inspector then inflicted a third list on the owner. Over a year has passed, his two buildings remain vacant, and the owner is out over $Thirty thousand dollars. Buildings on 12th Street, just north of Chew, have been tagged so long that the orange is fading on the notices. The city can mistreat rental operators because the public has little to no sympathy for that class of ownership. Several years ago, Allentown passed a Point Of Sale inspection law, which requires inspections of all private houses for sale. Welcome to the bureaucracy. 

 *Mildred Gehman,1908-2006, starting teaching at the Baum Art School in 1946. At that time, Baum was on the southwest corner of 12th and Walnut Streets, across the street from the house shown above.

above reprinted from May of 2012

UPDATE AUGUST 18, 2021: While Allentown heralds the new Strata Lofts,  the prevailing attitude continues to blame the converted row-house small landlord for the demise of center city. The Progressive candidates lament the lack of affordable housing...They're wrong on both counts.  The small landlords are providing the services and housing that would otherwise be at public expense. Today's new lofts will be Allentown's future tenements soon enough.  

This blog was started in 2007 to scrutinize local government, and the newspaper reporting thereof. I've succeeded in earning the resentment of numerous elected officials and editors. Over the years I moved my soapbox to different corners to enhance exposure. Currently this blog continues to be produced each weekday.  Additionally,  the history posts and some tamer political ones, may appear on the facebook group Allentown Chronicles.