No Dutchmen Need Apply

Mildred and Milton are upset. They lived and worked their entire lives in Allentown. They both started working in sewing factories after high school and spend their working lives there. During the late 60's they owned their only car, and always lived in apartments. They never sought any help from the government, their culture taught them to make it do, use it up, wear it out and do without. When they heard about these new public housing apartments overlooking the Lehigh, they thought that would be a nice reward for a life of hard work. They were told it would take years,years they don't have, to get on the list. It's hard for them to understand how brand newcomers to the area go to the head of the line. They don't know about the poverty pimps, the social organizations, funded by grants; The professional advocates who know what buttons to push, who make a career out of political correctness. Maybe we need a Pennsylvania Dutch American Organization.

reprinted from 2007 and 2010 

ADDENDUM: Needless to say ,the previous times I published this piece some readers were offended by its bluntness. Here we are in 2017, and Mayor Pawlowski isn't even seeking Mildred and Milton's vote.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2021: Fourteen years later, and my 2007 post is more politically incorrect than ever. Mildred and Milton were real people, who never got into Overlook Park. Things come and go...The strawberry pie at Hess's, Roadside America and the Mildreds' and Miltons' of Allentown.

Allentown Before Crime Became Everyday

Shown above is a citizen certificate from Allentown's better days, before crime and violence were everyday occurrences.  Some civic cheerleaders, mostly newcomers,  think that the best days are now,  and that those of us who think otherwise must dwell in a house of negativity. 

The local culture has changed so much that rather than citizens reporting suspicious activity,  they won't even cooperate with police against actual crime, even if they're a victim. We have city council members supporting efforts to defund the police. 

In some communities on the west coast, where defund efforts are more prominent,  young shooters are being paid a monthly stipend of up to a $1000 a month not to shoot anybody. However,  to quality for the allowance, you must have already shot someone. Allentown has already committed a $million dollars of our federal grant money to privately run violence reduction programs, and $250,000 to study inequity in the city. Other local activists have started their own organizations and are queuing up for their grants. This nonsense is given legitimacy by the Morning Call, which repeatedly refers to these opportunists as activists. Their newly graduated cub reporters have no knowledge of Allentown last year, much less any institutional knowledge of the city.

Hope I don't come to look back on our present as the good old days, but that may well be in the cards.

certificate shown courtesy of Daniel Ruth, circa 1980

The Morning Call Marches Toward Garbage Can

When the woman from India called last month to offer me the Sunday paper for free, I told her not only didn't I want it, but that I would cancel my digital subscription if they ever put it on my driveway. Not only could she read the English script, but she understood my reply. 

Although i'm aging and it becomes more difficult to pick things up, I'm still a very early riser.  I have no need for a heavy newspaper out near the street, hours after I already read the digital version. On the contrary, disposing of it is a nuisance.  The woman from India who called yesterday could barely read the script, and didn't understand my English replies at all. After I told her I didn't want the free paper and delivery, she keep reading the script anyway, like a robot with poor English.

In today's paper, reconstituted Bill White is rehashing his hatred of long gone Emma Tropiano. While the newspaper still hasn't reported who finally won the third county judgeship (Ritter prevailed by 74 votes) it spends its limited resources and space with White's nonsense. 

As a local blogger, I maintain digital subscriptions to various sources. With the Morning Call, the annoyances are starting to outweigh their news.

Changing Justice In Allentown

My recent post, Losses For Allentown, mentioned incumbent District Justice Patti Engler losing her bench. The district magistrate system is our first line of defense against Allentown's growing criminality. It is before these district judges that defendants are brought to arraignment by the police department. 

In Allentown's past, district judges were often former policemen. I believe that it would be fair to label Engler's replacement, Linda Vega Sirop, as a social activist. During the campaign she promoted that she would be both the first Latina and first gay if elected.

Philadelphia is no longer the City Of Brotherly Love, unless you're Cain and Abel. The crime and murder rate is horrendous. Social progressives there in both the police and DA's office last year suspended arresting people for shoplifting, until the merchants were almost cleaned out. Philly's latest obsurdity is not enforcing minor traffic violators, because they target people of color too much. Let us hope that down Allentown's road our new district judges won't subvert the efforts of our police department.

ADDENDUM: Although my original premise for this post was that Vega Sirop might be too progressive for Allentown's good, in fairness, that may not be the case.  She's a strong woman, who was laser focused on obtaining this position. I suspect that she will take the judgeship as a sacred mission.

The Devil Of Ocean Paradise

The resort town's boardwalk is partially open during the cold winter months for the hardy of spirit.  The stores that remain open were purchased mostly by middle eastern immigrants, who overpaid for their piece of the American dream in the dying resort.  Their mortgage demands every nickel they can muster,  and their large families are eager to practice their broken English on the few customers willing to brave the boardwalk's cold winter wind.

All their stores sell the same things...  brightly colored candy, souvenirs and small toys designed to make children nag and beg.  Along with the stores there is a strip of game stands, where during the warm summer breezes,  fathers and boyfriends hope to win a stuffed animal.  During the winter, the steel garage doors are closed on all these stands, except for one.  The immigrants with their broken English cannot lure in players, but the Devil can.

Oversized brightly colored stuffed animals adorn the stand. Music from the 70's pulses from one loud speaker,  while the Devil commands the occasional passing man to "show her that you care by winning a bear."  Please don't misunderstand me, he is not Satan himself, but a minor devil.  He can give you a cold, or ruin a first date,  but he has no power over life and death.  Even those he afflicts can purchase redemption.... Inside the stores there are chocolate wafers for sale,  covered with white candy sprinkles.  For a mere $26 a pound, the bad omen can be eaten away.

This minor devil came from Coney Island a decade ago.  Brooklyn's Brighton Beach area started gentrifying in the late 90's, and the dress up spread to adjoining Coney.  Doc, the minor devil, thrived on hearty spirits, but not heady minds.  His move to Ocean Paradise was a win-win.  While the owning immigrant gets to keep almost all the money the stand takes in,  Doc gets to dispense a headache or two each weekend.  He has a room at a nearby old motel owned by the same family, and enjoys the middle eastern food that he has eaten since time immemorial.

If you walk on the boardwalk during the winter, you better dress warm, and not be tempted to show her that you care.

reprinted from November of 2018

Losses For Allentown

Years ago there was always a group of regulars who would attend city council meetings.  Many of them were advocates for their section of Allentown.  Among them was Bob Smith Jr.,  concerned with the East Side, and Patti Engler, watching out for center city. Years later, when they ran respectively for school board and district justice, they already possessed a wealth of civic knowledge. 

Both these incredibly qualified people lost in last week's election.  Local voters are preoccupied with diversity and electing candidates who look like themselves.  Although those motivations are understandable, in doing so they sacrificed the service of two great public servants.

Both Smith and Engler will still be visible in their neighborhoods, improving the quality of life for their neighbors...That's the type of people they are.

Growing Up Parkway

I'm a baby boomer. I was born in December of 1946. As soon as my mother climbed out of the hospital bed, another woman climbed in. I grew up in the neighborhood now called Little Lehigh Manor, wedged between Lehigh Street and the top of the ravine above Lehigh Parkway. That's me on our lawn at the intersection of Catalina and Liberator Avenues, named after airplanes made by Vultee Corporation for the War. We had our own elementary school, our own grocery store, and the park to play in. On Saturdays, older kids would take us along on the trolley, and later the bus, over the 8TH Street Bridge to Hamilton Street. There were far too many stores to see everything. After a matinee of cartoons or Flash Gordon, and a banana split at one of the five and dimes, we would take the bus back over the bridge to Lehigh Street.




Not that many people know where Lehigh Parkway Elementary School is. It's tucked up at the back of the development of twin homes on a dead end street, but I won't say exactly where. I do want to talk about the photograph. It's May Day, around 1952-53. May Day was big then, so were the unions; Most of the fathers worked at the Steel, Mack, Black and Decker, and a hundred other factories going full tilt after the war. The houses were about 8 years old, and there were no fences yet. Hundreds of kids would migrate from one yard to another, and every mother would assume some responsibility for the herd when it was in her yard. Laundry was hung out to dry. If you notice, most of the "audience" are mothers, dads mostly were at work. I'm at the front, right of center, with a light shirt and long belt tail. Don't remember the girl, but see the boy in front of me with the big head? His father had the whole basement setup year round with a huge model train layout. There were so many kid's, the school only went up to second grade. We would then be bused to Jefferson School for third through sixth grade. The neighborhood had its own Halloween Parade and Easter egg hunt. We all walked to school, no one being more than four blocks away.

reprinted from June of 2008

In memory of Clifford "Bobby" Edwards, 1946-2021

Allentown Chronicles Going Private

Several years ago, I started a new local Facebook group titled Allentown Chronicles.  My goal was for a group somewhat more historically oriented than the existing nostalgia groups, where members keep asking which shop had the best pizza or chili sauce. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia, and those groups are very popular, but there was no need for an additional one.

As administrator I have rejected countless people, from mostly the third world, who would like to sell the members a sweatshirt with Allentown printed on it.  While this was burdensome, I preferred  keeping the group public so that any current or former Allentonian had easy access.  The ever changing Facebook is now changing the guidelines, and anybody can join a public group without approval. 

On November 8th the group will become private. If you have been visiting the page but haven't yet joined, you may want to do so in the next few days. 

Shown above was a father promoting the Easter Egg Hunt in Little Lehigh Manor in the 1950's. Allentown has changed a lot since then, and the group-- through posts and personal anecdotes-- tries to provide a place for these recollections. 

photo courtesy of the Williams' family

The Island Of Allentown

While Allentown remains an island of Democratic votes,  the greater Lehigh County veered to the right on Tuesday.  The Republican judge sweep* showed that voters valued their experience in criminal justice, i.e. their awareness of the growing criminal reality we face.  Glenn Eckhart appeared to have scored an upset against incumbent Armstrong, until the write-in count was completed early Wednesday morning.

I expect that Susan Wild didn't sleep well last night. While the progressives in Allentown can't stop worrying about social justice issues,  elsewhere in the county people are apparently getting tired of subsidizing and pandering to the protestors.  

Allentown's new Democratic mayor, Matt Tuerk (there hasn't been a Republican elected Mayor since 1998) has his work cut out for him.  A young man moving from one of the new apartments out to the suburbs said that there isn't anything to do downtown at night except get mugged.  With the voter base in Allentown Tuerk may not have to address the young man's concerns politically... only if he really wants to make a worthwhile difference in Allentown.**

*vote for third judge very close, provisional votes need to be counted

**postcard shown above from Allentown's glory days, which aren't coming back. Tuerk will find no shortage of people playing up for advantage from a new administration, instead, this blog will offer blunt reality checks before day one. 

Old Project With New Mayor

I recently met Matt Tuerk for the first time in a city park. During our brief encounter he mentioned that he knew about my work on the WPA, and indicated that he would like to learn more about park history. 

During his years on city council, Ray O'Connell and I became acquainted from my then frequent visits to council chambers. When he became mayor he invited me to his office discuss the park system, especially my concerns about the WPA structures.  

Although Mayor elect Tuerk also indicated he would be interested in my opinion about the parks and WPA,  I'd be reluctant to make any more visits to city hall.  For several years now, to no avail, I have been actively campaigning to have the long neglected landings on the Parkway's Double Stairwell repaired. Until which time as that important repair is finally made, I'll confine my park recommendations to this blog.

photo: Karen El-Chaar and Molovinsky after his 2013 Parkway WPA tour

The Slandering Of Louis Hershman

Years ago, in a building that no longer exists,  an assorted group of early risers would meet for coffee.  By 6:30, most of us had arrived at Jerry's for the early morning sessions.  Included in this group of civil critics was Lou Hershman.  Lou's rants were almost exclusively centered on the city budget,  year after year, rant after rant.

What takes me back to that coffee shop is a current post on facebook.  A local Black Lives Matter advocate is supporting a local gays rights advocate, who is offended by the adoration being given Lou Hershman, who passed away last week. She claims that Lou was a bigot against gays.  In all the years and all the conversations that I had with Lou, he never once mentioned gays.  As for the young BLM activist,  I'm sure that he never met Lou, and probably never even heard of him before last week.

Back then, fifteen years ago, when I would drive to the coffee shop at 7th and Hamilton at six in the morning, I would always think about how calm town seemed at that time of day.  I knew that as the day progressed, so would the commotion.  Unfortunately,  the streets are considerably more violent now than they were then.  Allentown would be better off if the young BLM leader concerned himself with making the streets safer.  In fifty years, if he contributes as much as Lou Hershman did to Allentown, let's hope nobody slanders his good deeds.  

photocredit: Bernie O'Hare 

reprinted from October of 2020

Julio Guridy And Emma Tropiano

The picture above is from an article on Allentown's current English Only ballot question.  As background the article references Emma Tropiano and then-newcomer Julio Guridy.  Guridy indicates that he was motivated to run for city council as a counter measure against what he perceived as a racist slight by Tropiano. 

What the article's author doesn't know, and what Guridy probably would never acknowledge, is how Guridy benefitted from the Tropiano encounter.  When Guridy announced his candidacy for the council race, he secured a financial future he never envisioned.  Philadelphia's Hispanic leadership figured that Julio was a rising political star to their north, and recommended to Rendell that Guridy be appointed to a state commission.  At the time his sponsors didn't know that Allentown would be dominated for the next fifteen years by Ed Pawlowski. Commission jobs in this state are considered political plums, and require very little time.  Guridy's job on the Joint Bridge Commission has yielded him a good salary for the last sixteen years.  Guridy can complain about how racist the ordinance and Tropiano were, but ironically he ended up with a lucrative non-demanding position because of his pushback to them.

Readers may wonder who this blog favors. I don't cater to anyone, nor do I try to target anyone. While Julio might not be happy with this post,  I know that Allentown has benefited from him being here. Beyond his many years on city council, he has devoted countless hours to the city.  From other posts last week, people may mistakenly think that I want to target both the Democratic and Republican parties. Actually, this blog is written for the historical record. Whether the post concerns a local historical place, or a local political situation, my attempt is to provide the back-story.  With the local paper's shrinking staff, institutional knowledge is becoming a sparse commodity in these parts. 

Comments are permitted on the blog,  but there are restrictions against anonymous repetitive banter.

Sore Loser, And Desperate Gambit By Republicans

It's a sad day when Enid Santiago and the Lehigh County Republican Committee are on the same page. At first I thought the notice about the press conference today must be from the local Tea Party,  which protests against everything and anything. Then, upon closer inspection, I saw that it was from the local Republican Party, grasping at the embers of the tragic fire in Allentown.

The lawsuit by the family of the victims is their legal right, and I have no issue with it. The accusation by Enid Santiago that the callers were ignored by 911 operators because they were Spanish speaking was opportunist, inflammatory theater by a sore loser.  Her write-in effort against the rightful winner of last year's primary state representative race, Peter Schweyer, was undemocratic, and her party members who supported it owe Schweyer an apology.

It is important that citizens respect our public safety network: Police, fire, EMS, and 911. Republican candidates who appear at today's press conference are doing themselves a disservice.

photo of sign on Enid Santiago's Facebook page urging Phil Armstrong to resign

Election Roundup

This election cycle I only made one endorsement, Smith for Allentown School board.  There are excellent people running for South Whitehall commissioner: Hodges, Kennedy and Osborne, but my battle there was in the primary, against the old guard Morgan.

I questioned the actions of two school board candidates, Harris in Allentown, and Millo in South Whitehall, who unclearly dropped out of the race in August.  The Harris piece brought on criticism from the giant Ed DeGrace, fortunately by email, rather than in person.  The Millo piece upset Republicans, but their support for him was premature and their bad, not mine. 

My annual election season piece on Emma always upsets everybody. Emma was outspoken, non-partisan, and could care less about political correctness, traits that I admire.

The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with Mayor For Life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was so large, it has struggled to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners.

reprinted yearly since 2010

UPDATE: Although it has been almost two decades since Emma passed, she still incites controversy. A Republican supporter of Heydt still resents her opposition to the Rental Inspection law. Some Hispanics still wrongly believe that she was a racist. I could tell both of them that Emma was a Democrat,  when Allentown was still a two party town, and that voters were much more engaged then than they are now.

Morning Call's Hot Air

Readers may recall that not so long ago I took the Morning Call to task for promoting an announced candidate, Mark Pinsley, in one opinion piece after another.  Pinsley is a political opportunist, who has run for higher offices after just getting elected to a lessor one. Within the last few years he has run for South Whitehall commissioner, Lehigh County controller, and state senator, now for the second time. 

My first post on this topic was triggered by the frequency of his editorials, complete with a large portrait of him. In the last year the Morning Call ran his opinion pieces about once a month.  

What brings us to today's post is his current editorial on airship travel from LVIA to NYC.  Never mind that no such thing exists anywhere, and its only purpose is to provide another opportunity for candidate Pinsley's oversize portrait. Perhaps the paper, rather than submit its paid readership to nonsense editorials, could go ahead and feature Pinsley's picture on the front page every day, but leave space on the editorial page for other people writing about real issues.

Weak Link On Parkland Ballot

Friday's post on Phoebe Harris inadvertently flushed out an unqualified candidate for Parkland School Board. When the post was shared on a couple of Facebook pages,  a few supporters of Harris came to her defense. Among them was Michael Millo, who wrote Big deal...she asked for a loan. Seems hyper political (referring to my post). I thought it was a big deal, or I wouldn't have written the post. I also find Millo's comment a big deal, because he's running for the Parkland School Board. 

South Whitehall hasn't recovered from its own ethical breaches,  embezzlement by a former controller and no audits for a decade.  The Parkland School System is very much a large part of the township's success. It's vital that candidates for the school board have both the savvy and ethics required, Millo doesn't appear to.

Phoebe Harris is a Democrat. Mike Millo is a Republican.  It's essential that voters disregard political affiliation in local elections and pick the best candidates.  We need sharp people, not red pencils or red ink.

UPDATE 8:00AM:  I have been informed that Mr. Millo withdrew as a school board candidate in August. When I met him last spring and he told that he had just moved here from Texas,  my thought was that he should hold off running for any local office until which time he became familiar with the issues, i.e. some institutional knowledge.  While I didn't see his withdrawal preparing this post (his withdrawal is not even stated on his campaign facebook page, only that he will be out of "commission"), I did see  numerous endorsements from local members of the Republican party. I found the endorsements disappointing, considering the candidate's lack of local background.

Ethical Question At Allentown School Board

MOLOVINSKY ON ALLENTOWN EXCLUSIVE

Allentown school director Phoebe Harris requested a personal loan from longtime district solicitor John Freund late in 2019. When Attorney Freund declined the loan request, her demeanor toward him changed drastically. This year he was replaced as solicitor to the district. 

This sequence of events raises numerous questions. Did Harris use her influence with the other directors to retaliate against Freund for denying her a personal loan? Did any other school directors know of the loan request and denial? 

For someone who sat at her mentor Pawlowski's trial, she must have known that her actions were ethically tainted. 

UPDATE OCTOBER 23: I have changed the word Violation to Question in the title. While it's certainly a question,  a violation should be determined by her peers on the board. I have deleted the last sentence calling for her resignation.  With only ten days remaining until the election,  the voters will judge her actions.

When 6th Street Was West Allentown

In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open until about twenty years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008

Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

reprinted and retitled from previous years

photo: Opening of Jewish Community Center, 1928, 6th and Chew Streets.  Now Alliance Hall

Bob Smith For Allentown School Board

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm non-partisan, a registered independent, and very reluctant to make endorsements.  I have often encouraged people only to vote on those ballots on which they are informed, and pass over the other contests. In my opinion a few informed votes are much more meaningful than random picks.  As for straight party voting, I think that it should be very much discouraged.  

With all the above said and out of the way,  the purpose of this post is to inform you about Bob Smith, with the hope that he will gain your vote. I've known Bob for twenty-five years, and you would be hard pressed to fine someone more dedicated and sincere.  Years ago Bob was seriously injured saving the life of a suicidal nursing home patient, who pulled them both over the edge of a roof.

Bob was on the school board previously, and is again making his experience available to the taxpayers. We who pay Allentown school taxes could find no better friend than Bob Smith. Nobody is more familiar with the structure and needs of the school system. 

I'm grateful that he is again making himself available to serve our students.

Ce-Ce Praises Philly Pro-Crime Policy

Philly's newest pro-crime policy is not to stop cars for minor violations.  The rationale is that the stops disproportionately affect people of color.  Never mind that large sections of Philadelphia are predominantly Black.  Allentown's own Defunder, Ce-Ce Gerlach, praises the new policy.

Several years ago they decided not to arrest people for shoplifting, until the merchants finally protested loudly enough.  Over the weekend a woman was raped on a subway, with no fellow passenger even calling for help.  Philadelphia appears out of control.

Years ago, when Ce-Ce first expressed interest in Allentown government, this blog supported her.  At the time I published  numerous posts on her behalf.  A few years ago my independence was misconstrued as a lack of loyalty.  While some might consider that a character flaw,  support for public officials has to be reevaluated when their policies change.

Promise And Promotion In Allentown

While the Morning Call promises us the news in its promotions, it mostly promotes Promise Neighborhood and other woke distractions from our grim reality. While the shooting  at the Lancaster Mall still didn't make the Morning Call by Monday morning, the weekend paper was full with an essay on Hasshan Batts' Promise Neighborhood,  marching against the shootings in Allentown last week.

My issue with the Hasshan Battses of Allentown is not only the distraction from what I call the grim news of Allentown's reality, but also the effort to divert precious public safety funds from actual law enforcement.  While Batts' employee Cynthia Mota  and other distractors actually sit on council, so far the mayor's office realizes that our survival lies with the police department. Nevertheless, those seeking office must pay homage to Batts and other opportunists in the new violence industry.  It doesn't help that the paper and their cub reporters drink the woke kool-aid which will eventually be our demise.

While our aspiring politicians must appease the defunders to harvest enough votes to win, and our paper also wrongly wallows in that mentality, this blog understands that our future relies on the Blue.

Shootings In Allentown

Over the weekend there was another shooting in Allentown. Funny thing about these shootings, in most of the cases, nobody knows nothing. Nobody hears, sees or says anything to help the police solve these crimes. However, let someone get pushed down by a police officer, then we have videos and testimony against police brutality.

The recent shooting was on 4th Street, but don't expect to see any advocacy groups protesting the violence, or the public's lack of cooperation.

molovinsky on allentown is published weekdays Monday thru Friday.  You will find a perspective and candor here not found anywhere else in the valley. Comments are accepted using your name or by establishing a pseudonym. Pseudonym identities remain unknown to both myself and other readers. Your readership is appreciated. 

reprinted from September of 2018

UPDATE NOVEMBER 10, 2020: Although the above post is over two years old, in regard to this past weekend's shooting, it could be a new post.  Once again, the advocates against police brutality, who have been louder than ever in this past summer, are silent about the shootings this weekend. Some of these advocates have been hyped as leaders by the Morning Call, and now are candidates for mayor. 

UPDATE OCTOBER 15, 2021: This is my second post this week about violence in Allentown, but it's also the second shooting this week. As I stated yesterday, we have a good chief, but it's time for many more policemen in Allentown...Many more boots on the ground.

Allentown Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday, Allentown event promoter Alfonso Todd wondered aloud why Allentown's  political establishment was distracting itself with doing away with English as the official language, when wholesale shootings were occurring on main streets during the day and early evening.  Todd knows that nothing hurts or slows down an event or city as the much as people feeling unsafe.

While our progressives concern themselves with defunding the police and social issues,  our reality demands more police than ever on the streets.  We have a popular, excellent chief, but he needs a bigger force to cope with the Allentown of 2021.

While this blog is steeped in history,  the Allentown of yesteryear is no more.  A recent resident commented that Allentown is a better place now than it was ten or twenty years ago.  That's a hard statement for me to evaluate,  having graduated from William Allen in the mid 1960's.  Like the strawberry pie at Hess's, the Allentown of my reference is never to return.  However, as Mr. Todd observes, we must at least make our main corridors a safe place.  Call me old fashioned, but my prescription would be for many, many more policemen.

Allentown Memorabilia

The time and market for Allentown memorabilia has come and gone. With a changing population, and the graying of the older town folks, objects of our history are destined for the landfill. Even the local historic society concentrates on shows of general interest, such as Abraham Lincoln. In addition to having been a retail mecca, Allentown manufactured a large assortment of products. Allentown was stamped on tools, knifes, and metal products of all kinds, distributed nationwide. A local regional food product was the hard pretzel, a variation of the traditional German soft pretzel. Allentown had several pretzel companies. Miller's operated out of their factory at 732 Tilghman Street, between 1944 and 1978. In the coming months this blog will profile some of these Made In Allentown products, before litter and meaningless slogans became our legacy.

reprinted from July of 2013

The Morning Call Assassinates Marty Northstein, Twice

The first assassination of Marty Northstein occurred in 2018, just prior to the congressional election, in which he was a candidate.  They reported that he had been suspended from a cycling directorship because of an obscure allegation almost twenty years prior. Although the allegation was found to have absolutely no merit, the adverse publicity probably cost him the election.

While Northstein rightly sued the paper, he recently dropped the effort. The paper's editor, Mike Miorelli, crows about how right and courageous they were in printing the story back then.  Strange rationale from someone who just defended not printing an actual confession from another candidate,  just prior to this past primary election. 

The current article put another bullet into Northstein, by not noting his innocence from the allegation until almost the end of the article.

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

The Legend Begins

On July 4th, 1934 Joe louis made his debut as a professional fighter. Eleven months and nineteen straight victories later, most by knockout, 62,000 fight fans would jam Yankee Stadium to watch the new sensation fight the giant, Primo Carnera.

New York, New York - Primo Carnera, giant Italian boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world, and Joe Louis, hard-hitting negro heavyweight from Detroit, Michigan, weighed-in this afternoon at the offices of the New York State Boxing Commission for their fifteen round bout tonight at the Yankee Stadium. - 6.25.1935

Although badly battered from the first round, Carnera would gamely stay in the fight till it was stopped in round six. The legend of the Brown Bomber was clearly established.
photo of Primo Carnera

This blog has produced 24 posts chronicling the Joe Louis boxing era, many featuring Abe Simon, a Jewish heavyweight of the era... Simon and my mother were cousins. Lately, Allentown violence has allowed me little time and space to visit Madison Square Garden in the early 1940's. During the next few weeks I will reprint some of these posts, while still assigning staff to the city beat. One of my attractions to the boxing world is the black and white photography produced during that era. The public would listen to the fights on the radio, and then see the photographs in the newspapers the following day. While reproducing these posts, I may in some instances substitute alternative photographs, all classic images from the age of film and flash bulbs.

reprinted from 2012 

UPDATE OCTOBER 11, 2021: I postponed my scheduled post today in reaction to the Fury fight this past weekend. I think that Fury and Carnera had a lot in common, very large men with little skill. Fury is actually larger than Carnera was.

Allentown's Blind Spot

When it comes to scrutiny by the major media in Allentown, WFMZ and The Morning Call, it's fair to say that there isn't any.  While I have long criticized the Morning Call about their wholesale promotion of Reilly's NIZ Kingdom, allow me to now include the TV station.  

In a report about the recent NIZ meeting, the city Deputy To The Director Of Economic Development, as if we need such a position, endorses upgrading the gateways to Reilly's Kingdom. Thank you anyway, but Pete Lewnes has been doing fine on 7th Street with our money for over a decade already. We were also reminded that Reilly can trade out parcels he already owns in the NIZ, for parcels outside the original map. That map and all the rules were written in pencil by Pat Browne.  The report richly claims that Reilly is president of City Center Investment Corp. The company has invested about $800 million in the city, changing the Allentown skyline and attracting residents and businesses. Reilly sees more to come.  Because these NIZ investments are paid for by diverted public tax money, but privately owned by Reilly, to write and broadcast that the developer invested it is disingenuous, either by ignorance or deception.

Occasionally I get contacted by someone doing research on the WPA.  I'm always told that my writing on that topic is mostly all they can find.  I think that when it comes to future students scrutinizing the NIZ,  again this blog will be about all that they will find.

Shown above is the north side of the 700 block of Hamilton Street, just prior to its demolition for the arena. Almost all images on this blog can be enlarged by clicking on the photo. 

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

New Problem For Allentown's WPA

For the last five years I have been advocating for the landings on Lehigh Parkway's Double Stairwell to be repaired.  I have recently learned that the city is holding off until a consultant for the Trexler Trust makes a recommendation about which kind of mortar mix the mason contractor should use.  This is truly a case where the perfect is the enemy of the good.  Flagstone patios and landings need to be repaired about every twenty years.  Because leaking water can undermine the structure and steps, it is much more important that the repairs are done in a timely fashion, than exactly which cement composition is utilized. 

A personal mission of mine is to advocate for the preservation of our remaining WPA structures, we have already lost several. If in the course of this mission I offend any city officials and/or Trexler Trust members, while I apologize for that,  I have no regrets about pursuing the mission.

The picture above showing the deteriorated top landing of the Stair Structure is five years old. It and the landings below have only further degraded, and are in immediate need of repair.

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

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.