Picnic Pavilion Blues

For the last decade the picnic pavilions below Cedar Crest College have been in a state of benign neglect. The park department stubbornly wants to replace these older pavilions with their lightning-friendly metal expensive replacements. 

Common sense would say why not just reshingle the older ones, and give them a fresh coat of paint. They have served the city well for eighty years, and still are eager to serve. However, the metal replacements have been put into the schedule years ago, and the bureaucratic way is to let the older ones decay until they're replaced with the scheduled new ones. 

Somehow I suspect that the replacements, when they finally do appear, will not last a fraction as long.

Students of the blog know that years ago I was very critical of Pawlowski and his succession of park directors, which were all of the same mold (Penn State recreation program) and hired by the same city manager. Had the FBI's menu been longer, they might have looked into some of those decisions and contracts.

I actually have a rapport with the current park director, and have not yet totally burned all the bridges with the new mayor. However, it is my avocation to champion for the traditional park system and the WPA. To that end, I will not compromise the mission with polite cordiality here on the blog.

above reprinted from June of 2022

ADDENDUM APRIL 19, 2023: Since the above post was written less than a year ago, there's yet another new park director, but I'm hoping to maintain a channel to that office.  However, as always, my mission remains the parks, not polite cordiality.

While I'm still advocating that the current picnic pavilions be saved, another important park feature has just been discarded.  Before the expensive (10k each) PlayWorld novelty exercise  kiosks were installed, the park had old school exercise stations. A classmate of mine from the mid 1960's would finish his daily walk with pull-ups.  While these time proven exercise stations were in good condition, this park system apparently still prefers gimmicks from catalogs.

Last, but not least, this year's duckling forecast...  You may have noticed very few ducks on the Rose Garden side of the park, but there are a few pairs. Unfortunately, their propagation chances again look slim. The park department did not mow the creek bank on the first cutting, and the poison hemlock is already thriving. If they cut down it before the ducks hatch, as they have for the last four years, once again no ducklings will survive to swim the ponds. The window for the bank cutting has closed, and they must now wait until after the ducklings are hatched and on their own.

Allentown Operating Vehicle Inspection Trap

Thanks to the Morning Call and their right to know effort, we have learned that Allentown dispensed 49,000 tickets last year for cars being out of inspection.  I use the negative word trap, because that is exactly what it is.  Many years ago, Coopersburg ran a speed trap... There was a borough cop actively waiting for traffic on Rt. 309.

Although I'm very conscientious about my car, I have been late for inspection several times. There are only fourteen states in the country which do inspections annually.

Entertainment venues, such as the arena and Symphony Hall, might want to consider how this aggressive beast affects their long term attendence.

I think it's becoming apparent that the current operation of the Allentown Parking Authority might not be in Allentown's best interest.

ADDENDUM 1: The APA stated that they're surprised how few tickets were issued for double parking.  I have never driven through downtown WITHOUT seeing double parkers.  So,  the APA could find 250,000 cars last year to ticket, but not see the double parkers?  They are not even improving the quality of life, just churning out tickets for their cash flow. Who are the real criminals?                                                     

ADDENDUM 2: Auto inspection has a history of abuse in Pennsylvania. It wasn't that long ago when they had inspection TWICE a year....Imagine the TAKE the APA could make from that!!! It's time to send some people at the Parking Authority packing.

Examining The Parking Authority's Appetite

I suppose that nobody can call me a newly hatched critic of the Parking Authority. I have been on their case since before I started this blog in 2007. In 2005, as an independent candidate for mayor, I held two press conferences about that monster's appetite, even back then.

The first conference was at 10th and Chew Streets. I wondered why the Authority still had parking meters out there, when the business district had shrunk to a couple blocks of Hamilton Street decades earlier. The Morning Call was actively suppressing my candidacy, and did not cover my conferences. For my second conference in front of the Authority's office, the paper instead interviewed the APA director at the time, promoting her policies. 

There is a long back story between the Morning Call and The Allentown Parking Authority.  The Authority was started to bail out Park & Shop, when their lots became less profitable. One of the three Park & Shop owners was Donald Miller, owner of the Morning Call.  The Parking Authority started as the handmaiden of the connected in Allentown, and has remained so to this day. 

During the following decades those parking lots have been sold off to a few connected developers, giving them already cleared, inexpensive, ideally located building sites.  The Authority then proceeded to build expensive parking decks, creating a massive debt service. Divide that debt service by the average fine of a parking ticket, and you'll know how many people a month that monster must eat to survive.

In addition to being a critic of the Parking Authority, I have become a critic of the NIZ.  While the NIZ uses our diverted state taxes to finance a few privately owned real estate empires, the APA provides the parking for those NIZ tenants. The APA is financed by tickets placed on the windshields and backs of the citizens. 

The Parking Authority in Allentown can certainly be an appropriate asset, with the current parking congestion and violations. However,  a more equitable funding source, rather than overly aggressive ticketing, must be employed.

shown above Park&Shop postcard, showing the former parking lots

City Council Foxes Guard Parking Authority Henhouse

On Wednesday evening, optimistic victims of the Parking Authority went to City Council hoping for relief from the current punitive ticketing.  Although an elaborate dog and pony show was staged, relief was never in the cards.  Three of the Council members sit on the Parking Authority Board, and helped that agency design the current citizen punishments... the quintessential fox guarding the henhouse.  

Council will never be able to safeguard citizens if they remain on the Parking Authority Board.  Although that provision goes back to the Authority's creation in the early 1990's, it is now time to provide oversight, not complicity.

Matthew Tuerk, who preaches inclusion and diversity, slipped out of the meeting before the citizens realized that only disappointment was coming their way. Those who receive the most tickets are the poorest among us.  He knew the evening's coming script, and had the police and fire chiefs there to defend current Authority policy.

While the Authority touted their new mini lot on 7th Street, they forgot to mention all the surface lots they sold off, for the gain of several developers. 

Matt Tuerk talks a new day in Allentown, but as an old activist, I can tell you it is business as usual.

photo of Betty Cauler, whose efforts brought the reform attempt forward, trying to convince a stubborn city council.

Parking Authority Monster Stays On Same Diet

Last night City Council hesitated to change the Parking Authority's diet, from its usual mix of mostly poorer residents, with just a sprinkle of westenders.  Since at least three of the council members are on the Authority Board, this reluctance to change is of no surprise.  They're scheduling another delay/meeting to further discuss the matter.

Candida Affa has been on the Authority Board for well over a decade, long before being elected to City Council.  She expressed concern about fire engines operating in alleys.  Not all alleys are the same in Allentown.... Downtown the alleys are narrow with row houses. In the west end the alley's are wider, with no houses. 

A hard working center city restaurant owner explained to the City Council/Parking Authority Board members, (one and the same),  how he and his customers are harassed with tickets. His plea fell on deaf ears.

ADDENDUM: Last night was the first council meeting I attended in a few years. Attendance is detrimental to everybody's blood pressure, both mine and councils. While some of the council members were new faces, the nonsense remained the same.  The contention by the Authority, the administration and the council that the evening calls to the authority would overburden an already overburdened police department, were contrived.  Eleven o'clock at night people call the  police department, not the parking authority, if there is commotion or a situation.

Allentown must turn out in force for the next meeting, and let those council members, also on the parking authority, who happen to be running for re-election,  know that they want reform, not just another meeting.

Allentown's Historic Syrian Community

When my grandfather first arrived in Allentown he lived in the Ward, on 2nd. Street. It was around 1895 and the neighborhood was full of immigrants. Some groups came from the same area in the old country, most noticeably the Syrians, from the village of Amar*. They were Antiochian Orthodox, a minority in a Muslim country. The congregation of St. George's Church on Catasauqua Ave., largely is descended from those immigrants. Well known names in Allentown, such as Atiyeh, Haddad, Hanna, Makoul, Koury and Joseph are among their members. They were among one of the first groups to organize, and those organizations still exist. The photo above was organized by the Syrian American Organization in 1944. Note that Jewish, on the left, is treated as a nationality.

click on photo to enlarge

UPDATE: The above post is reprinted from March of 2010. I have repeated the post several times since over the years, and have written other posts concerning Allentown's historic Syrian Community as well. Although I didn't grow up in the Ward, I grew up with their children, who had by then also lived in other sections of town. Throughout the 1950's and 60's, the organized Syrian community wielded considerable strength in local Democratic politics. On Sunday Allentown recognizes the Syrian community with a flag raising at city hall.

The Train Of Lehigh Parkway

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

above reprinted from December 3, 2010 

ADDENDUM APRIL 11, 2023: Although the former Union Carbine loading dock was visible for many decades, it now has been replaced by new apartment buildings on the parcel.  Also different is the intersection just uphill from the bridge, the long standing triangle island is no longer there. 

A Different Past For Baby Boomers

Little Lehigh Manor was built for the returning GIs after the War. It was a self contained development of several hundred brick twin houses, nestled between Lehigh Parkway and Lehigh Street. It had its own elementary school, and nearby grocery stores. Although this development may have been more idyllic than some older areas in Allentown, it shared its best feature with the rest of the city... It was a neighborhood. I hear these same memories from people in my generation who grew up on the East Side, across the river in the Ward, or center city at 9th and Chew. Great mentoring occurred at the Boys and Girls Clubs, and another dozen organizations devoted to the community's youth. Although there were economic differences and poverty, they seemed to have less of an effect on quality of life and opportunity than now. Perhaps it was the massive number of children from the Baby Boom that created a communal sense of caring among the parents and organizations, but something special seems missing today.

reprinted from January of 2013

picture dates from around 1949. An enterprising photographer brought a pony around the neighborhood as an alluring prop.

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 operated an adjoining Drive-In movie.



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 March of 2010 

A Road Runs Through It

Once there was a time when gasoline was twenty five cents a gallon, there was no internet, and a family would go for a drive on Sunday. There was no traffic congestion or road rage. The cars were large, and they all came from Detroit. You could drive through a park, even an amusement park. There was no rush to get back to the television; It was very small, with only a few channels. Life now seems to revolve around small silicon chips, I preferred when it was large engines.

photograph shows the road through Dorney Park

reprinted from December 10, 2010

Say Now

Say now, do you remember when Neuweilers was a brewery on Front Street, not a redevelopment project? Say now, do you remember when Park and Shop validated your ticket for free parking, not a Parking Authority that fined you for coming downtown? Say now, do you remember when Hamilton Street was filled with neon signs and shoppers, not ordinances and vision plans? Say now, do you remember when City Hall didn't have all the managers, planners and directors we have now? Say now, we must have been stupider then or something.

reprinted from December 20, 2010

Allentown School District

One of the most amazing things about Allentown is that the population, despite the problems, has remained about the same since 1928. That was the year Allentown celebrated reaching 100,000. Today, we are about 106.000. Although the numbers stayed the same, the demographics have changed drastically. We are now officially a minority city. When I grew up, there was a saying, If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much. How's that for political correctness? Today, if you want to see a Pennsylvania Dutchman, you have to look at the picture on a bag of pretzels.

During my school years, a delinquent was a kid smoking a cigarette in the alley. Today, we have machete attacks, and parents beating someone else's kid in a classroom. In this environment, should we be concerned about math scores in Singapore? There is a disconnect between the discipline problems and the preoccupation for better scores on the standardized tests; Increasing civility is much more important. If we could get that math score up, will the public overlook the machete attack? We'll build a new school next to Jackson Elementary, move the students, and put the machete attackers in the old Jackson. Then, we'll take the real achievers and put them in an academy of excellence. Let's hope not too many parents insist that their child belongs in the academy. Let's hope that the prison school works out. We all agree that all the students are a precious commodity. What we really need is safe classrooms, conducive to learning. We need supervised streets, conducive for getting to and from school safely. Isn't it interesting that a child can leave Central Catholic at 4th and Chew, and be safer than a child leaving William Allen at 17th and Chew?

The photograph, from the late 1940's, shows a kindergarden class before Lehigh Parkway Elementary School was completed. One of the twin houses served both as the neighborhood school and church.

above reprinted from December 22, 2010

ADDENDUM APRIL 4, 2023: Over a decade has passed since I wrote the above post.  We been through half a dozen new superintendents, still thinking that somehow that change will make the magic difference. We still have many dedicated teachers, and those students motivated to learn will do so, despite the distractions.

The Tracks Of Allentown

Up to the early 1950's, you pretty much drove over tracks wherever you went in Allentown. While the trolleys moved the people, the Lehigh Valley Railroad freight cars moved the materials in and out of our factories. Shown above, the Lehigh Valley Transit trolley moves across the former steel Hamilton Street Bridge. The huge UGI gas tank can be seen on Union Street. While the trolleys gave way to buses by 1953, the freight rail spurs would tarry on for two more decades.

reprinted from December 29. 2010

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

Made In The Lehigh Valley

The other day I was self checking out of the grocery store, and across the aisle was Bethlehem Steel T-Shirts.  They were made to look retro, with pre-faded logo and copy, which said MADE IN USA.  Although, I knew the phrase referred to the steel,  I couldn't resist looking at the shirt's label.  Needless to say, it was made in China. Ironically, Bethlehem Steel was a self sufficient company, which even  produced ships with its own steel.

When I was a boy I worked in my father's meat market located at the foot of Union Street, where the Hamilton Street Bridge crossed over the Lehigh River.  Saturday was busy, with many customers who worked at the Steel, Lehigh Structural, Black and Decker, Western Electric, Mack and dozens of sewing factories.  A couple of guys who worked during the week at Arbogast & Bastian helped my dad out on Saturdays.  Both Swift and Wilson meat packers had wholesale branches near by.  They would be supplied by rail sidings,  which  criss-crossed that area of the city.  At that time everything was made in America, except for cheap novelty junk.  Now, in addition to losing our manufacturing,  we're even losing our retail,  as everything comes directly from online ordering and warehouses.    I suppose that soon the cashiers at the supermarket will be a relic of the past.

reprinted from March of 2017

Mayor Tuerk And Billy Joel

In a recent radio interview, Mayor Tuerk said in regard to the song "Allentown" by Billy Joel...It's so wrong... I don't know how it felt in 1982, but it doesn't feel like that now... it's not hard to stay. It's hard to leave.

Certainly as Mayor, Matt Tuerk must be a cheerleader for Allentown, and  I realize that for many of the new people here, Allentown is better than wherever they came from. But as a native Allentonian, the city was much better when Joel's song came out back in 1982. All those new buildings on Hamilton Street don't mean jack, unless you're the one man who owns them. 

    `

What's much worse now is the crime, litter and violence. Tuerk wrote recently that illegal guns are a toxin in Allentown. Of course the real problem is the people who readily use those guns.

Billy Joel was lamenting the lost industry in the rust belt, but I'm missing the quality of life we had when he was singing that song forty years ago.

Zion Liberty Bell Dilemma

In a recent editorial, Sara Brace threw the  Liberty Bell Museum Board under the bus, to help some local liberal causes.  Her dance was very complicated, because she was head of the museum board before her resignation, and her husband was a principal of Zion Church, and is a county commissioner to boot. 

Now, if this all sounds confusing, it certainly is. Normally, the Morning Call wouldn't publish such contradictions, but a local liberal dilemma developed at the Liberty Bell church.

Because Gregory Edwards was raising the rent from $1 a year, to $1000 a month on the Bell Museum, some people were thinking less of the pastor.  Some people were thinking less of the Zion Church board which didn't safeguard the museum,  putting county commissioner Geoff Brace in an awkward position, considering his role at the church.

Sara defends the increase, and suggests that the state should come forward with some $moolah to save everybody's face.

School Board Graduates To Harrisburg

Our new state senators have something in common, both were former school board members. However, they apparently took different courses...While new state senator Jarrett Coleman wants to submit the NIZ to some very overdue scrutiny, senator Nick Miller wants Reilly to continue his windfall, without much accountability.  Miller brags about all the new office tenants on Hamilton Street, ignoring the reality that they were poached from surrounding office parks, creating few, if any, new net jobs for the area. That poach job transferred the state taxes from the state budget, to instead service Reilly's mortgage debt.

What brings me to this topic today is Miller's assertion that Coleman doesn't have the best interests of Allentown in mind with his inquires. On the contrary, in my opinion, Miller doesn't have the best interest of taxpayers in mind with his position.

Miller complains that the NIZ is in his district, and that Coleman should visit there to learn about Allentown's commercial success. Coleman could response that the businesses were previously in his district, and now with the NIZ allowing parcel swaps,  it can be anywhere the chosen find opportunity, like  at a former state hospital.

At any rate,  I believe that we are better served with our elected officials not being on the same page all the time.  For too long there has been too much back scratching in Harrisburg.

Shown above Tony Iannelli conducts debates between Miller/Browning and Coleman/Pinsley.  Photo by Donna Fisher for LehighValleyLive.Com

Covid Funds And Bureaucrats

With the Covid pandemic, the Feds pumped more money into the municipalities than they know what to do with. Never fear, the non-profits and bureaucrats are stepping forward with solutions for that dilemma. 

Allentown City Council is allocating a $millon for affordable housing on the former parking lot of the former Lehigh Valley Club. In more prosperous days of yesteryear, that facility hosted wedding receptions for the well heeled. 

There's another proposal up the block on the county level, to restart the Lehigh County Redevelopment Agency. You would think that after the state diverted a $Billion to Reilly for his privately owned, publicly financed empire on Hamilton Street, we wouldn't need another redevelopment agency.  But let's not co-mingle Reilly's good fortune with bureaucratic opportunities.

Actually, that redevelopment agency might be needed sooner than this post indicates. I believe that current prices being paid for downtown rental units exceeds the cash flow that they will yield. I'm expecting a lot of boarded up buildings, but that will be a post topic in the future.

The postcard shown above is of the dining room in the former Lehigh Valley Club.  Its former parking lot will now  house affordable housing, built by a development company seeking $1million from Allentown's federal Covid fund chest.

Mistake Of Parking Authority/Lanta

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

above reprinted from January 20, 2008

ADDENDUM March 23, 2023: I'm glad to see the Parking Authority coming under scrutiny. As a blogger who has been taking them on for over 15 years,  I marvel at how long they got away with their shenanigans. To a large part the Morning Call was responsible for them not being held accountable. When myself and others would speak out and even document their abuses, the paper turned a blind eye. In 2014 I conducted two press conferences about Authority abuses. One conference the paper ignored, and for the other they took the Authority's answers as gospel. With the press now paying attention, perhaps the best interests of the city and citizens will finally be served.

Crimes By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

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

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

top photo by Tami Quigley

above reprinted from August 2016

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

reprinted from November of 2019 and before

UPDATE MARCH 22, 2023: I'm pleased with my part in saving Wehr's Dam. In 2014, the former commissioners were ready to approve the dam demolition by the Wildlands Conservancy, and I prevailed upon them to give a couple more weeks for public input. After Allentown city council approved demolishing the small Robin Hood Dam, the Wildlands had it removed within two days. The articles about that South Whitehall meeting alerted several people, including the descendants of Wehr family. The Wehr's and others did a great job campaigning to save the dam. After weeks of rejecting my editorial letter, the Morning Call finally printed my plea to save the dam before the referendum vote. 

The former commissioners still cooperated with the Wildlands Conservancy in their efforts to demolish the dam, even after the referendum. The dam's future was only actually secured with the new current set of commissioners, and the dam itself was only finally repaired this past summer and fall. 

While I now have faith in the future of Wehr's Dam, the Robin Hood Bridge remains a sorry sight. In my opinion, the Wildlands should pay to have the rubble they deposited by the bridge piers removed. But in the meantime, the city should remove the rubble this summer, and pay the bridge beauty some overdue respect.

A Park Primer For The New Administration

A local activist, Tyler Fatzinger of Fairview Cemetery fame, wrote on Facebook yesterday...

I once attended a community meeting and the mayor was there. The community said how ugly the (park) banks were and wanted them back to how they were for so many years. The mayor responded that the banks were for erosion control and he trusted those individuals who made those decisions because they went to school and had a degree in that field.

In the early 1920's,  Harry Trexler had the park system designed by Meehan Associates of Philadelphia,  the country's leading landscape architectural firm of that time.  They specified that willow trees be planted along the creeks. The spreading shallow root system of those trees  held the banks firmly in place for over 70 years. More so, they allowed both view and access to the creeks.  Families and their children enjoyed the parks for generations.  In 2005, mayor Pawlowski hired a series of  park directors who all had the same background in recreation from Penn State. They were content to farm out park maintenance decisions to the Wildlands Conservancy, which was more than glad to administer grants for the park system. The Wildlands harvested 15% administrative fee for each grant. Their specialty is popular conservation trends, regardless of local specifics. They instituted riparian buffers, which are supposed to filter lawn fertilizer runoff from entering the creeks. In Allentown, however, the storm sewer system is piped directly into the creeks, under the buffers, making them useless for that designated purpose. Meanwhile, as the willow trees started dying out from age, they were not replaced.  This series of recreation trained directors, all from out of town, couldn't care less that both the view and access to the creeks were blocked. One of them told me that when you can only catch a glimpse of the creek, it is more exciting.  Neither The Wildlands Conservancy,  nor their park director lackeys,  realized that these weed walls would cultivate invasive species, including Poison Hemlock.  So the buffers still have to be cut down several times a season, especially with the Little Lehigh and Cedar Creek being sources for the water plant on Martin Luther King Drive.

The time has come to restore the Allentown parks to their former glory.  It's time to plant new willow trees along the banks. Allentown was known for its park system, featured on numerous picture postcards...Let's restore that fame.

postcard of Robin Hood Bridge, Lehigh Parkway, 1955

A Duckling Story In Allentown

Local noted photographer Hub Willson took the extra cute capture shown above in 2010, at a Rose Garden pond.  In the last few years such a photograph would not have been possible, no ducklings survived the grass mowing.

Readers may recall that last year, and in the recent preceding years, I tried to prevent that carnage here on this blog.  Last year, in addition to the park leadership, I even contacted Mayor and Mrs. Tuerk, all to no avail. 

The problem is the fake riparian zones.  The park department feels that they must mow in the spring to curtail the invasive species. Although they claimed to look for nests before mowing, that was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.  If they would keep it mowed, as they did in 2010, the ducks would still find suitable spots for their nests. However, when they don't mow during mating season, then mow after the nests are built,  the season's ducklings are destroyed.

The park department either needs to keep the banks mowed on a regular schedule, or wait to mow after the ducks have left the nest. At that point the grass would be quite high, and it would involve more machinery and labor. 

The park department realizes that because the storm water system is piped under the buffer, directly into the creek, that the buffer doesn't really buffer.  However, it does provide an excuse to cut back somewhat on the mowing budget.  However, the invasive species thrive along the uncut banks, especially Poison Hemlock. Late last summer the park department was mandated to cut the banks, because the invasive situation was so out of hand.

The time has come for the department to return to regular cutting of the banks, as they do with the meadows. Ironically, now it will be more costly, because they planted the new trees along what they hoped would be the outer buffer line. Nevertheless, the health of the park and the ducklings demand it.

Parking Authority Probe

Mayor Matt Tuerk has announced that the city will re-evaluate the usefulness of the Parking Authority to the city and its citizens. In doing so, he stated that the Authority was started back in 1984 to address the parking issues of that day...That was the city line back then, but in reality it was started to bail out some influential owners of Park & Shop. As retail commerce shifted to the malls, the Park & Shop lots no longer thrived as before. 

As an activist and blogger, I have followed the Parking Authority shenanigans for four decades.  As an independent mayoral candidate in 2005, I conducted two press conferences about the Authority.  It was never easy gaining traction against the Authority, because the former private owner of the Morning Call was one of those influential Park & Shop owners. At the time, I was protesting meters extending way out beyond the then existing shopping district, and penalizing the poorest citizens, mostly apartment tenants.  The newspaper instead interviewed the Authority director,  and didn't attend my second conference at all.

Years later, when the Authority doubled the meter rates, I documented to City Council that the Authority fabricated their notion that the merchants wanted the increase. Since at least two members of council were sitting members of the Authority board, that revelation of mine also went ignored.

The Morning Call and the Parking Authority still have been intertwined in conflicts of interest in recent times. The Morning Call building was included in the NIZ map, although it was across Linden Street from the rest of the zone. Authority surface lots, which provided easy convenient parking, as opposed to decks, were sold to chosen developers for low prices. Ethical questioning of that practice was limited to this blog. Former Morning Call property has been transferred between the Authority and a private NIZ developer, for mutual benefit. 

I'm glad to see that recent public outrage over the Parking Authority ticketing practices has prompted the mayor into action. Kudos to Betty Cauler and others for their current activism. If the city really needs to spend $10K to $20K in their evaluation is questionable, but hopefully the outcome will justify the expense.

Shown above is the Parking Authority ticketing people for street sweeping in 2008, despite the snow.                                                                                                                                         

photo and outrage by molovinsky

The Neuweiler Story

Allentown's NIZ was a boutique legislation that allows private property to be publicly financed.  On the up side, for the most part, the beneficiaries have been local boys. That is about to change. 

The Morning Call had an excellent report on a New Jersey firm muscling in on our tax dollar giveaway. They learned their lesson well from the first interloper, Ruckus Brewery.  Ruckus was set up with the Neuweiler Brewery by Mike Fleck, before he went to the pokey with Pawlowski.  Ruckus managed to raise money from their NIZ approval and get possession of the brewery without actually spending any of their own money. For that fund raising, they changed their name to Brewers Hill.  Previously they never even had experience with actual brewing or real estate...Never underestimate the value of a political connection.

Like Ruckus/Brewers Hill, the new player promises to relocate their office here to Allentown. Sprinkle in a promise of affordable housing, and the Allentown welcome mat is out.  They have agreements now with Brewers Hill, and options on neighborhood properties. 

Personally, I preferred my tax dollars benefiting the local boys, like Reilly and Jaindl.

photocredit: Robert Walker

above reprinted from February of 2021

UPDATE MAY 18, 2022: With the recent news about Neuweilers, I decided to revisit the brewery posts. The post above is just one of dozens I have written on the brewery since 2008. I may have somewhat more knowledge about the topic than the Morning Call's changing cast of reporters, because I had actually sat down with the last private owner. In 2007 Pawlowski said that "We have to get it out of the hands of this guy," It was also the last time that any property taxes were paid on the property. While the city took procession supposedly because no improvements were made, likewise nothing has been done since, fifteen years later. Actually, the property now is in considerably worse condition. But in addition to no taxes being paid in all these years, we have been paying the salaries of the bureaucrats in the various controlling agencies since the property was confiscated.

Whether demolished or restored, or a combination of both, we all want to see change at the property. But understand that we as taxpayers will be paying for that change with our diverted state income taxes. Understand that although the project will be publicly financed, it will be privately owned.

Those interested in an account of the situation from 2007 until now, can use the search engine of this blog's sidebar... simply type in Neuweiler brewery.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 15, 2022: A recent headline in the Morning Call put this money pit back on this blog's front burner. It referred to investment coming to the river. It all these years of NIZ promoting, the Morning Call has never clarified that the investment is our money, our diverted state taxes. Perhaps the new crop of young reporters don't fully understand that. I can appreciate that it's hard to understand how privately owned buildings can be completely publicly paid for....Credit outgoing state senator Pat Browne for that grab of the century. As for Neuweilers, before the recent owners signed over to the current owners, they were given a couple $mil in seed money by the public authority. An enterprising reporter or investigator, might want to track where those dollars went.

Down the road, when some local cheerleader strolls up to the new bar at Neuweilers, and orders the first brewski,  he'll have no idea how many $millions and $millions it really cost the taxpayers.

UPDATE JANUARY 27, 2023: Demolition has begun on the brewery, only the iconic front tower portion will remain.  That portion has been so structurally compromised from neglect, that its preservation is only possible because of our unaccounted for tax dollars. I'm amused how people are so excited about the project, but so oblivious to the true story about it, outlined above. There are a few civic notables relieved that scrutiny, so far, has been limited to this blog.

No Investors Need Apply

Mayor Pawlowski can't stand private investors, if he didn't give you a grant, your not worth crap. In the early 70's the City and Redevelopment Authority gave control of the Neuweiler Brewery to a friend. Under the City's watch, windows were removed and exterior walls broken through to remove the brewing tanks and piping for scrap. All metal, wires and any object of value were crudely ripped out in an orgy of demolition. With a large opening in the back wall smashed out, the basement was used as a free landfill by a roofer. Still the building remained iconic, because of its rich industrial architecture. In 2003 a New Jersey investor bought the building for over $200,000 in the condition shown in the photograph. The building has been in that condition since the late 70's. HIs hope was at some point the City would appreciate the landmark and cooperate in its revival. He must have found the building citations from the Pawlowski administration mind-numbing; can you image being held responsible for carnage committed by a previous owner under the City's watch. Also this week the City punished the owners of the Livingston Apartments for their stubbornness about keeping magnificent heavy metal doors not listed in their Home Depot code book. Mayor Pawlowski, afraid someone might want to invest private money in Allentown and pay real estate taxes, had the Neuweiler owner jailed when he came to Allentown this week to discuss the property. Our new Mayor, along with our new Director of Codes, and our new Redevelopment Director plan to steal, excuse me, i mean seize the brewery.

above reprinted from May of 2008

ADDENDUM MARCH 15, 2023: The Morning Call currently has a photo spread of the demolition work occurring on the brewery.  What the paper doesn't reveal, or even know, are the secrets buried in the rubble. I have been following and reporting on the real story for over fifteen years, even meeting with the previous private owner. 

While most residents only care about seeing the finished project, tomorrow I will review what this project really cost, in both money and integrity. When it finally opens, it will be a very expensive brewski.

Pawlowski Degrees Destiny

In 1934 Perry Minich and his bride opened a jewelry store on the side of the elegant Americus Hotel. The post depression years weren't that easy for a merchant in luxury goods, but they had faith in Allentown. They were rewarded by Allentown's boom years during the 50's . In 1981 a robber entered the store, pushed Mrs. Minich to the floor, then shot and killed her. The Minich family carried on with their Allentown business. Their nephew, who witnessed the tragedy, took over the store. One by one, in Scranton, Easton, and Wilkes-Barre, hotels of the Americus vintage, closed and were boarded up. The Americus, a white elephant, although a dollar short and a day late, stayed open. Enter new Mayor Ed Pawlowski, self-designated real estate expert. He decided because the hotel owner was controversial, and had been demonized in regard to other properties, he could execute a forced sale. He erected a scaffold around the building, declared it unsafe, and ordered the existing merchants to vacate. For those really familiar with the situation the irony abounds. One week after the scaffold was erected, a window fell out the Schoen building, controlled by the city, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Although transient tenants will be offered relocation money to de-convert apartments in Old Allentown, three merchants of the Americus got nothing. While almost seven million dollars in grant money was offered outside developers to purchase the hotel, the city confiscated insurance proceeds from the existing owner. Pawlowski ended what had endured over seventy years through good and bad times, through tragedy, and it will cost the taxpayers many millions to ever put this humpty dumpty back together again. 

above reprinted from April of 2008 

ADDENDUM MARCH 14, 2023: The Morning Call recently noted Albert Abdouche's accomplishments with the Americus Hotel, as well they should. Abdouche purchased the hotel at a tax-sale, and restored it under his own volition. Although now finally benefiting from some entitlements, for the first years he went it alone on his own. In this era of replacing Allentown's historic mercantile district with new nondistinctive buildings, it's a pleasure to celebrate a restored gem of our past.

Molovinsky On Anytown

I'm afraid that you my readers are going to be submitted to a little introspection. Let's say that my therapist threw in the towel, and that you're him/her for now. 

Allentown is no longer governed by native Allentonians. Oh, there's still a few on council, but their days are numbered. Mayor Tuerk took his crew to the Dominican Republic in year one,  and I expect more Caribbean trips.

Things look challenging for what was my main mission, the traditional park system with its WPA structures.  The new park director's background is in trails. When Pawlowski bailed out a developer by purchasing two brownfields, Basin Street and the old fertilizer plant, the excuse was connecting the parks... I called it connecting the neglect. She also has a background in trees and stormwater runoff. The Wildlands Conservancy, aka Woke Incorporated, pushes riparian buffers. They and the park department just ignore the reality that the storm sewer system goes UNDER those buffers, piped directly into the streams and creeks. The buffers serve no purpose but to block view and access to the water, and incubate invasive species.  Although I have done some good with my mission, I'm looking to pass the torch in these silver years. 

From Facebook we learn that the most enthusiasm for Allentown groups rests with nostalgia...which shops had the best cheesesteaks and chili sauce.  As a blogger on Allentown, I'm feeling more and more like Don Quixote fighting windmills. 

As a creature of habit, I'll still get up early and write, but perhaps the title will become Molovinsky On Anytown.

Greg Weaver Art Scene

For about ten years, mid 70's to 80's, Allentown was graced with a one man art machine. Greg Weaver studied at Carnegie Mellon and then returned to the Valley to become artist, promoter and inspiration to dozens of local artists. His large studios, which moved from one low rent location to another over the years, became hubs for innovation and social activity. He was very prolific with his work, and generous with his encouragement. A typical monthly bash involved perhaps a poster by Mark Beyer( now an internationally known underground comic) performance by a jazz group such as Gary Hassey,(Greg also had a band) and perhaps a new showing by a local artist, such as Barnaby Ruhe. The loft parties were always mobbed, by many of the same people who now attend the Museum social events. This art "scene" cost the taxpayers nothing, it was done by artists, and it was real. Greg suffered from diabetes, and eventually lost his sight. Although blind he continued to produce art and inspire people until his death. Several of his works are in the Allentown Museums' permanent collection and his memory is in the hearts' of his friends. The image here is from Mark Beyer, representing an invitation to a Weaver event.

reprinted from September of 2007

At Least She Isn't White

As a blogger, I get called with pitches for one thing or another. In regard to the school superintendent situation, I told a recent caller that it's no topic for an old white guy. In the past I had blogged about Allentown's superintendents often. My archives indicate no less than a dozen such posts. 

A few supers ago, Allentown decided that its top person should look like its students...That meant no whites need apply. The issue now seems to be that the current person serving as interim super is not of the majority minority. 

The same board members now claiming to endorse a search had enthusiastically hired Carol Birks as interim. At the time, I wondered why someone from the existing administration couldn't serve as interim. It's no surprise to me that the board now wants to hire her permanently. To add another layer of irony, the consultant now warns that searches motivated by race preference are illegal. 

Although I remain an old white guy who knows that there is no winning when writing such a post, I also remain a blogger.

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

ADDENDUM MARCH 8, 2023: I haven't taken the Trexler Trust to task for over a decade...I feared less money for the WPA as retribution.  However, I'm at the age now where my outreach is limited to this blog, and nobody else will speak out.

For an era, the Trust was too tied to the city administrations. Perhaps that pattern started with it agreeing to the city demolishing the greenhouse, as explained above. The Trust was very tight with the Pawlowski administration, with some members being part of Pawlowski's kitchen cabinet. 

Of late they have been too methodical... For instance, they want their expert consultant to study what exact mortar mix to use when repointing the WPA stonework, before dispensing any funding. These walls are not the Washington Monument or the Statue of Liberty...but repairs must be done in a timely fashion. 

The city shouldn't be seeking special grants and gifts to repair the WPA structures... The upkeep required should be part and parcel of the regular budget. Their importance has come second, third and fourth place to numerous recreational fads and events. 

I'd like to tell you that I'm optimistic about the future of the WPA structures, but I'm not.  I will however use this blog to point out the ongoing neglect.

Saving The Spring Pond

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





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


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







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

above reprinted from 2010

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE MARCH 7, 2023: There's a new park director, Mandy Tolino. I haven't met Tolino, but I suspect that this blog might appear on her radar.  Those who visit the pond this spring will discover that the sod has once again overgrown the surrounding stonework. It is my understanding that Tolino has a background with the Delaware&Lehigh Trails, and hopefully will develop an appreciation of our unique WPA structures.

The Little Bridge Of Lehigh Parkway

A few years ago, new and young visitors to the park would have no idea that a magnificent miniature bridge crossed a spring run to the Little Lehigh. Certainly, such a stone construction wasn't necessary to cross the 24 inch waterway. It was built in a era of masonry art, fueled by the Great Depression, and funded by Roosevelt's WPA. Over the last decade, budgetary cutbacks and environmentalists demanding riparian zones, justified allowing it to be consumed by brush and saplings. In 2010, I persuaded Mike Gilbert, park department manager, to partially clear around the bridge. Although a tree now blocks it's southern approach, the bridge has been given a reprieve on its destruction.

above reprinted from 2012

photo/molovinsky

ADDENDUM MARCH 6, 2023:While it has been over a decade since I had the miniature bridge uncovered, I'm sorry to report that the WPA structures still remain a low priority with the city. While the wall into Lehigh Parkway has been restored out of necessity to retain entrance to the park, neglect for the other structures continues.  

Although I knocked on the door of every park director since the Daddona administration,  I will not be introducing myself to the new director. After all these years, my advocacy will now be limited to this blog.

Reilly Folds In Nick Miller

I was disappointed, but not surprised, when Pat Browne moved his long time Allentown center city office into a new J. B. Reilly office tower.  The debt service on those office towers are met with our diverted state taxes, enabled by Browne's boutique NIZ legislation. 

I am disappointed, but not surprised that new Pa. Senator Nick Miller has taken over the same space in Reilly's building. 

When constituents visit the office for help, they have already lost, before they enter the door. Their state taxes, which were going to infrastructure and children's health insurance, now go to Miller's landlord.

It didn't take Reilly long to train Miller.  I'm sure Miller will be offended by this post, but he needn't worry, apparently nobody else but me cares about such things.

The Art Of Jessica Lenard

Jessica started painting in a class at the Museum School in Boston while at Emerson College, and continued until her passing in 2016.  In addition to painting,  she also expressed herself through print making, and even pottery. 

Over the years she was represented in numerous shows in NYC. Locally, her work was last seen in a retro show at Muhlenberg and Baum in 2017.

I have been charged with finding representation for the collection of her remaining work. I'm seeking an agent and/or gallery motivated by her unique art.

Jessica Lenard website

Jessica Lenard art facebook

shown above Thelonious Monk's Funeral, mixed media

Molovinsky vs. Parking Authority

Although the Morning Call went out of their way to under-report it, there was a third candidate in the 2005 mayoral election,  independent Michael Molovinsky.  During the campaign I held three press conferences... One about subsidized housing, and the other two about the Parking Authority. The paper only reported on one,  and for that one they invited the Authority's director at the time, Linda Kauffman, to refute my allegations.  Of course the paper never revealed their connections to the Authority. 

The Authority had bailed Park & Shop out of the dwindling downtown parking business by buying their lots.  The malls on McArther Road were going full tilt, and Hamilton Street was dying a quick death.  Morning Call owner Miller owned most of Park & Shop, along with Jack Leh and Harvey Farr. 

Both the Morning Call and the Parking Authority would continue to serve the establishment and each other for the next three decades. This would include the Parking Authority purchasing Morning Call shed property, such as their parking deck. The Morning Call never reported that the Authority fabricated merchant surveys to justify meter increases to Allentown City Council, as documented by this blogger. More recently, not clarifying the nexus between the Authority, the Morning Call and the NIZ.  The Morning Call was included in the NIZ map, although it was across Linden Street from the district. Authority surface lots sold to selected developers at taxpayer inconvenience, was also not clarified.  

Wednesday's Morning Call article about ticketing parents waiting to pick up their children from school, was the first article critical of the Authority in memory. Of course the Morning Call no longer has assets to protect,  they're no longer even a tenant in their own previous building. While the recent article was a welcome development, don't expect too many revelations from them...Their editor and culture is still very much establishment oriented.

I'm shown above in 2005 at a press conference on housing that the Morning Call attended, but didn't report on. I documented that the property was already remodeled and sold three times at taxpayer expense, and that the most recent subsidized "owner" had also defaulted.

above reprinted from November of 2021 

ADDENDUM MARCH 1, 2023: Recently, Betty Cauler urged me to write about abuses by the Parking Authority. I in turn urged her to organize and publicize on Allentown Chronicles, a facebook group...She did so with vigor. Enough noise was generated that both the local media and Authority Board have responded. Cauler and company may succeed in taming the beast.

Both this blog and Allentown Chronicles remain available to those confronting abuses of power.