The Sunday Drive

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



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

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



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



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



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

reprinted from previous years

Knockdown At The Garden

You could knock Joe Louis down, the problem was when he got up. Shown above, Louis's former sparring partner, Jersey Joe Walcott, circles above Louis. Louis had returned from four years in the service, and resumed defending his title. Walcott himself would eventually become champion, but not this night, not against Joe Louis.

Madison Square Garden, December 5, 1947

DECEMBER OF 2012 IS FIGHT MONTH, WITH 29 JOE LOUIS ERA FIGHT POSTS

Allentown's New Highway of Mischief

I've been an opponent of bikes in the parks for a long time. The photo above is actually from an interview with Fox News many years ago which appeared on the Hannity Show. Now that Allentown is again gearing up their plans to interconnect the parks, I'm again sounding the alarm.

Back when that interview took place, the cyclists were suburban yuppies in spandex and helmets.  While that group is civilized, the danger was their speed  combined with old folks like me walking around.  The new danger is the junior thugs with electric bikes. Unlike the spandex yuppie, consideration isn't even something they aspire to.

The park interconnection will become a highway of mischief, with no police cars.  I know that there are destinations where bikes, motor vehicles and tourists respect each other, Allentown isn't one of them.

I'm an advocate for being site appropriate. In Allentown parks, the Riparian Buffers are weed walls.  In this era of dirt and electric bikes, interconnecting the parks will become another well meaning mistake.

Molovinsky For Allentown

Before this Molovinsky On Allentown blog began in 2007, there was Molovinsky for Allentown mayoral campaign in 2005. If you think that this blog is ignored by the Morning Call now, you should have seen the treatment they gave me in 2005. Actually, you couldn't have seen it, because they ignored my press conferences and only mentioned me in a smearing way. Although I was on the ballot as an independent, they never once published my photograph, or any picture with me in it.

I bring this up now, nineteen years later, because of current news about the Allentown Parking Authority. I was on their case, even back then. I held a press conference in front of their then headquarters at 10th and Hamilton Sts. The MC reporter ignored me, and instead interviewed the Authority's director at the time, and wrote about the wonderful things the Authority was doing for Allentown. 

The roof of that headquarters was the original Park&Shop parking deck, first in the country! When Park&Shop became less viable, the Allentown Parking Authority was started to take the big boys, including Morning Call owner Donald Miller, off the hook. The Parking Authority has been a behind the scenes handmaiden for the big boys ever since. 

Currently, the building is a satellite police station. The Tuerk administration now wants to sell it back to the Authority. The mayor is offended that some people think a shenanigan might be cooking. Whatever the backroom deal is, I'm sure you'll never read about it in the Morning Call.

Pictured above in 2005, I'm explaining the recent history of a restored house on Liberty Street. It had been restored, at our expense, three times in two years. If you want to know more about that, you won't find it in the Morning Call, they ignored that news conference too.

shown above screen grab from WFMZ

A Call To Arms

The above poster was circulated on social media Tuesday afternoon. The photo used, taken by this blogger last year, features many of those activists who feel disenfranchised by the Tuerk administration. At issue on the citizen side is which non-profits are supported by city hall, and which aren't.  At issue on the city council dais is the decorum of the protesters. 

If all the above wasn't enough for a lively meeting, not all city council members are on the same page. While Candida Affa is traditionally a staunch supporter of current administrations, Ed Zucal shares more and more sentiments with the citizen side. The protesters are particularly interested in a proposal to divert left over grant money to the general fund, as opposed to funding more non-profits. This proposal was forwarded by both Affa and Zucal, illustrating the ongoing dynamic tension between council, city hall and the activists.

One of the protesters is Jessica Lee Ortiz. This past weekend her organization, The Ortiz Ark Foundation, ran a highly successful, well publicized Easter Egg hunt at Stevens Park. 

Everyone has their own agenda,..I'm always promoting long overdue WPA restorations in our park system.

ADDENDUM: Jessica Lee Ortiz and the non-profit advocates prevailed. The city will set up applications and a scoring system for allocation of $1.2mil.

Municipal Wishful Thinking

One of the things that annoys me most is municipal wishful thinking. Perhaps nothing exemplifies that more than bicycle lanes. 

In the grit of real center city, cyclists are pre-teen boys, who haven't yet acquired enough for their unlicensed dirt bike. Instead, they pop wheelies on their bicycles, like their older brothers do on their loud dirt bikes. and ride down the middle of the street. 'They practice going the wrong way, and ignoring traffic lights. 

Meanwhile, in Delusionalville, elected officials  takes credit for the bicycle stencil grants, wasting our tax dollars on complete uselessness. I remember the trash compactors, as if they would solve the littering problem.

If my tone sounds somewhat more bitter than usual, it's because I think time's running out for the Allentown I knew. This city west of Bethlehem will still be called Allentown, but it won't resemble anything I remember. Likewise, I'm sure the old timers in Reading can say the same thing.

As I peck away on the typewriter with this municipal obituary, I do take solace from pictures of an inner city Easter Egg hunt.  Those mothers want better for their children. I would have liked to see more fathers there, but there were some. These are tougher times in every way than my Allentown was. All these new buildings on Hamilton Street mean nothing except to the few people who own them. The smoke stacks are long gone, and so are the high paying union jobs that they fostered. Immigrants still want to come here, the left over bones from our industrial past are still more than from where they come from.

How to fold this all together, the memories with new realities, is a tough recipe. 

Radio Molovinsky Wishful Thinking PodBlast

The Bicycles Of Allentown youtube by Gary Ledebur

The Weigh-In

                                            Madison Square Garden, March 27, 1942
When they met for the first time the previous March, Abe Simon battled Joe Louis for 13 rounds. The Detroit crowd went wild that the Jewish giant from New York could absorb Louis's punches. Louis had the power of Mike Tyson and the finesse of Muhammad Ali. When it was revealed that Simon had fought with a broken hand, the Madison Garden rematch became a big ticket. Louis knocked Simon out in the sixth round. It would be Simon's last fight.
click on photo to enlarge

DECEMBER OF 2012 IS FIGHT MONTH, WITH 29 JOE LOUIS ERA FIGHT POSTS

Allentown's Poor Park Decisions

Allentown had one of the finest park systems in the United States, but one national fad after another has diminished it. 

After the Park and Recreation departments were combined, former mayor Ed Pawlowski  hired a succession of recreation trained directors, who in turn farmed out park policy to the Wildlands Conservancy.  The Conservancy, like many of our other local sacred cows, have more influence than expertise, and promote trendy fads, not always site appropriate.  

While the banks of our park streams were secured with Weeping Willows, rather than replace the aging willows, the Conservancy pushed for Riparian Buffers.  The buffers become infested with invasive species which have to be cut down several time a season. Several years ago Allentown was warned by the DEP about Poison Hemlock infecting our drinking water supply from the Little Lehigh. Before the downside of these buffers were fully realized by the park department, all the new trees were planted out away from the creeks, only complicating the grass mowing. In the meantime, our citizens are cut off from both access and beauty of the creeks.

The Wildlands Conservancy, also in alignment with national trends, demolished two important dams on the Little Lehigh. After demolishing the Fish Hatchery Dam, that facility suffered the biggest fish loss in its history from flooding. Demolishing the Robin Hood Bridge Dam has despoiled the beautiful bridge piers and that immediate area, which formally was the pride of the park system.

I take great pride in having fought against all the above violations by the Conservancy. While I lost those battles in Allentown, I was able to help save Wehr's Dam in Covered Bridge Park from their schemes.

What brings me back to the parks today* is the announcement that Allentown has secured a grant to continue its plan to connect the parks with a trail. While the promotion states that the Trail Network is for walkers and cyclists, reality is very much different. As a walker, I can tell you that any of the Allentown parks is long enough...The connection is really for the cyclists. Any walker in the park will tell you that it's frightening and dangerous when a cyclist zooms by you. 

As a longtime advocate for the parks, I could show the city where this grant money could be much better spent in restoring neglected existing features in our parks. We do not need to connect the neglect, but rather address and save our separate parks.

Decades ago picture postcards of our park system would be sent across the country. Now-a-days. those images are nostalgic reminders of what we've lost.

1955 picture postcard of Lehigh Parkway, before being despoiled

*Over the weekend Mayor Tuerk admired the creek bank in Lehigh Parkway. He should realize that by mid-summer that bank will be hidden with a 6' tall weed wall under current park policy. Also over the weekend state representative Pete Schweyer announced Allentown was awarded the grant to connect the parks. He should realize that we would be better off restoring the parks, instead of connecting them.

Whose Parks Are They?

  photocredit:Denise Sanchez

I used this picture of a cute little girl in 2010 fishing with her daddy, using her Barbie fishing pole. Although the post at that time had her name, now fourteen years later, using it would it be an invasion of her privacy. My point then, as now, is that the park department should keep the creek banks mowed, so that a father and daughter can share such an experience. 

Although Mayor Tuerk and Mandy Tolino, Director of Parks, may not realize it, I have been very gentle toward them compared to their predecessors. But, as my hair thins, so does my patience. Parks and Recreation are combined departments. While I have no opinions concerning the recreation programs, I feel strongly about the parks, especially the WPA structures. 

As the summer progresses, I will be sharing those feelings here on this blog.

photocredit:Denise Sanchez

Allentown's Prime 'time

During Allentown's prime time, it prospered as an enlightened oligarchy. Allentown's leaders would meet for lunch at the Livingston Club on S. 7th Street, and decide what this town needed to do to remain The All-American City. John Leh, Donald Miller and Harvey Farr owned the Park&Shop, and made sure that there was adequate parking for all the merchants. Additionally,  an eccentric outsider, Max Hess Jr. did more than his share for Hamilton Street. Not only did Hamilton Street prosper, but so did everyone else, living and working on the side streets leading to Hamilton. Although the oligarchy died off, and the Livingston was torn down, democracy doesn't seem to have served Allentown as well. We now have a strong arm-mayor and a subservient City Council. If the current project, with no cost limits, transforms Allentown remains to be seen. I remain doubtful that any benefits will spread down the side streets.

above reprinted from July of 2012

ADDENDUM MARCH 28, 2024: It seems as if my doubts were correct in 2012. Although the NIZ has benefited a couple of men immensely, it has done little to nothing for the side streets and beyond. Analysis of this irony has been limited mostly to this blog. 

Allentown has two new populations. One is poor and not concerned with Allentown's past, but their own present. Another demographic, in the growing medical industry, is likewise not concerned with Allentown history. Neither group cares how state wide taxpayers feel about their diverted state taxes going to Hamilton 'Street.

As administrator of a large facebook group comprised of many former Allentonians, I know that group is nostalgia orientated, with some curiosity, but little concern about present day Allentown.

BONUS OR PENALTY:  NEW BROADCAST ON SURVEYS

The Sign Of Delusion

When I first saw the new street signs in Old Allentown, I gave them about a year. I must now downgrade that lifespan to about 6 months. The old green and white signs are going on 60 years of use. Generations of boys did pull ups on the old sign at 12th and Turner; This sign will support one pull up by one boy. The Allentown planning office told Morning Call reporter, Dan Hartzell, that the antique looking signs are to enhance the historic nature of Old Allentown. Hartzell thought that it's wonderful that the Old Allentown yuppies get something, because they Walk the Walk. He did not report that the signs have no structural integrity, are too short and are junk. Although Hartzell took the above photograph only one week ago, the Turner has since broken off the sign. In truth, we do not have an historic district, we have a poverty district with a few yuppies and a city hall deluding itself. In the City Without Limits, we wasted another half a $million dollars.

above reprinted from August of 2012

ADDENDUM MARCH 27, 2024: The new posts and signs were such junk that they only looked decent for ten minutes. Twelve years later, I'm certain you can't find one that isn't bent. That result is the good news, the bad news is that the city planning department at that time got paid for such decisions. Most of the lackeys of that period have retired. If the new personnel is any better, I have no direct knowledge. Back then I was still visiting city hall on a regular basis. My visits now are curtailed to an occasional  observation of a city council meeting.

New Park Ranger

When the doctor told me about my incredibly low vitamin D, he asked if my family was from Transylvania? When I replied that we were, he apologized for his faux pas and we determined that my condition was caused by blogging. I decided to get some sun by walking in our parks, combining my vitamin deficiency with my civil annoyance. Because I have never owned shorts or sneakers, the first week saw me in jeans, shirt and shoes. I went to a local discount store and purchased shorts and a tank top. Fashion now dictates that men's shorts go below the knees. Because I have short legs, the shorts went halfway to my ankles, looking like knickers from 1920. I took them to be shortened, but apparently mismarked them. Besides at the Pride Festival this past Sunday, no man wears shorts that short. I also made a mistake with the tank top. Apparently, I had inadvertently crossed over into the women's section at the discount store. When I washed the shirt, I saw the flowers on the label. Anyway, I am getting plenty of sun and investigating our parks. My first reports dealt with the No Maintenance Zone and included a letter from a dog owner, who can no longer enjoy the stream at Cedar Park. An apologist for City Hall suggested tick and insect repellant. Tony Martin replied: The no-mow zones does absolutely nothing beneficial to the creek in cedar creek park. My dog is small. Not a lab. He is only 10 inches tall and I prefer not to marinate his or my body with pesticides to repel ticks and other insects. Neither should any children be subjected to that. I, nor my best friend, have access to this once great park's best asset,the creek. You cannot even tell that a creek exists unless you cross the bridge. Please speak out about this issue,and let Mayor Pawlowski know that you the people, that pay his salary, will not stand for this nonsense to continue any longer. Mow the weeds already and restore both the view and access to this once beautiful creek/park. - Tony Martin Although I certainly do agree with Tony, currently the citizens must fight for fresh drinking water. With the private for profit Trash To Energy Plant, we have already lost the right to fresh air. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself in my new persona as Park Ranger. More reports surely to follow. 

above reprinted from August of 2012

ADDENDUM MARCH 26, 2024:It has been almost a dozen years since the above post was written, and very little has changed in Allentown. Although the mayor mentioned above is serving time, his embrace of poverty for political purpose is now firmly established in Allentown. We now have a DEI mayor accused of discrimination. Our economic development has been legislated to essentially benefit one man. I still walk the parks, but with a more masculine ensemble. Despite my continuing efforts, the weed walls blocking our creeks prevail. I continue to write and speak out against those policies which are an affront to me and the better Allentown I knew.

Doing It His Way

He was Frank Sinatra's favorite fighter. Tami Mauriello started fighting professionally when he was 17 years old, as a light heavyweight. After two loses to Gus Lesnevich for that title, he moved up to the heavyweight division. In 1943, Sinatra paid $10,000 to buy an interest in his fellow Italian American. Sinatra sang the National Anthem before one of his fights. Eleven straight wins set up his title shot with Louis on September 18, 1946, in Yankee Stadium. This incredible photo shows the first round knockout. Mauriello ended his career with an 82 - 13 record. He later appeared in the movie classic, On The Waterfront, with fellow heavyweights Tony Galento and Abe Simon.

DECEMBER OF 2012 IS FIGHT MONTH, WITH 29 JOE LOUIS ERA FIGHT POSTS

2nd and Hamilton

Up to the mid 1960's,  before Allentown started tinkering with urban redevelopment, lower Hamilton Street still teemed with businesses. The City had grown from the river west,  and lower Hamilton Street was a vibrant area.  Two train stations and several rail lines crossed the busy thoroughfare.  Front, Ridge and Second were major streets in the first half of the twentieth century.  My grandparents settled on the 600 block of 2nd Street in 1895, along with other Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania.  As a boy, I worked at my father's meat market on Union Street.  I would have lunch at a diner, just out of view in the photo above.  The diner was across from the A&P,  set back from the people shown on the corner.  A&P featured bags of ground to order 8 O'Clock coffee, the Starbucks of its day.

please click on photo

photocredit:Ed Miller, 1953

reprinted from November 2011                                                

    CLICK FOR NEW BROADCAST:BABY BOOMER EXPIRATION DATE    

A Field Trip To 7th & Hamilton

On Saturday evening, during prime dinner time, I surveyed the four trendy rent subsidized restaurants at center square. While the outside area at Hamilton Kitchen was fairly full with drinkers and snackers, the inside tables were virtually empty. Shula's was near empty. The Dime was about one third full, and Roar was also virtually empty. The Renaissance Hotel showed no signs of life in the lobby, suggesting few to no guests. An interesting comment was recently submitted to an older post.

The LVH building(at the arena) is a joke. As an employee, I wasn't allowed to park in that lovely enclosed parking lot underneath the actual building while going through EPIC training-- I had to park BLOCKS away-- It seems that all of the peons of LVH have to park quite a distance away as well from what I could see. While attempting to try to park in that "special" lot under the building, I had some nasty parking lot gestapo make me turn around since I didn't have the correct magical permit affixed to my rear view mirror. Undoubtably that lot is somehow restricted to "special people" . Honestly, they would have to hire a fleet of security officers to escort each and every one of us. I just walked quickly with my keys sticking out between my knuckles. When I work at the Bethlehem site, I wind up parking at the dead mall next door and spend fifteen minutes just walking to the desk where I work, so it made no difference to me. Taking a peak at the restaurants near the entrance, I find it hard to imagine most employees having lunches long enough to dine there, let alone being able to afford to eat there. Granted, I could afford a soft pretzel... As far as the gyn is concerned, I would rather pull out my hair one by one than deal with the traffic to go there in the morning before or after work. I highly doubt any potential patient would want to deal with driving there for a doctor's appointment, unless they live a very short distance away and are very familiar with the area. After driving through the decrepit outlying area filled with blighted/condemned houses and finally parking, the first thought that came to mind as I saw the newly developed area was, "I smell a rat".

It's apparent to me that virtually free rent may not be enough to keep these restaurants afloat. Reilly might have to consider actually paying them to stay open.

above reprinted from July of 2015

ADDENDUM MARCH 21, 2024: Although nine years have passed, there has been  no progress on the vitality and/or nightlife in downtown.  All the restaurants mentioned above have closed, and all the subsequent ones that took their place have closed, and then their replacements failed. Meanwhile, J.B. Reilly has continued to built his empire with our diverted state taxes. The NIZ supposedly wasn't passed to make a $millionaire a $Billionaire, but to elevate Allentown for the citizen taxpayers. Although State Senator Jarrett Coleman has been working on some accountability in regard to the NIZ, I'm afraid roadblocks are in his way. Unfortunately, with Josh Shapiro appointing the NIZ architect as state revenue director, I expect that no satisfaction will come from Harrisburg. I think that if Senator Coleman stays on the mission,  eventually he'll have to contact the United States Attorney General's office on behalf of Pennsylvania taxpayers.

The Morning Call Editorial Stable

There is a stable of editorial writers at the Morning Call who head our local development agencies. What they seem to have in common is the ability to write decently, and no real business experience. Under that disguise of expertise, the real movers and shakers of the area find them useful tools...Don Cunningham is the prime example. 

Another bottling company is on its way to the giant aquifer west of Allentown. Don has been welcoming this type of industry for over twenty years.  While they suck our most precious commodity dry, they provide few jobs.  The Lehigh Valley has become mecca for both bottling and warehousing under Cunningham's tenure in various public positions. He is the king of congestion and low paying jobs. Along Don's climb up his career mountain, he was Secretary of General Services under Ed Rendell. During the recent controversy, when J.B.Reilly landed the large state hospital parcel in a non-competitive handoff, Donny, although a former insider to Harrisburg shenanigans, didn't have one word to say.

If he is the king, Becky Bradley is the queen. Like Donny, she rose up the through the non-profit business agency sector. Years ago, right of ways were acquired to widen the highly congested Rt. 22. While those funds were instead diverted  to create another exit for a warehouse baron, Becky recently suggested that grant money be used to plant pretty bushes and trees along the right-of-way.  This way drivers have better scenery while they sit in line during rush hours. Never mind that it will increase expense cutting the grass around these new plantings.

You can read about development in the valley, written by the king and queen, on a regular basis in the Morning Call. I was hoping that with some recent personnel changes at the Morning Call, their Opinion Page would be more open to less-establishment type submitters....That has not happened.

Boxing's Giant Era

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

reprinted from December of 2012

Weekly Reader

When I was growing up my parents would receive both The Morning Call and The Evening Chronicle.* This was their main source of news. Television in the late 40's and early 50's had national and world news, but there was no local programing in Allentown. The antenna on our roof would receive the three network (ABC, NBC, and CBS) stations from Philadelphia, and that was it. The morning and evening papers provided the local news, in addition to national and world stories. Hess Brothers and Leh's would compete with multiple full page Ads. We children also had our own little paper, Weekly Reader, handed out in the classroom every Friday. I think of it when I get the thin Morning Call on Mondays.

* The Morning Call and Evening Chronicle were both published by same company, Call-Chronicle Newspapers.

reprinted from March, 2010

New Radio Molovinsky podcast, Snowbird In Paradise

The Radiation Mystery, Wetherhold & Metzger

The Shoe giant Wetherhold & Metzger started in 1908 on Hamilton street's south side. When business began to prosper, they moved across to the more prominent north side of Hamilton Street. Their store at 719 Hamilton was recently demolished, along with most of Allentown's mercantile history. It was a two story store, with the children's department on the lower level. This post originally was scheduled for sometime in the future, and was to include a Buster Brown poster. Today's Morning Call has a story on the mystery radium 226 found in the debris of the former buildings, and I thought perhaps the molovinsky on allentown historical division could help. Wetherhold & Metzer's downtown store was quite the adventure for a kid. In addition to your mother's money being transported away in a tube system like the bank drive-ups use today, you could look inside your shoes and see your feet.

Needless to say, eventually these shoe fluoroscopes were banned, but for many years one stood in the lower level of 719 Hamilton Street. Many a child, including myself, saw our foot bones in our new Buster Browns. Wetherhold & Metzger also had an uptown store in the 900 block of Hamilton Street.

reprinted from September of 2012

A Church Of Contention

Ripple Community Inc., a non-profit, wants to turn the church at 16th and Chew into very affordable apartments, and also have recovery rooms there, where essentially homeless people could recover from illness or injury.

While I'm not involved in the current zoning board dilemma concerning these proposals, I do have a lot of background in that neighborhood. I lived across the street from the church for many years.

Years ago, the then very strong West Park Civic Association would be out in force officially opposing this conversion. I remember when they even opposed another congregation selling the church at 15th and Turner to a less funded congregation.  They complained that the maintenance on the church might suffer.

I also remember many years ago when a wealthy member of the congregation at 16th & Chew left money in his will to have the church dressed out. Although the structure was in very good condition, they repointed all the stonework anyway, and remodeled the bell tower. In more recent times when the congregation felt financial strain and put the church up for sale, I thought that if only they hadn't done those superfluous upgrades, that money might have enabled them to keep the church going.

Even Alan Jennings, who drips liberalism, thinks that the 16th Street church is the wrong place for Ripple's new plans.

photocredit:Jason Addy/LehighValleyNews.com

King Levinsky

In 1964, a young Cassius Clay trained in south Miami Beach for his first fight against Sonny Liston. At that time, this section of the city was home to mostly retired Jews on fixed income. The hotels, decades after their prime, became pension rooming houses. Decades later, these same buildings would be restored to their art deco splendor, creating today's South Beach. As Clay trained, a middle aged punch drunk necktie peddler told him, "After Liston punches your head, you'll be selling ties with me." The street peddler was a fixture in Miami Beach. He didn't ask, he told people they were going to buy a tie. The future champ probably didn't realize that the heckler was none other than King Levinsky, legend of the 1930's, and veteran of over 118 heavyweight fights. Levinsky was born Harris Krakow in Chicago, and worked at his parent's fish market on Maxwell Street, the Jewish section during the roaring twenties. Although he never got a title shot, and weighed only 185, he fought all the leading heavyweights of his time, including the 265lb. giant, Primo Carnera. Managed by his sister Lena, he was known never to turn down a fight, including those against Max Baer.

reprinted from February of  2009

photo shows Levinsky with sister/manager Lena in 1932

Molovinsky Scales Back New Radio Division

Molovinsky Publishing, after just announcing a daily radio show last week,  has cancelled its studio buildout and subleased the space.  Michael Molovinsky, President and CFO, expressed fears that the studio would be shut down by the city. After J.B. Reilly's City Center RE declined to rent us space, we ended up in a older building. I saw what happen to the tenants in another non-Reilly older building,  

Although  Radio Molovinsky will not be a daily, Molovinsky himself will produce an occasional broadcast from a commercial studio in Radio City Music Hall. I don't relish traveling to NYC, and will be looking for a closer sound studio.

The initial episodes are archived, and remain accessible through the Radio Molovinsky link.

There will be a new episode today,  airing at 6:30AM, hopefully for your listening pleasure.

You Don't Have To Be Antisemitic To Be anti-Zionist, But It Helps

I have been a continuous subscriber to the Morning Call for over 50 years. Back in the day, anti-Israel letters to the editor were a common event, and this was long before conflicts with Hamas or other Palestinian factions. 

Gary Olson and Vincent Stravino of Bethlehem were regular writers of that persuasion. When I would occasionally send a reply to their pieces, my submissions were not given the automatic editor acceptance they received. 

I was surprised to see a recent piece by George Heitman who explained that Israel was responding to an entity dedicated to Israel's destruction. Mr. Heitman acknowledged that Israel was badly losing the public relations war, but that their enemy left them no alternative. 

Zionism is the appreciation of the Jewish homeland. Jews have lived continously in the Holy Land since biblical times. The two-state solution has been rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab world numerous times. Today, many people use the term Zionist as a derogatory term, meant as an insult and slur.

I have yet to meet an anti-Zionist who ever had much use for Jews.

Housing Court For Allentown

The Morning Call picked up on a woke premise that perhaps Allentown should have a special tenant court, which would provide or steer tenants facing evictions to legal council. With such council, tenants have statistically staved off eviction longer.

I happen to know quite a bit about this. For 35 years I operated a number of apartments in center city. In all those years I never received one building code violation, or had one complaint by a tenant. However, I did have to file evictions. 

Allentown became a poorer city quite rapidly. Competing social agencies handed out money for rent and security deposit. As news of these giveaways spread to New Jersey and New York, low income people flocked to Allentown. 

Allentown now has a large core of low income people. Unfortunately, some of these people are also low-discipline. While they could afford their apartment, paying rent isn't a priority for them. At the same time real estate prices have risen dramatically. Recent landlords need a steady rent flow to meet their debt service. 

What would be worse for Allentown than evicted tenants, much worse, would be abandoned buildings.

The Shadow Returns

In 2009, I presented a series of posts as the Shadow Mayor. I contended that I donned a janitor outfit and worked undetected in City Hall, where I was able to ascertain secrets and shenanigans concerning the Pawlowski Administration.  Whether that disguise was real or fictional, this blog's disclosures, along with those of blogger Bernie O'Hare, became of interest to the FBI years later, in their investigation of Allentown.

The Shadow retired during Ray O'Connell's time in the fifth floor, but now is coming back, to monitor Matthew Tuerk. I must clarify that I suspect no shenanigans or illegality from Tuerk, whatsoever, but rather think that his policies need surveillance. 

I have been told that he has run out of flags to raise from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and now is looking to Africa for sister cities. He also supposedly wants to make Genderfluid Identity Support a cabinet position.

I apologize for being a dinosaur, and thinking that Mayor Tuerk is too concerned with things beyond the proper scope of city government.  Although I will not reveal my new disguise, I will admit that I have dyed my hair. Although Tuerk wants to protect every possible type of personal choice, I heard that regard for the elderly isn't high on his priority list. In Tuerk's younger and younger City Hall, my gray hair would have given me away.

above reprinted from November of 2022 

ADDENDUM MARCH 6, 2024:Mayor Tuerk is excited about the iconic PPL building being sold for apartments. It sold for $9million, which is less than a fraction of its replacement cost. As a Shadow Mayor, I would be excited if it was being turned into condominiums, where a group of invested owners might create a demand for some vibrancy downtown.

Meanwhile, outside of Reillyville in Realityville, there was another shooting this past weekend on the east side. We learned that the victims are not cooperating with the police...Apparently, there were no innocents involved.

As  Shadow Mayor, I would be excited to take non-cooperating shooting victims and roust them out of town!

RADIO MOLOVINSKY

Wednesday morning, March 6th at 6:30AM, I hope to kick off a live internet radio program. I'm starting with 15minute segments as I explore and learn about the medium. I invite my fellow early morning humans to join me putting together an alternative talk venue for independent conservatives. Use the link below to find the program.

Radio Molovinsky

Speaking Nonsense In Allentown

Allentown's gaggle of elected for life gathered in front of Reilly's Marketplace on the Arts Walk to endorse the state's new Main Street Initiative to spend $25 mil to boost the state's main streets. Never mind that although over a $Billion dollars of development went into Reillyville, not one original business or eatery has survived. Despite each new business given free promotion from the Morning Call, not one of them still exists. 

Among the lifers speaking were state reps. Schlossberg, Schweyer and Miller.*  

Perhaps I will have to renew their Molovinsky On Allentown subscriptions to instill a smidgen of real into our elected officials, but I don't think that their voter base holds them too accountable in regard to reality.

* lifer in training

A Jewish Sport

Jewish fighters dominated boxing between the World Wars. In around 1930, a third of all fighters were Jewish, by far the largest ethnic group. Some fighters even purported to be Jewish when they were not, such as the Baer brothers. Jews ruled the light and welterweight divisions, with long time champions Benny Leonard and Barney Ross. Ten world championships were fought with both men in the ring being Jewish. Boxing has long been an economic ladder for immigrant and minority groups.
photo of Jewish heavyweights King Levinsky and Art Lasky, 1934

reprinted from February 2011

Jostling With Windmills

I had a chance encounter with an opponent of the water lease plan in the grocery store. The person mentioned how tiring the battle has been, and how difficult it will be to succeed with keeping the water system in the citizen's hands. I know a little bit about this exhaustion, I have been fighting City Hall for well over a decade, as an army of one. The last group I belonged to was the Cub Scouts. I ran as an independent for office. I think my visits to City Hall inspired some of the security buffers now in place. There are few reporters, or editors, at The Morning Call that I haven't had words with, at one time or another. I could list a few victories here, but I won't risk jinxing my limited success. Blogging has been a fortunate vehicle for me. My detractors would be shocked to see a who's who of my readership. I thank you for that.                                                                     Michael Molovinsky 

above reprinted from September of 2012 

ADDENDUM MARCH 1, 2024:I'm a certified slow learner. Although over another decade has passed, I'm still jostling with the windmills. The first mayor I wrestled with when starting this blog is now up the river. While the current mayor makes junkets to the Caribbean to visit his voter base, and my downtown early morning coffee shops, along with the buildings they were in, have been demolished and replaced by NIZ boxes, I still forage out looking for the remnants of Allentown's past.

The Engines Of Allentown

Fifty years ago Allentown was home to heavy industry, which required private engines to push material and finished product around their plants. Shown above is the engine at Structural Steel, located under the Tilghman Street Bridge. The Mack 5C plant, located at Lehigh and S. 12th Streets, had it's own engine. Traylor Engineering, on S. 10th Street, also had an engine. Although the private engines of Allentown are gone, a train whistle still blows, as Norfolk Southern rolls through South Allentown, on the old main line.

photograph from the Mark Rabenold Collection 

 

above reprinted from October of 2012 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 29, 2024:This blog is well known for taking the NIZ to task, and I have complained about Jaindl doing away with the LVRR Old Main Line through his waterfront portion. So, with my penchant for criticism out of the way, I confess to liking what Jaindl did with the parcel. He built an attractive building, with a nice setting on the river, including some structural homages to its industrial history. Recently a large group of influentials were invited to an opening of the property. They must have accidently misplaced my invitation.

Soft Spots And Easy Marks

My mother was a tough cookie. My grandparents came over from Eastern Europe when she was little, and my grandfather worked at Bethlehem Steel, until a boiler blew up. Although he survived the explosion, he was badly injured, didn't speak much English, and it was the Depression to boot. Both my mother's parents died young, during the 1940's. My mother did have a few soft spots, one of them being that card sent every year by Father Flanagan. You wouldn't want to get in her way when she was headed to the mailbox with her contribution. I suppose the scandal broke in the late 1950's. Apparently,  my mother wasn't the only one with a soft spot for the boy carrying his brother. Turns out Father Flanagan received so many envelopes he couldn't even open them all. He had rooms full of money. Last year, the Allentown Rescue Mission had revenues of $3.5 million dollars. Their Father Flanagan, Gary Millspaugh, is searching for a COO, chief operating officer, to hire. Alan Jennings announced yesterday that Lehigh Valley Community Action will expand their operations into the Slate Belt. Soliciting to our soft spots has become big business.

UPDATE:The Rescue Mission has the city contract to sweep the sidewalk on Hamilton street, and refers to it as their work program. Yesterday, they announced that they would be discontinuing their drug addiction program. So in total, they seem to being doing less with more, and being subsidized by Allentown taxpayers to boot.

above reprinted from October of 2012

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 28, 2024:This post ranks right up there with my pieces which have offended people. Please understand that my mission as a blogger is to cast light on those institutions and practices which usually get a free pass. The free pass phenomenon is especially true for the sacred cows in our community. 

If you see me at the counter in a diner, please give me the time of day, and maybe even a cup of coffee...nobody else will.

Allentown's New Public Housing

The announcement was for two hundred upscale apartments at 7th and Linden Streets in Allentown. If ever there were two phrases that don't go together, it is upscale and 7th and Linden. The apartments are to attract new residents into downtown, not the existing demographic. The existing demographic would be presumedly priced out, at $1,200 monthly rent. It wasn't that many years ago that The Morning Call prohibited property managers from using words such as luxury and executive in their advertising. We were told then that such adjectives were exclusionary, and promoted discrimination. Reilly, now tells us "This is the next piece in transforming downtown Allentown into a place where people really can live, work and play." I suppose that those who currently live, work and play there aren't really people, at least not the upscale kind. I'm not an opponent of gentrification, or what the young urbanists call mixed income neighborhoods. I know that Reilly could rent two of these units immediately. I know that over the course of a year that he could rent twenty such units, but two hundred? Until this Neighborhood Improvement Zone(NIZ) was created for Allentown's transformation, public housing was  taxpayers subsidizing the tenant, it's now taxpayers subsidizing the landlord.

above reprinted from October of 2012 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 27, 2024:Students of this blog know that I have questioned the occupancy rates of the Strata Apartments(my name for all of Reilly's residential buildings). We now have built over 1000 units for Mr. Reilly. Jarrett Coleman's initiative to scrutinize the NIZ data has progressed to the point that a committee was formed in the state house. I believe that with Pat Browne now as Revenue Czar, getting true figures may be like pulling teeth. In my dogged opinion, the mixing of NIZ's commercial only authorization, and his new rental apartments is the biggest offense against the taxpayers. Who scrutinizes what proportion of the buildings are eligible for our tax dollars, the local NIZ board? Who oversees them???

Two Ton Galento

In an era of tough men, Tony "Two Ton" Galento was a standout. Although he would never win a Mr. America contest, his left hook could knock down any man, including the legendary Joe Louis. Tony owned a bar in Orange, New Jersey, didn't train, drank beer and ate large meals before he fought. Between 1928 and 1944 he fought 110 times, knocking out 56 of his opponents.

He met the Baer brothers in back to back fights later in his career, losing both bouts, but not before knocking 6'7'' Buddy Baer down. The famous fight with Louis occurred at Yankee Stadium in June of 1939, before Galente beat Lou Nova in the infamous dirty fight. Tony was king of the world in the third round as Louis lay on the canvas, but he got up at the eight count, and knocked Galante out in the next round. Louis would later say that Tony Galante was one of the toughest men he ever fought.
Galento with press after the Lou Nova fight

reprinted from May 2011

Fans of the Joe Louis era might want to use the archive feature on the sidebar. They will find over 26 boxing posts in December of 2012. In the meanwhile, I hope to present one of those posts every Monday.

Should Allentown City Council Consider Cease-Fire Resolution

Palestinians and other members of the Arab-American communities in Allentown have asked city council to pass a symbolic cease-fire resolution, The loss of life in Gaza has been enormous. This tragedy is a  result of Hamas intentionally embedding their military infrastructure in civilian locations, including schools, Mosques, and hospitals. This strategy of using civilians as shields in Gaza isn't a new development, but in place since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The construction of those military installations and tunnels was done with the full cooperation and knowledge of the population.

The Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 intentionally slaughtered civilians, that was their objective. There was no call for a resolution from the same community at that time. Other groups also want a cease-fire, including many Israelis and Jews. However, it should not be the purview of city council to resolve on international conflicts.

On a less sensitive note, Mayor Tuerk has expanded the flag raisings of different countries, including two excursions. While we respect and appreciate all our diversity, I think that we should resolve to concentrate on improvements in Allentown Pennsylvania.

Love Letter To Allentown

Tuesday evening, at the same time the leadership of Promise Neighborhoods was having an event* at 19th and Allen Streets, across the fairgrounds at 18th and Turner Streets several people were being shot.

Among others in attendance and in denial of reality at the Promise event were mayor Matt Tuerk and Dan Bosket from Community Action, along with other assorted virtue signalers.

Hasshan Batts meanwhile has been organizing a new leadership clinic** against white supremacy, on our  funding no less.

Although Joe Biden thinks that I'm too young at 77, I have relocated into municipal Allentown as a prerequisite for a mayoral run.

*Love Letters To Allentown

**Leadership Without Limits

Israel's Dilemma Fighting Martyrdom

Rockets fired from inside Gaza City

During the second world War, the United States had trouble wrapping it's head around the kamikaze attacks. There is a similar situation occurring in Gaza. Israel is not targeting civilians; Hamas has placed their rocket launchers in civilian sites, with public approval. The rockets are fired from playgrounds and rooftops. As of Sunday, Israel aborted twenty five air strikes because their pilots reported seeing civilians near the targets. The leadership of Hamas has spoken in the past of jihad and martyrdom. They stated that they form human shields of women and children. Although urban rocket launchers and civilian causalities serve the purpose of Israel's enemies and distracters, Israel must protect its citizens. 

above reprinted from November of 2012 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 21, 2024:When Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023, butchering Israeli children and girls at a music festival, they knew full well that the Israeli response would be ferocious. As always, Hamas fired their weapons in Gaza from civilian locations, themselves placing their civilians in harm's way. Palestinian causalities have been enormous. Although world opinion quickly turned against Israel, they remain determined to destroy an enemy which will accept no co-existence. Many uninformed about the history of the conflict consider Israel an oppressor, some even accusing Israel of genocide. Some are predisposed to think the worse, others don't understand that some realities in this world leave few options.

Culture And Reality In New Allentown

The juxtaposition of the headlines pretty much says it all about the New Allentown. Although I'm low information on the symphony,  I'm forced to be more up to date on the shootings.  Although we learned that this is first homicide of 2024, we're not informed as to the number of shootings. It is that number, the shootings, that has gutted New Allentown's quality of life. 

In my day, before Allentown became what I now will call New Allentown, a man from Alburtis usually meant that his family lived there for multiple generations. Now it may well mean that he moved there three weeks ago.

In the old times we never had or needed a Lehigh Valley Homicide Task Force.

$100 A Week

In 1935, a Jewish boy earning $35 a week carrying 300 pound blocks of ice, was offered three times more to fight; win, lose or draw. For one hundred dollars a week, Jock Whitney, British aristocrat and sportsman, owned Abe Simon. Abe won his first 14 fights, 12 by knockout. On his climb to fight Louis in 1941 he would knock out 27 opponents, including Jersey Joe Walcott.

reprinted from September 2009

A New Police Station For Allentown

The mayor and police chief are clamoring for a new police station, to replace the aging facility built in 1962. The newest house I ever lived in was built in 1956. My previous houses were built in 1929 and 1905. Most of the row houses in Allentown date from 1895 to 1930.  While the police station heating system may indeed needed replacement, that doesn't require a new building. 

I think that this mayor and police chief should concentrate  more on quality of life issues before being concerned with replacing perfectly serviceable  municipal buildings. A new building won't reduce crime, but it will increase taxes.

Shown above is a 1960's era postcard, with a rendering of Allentown's new municipal facilities at that time.

Republicans Forego Allentown

Republicans have long forfeited Allentown, but with no candidates for this year's state representative races, they are also abandoning surrounding sections of Lehigh County. Josh Siegel in the 22nd,  Mike Schlossberg in the 132nd, Peter Schweyer in 134 and Jeanne McNeill in 133 all get a pass come November. 

A local Republican laments that they can't attract good candidates because the local media amplifies smear tactics used against them. Although there may be some truth to that explanation, as a conservative independent, I find the lack of choice in the voter booth unacceptable.  I hope an independent comes forward in some of these races.

Pictured above is my billboard from 2014, when I ran as an independent against eleven term powerhouse Julie Harhart from Northampton, and a Democrat. If I was younger and nicer, I would love to run again.

Lanta Suspends Service Because Of Snow

I haven't  been on a Lanta bus since my days at William Allen. However, I've been to Lanta headquarters and other locations for meetings about their service.  I first got on their case when they ended bus service to the former merchants of Hamilton Street, steering their passenger victims to their detention center across from the former Morning Call building. 

It seems that whenever there is a frisky snow predicted, they're awful quick to suspend service. While I can appreciate that they would like to avoid stuck buses, they seem less concerned about stranded passengers. Do not those who take a bus to work depend on it for their return trip home?

Lanta accounts to nobody. Although there are occasional Dept. of Transportation meetings which allow public comment, it doesn't carry any weight with the decision makers.

Smelling The Roses In Allentown

Last summer I posted about the city purchasing two parcels supposedly for the park system, using funds from the water and sewage lease deal. The transactions interested me, because the last thing the park department needed was more area not to take care of. Although the main stream media never picked up on my revelation, a pit bull from Nazareth now has that bone. Although this blog chronicles the short comings of the park department, especially in regard to the WPA, there is one section, of one park, which receives no criticism.

Paul Pozzi started working for the department in 1979. In 1985, he joined the small crew at the Rose and Old Fashion Gardens. For the last decade, the gardens have been solely under his magnificent care. We who take solace in that magic place owe him a debt of gratitude.

photo by molovinsky, flowers by Paul Pozzi 

above reprinted from August of 2015

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 13, 2024:Mr. Pozzi, after over forty five years working for the park depaartment, has retired. If his replacement comes to know half as much about the gardens, or works half as hard, we'll still be in good shape. Thank you Paul!