Asians Offered Rickshaw Concession

The Asian merchants being displaced by Allentown's new arena, have been offered the rickshaw concession on Hamilton Street. Mayor Pawlowski said that when fans exit the games and events, there will be an enormous opportunity to ferry them to and from the many restaurants planned for Hamilton Street. I first learned of this plan on Jon Geeting's blog, Lehigh Valley Independent. Jon, although he's only 26 and lives in New York City, knows everything about Allentown. In a comment on his post taking me to task for using the G word, he stated " Nobody is saying that the Hamilton St merchants' businesses are unwanted in general - just not on Hamilton Street." So, I asked Pawlowski if there was any way that this set of hardworking merchants could remain on Hamilton Street, and he suggested the rickshaws. The rickshaws would be inspected and regulated by the Allentown Arena Authority. Applications are currently available at the Allentown Parking Authority. Jon Geeting contributed to this post.

TC Salon Clips Allentown

Channel 69, WFMZ reports that Technicolor Salon on 19th Street is closing today. Mayor Pawlowski hyped this business about two years ago, and we invested at least a quarter $million.

BILL6TC SALON.DOC
Refer to CEDC

Amending the 2009 General Fund to provide for a supplemental
appropriation of Two Hundred Fifty Thousand ($250,000) Dollars; to
provide for the grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and
Economic Development to rehabilitate 617 N. 19th Street to become TC Salon

Although the small beauty parlors in the neighborhood had to fight the subsidized giant, they continue on, paying their own way. Wasting taxpayer money on grants is a lesson this Administration refuses to learn.

UPDATE: The Morning Call today reports that the business also received a $907,000 loan from the LVEDC. Although the report says that renovations including a crystal chandelier from Hess's Allentown department store were made, that chandelier was there from the previous business, the Shanty Restaurant. Readers may find my post about this grant over two years ago interesting, especially the comments at that time.

Molovinsky Launches New Blog

This weekend I launched a new blog, The Morning Chronicle. The Chronicle will concentrate on topics beyond the Lehigh Valley. The initial post deals with a growing problem; newspapers helping themselves to idea's harvested from the blogosphere. Information from this blog has been the basis for several stories in The Morning Call, with no attribution given. Although local reporters seemingly cannot type Molovinsky, in the future their names will be noted here. The Chronicle will host some of the articles which appeared here, such as Shrines in the Middle East, and boxing's golden era.
Bernie O'Hare will be an occasional contributor.
sputnik takes off, October 4, 1957

Molovinsky Plays Race Card

Mike, your moving the gooks remark is not cool and uncalled for. Not sure how you can justify when anyone and I mean everyone is being recruited for clustering businesses on 7th. I'm not saying there is wisdom in the current effort to develop hamilton street, but feel your drawing the race card is not right.
A comment received on Moving the Gooks post.

The comment suggests that because some second tier merchants, many Hispanic, have been given grants for 7th Street, that Allentown isn't racist. I do not accuse Allentown of racism, I accuse them of classism. He doesn't really mean everybody; the City has not recruited Butz or Fegley to 7th Street, but apparently a Koreatown would be welcome. A Koreatown on 7th Street would leave valuable space on Hamilton, for the coming wave of mixed income retail, which they fantasize will follow the arena.

UPDATE: Provided by David Zimmerman
Curious over recent discussions of classism (bias based on social or economic class.) I undertook a small project to understand exactly who the customers of the Hamilton St shopping area (The Market Area) are.
Using software and data provided by ScanUSA I calculated a variety of demographic data based on what I assumed to be The Market Area.
Specifically, given a moderate walk rate of 3 miles / hour, a fifteen minute walking time would extend about 3/4 of a mile in this area. I looked to the census designation of block groups, in this area, to gather this data.
The total population is estimated to be 26,146 individuals; 59.8% white, 20.7% black, Other - multiracial 16%. This differs significantly from Allentown ("All of Allentown") with an estimated 2010 population of 110,456 individuals; 73.8% white, 12.6% black, Other - multiracial 9.5%. Significant differences.

With respect to the Hispanic population The Market Area is 69.6% while "All of Allentown" is 40.6%, another significant difference. Subtract The Market Area from the rest of Allentown and the percentage of Hispanics living outside of The Market Area drops to 31.6%.
Relative to income; per capita in The Market Area is $15,591 and "All of Allentown" is$21,207. Median family income is a similar proportion with The Market Area at $33,206 and "All of Allentown" at $45,056. Family size in The Market Area is 3.60 while that in "All of Allentown" is 3.28 about 9% less.
More profound is the aggregate income of The Market Area; $377 million. "All of Allentown" is $2.246 Billion. The Market Area represents 23.7% of the population of "All of Allentown" while the aggregate income of $377 million represents only 16.8% of "All of Allentown", proportionately less But then the unemployment rate in The Market Area is estimated to be 12.5% with "All of Allentown" at 8.6%
Another interesting variable is housing; 51.3% of "All of Allentown" is either rental or vacant. In The Market Area this rate is 68.7%. In The Market Areas 31.2% of housing units are owner occupied. In "All of Allentown" this jumps to 48.7%.

So is there bias on social or economic class? You decide. I'd say there are significant differences that could easily be classified with this term.
David Zimmerman

Molovinsky Takes Aim

Moving the Gooks

I support the downtown location of the proposed hockey arena. ...While I could care less about hockey, I have several reasons for supporting the downtown location:
•The investment and financial risk involve private investors who are typically wiser than government figures in assessing parking, traffic routes and ticket demand.
•Downtown needs a large footprint anchor to reset the Hamilton Street demographic. The arena will draw mixed-income, retail customers downtown and is our best bet for a downtown revival.
•We will get new faces downtown with continued growth in our restaurant and night spot usage.
•The arena has the potential to expand demand for true mixed-income rentals and home ownership in the city.
... I attended the first baseball game of my adult life at Coca-Cola Park; likewise, I hope to attend my first hockey game a short walk from my front door.
Charles Versaggi letter in today's Morning Call

Just when I was complaining about Old Allentown being silent on the hockey arena, long time cheerleader Charlie Versaggi chimes in. Seems like the vanguard of Old Allentown sees this as their last hope for mixed income. Charlie, in the future, drop that private investor line, it makes Ed Pawlowski's eminent domain plans illegal. That fascism is suppose to be used for public projects and public good. Well, I suppose moving those gooks and their brown customers off Hamilton Street is for the public good. I don't know if you're going to get those new stores and white faces, excuse me, mixed income faces, but good luck with that. Enjoy your first hockey game!