Israel Must Defend

The world loves to read about a Jew bashing Israel. Al Jazeera routinely uses Jewish writers for that purpose. They're not that hard to find, the far left and Jews go together, like pastrami and rye bread. Recently, The Morning Call dug up a good one for their Another View Column. A former Marine, whose mother's relatives died in the Holocaust, was joining a new flotilla to Gaza. Although the writer, Ken Meyers, draped himself in a partial Jewish heritage and military service, he left out a few details about himself. He parted with the Marines in opposition to United States military policies. He believes any attack against Iran should be an impeachable offense. Meyer's editorial is full of adverbs of distortion. The Israeli blockage of Gaza is not illegal. Nor is Gaza a killing field or Ghetto. Everyday, hundreds of truckloads of food enter Gaza from Israel. Many of the thousands of missiles fired at Israel by Hamas came aboard ships to Gaza. That is the purpose of the blockade, and numerous weapons have been seized from boarded ships. In Meyer's portrayal, Israel attacked the previous flotilla and killed nine peace activists. According to international law, Israel legally boarded a ship, and nine provocateurs were killed by Israeli soldiers defending themselves.

Mr. Meyers is welcome to try and break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. However, he should remember, unlike himself, Israeli Marines support their government, and will do what is necessary to defend their fellow citizens.

UPDATE:Meanwhile in Haiti and Sudan for example, the people are desperate for need and for such "Humanitarian Flotillas" that never seem to come. Where are these so-called "Humanitarians" when people actually need them?

photo of Gaza City

Growing up Parkway

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




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

compilation of two posts from June 2008

reproduced and retitled from Dec. 21, 2009

The Stumble Bum called Allentown

Allentown wakes up today to more mediocrity by our unimaginative leaders. Although the school budget passed, and less teachers were laid off than feared, Zahorchak's Pathway to Failure is evident. Teacher Union leader Debbie Tretter was amazed by the final figure of 112 furloughs. Her union would have actually granted wage concessions if Zahorchak would have agreed to less than 120 layoffs. Positions restored in art and social studies demonstrate how his plan only caused unnecessary anguish, as illustrated by a 10th grade student, Holli Bossons, in an editorial today. In another editorial we learn that the Fegley family looks forward to the arena. Isn't that grand, after they received 99.9% of all incentives and grants given in Allentown. Wonder how the pizza guy feels in the 700 Block, he's getting the boot after building up his lunch trade for a decade. Yesterday, was a full day here in Allentown. Mitt Romney visited the closed Metal shop, which Obama had touted as a symbol of hope. Mayor Pawlowski called Romney's visit a cheap shot, while he gushed gratitude to Obama two years ago for honoring us. I heard a rumor that the Fegley's are going to get another grant, for a pizza oven....

under construction, links and lies to be added.

Zahorchak's Politics Compromise School District

Back in February I wrote an OP-ED piece in The Morning Call questioning Zahorchak's endorsement of Pawlowski's revitalization plans. Somehow, the superintendent's support seemed to me to be potentially in conflict with his job. Allentown never stops asking for KOZ's and other business perks which deprive the school system of needed taxes.

When I read the recent column by Allentown's new superintendent of schools, Dr. Gerald Zahorchak, I thought perhaps the first few paragraphs were written by Mayor Pawlowski. The new restaurants on Hamilton Street were referred to as a renaissance. I hope nobody tells the good doctor that the restaurants were enticed there by massive grants and tax abatement, yielding nothing to the school district. Michael Molovinsky,The Morning Call, Feb.19, 2011

For several months this blog has concentrated on two major themes; The arena and the school system. Those issues now seem to be converging. Yesterday, school board member David Zimmerman used this blog's comment section, to outline Zahorchak's stonewalling of the issue.

Dr. Zahorchak responded, the next day, stating he would look into it. I spoke to him about a week or ten days later and reminded him again. He told me, the next day, he was meeting with Pawlowski and would let me know. I never heard anything. Another email on June 20, 2011 to which there was no response was sent inquiring as to the status of my original request. David Zimmerman, molovinsky on allentown, June 28, 2011

Although Zahorchak expects the school board to approve his budget tomorrow evening, Zimmerman's questions from May remain unanswered. Zahorchak should be putting the interests of the students and their taxpaying parents first and foremost, way ahead of any revitalization scheme by the Mayor.


UPDATE: There is an excellent article in today's Morning Call by reporter Steve Esack, on all the complications caused by Zahorchak's overly ambitious plans. The article ends with an introspective comment by David Zimmerman, But if anything fails, Zimmerman said, ultimate blame lies with the school board for signing off on all of Zahorchak's changes in one school year.

Arena Shell Game

Back on May 22, this blog ran a guest post by School Board member David Zimmerman, titled Our School Tax for Hockey Arena. Today, the Morning Call catches up with an article explaining how the arena will be financed. Anybody who fully understands the article, please phone me, I need help with my tax return. Although the article states which entity may get some money back, it doesn't address the 64 thousand dollar question. (reference to television show from the 1960's, when that was a lot of money) You do not make payments on a $100million dollar loan, and get anything back from a minor league hockey team. The Arena Authority will need to use every possible legal steal allowed, including holding you upside down and shaking the coins from your pocket. In short, this will indeed cost the school system, at least indirectly. The Pawlowski Palace of Sport doesn't come cheap.

Temporary Inconvenience, Permanent Degradation

Urban renewal projects are nothing new to Allentown. Every couple decades some Mayor thinks he has a brighter idea. In a previous post, I showed the historic Lehigh and Union Street neighborhood, totally destroyed by city planners. Today, an under used Bank calling center sits awkwardly alone on that Lehigh Street hill. The picture above shows another hill of merchants and residents, fed to a mayor's bulldozer. The picture is from 1953, and shows Hamilton Street, from Penn Street down toward the railroad stations. At that time we still had two stations, The Lehigh Valley Railroad and The New Jersey Central. The current closed bar and restaurant occupies the Jersey Central. Everything on Hamilton Street, west of the bridge over the Jordan creek, with the exception of the Post Office, was demolished up to Fifth Street. Government Center would be built on the north side of the street, and a new hotel on the south, to accommodate the many anticipated visitors. Recently we had to remove and replace the facade of the county courthouse, which leaked since it was constructed. The hotel is now a rooming house.

Unannounced plans are underway for a new hotel to service anticipated visitors to Pawlowski's Palace of Sports. It will be up to some future blogger to document how that hotel becomes a rooming house.