A Tailor from North Street

The Allentown Housing and Development Corp. recently purchased a home at 421 North St. That block of North Street was destroyed by fire, and the agency has built a block of new houses on the street's south side; it will next develop the other side of the street. The deed transfer caught my attention because Morris Wolf lived in the house in 1903. Wolf signed up with the Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry on July 18, 1861, in Philadelphia, when he was 22 years old. He was a private in Company A, of the 3rd Cavalry. This unit was also known as the 60th Regiment and was later called Young's Kentucky Light Cavalry.It defended Washington, D.C., until March 1862, then participated in many of the war's most famous battles: Williamsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Wolf had signed up for three years and was mustered out Aug. 24,1864.

Recently, to commemorate Memorial Day, the local veterans group placed more than 500 flags at Fairview Cemetery. If that wasn't enough of a good deed, the group also set upright more than 300 toppled grave markers. Visiting Fairview recently, I saw they had not overlooked the graves of either Mr. Wolf, or another veteran, Joseph Levine. I have concerned myself with Allentown's Fairview Cemetery for the last few years. I first became interested in the small Jewish section, called Mt. Sinai. This was the first organized Jewish cemetery in Allentown. Currently, all the synagogues have their own cemeteries, and Mt. Sinai has been mostly unused for many decades.

Mr. Wolf lies next to his wife, Julia, who died in 1907. Morris would live on for 30 more years, passing away in 1937, at age 98.
Mr. Levine, a World War II veteran, and his wife, Ethel, were the first and last people to be buried there after almost 25 years of inactivity. When Ethel died at age 93 in 2000, it was the first burial at Mt. Sinai since 1976. Joseph was 103 years old when he passed away in 2006.

The Housing and Development Corp. and North Street are now part of Allentown's new neighborhood initiative called Jordan Heights.Although soon there will be a new house at 421 North St., there is a history that will remain with the parcel. Once a tailor lived there who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

reprinted from July 4, 2010 and June 7, 2011

Mayo Can't Add

I was disappointed when the new acting superintendent, Russ Mayo, said he planned on going forward with Zahorchak's Pathway to Success, but chalked it up to politeness for a departing associate. I assumed that Mayo would gradually undo his predecessor's damage. Yesterday's newsletter said that the current principal of Allen, Michael Rodriguez, was leaving for another district. I assumed that Keith Falko would now be returned; Does not 1 + 1 = 2? Have not the discipline problems at Allen been headlines in the newspaper? Was not Falko revered as a disciplinarian? In a previous post I wrote that Falko should be returned to Allen. Apparently, although boots on ground also had made the same suggestion, here's Mayo's answer

Keith Falko will continue to assist us at the district level with the ASD program of study, the Dual Enrollment effort, the high school graduation initiative grant, and with assisting the ASD middle and high school principals during this transition. “Keith’s experience in this district, his expertise, and general wisdom is invaluable to me personally,” commented Dr. Mayo. “I want his expertise influencing this district as a whole. I appreciate the interest many of the faculty and staff have in his returning to Allen as principal, but his influence district-wide is even more valuable to us.”

Fortunately, for the neighbors and parents of Allen, there is a new player in the game. On Tuesday, voters elected Scott Armstrong to the School Board. Like David Zimmerman, Scott lives in the Allen neighborhood and has first hand knowledge of conditions at the school. I believe that together they will provide some much needed tutoring to Mayo about how to restore civility to that neighborhood.
UPDATE: The above commentary was based on a news release issued yesterday by the Allentown School District. In today's Morning Call, reporter Steve Esack details the consequences of poor decisions by former Superintendent Zahorchak. In my opinion, nothing in the article suggests that we can expect much better from current acting superintendent Russ Mayo.
UPDATE 2: I've been informed that the school district has been audited personnel wise, in regard to the grant that removed the four principals from their original positions. Consequently, Falko cannot return to Allen. With Rodriguez's departure, the system now has lost 3 of the 4 principals that were doing a good job before Zahorchak chased that grant, without the School's Board's knowledge.

One Party Town

Peter Schweyer attributed his victory to the voters overwhelmingly approving the vision being implemented by him and his fellow Democrats. He ignored the fact that the vast middle class voted with their feet, and moved out of Allentown in the last decade. Jeanette Eichenwald attributed her victory to spending no money on the campaign. Frank Concannon, 88 years old, confided that he did no campaigning at all and conceded It's a little strange. As I mentioned in a previous post, no Republican has won in Allentown since 2003. In 2005, Republican candidate for City Council Charlie Thiel, paid to have billboards put up throughout the city, to no avail. This cycle, Republican Eric Weiss knocked on hundreds of doors, and was aided by two mailings from the LVAR-PAC. We are a one party town. The new electronic voting machines make the one party pick easier than ever. With the old lever machines, a voter could see all the candidate names before them on the machine. Now. the new electronic machine asks if you would like to be a one party monkey, and apparently, the vast majority push yes.

The Mohican Markets

Once, before the malls, there were three thriving cities in the Lehigh Valley, and some merchants would have a store in each of the downtowns. Some of the buildings still exist, and have been reused; the Allentown Farr (shoe) Building is now loft apartments. Two of three Mohican Market buildings, famous for baked goods, no longer exist. The Easton location, on S. 4th St., was victim to fire. The Allentown store now is the parking lot behind the new Butz office building. The Mohican Markets were last owned and operated by Bernard Molovinsky.

recipe for Mohican Chocolate Chip Brownies

Kingdom At Stevens

On Saturday afternoon, Stevens Park, a large center city playground, teemed with festivity. As the parents and older kids swayed to the Latin beat from a live band, children at the other side were entertained with craft activities. In between, large stands provided free hot food. The event was sponsored by Kingdom Life Family Center, an outreach ministry based in Orefield. After leaving the park, I decided to visit some merchants who are relocating to 7th Street from Hamilton. On 7th, I encountered the Pastor of the Ministry, Tony Adamo. It is his hope to secure a storefront in that vicinity, and establish a full time presence in Allentown. That would be a blessing.

Secrets From The Shadow

The headline in the paper said that infamous developer, Abe Atiyeh, might monkey wench Pawlowski's Palace of Sport with a lawsuit. It says that he has been a tenant in the building since 2004. That's not exactly true, he's been a tenant on the building* since then. Nobody has used the inside of the building for many years. Regardless of Atiyeh's weak case as a displaced tenant, his other points are right on target. The threat and passage of eminent domain was, as he claims, a misuse of that law. Also, as he claims, the building is not blighted. Matter of fact, this blog reported on a luncheon given by Pawlowski and Realtors several years ago to promote the building.While Pawlowski and crew were serving lunch in a winterized building with no running water, a coffee shop across the street, in the Monument building, was being cited for multiple code violations. I suppose the status of a building in Allentown depends on the Mayor's agenda.

*Atiyeh has a small sign advertising his nursing home in Whitehall painted on the side of the building. Atiyeh has a long term lease for that sign which has been conveyed to several owners. Because the sign will be covered up by the adjoining Arena, he seeks compensation.