Abusing Cedar Park

It's hard to imagine that after $hundreds of thousands of dollars in park plans, $millions in park improvements, we end up inflicting this much abuse on our park. I understand that nature conspired against hope, with three days of continuous rain. But the operative word in MayFair is fair. Put a fair next to a lake in a floodplain, add three days of rain, dozens of trucks, and you produce massive damage. Take a park department down about one third it's staff from just a few years ago, and it will take the rest of the summer just to get the park back to normal. Normal is a relative term. By my standards, we will never return to normal. The new, highly successful destination playground places enormous demands on existing parking, especially with the Cedar Pool season about to begin. Had former park director Weitzel had his way with his proposed Destination Water Park, Cedar Park would be essentially an amusement park, instead of a city park. In terms of protecting one of Allentown's main assets, it's park system, the Pawlowski administration is useless. The organization, Friends of the Parks, is useless. Next Tuesday, June 5, I had scheduled a WPA meeting. We will expand our agenda to protect the park system in general. Please join us 7:00p.m. at the Allentown Library.

TeleCommunications Problems

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The Mayor's Tool Board

When Mayor Pawlowski chose Andrew Kleiner for Allentown's Environmental Advisory Council, the appointment had to be approved by City Council. I recall Peter Schweyer telling Kleiner that he should let Council know whenever he had any concern about an Allentown policy that adversely affected the environment. Before retiring and dedicating himself to the environment, Dan Poresky had created one of the most successful single store camera businesses in the country; He's a thorough guy. The Advisory members, besides being knowledgeable about the environment, were for the most part, Pawlowski supporters. Poresky recently had an editorial in The Morning Call where he outlined, point by point, the detrimental consequences of the newly approved Trash to Energy plant. He, and numerous environmentalists, spoke out against the project at council, the night it was approved. At a recent Council meeting, the Advisory Council formally stated their opposition to the project."It is the opinion of the EAC that this contract puts Allentown at unnecessary risk for financial losses and environmental damage to the city's air, water, and quality of life while discouraging the adoption of less expensive and environmentally healthier options for its waste." At a previous meeting, Council President Guridy ignored their individual opinions, at this meeting, he told them they were too late. At the next Council meeting, they should tender their resignations, unless they don't mind hanging on the Mayor's pegboard.

UPDATE:  The EAC currently only has three members(Kleiner, Poresky and Thomases), although they're designated for seven.

Syrian Commotion

This weekend there was a disruption in the Syrian community. When the protests first began in Syria, there was a demonstration of support for Assad and the Syrian government here in Allentown. Allentown's Syrian community dates back to the 1900 era, when many families migrated from Amar, in the valley of the Christians. The Syrians, Jews and other ethnic groups lived and worked together in the 6th Ward. Second Street was almost exclusively home to the Jews and Syrians. In 1903 practically every house in the 600 block was Jewish, including my grandparents. Although the Jews migrated up town to 6th Street, there still is a Syrian presence in the Ward. Hafez Assad, father of the current president, supposedly had a Christian nanny, and an affinity for the minority. Ties between Second Street and the homeland have existed for many decades, including Syrian Ambassadors speaking at local events. In more recent years, newer immigrants have a more personal experience with the realities of the current regime. Tensions between the two groups, newer immigrants and the community here for a hundred years, erupted at a protest this weekend in center city. I invite my friends of Syrian descent to elaborate on this post.
reprinted from June 6, 2011


UPDATE: The turmoil in Syria has only greatly increased since this post was written last year. Let us hope for a quick resolution to the tragedies occurring there.

The Synagogues of Jerusalem

Except when barred by one conqueror or another, Jews had lived in Jerusalem since King David. Prior to Jordanian rule in 1948, there was a Jewish majority for 150 years. In 1864, eight thousand of the fifteen thousand population was Jewish. By 1914, two thirds of the sixty five thousand residents were Jewish. In 1948 the United Nations Partition Plan divided the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Jerusalem was to be initially an international city, with access guaranteed for all. This plan was rejected by the surrounding Arab nations, which attacked Israel in concert immediately upon the UN vote. When the truce was declared, Israel had survived, but East Jerusalem(walled Old City) was in procession of TransJordan. The Jordanians subsequently destroyed over 50 synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, which dated back to the 1400's. For hundreds of years both Christians and Jews were prohibited from building higher than Muslim structures. The few synagogues which survived were the ones built mostly below street level. The oldest surviving synagogue, The Jerusalem Synagogue, was built by the Karaite Jews in around 900. Shown above is the Ben Kakai, a Sephardic Synagogue built in the 16th Century.

Perhaps the most famous synagogue destroyed by the Jordanians was the Ashkenazi Hurva Synagogue built in 1720, it's dome visible in the top center of this photograph from the 1920's. It's replacement has just been completed.

reprinted from April 27, 2010

UPDATE: Israel Unites Jerusalem

The Morning Call Agenda

The article headline yesterday was that so far, Hanover township spent $28,000 on legal fees fighting the arena project. The article did mention that the legal firm is representing nine separate townships and one school district. I suppose a headline of $2,800 each would have been far less dramatic. The paper actually filed a Right To Know request to ascertain that figure. This is the same paper that didn't bat an eye about the AEDC and ACIDA spending $65million dollars to dig a hole, and for Reilly to buy the properties around it. Meanwhile, back at the park system, Allentown spent $80,000 on Weitzel's Water World plan. We also spent big amounts on the Destination Dog World and Peddle Your Fanny Park To Park. Add in the Destination Playground and Paths To Paths At Cedar Park, and you're looking at close to a $half million in blueprints. Where's the article on those expenditures? Where's the Right To Know request?
UPDATE:  The Morning Call's Best of the Blogs Sunday feature showcases Bill White's blog.  He reprimanded Hanover and Bethlehem Township from benefiting from the Casino grants, while opposing the Allentown Arena.  He  equated the casino, built with private money, which shares huge profits with the townships, with the arena. The arena is to be built with public money, and would borrow/use suburban Earned Income Taxes  for 30 years.  Perhaps The Morning Call should look beyond it's own blogs for the Best.