In the Israeli Army

In it's original version this post contained a video showing that all Israelis, including females, are required to serve in the army upon reaching the age of 18. After active duty, they remain reservists, into their 50's. The citizen military commitment is so extensive because Israel is surrounded by hostile neighbors, whose main commonality is their hatred of Israel. Hatred of Israel, and the distortion of it's history and intentions is not limited to the middle east. Those attitudes fester both in Europe and here, in the United States. Many people consider our media pro Israel. Does that mean that they feel that it isn't critical enough toward the Jewish state? As a Jew, and a supporter of Israel, I find the media ranging from fair to hostile, but certainly not pro Israel by any measure. I find Huffington Post anti-Israel and borderline anti=Semitic. What precipitated this post was an article in The Christian Science Monitor on the nuclear tension between Iran and Israel. The bold type sub-title says that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said that Israel should be "wiped off the map." As we read on we learn that in Farsi the proper translation might be that Israel "must vanish from the page of time." Only at the end of the section does the reader learn that Ahmadinejad "refused to clarify whether he truly meant that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth." Active duty Israeli soldiers will continue to train, and keep their weapon with them, even at the beach.

Panto's Dog and Pony

Last Thursday Sal Panto took the media on an inspection walk. In fairness to Panto, he didn't invent the Mayor's Walk, actually he doesn't invent much. These walks always single out a very small percentage of properties for scrutiny, and scrutiny is expensive for the property owners. A code officer on Panto's publicity stunt estimated that half the properties viewed would be cited. Violations included peeling paint, cracks in the sidewalk, and weeds. Although, now a days, paint starts to peel  ten minutes after it's applied, the cost of application is $thousands of dollars. Sidewalks crack and weeds grow. Although there may be some credence to the Broken Window Theory, there is also the empty taxpayer wallet reality. In Allentown, former Mayor Heydt took walks every summer, but never succeeded in inspecting Quality Of Life into the city. Allentown's program now is amuck, with hundreds of tagged houses actually contributing to the blight. These walks never get out into the more expensive residential areas, where paint also peels and sidewalks crack.
photo:Ed Koskey Jr./The Morning Call/June 8, 2012

A Controversial Editorial

Today, my controversial point of view about keeping the hole on Hamilton Street, made the paper. Although I had expressed the attitude here several times, I wrote the piece in direct response to Bethlehem Mayor Callahan's editorial. He, like several writers before him, said that there was no choice but to proceed with the arena project, even if it was a flawed plan. Official Allentown didn't have much respect for the previous occupants of that parcel. During the WFMZ debate, a speaker from the City's point of view, referred to it as a cancer. Certainly, a level block is no worse than a cancer. Allentown survived when former Mayor Heydt tore down Hess's and left us with a hole. Eventually, a private developer built the PPL Plaza. At that time, private investors could not secure the financing for the minor league hockey team. The risk apparently did not justify private investment. Now, because the project is backed by our local and state income taxes, they want to build an arena which cost ten times more.  

 photo:Donna Fisher/The Morning Call/June 8, 2012

The Transformation of 7th Street

Peter Lewnes is managing to transform 7th Street for about $1 million, while Mayor Pawlowski will spend about $220 million for his transformation. At the end of the projects, 7th Street will be much more successful, in both the number of people attracted, and the total dollars those people spend. To be blunt, which is too easy for me, I think 7th Street would have as many new stores and shoppers without Lewnes' efforts. I think that the Hispanic business district was a natural progression of Allentown's demographic changes. However, considering it's the nature of government to meddle, Lewnes has given us an unusually tremendous return on our investment. He has attractively restored dozens of buildings, created appealing signs, and succeeded in significantly upgrading Allentown's gateway. Yesterday, I visited an independent pharmacy on the 500 Block, located in the former Coleman Electric building. Although not yet enhanced by Lewnes' artistic palette, the pharmacist had four assistants and a delivery driver. Another success on 7th Street.

Allentown WPA Association

I began my effort to preserve our WPA heritage back in September of 2008, posting on this blog about the iconic stairwells and walls at Fountain Park. Posts would follow about the lost treasures of Lehigh Parkway, including the Boat Landing, Island and Spring Pond. Within a year, our work brigade cleared the boat landing, buried for over forty years. Since last fall, our group has surveyed all the WPA projects within the park system, and identified the structures most in need of attention. Hopefully, the press and The City of Allentown will support this most worthwhile project.

Saving The Spring Pond

As a small boy growing up in the twin homes above Lehigh Parkway, I would go down the steep wooded ravine and cross the Robin Hood Bridge. The stone lined spring pond and miniature bridge was just the first in a series of wonderful WPA constructions to explore. Last year, when I organized the reclamation of the Boat Landing, my memory turned to the pond. Although overgrown with several inches of sod, I knew the treasure was still savable.

On May 23, Andrew Kleiner conducted a tour of Lehigh Parkway, there I met Mike Gilbert of the Park Department and pitched the idea of a partial restoration. On May 26th, I posted A Modest Proposal, which outlined my hopes for the pond. On July 24, Kleiner posted Lehigh Parkway:Molovinsky gets his wish. I had no idea my modest proposal was implemented.

Park Director Greg Weitzel has indicated to me that the pond features uncovered will be maintained. Any further clearing will be at the discretion of Mike Gilbert. In our conversation he also stated that there are virtually no funds available for the preservation of the WPA icons.







I will attempt to organize a group and contributions for this most worthy cause. Between the Spring Pond and The Boat Landing there was once a bridge to the island. Wouldn't it be nice if a small boy could go exploring.
reprinted from previous posts