The Litter of Allentown

On Monday mornings, from the amount of litter on 6th and 7th Street, you would think that there was a parade over the weekend. Back in the day, Allentown was known for it's cleanliness. Women in babushkas would compulsively hunt out any errant scrap of paper, and remove that offense to their pride. Allentown has changed. In 2006, the SWEEP program was put into place to milk center city property owners, fining them for tenants putting the wrong color container on the porch, at the wrong time. In 2011, the program burped $228,000.00 from the hapless owners. Now, with Allentown's Transformational arena coming, Allentown passed an ordinance quadrupling the littering fine from $25 to $100. "It's really difficult to see someone littering and actually catch them in the act," said Ann Saurman, director of recycling. "You see litter on the street, but you don't often see people littering." Actually, you can see them littering. Park near any center city market, and watch the wrappers drop like leaves off a tree in the fall.

photo:Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call

Weigh In On 1948

1948 was a good year for Allentown and the Lehigh Valley. Mack Trucks, Lehigh Structural Steel, General Electric and almost all factories were going full steam. President Truman stopped by to give a speech. The Allentown Cardinals played the first game in their new ballpark, Breadon Field. The baby boom was going full tilt:



The school district unveiled Lehigh Parkway and Midway Manor Elementary Schools and the new professional style football stadium. Donald Hock was Mayor, and although the last beer was being brewed on Lawrence Street at Daeufer Brewery, the Paddock joined many new restaurants opening that year. Photo's from Dorney Park in 1948.

reprinted from July 2009

The NIZ Lawsuits

The article in Saturday's Morning Call seemed to suggest that the lawsuits against the NIZ were a big ado about nothing. Broken down into two columns, the figures showed the tax loss for each municipality for 2012's first quarter. One town, Alburtis, only lost $590 bucks. Why are these mean spirited jealous nay-sayers crippling the Transformation of Allentown over a few dollars? Mayor Pawlowski and State Senator Pat Browne hoped that the townships would come to their senses with the release of these figures. Although the total EIT captured by the NIZ for 2012 will be $2.3 million, that figure doesn't really reveal anything. The whole purpose of the zone, and especially it's size of 130 acres, is to attract businesses to relocate there. The figures presented reflect only existing businesses, in what is pretty much now considered a dead zone. If the NIZ proceeds as currently written, what will the figure be in 2015? How many of those dollars would come from existing businesses now located in Lehigh and Northampton Counties? This blog does not cover surrounding Townships, but would be surprised if the figures released reduces their apprehension.

UPDATE: An article in today's Morning Call says that the lawsuits will continue, despite release of the EIT figures. The article mentions Walnutport joined the suit, but stands to lose $265 in quarterly EIT collections, and Stockertown's quarterly amount is $370... Jay Finnigan, manager of Hanover Township, Northampton County said "They (Pawlowski and Browne) just don't get it -- it's not a matter of dollars and cents," The Morning Call doesn't get it either.

UPDATE ON UPDATE: In fairness to The  Morning  Call, and reporters Kraus and Assad, on second reading I believe I mischaracterized today's article.  The hard copy edition has Finnigan's quote standing out in a box, and the article is headlined Litigation over arena will continue.

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