A Warrior for Israel

After Yizhak Yzernitizky's father was murdered in the woods of Poland for being a Jew, the 20 year old immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1935. His sisters would remain behind and die in the Holocaust. He took a new name, Shamir, and came to command the underground Stern Gang, which targeted the British prior to Israel's independence. Twice captured by the British, he escaped both times. After Independence, he served Mossad for ten years. In 1983 he began his first term as Prime Minister. In his second term as Minister, he oversaw the mass migration of Soviet Jews, and the airlift of Ethiopian Jews. Yizhak Shamir died yesterday, at the age of 96.

Allentown:Fountain of Delusion

When the PPL Plaza first opened in 2003, the architect envisioned suburban families celebrating the rebirth of Allentown, in the mist of the plaza's fountains; Reality was a low income free water park. I don't know if it degenerated into a free car wash, I haven't seen any water on there for a while, but we do have a new fountain of delusion. Amendments to the NIZ Law have been passed by our conscientious State Representatives. "I think it puts the whole litigation to bed and allows us to proceed with the redefinition of downtown Allentown. This is in the best interest of the Lehigh Valley and the whole commonwealth that the third largest city is revitalized," said state Sen. Jennifer Mann, D-Allentown. Said state Rep. Justin Simmons, R-Lehigh: "The changes in the law will take care of both the local litigation and address and constitutional issues raised by the original law," He said the arena represents an "opportunity for the city. You can't have a strong Lehigh Valley and have its' biggest city struggling." In all due respect to Jenn and Jus, are you serious? Not only will the arena fail to revitalize Allentown, it will make it a hopeless cause for the next 30 years. With the block of stores now gone on one side of Hamilton, the street has become a dead zone. It will make little difference if it's a hole or a closed arena during the daytime, this project already succeeded in killing Hamilton Street. "One of the ugliest episodes in my 30 years working in the Lehigh Valley is almost over," said ANIZDA board member Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley. "Maybe now we can bury the hatchet and get on to a new day for Allentown and the Lehigh Valley." Alan, let me tell you what ugly is. Ugly is displacing 34 businesses with a white elephant, which has buried Allentown's future. All available resources will be directed to this boondoggle for decades, while the remainder of the city languishes.

Union Terrace Gets Shaft

Timber lined shaft dug to water main in Union Terrace

Allentown City Council recently approved two park items funded by the Trexler Trust; Improvements to both the Franklin Playground and the Fish Hatchery. Both involved payments to vendors repeatedly used by the departed park director. Meanwhile, the iconic WPA structures continue to crumble throughout the park system. Although this blog, through the recently formed Allentown WPA Association, informed the Park Department of the conditions at Union Terrace, nothing has been done or scheduled. This summer, Shakespeare will be performed on the Terrace Stage. Last year, I documented the WPA condition there in a post entitled Tragedy Play At Theater.

Shown above is a project by the city water department. A cast-iron water main runs under the Terrace, feeding the West End from the water plant on Martin Luther King Drive. A private company will reline the existing 30" main, dating back to 1905, with a new plastic liner. The Terrace was built over the main in 1937, and was the last WPA project completed in Allentown.

A Bridge Still Stands

Last night, Glenn Solt, project manager for Lehigh County, came to the county committee meeting prepared with a twelve page report, and the engineer who wrote it. They testified that the condition of the Reading Road Bridge has deteriorated, the cost of repairing it has increased, but that the cost of replacing it has gone down. Solt's determined to rid Union Terrace of that old stone arch bridge. Never mind that it was completely rehabilitated in 1980, 156 years after it was built in 1824. Never mind that Hamilton Street Bridge is a quarter block north, and a new Union Street Bridge is being built a half block south.

Michael Molovinsky, an Allentown blogger who has previously written about the bridge, accused the county of exaggerating the condition of the bridge and the cost for rehabilitating it rather than replacing it. Molovinsky said the bridge's historic value is irreplaceable, "Let me be frank: Mr. Solt has no feel for history whatsoever," Molovinsky said. "... This bridge cannot be replaced. It's that simple." Colin McEvoy/The Express Times/June28,2012

This was the first bridge built west of Allentown, crossing Cedar Creek, on the route west to Reading, and one of the last remaining stone arch bridges. Although I would like to see a stake driven through the project, technical legalese demands that I periodically appear and defend our history and culture. The bridge replacement funds were approved years ago, and the matter at hand is a small contract for engineering studies.

Blogging Allentown

This blog is in it's sixth year of publication. During that time, among other things*, I have advocated for maintaining the Lanta bus stops, maintaining the traditional park system, maintaining the WPA structures, and maintaining the Hamilton Street business district. Besides sharing the big stories with Bernie O'Hare's Lehigh Valley Ramblings, I pretty much have the city to myself. Other blogs have come and gone, or resurface with one story every few months. There's a couple other daily blogs, but you will never find them at a meeting, or on the editorial page. Like O'Hare, I've broken a number of stories, and offended a number of people. A recent comment assumed that I dislike a certain person. I would like to clarify that I do not dislike anybody, but disagree with quite a few people in local leadership positions. You may dislike this blog, or ignore this blog, but you can never accuse it of being a puff blog. It it were, there would be little point in either us being here every day. Although I will not commit myself to any rules, I try and produce a piece six days a week. Comments are usually in the moderation mode. Comments placed after 8:00 PM may often not appear until the next morning. Very insulting comments, especially submitted anonymously, may not appear at all. Thanks for stopping by.

*protest unlevel playing field because of grants
  prevent sale of Bicentennial Park
  oppose point of sale home inspections
  attempt preserving the Reading Road Bridge
  improving Fairview Cemetery
  protest Parking Authority selling neighborhood lots
  protest LCA drilling wells and neglecting sewage problems
  conducted public Allentown Speak Out Meetings
  question school district during Zahorchak era
  defend Queen City Airport

More Nonsense From Jennings

steered to house in east Allentown

Alan Jennings, friend of both the poor and NIZ developers, found a new battle to fight. For a mere $25,000 of taxpayer dollars, he had a sister organization in Philadelphia conduct a sting operation against Allentown Realtors. According to the results of 22 phone calls and 11 appointments, whites and minorities were steered to different parts of the city.The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, with the help of the city of Allentown, organized the fair housing test after hearing anecdotes of housing discrimination for years, said Alan Jennings, executive director of the CACLV. I think perhaps someone should investigate the expenditure of the $25,000. That's over $1300 a snoop, especially pricey for the phone calls. The Fair Housing Laws are explicit. Anybody who feels that they were discriminated against may file a complaint, and the Federal government will investigate specific charges. Were the phone calls leading? Are there white homeowners in the West End who feel cheated that they didn't know about center city housing? Are there minority homeowners in center city who didn't know about other sections of Allentown? Have potential buyers been denied the opportunity to view and make offers on houses of their choosing? Have these Realtors caused Allentown's current problems? Ryan Conrad, CEO of the Realtors Association promises to re-potty train his troops. Conrad should be concerned about this nonsense that wasted the time of his realtors. I wonder if after the potty training, will the arena still be needed to transform Allentown?