The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with mayor for life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was too large, it has failed, to this day, to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners, who then could have expanded the area.

reprinted from March 2010

Another King To Visit Easton

This coming Tuesday, Easton's Sal Panto will be hosting the Burger King. When it was pointed out to Panto that the King is actually just an actor wearing a paper mache head, he issued the following statement. "I know this article will give the naysayers something to talk about and write here but personally I am looking forward to his visit. Lastly, I don’t know how many insignificant individuals travel with an entourage that includes a cultural performing troupe."

Allentown School District Retrospective

One of the most amazing things about Allentown is that the population, despite the problems, has remained about the same since 1928. That was the year Allentown celebrated reaching 100,000. Today, we are about 106.000. Although the numbers stayed the same, the demographics have changed drastically. We are now officially a minority city. When I grew up, there was a saying, If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much. How's that for political correctness? Today, if you want to see a Pennsylvania Dutchman, you have to look at the picture on a bag of pretzels.

During my school years, a delinquent was a kid smoking a cigarette in the alley. Today, we have machete attacks, and parents beating someone else's kid in a classroom. In this environment, should we be concerned about math scores in Singapore? There is a disconnect between the discipline problems and the preoccupation for better scores on the standardized tests; Increasing civility is much more important. If we could get that math score up, will the public overlook the machete attack? We'll build a new school next to Jackson Elementary, move the students, and put the machete attackers in the old Jackson. Then, we'll take the real achievers and put them in an academy of excellence. Let's hope not too many parents insist that their child belongs in the academy. Let's hope that the prison school works out. We all agree that all the students are a precious commodity. What we really need is safe classrooms, conducive to learning. We need supervised streets, conducive for getting to and from school safely. Isn't it interesting that a child can leave Central Catholic at 4th and Chew, and be safer than a child leaving William Allen at 17th and Chew?

The photograph, from the late 1940's, shows a kindergarden class before Lehigh Parkway Elementary School was completed. One of the twin houses served both as the neighborhood school and church.

reprinted from December 2010

School District Damage Control

(Allentown, PA, July 3, 2012) – Having committed to starting his employment yesterday as director of communications with the Allentown School District, Keith Pierce APR has informed Superintendent C. Russell Mayo, Ed.D., that he has decided to withdraw from the position in light of the ethics violations that surfaced after the interview process and acceptance of the job offer took place. “There was no evidence of these civil violations during the interview process and Keith did not mention them,” says Dr. Mayo, Ed.D. “The district was not informed of them through calls made to past employers or during standard protocol checks. I am sorry to learn of this situation after the selection of Mr. Pierce. Additional measures for screening have been put in place as a result of this experience. I accept and appreciate his withdrawal, and I wish Keith well in his further career pursuits."

The above release was distributed this morning by Susan Williams and Associates, on behalf of Allentown School District. Pierce was hired to provide communications and public relations in house. Those services had been provided by Williams for a number of years, and apparently will continue to be, at least for the immediate future.

UPDATE: The Morning Call obtained a copy of Mr. Pierce's resignation letter.

Coming To Easton

This blog has beat up Sal Panto on more than one occasion. The problem started for me years ago, when Sal insisted on supporting a parking deck behind Wolfe School. This deck would have been inconvenient for everybody, and practically useless, but that didn't deter Sal. The current proposed deck, now moved and merged with Lanta and the Al Bundy Museum of High School Sports, is still looking good to Sal. The other month Sal announced that a king was coming to Easton. Although it has been documented that the kingdom is limited to this guy's head, he still remains a king to Sal.

Ghana's ambassador to the U.S. said Quartey's claim is phony. Quartey, said Ambassador Daniel Ohene Agyekum, doesn't know what he's talking about. Prominent Ghana expatriate Dr. Samuel Quartey, a podiatrist in Philadelphia and a member of the Ga tribe, agreed with the ambassador.

When The Morning Call discovered that a new school district hire in Allentown had shenanigans in his past, the Superintendent quickly distanced himself from the impostor; Sal Panto doesn't seem to have that capacity.

photo of Sal with his king by Michael Kubel / The Morning Call

The Corner Market

Although I doubt that there will ever be a show at the Historical Society, or brochures at the Visitors Bureau, perhaps nothing encapsulates the history of Allentown more than the corner grocery stores. Allentown proper, is mostly comprised of rowhouses built between 1870 and 1920, long before the era of automobiles and suburban supermarkets. Most of the corner markets were built as stores, and over the years many were converted into apartments. Up until the late 1940's, there may have been well over a hundred operating in Allentown. Some specialized in ethnic food. The bodega at 9th and Liberty was formally an Italian market. Live and fresh killed chickens were sold at 8th and Linden, currently H & R Block Tax Service. A kosher meat market is now a hair salon on 19th Street. The original era for these markets died with the advent of the supermarket. In the early 50's some corner stores attempted to "brand" themselves as a "chain", as shown in the Economy Store sign above. That market is at 4th and Turner, and has been continually operating since the turn of the last century. Ironically, as the social-economic level of center city has decreased, the corner stores have seen a revival. Most of these new merchants, many Hispanic and some Asian, know little of the former history of their stores, but like their predecessors, work long, hard hours.
above reprinted from March 2009

photo of Yost Market by Carl Rubrecht, 1970