At The Trough

Uncle Sam has given the Lehigh Valley $3.4million dollars to study development. Our tax dollars will be spread out among the bureaucrats, and those in training, to insure that nothing tangible results from the money. Those in charge are experienced in the art of nebulous double talk. Holly Edinger, from the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. said "This spending from HUD will enable the Lehigh Valley to have an unprecedented community conversation about our future." Allentown will use our share to study the now closed factory, where both Obama and Romney had press conferences. Community Development Director Sara Hailstone said "What this will allow us to do is bring jobs back to the core where people can walk to work and walk home from work and we believe that is one of the most sustainable projects we can be involved with." Actually, Sarah, in a time long before you, workers did just that, using the WPA Fountain Park Steps. Using our share to repair those steps would actually produce a return on both the money and your words. Phil Mitman said "This is really about our taxpayer money coming back to the Lehigh Valley." I suppose Phil's right, at least the money is being wasted in the valley.
Alan Jennings and Renew LV are dancing in their underpants about the HUD grant. Most of grant will fund the salaries in various such organizations to conduct public input meetings and other abstractions.
This post is a commentary on a Morning Call article by Scott Kraus.
 reprinted from November 2011
UPDATE July 9, 2012  I've known of Holly Edinger since 05, when I ran as an independent candidate in Allentown,  she  worked for the Chamber at that time. She has also since served on the Allentown School Board.   Today, she pretty much had The Morning Call to herself. Now working for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, an article featured the planned dog and pony show, as part of that organization receiving a $3.4 million dollar grant on regional planning. When the article mentioned affordable housing, I said, here comes Alan. Jennings showed up in the next paragraph. She also had the editorial space, to lip synch the regional patter. If any of this sounds familiar, it's because it is. Back in November, I first wrote about the grant. titling the above post, The Three Cities, hence the photo chosen. Here we are, eight months later, and you can go over to Steel Stacks Wednesday evening and give your opinion about the Valley's future. Will they entertain opinions about using our tax dollars for such grants? Now, there's an expensive question.
UPDATE: Although the original post from last November mentions Ms. Edinger,  as does  yesterday's update,  she is not the issue of this post; I have changed copy in the above update accordingly.  The issue is taxpayer value from such organizations, meetings and planning.  I'm sure that she is a conscientious employee of the LVEDC, performing the assigned task in a competent manner.

Only The Best for Public Housing

For an Allentown historian with an interest in photography, the photo above is as good as it gets; Eleanor Roosevelt visiting Allentown's new public housing project in 1942, Hanover Acres. I snatched the photo off The Morning Call this morning; Paul Carpenter has a column where he brooded about public housing recipients complaining that they can't smoke, while living on our dime. I'll do him one better. They're now griping about it in new housing, Overlook Park. Hanover Acres and the newer project, Riverview Terrace, were both torn down several years ago to construct new townhouses. It's supposedly a mixed income project, with homes both for sale, and Section 8 rentals.

Over the years Hanover Acres became a "terrible" place to live, a crime-ridden eyesore. Overlook Park, the $88 million development that's sprung up in its place, however, is "beautiful." Daniel R. Farrell, executive director of the Allentown Housing Authority, described turning Hanover Acres into Overlook Park as "an amazing transformation."The development features 269 rental apartments and room for 53 single-family homes.

It was built by Pennrose Properties, which specializes in politically correct and politically connected housing for profit. They have done well in Allentown with Mayor Ed. Not long before Hanover and Riverview were demolished, they were completely remodeled, with high end kitchen cabinets and counters. Shown below is yours truly, in Little Lehigh Manor, built in 1944. Those brick houses of the same vintage are still new enough for home buyers today. Most of Allentown's existing row houses were built between 1895 and 1930. If Carpenter is upset about smoking, he should drive over to Overlook Park and see what they're smoking in.

The Sign of The Beast

The following was written by Dennis Pearson, and is a reaction to the Department of Parks wanting various Neighborhood groups to organize their sports programs under the city's umbrella. This was recommended by a consultant hired by the City. Just like Allentown to pay a consultant on how to fix something which is not broken. Yesterday I checked out the $77,000 expense at Franklin Park. Apparently, we purchased a few pieces of playground equipment from the same vendor that Weitzel always used. More Shenanigans, although he departed already. Glad to see Dennis Pearson fighting this latest nonsense from the Allentown Park Department. Pearson's been fighting the good fight for decades. Thank you Dennis.
  Allentown is buying into municipalization of as much of the activities in this city as possible. In otherwards you can't buy or sell without the mark of the beast. That means that someone in City Hall or some national group would have the say. There would be no place for independents or enterprising groups not approved by City Hall. If this system was present in 1957 my dad would not have formed the East Side Rams. The City would have stopped him. Especially if he was not one of their favorite clientele. The East Side of Allentown was once able to support 4 youth organization programs. East Side Rams, East Side Youth Center, East Side Memorial Little League and Midway Manor. Could this ever happen again, not under this structure and in this economy. And I hate to see the East Side Youth Center facilities seized like Castro did to American Companies in the 1960's because the City which is not known for sound decision making wants to municipalize all activities and control who plays where. Personally as a former coach for the now-defunct independent group known as the East Side Rams I dedicated myself to teach sound baseball and basketball practices to those who played for me. I would never allow parents to influence who would start or play where. I would never put a child in a position he could not handle. I practiced my teams a lot far more then they do today to work on the deficiencies of players that needed help. But I never held back the better players because of the poorer players. Perhaps under this new municpalization plan I wouldn't have ever been given the opportunity to coach because of City politics in the selections. You know I have never been appointed to an important agency in this city ... My success has been with independent agencies which these grabbers of power and decision-making would love to control completely as well. Forming these groups according to their rules and they putting their own people in charge. I hope that those who currently serve on Council don't buy into this nonsense. If they do then they again are showing how little they know. Let's stop this socialistic move. And people should know this ,,, My behavior in the community forums I participate in is neither Republican or Democratic... I am a citizen who does his citizenship duty and takes his responsibilities seriously. I remain vigilant of my liberties which other of lesser knowledge and mind want to take away. Dennis Pearson

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