The Legend Begins

On July 4th, 1934 Joe louis made his debut as a professional fighter. Eleven months and nineteen straight victories later, most by knockout, 62,000 fight fans would jam Yankee Stadium to watch the new sensation fight the giant, Primo Carnera.

New York, New York - Primo Carnera, giant Italian boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world, and Joe Louis, hard-hitting negro heavyweight from Detroit, Michigan, weighed-in this afternoon at the offices of the New York State Boxing Commission for their fifteen round bout tonight at the Yankee Stadium. - 6.25.1935

Although badly battered from the first round, Carnera would gamely stay in the fight till it was stopped in round six. The legend of the Brown Bomber was clearly established.
photo of Primo Carnera

This blog has produced 24 posts chronicling the Joe Louis boxing era, many featuring Abe Simon, a Jewish heavyweight of the era; Simon and my mother were cousins. Lately, Allentown political shenanigans have allowed me little time and space to visit Madison Square Garden in the early 1940's. During the next few weeks I will reprint these posts, while still assigning staff to City Hall. One of my attractions to the boxing world is the black and white photography produced during that era. The public would listen to the fights on the radio, and then see the photographs in the newspapers the following day. While reproducing these posts, I may in some instances substitute alternative photographs, all classic images from the age of film and flash bulbs.

Scott Armstrong:Morning Call Editorial

Republican Party Needs An Urban Strategy, Not A New Message
Since the presidential election, much of the political discourse has shifted to an analysis of why Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost and what the Republican Party needs to do to win in 2016.
Much of the talk mistakenly focuses on the idea that the GOP needs to reformulate its message to gain a larger share of minority votes. In other words, the Republican stand on important issues such as abortion, amnesty, tax cuts, small government and limited entitlements must be reformulated to match what pundits pronounce is the more left-wing outlook of America's urban poor.
Adopting this strategy would, in my humble view, be a huge mistake for the Republican Party. The Republican message is not the reason we take such a drubbing in the cities; the real fault is the complete failure of the Republican Party to communicate its message in these areas.
How are people expected to vote for a party they have never seen in their neighborhood? Why would it be logical to expect people to endorse a message they have never heard?
Republicans need to face the fact that America's urban residents vote Democratic largely because Democrats have been selling the party's message on the residents' radio stations, on their local television stations, at their doors, on their streets, and at their polling stations. Until the Republican establishment commits resources to a long-term strategy to compete on this level directly to the nation's poor and minority urban residents, we have no hope of winning their votes no matter what our message is.
One more warning to Republican Party leaders: Any plan to attract the votes of America's minority voters that puts reformulating the party's tenets ahead of an effort to communicate its philosophy directly to America's urban neighborhoods will fail completely and create a wider divide between the Republican establishment and its conservative base. That will guarantee failure in 2016 and beyond.
Scott Armstrong, a member of the Allentown School Board, is former chairman of the Allentown Republican City Committee, former member Lehigh County Republican Latino Committee and former member of the county Republican Executive Committee.

The above Your View Editorial appeared in The Morning Call on Saturday Dec. 1, 2012

A Shovel At The Trough

The citizen's event on Wednesday didn't receive the fanfare of yesterday's hockey arena groundbreaking. Over at the big hole yesterday were the big people, who are going to benefit on the public's dime. Although I wasn't there, I'm sure I'll be able to see pictures and video galore. They have a ticket to ride for the next decade. Jennifer Mann thanked everyone who stuck their necks out, I think they stuck their hands out. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the citizen's petition against privatizing their water was submitted to the Administration. Although Mayor Pawlowski had repeatedly told the public, and City Council, that a 35% tax increase would be necessary without the water lease, on Wednesday, he told the press that the increase would be 100% or more. The numbers didn't really change, it's that his respect for the little people got lower; He doesn't believe that they deserve a serious dialogue on the issue, and except for Jeanette Eichenwald, neither does City Council.

photocredit: Denise Sanchez / The Morning Call / Nov. 29, 2012

Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go

Now that Lehigh Valley Airport has finished their recent remodeling, they're facing less destinations than they had in decades. It has become the airport to nowhere. Although much blame was assigned to the previous underperforming director, I think that the board must share responsibility for approving a succession of poor ideas, which were expensive to execute. The mother of bad ideas, of course, was taking the Fuller Land by force, necessitating a $26 million dollar compensation. An article in The Morning Call, which outlined cutbacks, failed to mention the cost of remodeling. I do credit the board with their decision to retain Queen City Airport, despite lobbying by Allentown Mayor and board member Ed Pawlowski. On the questionable side, they're considering spending even more money to build a customs station for international routes. One would think after you went broke dressing up in suit with nowhere to go, you wouldn't spend even more on a tuxedo.

Allentown Becomes A Monarchy

Park and Shop Lots

Downtown Allentown boomed for about 100 years. During the prosperity years following World War II, the two car family emerged. Several business leaders of Allentown realized both the parking problem and the potential to enhance sales. Park and Shop was begun by Harvey Farr, Donald Miller and John Leh. The current small parking deck at 10th and Hamilton, above the current uptown police substation, was the first deck in the country. To make the parking lots, shown in the postcard above, houses were purchased and torn down. Although the gentlemen mentioned in this article profited from their influence, they always provided solutions for the betterment of the community. They seemed to be a benevolent oligarchy. As the viability of the Park And Shop enterprise declined along with the intercity shopping, The Allentown Parking Authority was conveniently formed by local politicians, and it purchased the lots using Municipal bonds; The process allowed the aforementioned gentleman to land on their feet, in a downward market.

Flash ahead thirty five years to another downward market, and we have one gentleman, J.B. Reilly, buying up center-city with municipal bonds backed by state taxes. Reilly has purchased far more property than ever owned by Park and Shop. He has purchased virtually the four square blocks surrounding the arena, a significant portion of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone(NIZ). Again the process was facilitated by our elected officials. Let us hope that the new monarchy will be as benevolent as the old oligarchy.

At The Mayor's Pleasure

Yesterday morning, as is my usual routine, I wrote down a topic for today, and in true tabloid fashion, searched the molovinsky on allentown archives for a photograph. The premise was a speculation on why Fire Chief Scheirer was compromising fire staffing standards to endorse Pawlowski's budget. In addition to the short staff, we are short the fire station on the east side. Although I have a better picture of the former station, this was the only one the staff could locate. About mid-day, Emily Opilo, Morning Call Allentown reporter, wrote a blog post about Scheirer. She had located a public letter he wrote about ten years ago, to his wife. In it, he explains that if he is killed fighting a fire, it's probably because the department is understaffed. Powerful stuff Ms. Opilo unloaded. I decided that I would still go ahead with this post, because my slant was the perilous condition that having no firehouse imposed on the east side. Apparently, Emily Opilo and I had the same breakfast yesterday. An article by her on the missing fire house will appear in Tuesday's paper. Not only an article, but an excellent piece, questioning why the former fire house was allowed to deteriorate beyond repair, and acknowledging Dennis Pearson, for his consistent east side advocacy. The supposed delay constructing the new fire station is a one million dollar cost overrun on the estimate. Is this the same city in which a $77 million hockey arena will now cost $244 million, without losing a beat? If ever there was an example of misplaced priorities in a city government, the East Side Fire Station wins the national prize. My early morning speculation yesterday was that Chief Robert Scheirer was playing ball because he wants to be Allentown's first Public Safety Director. Sources at City Hall tell me that such a reorganization is probably not in the current cards, and he simply serves at the mayor's pleasure, to keep his chief's hat.