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.

Parting Allentown's Water Lease

Allentown City Council had hired the Pennsylvania Economy League to analyze their pension debt problem, in-regard to Pawlowski's plan to lease the water system. The League, while hedging their recommendations, found Pawlowski's plan the most feasible alternative. This conclusion provided all the cover Council members needed to reject the petition last night, in a 6 to 1 vote. An expert on municipal matters feels that the water activists made a strategic mistake. Had the petition been a simple ordinance against selling the water system, instead of a Charter Amendment change, it would have required only one vote from the citizens, instead of two. Such a pending vote in May would have clouded the water for companies bidding on the lease. Never the less, the battle is far from over. Water Companies certainly know that there is citizen opposition to this plan. With over 4000 citizen signatures, an injunction may be considered by the activists.

UPDATE: This blog started out as an adjunct to my activism. After numerous battles and years against City Hall, I am, more and more, allowing my written word to represent me. I consider my late friend Emma Tropiano to be a mentor. Although I never met or knew of him, I had another mentor, Bert Luckenbach. Mr. Luckenbach was still giving them hell when he was 92 years old. He lived in the neighborhood of my youth, Lehigh Parkway (Little Lehigh Manor) and was a staunch park defender. Here's a passage from one of his letters to the editor.

What this town needs is for its citizenry to assert its basic rights and priorities over those public servants who perform with an assumption of proprietary interest, ignoring their true status.
                                                                              Bert Luckenbach,1987

An Important Meeting

This evening at 6:00pm, City Council will decide on the fate of the ballot petition submitted by Dan Poresky and other members of his action committee. If council approves the petition, which contains over 4,500 signatures, the scheme to privatize the water will be effectively halted.* It is essential for those who believe that the water system should remain under city operation to attend the meeting. Only your presence will convince City Council that their vote does have political consequences.

photocredit:Colin McEvoy/Express Times

*If Council votes no, or doesn't vote, voters will be asked in May if it should appear on the ballot in November:  By then, the water lease will be a done deal.

Lunch At Allen

Up to the mid 60's, students at Allen High could leave the building for lunch. Scattered in alley's around the the school, garages had been converted into lunch shops and hangouts. The Hutch was in the alley between 17th and West Streets, in the unit block between Hamilton and Linden. Suzy's was behind the Nurse's Dormitory, between Chew and Turner. Another was across Linden from the Annex. They all had the same basic decor, a few pinball machines, a few tables and a small lunch counter. Most of the business was during lunch period, and before and after school. It's my understanding that occasionally a kid or two would skip school and hangout all day. Today these garages, turned into luncheonettes, have long ago reverted back to garages. Most of the current residents of West Park probably don't even know about this commercial history right behind their houses. I missed photo day at Allen for my yearbook, but if anybody has a picture of the gang from the Hutch, I'd appreciate a copy.
reprinted from November 2011

For the remainder of January this blog will reprint some posts which glimpsed back into our past. This nostalgia will be interrupted with current news and commentary as the city turns.

Cloning Yuppies for Allentown

When molovinsky on allentown began almost five years ago, I used to say that It's good to be Butz, I must now add, but it's better to be J.B. Reilly. In today's Morning Call we learn that "under Allentown's arena block master development agreement, if City Center determines a hotel is not feasible, it could build apartments or offices instead."  That is news to me, and as a blogging naysayer I'm more informed than most. All state taxes in the 130 acre NIZ will be going to pay for the arena complex. Reilly will own from the second floor up on two portions of the complex, one on Hamilton Street, the other on 7th Street. Lehigh Valley Hospital will the the tenant on the Hamilton portion, while the 7th Street side may well now be apartments instead of a hotel. Reilly is also building apartments on the other side of 7th Street, at the Linden Street corner. Although I have no background in office development, I do know the apartment market. No upscale apartment development in center-city has ever met it's target demographic without substantial subsidy, and then only with limited units. There are not enough Yuppies in Allentown to occupy the current supply of loft apartments, much less without Reilly's new apartments. Perhaps he can use his influence with Lehigh Valley Hospital for a clandestine Yuppie cloning laboratory.

The Wind At Pawlowski's Back

With the wind of the NIZ at his back, Ed Pawlowski will announce for a third term this week. Do not expect a similar announcement from a Republican. I have written before that Allentown may have well passed the tipping point where anyone could be elected as a Republican. One potential R candidate has apparently decided against the effort. A liberal yuppie told me this week how excited he was about plans for the river front. Another described the arena complex as only a positive for Allentown. When I explained that the arena will be a dormant white elephant during the daytime, and many nights, he said that was better than what was there before. He hopes all the development displaces some of the element that live nearby. In one way or another, Pawlowski seems to have wrapped up segments from all the demographics in town. What sacrificial lamb the Republicans produce remains to be seen.