Pawlowski's Press Pass

For someone of Polish descent, when it comes to the press, Pawlowski has the luck of the Irish. In his first campaign back in 2005, the Morning Call reporter thought he was the best thing since white bread. In 2009, his opponent was a case study in self-destruction. Since 2005, the city beat has been served by a succession of reporters, all of which have been new to Allentown. The current one, Emily Opilo, has been here about six months. She writes, When he took office seven years ago, Pawlowski said he promised to build a better Allentown, and Monday he said he had delivered on that promise. As an independent candidate for mayor in 2005, I sat next to Pawlowski on the campaign podium dozens of times; I can tell you what he really said. His campaign at that time was a promise to fix the pension problem, which would be created by the new police contract. He has failed completely in that promise, and now proposes to sell our water system as an act of desperation. Opilo's article today on Pawlowski's third campaign for mayor states that opposition is based on a fear that rates will increase, that's incorrect. Opposition is based on the fact that providing water is a primary city function, related to all the other city departments, and the park system. There is a contract between the city and it's citizens. The city provides service, and the citizens provide taxes and civility. Under Pawlowski, the contract has been broken. The city wishes out of the service, and civility has been replaced by crime and frustration. Although Pawlowski and The Morning Call refer to that enormous hole in the ground as a Transformation,  in reality it's a diversion from our real problems. As a candidate in 2005, I told it like it was; As a blogger in 2013, I will continue that tradition.

Flash From Past

Occasionally, some of the older boys in Lehigh Parkway would get saddled with taking me along to a Saturday matinee in downtown Allentown. We would get the trolley, in later years a bus, from in front of the basement church on Jefferson Street. It would take that congregation many years to afford completing the church building there today. The trolley or bus would go across the 8th Street Bridge, which was built to accommodate the trolleys operated by Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Downtown then sported no less than five movie theaters at any one time. Particularly matinee friendly was the Midway, in the 600 Block of Hamilton. Three cartoons and episode or two of Flash Gordon entertained our entourage, which ranged in age from five to eleven years old. We younger kids, although delighted by the likes of Bugs Bunny, were confused how the Clay People would emerge from the walls in the caves on Mars to capture Captain Gordon, but our chaperones couldn't wait till the next week to learn Flash's fate. Next on the itinerary was usually a banana split at Woolworth's. Hamilton Street had three 5 and 10's, with a million things for boys to marvel at. The price of the sundae was a game of chance, with the customer picking a balloon. Inside the balloon was your price, anywhere from a penny to the full price of fifty cents. The store had a full selection of Allentown souvenirs. Pictures of West Park on a plate, the Center Square Monument on a glass, pennants to hang on your wall, and picture postcards of all the attractions. Hamilton Street was mobbed, and even the side streets were crowded with busy stores. Taking younger kids along was a responsibility for the older brothers, the streets and stores were crowded, but predators were limited to the Clay People on the silver screen.

reprinted from April 11, 2011 reprinted from January 2012

Top Brass To Cash In Chips

molovinsky on allentown has learned that the top brass of the police department will cash in their chips this year. Chief Roger Maclean, Assistant Chief Joe Hanna, and assorted captains had deferred retirement under the previous lucrative contract, on the condition that those perks remained with them until retiring; They will all retire this year, under benefit of the previous contract. Because of the mass exodus in 2006, and now the pending retirement of the holdovers, we will virtually have a new police department and leadership. As the Palace of Sport and Private Wealth progresses, and the intercity violence increases, look for new idea's from our Mayor For Life. Check with The Morning Call in ten days to two week, for what will be just a longer version of my exclusive.

UPDATE: I wish to emphasize that I infer no resentment about their pending retirements.  On the contrary,  we are indebted that they graced the city with another eight plus years of service.

An Announcement, Two Shootings and A Stabbing

As reported previously by this blog, Pawlowski is announcing his candidacy, and he has no republican opposition. Today's Morning Call article even quotes Scott Armstrong, who frequently comments here. It's interesting because Scott does not currently hold any position within the local Republican party, although he is a republican and a school board member. The article said that some refer to Pawlowski as a visionary. Although I do not know about that, I do know that his announcement shares the paper with two shootings, and a stabbing; That's the vision most people really have about Allentown. I have taken the liberty of using The Morning Call's picture of Pawlowski, but with proper attribution.

photocredit:Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call

Jordan Heights

In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open until about ten years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008

Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

reprinted from June 2010

The 6th Ward

When my grandfather first arrived in Allentown, he lived in the Ward, on 2nd. Street. It was around 1895 and the neighborhood was full of immigrants. Some groups came from the same area in the old country, most noticeably the Syrians, from the village of Amar*. They were Greek Orthodox, a minority in a Muslim country. The congregation of St. George's Church on Catasauqua Ave., largely is descended from those immigrants. Well known names in Allentown, such as Atiyeh, Haddad, Hanna, Makoul, Koury and Joseph are among their members. They were among one of the first groups to organize, and those organizations still exist. The photo above was organized by the Syrian American Organization in 1944. Note that Jewish, on the left, is treated as a nationality.

* hopefully my Syrian friends will correct any historical errors I have made.

click on photo to enlarge

reprinted from March 2010