I'm one of the seventy or so people on the Villa victim list. Bill and Angie Villa write Lehigh Valley Somebody, which they use to attack a continuously growing list of people in the valley. When you're on Villa's list, he contacts your employer, and complains that you're sadistically provoking him, even though in truth he's harassing you. If the boss doesn't comply with Villa's demands, then the boss goes on the list, and Villa contacts the boss's superiors, making the same demand. It is in this way that all the local college deans made the list. Also included are ministers, priests and bishops. On one the posts near the top of his blog he writes his comments. He adds, substracts and deletes them at will, but they're all written by him, and all contain links to even more insults. I've become one of his most frequent targets, because I'm one of the few to speak out. In retribution, he takes comments from my readers out of context, and attributes them to me. He sends harassing and insulting comments to my blog every day, thousands of them in the last couple years. On Friday, I received an email from him containing several attachments, including an insulting face in the hole picture of myself and Alfonso Todd and a third person. It turns out that someone sent the Allentown School District a complaint about Angie Villa, and Villa speculated that I may have been involved. Although I wasn't involved, Villa didn't hestitate to threatened me with additional emails and insinuations. I decided to write the school district myself.

Pawlowski's Parade

Today, Mayor Pawlowski will be leading a parade over the new 15th Street Bridge. While in his mind it's a great accomplishment, people of Allentown can only say it's about time. While the arena complex has been progressing with hundreds of workers, even at night and weekends, the bridge was a project in slow motion. Worse yet, Pawlowski owns some of the blame for the prior bridge's demise. As Community Development Director, starting in 2002, he allowed the metal bridge to continue rusting away. The rust continued under his tenure as mayor for two terms. Today's parade will be but one more video opportunity for his governor race, but will not impress the locals, who have been inconvenienced for years.

Did The Pawlowski Administration Lie?

...I presented information to City Council this evening (December 18, 2013) that shows how Allentown now stands to lose more than $113,000,000 over the 35-year Delta Thermo Energy Incinerator contract. I plugged the recent $40.44/ton that Easton's Mayor Panto signed with Chrin into the financial projections that Mayor Pawlowski and PFM presented to City Council and the Public. The original projections from the Mayor and PFM used a starting landfill cost of $92.29/ton. The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association has told the PA DEP that the public was given false and misleading information regarding tipping fees. Quoted from the PPWIA letter to the PA DEP: "Representatives from Delta Thermo Falsely Exaggerated Landfill Tipping Fees". landfill fees that the Mayor and PFM used were "Falsely Exaggerated" I have warned the Mayor and City Council that the financial projections from PFM were useless. Only Eichenwald and O'Connell voted against this incinerator. A $113,000,000 LOSS after the Mayor claimed a $25,000,000 SAVINGS seems like an issue for the citizens of Allentown. $40.44/ton Landfill cost to Easton from 2014 to 2020. Allentown will pay DTE $119.37/ton in 2020. Almost a $3,000,000 loss in 2020 alone. These numbers are real losses in my book. The Mayor and PFM used the wrong starting assumptions. They were way off. Did they lie? 
Rich Fegley
Blogger's Note: The above is a comment by Rich Fegley submitted to an earlier post on this blog. I also have a copy of the letter from The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association(PWIA) to the Pa. DEP. Allentown City Council made a decision based on very erroneous information, which should be legally revisited in light of this fact.

Allentown or Zombietown

When I think back to the excitement and pride which was Allentown this time of year, back in the day, I cringe at what we have become. Although there's a little buzz about the arena, when you divide the state taxes diverted by the people who will attend, it's a very expensive ticket. Circumstances have conspired against Allentown; Demographically, center city keeps becoming poorer. We have become a one party town, not benefiting by a meaningful civic discourse. What was once a powerful local newspaper is now in an idle mode, waiting for another consequence of corporate takeover. This blog will continue to write about both history and politics, but will never blend them together into some sort of artificial smoothie.

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria

The Church and Theology School in Alexandria was established by the Apostle Mark in 60AD. Most of the early converts were common Egyptians who spoke Coptic. Although Christians became the majority before the Arab invasion in 636, by the 12th century they were the minority. The concept of monasteries in Christianity was started by the Coptics in the deserts of Egypt. Currently, the Coptics are threatened by transitions in Egypt, let us pray for their safety.

photograph of St. Marks Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt.

reprinted from December 2012

Doing Less With More In Allentown

While Mayor Pawlowski spent the weekend in New York City auditioning for governor, Allentown got zapped with an ice storm. Previous to the Big Water Sell Off this summer, here in the Little Apple, all departments would help out during a storm or other emergency. With the loss of the water department to the Lehigh County Authority, that system has been disrupted. Although we loss some efficiency, we will not see a corresponding savings. A previous undisclosed expense involved in the water transfer was creating a new department for the storm sewer system. Furthermore, apparently $150 million has been designated for the pension fund, as opposed to an earlier projection of 160. What's $10 million among friends and taxpayers?

photocredit:Tay Ney/The Morning Call/December10,2013