molovinsky Blog Posts, A Work in Progress

An associate spends hours writing his blog posts. When he's done he has produced an edited, finished piece. Not here at molovinsky on allentown; The posts are usually written very quickly, very early in the morning. Although they have been described as succinct, sometimes the conciseness leads to misinterpretation. Readers who revisit the post later in the day often find slight word changes, and additions, that clarify the meaning. Likewise, our daytime editor may alter the original photograph chosen to illustrate the post. It's with great pride that we announce that we have hired Beatrice to coordinate all aspects of the production. As always, your readership is appreciated.

An UPDATE on the post about updates: With the hiring of Beatrice, nobody will accuse molovinsky on allentown of age discrimination. Beatrice will handle all comment moderation. Although she retires very early in the evening, be assured that your comment will receive every consideration the following morning.

De Eagles, De Eagles

Like our height challenged friend seeing the plane approach Fantasy Island, our local newspaper couldn't contain themselves about the Eagles playing the arena's first date. Let's discuss what this choice was really all about. Michael Donovan, who garnered 40% of the mayoral vote this past November against would be Governor Pawlowski, speculated that it was a strategic choice to attract an older, upscale patron to Allentown. He is correct, that demographic needs to be reintroduced to center city, where they haven't been in decades, if the center city Transformation is to be the success touted by the administration and newspaper. The Eagle audience fits their bill,  it is mostly white and over fifty. Almost all the tickets will sell for over $175 each. Pawlowski and Company are hoping that these suburban ticket buyers have a good first experience in Allentown's new center city. Although they won't enjoy convenient line of sight parking, and for the Little Apple, there will be some traffic congestion after the concert, the hope is that the experience will be positive enough for a return visit. East and south-siders needing police assistance that evening will experience a delay; Every policeman in Allentown will be on display near the arena.

A Voice and Style is Silenced

Patrice Sidoione passed away suddenly earlier this week. When Allentown began the property acquisition program several years ago for the arena, the methods were not nice. Straw buyers were sent into the properties, making offers with threats of eminent domain to those who would not cooperate. Although these tactics were ignored by The Morning Call, this blog reported the process, threat by threat. Patrice, who owned a hair salon on 8th Street, keep me updated on this process and invited me, as did other merchants, to attend their meetings with city officials. Although the administration was hoping that the merchants would go quietly, they didn't know Patrice Sidoione. She championed for her rights, and encouraged the other merchants to stand up for theirs. Those who knew her are saddened by her untimely death. An obituary notice appears in today's paper.

photo of Patrice by Ramy Song

Pre-fight Hype

In the early 40's, during the War, boxing was a big sport. Pre-Television, fans would rather around the radio, and hear blow by blow commentary. Visuals were mostly restricted to newspaper photographs the following day. Not unlike the hype for the SuperBowl, the papers would also run photos prior to a big fight. Shown here are photos of contender Abe Simon, who was challenging Joe Louis for the Heavyweight Championship on March 27, 1942, at Madison Square Garden. These AP syndicated photos appeared in newspapers across the country on March 6th. Above, shows Abe and his wife in their kitchen. Below, he squares off with a neighborhood boy.

Simon's Record

reprinted from December 2012

The School District, Politics and Media

Readers to yesterday's Morning Call were treated to Paul Carpenter's column on the reduction of school librarians. Although many of my blog posts offend the writers at the Call, Paul won't be offended because he doesn't read the blogs, or much on the web at all, for that matter. So, although the paper had a quarter page for Paul's opinion, it couldn't find room for a letter by an actual school director on the same subject. Here's Scott Armstrong's unpublished letter.

To the editor, Sunday’s front page (March 16th) gave to Allentown with one hand then took away with the other. The paper proclaimed above the fold a “New Attitude” about the future of the city due to a controversial arena project, then underneath gave the back of its hand to the financially strapped Allentown School District because our libraries are “understaffed and underused”. Curious that the lengthy report neither mentioned the cause of the shortage of staff nor that the shortage is due to financial factors beyond the district or board’s ability to control. Thus, readers might conclude from this reporting that mismanagement, callousness, or indifference to the importance of libraries led to the current situation. How opposite is the truth, and The Morning Call and its reporter know better. That article did a disservice to quality journalism, the readers, and the Allentown School District. Scott Armstrong

Meanwhile, back in today's world of Facebook, school policy is often unofficially discussed by school directors, and the directors identified as Republican or conservative become irrational targets. A proposed resolution by Ce Ce Gerlach will be discussed at this evening's school board meeting. It seeks to involve the County Commissioners with the drop out rate at Dieruff and William Allen. Gerlach's proposal was reported by the Express Times, but The Morning Call, by policy, only has room for done deals. As an informed citizen, I think that the drop out rate is a reflection of the poverty culture dominating center city Allentown, more than a failure of the school district, and certainly isn't a reflection on the school board. Enter political operatives like Ed DeGrace, who writes, Identify the obstructionists and ask the voting community to hold them accountable and vote them all out! In reality we're fortunate to have a school board representing both the interests of the teachers and taxpayers. I believe that all the members put the interests of the children first.

UPDATE: The board voted 6-2 to table Cece's resolution requesting the County Commissioners to institute a task force on drop-outs. Although Cece expressed some bewilderment of that decision on Facebook, this blog obtained a note by member D. Zimmerman expressing his and the majority opinion; I think the administration has been working to address this issue over the past number of years and has made progress. The job is not over and it remains , I believe, a top priority of everyone involved with ASD. If some folks feel that progress is not sufficient, that is an issue they need to address separately. There is not one single solution to this problem. It is a multifaceted one and so necessarily is any solution to it. I fail to see how a county investigation will add anything to this mix or of what benefit it will be other than to reaffirm the obvious. I will not be supporting this resolution however I will strongly support any efforts by ASD to lower the dropout rates of our students.

Allentown's West End Train

The Lehigh Valley Railroad operated a train branch line which served Allentown's commercial west end. It ran along Sumner Avenue servicing the scrap metal yards, warehouses and numerous coal dealers located there. The line then crossed Tilghman Street on a diagonal at 17th, before looping back east by Liberty Street at the Fairgrounds. The line ended at a rail yard now housing the small shopping center at 12th and Liberty. Although many of former commercial buildings still exist, all now house more retail type businesses. The B'nai Brith Apartments occupy the site of the former Trexler Lumber Yard. These historical shorts are difficult to write. Most current residents have no frame of reference to our former commercial past. True historians, such as the local railroad buffs, cringe at the lack of detail and specific location of the tracks. Suffice to say, that once upon a time, the mid-section of Allentown had much more commerce.

photo of train crossing Tilghman at 17th Street taken by Kermit E. Geary in 1974, from the Mark Rabenold Collection.

reprinted from December 2012