Allentown's Success Based On Smoke And Dummies

J.B. Reilly and Joe Topper have purchased a cigarette distributorship and moved the business address to their 702 Hamilton Street address. This maneuver allows their company, City Center Own Allentown, to use the $1.60 per pack Pennsylvania cigarette tax toward the debt service on their growing empire. Perhaps this was the conflict of interest which propelled Reilly to resign his position on the hospital board. One would like to think that tobacco taxes are used for health care, not private enrichment.

UPDATE: The above is reprinted from February of 2012. The cigarette loophole proved enormously lucrative.  Instead of relying on employee taxes poached from other places in Lehigh Valley, the NIZ barons could now build more and more buildings, funded by smokers everywhere.  While originally building just for the poached businesses, it allowed the barons to start building on speculation.  The Jaindl Company,  now following that successful game plan, is also purchasing a cigarette wholesaler.  This means that instead of tenants waiting for completion,  we will have new empty buildings waiting for tenants.  It gets much worse if we use a moral compass.  The cigarette taxes had been used to fund CHIP,  children's health insurance, and other health related programs. A large portion of those funds now go to finance these privately owned real estate empires.  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? In the last election for state representatives, seven of the eleven incumbents were unopposed.  They are, to a person, inept and complacent.  Of course, the dirt dumb voters also deserve credit.

Blogging Lite

I saw this picture this morning on the page of a facebook friend. In real life we don't even know each other. The strawberries were meant to be nothing more than strawberries. Another friend asked where he got them, and the poster gave the address of the fruit stand. I thought how much more relaxing that would be, instead of writing that the mayor should fire the police chief, for being involved in unnecessary tension between different police agencies. I also think that it would be more relaxing to just give directions to farm stands, rather than receiving antagonistic anonymous comments all day. I probably won't turn into a food or puff blogger, it's not my nature, but here's one portion anyway.

Pawlowski Double Downs On Fitzgerald

Pawlowski has put on the happy face by linking on facebook to articles proclaiming Junior Fitzgeralds' not guilty decision, but he knows the situation is far from innocent. Even the most avid supporters I know were disappointed when they found out that the Fitzgerald family turned down the ARD offered by Martin. They believed that the family was defending Juniors' future, so he would  be able to follow his parents footsteps in law enforcement. The Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program would have allowed that, by expunging the arrest record. The Fitzgeralds declined, because Junior would have to admit that he pointed a gun and apologize to the detectives. Supposedly, he was a model suspect because he did apologize while in custody. Handcuffed to a wall in the Whitehall Township police station, Christopher Fitzgerald apologized for pulling a gun on two detectives and insisted he only did so because he was scared. The Morning Call, May 29, 2015. Another condition of the ARD was that their attorney, Jack McMahon, would have to retract his assertion of racial profiling. Even though McMahon was willing to do that, and recommended accepting the ARD program, the Fitzgeralds declined on principle. So, the chief and his family had an opportunity to avoid the trial, avoid the insinuation of racial profiling, and most importantly, avoid the tension with fellow law enforcement, but chose not to. Pawlowski can double down with facebook, but lets hope he's not really proud. The credibility of law enforcement was eroded by a man that we brought here, and are paying to defend it. Although those who defended the Fitgeralds,  before knowledge of the ARD offer became public, are privately disappointed, you won't hear them admit it. It's too politically incorrect, they would rather double down.

Stairway To Shame

In the mid 1930's, Allentown, and especially it's park system, was endowed with magnificent stone edifices, courtesy of the WPA; Works Progress Administration. This was a New Deal program designed to provide employment during the aftermath of the depression. Stone masons from all over the country converged on this city and built structures which are irreplaceable. The walls and step structures in Lehigh Parkway, as the Union Terrace amphitheater, are legacies which must be protected. Pictured above is the grand stairway from Lawrence Street (Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street, built in 1936. The steps are in a state of disrepair. They lead to the great Union Street Retaining Wall, twenty five feet high and two blocks long, which was completed in 1937. I call upon the Trexler Trust and Allentonians of memory, to insist that these steps are re-pointed and preserved. The current Administration knows nothing of our past, and really has no commitment to our future. Save the things in Allentown that matter.
reprinted from September 2008

UPDATE JUNE 2015:It's seven years later, and I'd like to say there has been some progress, but it hasn't happen. While Pawlowski is on his third term as mayor, we're on our third park director, and not one $dollar has been spent on one WPA project, in all these years. Actually, the state of our historic structures has significantly declined. An indifferent administration allowed The Wildlands Conservancy to demolish the scenic Robin Hood Dam, which was only ten inches high, and was the companion piece to the Robin Hood Bridge. Built in 1941, it was the last WPA structure completed in Allentown. Union Terrace, which was the last large scale WPA project, built in 1937, is rapidly deteriorating. While the park department concentrates on playgrounds and parking lots, it's losing the stone structures which make the park system iconic. They will never be able to be replaced.

Model Suspect Exonerated

Up to last week, I had never heard the term model used for a suspect. But model suspect was the term a Whitehall police officer used to describe Christopher Fitzgerald, because he was polite, compliant and even cried. His high priced, melodramatic defense attorney, also put on a first rate performance. In a passionate — and loud — crescendo to his closing speech, he implored the jury to find Fitzgerald not guilty, so that he could continue his career path of becoming a police officer like both his parents."Do not put an end to the dreams of this young man today,"  So, young Fitzgerald joins the OJ Club.

If you're ever behind someone who stops his car and jumps out with a Glock, fear not, that's a model suspect. In a few years, if you're stopped by a cop,  who is holding a Glock and crying, fear not.

ADDENDUM: Ed Pawlowski had doubled down on his support for police chief Fritgerald by posting the Morning Call article link on his facebook page. Ed, junior wasn't innocent, he just wasn't convicted.

Allentown School Board, Witness To Slander

I have heard that lately Allentown School Board meetings have become quite ugly. Members of Power Northeast, wear masks and turn their backs to the school board, demonstrating against what they describe as toxicity and condoned racism in the district. The Resurrected Life Community Church, led by Rev. Gregory Edwards, has become aligned with this movement. They believe that the district has turned into a pipeline to prison. They believe that they have to push back to push forward. Many of their grievances are aimed directly at district superintendent Russ Mayo, actually describing him as guilty of sweeping problems under the rug. While the school board mostly listens silently to these accusations, Scott Armstrong responds.

At last night’s school board meeting a group of protestors made slanderous accusations against the district’s superintendent. I know those remarks had to hurt him deeply. He is a man who has dedicated his life to public education, and he is in the field and at the helm of the ASD for all the right reasons. No one is perfect, there is always room for improvement and solutions can be found. However, those who cast the accusations should understand the road to understanding is not paved by slurs. I chose to speak out against the slander, for the only thing worse than the insults is the silence of those who know the charges are false.    Scott Armstrong

I believe that Jude-Laure Denis, leader of Allentown's Power Northeast, and Rev. Edwards, would be better to continue working on the real issues, rather than scapegoat the district and particularly the superintendent. Although architecturally we look like just a large town, demographically, we have the issues of any large urban city. Allentown is mired in poverty, and those problems which often present themselves in the home life of the students. These problems are shared by all urban areas. The church has embraced and established their RLife programs of pre-school and learning summer camp. These are the types of actions that have meaningful results. The Allentown School District has concerned administrators and caring teachers, what it needs is partnering parents and community.

ADDENDUM: I have decided to link to a YouTube of part of the school board meeting. Addressing the  board is Pastor Paul Patrick.  Although he cites bible passages, I find his berating less than spiritual.