A Fib and A Truth In Allentown

In a recent piece, Bill Kitten White explained that although the paper may have fibbed once or twice about Mayor Pawlowski, they are telling the truth about the NIZ, and it's wonderful. As if on cue, today's paper states that the Reillyville restaurants are preparing for the 10,000 Men Unity Conference at PPL Center on Saturday. After getting past the headline, and reading the article, Shula's better hold off on ordering more steaks, but perhaps Chickie's and Pete's might need a few more hot dogs, but I doubt even that. We find out that 3,000 tickets have been distributed, but the organizers are hopeful that more men attend. It's intent is to encourage men to fulfill their obligations, in regard to family and children. As if the restaurant bull wasn't enough, the article explains that a number of rooms at the new Renaissance Hotel have been set aside. Since they go for about $200 a night, those men would be better off saving that money for their children. Did I forget to mention that Ed Pawlowski is going to the event. He said that "It's important to take a step back from all the distractions in our lives...". Wonder what's distracting him?

ADDENDUM: Bill White's piece does NOT concede any fibbing about Pawlowski,  and defends it's coverage of the NIZ. It does take molovinsky and Ramblings to task, (but not by name) for our  criticism of the Morning Call coverage. Although White claims that the paper broke numerous stories, he omits the fact that his paper has never given attribution to this blog, for the stories broken here.  I found  White's version of the paper's coverage so distorted, I must have hallucinated that he admitted fibbing.

ADDENDUM 2: At the carnival, when you spin sugar fast enough, it becomes cotton candy. Likewise, when the paper indulges in spinning an event, especially to an absurd degree,  (such as this Unity event,)  it does become a fib.

UPDATE: Bill White deleted my comment off his mcall article,  criticizing him for not mentioning this blog by name.  Furthermore,  today(September 20th), a year late, the Morning Call finally gets around to reporting that the Allentown Arena was the most expensive arena ever built.

Rumble At the Reagan Library

As a conservative independent, I have no use for Hillary Clinton, and less for Bernie Sanders. Even though I'll be late opening the bakery this morning, I stayed up last night and watched the debate. I was actually more impressed with the undercard. Sans Santorum, Pataki, Jindal and Graham were compelling. But, as Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message, and those gentlemen, relegated to the second tier in the second debate, are no longer part of the medium.

 On the main card, the overly crowded field was almost like cage wrestling, too many people vying for camera time. In that regard, I felt that CNN had the camera on Trump a disportioncate amount of time. For foreign policy geeks, hearing that Trump will surround himself with experts, as opposed to being one, must be excruciatingly painful. I believe that if Marco Rubio could make himself appear older, he would be a real contender. I might send him some of my gray hair dye, it has helped me looked more distinguished. Getting back to McLuhan, Trump may have again stole the show by default. Although Jeb Bush was more aggressive, he only managed to play into Trump's portrayal of him as unenergetic. In that regard, Ben Carson appears to be self medicated. The other doctor, Rand Paul, also cannot shed the Trump barbs. Huckabee has cast himself more as a pastor than a viable politician. Both the governors, Walker and Kasich, failed to stand out. Ted Cruz presented himself well, but the media has marginalized him as too right for America. Although Christie held his own, he still looks like he caused that traffic jam at the bridge, trying to get to the donut shop before it closed. Certainly, Carly Fiorina also held her own, but I don't think that she has enough spunk to break through this large men's field.

I'm back to Marshall McLuhan and the persuasive media. If Trump produces some commercials which succeed in adding some world expertise to augment his bravado, the White House might become the next reality show.

Abuse At Cedar Park

After the previous park director, John Mikowychok, was here only three weeks, he endorsed the Wildlands Conservancy demolishing the Robin Hood Dam. To add insult to injury, he allowed them to pile the destroyed dam rubble around the stone piers of the Robin Hood Bridge, depreciating the beauty of a view enjoyed by generations of Allentonians. I told Mikowychok at the time, that however long he stays in Allentown, he will never climb out of the hole in damage he allowed. As it turned out, he  stayed only about a year.  The new park director, Lindsay Taylor, has already dug her self a rut. This past weekend, after last Thursday's rain flooded Cedar Park, the heavy support and supply trucks for Artsfest rutted the soft park ground. The ArtsFest is a nice event, but it's held in the wrong place. It's the wrong place for the overused and abused park, and it's the wrong place for the arts festival. It should be held in an urban environment, downtown. It could be a real boost for center city, either on Hamilton Street, or by the Alternative Art Gallery, on N. 4th Street.

The festival was held in area much larger than necessary to accommodate the event, and it rained two more times during the festival. Consequently, the large box and flatbed trucks necessary to supply and support the event did extensive damage to the park.  I do not blame the organizers of ArtsFest in any way.  There's a long history of such events in the park section east of Ott Street.  However, this is the first such event held west of Ott, in the Rose Garden section of the park.   Although this western section has been used before, it was confined to spill over from Sportsfest, and involved only golf cart type vehicles. The combination of soggy ground and heavy trucks produced 12" ruts through out the park. It will take the park department no less than $30,000 in material and manpower to restore the area,  assuming that they do. This is the good news, the bad is that nobody, save this blogger, may care. The Morning Call mentioned nothing of the damage in their review about the festival.  I know that Mayor Pawlowski didn't care about the parks before his own current problems, neither did City Council.

At the very least, as long as the park department is going to allow such events and damage in the parks,  they should have a designated park for such fairground type use.  That park should have an area which stays dry from creek flooding.  It's time for the Department of Parks and Recreation to show more respect for the classic beauty of Allentown's parks.

photograph by Harry Fisher/The Morning Call

The Betrayal Of Ed Pawlowski

The account in the Morning Call was biblical. A friendship so sincere, that the Pawlowski's trusted their only daughter to his care. But like other another person pure of heart, his great goodness was taken advantage of, he was victimized. In case anybody happen to not understand the sermon, the article spells it out. We learn that Lisa Pawlowski writes on social media, BETRAYED.

Although we can all benefit from a parable now and then, somehow the real victims were overlooked, the citizens of Allentown. If Pawlowski's trust was misplaced, how about the taxpayers. Although it's wonderful that J.B. Reilly's wish-list was fulfilled beyond his wildest expectations, we all have things we would have liked improved in the city. I would have liked if $1.3 million spend on Atiyeh land that we don't need, was used instead to repair the WPA structures. Homeless advocates would like a shelter properly funded and staffed. Better housing advocates would have liked to see more blighted properties rehabilitated.

The Pawlowski's may have been betrayed by Mike Fleck, but there's nothing biblical about them. Local drug dealers and thieves cheat and steal from each other all the time, but the paper doesn't portray them as Robin Hood. Maybe, by the time the whole story is told, the paper will get a grip on itself.

ADDENDUM: This morning, Bill White defends himself and the paper against blogosphere accusations that he and his associates have pampered both Pawlowski and the NIZ. I don't know anybody who reads the blogosphere, but Ramblings and molovinsky are widely read. Yes Bill, the paper has been late to the game. The Raid On City Hall could not be glossed over, but you're still promoting Reillyville like it's news. You need only look at this weekend's coverage of the Artswalk.

The Synagogues Of Jerusalem

Except when barred by one conqueror or another, Jews had lived in Jerusalem since King David. Prior to Jordanian rule in 1948, there was a Jewish majority for 150 years. In 1864, eight thousand of the fifteen thousand population was Jewish. By 1914, two thirds of the sixty five thousand residents were Jewish. In 1948 the United Nations Partition Plan divided the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Jerusalem was to be initially an international city, with access guaranteed for all. This plan was rejected by the surrounding Arab nations, which attacked Israel in concert immediately upon the UN vote. When the truce was declared, Israel had survived, but East Jerusalem(walled Old City) was in procession of TransJordan. The Jordanians subsequently destroyed over 50 synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, which dated back to the 1400's. For hundreds of years both Christians and Jews were prohibited from building higher than Muslim structures. The few synagogues which survived were the ones built mostly below street level. The oldest surviving synagogue, The Jerusalem Synagogue, was built by the Karaite Jews in around 900. Shown above is the Ben Kakai, a Sephardic Synagogue built in the 16th Century.

Perhaps the most famous synagogue destroyed by the Jordanians was the Ashkenazi Hurva Synagogue built in 1720, it's dome visible in the top center of this photograph from the 1920's. It's replacement has just been completed.

reprinted from September of 2010

She's Not Here Mr. Molovinsky

I don't understand it, every time I stop in to see an Allentown public official, they're not there. Is there something about me? Up to this past July and the FBI Raid At City Hall, I suppose it was my blunt questions and subsequent blunt treatment on this blog that made them hid under the desk, whenever they saw me coming through the door. After the Raid, management was nervous. They knew that they served at the pleasure of a vindictive mayor, but now he was wounded, to boot. Some were afraid that they would end up being scapegoats for whatever accusations were coming down the pike. I can only imagine that yesterday's fear is today's terror. Now there are times, places and their signatures on reports, being used as evidence in a criminal investigation.

Although this blog has pointed out policy flaws since 2007, I never indulged in pay to play speculation. Frankly, despite the current meltdown at city hall, those specifics still don't interest me. I remain focused on policy, and it's effect on the city. Unfortunately, I realize that in this current climate, the bureaucrats could care less about better policy, and will be looking for life preservers. Never the less, I will still be coming through their doors.