A Jewish Butcher

When my great grandfather died in 1915, the Morning Call obituary said,  Morris Molivionsky, the retired Jewish butcher at No. 639 Grant street, died on Sunday.  Although they weren't too concerned about the correct spelling of his name,  the fact that he was Jewish was apparently noteworthy then.

At that time the Jewish community was centered in the Ward, mostly on 2nd and Grant Streets.  There were kosher butchers and two synagogues on 2nd Street.

One of Morris's sons, my grandfather Aaron, moved west across the Jordan Creek, to Jordan and Chew Streets.  He operated a butchering business there behind his house, on Jute Street.

By the time my father and his brother opened Allentown Packing on Union Street,  other extended family also operated Feder Meats on Front Street, and Becker Meats on Tilghman Street.

grand opening ad from December 2, 1949

An Old Book Mystery

Readers of this blog know that I have an affinity for both local and family history.  In around 1956  I acquired a very neat book when my father was cleaning out my grandmother's house.  The book sat on a shelf until I cleaned out my parents' house in 1996.  It then sat on a shelf in my house until last week.  It's a travel guide for Germany and Europe,  given out to passengers on the North German Lloyd Lines.

This particular book was signed by the traveler, Eleanor L. Lewis, on August 7th, 1900. She was crossing the Atlantic on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which was the steamer company's newest boat, gone into service at the end of 1897.  Billed as the largest and most elegant steamer afloat, it sailed between Bremen, Germany and New York.

I suspect that Eleanor was a first class passenger who left the book behind on the boat. There was a debutante of the same name in Philadelphia at the time.

I know it wasn't from my grandfather's trip, because that occurred in 1891.  Perhaps a relative of mine found it discarded on the boat, during his steerage passage to America on the return trip. Family lore had my grandfather bringing over numerous family members as he got established in Allentown. Of course none of that generation, or even the next, is still around.

Because of these posts, and my sharing of them on Allentown Chronicles,  people occasionally ask me for help learning about a person or place.

I wish that I had inquired about that book.  There were many years during which my father and uncles could have provided an answer.

The book shown above was the edition given to first class passengers on the New York run.  The book cover from my grandparents'  house looks identical, but says "through Italy and Central Europe" on the cover.

Wildlands' Handmaiden Stymies Good Government

The Wildlands Conservancy has built-in staff in South Whitehall Township.  Foremost of course is Randy Cope.  The Wildlands installed him as park director in 2012, and he has since, through attrition, became Director of Public Works.

On the commission dais they have their handmaiden, Tori Morgan.  Randy and Tori have been responsible for allowing the Wildlands to subvert the wishes of the residents, and conspire against Wehr's Dam.

During the last meeting* Randy pushed for a grant and township funded project concerning the playground in Covered Bridge Park.  Randy of course doesn't seek grants or funds for Wehr's Dam, because he and his Wildlands want it demolished.  When two of the new commissioners questioned the necessity of this playground project, in this time of fiscal uncertainty, Morgan scolded him.

"To put him on the hot seat to make a decision that we as a board make is unfair."

Morgan knew that the new commissioners were somewhat docile when they chose her as president, after being on the commission way too long already.  Now she feels empowered to paper train them.

In reality the new commissioners were doing exactly what they were elected to do, question the administration plans on behalf of the tax payers.

meeting covered for WFMZ by Jeff Ward

photo of Wehr's Dam by Gregg Obst

Depot At Overlook Park

Old timers have noticed that the contractor's building on Hanover Avenue transformed into a community center for Overlook Park. But only the oldest, or train buffs, realized that the building was the freight depot and office for the Lehigh & New England Railroad. Lehigh & New England was formed in 1895, primarily as a coal carrier. The line ran from Allentown to Maybrook, New York.

In 1904 it was acquired by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The line ceased operation in 1961. Among it's infrastructure were impressive bridges across both the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, both of which were dismantled. Ironic that a remnant of our industrial era is being utilized by the successor of a public housing project.

reprinted from February of 2014

Watching Allentown's NIZ District

A recent article about Reilly's coming 520 Lofts building caught my attention.  It will be built on the north side of Linden Street, and require some reconfiguring by both the Allentown Parking Authority and Lanta.  Neither of those two entities wanted to comment to the reporter, until which time the project is approved by the Allentown Planning Commission.  I don't think they need worry about Reilly's plans passing muster. In truth no one, save for this blogger, has ever submitted any his plans to any scrutiny.

That free pass from scrutiny extends to the state, the city, the Morning Call, and even the NIZ board.  The Parking Authority has offered surface lots before for his projects.  Language in the recent article suggests that his residential projects can qualify for NIZ financing, while originally, they were supposed to be ineligible. Although Reilly claims that these apartments are demand driven, his recent Soviet era block on Walnut Street must have been incentive driven. It is devoid of everything, including people. It is the worst of all worlds. This past November the NIZ District map itself was altered.  I suspect that there is a correlation between the map changes and Reilly's acquisitions.

While scrutiny is limited solely to this blog,  I'm never the less reprimanded for it. Apologists label me a naysayer and hater of Allentown.  Public officials,  who are entrusted with monitoring the district, have told me they just know how dedicated Reilly is to Allentown.  I'm also dedicated... I'm dedicated to making sure that no person, organization or institution is beyond scrutiny.

Allentown's Covid-19 Pie

Allentown is preparing to hand out $400,000 of federal money to starve off evictions in the city. With a limit of $3,000 per tenant,  they might end up helping out 135 landlords.  I say landlords instead of tenants, because those tenants will probably be moving out anyway, just a month or two latter.

In trying times, which these certainly are, most landlords will work with good tenants.  However, with bad tenants,  a landlord's mistake in judgement quickly becomes known.  Usually tenants who seek assistance in normal times are bad bets.  I suspect that they will be bad bets now.

So while $400,000 won't be helping that many people, it does raise the question of how this federal  Covid19 aid is being put to use.  While the eviction aid sounds good on paper,  it has me shaking my head.

I can only hope that the other uses of the federal financial aid package make more sense.

Well, apparently they don't.

The other aspect of the $2.1 million dollar Covid aid package to Allentown is $500,000 to small businesses.  Who exactly at City Hall is qualified to decide who gets the grants?  Grants will be for $5,000, meaning 100 lucky businesses.  Supposedly it's first come, first serve.  Often in government that means best connected, best served.

With 400 to some landlords, and 500 to some businesses, that leaves $300,000 of our federal money unaccounted for.  Often in such programs the local government entity can keep an administrative fee.

Addendum: O'Hare's Ramblings reports another local proposal