As Harrisburg Turns

In his quest last year to make voting easier, Governor Wolf reluctantly agreed to something this state has needed for a very long time,  the elimination of straight party ticket voting.  While the pundits are not in agreement about which party this change will benefit, I know it will benefit informed democracy. 

While Pennsylvania was one of the last states to still host this mindless straight party lever pull, it constituted nearly 40% of the votes cast.  My phrase about lever pull refers to the mechanical machines previously used in Lehigh County for decades. While I miss the reliability and confidence those metal booths provided,  I welcome the end of the all too easy down ballot. 

If this new policy stays in place, perhaps the voters will have to learn more about the local races, which actually effect their lives much more.   

The Morning Call Shuns Molovinsky

Today, the Morning Call began a series of questions and answers with the candidates in the local state representative races, but did not include me.  In the first installment on the 187th District,  it mentions that each candidate received written questions...None were sent to me.

In the 22nd District, I fully expect to see Enid Santiago listed... She is also a write-in,  not on the ballot, no different than my candidacy.

The Morning Call reads this blog everyday, and is fully aware that I'm waging a write-in campaign. I receive numerous notes from the publisher/editor complaining that I misrepresent the newspaper.

Mr. Miorelli, editor/publisher of the Morning Call,  by excluding me you are grossly underserving your subscribers in  Slatington, Walnutport, Northampton and all the other communities in the 183rd District, in both Lehigh and Northampton Counties.  

When the Morning Call excludes articles and letters on certain topics to reflect their political agenda, they compromise their journalistic integrity. When they start excluding certain candidates, they undermine local democracy.

Pennsylvania's State House Problem

Pennsylvania has a problem with their State House officials, they're in office way too long.  In Pennsylvania incumbents tend to stay in office until they decide to retire,  often serving over ten terms or twenty years.  The Morning Call has done an excellent exposé on the war chests that these Representatives For Life have accumulated.  The article, by Ford Turner,  reveals that the representative overseeing the committee on insurance has over $268,000 in campaign funds, donated mostly by the insurance companies that she is supposed to regulate. 

Pennsylvania has the largest state house in the country, with 203 districts.  An incumbent would be hard pressed to actually need more than $10,000 to wage a campaign for reelection. A war chest of over $200,000 would take care of the next 20 years of campaigning.  There are 24 representatives with chests well over $100,000.

While representatives,  especially ones running for the first time, promise reform and term limits, I know of none who actually did what they promised.  If I were to be elected as the write-in candidate for the 183rd district,  I would limit myself to two terms.  The current Republican incumbent is already running for his third term. His Democratic opponent is running for a job and a paycheck. 

Write-in a true independent for the 183rd, vote for true reform, write-in Michael Molovinsky. 

Allentown's Vanishing History

Years ago a reader sent me the above image.  It looks down the hill from 7th and Hamilton, north, toward Linden Street. He had been attempting to locate the old Lafayette Radio store on 7th street, because of a pleasant memory from his childhood. By my day the store had moved onto the southern side of the 700 block of Hamilton Street. History is quickly succumbing to the wreaking ball in Allentown. All the buildings shown above, on the unit block of 7th Street, have been knocked down for the arena and Reilly's Strata complexes.  When Salomon Jewelry departed,  Tucker Yarn remained one of Hamilton Street's last remaining businesses from the glory days.

Phil and Rose Tucker opened their first yarn store on N. 7th St. in 1949. That first store can be seen on the left side of the above photo. The Tucker Yarn Company had been at its current location at 950 Hamilton Street for over 50 years. For knitting enthusiasts the endless inventory was legendary. Phil told me years ago how even in May, traditionally a slow month for the industry, Hess's annual flower show kept Hamilton Street and his store busy. A busy Hamilton Street is a memory now, shared only by a couple of surviving merchants. Although many of Tucker's customers were elderly, the business was much more than a time capsule. His daughter Mae, nationally known in the trade, gave classes and operates a large mail order web site, tuckeryarns.com

Tucker Yarn has closed.  In the near future you will see the building replaced by one more new office building.  This blogger will continue his downtown recons, but I will no longer be sitting in a familiar place with familiar faces.

The above image can be found in Doug Peters' Lehigh Valley Transit

reprinted from November of 2019

Abuse Of Power At The Monument Building

The building had begun its life as the 1st National Bank. The second owner renamed it Corporate Center. The third owner renamed it Monument Building.

One morning in early July of 2008, code enforcement descended upon the Monument Building like a swat team.  Every officer, in every department , entered the building at the same time, and spread out looking for every possible violation. Under the previous owner, the same conditions, with the same tenants, were lauded as a rebirth.

Whatever motivated Pawlowski to pull the plug on the new owner, the tenants were lightweights, of no consequence to him. At that time, myself and few other malcontents, like Lou Hershman, would gather early in the morning for coffee at Jerry's Cafe, located on the first floor.

Jerry's was not one of the upstart businesses blessed with a Pawlowski grant at the time. He had to pay for everything, and everything had been inspected, inside and out. His plans had been approved, his electric and plumbing had been approved,  and his expensive grill and hood system had been approved.  While all the tenants were put out of business that day,  Jerry was also financially ruined. 

During this sorry Pawlowski era, he used the code department as a weapon.  Although Pawlowski is gone, some of that same mentality apparently still lurks with some of the code officers.  I wrote about Pawlowski's tactics back then in 2008, and I will continue to defend those currently victimized by such abuse.

The Monument Building would be torn down years later by J.B. Reilly, and replaced by one of his Corporate Towers.

I photographed the code cars that morning lined up for the raid   

reprinted from previous years

The Slandering Of Louis Hershman

Years ago, in a building that no longer exists,  an assorted group of early risers would meet for coffee.  By 6:30, most of us had arrived at Jerry's for the early morning sessions.  Included in this group of civil critics was Lou Hershman.  Lou's rants were almost exclusively centered on the city budget,  year after year, rant after rant.

What takes me back to that coffee shop is a current post on facebook.  A local Black Lives Matter advocate is supporting a local gays rights advocate, who is offended by the adoration being given Lou Hershman, who passed away last week. She claims that Lou was a bigot against gays.  In all the years and all the conversations that I had with Lou, he never once mentioned gays.  As for the young BLM activist,  I'm sure that he never met Lou, and probably never even heard of him before last week.

Back then, fifteen years ago, when I would drive to the coffee shop at 7th and Hamilton at six in the morning, I would always think about how calm town seemed at that time of day.  I knew that as the day progressed, so would the commotion.  Unfortunately,  the streets are considerably more violent now than they were then.  Allentown would be better off if the young BLM leader concerned himself with making the streets safer.  In fifty years, if he contributes as much as Lou Hershman did to Allentown, let's hope nobody slanders his good deeds.  

photocredit: Bernie O'Hare