Tuerk Bloats Mayoral Staff

Last night when approving four new positions for Matthew Tuerk's administration, councilwoman Candida Affa reminded us that new presidents and governors always create new slots for their trusted people. Someone might remind Candida that so far Tuerk is only a mayor. She was Pawlowski's most loyal supporter, and now seems to be kissing Tuerk's ring.

Allentown's new Communications Manager, Genesis Ortega, said previously that the new positions reflect a “fresh start” and “new approach.” So far I see neither.  

Here at molovinsky on allentown, there are no new positions or approaches. We will scrutinize the new administration, as we have always done in the past.

photo: two mayors and a governor wannabe

Zac Cohen And Donald Trump Have A Lot In Common

Zac Cohen and Donald Trump both refuse to accept the results of their respective elections. A Hail Mary federal lawsuit has been filed seemingly on Cohen's behalf after exhausting all legal options in Pennsylvania.  Five bipartisan electors, who didn't remember to date their mail-in ballot, have filed the suit. Cohen clearly is more concerned with his career than justice in Lehigh Valley, which continues without its third new judge.

On a bipartisan note, allow me to say that we can do without any candidate who refuses to accept the results of their election. 

We can do without a president who considers sedition part of the electoral process. We can do without a judge who cannot accept a verdict.

UPDATE: Bernie O'Hare weighs in on the same topic.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 3, 2022:  Bernie O'Hare weighs in on the same topic once again.

Lanta Chronicles

ALLENTOWN CELEBRATES Allentown's latest Dancing in the Street, Octoberfeast, will have multi-cultural attractions. There will be genuine rickshaw rides, pulled by former Asian merchants who were forced out of business by the City Department of Gentrification. After this weeks party for the Brewpub, the rickshaws will operate on a regular basis between Hamilton Street and our new Lanta Transportation Center. Reprinted from Oct. 7, 2007 SILENCE OF THE LANTA Hannibal Lecter has been offered parole on the condition he restrict his diet to Hamilton Street bus riders. Once a month he will be permitted an Asian merchant; on thanksgiving he may have a preselected blogger. Mr. Lector will be micro-chipped and given a new Hamilton Street loft apartment. He will be monitored by the new surveillance cameras. Mayor Pawlowski and Armand Greco will provide more details at a press conference early next week at the new Lanta Terminal. Reprinted from Oct. 20, 2007 ONCE UPON A TIME This image heralds back to once upon a time, when traffic, buses and shoppers on Hamilton Street were desired, much less called congestion. Although Lanta's circulator bus has only attracted 12 riders a day, their new concessions, which do not start until Feb.11, only add stops on 7th and 8th streets to the northwest and south sides. No concessions will be made for the Hanover Ave. and east side passengers. Lanta has clearly put the justification of their new transfer station over the survival of our merchants. I ask you to join me, merchants and bus riders on Tuesday Dec. 11, at 12 noon at the Lanta Headquarters, 1060 Lehigh Street, to let them know their still doing too little, too late. The image is part of a watercolor by Karoline Schaub-Peeler Reprinted from Dec. 6, 2007 MONSTER AS LANDLORD Can anyone explain why the Allentown Parking Authority should be a landlord? It is apparently not to make money, because the rent is far below the cost to construct the square footage. It is not to serve a local neighborhood need or the need of the bus riders, few of them purchase private vineyard wine or natural fiber designer clothes. Here's the answer; because Linda Kauffman, former director of the Allentown Parking Authority, thought it was a good idea. She also wanted stores in the new deck at 4th and Hamilton, but City Council decided not to compete with local investors. So now we have a parking deck which is mostly empty, a Lanta Transfer Station which is putting the Hamilton Street merchants out of business, and a new subsidized yuppie who will fail anyway because she is in the wrong location for her product. Ms. Kauffman retired and moved to the Maryland beach. Reprinted from Dec. 11, 2007 The Parking Authority never did find a tenant, and now is relocating it's office there from 10th and Hamilton, which will become a Police substation- Feb. 20, 2010 As Hannibal would say, this is only a taste of posts concerning Lanta and the Hamilton Street merchants. The full menu may be found in the blog archives between Oct. 2007 and Feb. 2008

above reprinted from February of 2010 

UPDATE February 1, 2022: Needless to say both the private vineyard and the designer clothes knew better than to open shops under the parking deck. What all the above outrages have in common is that the only scrutiny came from this blog, while the Morning Call promoted the nonsense. Over a decade later, and this blogger continues to speak out.

Saturday Afternoon Matinee

Occasionally, some of the older boys in Lehigh Parkway would get saddled with taking me along to a Saturday matinee in downtown Allentown. We would get the bus from in front of the basement church on Jefferson Street. It would take that congregation many years to afford completing the church building there today. The trolley or bus would go across the 8th Street Bridge, which was built to accommodate the trolleys operated by Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Downtown then sported no less than five movie theaters at any one time. Particularly matinee friendly was the Midway, in the 600 Block of Hamilton. Three cartoons and an episode or two of Flash Gordon entertained our entourage, which ranged in age from five to eleven years old. We younger kids, although delighted by the likes of Bugs Bunny, were confused how the Clay People would emerge from the walls in the caves on Mars to capture Captain Gordon, but our chaperones couldn't wait till the next week to learn Flash's fate. Next on the itinerary was usually a banana split at Woolworth's. Hamilton Street had three 5 and 10's, with a million things for boys to marvel at. The price of the sundae was a game of chance, with the customer picking a balloon. Inside the balloon was your price, anywhere from a penny to the full price of fifty cents. The store had a full selection of Allentown souvenirs. Pictures of West Park on a plate, the Center Square Monument on a glass, pennants to hang on your wall, and picture postcards of all the attractions. Hamilton Street was mobbed, and even the side streets were crowded with busy stores. Taking younger kids along was a responsibility for the older brothers, the streets and stores were crowded, but predators were limited to the Clay People on the silver screen.

reprinted from previous years

Anonymous Comments Now Permitted

I have decided to once again allow anonymous comments on the blog. While a commenter can establish a pseudonym, whose identity is unknown to both me and other readers, there remain those more comfortable with the anonymous option. Comment moderation will continue; that is, comments must still be approved for publication. While the blog office opens very early on weekday mornings, it also closes early in the evening. Comments submitted after 6:00pm will not appear until the following morning.

Allentown (Water) Goes Private... Anonymous Comments Now Accepted

Tomorrow morning at 11:00am, Mayor Pawlowski will announce the sale of Allentown's water and sewage departments to a private operator. The sale is being conducted to satisfy the pension obligations incurred by the police and fire contracts. Two well placed sources have provided this blogger with two versions of the announcement. In the first version, the systems have been sold for $150 million. In the second version, the systems will be put out to bid. In this city, it's very possible that both versions are true; It will be formally put out to bid, but he has a predetermined buyer at the 150 price. The buyer would assume control of both the plants and distribution systems, and be responsible for every aspect of operation. A former city worker insures me that the quality of service from the water department will certainly suffer. Blogger Bernie O'Hare contributed to this post.
UPDATE: The Morning Call apparently felt compelled to issue a statement, and posted their announcement of the pending sale two hours after this post.  They quote an unnamed source saying "If this done right, this will solve the pension problems overnight, but we must install proper oversight and control."  Allentown has no experience with doing things right, or with oversight and controls.  We are in trouble.
UPDATING THE UPDATE:  Our local LCA might well be a bidder (or the bidder) for the Allentown systems.  The current project through Cedar Park interconnects the systems, and will expand their capacity to deliver treated water to western Lehigh County. If the Lehigh County Authority is in fact the buyer, the consequence of selling this prime Allentown asset would be tolerable. Allentonians could expect responsible stewardship and reasonable fees.

building the water works in 1928

above reprinted from July of 2012 

UPDATE JANUARY 28, 2022: When the FBI started to scrutinize the Pawlowski administration in 2013, the water and sewage sale was already a done deal. Allentown had a large capacity for both water and sewage because of Lucent's silicon wafer production, which was water intensive. The water/sewer systems were Allentown's golden goose, always profitable, with the promise to remain that way. A decade has passed. The Morning Call's golden boy Ed Pawlowski, always promoted and never scruntized by them, is in the pokey. Allentown is still in financial trouble, but no longer has its profitable water component.