The Mighty Atom

Years ago at the Allentown Fair, as one would push through a sea of carney delusion, tucked back by the 4H animals was an island of reality. There, in an old battered truck, an ancient Jewish strongman performed incredible feats of strength, to sell only homemade kosher soap. Standing on a platform on the rear of his truck, flanked by photographs from his performing youth, he would bent horse shoes and bite through nails. Many years earlier, my mother as a little girl in Bethlehem, saw him pull a truck uphill with his hair. Even as an old man, like a reincarnation of Samson, his grey hair was still long.
In the summers of 1964 and 1965, myself and a friend,(Fred Schoenk, retired Allentown art teacher) made and sold printed tee-shirts at the fair. We had the honor to know Joseph Greenstein(The Mighty Atom) and his wife. For those interested, there are various articles on the Mighty Atom and even at least one book. Enjoy the fair!

reprinted annually since 2007

Fetterman Push Poll

This weekend I had a surplus of patience, and participated in a 20 minute push poll for John Fetterman.  While the poll and interview questions started out somewhat neutral, toward the end each question wanted to know how I felt about some crime against humanity supposedly committed by Mehmet Oz, and if that information lowered my opinion of him.

The script seemed somewhat more sophisticated than the interviewer, who sometimes struggled reading it. While Oz was portrayed as the super-rich carpetbagger, in my limited exposure* Fetterman is outspending him.

In an apparent attempt to camouflage the push, there were a few other questions about other races. I was asked about Shapiro vs. Mastriano, and to rate Biden.

On the other election of local interest, Wild/Scheller, there were no questions. In that race, Wild has been filling up my mailbox with an endless barrage of expensive mailers, complaining about how much money Scheller has to spend.

*my select television stations do not air political ads

Art In The Park

Art In The Park formally refers to an annual art show in West Park. For those of us with gray hair, it also references the monumental sculptures Phil Berman had placed in Cedar Creek Parkway.

For me personally, it is the iconic WPA stonework throughout the park system. For many others, memories of MayFair come to mind. One summer about forty years ago, the late Greg Weaver had one of his sculptures in a pond at the Rose Garden. 

The hand-painted trash can shown above was the trigger for this post. I saw it at the storage barn by the park department office.  Painted by Tonya Romig, it may have graced a former Romper Day celebration in one of the parks. If and when more details become known, I will amend this post.

UPDATE: The can was illustrated by Ms. Romig in 2000, while still in high school. It was done for Mayfair, when that event was still held at Cedar Beach.  She assumed that the can was long gone by now.

Racial Profiling In Allentown

Christopher Fitzgerald, who was acquitted of brandishing a gun at detectives in 2014,  is now suing the county for false arrest.  In an earlier suit which was dismissed,  he also accused the detectives of racial profiling.  Readers may remember that the victim/defendant is the son of the former police chief in Allentown.  The chief was hired after a nationwide search.  The chief's son was then hired by Lehigh County Prison as a guard.  He slammed on his brakes on 7th Street with a car behind him,  and then displayed a gun when the car behind him came alongside.  The car happen to be occupied by detectives, and Fritzgerald was arrested by Whitehall Police in the parking lot of the Lehigh Valley Mall.

In a well covered trial, young Fitzgerald was acquitted of charges stemming from the incident.  He was defended by high power Philadelphia lawyer Jack McMahon,  who would later defend Pawlowski, who had hired Fitzgerald's dad as police chief.

The Fitzgerald's had no problem with racial profiling when the father was hired as police chief.  They had no problem with profiling when junior was given a job at the prison. That only happened when the Hispanic detective in the car behind him got annoyed at him waving a Glock handgun. 

above reprinted from September of 2018

ADDENDUM AUGUST 25, 2022:Since Fitzgerald's* departure, Allentown went through several chiefs, more less depleting its inventory of former homegrown brass in the department. Its current chief, Charles Roca**, is also homegrown, and Hispanic to boot. It is not an easy job, but Roca appears popular, with both the public and administration. 

* Being an experienced minority chief is very marketable in current times, and Fitzgerald was always willing to travel for for bigger and better. He most recently was hired as chief of Denver's large transportation system.

**Allentown now has a young department. It is my hope for Allentown that Roca stays in place long enough to gray on the job, and mentor future brass for the department.

The Mad Men Of Allentown

Back in the day, the titans of Allentown would fill the five barberchairs of the Colonial Barbershop, 538 Hamilton Street. That was when the town had three department stores. That was when Wetherhold and Metzger had two shoe stores on Hamilton Street. That was when Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Livingston Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. By 1995 all that was gone, but Frank Gallucci, 82, would still give some old timers a trim. The Colonial Barbershop property, closed for many years, has been purchased by J.B. Reilly. It is my pleasure to present this previously unseen portrait of Gallucci, toward the end of his career.

photocredit:molovinsky

reprinted since 2013

The (Former) Corruption Of Allentown Pennsylvania

Whether Mayor Edwin Pawlowski is convicted or not, nobody can have any doubt about the corruption this city has experienced over the last decade. Every contract was negotiated not for the taxpayer's sake, but rather the position of the mayor. These distorted criterion infected every department. Those who follow this blog realize that while both local politics and history are my topics of choice, the park system is my passion.

Although the Cedar Beach Pool contract was investigated as corrupt, it was not the only questionable decision made by the park department under Pawlowski. First and foremost,  two new parcels should have never been purchased; This is the land by Basin Street, and the former fertilizer plant land along Martin Luther King Drive. The existing park system has been neglected since Pawlowski was elected in 2005, with the iconic WPA Stone Structures literally crumbling.

If the administration and city council had taken suggestions made on this blog to heart, the entrance wall of Lehigh Parkway would have never collapsed. I do not possess unique insight, but rather the simple understanding that Allentown has a magnificent park system which needs only to be maintained.

blogger surveying  entrance road wall after it collapsed in Lehigh Parkway 

photo courtesy of Michael Adams

above, with title (revision), reprinted from February of 2018 

ADDENDUM AUGUST 28, 2022: This blog and I remain outsiders in the town of our birth. Nobody in either City Hall or The Morning Call wants to be reminded of the corrupt years, or their acquiescence to them. The new administration wants to think that the Pawlowski corruption was ancient history, and that they're a shiny clean new face. The mayor is a clean new face, but there remain remnants of the Pawlowski era in city hall.  

While the paper now occasionally promotes itself as a watchdog, their new young staff has no institutional knowledge of what and who is behind the curtains.

Needless to say I'm invited nowhere, but this blog is monitored by those concerned with revelations of previous and current shenanigans.