Agenda Journalism At The Morning Call

A month ago, Morning Call editor Mike Miorelli wrote that he wants to start including more women and minority sources in their articles. There was an article on Friday about critics against the State Hospital land deal. Two local hispanic women were quoted on their objections concerning the sale to City Center Real Estate.

One of the critics, Enid Santiago, ran for state representative twice. I followed Enid for both elections. Don't recall her ever mentioning the state hospital in either campaign. The other protester* I had never heard of before, so if there had been any protests by her, they had to be done very softly. However, they did meet Miorelli's new criterion for sources, even if their objections were freshly minted for the story. 

If an article on the land sale sounds familiar, it's because Bernie O'Hare and I covered that topic two weeks ago.  In addition to having to fold in hispanic/minority sources, be assured that the reporter was forbidden from mentioning any bloggers. While Miorelli read the recent thinking on minority sources, he apparently missed the articles on primary and secondary attribution. 

So, it appears that the reporter was told what to write about, who to include, and who not to.

*ADDENDUM: I have been informed by comment that the other protester, Yamelisa Taveras, was a candidate for the 14th state senate district primary.

Great Day For Hasshan Batts

Hasshan Batts, or Dr. Batts as he insists on being called, had a great day yesterday. After being with Mayor Matt Tuerk on the junket to the Dominican Republic, Tuerk told WFMZ 69 that there is a need for investment in violence interruption, aka giving grants to Hasshan. Hasshan is the director of Promise Neighborhood, which supposedly reduces violence by sprinkling magic dust and good vibes on crime scenes. 

Tuerk and Batts are on a honeymoon with the Morning Call. Although the Call covered Tuerk in Washington yesterday, they never mentioned the delegation to the island. When I linked my recent post about the junket on a local facebook group dedicated to Issues in Allentown, his supporters accused me of being a naysayer. That's an allegation I haven't heard since my complaints about Pawlowski, before he was indicted for corruption. 

Although I find no corruption in the Tuerk administration, I do find a lot of delusion. Thinking that Batts and that Promise might do more good than a stronger police department is one of them. If I wasn't becoming so skeptical of the administration, I'd probably have to scrutinize them anyway, because apparently the local press won't do it.

Kids Of The Parkway

There were hundreds of us, we were the baby boomers. The neighborhood was built for returning GI's, and the streets were named after the planes of WW2; Liberator, Catalina, and Coronado. The twin homes were wedged between Jefferson Street and the southern ridge above Lehigh Parkway. Now called Little Lehigh Manor, we knew it simply as Lehigh Parkway, and we had our own school.

Historical Fact:
The original part of the school building contained four classrooms, a teacher's room, and a health room. It replaced the Catalina Avenue School which existed in a home near the present site. Lehigh Parkway received national publicity because it was being build as a result of the new neighborhood. Thus, the "Neighborhood School Concept" was born.








Because of the school and the park, the neighborhood was really self contained. The Lehigh SuperMarket on Lehigh Street was within walking distance. Soon, FoodFair would build their first large Supermarket, also on Lehigh Street, which was even closer. Today it has developed into The Parkway Shopping Center. We kids enjoyed our own Halloween Parade and Easter Egg hunt.






Because there were so many of us, Parkway Elementary only went through 2nd. grade. We would take the bus to Jefferson Elementary for grades 3 through 6.

Historical Fact:
Jefferson Elementary used to be a high school, and for years, it had separate girls' and boys' entrances. These entrances were turned into windows at some point, but the exterior of the building still has the two entrances marked.

These were some of my friends from 3th grade. They all lived in the Parkway. Not only were they all boys, only yesterday, 56 years later, I learned the name of the girl I'm holding hands with in the May Day picture above.

Historical Facts from Allentown School District Website

ADDENDUM: other Parkway Neighborhood Posts,
Time Capsule
Allentown On My Mind

reprinted from January 2010

Allentown Post Office 1934

In the 1930's, the "New Deal" was good to Allentown. As I noted on earlier posts, our park system was enriched by monumental stone construction under the WPA. We also received one of the architectural gems of our area, the magnificent art deco post office. Constructed during 1933-34, no detail was spared in making the lobby an ageless classic. The floor is adorned with handmade Mercer tiles from Doylestown. Muralist Gifford Reynolds Beal worked thru 1939 portraying the Valley's cultural and industrial history. This incredible 74 year old photograph is the contractor's documentation of the project's progress. The back of the photo states; Taken Sept 1 - 34 showing lobby, floor, screens, desks, completed & fixtures hung

UPDATE: I have reinstalled the photograph with a version that will enlarge when clicked.

Reprinted from Jan.15, 2010 

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER 28, 2022: While the NIZ-fueled new construction on Hamilton Street surges ahead, our architectural history continues to be destroyed. There is no more pathetic example of this than the magificant Art Deco post office languishing for sale. The irreplaceable front entrance lanterns on the eastern end of the building have vanished. 

The new NIZ construction continues, because our state tax dollars are used to finance the private owner's mortgage (almost all the new buildings are owned by one man). However, the language and greed of the NIZ concentrates on new construction, not on the older buildings. That iconic post office masterpiece remaining in limbo this long is a stain on Allentown. Any pretense of museums, art, and culture are exposed as hollow jokes, as long as that For Sale sign on the post office remains, and its treasures disappear.

Damn That Molovinsky and His Dams

I failed to save the small WPA dam shown above in Robin Hood. The Robin Hood Bridge and dam were the last WPA projects built in Allentown.  I did, however, learn a lesson, which I used to save Wehr's Dam. 

Last year, the Morning Call did a whitewash story on Wehr's Dam, and even managed to omit my name, though I urged them for six years to write the story.  I never imagined that they would take each culprit's version at face value. 

We almost lost Wehr's Dam in 2014. Abigail Pattishall, from Wildlands Conservancy, told the South Whitehall Commissioners that "Keeping this dam is not an option, It's a hunk of concrete."  The lesson I learned from Robin Hood is that once the Wildlands Conservancy is given a green light, they demolish the dams immediately, so that there's no change of mind or going back. On June 18th, 2014, I prevailed upon South Whitehall to take the issue under advisement. Luckily, publicity from that meeting got the attention of other people, including descendants of the former mill owner Wehr, who had built the dam.

Despite the conspiracy against the dam, it still stands. The culprits even organized a referendum, never expecting it to win, because they tied it to a tax increase. I'm happy to report that every one of them involved with this conspiracy is no longer elected or employed in South Whitehall government. Because of family issues, the Wehrs dropped out of the prolonged battle to save the dam, but I continued at meetings, and here on this blog. 

The Robin Hood Dam did not have such a happy ending. The small ornamental dam was built over boulders which are still in place,  still providing some drama and sound. However, the city allowed the Wildlands Conservancy to deposit the demolished dam debris around the stone bridge piers, spoiling their aesthetics.  

Although I remain a persona non grata with the Morning Call and Allentown government, I will continue to campaign for the removal of the former dam debris around the stone bridge piers.

Photo of Robin Hood Bridge and dam before being despoiled. 

Photo courtesy of the Earl Price Collection

Mayor's Junket To The Island

Over the weekend, a facebook member posted that he was eating at one of our new restaurants, and that dirt bikes keep driving by (probably doing wheelies) and he wondered what the mayor was doing about it?

Actually, the mayor is in the Dominican Republic to understand the place that shapes the culture of thousands of our Allentown residents. The mayor bragged that despite that relationship to the island, he was paying for his own trip himself. That's nice, but how about the other fifteen or twenty people with you?  Who is paying for them? Among them is council president Cynthia Mota and Promise Neighborhood crime entrepreneur Hasshan Batts. Also on the trip is Genesis Ortega, city communication manager. In my forty years of scrutinizing city government, I cannot recall such a junket.

Mayor Tuerk, to even think that the taxpayers should be paying for your trip is mind-boggling. Frankly, the Dominicans, and anyone else here, should be learning more about our culture, we do have one you know.  But, more important than these cultural fine points, let's get back to the dirt bike issue.  Let's get back to quality of life issues here in Allentown. 

On Friday, before I learned of this island visit, I messaged the mayor and city council, asking them to consider more budgeting for the WPA structures.  Maybe I'd be more successful with that request, if I'd keep my mouth shut about this trip and other realities here in Allentown....  But that's not my way.

Enjoy your vacation, delegation or whatever you call it, but remember, you were elected mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

ADDENDUM 1:00PM: I have been informed that everybody on the trip is paying their own way.  The larger issue remains...what are they going to learn there, that justifies their absence from problems here in Allentown? 

ADDENDUM 1:30PM: The Tuerk administration states that Genesis Ortega (Communications Manager) is not on the trip.