Local NAACP Falters

The Morning Call had to alter its headline about Mayor Tuerk and the local NAACP several times.  It evolved from the NAACP accusing Tuerk of racism, to him tolerating it at city hall, to the leadership of the chapter disavowing knowledge of the accusatory letter. 

Chapter president Walt Felton, and VP Dan Bosket, promise to look into both the letter itself and the procedure employed in sending it, apparently done by other board members.

I confess to some hesitation about writing this blog post. However, as a local political blogger, I cannot shy away from thorny issues. Even Tuerk himself, while knowing early that it was less than an authorized letter, set city hall on a discrimination alert. I find the accusation more of an indictment against the local chapter's organizational procedures, rather than being inappropriate behavior by the mayor or administration. In these times the word racism has the ability to cling and falsely accuse. It is a weapon which should never be wielded with such causal abandonment.

King Of The Gypsies

According to my mother, a Gypsy king was buried in Allentown in around 1960, she knew about such things. She was born in Galgo, Hungary, an area of Transylvania, now part of Romania, near present day Gilgau. In Galgo, the Jews and Gypsies lived on the edge of town. In the early 20's, my grandparents, along with their Gypsy neighbors, came to Bethlehem to work at the Steel. On weekends, to make extra money, my grandparents would open their house and show Hungarian movies. None of their relatives, Jew or Gypsy, save one cousin, survived the nazi's; even the cemeteries were desecrated. As you can see from the document above, my grandfather earned his citizenship the hard way.

REPRINTED FROM DEC. 23, 2007

UPDATE: My post above is from 2007. The Morning Call had a story about the Gypsies coming to Allentown. Apparently, a Gypsy prince drowned, and a memorial service was held in Allentown. I suspect my mother had the details correct, and my memory was at fault.

Carry In/Carry Out Doesn't Work For Allentown

The current national park philosophy, adopted by Allentown, is Carry In/Carry Out.  In our environmentally woke time, the belief is that people will take their trash with them, after they guzzled their sports drink.  Allentown accordingly removed most of the trash containers from the parks, instead installing larger capacity containers, which only have to be emptied once a week.  While previously one man and a pickup truck removed the bags, now a dump truck, two men and crane are used to extract the 8ft. long bags from a pit below the containers. 

It all sounds wonderful, until you drive through downtown Allentown any Monday morning...It looks like there was a parade every weekend.  The litter in Allentown is astounding...Many throw their trash down even if there is a container within several feet.  Parents throw down their trash in front of their children.

Rather than less trash containers in our parks, we should have installed more.  There is nothing Allentown  can learn from national park bureaucrats.  Our traditional park system was second to none.

above reprinted from August of 2021

ADDENDUM JUNE 7, 2022: Early on Monday mornings, a park employee fills large containers gathering all the trash tossed down on both sides of Cedar Park over the weekend.  Although the department did add some containers back since the above post was written last year, littering is a reality in the new Allentown. As the department adds new events and recreational features to our parks, this problem will only increase.

ADDENDUM JULY 26, 2023: Mayor Tuerk, in keeping with both your inclusionary and bi-lingual policies, please don't be bashful about Do Not Litter signs in both English and Spanish, No Bote Basura.

Morning Call Wonders

Another person, who we will probably learn was turning his life around, shot at police officers yesterday. The Morning Call wonders why city council is balking at throwing more money at Promise Neighborhoods ... really?? 

Hasshan Batts' Promise organization received more funding from Harrisburg than he ever hoped for. If that wasn't enough, the school system gave him even more.  Credible messengers are now going to be paired up with middle school kids to discourage them from taking the wrong path. Maybe if we had more police officers they could volunteer time to PAL, instead of being needed for overtime.

Allentown is fortunate that there are two former police officers on council.  The time may be fast approaching when council will be more progressive, and buy into defunding the police.

Natural Born Promoter

Hamilton Street was hot and barren on Saturday afternoon. When the elevator opened onto the fifth floor of the BreW Works, I entered the world of cool and hip; It was Alfonso Todd's Fuzion 2012. Hundreds of people mingled, listened to music, and saw what was new in the Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately, when I left, the cool and hip didn't stick with me.

photocredit:molovinsky 

above reprinted from July of 2012

ADDENDUM JULY 24, 2023: Promoter Alfonso Todd has been putting on Fuzion events for over a decade. This year's event occurred this past weekend at Riverside Park in Easton.

A Small Meat Market In Easton

A lot of posts on this blog start out as an extension of my own experience and/or interest in local history.  Some of the posts grow out of my interest in my family's history.  In addition to this blog, about a year ago I started a facebook group named Allentown Chronicles. Although there were several existing groups based on local nostalgia,  I foresaw a group which went beyond who has the best cheesesteaks.   Enforcing the group guidelines has alienated some people,  but I believe others appreciate the intent.

While the facebook group does have some material seemingly lifted from wikipedia,  original pieces have also been submitted. Among my favorites are people's personal snapshots of growing up in Allentown, or the greater Lehigh Valley.  Where I'm headed to is a post about my father's meat market in Easton, unfortunately with no corresponding photograph.

I often tell younger people that they should ask questions of their older relatives, because the answers will not be around forever. My father was a workaholic, who had no interest or time for such questions.  Although I have researched the history of his Allentown meat market, the one in Easton has proven much more difficult.

The market in Allentown was in the front of a larger building,  with the back portion being a former meat packing house.  The Easton shop, called Melbern, was a small market contained in the first floor of a former row house. The name came from my father Melvin, and his brother/partner at the time, Bernard. It was located at 34 S. 4th Street, near Pine Street, which was then a very narrow alley.  On the corner of Pine was John's luncheonette, which also served Chinese food. Next to John's was Melbern.  The buildings were later  demolished to make Pine into a wider street.  Two partners in another meat business,  Drucker and Young, set up the shop for a meat market. However, they were taken to court by another butcher named Brill, who had purchased their former market on Washington Street, with a non-competition clause.  I surmise that they were forced to not open their new market on S. 4th, and sold the operation to my father and uncle.  Drucker and Young also operated for many years in the Nazareth Farmers Market.

I worked at the Easton market on weekends and summers during high school. Needless to say, I never inquired about the store's history, nor did my father ever mention such things.

The photograph above is of the Allentown meat market, taken after it was closed, but prior to being demolished. To my knowledge, no photograph of the Easton market exists.

reprinted from June of 2020