The Engines Of Allentown

Fifty years ago Allentown was home to heavy industry, which required private engines to push material and finished product around their plants. Shown above is the engine at Structural Steel, located under the Tilghman Street Bridge. The Mack 5C plant, located at Lehigh and S. 12th Streets, had it's own engine. Traylor Engineering, on S. 10th Street, also had an engine. Although the private engines of Allentown are gone, a train whistle still blows, as Norfolk Southern rolls through South Allentown, on the old main line.

photograph from the Mark Rabenold Collection 

 

above reprinted from October of 2012 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 29, 2024:This blog is well known for taking the NIZ to task, and I have complained about Jaindl doing away with the LVRR Old Main Line through his waterfront portion. So, with my penchant for criticism out of the way, I confess to liking what Jaindl did with the parcel. He built an attractive building, with a nice setting on the river, including some structural homages to its industrial history. Recently a large group of influentials were invited to an opening of the property. They must have accidently misplaced my invitation.

Soft Spots And Easy Marks

My mother was a tough cookie. My grandparents came over from Eastern Europe when she was little, and my grandfather worked at Bethlehem Steel, until a boiler blew up. Although he survived the explosion, he was badly injured, didn't speak much English, and it was the Depression to boot. Both my mother's parents died young, during the 1940's. My mother did have a few soft spots, one of them being that card sent every year by Father Flanagan. You wouldn't want to get in her way when she was headed to the mailbox with her contribution. I suppose the scandal broke in the late 1950's. Apparently,  my mother wasn't the only one with a soft spot for the boy carrying his brother. Turns out Father Flanagan received so many envelopes he couldn't even open them all. He had rooms full of money. Last year, the Allentown Rescue Mission had revenues of $3.5 million dollars. Their Father Flanagan, Gary Millspaugh, is searching for a COO, chief operating officer, to hire. Alan Jennings announced yesterday that Lehigh Valley Community Action will expand their operations into the Slate Belt. Soliciting to our soft spots has become big business.

UPDATE:The Rescue Mission has the city contract to sweep the sidewalk on Hamilton street, and refers to it as their work program. Yesterday, they announced that they would be discontinuing their drug addiction program. So in total, they seem to being doing less with more, and being subsidized by Allentown taxpayers to boot.

above reprinted from October of 2012

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 28, 2024:This post ranks right up there with my pieces which have offended people. Please understand that my mission as a blogger is to cast light on those institutions and practices which usually get a free pass. The free pass phenomenon is especially true for the sacred cows in our community. 

If you see me at the counter in a diner, please give me the time of day, and maybe even a cup of coffee...nobody else will.

Allentown's New Public Housing

The announcement was for two hundred upscale apartments at 7th and Linden Streets in Allentown. If ever there were two phrases that don't go together, it is upscale and 7th and Linden. The apartments are to attract new residents into downtown, not the existing demographic. The existing demographic would be presumedly priced out, at $1,200 monthly rent. It wasn't that many years ago that The Morning Call prohibited property managers from using words such as luxury and executive in their advertising. We were told then that such adjectives were exclusionary, and promoted discrimination. Reilly, now tells us "This is the next piece in transforming downtown Allentown into a place where people really can live, work and play." I suppose that those who currently live, work and play there aren't really people, at least not the upscale kind. I'm not an opponent of gentrification, or what the young urbanists call mixed income neighborhoods. I know that Reilly could rent two of these units immediately. I know that over the course of a year that he could rent twenty such units, but two hundred? Until this Neighborhood Improvement Zone(NIZ) was created for Allentown's transformation, public housing was  taxpayers subsidizing the tenant, it's now taxpayers subsidizing the landlord.

above reprinted from October of 2012 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 27, 2024:Students of this blog know that I have questioned the occupancy rates of the Strata Apartments(my name for all of Reilly's residential buildings). We now have built over 1000 units for Mr. Reilly. Jarrett Coleman's initiative to scrutinize the NIZ data has progressed to the point that a committee was formed in the state house. I believe that with Pat Browne now as Revenue Czar, getting true figures may be like pulling teeth. In my dogged opinion, the mixing of NIZ's commercial only authorization, and his new rental apartments is the biggest offense against the taxpayers. Who scrutinizes what proportion of the buildings are eligible for our tax dollars, the local NIZ board? Who oversees them???

Two Ton Galento

In an era of tough men, Tony "Two Ton" Galento was a standout. Although he would never win a Mr. America contest, his left hook could knock down any man, including the legendary Joe Louis. Tony owned a bar in Orange, New Jersey, didn't train, drank beer and ate large meals before he fought. Between 1928 and 1944 he fought 110 times, knocking out 56 of his opponents.

He met the Baer brothers in back to back fights later in his career, losing both bouts, but not before knocking 6'7'' Buddy Baer down. The famous fight with Louis occurred at Yankee Stadium in June of 1939, before Galente beat Lou Nova in the infamous dirty fight. Tony was king of the world in the third round as Louis lay on the canvas, but he got up at the eight count, and knocked Galante out in the next round. Louis would later say that Tony Galante was one of the toughest men he ever fought.
Galento with press after the Lou Nova fight

reprinted from May 2011

Fans of the Joe Louis era might want to use the archive feature on the sidebar. They will find over 26 boxing posts in December of 2012. In the meanwhile, I hope to present one of those posts every Monday.

Should Allentown City Council Consider Cease-Fire Resolution

Palestinians and other members of the Arab-American communities in Allentown have asked city council to pass a symbolic cease-fire resolution, The loss of life in Gaza has been enormous. This tragedy is a  result of Hamas intentionally embedding their military infrastructure in civilian locations, including schools, Mosques, and hospitals. This strategy of using civilians as shields in Gaza isn't a new development, but in place since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The construction of those military installations and tunnels was done with the full cooperation and knowledge of the population.

The Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 intentionally slaughtered civilians, that was their objective. There was no call for a resolution from the same community at that time. Other groups also want a cease-fire, including many Israelis and Jews. However, it should not be the purview of city council to resolve on international conflicts.

On a less sensitive note, Mayor Tuerk has expanded the flag raisings of different countries, including two excursions. While we respect and appreciate all our diversity, I think that we should resolve to concentrate on improvements in Allentown Pennsylvania.

Love Letter To Allentown

Tuesday evening, at the same time the leadership of Promise Neighborhoods was having an event* at 19th and Allen Streets, across the fairgrounds at 18th and Turner Streets several people were being shot.

Among others in attendance and in denial of reality at the Promise event were mayor Matt Tuerk and Dan Bosket from Community Action, along with other assorted virtue signalers.

Hasshan Batts meanwhile has been organizing a new leadership clinic** against white supremacy, on our  funding no less.

Although Joe Biden thinks that I'm too young at 77, I have relocated into municipal Allentown as a prerequisite for a mayoral run.

*Love Letters To Allentown

**Leadership Without Limits