Dorney Park 2024

I recently went to Dorney Park for the first time in almost forty years. Although I could recognize a few rides from the past at the bottom of the slope, it certainly was a different experience...and not one for my aesthetics.

I did go on a ride, the old train. When I factor in the cost of parking and admission, the ride cost more than it did last time I was on a real train, not that long ago. The conductor, in addition to providing some history of the train, referred to a widowed swan in the creek. Twice he mentioned that "the swan reminds us that life is short." I don't think that message resonated with too many of the kids on board.

Although Six Flags Entertainment has spent $millions at Dorney on new rides, my other takeaway was the paint on the old rollercoaster, now called Thunderhawk. While not peeling, it wasn't fresh. That dirty, fading paint would have never greeted the guests back in the day when admission was free.

The Conditional Contrition Of Eduard Pawlowski

In Ed Pawlowski's commutation request, he uses the word corrupt only in regard to his campaign manager, not to himself. Rather, he describes himself as naive and too eager to serve the public. 

As someone who started scrutinizing Pawlowski a decade before his conviction, I can tell you that he was anything but naive. On the contrary, he played the public as well as he played those bidding for city contracts. For his last campaign he assembled and empowered sycophants from Allentown's various demographics, to ensure victory in the Democratic primary. He succeeded, and those people are still in positions of power in this city.

These people that he empowered have been tireless in their effort to get him freed. While they view their loyalty as a virtue, they too don't question their own integrity...That is a character flaw they share with Pawlowski. While the campaign to free him may succeed, I'm afraid that there will be no community lesson.

School District Consumed With Racial Identity

Although the ASD has a black superintendent and a school board of color with one exception, they hired a minority company to analyze and conclude that the district is not committed enough to equality and social justice. 

To us laymen it appears that they are consumed with such issues, and the only real question is their commitment to education. While the study wasted $90K, it did once again point out the preoccupation of this school administration with racial identity.

We have to prepare the students for life and employment in an increasingly competitive world.  That should be the district's obsession.

Jessica Lenard Art

Jessica Lenard lived and painted in Allentown in the 1970's and 80's.  Her striking artwork can be described as oozing emotionality and honesty.  Jessica passed away in 2016, making me an accidental curator and art dealer. I feel that I can best serve her legacy by finding as many different homes as possible for her work. I have been spotty in that effort at best.  I have established a Facebook page titled Jessica Lenard Art.  I ask those interested in acquiring a piece to contact me by messenger on my personal Michael Molovinsky facebook page.

For a more comprehensive picture of Lenard's work, view the website she created in 2014.

The Ward's Middle Eastern Delights

In the beginning of the 20th Century, a large Syrian population settled in the 6th Ward, between the Lehigh River and Jordan Creek. While the Ward is mostly no longer the residential home to that demographic, there remain purveyors of their ethnic food.  

While Elias Market at Front and Tilghman is not exclusively Middle Eastern, they carry a large selection of  those foodstuffs. At 2nd and Liberty, Damascus Restaurant has been serving delicious food for decades. Aladdin Restaurant, which also started on 2nd Street, is just across the Tilghman Street Bridge on Union Blvd. Another source of delicious food is the ACI Turkish Restaurant & Market, shown above at 2nd and Linden Streets.

This short post is not inclusive of all available options, but rather some of those in the 6th Ward. Likewise, I have no expertise on the differences between Syrian, Lebanese and Turkish food, but I can strongly recommend all the establishments mentioned above.

Another Storm, Another Old Willow Lost

When Irene stormed through Cedar Park, she knocked down and broke a number of the old willow trees. The sight of these magnificent trees along the creek banks is the view-shed cherished by us proponents of the historical park system. As a boy in 1955, I remember the same damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Diane. Many of the remaining willows are now about 75 years old, and at the end of their life span. Although they held the creek banks together for three generations, they have lost favor to riparian buffers.

It's nice to sit by the bank under a willow tree and watch the ducks swim by. Hopefully, somewhere along the banks of the Little Lehigh and Cedar Creek, there is still some open space for a few new weeping willows.

above reprinted from 2011

UPDATE APRIL 20, 2020:  The last nine years haven't been any kinder to the old willows. The photo above is from the most recent storm.  Although I purchased a willow to be planted in Cedar Park a few years ago, they refused to plant it along the creek edge.  Seems as if that is not permitted by the Wildlands Conservancy, which instead demands riparian buffers.  I put more faith in General Trexler's landscape architect of 1928, who ordered willow trees planted every 25 feet along the creeks.  Their shallow roots spread out and held the banks together for four generations of Allentonians.  They allowed us to enjoy the creeks as envisioned by the General and city fathers of the time. Hopefully, someday, some mayor will again reclaim our park system for the citizens of Allentown.

ADDENDUM OCTOBER 10, 2024:I've been fighting for the willows and the traditional park system for about two decades. Since 2006, one park director after another has come to resent this blog. Although I can't say I made any progress with the mission, I never doubted the value of my endeavor.