Blue Light Special From Lehigh County

I suspect that even from Harrisburg, Josh Shapiro can see the blue beams projected into the sky from Allentown. Those beams come from both City Hall and the Lehigh County building. 

Last week County Commissioner Jon Irons pitched totally blue Allentown City Council on becoming a Welcoming City. The mostly blue county is contributing $650k to the affordable housing project on Walnut Street. When all said and done from various levels of government, that feel-good will cost the taxpayers over $20mil.  

The county does have a moral obligation to make sure that the  historic Cedarbrook remain in good operation. Started over a  hundred years ago as the county poor home, it evolved into a nursing home for low income seniors. A decade ago, Cedarbrook's future was in doubt... County nursing homes became unfashionable. Fortunately, both Lehigh and Northampton continue to meet that commitment.

Outside of the city boundaries, local Republicans were encouraged by a few wins, likely helped with Trump's coattails. The midterms in 2026 will be competitive and expensive.

Pawlowski Supporters Hard Of Hearing

T J Rooney, former long time Harrisburg incumbent, is now a lobbyist who tried to get a Pawlowski commutation onto Biden's desk. Alan Jennings, former patron saint of poverty, has championed for Ed Pawlowski since they led the former mayor out of the courthouse. Jennings bent a lot of arms as head of Community Action Committee of Lehigh Valley, and even sent at least one person to jail himself.

Now that the Joe Biden pardon window has closed, Rooney will look for some influence with the Trump administration. I have recounted to Jennings, and other Pawlowski disciples, some of the mistreatment Pawlowski inflicted on various people. As a blogger willing to take the Pawlowski administration to task, some of those he injured came to me with their tales of woe. Pawlowski assaulted most of them with the code department. When I conveyed some of the stories to Pawlowski's disciples, they fell on deaf ears.

What most of them have in common is that they benefitted from Pawlowski, especially when he cobbled together his last election while already indicted.

Tuerk's Missed Opportunity

Tuerk states that he is Allentown's first Hispanic/Latino mayor. He makes this claim because his grandmother was Cuban, and he hopes that the Allentown Spanish speaking community buys it. Although he is fluent in Spanish, some Puerto Ricans I know don't buy his contention. But this post is about something else...

Tuerk missed the opportunity to promote Allentown to arguably one the most influential Cuban-Americans in our country, Marco Rubio. When Rubio came to the Allentown Trump rally, he was a Senator. He now is Secretary Of State. When Rubio was taking Spanish in the Allentown Arena, Tuerk was protesting at 7th and Linden. 

It would have been nice if Tuerk, as mayor, decided on October 29th to represent Allentown, instead of the protesters. He could send Marco a congratulatory note from Allentown, but now Tuerk's name won't ring a bell with Rubio.

shown above Marco Rubio in Allentown's PPL Arena with young supporter

The Little Bridge That Could

When I was a boy growing up on the south side, going to the doctor near the current YMCA, meant going over Schreiber's Bridge. Being built in 1828, the bridge even back then was over a hundred years old. When the 15th Street (Ward Street) Bridge opened in 1954, who would imagine that it would come and go, while the stone arch bridge continued providing passage over the creek. The Little Bridge That Could took quite a beating during the last couple of years, while constructing the new 15th Street Bridge. Trucks smashed the northern entrance walls no less than three times, turning on to Martin Luther King Drive. Although it is understandable that the City will wait until this Spring to repair the walls, there exists a more urgent matter. From the extensive use caused by the detour, and this harsh winter, the roadbed is badly cracked over the bridge's arch. These openings allow water to enter and seep down into the stone arch. Perhaps the city administration could give the historic bridge some special attention yet this winter, it certainly has earned some consideration.

reprinted from February of 2014

DEI On Steroids In Allentown

On Friday, in the shadow of the noose incident the previous Friday, Allentown held workshops for its employees... but two workshops, one for whites and another for people of color.

Kumari Ghafoor-Davis, the city's new People and Culture Specialist, previously the Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, explained that the separation was so that the people of color felt more comfortable expressing themselves.  How such dual meetings promote racial harmony isn't clear to me, but then again, I'm not a People Specialist. I received a copy of the workshop notice Friday morning from someone who thought that it ironically fostered separation. By Friday afternoon, WFMZ also picked up the story.

If my low-key, write-in campaign for mayor* is successful, Allentown will be going back to just an HR director. The public is currently invited to various workshops, so that they might  determine what the policy should be in parks and other city departments. In my Allentown, the public would be encouraged to follow long established policies. The Tuerk administration is obsessed with DEI, to the point where they even removed safety gates in the parks, because they might symbolize that the city wasn't welcoming. While such inclusion contortions may have political dividends, they do not make the city any safer, better nor improve quality of life for the residents.

The flooded car shown above belonged to an elderly couple who decided to take a long stroll in the rain. Unfortunately, the creek rose faster than their return walk, but at least they didn't feel unwelcome.

*molovinsky for mayor is not a political campaign, rather a manual for a better Allentown. In the upcoming primary, I support Ed Zucal for mayor.

Catch 22 On Allentown's Route 22

It may be Matt Tuerk's first foray into politics, but apparently there's experience in the backroom dugout. Take for instance the double talk on the discrimination issue. Scott Curtis, former head of Allentown's FBI during the Pawlowski Show, couldn't comply with the city's RFP, because he is an investigator, and the forms were for law firms. 

Move ahead to the noose incident last Friday, and we learn that the Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris will be hired, but they are not required to comply with the RFP requirement that Curtis wasn't qualified to submit. If you find that confusing, the current Allentown FBI will be investigating the noose incident.

Shown above is 8th and Hamilton in 1953.  Allentown is like a box of assorted chocolates from Loft Candy. You never know which ordinance applies.