Art Museum, Another Sad Relocation

The Art Museum move to the NW corner of 10th & Linden is about as cultureless as it gets. In addition to having no history there, it will be separated from both Baum Art School and the art park. It will most likely be another architectural monstrosity. 

If the move was to the post office, an art deco masterpiece, it would have some merit, but 10th & Linden is tasteless.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the Allentown Art Museum as a vibrant cultural hub,” Max Weintraub, the museum’s president and CEO said in the release. “By relocating to 10th and Hamilton, we are not only expanding access to the arts but also contributing to the revitalization of downtown Allentown and creating a legacy for future generations.” City and state officials lauded the museum’s plans to relocate, which will bring the museum to an up-and-coming Allentown neighborhood that developer City Center Group has dubbed Downtown West. The Da Vinci Science Center and Archer Music Hall recently opened in the same area.

The above press release and snippet from the Morning Call, inadvertently reveals Allentown's reality. We learn that Reilly's 10th & Hamilton is up and coming, who the real piper is, and who is following him.  I suppose another charter school will take over the former art museum on 5th Street.

shown above is the magnificent post office, left to languish by our cultural elite.

Political Manna For Printing Industry

Earlier in the week, the Morning Call had a story about campaign contributions already flowing to Ryan Mackenzie.  The Mackenzie-Wild race in 2024 cost $38 Million. Considering that we have one newspaper and one television station, most of that was spent, or wasted, on oversize postcards. If you weren't offended and annoyed by the endless stuffing of your mailbox, you should be nominated for sainthood. 

I have serious doubts about how many votes those endless cards actually swayed, I believe very few. If you divide the few who were swayed by the cost of the election, that per vote cost was astronomical. I find it so wasteful, I will not contribute to the candidates that I do support.

On my last post about Trump, the comments said "give him time, you'll see and it's worth the short term pain." Come 2026, I believe Mackenzie will be facing a headwind of voter discontent about the Trump administration. I suspect by then he won't be touting the company line. Trump and the Republican victory, along with the coattails, were by a very large part from the independents like myself, sitting out the election. For Mackenzie to get my vote in 2026, he'll have to cut bait with Trump, and much sooner than the mid-terms.

Plywood Coming To Allentown

I don't see myself as an expert in real estate. Generally, I have alway bought high and sold low. However, I have lived through several real estate cycles, and see the current market not boding well long term in center city. When a row house in an alley sells for $200,000, I see trouble coming. Unless the new homeowner is a dedicated urban pioneer with deep pockets, those payments will soon become a bitter commitment. Walking away might be the easiest choice for the newly disillusioned, and the mortgage company will order plywood for the doors and windows.

If the property was purchased as an investment, that $2000 plus rent will have to be collected month in and month out, or plywood will be coming. However, $200K currently floats in the city, with astronomical  $500k and $600K in the suburbs. The astronomical prices are being driven by an incredibly short supply. When the supply and choice increase, the frenzy prices will subside...Then reality will return to center city real estate.

In a couple years there may be a glut of available houses for those advocates for affordable housing. If my dire prediction comes true, blight will be the next buzz word.

When Alleys Aren't Alleys

The most intractable issue in the Allentown Parking Authority controversy is alley parking. Although the Authority itself offered a compromise on that issue, at least two members of council, Candida Affa and Daryl Hendricks, won't budge. They see the topic as a slippy slope. They find the 12 ft. proposal too unenforceable... one person may perceive the width as 11ft., and another 13ft.

As a lifelong resident, I know that all alleys are not created equal.  An alley in center city with houses actually fronting on it is a very different animal than the alleys farther west. 

Past 17th Street, there are no houses in the alleys. Past Ott Street, there's not even many garages in the alleys.  In the deep west end, many former alleys no longer exist.  While the city accommodated some owners by vacating certain ones, others were just appropriated. People put private driveway signs and gates up...others were absorbed into lawns.

Leaving the alley ordinance as is leaves the issue up to the discretion of the parking authority. That discretion, or lack thereof, is what brought this current controversy to the front burner in the first place.

Show above was a "private" alley with gate. Before the gate, it was a public alley.  Farther downtown the same alley has a street name and even houses. The gate has since been removed, and it's now a garage driveway.

above reprinted for May 1, 2023

ADDENDUM APRIL 22, 2025: What recycled this post today isn't the alley issue, rather the affirmation of Allentown's west end. It is my policy not to dox people or their property, so please mention neither in any comments, I won't print them. 

Real Estate prices in Allentown are going through the roof everywhere, even in downtown alleys. That phenomenon is a topic for another post, but this one concerns construction and additions in the west end. The large lots in the deep west end were suitable for sub-division and additions, and numerous owners have done so in the last few years. I see this expensive new construction as an affirmation of that section of the city.

No Egg Hunt

For the first time in over 60 years, the children of Little Lehigh Manor will not be enjoying an egg hunt on the same slope of Lehigh Parkway. The event was started in the late 1940's by the homeowner's association, then taken over by the local chapter of the Optimist International in 1960. That chapter now has been reduced by the years to three men, all in their eighties, and one of them now lives in Florida. Ever the optimist, Dave Jordan put up the sign above, hoping to create some interest for next year. So far, he has received only two calls, one from an older Jewish blogger, who hunted for eggs there as a child, growing up in that wonderful neighborhood. If you have an interest in volunteering to take over the event, please phone Dave at 610 XXX-XXXX

reprinted from April of 2012

ADDENDUM APRIL 21, 2025: I do not know if an egg hunt ever was restored to the Parkway neighborhood, but otherwise, the hunts are alive and well in Allentown. Last Saturday there were hunts in Midway Manor and Mountainville. This Saturday, there were hunts in Percy Ruhe, Jordan and Bucky Boyle Parks. Over the weekend there were also smaller hunts,  among them, one organized by the Ortiz Foundation in Stevens Park, and another by a book club in Cedar Park.

When Mack Was Allentown

I grew up around the corner from Mack's famous 5C plant, on the corner of Lehigh and S. 12th Streets. In the early 1950's, the brightly colored truck tractors would cover the lot next to the old assembly plant. All day long, a new tractor would leave for delivery somewhere, with two more piggy back on the coupling hitches. Over the years I have written a lot of posts about Mack, especially how their workers would use the Fountain Park WPA steps, walking to their jobs on S. 10th Street. Mack made all their own truck parts there, except the tires. Built Like A Mack Truck, was a result of the local craftsmanship.

In Saturday's Morning Call article about Mack investing in the Macungie plant, the vice president is quoted as saying that Mack was here to stay. By Saturday evening, that vice president was no longer with the company, according to WFMZ. I remember when the larger share of production was moved to South Carolina in 1987. Shortly before that plant closed in 2002, they handed out sunglasses to symbolize their bright future there. I remember when the World Headquarters on Mack Boulevard moved to North Carolina. I don't know about Mack's long term future in the valley, but I do know that the ties that bind have long since been broken.

Jack Mack, one of Mack Truck's founding brothers, was killed in an auto accident in 1924. He is buried in Fairview Cemetery on Lehigh Street.

above reprinted from 2016 

ADDENDUM APRIL 18, 2025: Mack has announced an upcoming layoff of about 300 workers, citing the tariffs and uncertainly about demand. Local Democratic elected officials, Josh Siegel and Nick Miller, have wasted no time blaming Trump's half hazard approach to tariffs. Mack union officials are also joining the chorus, not against tariffs per se, but the way the administration has implemented them. While local Republicans have not yet commented, they know that Trump's coattails are already turning into a liability. How did this fall from grace happen so quickly? Trump's appointments have been the worse in my memory, and he's a man who certainly needed good advice.