Hamilton Street's Golden Era

By the early 1950's, our major department stores were operated by the second generation owners. Max Hess Jr. become a merchandizer of national reputation. His store windows presented displays as sophisticated as any major city. One holiday novelty exists to this day, Pip The Mouse, and can be seen at Zion Church. The fourth floor toy department had eye popping, life sized, automated stuffed animals from Germany. Needless to say, Santa Claus was on duty at Hess's.

Families had their favorite department store. While my mother patronized Hess's, others were loyal to Leh's and Zollingers. Although I'm sure that their Christmas displays were also top notch, I have no personal memories. While we now charge citizens to drive through a park with lights, downtowns used to compete with attractive displays. Allentown was famous for the Bell Lights on our iconic light posts, which would rock back and forth, as if ringing. Although times have changed, this blog will remind those few who remember.

reprinted from December of 2012

Humiliation vs. Diplomacy

Trump's problem with the Trump War with Iran is that ending it takes at least grade school diplomacy, not schoolyard bullying. Threats to bomb them back into the Stone Age, or destroy their civilization, only appeal to the pickup truck MAGA and Republican partisans too afraid to speak out. Apparently diplomatically, the best Trump can do is threaten to destroy their bridges and power plants.

Everyone in the world knows that he is unfit for the mess he got us into, except the Ryan Mackenzies, hoping that only the MAGA remnants show up in November. He(they) are wrong about that. On the contrary, Johnny pickup with the flag will stay home, and the rest of the country will be out in force.

Post Trump there will be two problems, among others. One will be for Republicans, and another for Israel... both will suffer consequences. For Israel, the Trump MAGA will be gone, and traditional Democratic support has been challenged by Netanyuhu's aggression.  For Republicans, Trump's ballroom alone will piss people off for a decade.

Tenderizing Mackenzie

Although I'm registered independent, and although the Democrats are a month away from even choosing their candidate, the anti-Mackenzie mailing are increasing in both frequency and size. As someone long offended by the volume of such mailings, the size increase is another irritant.. Are they thought to be more noticeable in the short trip from mailbox to garbage pail?

The current batch are 8.5"x13", and printed in both English and Spanish. Once the Democrats pick their candidate, it will take a forest to provide paper for the cards mailed up to November's election.

Our 7th District is believed to be one of the most competitive in the country for the coming midterms...Competitive meaning expensive. I think that the votes swayed by the money spent are very few. Divide that money by those few swayed votes, and you have an enormous misappropriation of resources.

Canal Park Intervention Needed

Students of this blog know that I have been a long time critic of the park department's disregard of the infrastructure within the parks. While most of my criticism has been in regard to the WPA structures, they are just part of an overall pattern of neglect.

Recently, I was distressed about the replacement of the wooden pavilions in Cedar Park with wall-less metal sheds. Worse for my mental health, in between that decision and its implementation, they allowed the paint to peel away and the wood to rot for a decade.

As poor of a decision as that was, it pales in comparison to what's happening in Canal Park. In Canal, the incredible unique buttress wood supports are beyond peeling, into rotting. While the pavilions in Cedar Park were charming, the pavilion in Canal is irreplaceable. Although it is a shame, actually a crime, that it got to this point, there is a solution. Wood epoxy is available, which can be filled into the rotten crevices, preventing further decay. The uniqueness of this structure justifies such a restoration.

12th Street Church Of the Four Corners

As you approach 12th and Hamilton, although much money was spent on the Arc of Reilly, the corner is dominated by homemade tinfoil signs. The signs are religious in nature, and quite prevalent...They are what grabs your eye, not Reilly's arch.

Although I remain an outlander, I do occasionally communicate with the establishment. While the city is not happy about the display, it is like pesky bloggers protected by law. I also had a short chat with the pastor, who is steadfast about his mission.

Although much of my blog audience is distressed about my recent concentration on national issues, I do still patrol Allentown. Understand that as this blog approaches its 19th year, and I approach my cankerous 8th decade, I offer no apologies in regard to my blog topics.

The Arc de Trump

Trump's proposed arch is another example of mixing his pathological ego with bad taste. The arch at 250 feet tall would dwarf other structures in Washington, and have assorted gold gilded stuff on top. One hoped that destroying the East Wing with a giant replacement would have been enough for him, but with him it's never enough.

Trump has a model on his desk and said "... And this one is going to blow them all away. The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And we're going to top it by I think a lot."

I noticed Republican partisans circling the wagons and referring to the Nixon era mad man theory. They might want to remember that things didn't end well for Nixon, nor did the next election for the Republicans.