Pennsylvania as Pig

A report yesterday in The Morning Call said thousands of gallons of drilling fluid used in hydraulic fracturing were spilling into the Towanda Creek. A disaster team was brought to the site from Texas. At the time of publication on wednesday, in The Times-Tribune (Scranton), the well blowout was continuing for over twelve hours. How many actual gallons of the carcinogenic witch brew actually contaminated the land and waterway will probably never be known. The well is operated by Chesapeake Energy Corp., which is one of the biggest and best equipped operators in fracking. The report said nobody was injured. That referred to immediate injury from the blowout. How many will suffer ill effects from contaminated water will be determined by future doctors, now still in elementary school. Gotta love Pennsylvania. We are the state with one of the biggest state houses. Our legislators have the largest staffs. Our governors, term after term, Democrat or Republican, appoint their minions to turnpike, bridge and other no-show commissions. I remember when in the late 70's, the lottery was the solution to keeping Pennsylvania's pig trough financed. Now we have added casino's and sacrificed our environment with hydraulic fracking. Reform is a barge, which floats by on Pennsylvania's contaminated river called Denial, every four years.

An Allentown Tradition

This photo, circa 1948, shows a Lehigh Valley Transit sweeper trolley passing Zandy's first steak shop, on the corner of Hall and St. John's Street. Also visible in the photo is their current location (upper left hand corner, please click to enlarge photo), in the former Park Movie Theater. After the Park, and before Zandy's, it was a textile dye factory. These two blocks served as a business district at the southern end of the Eighth Street Bridge. Zandy's started in 1940, and today the third generation carries on the business.

Mike Miorelli Fails to Credit Molovinsky

When I saw Joyce Marin's picture on the front page of The Morning Call yesterday, I was proud that molovinsky on allentown was able to bring the story to the attention of the public and media. The photo caption mentioned subsequent criticism of the hiring. That criticism occurred on my blog for the five days before Steve Esack printed his report. In those five days my blog story and comments grew to include an explanation by board member Zimmerman and a note from Superintendent Zahorchak. I didn't know if Esack's report would credit me as Michael Molovinsky, or molovinsky on allentown. I was shocked to instead find a local internet blogger. When I called Esack yesterday, he was genuinely embarrassed. He had written molovinsky on allentown in his story. It is journalism 101 to acknowledge who broke a story, when you write a subsequent piece based on it. This was not the first time a reporter has apologized to me for my name being deleted from his article. It was time to confront Miorelli. Although reporters have come and gone, Mike Miorelli has been metro editor of The Morning Call since 2001. Miorelli claimed that the reporter verified everything himself, including his own subsequent conversation with Dave Zimmerman, and didn't lift anything directly from my blog. That's true Mike, the only things that the newspaper got from this blog is the knowledge that Marin was hired, school directors were snookered, and that the public was upset.

UPDATE: Bill White, Morning Call columnist and journalism instructor at Lehigh, defends Mike Miorelli's position in the comment section of his blog. White invites bloggers to be guest instructors at his class, and his students to start a blog. I suppose he trains the student bloggers to be anonymous local internet bloggers to feed story ideas for the real writers at the Call.

Hailstorm at City Hall

Sara Hailstone, Allentown's Director of Community Development, was expecting to meet with several business owners concerned about being relocated by the hockey arena. Instead, she was confronted by a conference room full of merchants and several of their representatives. She started the meeting by questioning the presence of the Morning Call reporter, Matt Assad. Several merchants said they requested his presence. Hailstone got an earful from merchant after merchant, complaining of everything from poor communication by the city, to alleged outright intimidation by the strawbuyer, Summit Reality. She conceded that the City is the undisclosed buyer, and agreed to proceed with more respect for the merchants. I'll leave more details of the meeting to Assad's coverage, presumedly tomorrow. I'd like to mention an irony that only an old timer, like myself, can appreciate. Over the years we have invested untold $millions on Hamilton Street. We put up the canopies, we took them down. We have reconfigured the parking spaces endless times. We have created a Parking Authority that charges meter rates as if we were a destination. We burdened the merchants with endless regulations concerning their signs and their security gates. At the end of all this, what we essentially have, are those that were in the room today. Save for them, we would have no downtown. We have rewarded their lifetime of work, loyalty and investment with deceit and threats.

UPDATE: Matt Assad's article in today's paper pretty much tells the story of the meeting, but softens the tone present. Assad must maintain some working relationship with Hailstone, I do not. The merchants were very annoyed by tactics utilized by the city agent. A Korean daughter spoke of the pressure inserted on her father, and the effect on his blood pressure and health. A hispanic woman told of her 11 year old sister being harassed on the phone by the strawbuyer. She even wondered aloud if their minority status encouraged the disrespectful attitude. As the merchants revealed their resentment, Hailstone's body language and replies stiffened. Sam Hong, of New York Fashion, would like the Mayor to visit his store. Although two stores wide, and a major merchandizer on Hamilton Street, Pawlowski has never visited. Considering that he has been Mayor for 5.5 years, and Community Development Director for 3 years before that, perhaps he's not coming.

Late, and Maybe Wrong

Today, The Morning Call caught up with molovinsky on allentown about the hockey arena offers. In addition to being late, they may be wrong. They quote Ed Pawlowski as saying "We're not hiding anything." He says that the AEDC is openly trying to buy the properties. I interviewed two of the property owners mentioned in the article this past weekend. Both indicated that the buyer was not revealed, and that Summit Reality was acting as an agent for an undisclosed buyer. I did not review the offers to purchase myself. Also today, The Morning Call caught up with my Joyce Marin scoop. Although molovinsky on allentown is not credited in either story, the Marin story refers to a local internet blog.

Involuntary Conversion

In real estate, an involuntary conversion is when your property is taken by no plan of your own. The merchants of Hamilton Street are facing an involuntary conversion.

molovinsky on allentown has learned that the city is buying up the square block between 7th and 8th, Hamilton and Linden Streets, for the hockey arena. The subsidized Farr building, a Pawlowski pet project, will be spared. Although offers they can't refuse are based on the fair market value of the real estate, their livelihood and right of free choice are being violated. These businesses are not only their income, but security for their family's future. Many years ago, the city zoning made me close a photo studio in the area of Raub School. I was told that if I wanted to be insured the right to operate, I should have located in the business district. There once was a covenant between Allentown and merchants. If the merchants invested their time and money, the city would provide a district which secured their investment. Several years ago the merchants were upset that the bus transfer stops were removed; Little did they realize that they would be next. If the Pawlowski Arena for Sports and Culture doesn't work out, we will have lost the business district for naught.
UPDATE: Apparently, some of these offers were made as an option to buy, with an undisclosed buyer. A local prominent realtor, is acting as a straw buyer , for either a speculator or the city. Threats of eventual eminent domain. with a lower price, have supposedly been made to encourage signatures.

Caution, unconfirmed rumor

This blog has received a tip that our favorite school superintendent, has hired our favorite past community director, Joyce Marin. I have not been able to confirm this information, hopefully a whoops, my mistake will be needed.
UPDATE:
I have confirmed that indeed Marin was hired as a grant specialist. I've been told that the hiring was at Pawlowski's request. This will not be music to the ears of many laid off teachers and aides. I know of no accomplishments by Marin as community development director.

UPDATE: Marin is the Administrative Center Community Before/After School Activities Project Manager effective 4/4/11. The stated salary is $84,000 / Yr. This is a new position.
UPDATE: Email exchange
dr. zahorchak, it has come to my attention that you hired joyce marin as a grant writer. would you please explain why nobody in house could not perform this function and how an additional administrative position can be justified with so many teacher layoffs pending. sincerely michael molovinsky

Mr. Molovinsky, I read your question regarding Joyce Marian. There appears to be confusion probably due to the fact that the position is grant funded. The position is funded out of the Safe Schools Healthy Students grant. The position promotes and only focuses on before and after school activities as many of our therapeutic support services are covered outside of classroom hours – mentoring, arts enrichment, life skills support, and family activities. Her position will help dozens of agencies and friends of the district align their work and use our buildings as they support our children. Gerald Zahorchak