Save Our History

I have just started an online petition to save the historic Reading Road Bridge. The petition asks Lisa Scheller, Chairwoman of The Lehigh County Commissioners, to authorize repair, not replacement, of the historic stone arch bridge.  I ask readers of this blog to kindly consider signing. Thank you. Please use this link to access the petition.

Allentown's Pesky Citizens

When you're a transformational leader attempting to share your vision with the rest of the state, it's annoying to deal with those little minds concerned with pettiness, such as the air they breathe and the water they drink. Fortunately for Ed Pawlowski, he has Acting Mayor Fran Dougherty and Mayor In Waiting Julio Guridy to handle those peons. As they line up at the podium at city council, one by one the Guridy-Dougherty tag team disposes of the little pests. The air and water midgets will have to take their case to the Supreme Court, which will hear it in 2021. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Ungrateful Bastards Of the West End.

I live at 22nd and Allen. 2 cars totaled, finished basement had to be gutted, boxes of personal treasures thrown out, hot water heater damage, 10,000 in repairs, so far. Sewer drain backed up 2 days later, direct result of the storm drains pushing it up, another 2,000 to jack hammer the floor and replace pipes. Next door neighbor's hot water heater is gas and after sitting in in 3 ft of water, almost blew. We were evacuated by the fire department, clean up is overwhelming, stress is unbelievable, but ..............I am an ungrateful bastard! Mary Shimshea

The city will complete it's survey of the storm sewer problem by 2019, and in the meantime keep two rowboats at the West End Firehouse.  Those who line up at that podium should be content with the opportunity to express themselves.  The notion that a city moving forward at this rate of speed can slow down to correct neighborhood problems is selfish.

Retail Meats, Wholesale Prices

In a previous post about my father's meat market, Allentown Meat Packing, I give a brief history of the business. There were not many retail businesses on lower Union Street, before the Hamilton Street Bridge. The Orange Car was there because of a railroad siding, which could provide fresh fruit from Florida during the winter. Allentown Meat Packing had previously been a slaughterhouse and wholesale meat packer. A former cooler facing Union Street was converted into a store room. The ceiling still had the rails where sides of beef once hung. Although supermarkets were beginning to affect the butcher shops, the independents survived till the mid 1960's. He would place a small ad every week in The Morning Call. His customers came from all over the city, often having to wait 15 minutes as long freight trains crossed Union Street. In addition to meat, he sold some canned goods, lined up on shelves behind the meat cases. The hours were long and the work was hard. Today's supermarkets have once again installed butcher meat cases, in addition to the open self service displays. Those cases are there to make you think that you're in a butcher shop.

2nd and Hamilton

Up to the mid 1960's,  before Allentown started tinkering with urban redevelopment, lower Hamilton Street still teemed with businesses. The City had grown from the river west,  and lower Hamilton Street was a vibrant area.  Two train stations and several rail lines crossed the busy thoroughfare.  Front, Ridge and Second were major streets in the first half of the twentieth century.  My grandparents settled on the 600 block of 2nd Street in 1895, along with other Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania.  As a boy, I worked at my father's meat market on Union Street.  I would have lunch at a diner, just out of view in the photo above.  The diner was across from the A&P,  set back from the people shown on the corner.  A&P featured bags of ground to order 8 O'Clock coffee, the Starbucks of it's day.
please click on photo
photocredit:Ed Miller, 1953
reprinted from September 2012

A Case Of Favoritism

New York Fashion was one of Hamilton Street's most successful merchants. The side by side store fronts in the 700 block were packed floor to ceiling with merchandize. Relocated by the arena to 7th Street, they spared no expense in renovating a distressed property and creating that street's new shopping destination. The new store, large as it is, is also packed to the brim. Space doesn't allow displaying each shirt on hanger, but shirts are neatly stacked by size and color. I showed the proprietor my blog post yesterday about the Archive store's monopoly on uniform vouchers,  and the supposed reasons for it submitted by comment. He could only shake his head and say It's favoritism. Although I will not reveal what they spent on uniform inventory,  it was a substantial investment. They literally have thousands of school shirts in stock, in every size and color. They also have a full inventory of pants, socks, belts, shoes and all items specified by the new school policy. They have serviced customers who couldn't find what they needed at the Urban/Archive store(s). This story gets more unfair. They invited school officials to see their inventory and approve them for vouchers. Although a representative came to the store, they never heard back. It's a case of favoritism.

Ted Kohuth Next Police Chief

The new police chief will be Ted Kohuth. This coming Thursday, October 3, the public can meet the four finalists, but why isn't clear to me. If Pawlowski didn't care for your opinion about the water you drink, or the air you breath, why would he care who you prefer for police chief? Kohuth is well qualified and was a good choice.

Allentown School District Gets F In Business Ethics

Although the students have been responding well to the new uniform dress policy, molovinsky on allentown has learned that the School Administration has been misbehaving. School vouchers for the uniforms, which up to 25% of families have requested, can only be used at one business, New York Urban or it's sister store, Archives, both owned by the same party. Urban/Archives happen to be a City Hall favorite. All other merchants, some even displaced from Hamilton Street by the arena, will not be reimbursed for the vouchers. The unlevel playing field is nothing new to City Hall, but it's sad to see it employed by the School District. One merchant gets to stay on Hamilton Street, receive grants, and now have over 4,000 customers* sent to him, while everyone else has to compete in the free marketplace. Only in Allentown. 

*25% of 17,000+ Allentown school students