Allentown's NAACP Candidate's Night

Last time I was at a NAACP candidate's night, I was a candidate.  Unlike Michael Donovan,  I really was the independent third man on the ticket, not the relabeled second Democrat.  The evening was rather explosive, because the organization's president, Dan Bosket, asked me to prove that I wasn't a racist.  I had said earlier in the campaign that Allentown was becoming a poverty magnet.  That phrase has now become main stream,  even Alan Jennings uses it.  At the time, in 2005,  it was outspoken and controversial.  Ed Pawlowski was there, running for his first term as mayor, against previous Republican mayor Bill Heydt, and this outspoken independent.  Heydt lost and hasn't been heard of since,  but I've never stopped advocating for the Allentown that I believe in.  Pawlowski spent the night pandering. He looked around the room and said that if he was elected, there was a man who would be working at city hall,  there was a woman that he would hire.  I said that I would hire no black people,  nor would I hire any brown or white people.  Afflerbach, the current mayor in 2005, had just given the store away to the police union, and I thought an austerity program was in order. Pawlowski would get elected, and ignore the problem until this year,  then sell off the water we drink.

Flash ahead eight years, and the NAACP had a  candidate's night this week.  Although I didn't attend, I did sit down with Michael Donovan yesterday morning.  Dan Bosket is still the organization's president. Dan works for Alan Jennings in Allentown's growth industry, poverty.  In addition to Pawlowski and Donovan,  unopposed county commissioner David Jones and Julio Guridy were there.  Despite the campaign signs all over Allentown, the four City Council candidates are unopposed. Things don't change much in Allentown, and I'm still an outspoken independent.

The Morning Pawlowski

Although I subscribe to The Morning Call, yesterday they delivered The Morning Pawlowski. Had Pawlowski's campaign manager published the paper, it could not have been more favorable. Playing on the brand name of the hotel, the headline stated that a Renaissance was coming to Allentown. The subtitle was a Pawlowski quote about epic transformation. Anybody looking for balance or reason in the article would come up empty handed. Marriott hypes their Renaissance chain of hotels for guests interested in discovery. What there is to discover near 7th and Linden Streets is beyond me. Will their guests be visiting the 7/11 store of convenient shooting on the corner?

photocredit:Michael Kubel/The Morning Call/October21,2013

Political Science 101

Local professors of political science have been collecting Tom Muller's campaign flyers. They will be used as source material for future courses about negative campaigns. Each successive 8 1/2 X 11 flyer is more negative than it's predecessor. Campaign manager Mike Fleck told the National Enquire, A man's gotta do, what he's gotta do to win. Muller's business experience has been sanitized. Scott Ott's experiences have been marginalized. Ott's comments as a commissioner have been taken out of context. Muller's campaign is being assisted logistically and financially by the Democratic State Committee. Muller keeps telling everybody that his heart isn't into politics, apparently, neither is his conscience.

Wildlands Conservancy Dictates Park Policy

In the picture above, a representative from the Wildlands Conservancy supervises the placement of the broken dam rubble around the bridge piers. Although this placement radically defiled the aesthetics of the classic bridge, no one from the park department or city was  assigned to overseer the project. This spring the new park director will receive an award from the Wildlands for his cooperation in conservation, and the Conservancy will announce the new projects for the park.

The Lost Beauty Of Lehigh Parkway

                                                                         photography by Tami Quigley

This beautiful photograph was taken by Tami Quigley last fall. This classic view of the stone piers, rising out of the Little Lehigh, has been inspiring photographers and artists for over 70 years. I have picture postcards of the same view. The stone piers are now surrounded by the concrete rubble of the former dam. Although the rapids still provide some sound and view, the portion of beauty and magic has been reduced in half. The new park director may have set a record in park degradation. Although only here for a matter of weeks, before even having seen the whole park, he agreed and recommended that the Robin Hood Dam be demolished. Piling it's rubble by the stone piers is salt in the wound of our lost beauty.

photograph by Tami Quigley

The Sad Case Of Our Park's Future

When I appeared in front of Allentown City Council to defend the Robin Hood Dam, I told them something they apparently cannot absorb, the truth. Although the Wildlands Conservancy had a very professional powerpoint presentation, and expert witnesses, facts at the bridge today tell a different story. Wildlands testified that they would be leaving both ends of the existing dam, and only removing the middle. The entire dam has been removed, from end to end. Wildlands told City Council that the dam was built after the bridge, along with the water monitoring station. That news to the USGS, who put their station next to the existing dam. Wildlands dismissed my claim that the change in water velocity could endanger the WPA bridge. In truth, the consulting engineer doesn't know how deep the bridge piers are, and directed the excavator to place the broken dam pieces around the upstream ends of the stone bridge piers, to protect them from the increased water flow. I have a copy of a drawing of the bridge before it was built, Allentown took great pride in it's beauty. I have picture postcards of the bridge, with the stone piers rising out of the creek, as designed. The pile of broken concrete depreciates that beauty, as do the tall weeds growing along the creeks edge. We have a mayor and a new park director from out of town, with no feeling or affinity for our beautiful park system. We are at the mercy of the Wildlands Conservancy and their grant agenda, with a gullible City Council.

Pawlowski's Halloween Tricks

As we approach Halloween, Allentown City Government amuses itself by playing tricks on it's citizens. The mayor played a good one on me, by not mentioning that the dam was being demolished, as we both were commenting on the arena. The city is getting ready to play a much bigger trick, on all it's citizens. Allentonians of memory, of which there are very few who still bother fighting for this town, remember both the incinerator and sewage plant as problems. While the trash incinerator spewed soot over a large portion of the city, the sewage plant emitted unpleasant orders. In a bizarre Halloween type nightmare, Allentown will soon be mixing it's sewage with it's trash, and burning it to produce electricity. It's an experimental process, because only Allentown decided to permit this hideous plant to be built. Citizens of good intent tried to stop this bad dream at City Council, with no success. In desperation, they produced a ballot referendum, only to have it rejected in court, at both the local and state levels. Only because Allentown has a large minority population, and therefore qualifies as an Environmental Justice Area, the state will now hold a hearing on the topic, never mind that the objectors are all white middle class. The meeting is on October 30th. I don't know if the state officials will be wearing Halloween costumes, but I do know that the meeting is just another trick.