When Kahane Came to Allentown

He told the Jews gathered in Allentown that their leaders were worms, that's how the controversial rabbi spoke. When Meir Kahane came to town in the summer of 1990, none of the Jewish institutions would give him space to speak. Before emigrating to Israel, he had formed the Jewish Defense League in NYC in 1968. He lectured that turning the other cheek was a Christian concept, and that the minimum take away from the Holocaust was that American Jews should own a gun, and know how to use it. His views in Israel about nationalism on the West Bank were much more controversial, and he was jailed there for incitement. As of yesterday, the authorities in Kansas City were not prepared to call the shootings there a hate crime. Kahane would have no doubts about that. His speech in Allentown was one of his last. He was assassinated later that year during a speech in NYC.

Passover Libel

German Nobel Literature Laureate and former SS officer Gunter Grass, has been banned from Israel, not that he wants to go there anyway. In a new poem published last week , he wrote "the nuclear power Israel is endangering an already fragile world peace." Israel and world Jewry no longer suffer this sort of distortion well. "The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz." The sentence is attributed to Israeli psychoanalyst Zvi Rex. He believes that Germans are filled with pathological guilt and shame about the Holocaust, and turn Israel " into a punching bag to purge their guilt complexes. " Grass believes that Israel is a threat to Iran, and Germany could be a “supplier to a crime” in connection with it's decision to supply Israel with a sixth Super Dolphin-class submarine. Emmanuel Nahshon, deputy chief of mission for the Israeli Embassy in Germany, said, “what must be said is that it belongs to the European tradition to accuse the Jews of ritual murder before the Passover celebration.”

reprinted from April 2012

UPDATE: Yesterday's Kansas City attack against Jewish institutions show how much anti-semitism is alive and kicking in United States. While Israel's enemies are known and confronted by a strong national defense, American Jews will depend upon municipal police forces for protection. Although the municipalities will cooperate for the next several weeks, American Jewish liberal attitudes toward gun control will contribute to their vulnerability.

Pawlowski's CaddyShack

Spinning as hard as they could, neither Pawlowski or city spokesman Mike Moore could make the golf course restaurant debacle sound credible. Emily Opilo, The Morning Call reporter, clearly pointed out that Pawlowski's recent chosen tenant, the Noti family, had either paid late, or not at all. Pawlowski had chased out a good paying tenant, the Fegley Brewpub,  to supposedly  increase the annual rent by 10k. He will now ask 10k less than even the Fegley's were paying, for a third tenant in three years. Truth is, he has used that golf course restaurant as a political plum and football since taking office. In 2009, he gave a responsible tenant the boot to accommodate the Fegleys. Although they did a excellent job, in time they too lost favor with the mayor-for-life, and got the boot. Right now you can get a hot dog and a pretzel stick from a temporary vendor.

When 6th Street Was West Allentown

In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open till about ten years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008

Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

reprinted and retitled from 2010

The photograph above, from the early 1900's, shows the circus coming to town. It would arrive by train at a siding on Front Street, then proceed up Linden Street toward the fairgrounds.

Child Abuse in Allentown

Like the adults who run with the bulls once a year in Spain, every afternoon children run with cars across the 15th Street Bridge. When Governor Pawlowski dedicated the bridge with pomp last December, southsiders assumed that the contractor would proceed to finish the pedestrian walkways.It's four months later, and our children are still playing dodge car. Allentown's $billion dollar arena transformation started after the bridge construction began, and will apparently be completed before children can safely walk home. We all understand that the arena is Pawlowski's priority, but are we not a city which needs to do more than one project at a time? Where is the protest from Peter Schweyer, southside City Councilman, hoping to be State Representative. Where are the questions from The Morning Call, after writing one arena promotion after another. It isn't very pretty, what a town without proper priorities, can do.

photocredit:Chris Knight/The Morning Call

The Barbarians of Progress

Those empowered to bestow so called progress upon the dirty masses often lack historical and aesthetic appreciation, casting aside cultural treasures. This blog is proud to have documented the treasures of the former arena block, before the bulldozer arrived. Sometimes, because of curmudgeons such as myself, treasures find their way back home. The current cast iron water fountain in West Park is a reproduction of the original, after it was replaced by a modern monstrosity during a park improvement. Members of the Rose Garden Neighborhood Association inquired about the beautiful metal girl fountain, removed from the garden during an improvement. Through their diligence that fountain was relocated and returned. John Marquette is now on a quest to locate the Harry Bertoia sculpture that was removed from the airport,  when it was recently remodeled. Unfortunately, this city has lost numerous treasures over the decades, perhaps we need more curmudgeons.

The Litter of Allentown

On Monday mornings, from the amount of litter on 6th and 7th Street, you would think that there was a parade over the weekend. Back in the day, Allentown was known for it's cleanliness. Women in babushkas would compulsively hunt out any errant scrap of paper, and remove that offense to their pride. Allentown has changed. In 2006, the SWEEP program was put into place to milk center city property owners, fining them for tenants putting the wrong color container on the porch, at the wrong time. In 2011, the program burped $228,000.00 from the hapless owners. Now, with Allentown's Transformational arena coming, Allentown passed an ordinance quadrupling the littering fine from $25 to $100. "It's really difficult to see someone littering and actually catch them in the act," said Ann Saurman, director of recycling. "You see litter on the street, but you don't often see people littering." Actually, you can see them littering. Park near any center city market, and watch the wrappers drop like leaves off a tree in the fall.

photo:Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call

reprinted from June 2012

UPDATE:  Mayor Ed Pawlowski's 8th Annual Cleanup Day will occur this coming April 26th.  He once again asks that Allentown's conscientious volunteer to clean up after those who could care less.  Bless the eager beavers, but considering the progress in the last eight years, perhaps a better strategy is in order. The Parking Authority should give tickets for littering.  Although it's more confrontational to ticket a person,  than to sneak away after ticketing an empty car,  it would give the city a more positive result than we now achieve from that agency.