County Commissioners Euthanizing Cedarbrook

Reflecting upon an article by Samantha Marcus in The Morning Call, the County Commissioners are hellbent on killing Cedarbrook. Despite a most complete, logical plan to restore it's fiscal health, Commissioner Mike Schware keeps saying that he will withhold any nourishment until there is a plan in place. Vic Mazziotti's rationale might even be more Catch 22ish; He claims that the plan to attract higher paying Medicare Rehab patients to one wing is contrary to the facilities' low income mission, and that it should stay exclusively with medicaid patients. Both of these absurd, disingenuous arguments mean that Executive Tom Muller will have to improvise to keep the cherished institution alive, until which time more responsible people occupy the dais at Government Center. Commissioner decisions should not just be an ultra conservative ideology formulated in a void, but a localized decision, reflecting the traditions and best outcome for the residents of Lehigh Valley.

photograph by K Mary Hess

An Expensive Endeavor

The other day I received a message on my answering machine thanking me for my effort to represent the residents of the 183rd District. Although the election is over and I lost, I am not too proud to still accept contributions. The district is very large, and to get my message out to the voters was an expensive endeavor. Those inclined to contribute can use the paypal button on the sidebar, thank you.

Citizen Abuse

South Whitehall, at this point, is actually abusing it's residents over Wehr's Dam. Over 7,000 have signed petitions to retain the dam, with 6,500 of them actually signing the document while at the dam. The Commissioners are not being uniquely stubborn, rather the problem is politics as usual. Although the dam has been declared structurally good by the state, the township agreed last summer to allow the Wildlands Conservancy to make a case for it's demolition. In a further insult to local residents, the Wildlands' study is being funded by the taxpayers through a grant. Over $200,000 is being spent to make a case which the residents do not want, nor is necessary by any objective criteria. Additionally, the Commissioners feel compelled to defer their decision until which time the Wildlands presents their finished report. In addition to wasting the taxpayer's time and money, the credibility of local government erodes for 7,000 citizens.

photograph by Gregg Obst

Re-earning My Certificate

Several years ago Allentown Friends Of The Parks presented me with a certificate for my advocacy for the WPA Structures in the park system. A year later, I re-earned the certificate by attempting to defend the WPA Robin Hood Dam. This week I will again re-earn it by explaining to the Park and Recreation Committee that funds have been allocated for WPA restoration, but never used for that purpose. In reality, I will be talking to a proverbial stone wall. The Committee was comprised of Cynthia Mota, Joe Davis and Peter Schweyer, but Schweyer has resigned Council. Mota and Davis allowed the Wildlands to remove the scenic WPA Dam on the recommendation of Park Director John Mikowychok, who had only been in Allentown for six weeks at the time. Neither Mota or Mikowychok had ever seen the dam before. Mikowychok has since resigned, and has been temporarily replaced by Vicky Kistler, from the Health Department. Mikowychok had replaced John Weitzel as Park Director. Weitzel had secured funds to repair/fortify the leaning wall along the Lehigh Parkway entrance road, but the funds were never spent for that purpose. Mikowychok had secured funds for the repair of the steps leading down to Fountain Park. This week when the Park and Recreation Committee meet to discuss the upcoming budget, I will be there re-earning my certificate once again.

The Night Of Broken Glass

In 1938,  on the nights of November 9 and 10, the Nazis whipped up anti-Jewish riots in a pogrom now known  as Kristallnacht.


During these two nights,    synagogues were set on fire and  thousands of Jewish shop windows were broken.



Ninety one Jews were killed.  30,000 were arrested and taken to camps, a harbinger of the Holocaust.

reprinted from previous years

Boxing Eggs

When I was a little boy, I would work at my father's meat market, boxing eggs. The job was pretty straightforward. I would take eggs from a big box, and put them in small boxes with folding lids, each of which held a dozen. If I did a whole crate without breaking an egg, I did a good job. The real adventure was the drive to the shop. We lived just off Lehigh Street, and would take it all the way to Union Street. The many landmarks are now gone forever, only remaining in my camera of the past. Shown above in 1952, is the portion of Lehigh Street near the Acorn Hotel, which is not visible in the photograph. Before reaching the Acorn, you drove under The Reading Railroad bridge overpass, which recently has been dismantled and removed. That line served the Mack Plant on S. 10th Street. Just beyond the area pictured, the Quarry Barber railroad spur also crossed Lehigh Street, at the bridge over the Little Lehigh Creek. That line also crossed S. 10th, and served Traylor Engineering, now known as the closed Allentown Metal Works. Just last week Mitt Romney was there, to rebuke Obama's former visit to the site. Mayor Pawlowski is now rebuking Romney, but none of them really know anything about it's past. A half block away, on overgrown steps built by Roosevelt's WPA, a thousand men would climb home everyday, after working at Mack and Traylor. Freight trains, on parallel tracks, from two different railroads, were needed to supply those industrial giants.

After my father rounded the second curve on Lehigh Street, we would head up the steep Lehigh Street hill. It was packed with houses and people. At the top of the hill, we would turn right on to Union Street. Going down Union Street, Grammes Metal was built on the next big curve. Grammes made a large assortment of finished decorative metal products. Beyond Grammes were numerous railroad crossings. The Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks crossed Union, as did the Jersey Central and several spurs, near Basin Street. It was not unusual to wait twenty-five minutes for the endless freight trains to pass. A two plus story tower gave the railroad men view and control of the busy crossing. A few more blocks and we were at the meat market, in time for me to break some eggs.

reprinted from August 2012

Photos of Lehigh Valley

Photos of Lehigh Valley showcases work by K Mary Hess, an extraordinarily gifted landscape photographer.