The Farr Tract; Political Correctness vs. Property Rights

Harvey Farr and his widow left LVHN a 50plus acre tract of land, which they want permission to subdivide, to maximize its value. They are faced off against the Wildlands Conservancy, which claims that it wants to buy the land to preserve it, and Ron Beitler, who is confusing his personal land preservation preferences with his commissioner duties. Although Chris Kocher and his Wildlands Company states that they want to apply for a grant to purchase the land, here's a molovinsky on allentown exclusive; The Wildlands have told other parties over the years that they want their land for preservation, but needs grants. They eventually end up with some of these parcels through donation, but seldom actually ever purchase any of them. They tried to tie up one such parcel on South Mountain for over a decade, hoping that the Wildlands would eventually inherit the property. But here's the real crux of the situation; I knew Harvey Farr, and if it was his desire that the land be preserved by the Wildlands, he would have given it to them.  He didn't give it to them,  and now they're trying to steal it.

ADDENDUM: I believe that Lower Macgunie has already abused the property rights of LVHN on at least on two occasions, by not responding to plans for age restricted housing. Furthermore, I would think that attorneys for the hospital should insist that Ron Beitler recuse himself from any deliberations concerning that parcel, which is already zoned for residential development.

giant flag hung from the Farr Building in 1917

The Morning Call Cheesesteak Sunday

For those of you who thought that The Morning Call couldn't get any more cheesy, wait until tomorrow. The Sunday feature will be on guess what, Vince's Cheesesteaks.  A reporter was offended last fall when I stated that the paper is in the bag for Reilly's NIZ. He thought that I was insulting the journalistic integrity of his associates. My apology, certainly the paper should be concentrating on cheesesteaks.  The promotion shown above was on page 2 of Friday's paper.  Under The Morning Call, in the right hand corner, it reads, The Lehigh Valley's First Source for News.  It's becoming the first source for cheesiness.

Allentown, Cheesesteaks and Murder

Allentown's news yesterday was dominated by cheesesteaks and murder. The cheesesteak story was a contrived Morning Call promotion for their beloved NIZ. While one of J.B. Reilly's props, Tony Lukes, was folding, the paper was promoting the failure as success. They even immediately sponsored a cheesesteak contest, to promote Vinces, the replacement for Tony Lukes. If all that promotion wasn't enough, cheerleader and columnist Bill White did a blog on the cheesesteaks.

Meanwhile, back in the real Allentown, a woman's body was found discarded in a trash bin. If that wasn't urban crime enough, a detective got shot pursuing a suspect in the case. What's our suburban NIZ patron to think about all this? Is that cheesesteak worth getting shot over? I write this with some hesitation. I know that the Morning Call won't stop promoting the NIZ, but they might stop reporting the news.

Morning Call Spins Hard For Reilly's NIZ

When Tony Lukes opened up last year, I was amazed at the hoopla bestowed upon them by The Morning Call. While Zandys' spends their money advertising in the paper every week, the Call wrote promotion after promoting for the cheesesteak competitor. Shown above was but one picture of Pawlowski and Peter Schweyer at the opening.  I was going to write today about the paper's recent promotion of Reilly's Strata 2 loft building, however, I never seem to catch up with their sellout journalism.  Now, that Tony Lukes have decided to turn off the grill, the paper spins that the failure is actually success, because another sandwich vendor is going to take over the space.

 I understand growing pains, and yes, Vinces will do better with a $6 steak sandwich than Tony Lukes did with a $10 sandwich, but to spin closings as growth, strains credibility.  Of course, when it comes to NIZ and The Morning Call, there never was any.

ADDENDUM:  The Morning Call has now started a name your favorite cheesesteak place contest. I  sent the following message to the the owners of Vince's;   i wish vince's success at the new location, but must say that if you guys were opening up on union blvd, there wouldn't be a word written by the morning call, nor a "favorite steak shop" contest. it's reilly's face their trying to save, not yours.   m molovinsky aka political blogger

Democracy of Sorts Sprouting in Allentown

City Council is apparently the hot ticket; I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that sixteen people applied for the open seat. Four of them have been deemed ineligible, because they were not Democrats for a least 30 days prior to their application. Although, I'm not going to list them or comment on them individually, you can find their names in an excellent  Morning Call article by Emily Opilo.  It's a positive sign for democracy in Allentown, that so many people still have more faith in council than I do.  I would think that the volume of candidates will also have a rejuvenating effect of existing council members.  Although, we will remain a one party town for the foreseeable future, candidates are adjusting to that reality.  At least one member of council was a former Republican, who adapted to the current climate.  At some point within the next year,  I expect Pawlowski to resign,  and council will eventually shed those that wore the scarlet P.

Photo of City Council in 2010

King Of The Gypsies

According to my mother, a Gypsy prince was buried in Allentown in around 1970, she knew about such things. She was born in Galgo, Hungary, an area of Transylvania, now part of Romania, near present day Gilgau. In Galgo, the Jews and Gypsies lived on the edge of town. In the early 20's, my grandparents, along with their Gypsy neighbors, came to Bethlehem to work at the Steel. On weekends, to make extra money, my grandparents would open their house and show Hungarian movies. None of their relatives, Jew or Gypsy, save one cousin, survived the nazi's; even the cemeteries were desecrated. As you can see from the document above, my grandfather earned his citizenship the hard way.

REPRINTED FROM DEC. 23, 2007

UPDATE: The Morning Call has the story about the Gypsies coming to Allentown.

Not Feeling Allentown's Renaissance.

Every couple of years, as a fund raiser, the Allentown Art Museum features a renovated house tour. A headline on Sunday's society page read, SOTA 2016 Show House reflects Allentown renaissance. I understand that the word renaissance should be in play with a $billion dollars of new development, but you know what, I don't feel it. Understand, that I'm downtown every week. I've been in all the new buildings, I even ate at most of the new restaurants, but I still don't feel it. Actually, nobody does, except the headline editor at The Morning Call, and I'm not sure that he feels it either, but perhaps if it's repeated enough? The Morning Call building is for sale, and although it's across the street from the rest of the NIZ, it's included in the beneficial zone. The Morning Call, despite all the articles promoting the NIZ, has never justified why their building was included. Besides the second zone area by the waterfront, the only other outside parcel included was the Sacred Heart Hospital. Considering all the community benefit that institution has provided the poor of center city, its inclusion was well justified. How about some self-reflection by the paper on their inclusion, now that would be a worthwhile column for Bill White.