The Political Backside Of Allentown's Budget

It appears that Allentown City Council has produced a compromise budget that Mayor O'Connell can live with...It requires no pink slips. Although, a few proposed jobs will not be funded, and overtime allowances may be a little less than realistic, I expect O'Connell to allow council's budget to go into effect.

While both the mayor and council can claim a victory, there will be no such crowing from the taxpayers. However, the taxpayers already lost last November, when they reelected someone who had his eye on anywhere but Allentown. Pawlowski wanted to ride the NIZ's paper success out of town to a bigger job. When Harrisburg seemed a lost cause, he steered his election bus toward Washington. No tax hike was just another slogan for his political ambitions, but not a sound fiscal policy for the city.

Disclaimer: I did not attend the special session last night, or speak to any elected official. On this point I prefer not speaking directly to our officials. This way when I encounter them in public, they seem less betrayed by this blog's candor.

picture postcard of Allentown's new City Hall in 1962

What's Love Got To Do With It

I suppose that some of my readers were surprised when I congratulated Susan Wild on being our new representative in congress.  Although, I didn't make any endorsement prior to the election, most readers realize that I cant to the right.  However,  I had some issues with Nothstein,  and generally prefer not to make endorsements.

Last week, Wild expressed potential opposition against the proposed new trade pact with Canada and Mexico.  Seems that she went with those members of her party supposedly upset that the new trade treaty may not end up addressing gay and lesbian issues. USMCA’s Chapter 23 on labor requires countries to implement policies that protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.  There are conservatives senators who feel that such social policy need not be included with international trade agreements.

Now, I'm certainly for respecting the rights of our workers here at home, but I'm also for protecting the rights of all our citizens to have the best possible economy. I'm hoping that Representative Wild will not base her important votes on single issues.

Pawlowski's Coal To O'Connell

Pawlowski, on his way to prison, gave Ray O'Connell a lump of coal for Christmas.  While the former Mayor For Life's exit to the big house made Ray mayor, it also injured him with a necessary tax hike. Pawlowski put his political career ahead of good government by not raising taxes, and instead drained the city reserve fund.  While ten years of a 2% hike would have been politically palatable,  O'Connell must now ask for 27% to keep the city operating.

This same legacy destroyed a county executive years ago... A huge tax hike is a huge present to your political opponents. While City Council has the option of allowing the budget to pass by default with little political consequence to themselves,  O'Connell will shoulder the voter's wrath.  If the proposed budget goes into effect as is,  Ray's reelection bid could be an uphill struggle.

ADDENDUM: City Council has scheduled a special meeting for Monday December 10.  This presents an opportunity for the budget and tax hike to be scaled back.

Defending The Wall

The Western Wall was built in 19 BC by Herod the Great, almost 600 years before the birth of Mohammed. Herod built the current wall to expand the Mount of the Second Temple, built in 516 BC, after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Exile. The Second Temple would stand until destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Over 600 year later, in 691 AD, Muslims would build the Dome of The Rock, on top of the Mount where the Temple had stood. Today, there are 17 stone courses of the wall below the current street level. Although Jews have been praying at the Wall for over a thousand years, last week the Palestinian Authority issued a report stating that the wall is not Jewish, but part of the Dome. This report, although contradicted by Bible, history, archeology and even photography, is never the less disturbing; It plants another seed of revisionism against the history of the Jewish people. Recently, UNESCO declared that Rachel's Tomb is actually a Mosque, ignoring the thousands of years of Jewish reverence.

photograph shows Jews praying at The Wall in 1895

reprinted from November of 2010

Blogging And Friendship

I set off Bernie O'Hare's hostility on Monday by stating that all too often your loyalty to your "friends" guides your pen. Although, it is apparent to his readers how he fawns over some politicians, he prefers to think that he's fooling people.  He lashed out by writing that my criticism of a black official proves that I operate a hate blog. When I pointed out that someone should be able to criticize a black public official without being labeled a racist, he deleted my comment, and stated that he is not going to host a defense of my racism. Accusations of racism seems to be his latest weapon of choice against  his critics. This skirmish took place on O'Hare's post about Bill White retiring, and there is a tie-in...In his hostile reply comment, Bernie wrote that he and Bill White were not friends. That may not tell the whole story. In a column in February of 2008, Bill White described himself as a fan of Bernie's blog. Also on Monday, Bernie called White a bastard for including him in his Hall Of Fame. Again, in both cases, I happen to know that Bernie appreciated that the exposure increased his readership.

The Bill White column from 2008 was about Bernie starting to notice Pawlowski's abuses of power. When White asked Pawlowski for a reply...

The mayor noted that O'Hare has become friendly with Michael Molovinsky, a former mayoral candidate and persistently outspoken critic of the administration. Molovinsky's own blog is virulently anti-Pawlowski.

Actually, White's take on my blog is aligned with O'Hare's apparent philosophy...friendship or enemy first, then the story. Maybe that's why they're friends, despite their disclaimers.

I didn't dislike Pawlowski, just some aspects of his governing. This blog isn't based on people's personality or friendships. Likewise, this blog isn't influenced by political correctness, or political party.  All I ever want is the best possible government for Allentown.

Bill White And Donald Trump

Like blogger Bernie O'Hare,  I wanted to post about Bill White's departure yesterday.  However,  it is my format to place one post a day, and last night there was a city budget hearing.  As a supporter of the traditional park system,  I felt compelled to advocate, in a timely fashion, for a particular item in the park budget. Although, I also had prepared a post about Bill White,  I abandon it now, to instead address a line in O'Hare's post....Some of you, especially those among you who are Trump supporters, will trash White because he detested the guy...

I think that O'Hare and many others are so polarized about Trump, that they assume the same level of emotional intensity must reside in everybody.  On facebook people write that if you don't despise Trump,  unfriend me...  You're either with me on this or against me. I'm actually surprised that both O'Hare and White, as political pundits, are so animated about Trump. Many of us, while not supporters, are much more dispassionate about him. When I playfully posted a picture of myself in front of a Trump poster and wrote,  Make Allentown Great Again,  although it wasn't meant as an endorsement of Trump, but of Allentown,  I lost some readers.

The Trump divide has been very detrimental to both journalism and personal relationships. Donald Trump probably will be president for at least two more years.  After his term, the country goes on, and  hopefully some objectivity and civility will be restored.

Keystone Of The Parkway

When the wall along the entrance road to Lehigh Parkway collapsed, the entrance had to be closed, until they could construct a new wall. The closure wasn't because of the missing upper portion acting as a guard rail, it was because of the lower portion, which was a retaining wall holding up the roadway itself. In the mid 1930's, the road was built by the WPA, by cutting into the side of a steep ravine leading down to the Little Lehigh Creek. It was essential to shore up the exposed side of the road with a wall.

Halfway down the road is the centerpiece we call the Double Stairway. Steps from two sides lead down from the road, to the bridle path and creek below. Although very architectural, it too is an elaborate retaining structure for the road. This architectural masterpiece is in structure jeopardy. Although the vertical walls are in decent shape, the problem is the landings, both at the top and down each set of stairs. These flats surfaces have degraded, and water is seeping down into the steps below, undermining the structure from within.

The Double Stairway was designed in 1928 by one of the leading landscape architects in the United States. He was commissioned to design this masterpiece by General Harry Trexler. The stock crash of 1929 and the Great Depression put off the construction until Roosevelt's New Deal in 1935, when the WPA utilized the blueprints.

Allentown could never afford to create such an icon now, nor can we afford to lose it from neglect.

photocredit:molovinsky