Neglect Has Its Reward

The City of Allentown, through the Redevelopment Authority*, purchased the property it demonized last year with its first Landlord of Shame. We paid $93,500.00 for 343 N. 9th Street, described last year as following:

"The properties have a lengthy list of code violations and have been delinquent in the payment of taxes and fees. There are numerous interior and exterior code violations at 343 and 345 N. 9th St. The units lack fire separation/protection between units and hard wired smoke detectors with battery back-up. There are numerous electrical violations throughout the buildings, including exposed wiring. The homes are missing plumbing fixtures. Windows need to be replaced."

The owner, Adam Thor, had paid $110,000 at the height of the market in October of 2005. In that time frame I met Mr. Thor.  He was in an acquisition mode, obsessed with purchasing property with no down money and owner financing, unconcerned with the asking price of the property. That property was not worth $110,000 then, it wasn't even worth $93,500, and that was before it became distressed. I have not asked the City or Redevelopment Authority for an explanation, and in return I have been told nothing I can't believe. I do believe the City should not be in real estate business, nor have they ever been particularly good at it. Paying too much for this property may be the lessor of two evils. I know from prior statements the City aspired to acquire and deconvert houses in that block; I would hope Mr. Thor's induction into the Landlord Hall of Shame was not a strategy for that purpose. 

* The Redevelopment Authority is independent from the City, however, under this Administration, this Authority and The Parking Authority have been functioning as agents of Pawlowski's agenda. 

UPDATE: Photo shows 345 N 9th. 343, directly to it's right, is less impressive. Both properties are tagged as unfit and padlocked. My curbside appraisal of 343 is $44,000. I'm not a licensed appraiser, but I did recently stay at a Holiday Inn. 

reprinted from April 26, 2009

UPDATE APRIL 30, 2021: The above post is reprinted as a companion piece to James Whitney's Ramblings' post on the same 9th Street property. When these Pawlowski era shenanigans were occurring, I was there, both as a property manager and as a blogger. As a matter of fact, Pawlowski had code enforcement review the properties I managed, looking for something to punish me about. My operation was exemplary, and he found no violations to use on me.

An Allentown School Primer

While Morning Call readers learned yesterday that Allentown School superintendent Russ Mayo would not be seeking another contract, molovinsky readers already knew that since early last week. However, today's post is a lesson in recent history. Before Mayo, the superintendent was John Zahorchak. The board that hired him thought very highly of themselves for that choice. Zahorchak was former Secretary of Education under Rendell. What the board didn't realize was that while the Rendell administration was a case study in cronyism, it was not concerned with expertise. Zahorchak came to town and turned the school system inside out, and upside down. He instituted every new concept ever written in the education magazines. Among one bad move after another, he transfered Allen High's very effective principal to desk job on Penn Street. In wake of the mess, the board was then glad to hire Mayo, who was familiar with the system before the chaotic changes.

Allentown School System has been suffering from the same problems which affect all urban systems with high poverty rates.  Why the board thinks that a new superintendent will change the parameters of that reality escapes me.  The district just announced that there will be another year with no tax increase, which would be considered welcome news in most communities.

Now some older history;  Shown above is Dorothy Taliaferro, as pictured in the 1920 Allentown High School yearbook.  Dorothy was a vocal supporter for woman suffrage, and hoped to become a doctor. She was the first black girl to graduate from Allentown.  Although Dorothy did not fulfill that career ambition,  she had two younger brothers who did become physicians.  The family lived at 450 Union Street, which was later demolished in one of Allentown's misguided urban renew projects.

Thanks to Dan Doyle, for loan of the 1920 Comus. 

UPDATE JUNE 9, 2020: This post is a reprint from 2016, which now seems like the good old days. Under the current superintendent, Thomas Parker, the district is in a financial hole so deep that no tax increase is no longer an option. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused another difficulty, not seen since Dorothy Talisferro attended Allentown High in 1918.

UPDATE APRIL 29, 2021: Thomas Parker has moved on to a bigger school system elsewhere. Allentown once again searches for a new superintendent.

Attention O'Connell, Gerlach, Tuerk and Guridy

Although this blog has been mostly silent on the upcoming Democratic primary, now is the time for all good candidates to come to the aid of Fairview Cemetery. Now is the time for all good candidates to express their commitment to make sure that conditions and respect for those interred there improve. 

Now is the time for those who support the various candidates to make sure that their choice for Allentown's next mayor gets involved in the cemetery's improvement.

Fairview overlooks Allentown. Buried there is the history of Allentown...Harry Trexler, John Leh, Jack Mack, Max Hess Sr. and hundreds of other leaders from the city's past. Let us not overlook our history.

The Fairview Cemetery Situation

In 1997, I began looking for the grave of a young Jewish woman who died in 1918.  In the course of that search I became interested in the small old Jewish section of Fairview Cemetery on Lehigh Street.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, Fairview was the most prestigious cemetery in Allentown.  Among those buried there included General Harry Trexler,  John Leh and Jack Mack.  The sprawling cemetery overlooks center city, and contains numerous obelisks and other impressive grave markers. Several unique mausoleums were built, including one for Max Hess senior. Allentown's most successful families purchased large plots, which were separated by low railings.  As the decades passed,  the available plots were sold.

As time passed a new cemetery, Grandview, was developed northwest of town, along Walbert Avenue. Fairview fell out of favor among the elite.  Move ahead a few decades, and supposedly, the director of the then Fairview Cemetery Association embezzled funds.  Currently, the association consists of a funeral director and his immediate family.  Back in 1997, this new director claimed that the poor ground maintenance resulted from lack of funds. The low railings between the family plots were removed to make mowing easier and cheaper.

I was able to cast a little publicity on the situation. Although it took another decade, in 2008, the Morning Call did a story on the cemetery.  Move ahead yet another decade, Tyler Fatzinger became interested, and now there is a dedicated facebook page. The paper did another story in 2019.

In the best of situations, Fairview would become a park of serenity, like the cemeteries in Paris. In the worst of situations, it will become totally abandoned and overgrown. Chances are the status quo will continue... a for profit operator and a periodic series of concerned citizens.

reprinted from August of 2020

UPDATE APRIL 26, 2021: After several years of tireless work, Tyler Fatzinger has been told by the cemetery operators to cease his mission of caring for the neglected areas of Fairview.  In this election year, all candidates for mayor and city council are promising to bring change to Allentown. Let them begin with Fairview.  I call upon these candidates to make the upgrade of Fairview Cemetery part of their platform. I call upon their supporters to lobby them on behalf of Fairview.  

Supermarket Comes To Allentown

The concrete monolith still stands five stories above Lehigh Street at the Parkway Shopping Center. Currently it sports a clock and a sign for St. Luke's medical offices. It was built in 1953 as the modernistic sign tower for Food Fair supermarket, which then was a stand alone store. Behind it, on South 12th Street was the General Electric small appliance factory. The shopping center would not be built to decades later, connecting the former supermarket to the bowling alley built in the 60's. Food Fair was started in the 1920's by Russian immigrant Samuel Friedland in Harrisburg. By 1957 he had 275 stores. 1953 was a rough year for the butcher, baker and candle stick maker: the huge supermarkets were too much competition, even for the bigger independent markets, such as Lehigh Street Superette -- it was further east on Lehigh, now the site of a Turkey Hill Market. The sign tower also remains at the 15th and Allen Shopping center, which was another stand alone Food Fair. That parcel remains an independent supermarket. Food Fair would eventually absorb Penn Fruit, which had a market on N. 7th Street, then turn into Pantry Pride. When the Food Fair was built, there was as yet no 15th Street Bridge. Allentown only connected to the south side by the 8th Street Bridge and the Lehigh/Union Street hill (stone arch bridge, near Regency Tower, was route to West End).  Allentown was booming and Mack Trucks were rolling off the line, a block east off Lehigh Street, as fast as they could build them. The factories on S. 12th st. are now flea markets. Mack Headquarters is being sold to a real estate developer. Perhaps those concrete monoliths are the monuments to better times, by those of us who remember.

reprinted from June 2009

The West End Train Branch

The Lehigh Valley Railroad operated a train branch line which served Allentown's commercial west end. It ran along Sumner Avenue servicing the scrap metal yards, warehouses and numerous coal dealers located there. The line then crossed Tilghman Street on a diagonal at 17th, before looping back east by Liberty Street at the Fairgrounds. The line ended at a rail yard now housing the small shopping center at 12th and Liberty. Although many of former commercial buildings still exist, all now house more retail type businesses. The B'nai Brith Apartments occupy the site of the former Trexler Lumber Yard. These historical shorts are difficult to write, because most current residents have no frame of reference to our former commercial past. True historians, such as the local railroad buffs, cringe at the lack of detail and specific location of the tracks. Suffice to say that once upon a time, the mid-section of Allentown had much more commerce.

reprinted from December of 2012

Allentown Memories

click on photo to enlarge 

From low income sections of center city, to expensive suburbs, Allentown and the Lehigh Valley is becoming home to more and more outsiders. I'm afraid the time will soon come when local memorabilia will have little appeal. Fortunately, for those interested, some impressive collections still exist. This past year Robert Bungerz published Allentown Remembered, documenting his outstanding collection of historical postcards and other objects. David Bausch, former County Executor and authority on Automobile Art, is also a expert on things Allentown. Then there are the many small collections, home of the hidden treasures. Above is an early aerial photograph of the Allentown Fair. Those interested in the recent commotion concerning the 19TH Street Theater District may find the upper right of the photograph interesting. There is no theater, there are no houses on Saint George Street and most of the buildings seem to to garages and automobile in nature (don't tell Auto-Zone). This gem is probably from the late teens or early 20's, and comes from the Thomas Reed Collection. Thomas is aka Z1pyro, long time expert shooter for Zambelli Firework Company. He retired several years ago, and we who appreciate fireworks, notice his departure. 

reprinted from July 8, 2008