Lehigh Valley News and Commentary

The Lehigh Valley International Airport, which has just completed a $multi-million dollar remodeling of the terminal, will increase fees to the remaining airlines by 11%. Although the airport management has succeeded in reducing the number of carriers from eight to four, one of which drives it's passengers to Newark on a bus, it's feared that one or two of them may continue service. If all had gone as planned, within a year or so, the airport would have transitioned to the Lehigh Valley Bus Terminal. Elsewhere in the news, Pennsylvania will extend the meaningless comment period to Allentown's trash/sewage to energy project. Although the project has already been approved, and construction permits have been issued, the environmentalists were allowed to question the project after the fact, and may now continue to do so.

Supermarket Comes To Boomtown

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 Black and Decker 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

Allentown's Grim Future

By the time you hear of a stock, the anticipation of that business's success has already been built into the value. Although the arena won't open for another year, that event will be anti-climatic. The election results said that Allentonians don't think that Pawlowski can walk on water. An underfunded opponent, campaigning for only eight weeks, took 40% of the votes. The Morning Call, favorable to the Arena Project, cannot help but report the violence in center city. Suburbanites, many of whom haven't been downtown in decades, will only come reluctantly, if at all, and then leave very quickly. Those expecting a recipe for pumpkin pie are at the wrong blog.

Comments In The Blogosphere

Yesterday I called an anonymous commenter at an associate's blog a monkey. I actually suggested that two commenters might as well be the same monkey, in that they have the same name, Anonymous. Now the topic was a little more touchy than usual, Israel and Obama. I was called a Zionist, accused on putting an ungrateful Netanyahu and Israel ahead of my own president's wisdom. I will leave the discussion of Israel and Iran, Netanyahu and Obama to another time, I'm here today to discuss monkeys. I find it interesting that people are so reluctant to use their names on a blog comment, but spill their guts on Facebook. More so, Google knows everything about you; That's why advertisements for your false teeth paste pop up on your computer.

Blogging, The Last WatchTower

Anybody who buys The Morning Call on Monday knows what slim pickings is. The paper is produced on Friday, with a one man weekend crew, to cover the police blotter. There's hardly enough paper to cover the bottom of a bird cage. That leaves the news junkies forced to read garbage like this. Even the blogosphere is slim pickings. Bernie O'Hare, arguably the dean of local blogging, says that I'm lazy and preoccupied with choo choo trains. I actually haven't done a choo choo post in over six minutes, that's how long it took me to read the paper this morning. Truth to be told, I am fascinated with how much Allentown has changed within the last 50 years, and the railroads are a good metaphor. In my youth, the city was serviced by rail branch lines with dozens of sidings, supplying many industries with raw materials, to produce products distributed all over the country. Those industries fostered a large middle class, and a high standard of living. We were the truck capital of the world, we were home to the first transistors, and a retail legend. The tower shown above in 1963, and the gas tank in the background, were on Union Street. Although they are both now gone, this lazy blogger will continue to combine history, news and commentary for those of us who still remember a different era.

Choo Choo History

A reader from the last post asked if any history was available on the engine shown above. This off-rail locomotive, built on an automotive chassis, was produced by the shop of CNJ in 1955 for parades and celebrations.  It's shown above at the National Model Railroader's Convention, in May of that year. By 1956, the air-horns shown in the previous post were added.

Thanks to Mark Rabenold and Dave Beazley, local railroad historians.

When Business Paid The Freight

Believe it or not, there was a time not so long ago, that businesses actually paid their own way. They did not expect, nor did they receive, any incentives from government. In this recent election, the County Commissioner's rejection of the TIF for Costco was an issue used by their opponents. We have come so far down the path of subsidies, that those who dare to oppose these giveaways, are accused of costing the community jobs, and taxes for the future. Over the years, Allentown gave out dozens of KOZ's that never produced one dime or benefit for the taxpayers. For example, the former Cata garment building on Linden Street was given a KOZ when it became a self storage facility. It was then purchased by the city for the arena, and is now part of the NIZ. Between the KOZ and the NIZ, the taxpayers are shortchanged for 41 years. It could even be longer, if down this road the NIZ turns into XYZ. All these programs have a very real cost to the taxpayers. The government units must make up this lost revenue in other ways, either by fees or taxes. When you buy a ticket for the new arena, what's it really costing you?

photo: Hamilton Street in 1956, before KOZ, NIZ, TIF, and CRIZ