Queen City Daily

QUEEN CITY DAILY IS A BLOG DEDICATED TO NEWS FROM THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN. WE'LL UPDATE EVERY WEEKDAY WITH THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM YOUR FRONT STOOP ALL THE WAY TO THE MAYOR'S OFFICE. FROM THE STAFF OF THE MORNING CALL*
There's one thing nobody can accuse the Queen City Daily of being, and that's a daily. Today's the eighth day without a new posting. Can't really blame the recent shake up at the paper, it's been more of a weekly since the get-go. Perhaps a new name is in order.

* http://blogs.mcall.com/allentown/

Pawlowski-Schweyer Crack Down

Last Fall, at a community meeting I organized about Lanta, an elderly citizen told how Mayor Pawlowski raged against her for having frequent sidewalk sales. As a mugging victim, she couldn't understand how he was more concerned with her sales than the attack against her. I later learned a gentleman was mugged on the way to the meeting. Last night Allentown provided a solution, not against the muggers, but against the sidewalk sales.* Councilman Peter Schweyer, also a member of the Lanta Board, introduced this landmark legislation. Unfortunately, the Hamilton Street merchants didn't fare well against Lanta. Several have left Hamilton Street, including the only drug store. It's tough being old in downtown Allentown.

* http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b6_5council.6574508sep04,0,5114129.story

Blog HighJacking

Any reader to my last posting, Return of the Golem, knows that my comment section was highjacked. This particular pirate is very persistent, he saturates comment boards with his obsessions, but not his own blog. When his comments are deleted, he keeps reposting them, over and over. Although he and his wife have their own blog, there, they refrain from such behavior. Actually, pirate is too romantic of an image. He also sends endless emails, chock full of threats. At the heading of their blog, it says people should be able to disagree without being disagreeable. It is my hope they will assume the manners they purport, and I will once again be able to resume the open comment feature.

Return Of The Golem

The golem is the original "super hero" of Judaism. Kabalists believe that life was created through G-d speaking words, and thus, if your beliefs are pure and you are a master of kabala, then you too can create life from nothing. Rabbis over the century were said to have created Golems to protect Jewish settlements in times of anti-Semitic strife. The symbols on which the golem lies are one of the main pillars of Kabala, known in English as the Tree of Life.*

Upset over a recent comment about my motives in regard to Fairview Cemetery, I had the Golem imported from its hiding place in Poland. The following apology did appear on the blogosphere for several minutes today;**/ 1
".... Michael and I had a lengthy phone conversation yesterday and I trust that things are OK again between us. I admitted and apologized to Michael for having posted several anonymous "snarks" at him recently that called into question his motives regarding Fairview Cemetery,......" Bill Villa

Although the Golem remains secure in its box, I will postpone returning it to Poland for the time being.

* this incredible drawing of the golem, and it's explanation is by Juliet Howland http://www.elfwood.com/art/j/u/julieth/golem3jpg.jpg.html

**the apology was first posted onto Bernie O'Hares Blog, deleted and sent to Villa's Blog(Mrs. Dottie) where it was again deleted

1. confession of a blogger. I used the apology as a vehicle to utilize this fascinating drawing. I don't need a golem to handle my critics, besides, it would be a full time job defending me and others in the local blogosphere. This posting is not intended as a springboard for tension between any specific bloggers, nor will such comments be accepted.

Midway Matters

I've been going to the fair for a long time. In the late 50's, my father operated a food stand there near the beer gardens. He then built Flaggs on Hamilton Blvd., today it is known as Ice Cream World. There was no water park back then, and Dorney Park was still family owned. In the early 60's, while still in high school, for a couple of years, a friend and myself operated a tee shirt stand at both the Allentown and Kutztown Fairs. Back then, the midway operator was Goodin's Million Dollar Midway. Then, as today, the sides of the fairground were rented out to individuals, while the large middle, in front of grandstand and farmers market, was rented to the carnival company. Over the years the carnival operator changed, from Goodin through a few others, to S & W. This year there is a new operator and a new walking pattern. For the first time, there is no midway along the grandstand. Fair goers are steered to a new first midway, 75 feet north of the grandstand, and then back down again, at the other end. We Dutchmen, being used as an affectionate term for all older locals, don't like it. We don't do well with change.

photocredit: molovinsky

Vision or Delusion

Over sixty eager beavers met Monday at the center-city Holiday Inn, shown in the background, for the final "Visioning" meeting.*
With help from a grant for $10,000, the following profound statement resulted; ''We envision the Hamilton Street District as the commercial and cultural heart of the Lehigh Valley, an attractive, welcoming community, filled with activity and energy, offering employment, dining, arts, entertainment, shopping, and residential opportunities, supported by culturally diverse and architecturally attractive neighborhoods.'' Mayor Pawlowski said "This whole process.... has been good for galvanizing folks..." Although I used the word "delusion" in the title, actually the process was more of an illusion; a trick making the participants think they have input to the decision making process. When one considers the decision was already made to remove the Lanta bus stops which supported the pre-existing merchants, and all future grant funds of any consequence have already been pre-spent on a couple favored projects, what decisions remain for the beavers? Maybe they can design a new street banner or rearrange a parking meter or two. The fellow in the foreground was not the consultant, but he thought the meeting was silly, so do I.

* http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b5_5vision.6561907aug26,0,6655927.story

Can You Say Loft?

Allentown has a schizophrenic attitude towards apartments. While we are spending millions of dollars to de-convert a few row house in center city, we are also spending millions to subsidize the creation of loft apartments in formerly commercial buildings. Now, lets define we. We may be direct grants from the city; city directed HUD grants, grants through the Redevelopment Authority or the Economic Development Corporation, or State Grants secured by the Administration. It's all we, it's all our tax money, and it's all being promoted by Ed Pawlowski. When Mr. Ed was Community Development Director under Afflerbach he promoted the Farr Loft project. As a mayoral candidate he repeatedly claimed it was private money and proof positive yuppies were clamoring for Hamilton Street life. A few months after Mayor Ed's coronation, the Farr Loft partnership received half a million from the state.* Upfront money, backdoor money, it's all our taxes. Back to this apartment problem, the defenders refer to gentrification. A mom with three children, burdening the school system, is being replaced by a single beamer with disposable income. Here's the rub, we are legitimizing these additional apartments with a hope and prayer for a certain demographic. Time will tell who we get, and how long he will stay. Will the second or third tenant be that mom again with her three children?

* Allentown's Farr building brings home $500,000 in aid ** Help from state tagged for downtown apartment project.
Scott Kraus Of The Morning Call; Morning Call; Jun 19, 2006; pg. B.3;

Mt. Sinai Cemetery

Jews have been buried in a small section of Fairview Cemetery, called Mt. Sinai for over 138 years. Although the markings on several stones have worn away, Hannah Dreifuss was buried there in 1868. Morris Wolf, who served with the local regiment in the Civil War, lived to be 98. He lies next to his wife Julia, who died thirty years earlier in 1907. While many of the 82 graves date back to the early 1900's, burials continued through 20's, 30's, 40's, and later. In July of 2006, thirty years after the last previous burial in 1976, Joseph Levine was laid to rest at the age of 103.