Rumble At the Reagan Library

As a conservative independent, I have no use for Hillary Clinton, and less for Bernie Sanders. Even though I'll be late opening the bakery this morning, I stayed up last night and watched the debate. I was actually more impressed with the undercard. Sans Santorum, Pataki, Jindal and Graham were compelling. But, as Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message, and those gentlemen, relegated to the second tier in the second debate, are no longer part of the medium.

 On the main card, the overly crowded field was almost like cage wrestling, too many people vying for camera time. In that regard, I felt that CNN had the camera on Trump a disportioncate amount of time. For foreign policy geeks, hearing that Trump will surround himself with experts, as opposed to being one, must be excruciatingly painful. I believe that if Marco Rubio could make himself appear older, he would be a real contender. I might send him some of my gray hair dye, it has helped me looked more distinguished. Getting back to McLuhan, Trump may have again stole the show by default. Although Jeb Bush was more aggressive, he only managed to play into Trump's portrayal of him as unenergetic. In that regard, Ben Carson appears to be self medicated. The other doctor, Rand Paul, also cannot shed the Trump barbs. Huckabee has cast himself more as a pastor than a viable politician. Both the governors, Walker and Kasich, failed to stand out. Ted Cruz presented himself well, but the media has marginalized him as too right for America. Although Christie held his own, he still looks like he caused that traffic jam at the bridge, trying to get to the donut shop before it closed. Certainly, Carly Fiorina also held her own, but I don't think that she has enough spunk to break through this large men's field.

I'm back to Marshall McLuhan and the persuasive media. If Trump produces some commercials which succeed in adding some world expertise to augment his bravado, the White House might become the next reality show.

Abuse At Cedar Park

After the previous park director, John Mikowychok, was here only three weeks, he endorsed the Wildlands Conservancy demolishing the Robin Hood Dam. To add insult to injury, he allowed them to pile the destroyed dam rubble around the stone piers of the Robin Hood Bridge, depreciating the beauty of a view enjoyed by generations of Allentonians. I told Mikowychok at the time, that however long he stays in Allentown, he will never climb out of the hole in damage he allowed. As it turned out, he  stayed only about a year.  The new park director, Lindsay Taylor, has already dug her self a rut. This past weekend, after last Thursday's rain flooded Cedar Park, the heavy support and supply trucks for Artsfest rutted the soft park ground. The ArtsFest is a nice event, but it's held in the wrong place. It's the wrong place for the overused and abused park, and it's the wrong place for the arts festival. It should be held in an urban environment, downtown. It could be a real boost for center city, either on Hamilton Street, or by the Alternative Art Gallery, on N. 4th Street.

The festival was held in area much larger than necessary to accommodate the event, and it rained two more times during the festival. Consequently, the large box and flatbed trucks necessary to supply and support the event did extensive damage to the park.  I do not blame the organizers of ArtsFest in any way.  There's a long history of such events in the park section east of Ott Street.  However, this is the first such event held west of Ott, in the Rose Garden section of the park.   Although this western section has been used before, it was confined to spill over from Sportsfest, and involved only golf cart type vehicles. The combination of soggy ground and heavy trucks produced 12" ruts through out the park. It will take the park department no less than $30,000 in material and manpower to restore the area,  assuming that they do. This is the good news, the bad is that nobody, save this blogger, may care. The Morning Call mentioned nothing of the damage in their review about the festival.  I know that Mayor Pawlowski didn't care about the parks before his own current problems, neither did City Council.

At the very least, as long as the park department is going to allow such events and damage in the parks,  they should have a designated park for such fairground type use.  That park should have an area which stays dry from creek flooding.  It's time for the Department of Parks and Recreation to show more respect for the classic beauty of Allentown's parks.

photograph by Harry Fisher/The Morning Call

The Betrayal Of Ed Pawlowski

The account in the Morning Call was biblical. A friendship so sincere, that the Pawlowski's trusted their only daughter to his care. But like other another person pure of heart, his great goodness was taken advantage of, he was victimized. In case anybody happen to not understand the sermon, the article spells it out. We learn that Lisa Pawlowski writes on social media, BETRAYED.

Although we can all benefit from a parable now and then, somehow the real victims were overlooked, the citizens of Allentown. If Pawlowski's trust was misplaced, how about the taxpayers. Although it's wonderful that J.B. Reilly's wish-list was fulfilled beyond his wildest expectations, we all have things we would have liked improved in the city. I would have liked if $1.3 million spend on Atiyeh land that we don't need, was used instead to repair the WPA structures. Homeless advocates would like a shelter properly funded and staffed. Better housing advocates would have liked to see more blighted properties rehabilitated.

The Pawlowski's may have been betrayed by Mike Fleck, but there's nothing biblical about them. Local drug dealers and thieves cheat and steal from each other all the time, but the paper doesn't portray them as Robin Hood. Maybe, by the time the whole story is told, the paper will get a grip on itself.

ADDENDUM: This morning, Bill White defends himself and the paper against blogosphere accusations that he and his associates have pampered both Pawlowski and the NIZ. I don't know anybody who reads the blogosphere, but Ramblings and molovinsky are widely read. Yes Bill, the paper has been late to the game. The Raid On City Hall could not be glossed over, but you're still promoting Reillyville like it's news. You need only look at this weekend's coverage of the Artswalk.

The Synagogues Of Jerusalem

Except when barred by one conqueror or another, Jews had lived in Jerusalem since King David. Prior to Jordanian rule in 1948, there was a Jewish majority for 150 years. In 1864, eight thousand of the fifteen thousand population was Jewish. By 1914, two thirds of the sixty five thousand residents were Jewish. In 1948 the United Nations Partition Plan divided the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Jerusalem was to be initially an international city, with access guaranteed for all. This plan was rejected by the surrounding Arab nations, which attacked Israel in concert immediately upon the UN vote. When the truce was declared, Israel had survived, but East Jerusalem(walled Old City) was in procession of TransJordan. The Jordanians subsequently destroyed over 50 synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, which dated back to the 1400's. For hundreds of years both Christians and Jews were prohibited from building higher than Muslim structures. The few synagogues which survived were the ones built mostly below street level. The oldest surviving synagogue, The Jerusalem Synagogue, was built by the Karaite Jews in around 900. Shown above is the Ben Kakai, a Sephardic Synagogue built in the 16th Century.

Perhaps the most famous synagogue destroyed by the Jordanians was the Ashkenazi Hurva Synagogue built in 1720, it's dome visible in the top center of this photograph from the 1920's. It's replacement has just been completed.

reprinted from September of 2010

She's Not Here Mr. Molovinsky

I don't understand it, every time I stop in to see an Allentown public official, they're not there. Is there something about me? Up to this past July and the FBI Raid At City Hall, I suppose it was my blunt questions and subsequent blunt treatment on this blog that made them hid under the desk, whenever they saw me coming through the door. After the Raid, management was nervous. They knew that they served at the pleasure of a vindictive mayor, but now he was wounded, to boot. Some were afraid that they would end up being scapegoats for whatever accusations were coming down the pike. I can only imagine that yesterday's fear is today's terror. Now there are times, places and their signatures on reports, being used as evidence in a criminal investigation.

Although this blog has pointed out policy flaws since 2007, I never indulged in pay to play speculation. Frankly, despite the current meltdown at city hall, those specifics still don't interest me. I remain focused on policy, and it's effect on the city. Unfortunately, I realize that in this current climate, the bureaucrats could care less about better policy, and will be looking for life preservers. Never the less, I will still be coming through their doors.

Allentown's Crossing Guard Controversy

This morning we learn from facebook that Pawlowski tried to bully the Allentown School District into paying for the crossing guards. This story, like an onion, has many layers. First, let's look at Bob Smith's statement on his election facebook page. 

I have been a school board director for 12 years. President of the board the last 4 years. And I have always worked hard for the tax payers of Allentown. Today I had a meeting with the mayor, city solicitor, assistant chief, city council president ,superintendent of Asd and school solicitor. The mayor wanted the school district to take over crossing guards and pay half the costs. They showed a statute that says school district must pay half if no other agreement could be reached. I heard too much talk about the school district taking over and said the school district will not take this over as this is public safety. This should be handled by the city not the school district. We would contribute toward costs but we do not know what we are getting from the state and I would need to talk to the whole board as well. Not to mention we already voted on our current budget. Mayor wanted us to open our budget. Then it happened, everything about pay to play came to my mind but in this case pay or lose your SRO officers in our school buildings. The mayor said if we did not pay he would pull all Sro officers from our school buildings. I blew my top and said do not threaten me or the school district. This was blackmail, a threat, strong arming and bullying. I will not be blackmailed, strong armed or bullied into making any deal that hurts our taxpayers, students or our staff. We offered 100,000. To start work on a plan to help hire crossing guards. We would need to wait and see what our state funding is and time to talk to the whole board on this.The mayor rejected this good faith offer, I'm very disappointed in him today. Now I see what contractors must have gone through. The mayor also threatened to sue us. We will continue to work with the city and help where we can but if the mayor wants to fight and blackmail us on the safety of our students and staff that is a fight I will gladly take defending with all my being to protect our students, teachers and all our taxpayers. I think we need to ask where all that money for water went that the city budget is so tight. I do not work for the mayor and he threatened the wrong person today. I will continue to defend the taxpayers and will not be bullied, blackmailed or threatened by him or anybody else. I post this so the public knows the truth. The school district will work together with the city despite what happened today but will not take over the crossing guards and will pay something we can afford not what the mayor demands.

I have no issue with Bob's reaction to the bully tactic by Pawlowski, but must note that other school board members were asked not to go public with this development. Another layer on this story is Pawlowski's attempt last spring to load the school board with his chosen picks, through the Citizens For A Better Allentown PAC. After the FBI raid, those endorsed tried to separate themselves from the taint, but that dye still sticks. Another layer is that the Allentown budget supposedly has a $9 million dollar fund gap, which precipitated Pawlowski's strong arming of the school board. So much for the water and sewage lease being a silver bullet.

This story is also being covered by Bernie O'Hare at Ramblings.

Another Department of Parks and Recreation Failure

Ever since Pawlowski's first term, when the Park and the Recreation Departments were merged, our parks have been administered by those with a background in recreation, who have little regard for the parks in themselves. The consequence of this emphasis has been a disaster on the iconic park system. They are just seen as a venue to hold one event after another. Up to this year, not one dollar had been spend on the WPA structures, which anchor every park. Even the traditional recreational assets have been neglected, such as the swimming pools. In 2004, the Trexler Trust commissioned a masterplan for the park system. One of the main conclusions of that expensive report (over $100,000.00) was that Cedar Park was being overused. Unfortunately, we're on our third park director since Mr. Ed's arrival, and that report has been ignored.

This week and weekend the west side of Cedar Park is fenced off to accommodate the Allentown ArtsFest, the alternative kind. Among the alternatives are graffiti, which was left behind on park facilities after last year's event. The park really doesn't need another event. It should have been scheduled for Hamilton Street, which is a ghost town on weekends anyway. It's placement in the park is a failure of both the park department and planning at city hall. Hopefully, when Pawlowski is finally carted away, a new mayor with local roots, will insist on a park department policy more considerate of the traditional park system.

ADDENDUM: Friday Sept.11th. Although I felt that this event should not have been scheduled in the park, the organizers are now dealing with some misfortune. Yesterday's rain flooded the section of the park where they are set up. That may well be another consequence a new park director from out of town, and her staff not familiar with the park system. The area selected for the ArtsFest is the low ground, which always floods in heavy rain.

poster by Steven Leibensperger

Sitting Down With Alan Jennings

I sat down with Alan Jennings yesterday, to discuss some of the criticism coming his way from comments on this blog. He wanted to elaborate on his proposed Inclusionary Housing Policy for the Neighborhood Improvement Zone. Generally, it's the hubris of people of influence to think that if you don't agree with their proposal, you must not fully understand it.  As if on cue,  Jennings started out by handing me a printout of his proposal; Introduction-The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority is dedicated to vibrant, diverse communities where parents can spend time with their children...blah, blah,blah.   In the proposal's details, in addition to making a percentage of the units affordable (5 to 10%), the developer can opt-out, by creating the affordable units elsewhere in the city. These would have to be either through  the Allentown Housing Authority, or any non-profit organization selected by ANIZDA, which is the NIZ board. An obvious question would be if this non-profit would happen to also be Alan's organization? I upped the ante on Alan, and suggested my own molovinsky opt-out recommendation for future apartments in Allentown. As one of my readers recently noted, and I had stated in previous posts,  Allentown apparently already has too much affordable housing.  I believe that Allentown could really improve itself by insisting that builders can only develop new units, by eliminating an equal number of distressed existing units. In a city where many row houses sell for only $20 thousand and less, that would not be an unrealistic burden. After all, if the new units are going to be truly upscale, what's 20K more? Anyway, enough Molovinsky, back to Jennings.

Even though I put aside his printout without looking at it,  Jennings was very open to my questions.   He thinks that people who criticize him for being so corporate, don't understand his strategy for successfully helping people.  He believes that he must interact with the movers and shakers, if he and his organization are going to have the ways and means  to benefit the community.  He defended his falling out with CUNA as having offered that organization his inside status, to achieve the same goals for Allentown's less fortunate. He had requested to be on the NIZ board, through his friendship and rapport with Ed Pawlowski. He claims that his real concern is not the NIZ district itself, but how it affects the greater surrounding neighborhood. He sees himself not as another human services guy, but as an economic developer, for the underclass. He believe that the best way to improve poor intercity neighborhoods is to help the most ambitious of those residents achieve ownership, so that they stay there, and help improve the area, instead of just moving up and out. He seems introspective and somewhat realistic about the NIZ and Allentown. Realism is a relative term, needless to say, he doesn't have my view on things. On the other hand, he is willing to submit himself to a critical blogger like myself,  he called me,  albeit with an agenda.  He offered that I should call him if I have further concerns about anything,  I won't.  He will have to read about them here, just like everybody else.