Bob Smith Jr. Times Two

Its been a long time since anybody used a pack of matches to advertise a political campaign. Who knows, maybe with marijuana becoming fashionable, someone will again use a match pack to make a point. Most local politicos know Bob Smith, long time Allentown School Board member. Bob also had a flirtation with city council and running for mayor. He actually sat on council as a appointed member when Spinoza gave up his seat. Pictured on the matches is an earlier Bob Smith Jr., who also ran for several offices, including mayor. The first Bob also owned and operated the diner at 19th and Tilghman Streets for a number of years.


I present this short political history hopefully as a transition from politics to history.  I'm hoping the political commotion in Allentown slows down enough to allow some long overdue history posts.

National Public Radio Confuses Corruptions In Allentown

National Public Radio made an understandable mistake Friday evening,  when they directly combined an outrageous state incentive program, of over a $billion dollars, with Allentown municipal corruption.   Again, it is a natural misunderstanding,  considering the amount of money involved and the greed in Pennsylvania.

The NIZ, the state program designed by state senator Pat Brown, did foster a $billion dollar development at 7th and Hamilton.  That incentive program is morally wrong, untimely with Pennsylvania's financial woes, and based on cronyism,  but is legal. There has been no suggestion of criminal misconduct with any of that development,  they have a license to steal from the taxpayers.

Two blocks away at City Hall,  the mayor, who incidentally was not instrumental in passing the NIZ as reported by NPR,  couldn't stand all that money flowing, without him getting a small taste.  He and his campaign manager decided to bend the arms of normal vendors to city service, who are not directly linked to the NIZ development up the street.

So, the smell of all that money up the street corrupted the mayor, and the custom designed development scheme there should be illegal,  but they remain two separate issues.

Allentown's Homeless Under The Bridge

When the Pawlowski's were crowned in 2006, the homeless were living under the 8th Street Bridge and kids were swimming in Fountain Park Pool, both shown in the old postcard above. While the king set about depreciating the park system, and closing the pool by hiring people with no institutional knowledge of the park system, the queen had a special spot in her heart for the homeless. Though her compassion, her new commission had meetings, but the plight of the homeless never actually improved, being shuttled from one basement floor to another.

This year, an imperfect improvement seemed as if it might help. The changing house at the now abandoned pool was converted into an overnight warming station, complete with beds. Earlier this fall, I complained that because of its remote location,  it was actually an internment camp. Little did I know that unfortunately it was worse than that, because the homeless were forced out Saturday morning into the blizzard. In any direction, it's a very long steep walk to the next shelter from the storm. The director of the Conference of Churches, which manages the facility, explained to The Morning Call; "We did what we were supposed to do and what we are staffed to do," It's not the station's job to remain open during the day — even if there is a blizzard outside.

 In a city with a $Billion Dollars of new development, there is something very sad about this story. At the coming city council meetings,  knowledgeable people will address the council with practical suggestions, about how to address this and other problems. Those sitting up on that dais must start heeding that advise, clearly the existing systems are broken.

Pawlowski Even In Denial About Snowstorm

The Morning Call reports Pawlowski responded to criticism that the city never called a snow emergency prior to the storm. He said one was never called because weather reports didn't indicate heavy snow until three hours prior. Strangely enough, the rest of the United States Eastern seaboard had gotten the warning.

Pawlowski Scandal Rough On Bill White

Bill White, the Morning Call's long time columnist, sat in council chambers last week with a heavy heart.  He's been a staunch supporter of Mayor Pawlowski for all his three terms, and it was painful for him to see one naysayer after another criticize his man.  In White's mind, Pawlowski is the architect of the new Atlantis, aka Allentown's NIZ. He writes in his Sunday column, undeliverable because of snow, the following;

In most respects, this city is much better off than it was when Pawlowski took office. I'm not sure I'd mount his image on a horse next to Gen. Trexler, but perhaps his accomplishments ought to buy him some extra consideration.

 I have thought this over, and think I have a solution for both Ed and Bill.  Perhaps, the General's horse could be named Mayor Ed,  sorta like Roy Rogers' horse had a name.  A plaque could be added to the statue in Trexler Park.

photo attribution: Mr. Ed The Talking Horse

The Psychological Pathology of Pawlowski

In a stunning accusation worthy of inclusion in psychology journals, Ed Pawlowski blames the anti-corruption laws created because of him, for slowing down the workings of city hall.  After Pawlowski corrupted the city contract process, resulting in three FBI indictments so far, Pawlowski claims that the new rules are responsible for reports of inefficiency by city workers.  As someone with many sources in the city,  I can tell you that morale has been decimated since the investigation began in July, long before any new regulations were formulated.  Actually, the work atmosphere with city workers has been tense for years, even long before any of the recent accusations came to light.  Before recent charges of criminality, Pawlowski was well known for being vindictive.

Although, I believed that he wouldn't leave city hall until led out in handcuffs, it's now becoming apparent that he might have to be removed from the building in a straightjacket.

selfie of Pawlowski and United States Secretary of Housing,  taken on Thursday.

Julio Guridy's Confession

                                                                                             photo by molovinsky

Julio Guridy is the longest serving member of the current city council, on at least his fourth term. I didn't attend the council meeting Wednesday night, but according to the Morning Call, Julio's speech was the longest, and today they printed his entire text. Julio essentially said, over and over, that he worked with Pawlowski on city matters for fifteen years, and believes that they both contributed much to the city. However, his statement near the end of rambling speech is startling.

We are the stewards of the city's money. I'll give an example. Just in December, we had a big budget, $100 million budget. And I didn't think it was the right thing to pass that budget. Basically, I thought that budget needed some work. Basically, I disagreed with some of the things, and for the first time since Pawlowski has been mayor, I voted against that budget.

Herein lies the trouble with Guridy and the entire city council. It was the first time Julio voted no against something advocated by Pawlowski. Council is supposed to use their no vote as a strategic negotiating tool to help mold better policy, not just vote, yes, yes, and yes. Guridy may be proud of his service to the city, but one must ask how he justifies only voting no once in twelve years.

EXTRA, EXTRA SPECIAL WEEKEND EDITION POST AT 5:00PM THIS AFTERNOON

Pawlowski's Continuing Damage

In 2006, shortly after Pawlowski started his first term, he hired Francis Dougherty to be Managing Director. In the previous two years, City Council had rejected the idea of changing from a strong mayor system to the manager system, with a ceremonial mayor. So when Pawlowski hired Dougherty, we actually ended up paying for both systems. Additionally, Pawlowski created three other positions which had never before been part of the mayor's office. In 2007, when this blog started, I often wrote about the top heavy 5th floor at City Hall. Last night, Pawlowski had a statement read into the record at Council, which ended with the following statement; I thank you for your consideration and I apologize I am not able to be there personally tonight but am in Washington representing our great city at the US Conference of Mayors. With the dark cloud floating over Pawlowski, we certainly are not being well represented at that conference. If his concern was the city, and not himself, he would have instead sent one of the many underlings he has created to Washington.

Although he will bring no value to us in the conference in Washington this week, he continues to inflict actual damage back here in Allentown. The Parking Authority, and it's director, has been tainted by his involvement in the bid to construct their latest parking deck. In another involvement, the Park Department, and it's director, has been tainted by the recent purchase of the Atiyeh parcels.  It's general knowledge that City Hall and all its departments are more less paralyzed by the current cover your back mentality.

I'm not surprised by his refusal now to put the city first. I opposed him first in 2005 as an independent candidate for mayor, then as a frequent speaker at council, and letter writer to the paper. In 2007, I began this blog, which largely opposed Pawlowski's policies. At that time, Allentown thought he was wonderful, including the local blogosphere. Allentown will survive, until which time he's taken away.