South Whitehall's Backscratchers

South Whitehall, as a consequence of uncontested elections for commissioner seats, now has a government of exchanged favors.  While Wehr's Dam demolition is being put to a disingenuous referendum to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy,  they are wasting money repaving streets that were in good shape. They paved in front of Temple Beth El on Yom Kippur, and even came into the synagogue to tell the worshippers to move their cars.  Because a truck parked in front of a commissioner's building,  they banned on street truck parking.  They then created a truck parking zone, by permit only, in front of the new state enforcement building behind K Mart.  When it was revealed that the State Police will not allow parking there for security reasons, the commissioners went ahead and passed the new truck parking ordinance anyway;  Talk about Catch 22!

If you're a South Whitehall resident and would like to complain about any one of these absurdities, be prepared to wait several hours at the meetings. South Whitehall is the only municipality in the valley which puts courtesy of the floor at the end of the meeting.

BONUS POST THIS EVENING AT 5:03 PM

Election 2016, Foaming At The Mouth

A reader stated at a recent post that he thought things would be dull here, if I didn't allow commenters to banter back and forth.  What I think is dull is seeing a long comment section of two people having their own conservation, especially when they're anonymous.  But, on the topic of dull, I present my 17th post on the incivility of this election.

I have a facebook friend who can't stop complaining about Trump.  She couldn't be more offended if he had grabbed her crotch.  What she will do with that outrage come November 9th, who knows?  She might have to become a blogger.  What started me off for this new post was Morgan Freeman and Colin Powell's endorsement of Clinton.  Morgan narrates Hillary's latest campaign ad, with his iconic voice.  Colin, describing himself as a Republican, came out for Clinton.  Of course, he also came out for Obama in 08 and 12.  He seems to be a Republican in registration only.

Pictured above,  college educated soccer mom thinking about Donald Trump.

LCA's Drinkable Blend

Long time readers of this blog know that I have been raging against the valley's sacred cows for decades. I complained when Donny Cunningham  pimped our water. We now have multiple bottlers, which steal our water, but provide few jobs. I complained when he invited Ocean Spray and their highly acidic discharge here. They couldn't even meet New Jersey's pollution standards. I raged against the sewage overflowing into Lehigh Parkway, and documented races and marathons, held in feces and toilet paper infested areas next to the creek. I criticized the hypocrites called the Wildlands Conservancy, for tearing down scenic dams, but remaining silent about the sewage.

It turns out now that the silent yuppies are finally stirred up. Joyce Marin, who has made a career out of farmland preservation and other popular environmental fads, is upset because the LCA wants to blend a little sewage into the Little Lehigh. The LCA has been on a program to save a drop of waste water, here and there. The thinking is that if you save enough drops, perhaps they can avoid a real fix, like properly sizing their pipes and treatment facilities. For that reason, South Whitehall just made all their homeowners close off their floor drains, which were a required safeguard when the houses were built. LCA's scientist, shown above, has determined that you can drink a few parts of sewage per million, and not drop dead. A drop here and a drop there, will save an expensive pipe replacement.

A Day In Pennsyltucky

Only in Pennsyltucky is the former Attorney General lead away in handcuffs, while the Vice President calls himself one of us. Although, I keep wanting to turn my attention to some local annoyances, the absurdity of this election cycle keeps grabbing my attention.  Today, a new ad for Kate McGinty featured Joe Biden telling his fellow Pennsylvanians how he is one of us. Joe lived here until he was 10 years old.

More troubling is the Obamas' campaigning against Trump.  I wish some of Michelle's outrage concerned the Christian children of Mosul, who are being brutally murdered.  She, like her husband, has the speech thing perfected, but they're both  misguided with their empathy.

Coming to the big screen soon will be the story of Kathleen Kane. In a story which reads like a movie script, she was finally sentenced yesterday, but not before she and her identical twin sister forced two State Supreme Court Justices to resign,  for emailing pornography within the court system.

Mud Wrestling And Politics

Seasoned readers of this blog know that I'm not shy about criticizing officials or policy, when I feel that things are not in the public's best interest. Aggressive as that may be, I am offended by smear tactics and negative campaigning. Certainly, the Trump/Clinton campaigns have been self-described as nasty, and I expect and accept that blood letting. Trump was known as a brawler, and behind those  easy smiles, the Clintons have a long time reputation for viciousness. Locally, I've never seen so much continuous television advertising, nor the low smears being used by McGinty against Pat Toomey.

The national polling released on Friday shows that Trump may have weathered the mud storm. Although, many voters feel that when it came to women in his past that he was no gentleman, they are more concerned about their own future, and change in Washington.

Pundits believe that Toomey's fate lies in Clinton's margin of victory in Pennsylvania. They assume that Clinton will carry the state, and McGinty with her, if she wins by five or six points.

If voters have indeed become immune to mud and sexual escapades, Trump's chances will probably only improve between now and November 8th.  With the news from Iraq, and a lackluster economy, security and prospersity are messages that resonate.

When Allentown Worked

Regular readers of this blog know that I often visit Allentown's better days of the past. I even belong to a nostalgia group, where someone recently asked where everyone's parents worked. Many group members are in their 50's and 60's. Here was the question; When we grew up the best jobs for our dad's was the Bethlehem steel and mack trucks unless they were lawyers or doctors or had another profession occupation I know my my mom worked in a factory all her life and I think most of them have closed. Where did you mom and dad work and are the companies are open? Over 90 people responded, actually constituting a survey. In current Allentown, this would be a study, which taxpayers would have to pay for; Here, it's on the house, no charge. Fourteen of the fathers worked at Bethlehem Steel, while five worked at Mack Trucks, and five worked retail on Hamilton Street. The others worked at Allentown's many other industries, one or two here and there. Only two respondents said that their fathers weren't much for working. Twenty mothers were stay at home, while eight worked in various sewing factories. The remainder worked as teachers, nurses, factory workers and various other jobs. One person wrote, "My parents sound like the scene you described. My dad worked at Beth Steel and my mom at Penn State Mills on a sewing machine. They owned their own home and sent me to college where I graduated without the burden of a loan. Thanks, Mom and Dad." Shown above was the General Electric plant on S. 12th Street, just beyond the old Mack 5C.
reprinted from November of 2013.

ADDENDUM: There is a current proposal to convert the enormous Adelaide Mill into apartments. Although, we hear catch words like loft and middle class, that won't happen; The size and location of the building, along with the developer's MO, dictate more young, single mothers and children, living in a former factory now broken up into a cheap urban motel. There is something ironic about a former place of production now being a warehouse for people. There is something sad about a city looking upon these conversions as progress.

Rumble In Sin City

Trump's fight in Las Vegas with Hillary Clinton didn't end at 10:30pm.  After the debate, he was bashed endlessly by both MSNBC and CNN.  None of their combined commentators could get over the fact that he said that he would have to evaluate the results election night, before accepting them.  I suppose that if he didn't make that statement,  they would have found something else with which to beat him up.

Overall, putting aside that media bias, I think that Trump actually did pretty well.  Although Hillary's free college sounds wonderful to the entitlement crowd,  who would pay for it was never addressed.  Although, Trump lacks the debate skills to emphasize the shortcomings of Hillary's plans,  he did manage to suggest that her policies on immigration and refugees could create problems.   He also did fairly well with his premise that there is a gap between her rhetoric and her results. Hillary did well, with some help from Trump himself,  questioning his temperament. 

I believe that the mythical, undecided voter no longer exists.  After the debate, not one word by the pundits  centered on Trump's treatment of women.  By that shift alone,  Trump won.

Pawlowski's Defiance

According to Emily Opilo of The Morning Call, Ed Pawlowski has gone ahead and hired Michael Walker for de-facto head of Community Development,  even though his appointment was rejected by city council.  Pawlowski implemented this end run by designating Walker as Operations Manager. The operation manager position was created when the previous director was also working officially with the NIZ.

There is actually two factors involved in this defiance. The first is that a historically passive city council allowed city hall to get top heavy.  While there are less indians than ever, there are still as many or more chiefs.  The second factor also involves council's passivity. Opilo also writes, Most council members were initially hesitant to make any public moves against Pawlowski. Two months after the investigation was revealed, council signed off on Pawlowski's pick for finance director and also approved his 2016 budget with minimal pushback.   I have always been amazed at council's refusal to use various funding approvals as a negotiating tool to assert themselves as a check and balance on policy. Consequently, over the years,  I and others have described council as a rubber stamp.

Unfortunately, even under the current environment, Pawlowski  holds sway over the majority of council. While several council members are still known essentially as supporters,  Pawlowski still has strong influence over the majority of members.  Besides his known supporters, at least two more members benefit from either city employment or property. It takes only four votes to get your way in Allentown.

ADDENDUM: Pawlowski may be proving that you don't even need four votes to get your way in Allentown.