The Art of Jessica Lenard, (1950-2016)

monoprint- Fashion Statement 2

McHistory In Lehigh Valley

Readers of this blog know that I'm upset about what little value history is given in this community.  Yesterday's Morning Call story on the Lehigh Valley Trust Bank building goes a step farther, and significantly alters the story of an important structure.  After reading the Morning Call article, one would think that the bank closed,  Abe Atiyeh purchased it and then sold it to the Jaindls,  who are now opening an event center after restoration.  The real story is so different,  I can only conclude that this current article was only meant as another NIZ promotion, not a serious background of the building.

When the building was purchased by Seigfried Braun, unmentioned in the article,  it had been modernized.  He and his family spend years and most of their assets lovingly restoring it.  The famed skylight and other adornments were covered over decades earlier, by a massive new lowered ceiling.  What you see now is the fruit of his labor. Restoring the skylight alone took over a year.  In addition to that bank,  he also purchased the Dime Bank and the Elks Club.  The Dime Bank has now been incorporated into the new Renaissance Hotel.  The Elks Club was demolished to make way for J.B. Reilly's aborted massive Two Towers project.

Unfortunately, illness forced Mr. Braun to quickly sell these significant structures for pennies on the dollar, to Abe Atiyeh.  We should thank Braun for saving these magnificent structures.  Although, I like to think that my local political opinions have merit,  my better calling is to defend and advocate for local historical structures, when I have the needed endurance.  Meanwhile, I use this blog to present local history, and occasionally point out misconceptions about it.

This piece was inadvertently posted for several minutes yesterday during revisions. 

Lehigh Valley Not Much For History

The Lehigh Valley isn't much on history, neither Allentown or Lehigh County. The 1824 stone arch Reading Road Bridge is only still standing because of my efforts. It's sister bridge from 1828, Schreibers, may now be closed by the State. Since the 15th Street Bridge(Ward Street) was closed for replacement, Schreibers has taken an incredible beating. Although posted for 3 tons, it has been battered by tractor-trailers no less than half a dozen times. In a further assault to the bridge, Allentown dropped the ball, and allowed the State to make Oxford drive/24th Street bridge one way for repairs, increasing the burden on the old stone bridge.

reprinted from September of 2013

UPDATE JANUARY 2017:  Although, the new 15th Street Bridge opened about 18 months ago,  Allentown has yet to repair the smashed walls on the Martin Luther King side of Schreibers bridge.  In fairness to Allentown, they were repaired once during the closure of the 15th Street Bridge, but then were smashed again.  Now that the 15th Street Bridge is complete, it's way overdue for the city to make final repairs on the historical bridge walls.  

Downhill On Lehigh Street

During the early 1970's, Allentown demolished the entire neighborhood between Union and Lawrence Streets. It was, in a large part, home to the black community. How ironic that we destroyed the cohesion of a neighborhood, but renamed Lawrence Street after Martin Luther King. The only remnant of the neighborhood is the St. James A.M.E. Church. Going up the hill today we now have a vacant bank call center on the east, and the Housing Authority Project on the west. A whole neighborhood existed in from both sides of Lehigh Street, including black owned shops. The houses were old and humble, but people owned them, many for generations. Some blacks at the time wondered if the project was Urban Renewal or Negro Removal?

reprinted from January 2011


The bank call center referred to above is now Building 21, Allentown School District's own alternative charter like high school.

The Color Line Of Allentown's NIZ

I do not purport to be politically correct.  However, I do have some grasp of Allentown's realities.  Before the former merchants and their clientele were removed from Hamilton Street, for the arena and NIZ development, I called the emerging program classist.  When I debated the issue on channel 69, the NIZ proponent referred to the former merchants and their customers as a cancer.

In yesterday's post, I predicted that the former demographic, mostly black and hispanic,  would again dominate, after the initial wave of gentrification in the new district failed to sustain itself.  A local black entrepreneur, Alfonso Todd, reminded me in a comment that they too are millennials.

Yesterday, when I wrote that I don't believe that gentrification will succeed in Allentown,  that really referred to a mostly white, middle class enclave feeling comfortable at 7th and Linden Streets.  I believe that Todd sees more of an integrated grouping.  I believe for that to happen, the minority middle class would have to be substantially larger.  He believes that a larger event calendar would facilitate more urbanization.  I can see that, but I'm not sure that it would translate into more actual middle class center city residents.  I hope that he's correct, because his vision would be much more successful in the long term than mine.

I know that there are others who could approach this topic with more sensitivity, and perhaps in a more colorblind fashion.  However, the best I can do is provide a forum for the uncomfortable truths among us.

Todd at one of many events he promoted, photo by molovinsky

The Reality Of Revitalization In Allentown

The Morning Call reported that the proprietor of Sage is closing his two stores on the ArtsWalk to concentrate  on internet sales. Although it's true that online sales have deeply affected brick and mortar retail,  that is not a new revelation.  What is not discussed in the article is the reality of downtown's demographic; It's the same poor crowd walking among the new buildings.  Just as Shula's couldn't serve enough $50 steaks in that environment, nor can Sage sell $75 designer jeans.  Although J.B. Reilly induced his upscale merchants with discount rents,  he can't  upgrade the shoppers;  He can't put money in the their pockets.

Reilly is hoping that his Strata Loft buildings eventually house enough millennials to support upscale commerce.  However, until and unless that happens,  both the stores and restaurants will have to adapt to market realities to survive.  The new Rite-Aid is doing well,  as it did on Hamilton Street, before the revitalization.  Just as Shula's was replaced with a lower price point eatery,  we will see Sage replaced with a downgrade.

I don't have faith that Reilly's millennial migration will succeed. I don't have faith that Allentown is a candidate for gentrification. I think that all too soon he will be renting to the same demographic that lived there before his new buildings.  At that point,  the Morning Call will be promoting that reality as diversity.  Now don't feel bad for Reilly,  either way, he has a new real estate portfolio, paid for by the taxpayers.

Pawlowski's Budget Victory

Although the budget compromise is being portrayed as a win/win,  it is anything but that.

I know Pawlowski.  Although independent candidates don't fare well in elections,  they learn a lot about their opponents during a campaign.  As an independent candidate for mayor in 2005,  I suffered through 28 campaign events with Ed.  In my informed opinion,  he prevailed in the current budget compromise.  The salary increases were mostly restored, and as for council having more voice in choosing the Community Development Director,  they always had the final say.  But, here's what the public doesn't know.

Pawlowski's guy,  Michael Walker, is still retained as Operations Manager.  Although the mayor's friend, Candida Affa, says that there is a side agreement that he will eventually leave,  this is currently unconfirmed. More so, what she and nobody else disclosed, is that Walker is mostly a no-show employee.  I have been told by several reliable sources that nobody sees him,  and some key employees in city hall have never even met him.  We taxpayers have been paying a substantial salary ($90,000+) for nothing,  and will continue to do so under the new budget.  Pawlowski has beaten council and his distractors down so much, for so long,  that they consider anything less than his complete victory a winning compromise.

Obama's Pogrom Against Israel

Yesterday, Obama told Israel,  through his spokesman John Kerry, that Israel must decide if it's going to be Jewish or a democracy, and that it can't be both in its current  one state solution. Could you imagine him saying that to one of the Arab countries,  that they either have to be Muslim or democratic, but they can't be both.  This man has outright contempt for Israel.  Israel is concerned with survival.  Perhaps Obama needs to spend a few nights in Chicago's hood,  and learn what it's like to live in danger.

Kerry spent an agonizing seventy four minutes trying to justify throwing Israel under the bus at the UN.  In his drawn out speech, he inadvertently touched on some of the harsh realities of life in Israel.  While praising the United States for providing the Iron Dome, he mentioned that it saved countless Israeli lives.  Later in the speech, he said that a Palestinian state on the West Bank must not be hostile, like Gaza.  What a leap of faith that would take.  What words ever came out of Palestinian mouths to reassure Israel?  He even stated that a two state solution would stabilize a volatile region.  Does he know a place in the middle east that is calm.  Does he think that the carnage in Allepo has anything to do with Israel?  A Secretary of State who has accomplished nothing in the middle east, now in his last three weeks in office, knows the solution for Israel and the middle east.

While Kerry said that peace cannot be imposed,  he had no trouble  imposing a rebut of Israel.  He stated that his plan was approved by the world stakeholders.  In truth, the only real stakeholders are Israel and the Palestinians.  Kerry must know more than Netanyahu and Abbas.

I will not list and discuss his six point plan.  He started his speech by stating that the United States would be derelict if it didn't tell its friend the hard truth.  An hour and fourteen minutes later, he concluded the long speech by saying that in good conscience, the United States cannot do nothing. He  and Obama are neither a good friend, nor have a conscience about Israel.

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