Bill White's Elephant

In Bill White's recent column on the upcoming Democratic primary, he fails to mention the elephant in the news room.  He gives Pawlowski some of the credit for the redevelopment of downtown, but doesn't specifically mention the NIZ and J.B. Reilly.  This is a real omission,  because Reilly now literally owns the Morning Call building, and most of the developable real estate in the NIZ.  I see no relationship to the NIZ by Pawlowski.  It was created by Pat Browne.  I would bet that J.B. knew about the proposal long before Pawlowski.  Although, it occurred on Pawlowski's watch, and they allowed him to cut a few ribbons,  he was not involved in its inception or implementation.  As proof of his irrelevance to the NIZ,  not one of the FBI's accusations against the Pawlowski administration involve any NIZ projects.

I do not believe that Reilly owning the newspaper building in itself negates the paper's ability to deliver NIZ news. Another article on the NIZ in Thursday's paper spells out how Reilly received the overwhelming majority of the program's tax benefit toward his debt service.  However,  considering White's continuous defense of all things NIZ, a fuller disclosure was in order.

Allentown Cheerleading

There's a young Allentown cheerleader I sparred with several times on facebook. Yesterday, he found and posted a list which rated Allentown as one of the top five midsize cities in the northeast to visit. How silly is that? I drive all around Allentown, including Hamilton Street, several times a week. Can you imagine how disappointing it would be to actually take a vocation to Allentown based on that article? The list was created by some travel outfit called RewardExpert.

Now, I understand how such a list gets created. Some young person gets an assignment, and bases the article on other articles that he has read,  without ever visiting the town himself.  But how does the cheerleader, who actually lives here, take pride in such nonsense? Now, that's not to say that Allentown isn't improving, but to be a vocation destination?

Gethsemane 1934

Maria Magdalene (Mary Magdalene) is the Russian Orthodox Church located on the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem.
The church is dedicated to Miryam of Migdal, a follower of Jesus. Maria Magdalene was the first to see Christ after he was resurrected, and was a crucial and important disciple of Jesus, and seemingly his primary female associate, along with Mary of Bethany, whom some believe to have been the same woman.
The church was built in 1886 by Tzar Alexander III as a commemoration for his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, in the traditional tented roof Russian style, including seven onion shaped golden domes. Photograph dates from 1934

reprinted from April 2015

Mr. Molovinsky, That's Being Very Insensitive

Recently, I got a call from a valued reader saying I was being culturally rude in a post.  He was alarmed because I was quoting someone  he considers biased against a certain group.  He asked me several times how I would feel if someone was making a comment that I considered anti-semitic.  Although, I was glad to discuss the issue with him,  he overestimates my sensitivity.

Here in the blogosphere, anonymous is the comment name of choice.  Most people aren't willing to own their own words, even when they're being politically correct.  However,  anonymous said allows them to really let loose.  Some bloggers allow anonymous, but then reprimand their commenters when they insult someone.  Here at molovinsky, I allow registered pseudonyms.

Now, there is nothing wrong with people who have manners, but chances are they will not become bloggers.

The Hope of Marine Le Pen

With the exception of Israel, this blog seldom goes outside of the USA.  I mention Israel, because today I write about Marine Le Pen,  who is being compared to Donald Trump,  as France's populist candidate. Marine Le Pen is a French nationalist who wants to divorce France from the European Union.  She wants to reestablish her country's borders and currency. She wants to unlink their destiny with Brussels and Berlin, especially in regard to immigrants and refugees. Le Pen heads the far right National Front Party.  The party was led by her father for decades,  who was known for his anti-semitic statements.

Marine's rising popularity is tied to increasing fear about the unassimilated Muslim minority, and the radicalization therein.  That radicalization has resulted in lethal attacks against the general population, and Jews in particular.  Le Pen would minimize immigration,  and greatly restrict refugees.  She openly considers France a Christian nation.  She would ban Hijabs, and expect Jews to sacrifice yarmulkas, instead using hats for religious head covering.  She would ban dual citizenship outside of Europe, which would mean that some French Jews could no longer also maintain Israeli citizenship.  While such proposed restrictions alarm most French Jews, there are those among them that find the status quo more dangerous.  Complete religious freedom doesn't mean much if you're being run down by trucks or shot in Jewish Day Schools.

Unlike Trump, Le Pen is seasoned in politics and is articulate.  The French election involves two rounds, with the first occurring this month.  The top two vote getters face off in May.

Pawlowski's Immigrants

Yesterday, Pawlowski announced The Mayor's Office of Immigration Services in the city's Alliance Hall.  I have reported previously that Pawlowski is courting the small migrant groups in Allentown, and has provided them with  space in the city owned building. Among those groups were new Liberian and Kenyan organizations.

The immigration help center may jeopardize Allentown's federal block grant funds. Pawlowski claims that those funds are marginal anyway. In years past he had a designated employee who processed an elaborate application process from various agencies, which was an annual tradition since his first term in 2006.  Those funds might be marginal to the city, but they are primary to various agencies which depend on them to operate.

He now states that "We can't have a large portion of our citizenship living in fear," I don't know how many people, if any, Pawlowski's action will actually save from deportation. With our Democratic City Council he will probably get away with this election stunt.  I do know that there are other fears in Allentown, such as fear of crime.  There's even the fear of bad local government.

Pawlowski's Patronage Positions

During the mayoral campaign of 2005 I was aghast at Pawlowski's blatant acts of pandering. He would point out to the audience and say "There's a man who will work at city hall if I'm elected"., "That woman will be at city hall if you elect me"; even the person who carried his briefcase during the campaign now works at city hall. Although I will not reveal the names or positions of these individuals, let me assure you their jobs are by no means necessary, and we would all be better off with a few more police officers. This brings me to an article in today's Morning Call, that Louie Belletieri is resigning his unnecessary job, because he couldn't handle the frustration with City Hall's slow pace and bureaucracy. Fortunately for Pawlowski, the reporter doesn't realize that as Director of Community Development under Afflerbach, Pawlowski implemented and spend $3 million dollars remodeling city Hall to make it efficient and business friendly. Although this past October, Pawlowski hired a second coordinator to help people through the city permit process, and Louie said "it's not like the real world," the mayor hopes to refill the "position" as soon as possible. It's not the real world.

REPRINTED FROM DECEMBER 18, 2007 

UPDATE: Pawlowski would go on to his second, third and now attempted fourth term, and really show Allentown what patronage can be. Now wounded by the federal investigation, he's hoping that his handout of jobs and promises to the little people will be enough to cobble together a victory this coming May.

The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with mayor for life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was too large, it has failed, to this day, to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners, who then could have expanded the area.

reprinted yearly since 2010