Storm Over Allentown

With the pending heavy snow today,  City Council has postponed tonight's meeting which might have approved Tom Muller as Managing Director.  More importantly,  Pawlowski's appearance in front of the judge on Friday has also been called off.  There was speculation that Pawlowski might have resigned as mayor at that appearance,  depending on what demands were imposed by the court.

After speaking to several city employees in the last couple days,  I can tell you that these storm related postponements are salt on the city's wounds.  Morale has bottomed out and is only going lower.  The word paralysis was used.   I do not mean to imply that the snow will be not be plowed, or other essential services not performed.  Rather, strategic planning is on hold, with no one at the top to give the go ahead.

While Pawlowski may still receive some personal empathy from a few former supporters,  everybody has requested that he resign from office.   HIs continued refusal to do so illustrates how truly superficial is his regard for Allentown.  

1983 record snow storm in Allentown, Morning Call photo

Pawlowski As A Charlatan

Since Pawlowski's conviction last Thursday I have read numerous articles where people,  even a juror, think that his only fault and mistake was running for Governor and Senator.  If not for needing huge sums of contributions for those campaigns,  he would have remained the savior of Allentown.  While some of these people are under-informed, others are misinformed, and some are actually part of Allentown's ethical problem. Worse, even an article by a Morning Call reporter repeats this nonsense; Allentown residents thought so highly of Pawlowski that last year,... They re-elected him to a fourth term. He only won because it was a three way race, with his support coming from the most uninformed of the voters.

The extensive new construction in Allentown is the result a unique state incentive plan called the NIZ.  While it is occurring in Allentown because of State Senator Pat Browne,  Pawlowski had little more to do with it than you or me.  Because he is mayor,  he was allowed to cut the ribbons,  and claim credit for the new construction,  but it was a gross distortion of the truth.  He did however  hope to capitalize on that distortion and get elected to higher office as a result of the confusion.

Using distortion and confusion comes naturally to Pawlowski.  He never had respect for a level playing field,  and always was willing to step on people to achieve his objectives.  Those who think that his faith based work was sincere,  should remember Jim and Tammy Baker.  Before he had bigger targets to leverage,  he played the small fries off each other.  Over his first few years he took the Hamilton Street cleaning contract away from one small fry to give it to a bigger small fry, who could influence more potential voters. Over the years his fries got bigger, but he remained a small time charlatan. Perhaps the saddest part of the trial was seeing people humiliate themselves by saying that they contributed to Pawlowski because they thought that he would make a good governor or senator.  They didn't have much choice, either humiliate themselves or confess to bribery.

The Pawlowski Aftermath

It was interesting reading the comments on facebook and elsewhere Friday morning. Proclamations of a new day and fresh start, especially by local current politicians, are amusing. I don't know one who wasn't in bed with Pawlowski at one time or another over the years. I don't know one who didn't benefit by those ties. Pawlowski specialized in developing the ties that bind. I was also amused by his sycophants who expressed sympathy to his wife; Lisa Pawlowski was very much part of the insider loop, and exerted herself against his opponents throughout his reign.

Gotta love State Representatives Schlossberg and Schweyer chiming in about moving forward from this painful chapter. They must have forgotten all the yes votes they gave Pawlowski when they served on city council.

Although I appreciated blogger Bernie O'Hare's acknowledgment that this blog first educated him about Pawlowski, I  disagree with him about Bill White occasionally questioning the mayor's motives. Bill White was silent until the FBI raided city hall in 2015.  As a columnist, he had the leeway to question the administration throughout the years. The paper's blatant promotion of the NIZ has been a journalistic compromise. The Morning Call building was included in the NIZ, even though it stood alone across the street from the district. Not only does the paper turn a blind eye toward their obvious  conflict of interest,  but Bill White actually referred to me as misguided in my criticism of the district.

Now that Pawlowski's resignation is inevitable, former supporters are climbing over each other, purporting to be reformers. Ironically, the charter rules may preclude the two most eager candidates, O'Connell and MacLean, from being eligible.  Although Nat Hyman is interested in gauging the temperature, I know back-channel that certain council members have no appetite for that idea. Charlie Thiel may well end up the default candidate, if O'Connell and MacLean are indeed blocked by the city charter.

I would hope that whoever is appointed will come to somewhat resent this blog.  Otherwise, I may not be properly fulfilling its mission.

Welcome to Molovinsky On Allentown. This blog is produced every weekday to illuminate local politics and history.  I am an independent monitor and an occasional activist.  The blog is loyal only to issues, not elected officials. Your comments are welcome and your readership is appreciated.

above photo from The Morning Call

A Window On Pawlowski

By now most followers of Allentown politics know that Ed Pawlowski was found guilty of almost all charges late Thursday afternoon.  Although I'm very mindful of my privacy,  today I will reveal a personal experience with Ed Pawlowski. I make this revelation not to dwell on my reputation, but as a window on his character. Although his sycophants and others may think that his only fault was his political  ambition,  they are mistaken.  Over the years numerous people were bullied by Pawlowski.  Most of them didn't have the voice to speak out.

In 2005, as an independent and the third candidate on the ballot for mayor, I debated Pawlowski and Heydt at the WFMZ studio. After the debate,  an audience member told me that Lisa Pawlowski was telling audience members that I was a slumlord.  Not hearing it myself, I let it drop.  In the beginning of 2008, I conducted a series of SPEAK OUT meetings at an intercity church.  A Morning Call reporter told me after the meeting that when she called Pawlowski for comment,  he told her that I was just a slumlord.  The reality was that I operated buildings between 4th and 12th Streets for decades, without one code violation or tenant complaint. There was absolutely no basis for the untrue slander by Pawlowski, other than a flaw in his character.  At the end of 2008 he repeated the falsehood, but this time in front of me and others outside the city council chamber.  I asked him how he would feel if I told people that he was a corrupt politician?

Over the years this blog has not concerned itself explicitly with the  contributions and corresponding favors which convicted Pawlowski yesterday.  My concern has been the consequences and policies, which have compromised our assets, such as the park system.  My concern is with the unlevel playing field for small business owners.  A comment last night stated that Bernie(O'Hare) and I have been vindicated.  Pawlowski will be gone soon,  but many people who cooperated with him remain, along with the policies they implemented.

The Transfiguration Of Ed Pawlowski

After I read in the paper that Ed Pawlowski's defense attorney asked the jury to send him(Ed) back to the people who so love him and the city he has saved, I realized that Pawlowski must be holy, because he surely didn't save Allentown in a civic sense. Although Jack McMahon tried to convince the jury that Ed was responsible for the NIZ and its new construction, in reality that was a arrangement between Pat Browne and J.B. Reilly. Although it happen on Ed's watch, his only part was to cut a few ribbons. However, both the out-of towners and low information types do think that Pawlowski was responsible, because the true NIZ story is hard to grasp.

Pawlowski was hoping to use this confusion as his ticket to ride out of town, either to Harrisburg or Washington. As it turns out, he will probably get his ticket, but not to where he had hoped.

deity image from Bernie O'Hare's Ramblings

The Corruption Of Allentown Pennsylvania

Whether Mayor Edwin Pswlowski is convicted or not, nobody can have any doubt about the corruption this city has experienced over the last decade. Every contract was negotiated not for the taxpayer's sake, but rather the position of the mayor. These distorted criterion infected every department. Those who follow this blog realize that while both local politics and history are my topics of choice, the park system is my passion.

Although the Cedar Beach Pool contract was investigated as corrupt, it was not the only questionable decision made by the park department under Pawlowski. First and foremost,  two new parcels should have never been purchased; This is the land by Basin Street, and the former fertilizer plant land along Martin Luther King Drive. The existing park system has been neglected since Pawlowski was elected in 2005, with the iconic WPA Stone Structures literally crumbling.

If the administration and city council had taken suggestions made on this blog to heart, the entrance wall of Lehigh Parkway would have never collapsed. I do not possess unique insight, but rather the simple understanding that Allentown has a magnificent park system which needs only to be maintained.

blogger surveying  entrance road wall after it collapsed in Lehigh Parkway

From Homeless To School Director

This is my second post on Ce-Ce Gerlach; The first was this summer, when I covered her block party fundraiser to buy uniforms for the students. Yesterday, I decided to sit down with Ce-Ce and learn more about someone in Allentown's future. She has been instrumental in attempting to share Allentown's good fortune from the arena's NIZ, with the city's less fortunate inter-city residents. Ce-Ce talks their language; She lived in her car for six months, about five years ago. Only 27 years old, she has emerged as a spokeswoman and advocate for Allentown's silent majority. Coming from the poor side of the tracks in Washington D.C., she knows first hand how little of opportunity can spill over from affluence, to a nearby population mired in the poverty cycle. In addition to being a leader on the coalition for community benefit from the NIZ, and the school board, she is on the city's Human Relations Board. She's open to more responsibilities, and even elected offices, in her mission to improve lives in downtown Allentown.
photocredit:Harry Fisher/The Morning Call

above reprinted from December of 2013


UPDATE: February 27,2018   Ed Pawlowski has blocked Ce-Ce's appointment to the Park and Recreation Commission.  In doing so he has further insured that she will be recognized as a reform candidate, and succeed in her quest for City Council in 2019.

Grasping For The Peanut Gallery

When I was a boy the audience at the Howdy Doody Show, comprised of children, was called the Peanut Gallery.  Later that phrase became a metaphor for an unsophisticated group. Wikipedia states that A peanut gallery was, in the days of vaudeville, a nickname for the cheapest and ostensibly rowdiest seats in the theater, the occupants of which were often known to heckle the performers.  Although the defense for Mayor Ed Pawlowski has rested,  Ed keeps reaching out to the local social media groups. Even this past weekend he was putting up links to headlines by his defense attorney that professed his innocence. He is still trying to campaign to his sycophants and assorted sickos.

 I am conscious of the fact that I have written about this phenomena several times already, but I find it fascinating. It reminds me of the disgraced television pastors who suddenly find G-d again.  I believe that Ed may become such a preacher upon his release from prison.