Yom Kippur 1973

On Yom Kippur in 1973 Egypt and Syria surprised Israel with a coordinated attack on two fronts. 80,000 Egyptian troops overran Israel's Bar Lev defensive line in the Sinai. 175 shells per second rained down on Israel's 500 defenders from 2000 Egyptian artillery pieces. On the Golan, Israeli tanks were outnumbered by the Syrians ten to one. It took Israel two full days, and thousands of casualties, to mobilize. By the time a truce went into effect three weeks later, Israeli commanders had marched within 25 miles of Damascus, and 63 miles of Cairo.

Shown above General Ariel Sharon with Defense Minister Moshe Dyan in Egypt 

This post is a reprint form September of 2012, and has been pre-scheduled on Tuesday afternoon to appear early Wednesday morning.

As Allentown Turns

Allentown City Council was confronted last week by an out of town advocacy group, upset that someone was pushed to the ground after getting in a policeman's face.  The real threat to Allentown was that nobody in that neighborhood would cooperate with the police, even though they were called to the area with a disturbance report.

Allentown city zoners approved J.B. Reilly's new project at 8th and Walnut, a parking deck and apartment combined project.  Of course the only real news would be if the zoners didn't approve a Reilly project.

Talking about real news,  last night Business Matters had their show on Fake News.  After Dean Browning realized that Bernie O'Hare would try to dominate the conversation every time Iannelli looked their way,  he went on to steal the show, having actual examples to illustrate his points.  Mark Cohen, president of the state media association, could only keep repeating that reporters care about their communities, and are soccer dads like everyone else.

Roughing Up Nothstein

Although it may not have been intentional, The Morning Call roughed up Nothstein this past week with a one-two punch.  First they did an article on the Monmouth Poll putting Wild ahead.  That's fair, assuming the poll is legitimate,  but they couldn't refrain from mentioning allegations against Nothstein, which they later in the article revealed have been dismissed.  Besides demeaning a candidate, why keep rehashing any allegation which was determined to have no substaniation?  The second consecutive blow was about contributions to female candidates,  which of course excluded Nothstein getting any equal press attention.

While the second article may have been innocent enough,  following the first,  it gave one candidate a press push over the other.  As a former candidate myself who was treated  unfairly by The Morning Call in 2005,  I remain sensitive about equal press treatment.

Of course now in this era of Trump,  perhaps equal treatment is a passé concept. We're in an era when senators want to hold up a judicial appointment because of an alleged high school groping incident.

Public Policy and The Media In Allentown

In 2005, mayoral candidate Ed Pawlowski gave a press conference at a house in the 400 block of Liberty Street. He praised the renovated house being occupied, as typifying his vision of Allentown moving forward. The Morning Call reporter, Daryl Nerl, wrote a glowing story. I decided to research the property. It turns out that the house was passed back and forth between two low income housing agencies for six years. (Pawlowski had been Director of the Alliance for Building Communities, a low income housing agency). After the six years it was "sold" to a low income couple who defaulted on the easy loan, but also destroyed the renovated house in the process. After six more years, two more agencies, and another renovation, Pawlowski gave his press conference.

At my press conference, also attended by the media, I spelled out the problem; Twelve years, no taxes, two renovations and two unqualified "buyers" attracted to Allentown by these give away programs at the expense of the tax paying homeowners. Channel 69 ran the story, but nothing in the Morning Call. I asked Daryl if he thought the story would resonate with the public? He replied that it certainly would. I asked if he was going to print the story before the election? The story never appeared.

photo: Channel 69, Liberty Street Press Conference

reprinted from October of 2009

Payday In Allentown Arrest

SPECIAL EDITION

The victim who challenged an Allentown Police officer to a fistfight and was restrained and arrested, has already lawyered up. Attorney Goldman and his high power assistant, former local lawyer John Karoly, attended the council meeting last night. Don't be surprised if Allentown ends up forking over some of our tax dollars in a settlement.

Although molovinsky on allentown is short staffed today, this post will be updated later this afternoon.

A Personal Memoir

I'm not sure memoir is a good title, rather than facts and records, I have hazy recollections. Assuming my memory will not improve at this stage of the game, let me put to print that which I can still recall. In about 1958 my father built Flaggs Drive-In. McDonalds had opened on Lehigh Street, and pretty much proved that people were willing to sit in their cars and eat fast food at bargain prices. For my father, who was in the meat business, this seemed a natural. As a rehearsal he rented space at the Allentown Fair for a food stand, and learned you cannot sell hotdogs near Yocco's. He purchased some land across from a corn field on Hamilton Blvd. and built the fast food stand. In addition to hamburgers, he decided to sell fried chicken. The chicken was cooked in a high pressure fryer called a broaster, which looked somewhat like the Russian satellite Sputnik. The stand did alright, but the business was not to my father's liking, seems he didn't have the personality to smile at the customers. He sold the business several years later to a family which enlarged and enclosed the walk up window. Subsequent owners farther enlarged the location several times. The corn field later turned into a Water Park, and you know Flaggs as Ice Cream World.

I'm grateful to a kind reader who sent me this picture of Flaggs

reprinted from previous years

Allentown Is Circling The Drain

When the Allentown Police responded to a report of domestic disturbance this past weekend, no one in the neighborhood would cooperate.  Instead, as they were preparing to leave the area, they were confronted by someone who challenged an officer to a fist fight.  When the aggressor wouldn't stand down, the officer pushed him.

This evening Make The Road Pennsylvania,  a Reading based Latino advocacy group,  will be protesting at the city council meeting.  They claim that "We need to show solidarity in support of ending police brutality.”

Everyone would be better off if the Latino group, instead of wallowing in a victim mentality, concerned themselves with the lack of cooperation and respect for law enforcement,    One of their victim's excuses was that the police were parking on a member of his family's private property.  In more civilized neighborhoods, police responding to a problem would be appreciated.  When a group defends inappropriate behavior,  they only encourage more of it.

Apparently, Allentown is quickly degrading to the point where whole neighborhoods don't respect law and order.  Although this has happen in many large urban areas, at least they have some architectural history,  culture and other redeeming qualities, few of which are present in Allentown.

Hopefully, our elected leadership will not cave in, and not endorse our city's own demise.

ADDENDUM: Although last evening was not a regular council meeting, the Reading group was never the less allowed ten minutes complaint time, and invited to return to a regular meeting. News reports indicate that they tried to connect the arrest to a pattern linked to the tragic shooting at Dorney Park. The public alley was again referred to as private property, somehow trying to justify encountering the police.

Broad Street mural shows just a few of the policemen killed in Philadelphia

As Allentown Turns On Tuesdays

Probably the most wholesome news in a long time was Elton starting off his farewell tour in Allentown.  The concert sold out immediately and set a record for attendance.

The warming station for the homeless found funding this year with help from a Bill White column and a very generous anonymous donor  Just a few years ago Lisa Pawlowski was in charge of Allentown's homeless initiatives.  Ironically, she is now soliciting funds for her husband's legal expenses.

Another police confrontation controversy is brewing, this time in Allentown.  Seems as if another person thinks that he can get in a cops' face with no consequence.  He claims that he didn't like the way the police were talking near children, so he decided to challenge one officer to a fist fight.  Although he only got pushed to the ground for his aggressive challenge,  a protest rally is being organized for tomorrow's council meeting.  These groups, rather than worry about racism and brutality, would serve their public better by teaching civility.  

 Shown above in the postcard was the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station, which was built over the Jordan Creek.  The remaining former train station, on lower Hamilton Street, belonged to The New Jersey Central Railroad.