Have Gun Will Travel

Allentown's former police chief, Joel Fitzgerald,  has landed yet another position.  Pawlowski had chosen him after a national search.  While here, his son got a job with the county jail,  and was then arrested for pointing a gun at county detectives.  With the help of high powered Philly lawyer Jack McMahon he was acquitted, and now has sued the county for false arrest.

Papa Fitzgerald was hired, apparently with no public vetting, from Fort Worth, as the new police commissioner of Baltimore.  A former officer in Fort Worth said that Baltimore couldn't have hired a more unqualified person.

Papa now claims that he will try and bring healing to Baltimore.  Hope that he is more successful with that than he was here or in Texas.

A Blogger and Lanta

In China, bureaucrats who underperform are executed, here in the Lehigh Valley they are submitted to me. Yesterday, the public was invited to participate in the transportation study by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission; I was the public. Because Lanta is one component of the Valley's transportation, I chose to address my concerns with that organization. After being told I was off topic, since I was the extent of the public, I decided to ignore their request and continued speaking. Although, I never have revealed this before, I have a degree in communications. I challenge all readers to go the Commission's site and figure out the proper topic of yesterday's hearing. (they control $millions of your tax dollars) Not one member of the board (at least 15 people) said one word  after I spoke... So much for public participation, the $thousands of our money they spent advertising in obscure legal journals, their legal requirement was met.

reprinted from November of 2007

ADDENDUM: The meeting referenced above was covered by Dan Hartzell, Road Warrior columnist for the Morning Call at that time. Hartzell didn't write one word about my confrontation with the planners. I realized that he was dependent upon Lanta for much of the information he conveyed in his column. This isn't meant as a criticism of Hartzell, but rather the Morning Call, which still goes along to get along.

The Devil Of Ocean Paradise

The resort town's boardwalk is partially open during the cold winter months for the hardy of spirit.  The stores that remain open were purchased mostly by middle eastern immigrants, who overpaid for their piece of the American dream in the dying resort.  Their mortgage demands every nickel they can muster,  and their large families are eager to practice their broken English on the few customers willing to brave the boardwalk's cold winter wind.

All their stores sell the same things...  brightly colored candy, souvenirs and small toys designed to make children nag and beg.  Along with the stores there is a strip of game stands, where during the warm summer breezes,  fathers and boyfriends hope to win a stuffed animal.  During the winter, the steel garage doors are closed on all these stands, except for one.  The immigrants with their broken English cannot lure in players, but the Devil can.

Oversized brightly colored stuffed animals adorn the stand. Music from the 70's pulses from one loud speaker,  while the Devil commands the occasional passing man to "show her that you care by winning a bear."  Please don't misunderstand me, he is not Satan himself, but a minor devil.  He can give you a cold, or ruin a first date,  but he has no power over life and death.  Even those he afflicts can purchase redemption. Inside the stores there are chocolate wafers for sale,  covered with white candy sprinkles.  For a mere $26 a pound, the bad omen can be eaten away.

This minor devil came from Coney Island a decade ago.  Brooklyn's Brighton Beach area started gentrifying in the late 90's, and the dress up spread to adjoining Coney.  Doc, the minor devil, thrived on hearty spirits, but not heady minds.  His move to Ocean Paradise was a win-win.  While the owning immigrant gets to keep almost all the money the stand takes in,  Doc gets to dispense a headache or two each weekend.  He has a room at a nearby old motel owned by the same family, and enjoys the middle eastern food that he has eaten since time immemorial.

If you walk on the boardwalk during the winter, you better dress warm, and not be tempted to show her that you care.

photo depiction of a fictional place and character

Congratulations Congresswoman Wild

As I posted before the election, I'm not much for making endorsements. Although, I did make two recommendations, neither was for the congressional race. Considering that Susan Wild will be representing us come January for two years, I'm glad that she also won the special election to fill Dent's remaining 6 weeks... It will provide continuity for both Congresswoman Wild and the voters. 

In her special election victory she defied some local pundits, who assumed that the temporary seat in the old 15th District would remain in Republican hands. In this bloggers opinion, the dual victory seals the legitimacy of her victory, regardless of redistricting.

 Congresswoman Wild, congratulations.

photocredit:Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call

Big Boys Don't Cry

Although the Lehigh Valley didn't make Amazon's short list, Donny Cunningham delivered for the local big boys with our pitch. After the airport's parcel, now being developed by Majestic Reality, he pitched Reilly's City Center and Jaindl's waterfront. He also pitched another parcel by Jaindl out toward Macungie.

When Cunningham isn't enjoying his gig as CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, he fronts a band, also called Cunningham and Associates.

Amazon Burps America

For two years Amazon burped over 235 mayors across American to spit up more generous incentives than their competition, in order to win the vaulted second headquarters... Newark offered $7Billion.  While the mayors burped their hearts out for Mr. Bezos, in the end he divided the prize in two, but keep the whole incentives. While the winners, NYC and Arlington, will give $billions in credits and grants,  there are no guarantees, but one, from Amazon.

The one thing Amazon guarantees is the further demise of retail, and the tax base in our cities across America.

One of the factors was supposed to be cost of living for the employees. In NYC, a one bedroom apartment hovers at about $3,000, and rising, with both Amazon and Google on the horizon.

Arlington is across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.  I didn't know what to expect from the Washington Post about the decision, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos also owns the paper.  Apparently, they decided the decision gave the Post an opportunity to appear fair and balanced,  mentioning some negatives in Amazon's contest.

The Morning Call has filed a right to know in regard to the incentives Pennsylvania offered.  The state is resisting,  claiming the offer is proprietary, because of offers to future employers.  I think the taxpayers should know how good our baby politicians can burp.

Merry Pawlowski

Last night, as I went to sleep concerned about the impropriety of The Morning Call featuring Pawlowski's picture on the city map, little did I know I would awake to another full page picture of the mayor on the cover of the Entertainment Section. It's time for me to get with the program. I wish you a Happy Pawlowski Day, and next month, when it beginning to look a lot like Pawlowski, may you have a Merry Pawlowski and Happy Pawlowski Year!

 reprinted from November of 2008 


ADDENDUM: molovinsky on allentown was warning readers since its inception in 2007 that the Morning Call was cheerleading for someone with less merit than they thought. Although, for several years I was an isolated voice on this topic, standing alone has never deterred me.

A Tailor From North Street

The Allentown Housing and Development Corp. recently purchased a home at 421 North St. That block of North Street was destroyed by fire, and the agency has built a block of new houses on the street's south side; it will next develop the other side of the street. The deed transfer caught my attention because Morris Wolf lived in the house in 1903. Wolf signed up with the Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry on July 18, 1861, in Philadelphia, when he was 22 years old. He was a private in Company A, of the 3rd Cavalry. This unit was also known as the 60th Regiment and was later called Young's Kentucky Light Cavalry.It defended Washington, D.C., until March 1862, then participated in many of the war's most famous battles: Williamsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Wolf had signed up for three years and was mustered out Aug. 24,1864.

Recently, to commemorate Memorial Day, the local veterans group placed more than 500 flags at Fairview Cemetery. If that wasn't enough of a good deed, the group also set upright more than 300 toppled grave markers. Visiting Fairview recently, I saw they had not overlooked the graves of either Mr. Wolf, or another veteran, Joseph Levine. I have concerned myself with Allentown's Fairview Cemetery for the last few years. I first became interested in the small Jewish section, called Mt. Sinai. This was the first organized Jewish cemetery in Allentown. Currently, all the synagogues have their own cemeteries, and Mt. Sinai has been mostly unused for many decades.

Mr. Wolf lies next to his wife, Julia, who died in 1907. Morris would live on for 30 more years, passing away in 1937, at age 98.
Mr. Levine, a World War II veteran, and his wife, Ethel, were the first and last people to be buried there after almost 25 years of inactivity. When Ethel died at age 93 in 2000, it was the first burial at Mt. Sinai since 1976. Joseph was 103 years old when he passed away in 2006.

The Housing and Development Corp. and North Street are now part of Allentown's new neighborhood initiative called Jordan Heights.Although soon there will be a new house at 421 North St., there is a history that will remain with the parcel. Once a tailor lived there who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

reprinted from 2010