Allentown Money Tree

When Allentown first announced that they would be handing out $ 1/2 million dollars of federal aid to small businesses as part of the Covid-19  stimulus program, I expressed some doubts about how it would be distributed.

The handout is now complete, and the Morning Call linked to the recipient list.  Although I don't have issue with the majority of the beneficiaries,  ten of them do have this tax payer shaking my head.

These ten I consider either professionals, or others not really affected by the shut-down.  I will not mention names, but rather professions.

                                 1. Ob/Gyn MD
                                 2. Optometrist
                                 3. Podiatrist
                                 4. Chiropractor
                                 5. Lawyer
                                 6. Architect
                                 7. Surveyor
                                 8. Radio Station
                                 9. Translator (who works from home)
                                10. Accountant

Each of the above received $5,000 dollars, except the Chiropractor, who got $4,600.

I wonder if a blogger would be eligible?

Accommodating Reillyville In Allentown

Center City Reillyville, aka Allentown, will close the streets to accommodate Reilly's restaurants. With only a few exceptions,  all the restaurants are owned by Reilly's Hospitality Group, contained in Reilly's buildings, and paid for with our state taxes.

There is a small restaurant on N. 2nd Street that I sometimes patronize. Don't except to see 2nd Street closed to accommodate them.  There is a third generation sandwich shop on the south side, which fought for years to get a few limited time parking signs for its customers. Don't expect to see that street closed. Don't expect to see any other restaurant, in any other part of the city accommodated.

When it comes to an equal playing field,  Allentown doesn't even own a level.

The Morning Call is promoting the street closings, as they have every new building by Reilly.  They never question the occupancy rates of the Strata apartments, despite no lights or people.  They never question the state taxes being diverted...  They themselves are now Reilly tenants.

Except for some occasional scrutiny by this naysayer blogger,  all is well in Reillyville.

A South Whitehall Commissioner On The Hot Seat

South Whitehall Commissioner Matt Mobilio got himself in trouble the other day about Trump. He apparently posted on facebook that people who support Trump, should be hung for treason.

Although a number of his constituents requested that he resign because of the statement, he declined. He and others feel that such statements are within his right. I also had an issue with Matt, and I posted about it last week.

During a discussion about Wehr's Dam, he wondered how the commissioners could get out from under the obligation to keep it.

That obligation is from the Wehr's Dam Referendum of 2016, when the voters decided that they wanted the township to retain the dam, even through it would cost $600,000, That figure at the time was based on an engineering estimate of possible repairs, plus a hefty increase. The referendum itself wasn't designed to save the dam, but rather condemn it, with no political consequence to the commissioners at the time. Lo and behold, the iconic dam meant so much to the residents, that they voted to keep it anyway. That vote caused the Wildlands Conservancy to go back to their scheming, and inform the Pennsylvania DEP that they know of more problems and expenses, that could be foisted upon the structure.

The current township director of public works, himself no friend of the dam, but rather the Conservancy, has in turn not defended the structure with the state. With the dam being the property of the township, and the subject of a voter's referendum, that defense should be his mandate.

Anyway, back to the troubled commissioner. Apparently, Matt Mobilio thinks that democracy is a pick and choose menu. He defends his election this past November, but not the referendum from 2016.

UPDATE: The Morning Call has an excellent article on Wednesday's meeting, where Mobilio faced public and peer criticism of his ill fated statement about Trump supporters.

Devining Trump From Scheller

One would have thought that Trump's endorsement would have had more weight in the Scheller/Browne primary than it did. It was a very close race, with the margin of victory much less than expected.

On paper, Scheller's gender and financial self-sufficiency should have been formidable enough to take on Wild for her party.  Add the President's backing,  and Scheller should have been able to rest easy Tuesday night.  Since that was not the case,  would she had faired as well or even better without the endorsement?  Although I cannot devine that answer,  I think that this primary result doesn't bode well for Trump come November.

It is thought that Pennsylvania is essential for Trump, and that the Lehigh Valley is essential for Pennsylvania.  If Trump's weight helped Scheller so little,  how strong will he be here in the fall?

Between now and then, Trump is facing a historically steep hill.  With unemployment above 16% and a hostile media,  he needed some positive feedback.  Scheller's win on Tuesday didn't deliver on that.

Light Rail, Circa 1935

The Lehigh Valley Transit Company ran a trolley between 8th and Hamilton and just outside Philadelphia between 1901 and 1951. In 1913 the company completed the 8th Street Bridge, which remains one of Allentown's icons to this day.



The Liberty Bell functioned as a trolley as it stopped in Coopersburg, Quakertown, Sellersville and the different towns along the way, but approached speeds of eighty miles a hour on the open track between them. At the last station in Upper Darby, passengers could transfer to a different company to complete the ride into center city Philadelphia.










Here in the Valley the company transitioned to buses by the early 1950's, and became part of Lanta in 1972. Lanta and Easton officials might take notice that the Allentown Ticket Office, shown in above photo, is only 75 feet from 8th and Hamilton, which was the center of the business district. The intercity rail beds are pretty much gone now. The same people who now advocate light-rail, couldn't wait to tear up the tracks and make bike paths.

reprinted from May 2010

Using A Bad Lesson Well Taught In Philadelphia

Back on May 4th, before the death in police custody in Minneapolis, I wrote about Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.  She instructed the police force not to arrest for minor infractions, like theft and prostitution, during the virus crisis. Large groups of young people were running amok in center city Philadelphia convenience stores,  scooping up everything their backpacks could hold. Meanwhile at City Hall, woke mayor Jim Kenney stayed silent about this decline in civilization. Only after a couple weeks, after a merchant and citizen backlash, did Outlaw and Kenney finally reverse policy.

Philadelphia inner city kids were taught a bad lesson by their police commissioner and mayor. 

Perhaps with that lesson fresh in their mind, some of them may have graduated to the looting this past weekend.

My first reaction to the looting on Walnut and Chestnut Streets was that the police must have stood down. How could looters smash windows and enter a Wells Fargo Bank without being stopped? How could all that theft and destruction only result in 13 arrests Saturday night?

I realize that there are a limited number of police and that Philadelphia is a large city. While I can't pass judgement on the police response, I will on the looters shown above. I do not believe that their thinking centered on George Floyd and institutional racism, but rather about what they could steal.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, the mayors and police chiefs conveyed their commitment to social justice.  But more importantly,  the local protestors expressed their hopes and solidarity in a lawful manner.

photocredit:Steven Falk/Philadelphia Inquirer

Allentown's Jewish Band And Scrap Iron

In 1915, Allentown's Judaean Band was the first Jewish band in the United States.  It had started with a group of young men at a 6th Ward soda fountain.  Many of the original members didn't have, or even know how to play an instrument.  Jacob Max, the Tilghman Street scrap dealer, took the group under wing, and sponsored the music lessons, instruments and uniforms. The band had great  success for a few years, until its ranks were depleted by service in the Great War.

Among the members was Harry Molovinsky, my grandfather's youngest sibling, and Jakey Max, a prizefighter who became Allentown's first Jewish firefighter.

Jakey worked at the extended family scrapyard for a short while, after both Jacob and his son were killed in separate traffic accidents. The scrapyard stayed in the Max family until 1972.  Today it's called Liberty Recycling.

Voters' Intent On Wehr's Dam Disregarded

South Whitehall, urged on by Commissioner Matt Mobilio,  has confirmed that they have no inclination to keep Wehr's Dam.   They feel no obligation to honor the voters' referendum of 2016 to save the dam.  They have distorted the voters' intent, and rationalize that anything over the $600k authorized by the referendum, frees them from any such obligation.

During the meeting of May 20, they said if we choose to keep the dam.

   The voters already chose that in 2016.  That amount of $600K was put in only as a fair faith estimate.

During the meeting of May 20, they said things outside of our control  affect the cost.

   The township and commissioners intentionally allowed things to get out of their control, by allowing the Wildlands Conservancy, dedicated to demolishing dams,  to interact with state DEP about the dam.  This ex-parte communication between the Wildlands and the DEP, not mentioned at the meeting, has escalated the repair into a rebuild.

Matt Mobilio wondered aloud during the meeting how they can get out from under this obligation. The board agreed to release to the general fund money set aside every year for the dam.

What Mobilio doesn't seem to understand is democracy... just as voters intended him to serve as a commissioner, they intended the dam to be kept.

The Matt Mobilios of the valley have it easy with a complicit newspaper.  For over three years, and three editors, the Morning Call has refused to publish my letters about the conspiracy against Wehr's Dam and the voters of South Whitehall.

photocredit: Jason Fink