Hearing On Maingate Noise Exemption

Tomorrow the LCB will hold a public hearing on the Noise Exemption Zone, in essence spot zoning, to accommodate the Maingate Nightclub. Because Allentown enacted this ordinance, the LCB is legally compelled to consider the ill advised measure.

I attended the council meeting last February, and it was city government at its worst. Club owner Dominic Germano had the meeting packed with supporters, designed to intimidate anybody there to speak in opposition. The City of Allentown, although proposing to alter the character of the neighborhood, failed to notify the neighbors.  One neighbor in attendance only learned about the council meeting that day from this blog. Such notification is usually standard in all zoning matters, and this is zoning. The sacrifice of the neighbors' quality of life, for one businesses' profit, was supported by the mayor and city council. Some council members seemed especially committed to Germano's business interests. The meeting even accused and demonized the residents of senior high rises and the hospital for complaining about the noise.

Police Chief Glenn Granitz made it clear that although he would enact whatever council decided that night, that the police department was already spread thin, and certainly didn't need any additional responsibility.

The Maingate was never told by the LCB that it couldn't operate, but that it has to conform to the normal noise limits governing all other establishments. We don't need a city hall to make exceptions, but for a city to enforce the rules in a equal manner

LCB   Noise Exemption Zone Hearing 
                                              
Thursday July 23,  11:00 AM at  Maingate Nite Club
                           

Nap Times At The Morning Call

I have become a public critic of the Morning Call. Some of you may be surprised to know that although my name will only be seen in that paper for an obituary or crime victim report, neither of which I'm anxious for, their staff and management regularly read this blog.  I communicate with the reporters and the management, and occasionally, one of them even starts the dialogue. Recently I emailed a reporter to complain about some choice of topic being reported upon, and got this reply.

Thank you for your email. I've been furloughed by Tribune Publishing for the week of July 19-25, during which time I cannot check or respond to emails or work-related phone calls. If you have a news tip, please email news@mcall.com. I look forward to responding when I return.

Tribune mother ship seems to be imposing a financial time out more and more on the paper's staff. Some readers of this blog, and of a facebook group that I also administer, hope that some local investor(s) will take over the paper, and make it more reflective of their perspective...That's not going to happen. It may be eventually purchased by another national media chain, but I doubt that their modus of operation will be any different. I also doubt that there would be a change of personnel, except perhaps even less employees. As in marriage for better or worse, we are stuck with this local paper. I for one hope that it continues in business. I am informed by the local coverage and realize that far too many cities our size no longer have a local paper.

New Comment Policy In Effect: Anonymous comments are again permitted. All comments must be approved.

Morning Call Dreams

Current and former employees of The Morning Call are circulating a petition to protect the paper from a hedge fund that buys newspapers. The petition states that;

THE ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL HAS BEEN OUR REGION’S SOURCE OF LOCAL NEWS AND THE WATCHDOG THAT KEEPS GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE.

While I certainly hope that the Morning Call stays in business, and I appreciate the local articles and news they report, they overstate their role in keeping government and corporations accountable.

Currently they are running an opinion piece criticizing Easton's Columbus statue, even calling it a public health hazard for minorities, because of its infrastructure carbon footprint. They include no less than 16 photos with the nonsense piece of woke tripe. Meanwhile, their opinion page uses the same cast of contributors year in and year out, and routinely rejects material questioning the status quo, or their selected, protected sacred cows.

Recently, the CEO of one of the largest institutions in the Lehigh Valley was refused space on their opinion page, and had to sent a private letter to the community. They refuse to print my exposé on South Whitehall's conspiracy to demolish Wehr's Dam, despite the voter's referendum to save it.  They were a decade behind on Pawlowski's shenanigans, and never scrutinize their current landlord, City Center Reality.  They are more of a lapdog, that dreams it's a watchdog.

New Comment Policy In Effect: Anonymous comments are again permitted. All comments must be approved. 

Waiting In The Wings In Allentown

The Morning Call is featuring a story on the recent protests and the leaders thereof. The theme is that Allentown is now a minority-majority community, and these new groups are the new message.  Never mind that during the recent protests the chants included We Demand Or...., Defund The Police and F*ck The Police.

Other minority-majority communities which had the same dialogue decades ago, such as Detroit and Chicago,  have high crime rates, despite ample minority representation.  Cities which have ostracized their police departments, like Baltimore, have officers routinely stand down  or call out sick.

Allentown's demographic changes have been reflected in its changing governance.  Currently, three of the seven council members are from minority communities. The police department is headed by a chief respected by all sectors of the population.

I believe, factoring everything in, that Allentown is doing fairly well.  The strawberry pie in Hess's Patio is never coming back. Most people now in Allentown don't even know what that reference means.  Even those who want changes should be careful what they wish for.

photocredit:WLVR-FM

ADDENDUM: I expect this post to be my last in regard to the event of last Saturday, and the protests that followed thereafter. In addition to those events, the Morning Call treatment of the story also deserved examination. I suspect that their coverage was more sympathetic to the protesters, than to the sentiments of their remaining paid subscribers.

UPDATE JULY 17, 6:30PM: Although the district attorney determined that the police acted reasonably last Saturday, those same "leaders" glorified by the Morning Call are now calling for the officer to be fired and more demonstrations, starting tonight.

A Park Problem In Allentown

reprinted from May of 2018

Ray O'Connell invited me to his office this week to talk about problems with the WPA structures in the park system.  My invitation was a long time coming.

In 2009, I started conducting a series of meetings at the Allentown Library, to inform the public about the deteriorating condition of the WPA structures.  In subsequent years, I organized a group effort to unearth the Boat Landing, which was buried decades earlier by a former park director.  I convinced the former water shed director to unearth the Spring Pond, which was allowed to become overgrown.  I unsuccessfully attempted to save the miniature dam, which was built to complement the Robin Hood Bridge in 1941. The city foolishly allowed the Wildlands Conservancy to destroy this charming accent.  I conducted tours of the Parkway, both public and private.

This week I proposed to Mayor O'Connell that the park department simply spend $25 thousand each season(out of their $3 million dollar annual budget),  and have one structure repointed. Two years ago, Karen El-Chaar from Friends Of The Parks, secured a grant through the Trexler Trust for $25 thousand.  With that modest amount she had the steps repointed at Fountain Park.  El-Chaar attended my meetings years ago, and became interested in the cause.  Unfortunately, the city government works in a much more bureaucratic fashion. Also in attendance this week was park department foreman Rick Holtzman, who elaborated on the process.  Work is preceded by an engineering study, which can end up costing as much as the work.  Bids are then put out, and responding stone masons must be bonded in order to be eligible to bid.  Consequently,  very few contractors bother to bid, and the prices are much, much higher than they need be.  However,  that is Mr. Holtzman's dilemma....  My mission is to point out what needs to be done,  and publicize the progress, or lack thereof.

For over a year I have been lobbying for the landings to be repaired on the double stairwell in Lehigh Parkway.  If these landings are not repaired this season, the steps themselves will be jeopardized.

I appreciated Mayor O'Connell's time.  The park department, despite the bidding process,  is managing to open a dog park and build a skateboard park.  Several years ago they managed to spend over  $1.5 million buying two unnecessary new parcels.  Since I started advocating for the WPA over a decade ago, the park department has built numerous new features, and spend many $millions of dollars doing so.  In all those years they have not done one thing for the WPA.  They rebuilt part of the Parkway wall,  but only after it fell down from neglect, closing the park entrance.  It is now time that they start maintaining the structures which first made this city's park system a destination.

reprinted from from May of 2018

UPDATE JULY 16, 2020: The remainder of the entrance wall, including the double stairwell, is in the process of being repointed, courtesy of the Trexler Trust. Although the deteriorated landings are not included in the specifications, I am hopeful that Allentown/Trexler Trust will include them.

Morning Call Changes Tune

The lead Morning Call article about the police incident at Sacred Heart Hospital changed its tune and subtitle as yesterday progressed. In the earlier version, they quoted an expert on police use of force, who stated that the officers did nothing wrong.

In the next version of the story they featured a local black professor, who criticized the police for wanting to control the man, rather than treat his apparent illness. It seems to me that this professor has his policemen and doctors mixed up. The opinion of the policing expert is still in the article, but now at the end, beyond the attention span of many readers.

I cannot recall an article which changed its tune so drastically. I cannot help but wonder if the progression was organic because of the additional expert, or editorially the paper decided it was unfashionable to side with the police.

Tonight Allentown City Council will be besieged by those invested against the police, hopefully council will defend our blue line.

picture of upcoming book by professor quoted in Morning Call article

Allentown's Floating Opera

In John Barth's famous story Floating Opera, the author notes that the town folk can only see that part of the performance as the barge with the actors floats by. They do not know what happened before or after the floating stage is within their view.  So it appears with the incident Saturday night in front of Sacred Heart Hospital.

While the short video, which circulated social media Saturday evening, ends the policeman's knee on the sick man's head, it doesn't show that it was only there for a total of about five seconds, and only there to facilitate getting a spit shield installed, to protect the hospital personnel from germs.

At the midnight demonstration Saturday night, and again last night during the protest march, the leaders were demanding the name of the officer. They were demanding that the police be defunded. They were chanting F*ck The Police. 

If ever there was a thankless job, those police officers have it. 

photocredit:Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call
Full video at hospital from WFMZ

Saturday Night Protest In Allentown

What may turn out to have been an officer's knee momentarily on a defendants head while being constrained and handcuffed, brought the justice warriors and virtue signalers out in force on Saturday night. Shouting that if they don't get what they want, they will burn it down, the march went up Hamilton Street to the police station at 10th.

Although Mayor O'Connell and Police Chief Granitz came to the protest to explain that an investigation will be conducted, the protesters persisted to know how soon they can expect satisfaction?

The video ends one second after the officer uses his knee as an extra hand. Did it remain there, and for how long?  Although social media called it a knee on the neck, that also isn't clear, and it appears that the knee is more up toward the combatants ear. Those that are leading these groups, and so anxious to ferment tension, are not unlike those who yell fire in a movie theater.

So far two city council members, Ce-Ce Gerlach and Josh Siegel. have joined ranks with the protestors.  Gerlach at least questioned her dual role as a resident and council member,  while Siegel thinks that his council cohorts who favor due process,  must go.  He clearly doesn't belong behind the dais.

Allentown and its minority populations are lucky to have Glenn Granitz as chief.  I know of no previous chief in Allentown's history who has been more available and responsive to the public.  The protesters must also realize that he is administrator of the police department,  and that those officers, as anybody else, deserve due process in any inquiry.

screen shot of Chief Glenn Granitz facing protesters Saturday night.

UPDATE JULY 13, 2020: Although molovinsky is usually published weekdays, this was posted Sunday morning, in reaction to the protest Saturday night. The normal schedule will resume tomorrow.

UPDATE 9:00AM:WFMZ has changed its website copy to reflect that the policeman's knee was on the defendants head, not neck.