Julio Guridy And Emma Tropiano

The picture above is from an article on Allentown's current English Only ballot question.  As background the article references Emma Tropiano and then-newcomer Julio Guridy.  Guridy indicates that he was motivated to run for city council as a counter measure against what he perceived as a racist slight by Tropiano. 

What the article's author doesn't know, and what Guridy probably would never acknowledge, is how Guridy benefitted from the Tropiano encounter.  When Guridy announced his candidacy for the council race, he secured a financial future he never envisioned.  Philadelphia's Hispanic leadership figured that Julio was a rising political star to their north, and recommended to Rendell that Guridy be appointed to a state commission.  At the time his sponsors didn't know that Allentown would be dominated for the next fifteen years by Ed Pawlowski. Commission jobs in this state are considered political plums, and require very little time.  Guridy's job on the Joint Bridge Commission has yielded him a good salary for the last sixteen years.  Guridy can complain about how racist the ordinance and Tropiano were, but ironically he ended up with a lucrative non-demanding position because of his pushback to them.

Readers may wonder who this blog favors. I don't cater to anyone, nor do I try to target anyone. While Julio might not be happy with this post,  I know that Allentown has benefited from him being here. Beyond his many years on city council, he has devoted countless hours to the city.  From other posts last week, people may mistakenly think that I want to target both the Democratic and Republican parties. Actually, this blog is written for the historical record. Whether the post concerns a local historical place, or a local political situation, my attempt is to provide the back-story.  With the local paper's shrinking staff, institutional knowledge is becoming a sparse commodity in these parts. 

Comments are permitted on the blog,  but there are restrictions against anonymous repetitive banter.

Sore Loser, And Desperate Gambit By Republicans

It's a sad day when Enid Santiago and the Lehigh County Republican Committee are on the same page. At first I thought the notice about the press conference today must be from the local Tea Party,  which protests against everything and anything. Then, upon closer inspection, I saw that it was from the local Republican Party, grasping at the embers of the tragic fire in Allentown.

The lawsuit by the family of the victims is their legal right, and I have no issue with it. The accusation by Enid Santiago that the callers were ignored by 911 operators because they were Spanish speaking was opportunist, inflammatory theater by a sore loser.  Her write-in effort against the rightful winner of last year's primary state representative race, Peter Schweyer, was undemocratic, and her party members who supported it owe Schweyer an apology.

It is important that citizens respect our public safety network: Police, fire, EMS, and 911. Republican candidates who appear at today's press conference are doing themselves a disservice.

photo of sign on Enid Santiago's Facebook page urging Phil Armstrong to resign

Election Roundup

This election cycle I only made one endorsement, Smith for Allentown School board.  There are excellent people running for South Whitehall commissioner: Hodges, Kennedy and Osborne, but my battle there was in the primary, against the old guard Morgan.

I questioned the actions of two school board candidates, Harris in Allentown, and Millo in South Whitehall, who unclearly dropped out of the race in August.  The Harris piece brought on criticism from the giant Ed DeGrace, fortunately by email, rather than in person.  The Millo piece upset Republicans, but their support for him was premature and their bad, not mine. 

My annual election season piece on Emma always upsets everybody. Emma was outspoken, non-partisan, and could care less about political correctness, traits that I admire.

The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with Mayor For Life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was so large, it has struggled to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners.

reprinted yearly since 2010

UPDATE: Although it has been almost two decades since Emma passed, she still incites controversy. A Republican supporter of Heydt still resents her opposition to the Rental Inspection law. Some Hispanics still wrongly believe that she was a racist. I could tell both of them that Emma was a Democrat,  when Allentown was still a two party town, and that voters were much more engaged then than they are now.

Morning Call's Hot Air

Readers may recall that not so long ago I took the Morning Call to task for promoting an announced candidate, Mark Pinsley, in one opinion piece after another.  Pinsley is a political opportunist, who has run for higher offices after just getting elected to a lessor one. Within the last few years he has run for South Whitehall commissioner, Lehigh County controller, and state senator, now for the second time. 

My first post on this topic was triggered by the frequency of his editorials, complete with a large portrait of him. In the last year the Morning Call ran his opinion pieces about once a month.  

What brings us to today's post is his current editorial on airship travel from LVIA to NYC.  Never mind that no such thing exists anywhere, and its only purpose is to provide another opportunity for candidate Pinsley's oversize portrait. Perhaps the paper, rather than submit its paid readership to nonsense editorials, could go ahead and feature Pinsley's picture on the front page every day, but leave space on the editorial page for other people writing about real issues.

Weak Link On Parkland Ballot

Friday's post on Phoebe Harris inadvertently flushed out an unqualified candidate for Parkland School Board. When the post was shared on a couple of Facebook pages,  a few supporters of Harris came to her defense. Among them was Michael Millo, who wrote Big deal...she asked for a loan. Seems hyper political (referring to my post). I thought it was a big deal, or I wouldn't have written the post. I also find Millo's comment a big deal, because he's running for the Parkland School Board. 

South Whitehall hasn't recovered from its own ethical breaches,  embezzlement by a former controller and no audits for a decade.  The Parkland School System is very much a large part of the township's success. It's vital that candidates for the school board have both the savvy and ethics required, Millo doesn't appear to.

Phoebe Harris is a Democrat. Mike Millo is a Republican.  It's essential that voters disregard political affiliation in local elections and pick the best candidates.  We need sharp people, not red pencils or red ink.

UPDATE 8:00AM:  I have been informed that Mr. Millo withdrew as a school board candidate in August. When I met him last spring and he told that he had just moved here from Texas,  my thought was that he should hold off running for any local office until which time he became familiar with the issues, i.e. some institutional knowledge.  While I didn't see his withdrawal preparing this post (his withdrawal is not even stated on his campaign facebook page, only that he will be out of "commission"), I did see  numerous endorsements from local members of the Republican party. I found the endorsements disappointing, considering the candidate's lack of local background.

Ethical Question At Allentown School Board

MOLOVINSKY ON ALLENTOWN EXCLUSIVE

Allentown school director Phoebe Harris requested a personal loan from longtime district solicitor John Freund late in 2019. When Attorney Freund declined the loan request, her demeanor toward him changed drastically. This year he was replaced as solicitor to the district. 

This sequence of events raises numerous questions. Did Harris use her influence with the other directors to retaliate against Freund for denying her a personal loan? Did any other school directors know of the loan request and denial? 

For someone who sat at her mentor Pawlowski's trial, she must have known that her actions were ethically tainted. 

UPDATE OCTOBER 23: I have changed the word Violation to Question in the title. While it's certainly a question,  a violation should be determined by her peers on the board. I have deleted the last sentence calling for her resignation.  With only ten days remaining until the election,  the voters will judge her actions.

When 6th Street Was West Allentown

In 1903, the 600 block of 2nd Street housed one Russian Jewish family after another. They built a small synagogue there, which was kept open until about twenty years ago. My grandfather, who then worked at a cigar factory, had just saved enough to bring his parents over from the old country. They lived in an old house at 617 N. 2nd. The current house at that location was built in 1920. By the time my father was born in 1917, the youngest of five children, they had moved to the suburbs just across the Jordan Creek.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. He butchered in a barn behind the house. The house is still there, 301 Jordan, the barn is gone. He would deliver the meat with a horse and wagon. On the weekends, when the family wanted to visit friends, the horse insisted on doing the meat market route first. Only after he stopped in front of the last market on the route, would he permit my grandfather to direct him. excerpt from My grandfather's Horse, May 13, 2008

Allentown has just designated the neighborhood west of the Jordan to 7th Street, and between Linden and Tilghman Streets, as Jordan Heights. The area encompasses the Old Fairgrounds Historic District. Allentown's old fairground, in the years between 1852-1888, was in the vicinity of 6th and Liberty. It was an open space, as is the current fairground at 17th and Chew Streets. When my grandparents moved to Jordan Street it was a modern house, just built in 1895. Many of the Jewish families moved to the suburbs between Jordan and 7th. The Jewish Community Center was built on the corner of 6th and Chew, today known as Alliance Hall.
I wish the Jordan Heights initiative well. There's a lot of history in those 24 square blocks, and hopefully much future.

reprinted and retitled from previous years

photo: Opening of Jewish Community Center, 1928, 6th and Chew Streets.  Now Alliance Hall