Messaging Mayor Matt

Mayor Tuerk, 

                    First off, forgive me using English, but even if I knew it, Spanish wouldn't be appropriate for this post.  The local Hispanics are very flattered by all the attention you're bestowing upon them, and as you well know, they're 53% of Allentown's population.  But, this post concerns the other 47%, who aren't flattered by the pandering, but concerned with quality of life issues and your priorities. 

In fairness to the Hispanics, there are those among them less flattered than you may hope, and also upset with crime, littering, double parking and other problems of life here in Allentown.

I think that it's time, and perhaps would even be politically expedient, for you to metaphorically take off the sombrero and put on an Allentown cap.  Although you may think that I'm the only one not enchanted, you would be mistaken...I'm just more outspoken.  While people care about their culture, they moved here for their quality of life, and that should be the administration's priority here in Allentown.

Surviving Hurricane Ian

Michael Adams and I became acquainted about fifteen years ago. Although he's more to the left and greener than me, we became comrades in arms about local government. For many years Michael resided in the Parkway's Log & Stone House, until he was inappropriately evicted by Pawlowski for revenge and vengeance. That inequity was covered by this blog. Michael landed on his feet in paradise, Pine Island Florida to be exact. Things were very well until hell descended upon him, his significant other, and their pets ten days ago. They live on the northern tip of Pine Island or ground zero.

Michael Adams reports:                                                          Many people evacuated but a significant number of hard core Island people stayed. They are a tough, resilient and generous people. 

We were dead on the X ring in the center of the eye. Storm surge 3.5 ft. Wind speed down our lane, 154 mph.  

After the bashing of the first half and the super-natural calm and beauty of the eye we thought, okay, we can take another round. The third and fourth quarters will be survivable. Then came the here-to -fore unimaginable winds following the eye wall and the storm surge flowing up the lane and suddenly we were IN the Gulf of Mexico. Our stilt house was rocking like a ship at sea. 

One wall is gone, another hanging on by a thread. Shingles gone. Roof itself intact. It will take an engineer to determine any structural damage. Plumbing kaput. Electricity shot. 

The first time we saw the Red Cross was today.(Saturday Oct. 8) We have not seen FEMA. The Sheriff and Fire Department were MIA for over 72 hours and largely absent for several more days after.

A bunch of youngish veterans coalesced around the gun shop and a couple of small, independent Christian groups set up immediately and and started bringing in a stream of supplies of all sorts, water, hot meals, tarps and all sorts of material by boat. It was utterly extraordinary. I’m talking about tons of food, water and supplies.generators, gasoline, propane….….hot food!

On day six or so the firefighters dropped off the MREs. Publix’s ferried out employees and opened after a week with free ice. The road link to the mainland has been restored and a convoy of semis has arrived with high line poles. Police and rescue teams from as far away as Nebraska. 

Michael Adams is a native Allentonian and was a well known community activist throughout the valley.  His friends and family are grateful that he is healthy enough to report on this ordeal.

photo from Michael Adams

Allentown's Quickly Vanishing History

For the last twenty years or so I have been a soldier for Allentown's history. As a long time advocate for the park system's WPA structures, I've harassed numerous mayors and park directors. I recall interrupting Joe Daddona jogging in Hamilton Park to complain about a repair necessary at Union Terrace, now named after him. I recall interrupting Bill Heydt and his wife walking by their former home near Cedar Beach. 

By the Afflerbach/Pawlowski era, in addition to park advocacy, I became politically active as an independent. The reason for this Reader's Digest condensed personal history is a revelation that while we all know how much Allentown has changed in the last decade, among its latest victims is its very history itself.

As the new administration embraces the changes and discards one tradition after another, I realize that soon neither those traditions, nor the memory of them, will exist. With the Morning Call building now being a cigarette warehouse, even their archives are limited to some rented space on the data cloud, wherever and whatever that is.

A few like minded people such as myself peck away on our Smith Corona typewriters, hoping we can save some of those memories before the ink on the ribbon dries out.

Growing Up Parkway

I'm a baby boomer. I was born in December of 1946. As soon as my mother climbed out of the hospital bed, another woman climbed in. I grew up in the neighborhood now called Little Lehigh Manor, wedged between Lehigh Street and the top of the ravine above Lehigh Parkway. That's me on our lawn at the intersection of Catalina and Liberator Avenues, named after airplanes made by Vultee Corporation for the War. We had our own elementary school, our own grocery store, and the park to play in. On Saturdays, older kids would take us along on the trolley, and later the bus, over the 8TH Street Bridge to Hamilton Street. There were far too many stores to see everything. After a matinee of cartoons or Flash Gordon, and a banana split at one of the five and dimes, we would take the bus back over the bridge to Lehigh Street.




Not that many people know where Lehigh Parkway Elementary School is. It's tucked up at the back of the development of twin homes on a dead end street, but I won't say exactly where. I do want to talk about the photograph. It's May Day, around 1952-53. May Day was big then, so were the unions; Most of the fathers worked at the Steel, Mack, Black and Decker, and a hundred other factories going full tilt after the war. The houses were about 8 years old, and there were no fences yet. Hundreds of kids would migrate from one yard to another, and every mother would assume some responsibility for the herd when it was in her yard. Laundry was hung out to dry. If you notice, most of the "audience" are mothers, dads mostly were at work. I'm at the front, right of center, with a light shirt and long belt tail. Don't remember the girl, but see the boy in front of me with the big head? His father had the whole basement setup year round with a huge model train layout. There were so many kid's, the school only went up to second grade. We would then be bused to Jefferson School for third through sixth grade. The neighborhood had its own Halloween Parade and Easter egg hunt. We all walked to school, no one being more than four blocks away.

reprinted from June of 2008

Allentown Band Jeopardized

Word has reached this blog that the Allentown Band, oldest in the country, might be jeopardized by Mayor Tuerk's quest for diversity.  Supposedly, the mayor is disturbed that those sitting in front of the West Park Bandshell watching the performances, all look like the same old folks to him, devoid of spirit and color.

So, it's not the band per se that is targeted, but their tradition of using the bandshell.  Those affiliated with the Allentown and Pioneer Bands consider the bandshell performances an integral part of their identity.

I suspect that they're not taking much comfort in Tuerk's appreciation for tradition, after he announced ending the Halloween Parade, also the oldest in the country. Now, some of these old local traditions the mayor doesn't have a problem with, like philanthropy.  The recently disbanded Century Fund just endowed free admission to the Art Museum. The Trexler Trust funds a large part of the park budget. 

While I'm glad to take this threat public, I will  not be in the trenches fighting for the bands' survival. I'm already fighting on a different front, trying to keep our WPA structures from crumbling.

Open Letter To Mayor Tuerk

Mayor Tuerk,

       I haven't been on Mr. Molovinsky's blog now for a long time. Years ago, he allowed me space here to complain about the drug store closing on Hamilton Street, back when Mr. Pawlowski was mayor. I still live in the high rise by 8th and Union.

On Sunday night I drove out Linden Street to visit my sister at the Phoebe Home. Between 12th and 17th Streets, I encountered three cars double parking. Each one was near a corner, making it hard to see the intersection. Believe it or not, each empty double parked car was along side of an empty space, they didn't even need to double park! But the reason I'm writing is I heard that you went to some island to see how they do things there, for us?

If you're back from that island, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Drive down Linden Street with a policeman, and have him give tickets to those people double parking!  I don't know what you learned on that island, but I was hoping that things might get better here.

Thank you for your time

Agenda Journalism At The Morning Call

A month ago, Morning Call editor Mike Miorelli wrote that he wants to start including more women and minority sources in their articles. There was an article on Friday about critics against the State Hospital land deal. Two local hispanic women were quoted on their objections concerning the sale to City Center Real Estate.

One of the critics, Enid Santiago, ran for state representative twice. I followed Enid for both elections. Don't recall her ever mentioning the state hospital in either campaign. The other protester* I had never heard of before, so if there had been any protests by her, they had to be done very softly. However, they did meet Miorelli's new criterion for sources, even if their objections were freshly minted for the story. 

If an article on the land sale sounds familiar, it's because Bernie O'Hare and I covered that topic two weeks ago.  In addition to having to fold in hispanic/minority sources, be assured that the reporter was forbidden from mentioning any bloggers. While Miorelli read the recent thinking on minority sources, he apparently missed the articles on primary and secondary attribution. 

So, it appears that the reporter was told what to write about, who to include, and who not to.

*ADDENDUM: I have been informed by comment that the other protester, Yamelisa Taveras, was a candidate for the 14th state senate district primary.

Great Day For Hasshan Batts

Hasshan Batts, or Dr. Batts as he insists on being called, had a great day yesterday. After being with Mayor Matt Tuerk on the junket to the Dominican Republic, Tuerk told WFMZ 69 that there is a need for investment in violence interruption, aka giving grants to Hasshan. Hasshan is the director of Promise Neighborhood, which supposedly reduces violence by sprinkling magic dust and good vibes on crime scenes. 

Tuerk and Batts are on a honeymoon with the Morning Call. Although the Call covered Tuerk in Washington yesterday, they never mentioned the delegation to the island. When I linked my recent post about the junket on a local facebook group dedicated to Issues in Allentown, his supporters accused me of being a naysayer. That's an allegation I haven't heard since my complaints about Pawlowski, before he was indicted for corruption. 

Although I find no corruption in the Tuerk administration, I do find a lot of delusion. Thinking that Batts and that Promise might do more good than a stronger police department is one of them. If I wasn't becoming so skeptical of the administration, I'd probably have to scrutinize them anyway, because apparently the local press won't do it.