19th Street Theater District Goes Loud

Last night Allentown city council decreed that the noise complaints against the Maingate were actually racially based against the changing demographics in the city. That distorted logic played well with the hundred or so supporters that the Maingate owner brought with him. Candida Affa testified that her gay bar had experienced the same intolerance years ago.

Residents of St. George, 18th, Liberty and Allen Streets might be surprised to learn that hardly anybody will be adversely effected by the Noise Exemption District. These are the invisible people who conduct neighborhood cleanups and hold street fairs on 19th Street. There was no polling of the residents, and some only found out about the proposal yesterday. Many others do not yet even know that City Hall just arbitrarily compromised the quality of their lives.

Conspicuously missing from the contorted map of the new district is the Wert's Cafe complex. Although Police Chief Granitz stated that he will abide by council's decision, his concerns about equal enforcement of law were apparent.

Allentown doesn't belong in the bar business, especially choosing winners and losers. It's always interesting and disappointing to see the new council members trade their ideals for a seat on that dais.

 above reprinted from February 20, 2020 

ADDENDUM JANUARY 3, 2023:Despite Allentown creating a special district to allow the MainGate to avoid Pa. Liquor Board loud noise scrunity, their license was suspended July 20, 2022. I do not know their current status, nor do I care. Although I went to bat for that neighborhood on that absurd city favoritism to the Maingate, I stood there alone in front of council that night... Blatant case of municipal corruption and neighborhood apathy.

Urban Safari

Exclusive to molovinskyonallentown; this blogger has learned that along with the golf course concession, the Allentown BrewWorks has received the first franchise to conduct urban safaris in Allentown. The evening excursions will begin and end from the safety of the municipal golf course parking lot, in the deep west end. Although still in the planning stages, sites on the tour will include 9th and Chew, gunfire epicenter of the new Allentown, and a drive-by of Trinkles Cafe. Within the safety of the armored Hummer, guests will visit an actual forensic site, and watch police officers search for shell casings. The guides will tastefully point out probable ladies of the night and merchants of recreational pharmaceuticals. The tour will include stopping in front of the home of an urban pioneer, where actual members of OAPA will wave from behind their windows. With special permission from Lanta, the excursion will drive through the bus yard, showing real passengers waiting on cold steel benches, eating stale donuts. For a VIP tour, actually driven by Mayor Pawlowski himself, contact the special events coordinator at Allentown City Hall or the Allentown BrewWorks. Jarrett Renshaw of The Morning Call did not contribute to this story. 

above reprinted from December 28, 2008 

ADDENDUM JANUARY 2, 2023: After ending the year beating up current city officials, it was my intention to start this year nice. Although I'm not creative enough to find something currently nice to write about, I have an extensive archive, stretching back a decade and a half. 

However, waking up to the news that four youths were shot by the East Side Youth Center took the nice out of me. Over the weekend, both the mayor and newspaper editor wrote about good news and hope. Those of you who need to dose on those delusions might find comfort with their greeting card type writing. Since neither of those gentlemen have any use for me, I will provide no links to their nonsense. 

Maybe next year, I can start off nicer.

I Dreamt I Was Invited To The Pat Browne Lovefest

In the dream not only was I invited, I got to sit with all the guest speakers. J. B. Reilly thanked Browne for making him a $Billionaire, and he did somehow seem taller than those $Millionaires in attendance. Alan Jennings thanked Browne for whatever peanuts were thrown the way of his organization.

Also in attendance, but at a separate table, was Ed Pawlowski, who was furloughed from prison for the occasion. Pawlowski was seated with Satan himself, who was the featured speaker.

The Devil, and all the lessor speakers, all pretty much said the same thing... Thank you Pat for bringing the NIZ to town, and making Allentown at least appear prosperous.  Mayor Tuerk said that the NIZ has attracted over $1 billion in new development investment in the city of Allentown. Let us hope that he really understands that the attraction is that diverted state taxes are used for the mortgage debt service, on privately owned buildings no less. Besides that, not one private or other red cent has been invested in Allentown. He then explained that Allentown plans to dress up a Gateway down Hamilton from the west. Only those coming in from the north, east or south will realize what a sham the NIZ actually is.

When I woke up from the dream,  I was grateful that it was just a dream, and that I wasn't really at that table with those delusions about Allentown.

above rendering of new gateway from west Hamilton Street

Defending George Santos

Congressman elect George Santos has ignited a storm of criticism by having embellished his resume, including misrepresenting his Jewish heritage.  Among the offended includes the Jewish Republican Coalition, which will not invite him to future events. The Democrat he defeated wants a rematch!

I am one Jew who is not offended. In two short years Santos will be up for re-election. If the voters of his NYC district are not satisfied with his performance, or cannot forgive his exaggerations from this past election cycle, they simply need not continue his employment as their representative. 

As a local pundit I have seen numerous elected officials misrepresent in office. I have seen them exaggerate their accomplishments for constituents, and pander for re-election. I have seen them praised, despite what I consider unethical behavior. This baptism by fire might actually make incoming representative Santos more responsive to truth than his colleagues, when he actually serves. 

It's no surprise that this pre-inauguration protest is coming from more Democrats (Santos is Republican), and that the Democrats are also criticizing the Republican Party for not proposing harsher punishments for Santos. I think that all Santos' critics should be put under the same microscope.  

We don't condemn exiting politicians from becoming lobbyists, which is at the bottom of the ethical barrel.

*****Five Star Post: Occasionally I have the pleasure of writing a post that I know will be appreciated by no one.  I suppose it's a result from being an independent. While I'm politically a non-partisan independent, I'm also socially independent. The last group I belonged to was the Cub Scouts, over seventy years ago.  Specifically, in regard to this post, so many of your elected officials(both R & D) are lying sacks, who you have elected over and over again. If I have offended you, you may request a subscription refund.

ADDENDUM: I wrote this post several days ago. Since then both the number of investigations of Mr. Santos, and the public outcry, have been steadily growing... That growth and/or scapegoating, allows both you and your elected officials to feel better about the myriad of ongoing deceptions in your district.

Back To The Future With Wehr's Dam

Future students of local history will only find revisionism about saving Wehr's Dam...except for this blog. Last year, the Morning Call wrote a whitewash of the story. I label it a whitewash, because the reporter knew the truth. I had given her the true sequence of events, and the supporting documents, yet she reported the version given her by those who plotted against the dam for years. Although the Morning Call supported the plotters' position* all along, I was still surprised by that final compromise of journalistic integrity.

What brings me back to the dam today is a new story on the reconstruction by Lehigh Valley News. com. Their reporter inadvertently rehabilitated one of the plotters... Matt Mobilio is quoted in the new piece saying I appreciate it, and I think it's beautiful... In reality, he fought against honoring the voters' referendum to save the dam, and wondered out loud how they could get out from under the obligation to keep the dam.

Back in the beginning, when the Wildlands Conservancy was planning to demolish the dam,* the Morning Call's Bill White joined their effort and wrote that he took his dog there every day, but wouldn't allow him to swim in that dirty water. He was referring to the silt filled pond behind the dam. Bill never explained why he went there everyday, when he lives next to Allentown's Trexler Park. Bill went there to enjoy the unique beauty of the spot... The only place that you can see water flowing over a dam and under a covered bridge at one vista. Bill is correct that the pond is full of silt.

The Wildlands Conservancy spent over $200 thousand on studies trying to strongarm the township into demolition. That money could have been constructively used to dredge out the silt.

Although I no longer attend public meetings, or even venture out much any more, I hope to attend a township meeting by spring. I will express my gratitude to the new commissioners for honoring the voters' referendum to save the dam, and request that they consider having the silt removed from behind the dam.

* Those interested in the complete story of saving Wehr's Dam can use the search engine on this blog's sidebar. Type in Wehr's Dam, and numerous posts will appear.

photocredit:molovinsky/Wehr's Covered Bridge

Allentown Black, White and Pale

I was surprised when the president of the local NAACP recently accused the Allentown school board of racism. The last two superintendents were Black, as is the newly hired interim one. 

However outlandish as that accusation seemed to me, the women of the local NAACP (W.I.N) go further, and complain that a white board woman is masquerading as Hispanic, by using her husband's name.  Further yet, they complain that black children are oppressed by the board, because a committee is composed of only white members. 

ALLENTOWN NAACP: Jennifer Lynn Ortiz (AKA) Jennifer-Hartnett-Ortiz is an Allentown School District Board Member. And we, the Women in the NAACP Allentown Branch (W.I.N.), believe she intentionally allowed the community of the Allentown School District to think that she was a person of color through the use of her married name in a recent Allentown School District Board election.

On Thursday, December 1, 2022, at the Allentown School District Board meeting election, ASD Board members voted 5 to 4 against Lisa Conover continuing her role as VP of the Allentown School District Board. The white members voted for Nancy Wilt to step down from the board's presidential position to take the VP position away from a Black woman. It’s a diverse school district. Now the executive committee has no Black member. Why wouldn’t they want a diverse executive committee? We have received numerous phone calls complaining about Lisa Conover’s being voted out of office by the rest of the board, who happen to be all white, believing that Ortiz’s vote, as a Latino, would most likely have been cast in Conover’s favor. The public is demoralized because they credited Jennifer Ortiz as Latino, who actually voted for an all-white ASD Executive Board that has oppressed our Black and Brown children. The high volume of complaints caused by Jennifer Ortiz’s misleading identity must be publicly expressed. Jennifer Hartnett-Ortiz is not a Latino. Jennifer Ortiz is a white woman who married a Latino male and is sporting his last name, “Ortiz.” We believe Jennifer Hartnett-Ortiz won her seat on the board largely because the community thought she was Latino and anticipated a diverse board because of that. Jennifer Hartnett-Ortiz (AKA) Jennifer Ortiz joined the board in 2021 and has Brown children in the district. She claimed she ran for the board to make ASD a better place for everyone. Our children do not benefit from her votes. They are actually harmed by them. For instance, she voted against Dr. Stanford without providing any reason. She voted against a diverse board, turning it into an all-white executive board, and is in the process of voting against a 30-year forensic audit, which could have helped the school system identify problem areas. Jennifer Ortiz also sits on several committees which have not been beneficial to our children. At the same Allentown School Board meeting, Jennifer confessed that she has been, and continues to be, coached under the leadership of Audrey Mathison, the third-time elected ASD Board president. This is the same Audrey Mathison, an Allentown resident who ignored the opportunity to teach in the Allentown School District, which had and still has, a shortage of teachers, to teach privileged Parkland School District students for 40 years before retiring. Throughout those 40 years, we are not aware of Parkland experiencing a similar shortage of teachers. For the last six years, Mathison has retreated to Allentown's underprivileged district to make decisions that resumed the oppression of our children. The Allentown School District, Mathison's home district, wasn’t acceptable for her to educate our children, so why is Mathison here now making decisions for our Black and Brown children? She fought like hell for the Parkland School teachers’ union. Why is she not fighting like hell for a 30-year forensic audit to position the Allentown district in a more positive direction? The Women in the NAACP (W.I.N.) want to know the rationale behind the board members’ votes. They seem to make a great effort to avoid explaining. The Women in the NAACP (W.I.N.)

Their current statement led a reader on facebook to think that the board had no minority members, when in fact four members are Black. The NAACP women (W.I.N) apparently only see color, not one word about student success or failure. 

Perhaps they feel that the school district will improve when the board is purged of all pale faces. What is really necessary for the school district's improvement is an obsession with success, not race.

You will not find many, if any, articles elsewhere critical of the local NAACP. Between living in the Valley of Sacred Cows, and the growing Minority Majority population, such articles would be deemed off limits by other publications. However, this blog is not monetized, but rather a labor of compulsion, by an independent, graying and outspoken blogger.

Hope and Promise For Allentown

Hasshan Batts years ago augmented his social services salary by dealing drugs, now he deals Democrats... And it's much more lucrative.  

Newly re-elected Congressman Susan Wild just delivered the goods for Batts, over $1.5mil!!!.  Batts is the new Hope and Promise for Allentown. We're putting our faith in his mentors, rather than our police department. 

In this era of victims and sympathizers, Batts and Company Inc., offers one stop shoppers a place to feel good about themselves. Fortunately for Batts, Wild and Tuerk, in this valley local government delusions are only reported upon by a couple of bloggers.

Wild's gift is the fruit of the just passed federal budget of $1.7 Trillion!!! Add that to the Stimulus money, and we have a new generation of non-profit goldbrickers.

For those of you who came here today looking for the hope and promise, I apologize for the post's title. I further apologize for such reality bombs during the season of joy.

A Reflection On Christmas Lights

When I was a child, when it came to Christmas lights, more seemed better. I recall my father taking us to see a house out on Union Street, beyond Union Terrace, which decorated lawn, house and roof. The home owner continued that tradition for many years, until he became too old to perform that labor of love. 

When I became older and more visual, I found less decorations more tasteful. Not only was I drawn to less, but also older. Over the years my camera would turn to the retro decorations, especially those faded and shopworn. The film elmusion has held up better than my memory...I can only guess where the photo above was taken. 

Today's inflatables are not, in my opinion, camera worthy.

reprinted from previous years

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 23, 2022: This is the second reprinted post this week that mentions the big light show of my youth, just west of Union Terrace on Union St. I also again complain about the inflatable decorations. Originally, these posts weren't presented the same year, much alone the same week. 

My distain for the inflatables has only deepened. The gentleman on Union Street had to work...Lights, ladders, muscle power and storage. Today, the pile of inflatables is spread around, and the pump turned on. Even complaining about it takes more effort and creativity than required for those displays of vinyl future litter. 

Nevertheless, even if you put up an inflatable, I wish you a Happy Holiday!