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Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Fed Ed Reverses Course on Basketball Rim Removal

Allentown Mayor "Fed Ed" Pawlowski has reversed course on his ill-considered decision to remove basketball rims from Andre Reed Park. He had taken this action on the basis of complaints from neighbors, but without bothering to discuss the situation with local coaches and community activists who could have told him what he apparently has never learned - Allentown is a basketball town. So starting today. the rims will go back up. But now he wants them locked every night at 8 or 9 pm.

Fed Ed announced his decision during a meeting last night at Dieruff High School. I have linked to The Morning Call's story because I was unable to attend. I was at a basketball game myself. Allentown Central Catholic was expected to win easily. Unfortunately, they played Dieruff High School, and Coach Joe Jarjous' boys played like a team who had been disrespected and were out to prove a point. They did. We had our asses handed to us.

"Hey, we didn't take the rims away," I said to one of the victors, a young man who might be 5'6" and scored about 15 points.

He flashed a smile

In addition to her story, Morning Call reporter Emily Opilo live-tweeted the meeting.

"Pawlowski starts the basketball meeting by telling ... group that this meeting will not devolve into a shouting match."

(All he wants is silence,and damn little of that!)

"Pawlowski says he's not anti-youth or anti-basketball."

(I have attended Allentown basketball games for years at all three high schools, and have never seen him at a game. Not even last year, during Allen's fantastic run.)

"Pawlowski says they've installed boulders to deter people from driving up to the basketball court at night and shining headlights."

(He forgot to mention the bear traps.)

"Woman yells out 'You bought the house, the park was there.' It gets loud in here real fast. Now it's all yelling."
(And these are the people who complain about kids being too loud)

"Woman yells out: 'Mr. Mayor, what are you going to do when other people who live around parks complain?'"
(That's an easy one. It all depends on whether the complainer took Fed Ed's campaign signs, hosted a party or gave him a few bucks for his campaign.)

"League coach says the parks staff won't consistently put up the rims at the park."
(On the bright side, they'll be just as inconsistent about locking them.)

"Andre Reed's mother is here for this discussion. She hasn't spoken yet."
(But halfway through the meeting, the skies opened and she ascended straight to heaven, joining Elijah, Jesus, Muhammad, Harvey Goldstein and the Immaculate Mother of God.)

Janet Keshl: Don't blame the homeowners for moving near parks. Kids are different now, she said. Less respectful.
(Darker, too. Keshl is a Fed Ed toadie).

Woman: I learned how to work, and I learned how to compete. And that started at the park. Don't take away what kids need to develop skills.
(But do kids vote?)

"Woman says she doesn't like how basketball is being equated with crime. Half the room applauds loudly."
(Actually, it's football that should be equated with crime. Or pickleball.)

Pawlowski to woman: "And by the way, you don't even live in the city!" Good portion of this room applauds.
(Fed Ed himself is a Chicago carpetbagger.)

Mayor: "I’m not against basketball. I want your kids to play basketball. I also want to take care of these residents."
(After all, they contributed to him and took his yard signs. What's the over-under on him watching just one basketball game during the A-town Throwdown this weekend?)

The assistant principal of Dieruff asks Pawlowski to listen to input from the school basketball coaches but he hasn't opened the floor.
(Why on earth would he do that? It would only show he had zero interest in their concerns or the kids they mentor.)

Angry east side mom yells while storming out: "It’s way bigger than basketball. We’re going to take our community back, one way or another."
(Hopefully, she will register to vote and show Fed Ed the door, unless he is being housed by federal authorities.)

Resident asks whether they'll lock rims in the winter. Pawlowski says kids don't play in the winter and everyone yells "oh yes they do."
(And this guy is the mayor of a basketball town?)

Coach Jarjous stands next to Pawlowski and says this meeting should have happened before the rims came down. Ballsy.
(People should have been standing up to this bully long before last night, but it's nice to see someone who has his priorities right set Fed Ed straight.)

Thanks to Fed Ed, I can now launch my evil plan to take away all the rims at Dieruff and Allen High Schools. We'll put them in Pawlowski's back yard. ... and blame Emmaus. Nobody likes Emmaus.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is all about winning the election for eddy boy

Anonymous said...

He's a gutsy guy and not afraid to face the people. Unlike some other people who can only complain.

Anonymous said...

This problem would not exist if it weren't for the riff raff that dominates our once fine city.

Anonymous said...

12:40 Ed knows how to campaign and get votes. Hyman will have to hire consultants to give him a warm and fuzzy image. Running on a platform that "I'm not Pawlowski" will get him the Pawlowski-haters like Bernie and Molovinski.

I'd wager that the traditionally apoplectic voters of Allentown either don't know or don't give a damn about this FBI investigation of obscure actions in City Hall. Where is the body? Whom did Pawlowski murder? Oh Ed fiddled some obscure contracts? That's a big shoulder shrug. Hell after two years there aren't even any indictments !

Ray the Cheerleader will run, and he'll have a bunch of amateur ex-Trexler students out knocking on doors. He lacks money and the backing of any organized political party. He's just pissed he lost to Ed in the primary and flouting the spirit of the "sore loser" law which was designed to prevent thigs such as this. He'll likely pull much more support from Hyman. If I were running Ed's campaign, I'd give Ray some money to keep in the race.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, I love the way you put your words in redd as jesus's spoken word, and than emily's powerpoint tweet was over the top. There must have been many in attendance from church on the run as the mayor is propped up as little drummer boy and also a parishinor as they too collect a seperate tray for campaign donations that are unaccounted because of the non-profit status! My question is did he and his code thugZ allow the deconversion of single family dwellings over in that area too?

This shit is too funny and too think it is just for attention like a toddler wanting candy in a store check out line!

Anonymous said...

This issue has racial undertones to it. Suburban white kids tend to play basketball for the fun of it ... but inner city black kids look at basketball as a matter of life and death.

Sports -- especially basketball -- are a tremendously valuable cultural object to inner city youth. So you see, Pawlowski must be a racist for shutting down the basketball courts.

X said...

Than why does it hand off personal emails to its giggles and jiggles and other underlings to REspond if its such a gustsy perpaTRAITOR?
REpublican redd

Anonymous said...

Lets look at what was accomplished shall we there was a problem with ADULT players playing after dark..neighbors complained.....the rims have been down for less than a week...a community furor has erupted bring attention to the problem.....you gotta be nuts to play there late night going forward.......pretty unique solution.........and before you ask Fed Ed should NOT be reelected

Anonymous said...

Emily Opilo does a great job covering Allentown, and especially so her twitter streams during council and special meetings. Very entertaining as well as informative.

And Bernie, nobody likes Parkland! Please issue a correction.

The Banker

Bernie O'Hare said...

Lol.

Anonymous said...

It's mind-boggling what is going on in Allentown.

Everything Ed does is designed to pick up literally a handful of votes, one at a time. He cobbled a handful along with a dysfunctional Democratic party to win the primary, and may very well win the general unless he gets indicted first.

In the meantime, the majority of the city is hurt by his actions, yet I can guarantee they won't get off their collective asses and vote in November.

And as for the kids? Screw them, they don't vote.

So as a result, the city will end up either with Ed or with Nat Hyman, a man who creates urban blight and played very dirty (with Ed's full support, after a few contributions of course) by skipping property inspections awhile back on those blighted properties.

It's tragic.

The Banker


Anonymous said...

He will continue to fuck people over untill the day he leaves for the penitentiary .
He is the one who deserves the title "thug".

Anonymous said...

If Mike Fleck was still on board �� Fed Ed wouldn't have gotten his ass in this wringer.

Anonymous said...

The day Ed and his old lady in crime are sentenced there is going to be one hell of a party in this town.7