Norco Council Appoints Zorro to LANTA

Last month, Northampton County Council derailed alternative transportation advocate Steve Schmitt's appointment to LANTA's board. They disregarded pleas from LANTA board member Paul Marin, community activist Dennis Lieb and Schmitt himself. But last night, all eight council members unanimously approved Lázaro Fuentes (with an á, damn it!).

I call him LáZorro, but he's really a venture capitalist who helped make the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce a vibrant business voice. One of his latest projects is HipChicas.com, a virtual community with a focus on socially conscious, young Latinas, and an "eco-friendly" stance. He is also one of citizen-soldiers who has been honored with the Army Commendation Medal for his heroism and meritorious service during rescue efforts on 9/11.

When LANTA and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski ignored minority businesses devastated by routing changes along Hamilton Street, LáZorro is one of the civic leaders who peppered Pawlowski for a solution. He has asked The Morning Call to stop the bigotry and hate on its reader forums. He was outraged by the way Allentown police responded to the racial assualt of Kari Holmes.

LANTA is lucky to have this guy, and so are we.

LaZorro Creates Eco-Friendly Virtual World For Latina Tweens

I call him LáZorro (with an á, damn it!) because of his keen sense of right and wrong. You may know him as Lázaro Fuentes, a venture capitalist who helped make the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce a vibrant business voice. What I never knew until today is that he has spent the last seventeen months developing a virtual worlds market for kids, tweens and teens (KT&T).

It's called HipChicas.com, a virtual community with a focus on socially conscious, young Latinas, and an "eco-friendly" stance.

HipChicas.com members will create and customize avatars and living spaces, as well as purchase items with virtual currency called Hip Change. Girls can chat in English, Spanish, Portuguese or French, with an automatic translator that displays the appropriate language for each user.

Now I finally know what young kids are doing on computers all the time. I always thought they were reading Molovinsky on Allentown.

Girls learn that their actions directly affect the environment through games and challenges. It definitely has a green focus. Adding plants and cleaning up a habitat, for example, will cause a native endangered species to flourish.

"We felt that there was a need for content that kids would like and parents would approve of," Fuentes said. "It's as if somewhere along the line, someone decided that being hip meant that girls had to dress or act inappropriately, or had to fit into a specific mold and that their only interests are picking hair colors or shopping for clothes. They are far more than that and are looking for content that gets them; a higher level of engagement. These are kids that want to save the world, be in a band and start a blog all in one day."

Though this virtual world is designed from a Latina-centric perspective, HipChicas.com would likely have multi-ethnic appeal, much like Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer property. "The girls that were five when they first started watching Dora the Explorer in 2000 are thirteen now," Fuentes said. "And they've already had an unprecedented amount of exposure to Latin-themed content."

LáZorro Pounds Pawlowski Over Allentown Racial Assault

I call himself LáZorro (with an á, damn it!) because of his keen sense of right and wrong. He is also known as Lázaro Fuentes, a venture capitalist who chairs the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania's largest Hispanic organization. It includes 318 businesses that employ over 2,550 people with over 12,500 family and extended family members right here in the Lehigh Valley.

Like many of you, Fuentes is outraged over the racial assualt reported by Kari Holmes and by the way Allenotwn has reacted. This is his letter to my pal, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

Dear Mr. Mayor,

I hear that the policeman that took this report refused to shake her hand [Kari Holmes] when he approached her to take the report and that the report mysteriously was lost at the precinct. I also heard that you did not have the decency to contact Ms. Holmes yourself and instead had one of your “people” call, even though she was instrumental during your campaign to help get you elected. I suppose that you are just too busy, again, to deal with the rampant crime in your city. Maybe had another meeting with Butz or your buddies at the LVEDC?

I for one hope that Allentown gets a real Mayor one day. A genuine one. If only a Guridy or a Donovan would run against you. That would be something, wouldn’t it? Maybe then the people might get some needed attention and security not “just” the developers and bankers. You should have run for Bus Driver. It would have saved you having to throw the people closest to you under the bus. You would be able to just run them over.

Fix your issues Mayor. Stop ignoring the policing problems. You might want to start by getting them to leave the precinct.

LáZorro, Latino Border Fox, Lashes Out at Pawlowski

He calls himself LáZorro (with an á, damn it!).

He's the Latino Border Fox. Last night, he crashed through my window and into my estate, slicing gigatic Zs over all of my servants. When he finally reached me, he pinned this essay to my chest, and demanded that I publish it today ... or he'll return with illegal immigrants!!! ¿Que no?

It's his reaction to yesterday's post about Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who takes free meals from at least one publicly subsidized restaurant, while stiffing their servers.

LáZorro (with an á, damn it!) even wrote it in English!

The Mayor’s snub of two waitresses is a perfect metaphor for his snub of the entire community who put him in office. That includes us - the Latino community. He promised his administration would diversify - from its police force to its public services - to reflect the community. But he continues to appoint the same people who have failed to solve Allentown's problems. When we have taken him to task, his response is “I cannot find anyone”.

When he enlisted my help - very early in his tenure - I sent him a list of names. But he instead installed political lackeys. He has mistreated even those closest to him during his campaign. His “unnamed” Latino lawyer buddy, who went to bat for him throughout the campaign, was passed over as solicitor. And how about his buddy Fred Bañuelos (that’s with an ñ, damn it!). He worked with him for years with the Alliance for Building Communities, but the mayor threw him under a LANTA bus, like a professional bowler.

I won’t even go into how he lobbed the whole community under the bus, no pun intended (it is intended actually), when he would not speak up for them or do anything about LANTA’s disruption of necessary bus services. Of course, he flip-flopped when the tide turned after a steady barrage of criticism (with a little help from your friends, ;-). Pawlowski is a legend in his and his contractor buddies' minds, but is no hero to Allentown's working poor. In the words of the young girl in distress in the Latin series El Chapulin Colorado, “Y ahora quien podra ayudarnos” or “Now who will come to our rescue...”
Who will come to Allentown’s rescue when the next election comes around? What Democrat has the Chutzpah to take on the Butz’ of the world who have gained so much with their wonderboy?

Who is this masked man? LáZorro (with an á, damn it!) is also known as Lázaro Fuentes, a venture capitalist who chairs the Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania's largest Hispanic organization. It includes 318 businesses that employ over 2,550 people with over 12,500 family and extended family members right here in the Lehigh Valley.