On Saturday night at Cedar Beach, by the Destination Playground, hundreds of young denizens cheered on no less than three separate concurring fist fights. If the event was sponsored by the Recreation Department, I do not know.
I do know that the Park Department must coordinate for more security. Although they do a pretty good job of cleaning up after the denizens, it is not so across Ott Street, by the Rose Gardens.
Back in 2005, the Trexler Trust commissioned a study which concluded that the Cedar Beach area was being overused. Since that time, it is actually being used much more, and supported by the Parknership, a new project by the Trust. It is high-test political correctness, with myself and other traditional park advocates excluded. They put pretty pictures on their website, but I don't think you'll see the litter and the fights.
I drove past on Friday or Saturday and saw the cars parking on the grass at Cedar Beach.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what that was for, but I would say that when the people are parking in the grass, that’s a pretty clear sign that whatever is going on there is too high of a use for that venue.
That is not to say that the city should pave more of the park. It’s simply an OBVIOUS sign that what is happening there is more than the area should have to deal with (be it parking, traffic, litter, fights, etc.)
Also happening this past weekend was the takeover of the parking lot at the Mountainville Shopping Center.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if the mall owners approved that ahead of time, but maybe our elected officials can explain the economic benefits and increase to our quality of life that such gatherings bring.
And of course, the local "news organizations" are maintaining radio silence. I typed Allentown cedar beach fight into my browser and your blog was the only relevant hit.
ReplyDelete7:27 and 7:47 tie in well with the post’s Cedar Beach lament. To go further, I wonder if these incidents are being “digitally mislaid” by the media and or authorities. I commented on the Mountainville gathering in Allentown Truth, in response to someone mentioning yet another serious injury accident that night. What I didn’t know at the time was that WFMZ had reported on a serious accident near “Basin and Woodward” streets. I asked the blog if an APD/AFD/AEMS medical incident near Wells Fargo Bank on S. 4th St. was the one in question. It turns out both cases were within a few hours of each other, and both within a half mile of Mountainville Shopping Center. The problem is for anyone potentially trying to find official information about the “Basin and Woodward” street incident. There is no Basin Street near Woodward Street. South 4th St. continues north past Woodward for about a block to Auburn, where S. 4th becomes Basin. Hopefully, the official report was filed under an accurate S. 4th St. or Woodward St. address. However, someone requesting information about a Basin Street incident that night may be told no such
Delete[To finish previous comment]: ... may accurately be told no such record exists.
DeleteThe low-lifers have come to understand if you overload an area with rule breakers, then enforcement of those rules becomes exponentially more difficult. This applies to rowdy, too large picnics. To 25 or more illegal vehicles who break all rules, and to social media created mad rushes into a drugstore for robbery and destruction of property.
ReplyDeleteNo 4-6 group of police officers, with their hands legally tied by lousy magistrates and judges will wade into that nonsense with all the personal risk to themselves or their careers.
So, how can this tribal behavior be stopped? Maybe better to just move out and away (if you can) from these people and let them collapse their own neighborhoods before moving along to another area for fun and conquest.
7:54 - I don’t necessarily disagree with you about people getting out of Allentown, but here’s the problem:
DeleteYes, the low-lifes drags Allentown down and make it worse.
BUT, many of those voting for the politicians that don’t do anything about the problems in Allentown end up fleeing as well.
That wouldn’t be a problem, except that they don’t learn their lesson and they end up voting for the same type of politicians that they are fleeing, creating a vicious cycle that drags down their new municipalities.
Take a look at the effect that Allentown has had on nearby Emmaus or even Lower Macungie. Emmaus is only 20 years behind Allentown, and that’s not a good thing. Lower Macungie is a little further behind, but is at a crossroads as far as which way it heads.
Liberals, progressives, socialists or whatever they want to call themselves are like locusts. They will quickly suck an area that is easy pickings dry and then move on to the next. Your area might be safe today, but they’ll be at your door soon enough. The only way to make things better is to stomp the problem out wherever it is, even in Allentown.
What percent of Allentown residents are registered to vote?
DeleteWhat percent actually votes?
What percent count give a reasonable definition of a “liberal” a “progressive” or a “socialist”?
The problem here is a ghetto mentality and a criminal subculture not political ideology.
Yes, of course the Mayor and County Executive are cartoon characters.
The Democrat Party most people envision upon hearing those words NO LONGER EXISTS. The traditional Democrats who were more logical, but still liberal in their thinking has lost the battle with the Democrat Socialists and Communists.
DeleteHow anyone could vote in the midterms for “Democrat” is beyond my understanding. They won’t be getting what they think they’ll be getting. They will only help pave the way down the road to a rigid, totalitarian, Communist style life that could be cemented here in 10-12 years, or less.
Do some research into what’s happening now in California, New York, Washington, Minnesota, Illinois, etc.
Please cite some specific examples of rules or actions by local magistrates and judges to back up your point.
DeleteThank you.
10th St.
ReplyDelete12th St.
15th 17th St.s
Ott St.
No one paying attention is the least bit surprised.
Imagine how bad things would be if Promise Neighborhoods was not fanned out around the city keeping the peace and spreading love and compassion.
ReplyDeleteanon@6:13: In the current MAGA mind, everyone not on board is courting socialism. There are Republicans opposed to MAGA, and there are Democrats who are not socialists.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Allentown is pretty much a one party town, but then again the Republicans run nobody, and cry that their good candidates lost anyway years ago.
James Carville, of all people, said today that he just can’t be in the same party with people who don’t support the State of Israel.
DeleteMM is increasingly embracing that political party .
I no longer own property in Allentown, so I really don’t care if Allentown ALWAYS elects Democrats only. I’m much more concerned about people repeatedly electing Democrats at the State and Federal level, simply because they ALWAYS voted for the Democrat candidate. That logic doesn’t hold up considering how their favored Democrat Party has now been taken over by radical Democrat Socialist wackos who sound too anti-American for my taste.
ReplyDeleteSome of us have noticed how far gone into quasi-Communism England, France, and Canada are now.. I can always leave Pennsylvania for some other state, if it falls over the edge as hard as California, New York, and Massachusetts have gone. But, if our entire nation goes the way some of those other nations have, I’m stuck here to deal with it as best I can.