In a recent discussion of the weed wall in Cedar Park, someone commented that Harry Trexler must be turning over in his grave. In reality, poor Harry has been on a rotisserie for decades, which ironically he pays for.
In 1985, when the Trexler Trust allowed Allentown to demolish Mary Trexler's cherished greenhouse, he turned over in the grave. When sitting members of the Trust were in Ed Pawlowski's kitchen cabinet, they started discarding traditional guidelines for the parks. Creek decisions were outsourced to the Wildlands Conservancy.
The original creek banks sheltered by willows are a thing of the past. Hundreds of trees have been closely planted together, even farther out from the banks, making the former traditional grass cutting impossible. The city/park department has even started a Forestry Master Plan. The Trexler Trust and its new Parknership are on board with these plantings, recently funding more trees. For the most part, the Parknership has been involved with recreation....Perhaps it should have been called the Playship.
This post raises several questions but I know how pissy you get about questions, so just forget it.
ReplyDeleteAny pool of money is viewed as a possible way for someone to gain access, bend the rules, distort the original intent, anyway to gain access to the free money. As long as there is a balance the vultures will be circling.
ReplyDeleteRay@6:33: As a park department observer for two decades, some things get neglected and others overdone. The WPA structures have been neglected, while we built a "destination playground" at an already overused park. It is my hope that more thought goes into the new Franklin Park windfall.
ReplyDeleteMayor Ed Pawlowski hired a professional “Forrester” to develop a plan to log So. Mountain for the revenue. Mayor Pawlowski was a fella who wasn’t afraid to think big, G_d bless him.
ReplyDeleteKnock it off Twerp. Chicago was glad to get rid of Fast Eddy and now you fully support this criminal.
DeleteTrexler Trust didn’t have to bend to Ed Pawlowski's arrogant bullying. It’s to their everlasting shame and the detriment of the Allentown Park System that they did.
ReplyDeleteanon@10:10: unfortunately anon@8:55 loves satire, but doesn't realize that it is not perceived as such, resulting in unnecessary replies, explanations and comments. I often ignore such comments, then get accused of "censorship".
ReplyDeleteanon@10:28: He wasn't bullying, those kitchen cabinet members, they were flattered to have input beyond Trust matters. Furthermore, most Trust members are not that familiar with the park system. They are chosen by the. court for their status in the community. The Trust is a local sacred cow, which receives zero scrutiny, except for this blogger and some anonymous commenters.
MM, if memory serves you were the individual who broke the news about Ed Pawlowski’s plan to log the trees off South Mountain. Wasn’t it front page news in a Sunday edition of the Morning Call?
DeleteYes it sounds like satire but it really did happen.
Anyone who doesn’t understand that the former Mayor Pawlowski has hundreds, perhaps thousands, of enthusiastic supporters right now, today, at this very moment, is simply not paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI wish it was satire but it’s remarkably accurate.
If you’ll pardon the question, what am I missing here?.
Here’s my recollection as a keenly interested observer: In spirit, if not clearly defined by the articles of the Trexler Trust, funds distributed to the City of Allentown were earmarked for the Allentown park system.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ed Pawlowski took office he was clear that he intended to co-mingle Trust funds with general funds and other funding silos.
The Trust balked in its own discrete fashion, gulped, and let Mayor Pawlowski kick sand in their face.
The Trust caved.
Pawlowski treated the Trust with a level of contempt that was previously unthinkable. Give the young Mayor credit for brazenly taking charge and shifting the relationship between the Trust and his administration.
A new day had dawned.
Yes, members of the Trust, particularly Mr. Gross, were simultaneously members of the Pawlowski kitchen cabinet. One example of this powerful if informal small group was the hiring of Greg Weitzel as Parks Director, a story for another day.
mj adams
The aforementioned Mr.Gross was rewarded in part for his cosy relationship with Mayor Ed when his father’s personal shrine in the Rose Garden was given a grade A treatment.
DeleteLikely Trexler Trust money paid for the work.