Rumors and Innuendoes

Regular readers of this blog know that I have been upset about the additional paths being added at Cedar Park. Although the previous gravel loop provided a nice exercise route, it also preserved open green space and the park atmosphere. Weitzel's new plans placed loops inside loops, to be connected by cross paths, and everything to be widened and paved. As I make numerous visits to the park to survey the destruction, I notice that the new paths do not conform to the plans, or even the revised plans, submitted to City Council. That contradiction didn't stop Council from passing the Trail Network Plan last week, again giving just lip service to oversight.

This blog, as perhaps the last watchtower between our park system and Weitzel's schemes, receives many tips about park shenanigans. I neither have the energy or time to check them all out. Last week a persistent tipper told me an interesting story. She claimed that Pawlowski tried to squeeze more property tax from Cedar Crest College, claiming that the snow slide hill behind the college, down to the park, was taxable land. The College responded by having their land surveyed. Lo and behold, they owned more land than either they or the City realized. Although a visit to the area did reveal surveyor posts, frankly, the story didn't interest me, until now.

Andrew Kleiner writes on his current post about his interview with Weitzel.

2. Extra paths have been removed, some at the request of Cedar Crest College.

Weitzel and the Administration demonstrated this summer they could care less about the requests of park neighbors. I have no doubt that part of a new path infringed on the College's newly discovered land, and that was the reason for the extra path removal. My conclusions;
1. City Council continues to approve and accept plans knowing their requests for oversight are ignored.
2. Weitzel continues to tell Kleiner and others half the story.
3. Pawlowski's overreaching cost the park some land.

The above is rumor, innuendo and speculation. I'll leave the facts to a reporter, I'm a blogger.

Baer vs. Simon, 1937

When Max Baer beat Primo Carnera for the Heavyweight Title in 1934, he became a celebrity overnight. In the year that he held the title, his nightclub carousing was legendary, including a Vanity Fair Magazine profile. His younger brother, Buddy, 6'7", decided he too would become a boxer. Between 1934 and 1937 Buddy fought40 times.



"On August 30, 1937 Buddy took on his first highly regarded opponent, New York's rising prospect, Abe Simon, at Yankee Stadium*. Baer won by TKO in the third. "Simon gave Baer a beating in the 1st round and had him in distress, but he came back in the next two sessions with a succession of blows to the body and head that had his huge opponent reeling when the bout was stopped" (New York Times). Baer then went on to beat Two Ton Tony Galento, setting himself up for a title shot with Joe Louis. Louis had called Galento the toughest man he ever fought. Like Simon, Buddy Baer got two chances at Louis. In the first fight he went 7 rounds, in the second fight, he got knocked out in the first round. Also like Simon, he would retire from the ring after his second Louis fight. Baer would later say, "The only way I could have beaten Louis that night was with a baseball bat."
*Buddy Baer-Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia

The Brass Rail

The Brass Rail was a fixture on Hamilton Street for many decades. At one time, to the left of the front door on Hamilton Street, was the women's entrance. A woman could use the special corridor to avoid walking through the bar room, to get to the dining room at the rear of the building. The business owners had all the bases covered. The front grill provided their famous steak sandwiches, for the take out lunch business on busy Hamilton Street. The back parking lot and service window specialized in takeout pizza, long before separate pizza shops become the norm. In the 1950's, pizza was more less limited to the Brass Rail and the Paddock, another long time food tradition. Having gone for the Brass Rail pizza's so often, I easily recognized the back of the Philly's Sport Bar, on the Morning Call shooting video. I patronized the first restauranteur who purchased the former Brass Rail location, Wellington's, but I haven't been there for years. Reading the article yesterday, I felt sorry for the new owner. He is petrified that his Philly's Sport Bar will be classified as a nuisance bar, and shut down. He, as were the owners of other "nuisance" bars and clubs, are also victims; They are the victims of what this town has become, and who the businesses are reduced to dealing with.

Bulldozer Coming to the Parkway

As an defender of the Allentown Park System, Wednesday evening's City Council meeting was profoundly disappointing. As a native, being disappointed by our own Park Director and our own City Council, only adds to the exasperation. Imagine listening to Greg Weiztel, here in town for three years now, tell Council that this plan will improve property values in Allentown. Greg should tell that to the descendent of General Trexler, who lived on Honochick Drive across from Cedar Park. She already sold her house and moved in disgust. Greg, nobody wants to hear that their house will be worth more when a hundred times more strangers bicycle by, except City Council.

As Weitzel, from where-ever, regurgitated that nonsense from the Greenway Trail plan salesman's pitch, (whose based in North Carolina) he found willing ears on Julio Guridy.

''I think our role as council is to leave the city in a better place than we found it, and I think this plan does that,'' said Councilman Julio Guridy.

On Wednesday, in addition to approving the general plan, Council approved the segment in Lehigh Parkway. Weiztel and Guridy are going to make Lehigh Parkway better.

The End Of An Era

Much like this postcard showing Robin Hood in the 50's, the golden era of our park system ended last night. City Council voted 5 to 2 to pass The Trail Network Plan. Although reassurances were given at previous park meetings that all components of the plan would receive public input, last night council also approved two components (Lehigh Parkway and Martin Luther King Drive sections) of the overall plan, putting the proverbial cart in front of the horse, with no public input what so ever. Weitzel and the Administration told Council that the plan would take decades to implement, yet it needed passage immediately last evening? Council Peter Schweyer told new EAC member Andrew Kleiner that any plan could be held up with concerns from him, but after Andrew expressed concerns, Schweyer still voted yes. Council conceded that the Mayor generally keeps them out of the loop regarding the City; that Cedar Creek Plans got away from them, yet voted yes knowing that the paths already implemented at Cedar Park degraded that park. While the no votes came from Donovan and Eichenwald, Schweyer provided both the most hope and disappointment. On the plus side he introduced an amendment which would examine the 20 separate components of the plan in the future. Had they considered rejecting the overall plan and instead treated each component as a separate plan needing approval, they would have achieved the control they lost at Cedar Park. Most disappointing was statements by Schweyer and Guridy that they favor the plan so the park system evolves into something special in the future. Our separate parks are something very special right now. The challenge, especially with this Administration and Park Director, will be preserving what we got.

related articles
O'Hare's Ramblings
Renshaw/The Morning Call
Kleiner's Remember

Whose Parks Are They?

Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call/April 4, 2010

Shown above, Luciana Martucci, with her Barbie fishing pole, teaches her daddy how to fish in an Allentown park. Luciana is concerned that the Trail Network Plan will encourage many additional bicyclists, going much faster, which will make watching her daddy more difficult; He tends to wander when they walk on the paths. She doesn't understand why the paths are going to be dug up and paved to accommodate one particular set of users, at the expense of all others.

The parks are a nationally recognized heritage of all Allentonians, from one generation to the next. No one Administration, or set of Trustee's, is entitled to impose irreversible changes in its design or use.

photocredit:Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call/April 4, 2010