Circle of Taxpayer Distrust

Fegley's Brew Works is adding to it's brewing capacity. The El Vee blog reports that later today the pub will have a news conference, announcing the expansion. molovinsky on allentown will go out on the limb and say that the real announcement is that they have probably joined the NIZ circle of taxpayer distrust. Although they may not announce that today, or at all, I have every faith in Pawlowski the GrantMeister, to plug in his favorite receiver. When they built the brewpub they claimed to have reinforced the floor to support the equipment. I believe that the extra beams were necessary to support all the grants and incentives that would eventually be attached to the enterprise.

8th Street Bridge

When opened for traffic on November 17, 1913, with seventeen spans, the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge, then known as the Eighth Street Bridge, was the longest and highest reinforced concrete arch bridge in the world.
The Lehigh Valley Transit Company organized the Allentown Bridge Company in 1911 for the sole purpose of building the bridge. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm of B.H. Davis and built by McArthur Brothers of New York City. Costing in excess of $500,000, construction of the bridge required 29,500 cubic yards of concrete and 1.1 million pounds of metal reinforcing rods.
The structure operated as a toll bridge from its November 17, 1913 opening until the 1950s, at which time the toll was five cents for an automobile. The concrete standards that once supported the trolley wire are still standing on the bridge to this day.*

This iconic bridge is a monument to our industrial history; epicenter of both the cement and steel industries. Unfortunately, bridge is suffering. Weeds and undergrowth are being allowed to penetrate the roadbed. Spalling concrete is not being replaced, submitting the reinforcing rods to rust.

Harry C. Trexler, founding member of the Transit Company and Lehigh Portland Cement Co., was a principle player in the construction of this bridge. General Trexler's gravesite, in Fairview Cemetery on Lehigh Street, affords unique views of the bridge and center city Allentown.
*Wikipedia

reprinted from February 2010

White Harvests O'Hare's Brain

I was shocked when I saw Bill White's Column on reassessment. It simply was a combination of O'Hare's post about Cunningham outsmarting the Commissioners, and the comments that followed. Even White's title appeared borrowed. O'Hare labeled his post of Thursday, February 9th as Cunningham Strikes Out on Reassessment. Or did He? Bill White's copy, which appeared on Saturday the 11th, was called In Lehigh County reassessment battle, did Don Cunningham really lose? In the past, when I took the newspaper to task for not giving me proper attribution on a story I broke, Bill White defended the paper's practice. He said that if the paper independently verifies all the facts, it can use the news without attribution. Apparently, his threshold for using someone else's opinion is even lower.

A Tale of Two Bridges

In the mid 50's, it was a big deal to us southsiders when they opened the new 15th Street Bridge. Prior to that, we had to either go over the 8th Street Bridge, or use the old stone arch bridge by the fertilizer plant. The fertilizer plant is long gone, but the old stone bridge is still there. Schreibers Bridge was built in 1828, and rehabilitated in 1920. The new 15th Street bridge was built in 1957, and is now restricted to south bound only, until which time it can be completely replaced. So the new bridge lasted 54 years, while the old stone bridge is still in use, 182 years later.

Recently, I urged Donny Cunningham not to replace the stone arch bridge on Reading Road. His project manager, Glenn Solt, insists that the historic bridge must be replaced. He stated that stone arch bridges look nice on the outside, but inside, they're filled with "crap." Thankfully, Don and Glenn didn't target Schreibers Bridge, because we're really going to need it with the new 15th Street Bridge out of commission. Hopefully, they will reconsider about stealing our history on Reading Road.

reprinted from November 2010

Bridging Our History

Part of Don Cunningham's political patter as a candidate and elected official is repairing or replacing bridges in the county. When you replace a bridge which doesn't need replacing, you're wasting taxpayer money. When you replace a historic bridge which doesn't need replacing, you're stealing our culture






The Reading Road Bridge, scheduled by Cunningham for replacement, is in excellent condition. Although my observation and top photograph clearly shows that, I did confirm it's structural integrity with someone formally with the City engineering department.

The bridge was built in 1824 and totally rehabilitated in 1980. At that time a separate walking bridge was built next to it for pedestrian safety.*





Although the beautiful two arch stone bridge needs no work, and Cunningham has been in office since 2006, the steel beams of the walking bridge are in dire need of paint. How sad that inexpensive maintenance is ignored, while $million dollar projects are planned.
click on bridge photographs to enlarge image
An engineer familiar with the bridge told me that he if was asked by supervisors to justify replacing the bridge, he will cite flooding; He added that in reality it's a moot point, because the stream flow in high water situations is also impeded by the nearby Hamilton and Union street bridges.

UPDATE: The above post appeared in June of 2010. This past Wednesday, the bridge project was presented to the County Commissioners for approval. The newest member, Mike Schware, prevailed upon the Commissioners to postpone the deliberation. I would like to remind the Commissioners that Schreiber's Bridge is now handling the former north bound traffic from the 15th Street Bridge. Once replacement begins, Schreiber will be handling virtually all the traffic from the south side. Schreiber's is also a stone arch bridge, of the same design, built at the same time as the Reading Road Bridge. Although the 15Th Street bridge was built 130 years later, that's the one that now has to be replaced. I urge the Commissioners to make a good investment in our culture, history and budget, and allow the Reading Road Bridge to remain.

Ed Hozza's Epiphany

Ed Hozza stood dutifully with the other Lehigh Valley Mayor's, across the street from a pile of rubble, and allowed Pawlowski to describe the 40 temporary demolition jobs as work recovery. If that wasn't enough, he defended Allentown's EIT grab; "We're getting the numbers first and opening our mouths second." His rendition of kumbaya would end before he got home. Apparently, driving back up MacArthur Road, he ended up behind an oversized dump truck of former Allentown. He followed the rubble and discovered it was being dumped in none other than his beloved Whitehall. Concerned about contaminants, he called the contractor, who told him not to worry his kumbaya head. Although the molovinsky on allentown legal team will not allow me to comment on his suspicions, our photography staff reported that the demolition equipment does have a vivacious appetite.

photo of mayors/The Morning Call/Donna Fisher