A Question Of Priorities

Recently Dan Hartzell, traffic columnist for The Morning Call, wrote that the 15th Bridge construction is ahead of schedule. Dan's not much for controversy. His easy light column is based on asking the spokesman at PennDot a question, then paraphrasing the answer into a column. PennDot, Allentown, nor anything, is ever criticized; Easy light for the long haul. I suppose the six men working on the bridge are on schedule. In the four months since the photograph above was taken, they have completed one of six piers necessary for the bridge. Meanwhile, the 100 plus men working on the arena have laid over 200 times more concrete, practically completing the arena foundation around a square block. While the arena will benefit J.B Reilly and the two brothers who own the hockey team, 30,000 residents of south side Allentown are inconvenienced by the snail pace of the bridge construction. It's a question of priorities.

Allentown Arena Digest Vol.1, Issue1

Official News About Your Arena
State and local income taxes collected from the NIZ district exceeded $31 million dollars in 2012. After the Authority took the yearly arena debt service off the top, the remainder went to J. B. Reilly's Ever Expanding Empire Incorporated. Remaining funds, which will never exist, are earmarked for the children and seniors of Pennsylvania. CUNA and The Community Action Committee of Lehigh Valley, have decided to go their separate ways in extracting community benefit from the arena complex. Jenning's group will be getting a percentage of loans made to developers by the Arena Authority, on which he sits. CUNA members will be getting a discount on hotdogs and soda at all arena events.

No portion of this news release can be reprinted without permission.

Water Lease Jeopardizes Public Safety

Over the decades, there has been a number of water leaks and catastrophic gas explosions in Allentown; The Mountainville Inn, Oak Street, Corporate Plaza and North 5th Street, pictured above. Although the city, for liability reasons, doesn't confirm water leaks as the cause, it was the reason in at least several of the cases. Leaking water erodes the ground supporting the metal gas pipe, which in turn sags and cracks. After the gas tragedy last year on 13th Street, UGI is replacing their aging infrastructure. The water pipes in Allentown are much older than the gas pipes, many over 100 years old. The city has been systematically rebuilding entire streets in center city for years. They have the institutional knowledge of this underground situation. This fall we relined a portion of the Schantz Spring feed pipe near Union Terrace, which is a metal pipe from 1905.  Recently, an advocate for the lease to a private company  wrote that private companies will have an incentive to repair leaks, to save water and maximize profit.  I respectfully disagree, they make their money selling the water, which is obtained free of charge, taken from the springs and the Little Lehigh creek.  On the contrary, they will maximize their profit by deferring maintenance and pipe replacement.  Leasing the water system to a private company will jeopardize public safety.

photo:molovinsky/1990

Invitation To Weaver's Loft

Back in the era, underground comic artist Mark Beyer produced several invitations to Weaver loft events, which often combined art and music.

Family

Jessica Lenard/Mixed Media

Dog Show At Ag Hall, 1993

photocredit:molovinsky