Allentown Exposes Itself Again

Allentown's water dilemma, and it's lack of democracy on the subject, has once again made the national web sites. The Daily Koz yesterday featured the video of Rich Fegley, and the blog post of Bill White. Fegley will attend the WPA Park Tour on Saturday April 6, and has been warned that there will be no Courtesy Of The Floor allowed. Unlike City Council, I will have him tasered by Allentown's Finest, if he insists on talking.

Lehigh Parkway's Forgotten Island

Director Harms Lehigh Parkway
February 04, 1993|The Morning Call
To the Editor:

The WPA in the 1930s created a three-acre island by diverting water from the Little Lehigh Creek. The island had remained a source of joy for birders, naturalists, and nondescript strollers. No one foresaw Marushak arriving on the scene with wrecking tools to rip up the bridge, terminating public access to the island. Three masonry piers remain in place. Also remaining are 12 discarded auto tires gathering silt in the small stream.

BERT LUCKENBACH
ALLENTOWN (February 4, 1993)

20 years later......
Most people have long ago forgotten that there was a bridge to the island, although the stone piers still remain, obscured by overgrowth. The curved wall and landing of the Boat Landing, shown in the lower right of the photograph, are buried. In 2009, with help from others who appreciate our treasured parks, I had the privilege to rescue the steps which lead to the landing.  Over the decades, the debris and silt mentioned above has enlarged the island, almost to the boat landing.  This Saturday, April 6, in conjunction with Friends of The Parks, I will conduct a tour of current and former WPA sites remaining in Lehigh Parkway. 

Michael Molovinsky

Local Water Authority Gets Brass Ring

The apparent high bid by the Lehigh County Authority(LCA) was the best outcome that Allentonians and residents of Lehigh County could have hoped for, short of Allentown retaining the water system. For much of the valley the LCA will now be the source, not just the middle man. Water and sewer lines currently running through Allentown parks already are owned by the LCA. I believe that Pawlowski may have dodged a political bullet by teaming up with the local water entity. The County Commissioners, who attempted to sideline LCA, will now have to juggle the political fallout.

Photograph shows the back of the Allentown Water Works, before the tracks of the former Barber Quarry spur line were removed.

A Difficult Job

Envision Lehigh Valley has a difficult job, they must spend $3.4 million* of our tax dollars within 3 years, but they're up to the task. An article in today's Morning Call references their fair housing study. Were certain groups discriminated against in the mortgage market? Considering the historically high percentage of non-performing loans and foreclosures, evidence would suggest that anybody qualified for anything. Were certain groups steered to or from certain neighborhoods? I don't know, but what I do know is that when urban school districts are facing substantial teacher layoffs because of lack of funds, and we are wasting money on surveys and study committees, that is real discrimination.

*The Morning Call article refers to $4.3 million,  but rest assure that those bureaucrats will use our money well,  regardless of the correct amount.

The Monumental Wall of Lehigh Parkway

Most Allentonians learned about the monumental 700 foot wall on April 26, 1936, when The Morning Call first presented photographs of the nearly completed WPA project. Many residents, who mostly lived in center city, didn't even know how to get to the park. There's an entry in the Lehigh County historical archives which tells of a group, including a Chronicle reporter, hunting for the park, to view the new structure. They finally enter the park from Emmaus, the current South 24th Street, because the Allentown park entrance isn't fully established. The Allentown side was then referred to as South 17th St. Join me this Saturday, April 6th, and learn about an aspect of the wall which is now gone, and another proposed addition, that was never built.

The Little Bridge of Lehigh Parkway

A few years ago, new and young visitors to the park would have no idea that a magnificent miniature bridge crossed a spring run to the Little Lehigh. Certainly, such a stone construction wasn't necessary to cross the 24 inch waterway. It was built in a era of masonry art, fueled by the Great Depression, and funded by Roosevelt's WPA. Over the last decade, budgetary cutbacks and environmentalists demanding riparian zones, justified allowing it to be consumed by brush and saplings. In 2010, I persuaded Mike Gilbert, park department manager, to partially clear around the bridge. Although a tree now blocks it's southern approach, the bridge has been given a reprieve on it's destruction. Please join me April 6th, and learn about the hidden treasures of Lehigh Parkway.