The Depreciation Of Our Parks

John Mikowychok, the new park director, suggested that after the dam is demolished an interpretative sign could be placed there, with a photograph of the former dam. John, like his predecessor Greg Weitzel, likes interpretative signs. John and Greg have the same background, they both have graduate degrees in recreation from Penn State. Both were hired by our city manager from Philadelphia, and neither have a special feeling for the Allentown park system. Although there will be no measurable improvement to water quality, Lehigh Parkway will be depreciated in both beauty and ambience. While picture postcards used to show the beauty of the parks, now interpretative signs will show what we neglected and demolished.

photocredit:molovinsky

The Mighty Atom

Years ago, at the Allentown Fair, as one would push through a sea of carney delusion, tucked back by the 4H animals, was an island of reality. There, in an old battered truck, an ancient Jewish strongman performed incredible feats of strength, to sell only homemade kosher soap. Standing on a platform on the rear of his truck, flanked by photographs from his performing youth, he would bent horse shoes and bite through nails. Many years earlier, my mother as a little girl in Bethlehem, saw him pull a truck uphill with his hair. Even as an old man, like a reincarnation of Samson, his grey hair was still long.
In the summers of 1964 and 1965, myself and a friend,(Fred Schoenk, retired Allentown art teacher) made and sold printed tee-shirts at the fair. We had the honor to know Joseph Greenstein(The Mighty Atom) and his wife. For those interested, there are various articles on the Mighty Atom and even at least one book. Enjoy the fair!

reprinted annually during the fairweek

History Passed By Obama Today

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Pawlowski Unleashes Bulldozer On Dam

Allentown Press Release PAWLOWSKI TELLS WILDLANDS TO PROCEED Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is telling Wildlands Conservancy that it can proceed with plans to remove the Robin Hood dam and the dam at the Trout Hatchery on the Little Lehigh Creek. “I want to thank City Councilwoman Cynthia Mota and City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee for conducting a fact-finding hearing on the issue,” Pawlowski said. “The feedback that I received from members of City Council indicated overwhelming support of the plan to remove the dams. I want to thank the members of the city’s Environmental Advisory Council for taking a leadership role in the discussion. I appreciate the opinions of all those who weighed-in as part of the process.” The process of removing dams in Pennsylvania to improve water quality and eliminate safety hazards is not new. There are an estimated 7,000 dams in the Commonwealth, and the PA Fish and Boat Commission, along with many conservation organizations and other state agencies have been funding their removal for decades. While a nostalgic throwback to an earlier era, the construction of most dams was for mills, the ice industry, and the development of the canal industry, mostly in the early 1800s through the 1940s. However, the impoundment of water in streams has been found to have profound, negative environmental effects. These effects include warming of the stream, the buildup of sediment behind the dam structure, reduced Oxygen, lower biodiversity, and prohibited fish passage. The latter prevents fish migration to take advantage of optimum stream temperatures and current, feeding and spawning grounds. There are also ongoing studies to suggest genetic isolation and weakening of species’ strains. The Robin Hood Bridge Dam was built for a U.S.G.S. gauging station; the Fish Hatchery Dam was built for a water supply to the Trout Nursery; however, that water supply ceased when the Trout Nursery utilized a spring on site which provides 45-degree water, free of storm-event siltation and summer warming.

Although I find the above press release disappointing, it is no surprise. The sentence about most dams were for mills is straight from the new park director. Unfortunately, for Allentown's magnificent park system, we have people making decisions who have no real feel for the parks or their history. They will continue to be used for agendas for which they were not intended. Each of these uses diminishes the public's right to enjoyment and access.

Pawlowski's Dam Decision

Mayor Ed Pawlowski is supposed to decide on the fate of the Robin Hood Dam in Lehigh Parkway today, but he's making his decision on incomplete information. The Wildlands Conservancy claims that the dam was built for the USGS creek monitoring tower in 1945, however, there is no documentation to support that statement. On the contrary, there are indications that the dam was probably built in 1941, at the same time as the bridge. The Corp of Engineers established two creek station, the other at S. 10th St. in Fountain Park. That location has no dam, so apparently dams are not necessary to monitor the water. However, it was necessary in 1941 to build temporary dams, called cofferdams, in order to build the Robin Hood Bridge piers. Common sense would indicate that the dam was built at the same time those cofferdams were in place. Why would have the Corp of Engineers built a dam so close to the bridge four years later? This past May, City Engineer Richard Young told Council that the Wildlands had not submitted bridge pier scour studies, nor had any been approved. On Wednesday night, the Wildlands indicated that all approvals were in place. Did they have scour studies done in the meantime, or not, or is Richard Young accepting their statement that the dam was built after the bridge? Wildlands must complete their project before October in order to be in compliance with State regulations. They are exerting pressure on the Administration. If the bridge and dam were built at the same time, the bridge piers were not designed for a deeper channel, which will occur when the dam is removed. Demolishing a significant feature of Lehigh Parkway should not be done lightly, to accommodate an outside organization's timetable.

Deceiving City Council

One of the major themes in the presentation by the Wildlands Conservancy was that the dam at Robin Hood is unsafe for the public. They showed the sign declaring danger and no swimming in their power point presentation three times. This warning was repeated by the park director, John Mikowychok, and reported in Thursday's Morning Call article. There was no danger sign for the last 72 years. There was no danger sign this spring when I conducted the WPA tour. There wasn't even a danger sign two weeks ago when I showed City Council the dam. The sign was just made and installed last week by Mikowychok to provide the Conservancy the photo opportunity and rationale to use in their presentation.  How ironic for a city to post a danger sign two weeks before they want to demolish a 72 year old dam. If I were Council, I would find such a contrivance disrespectful.