Did Allentown Lease It's Brain?

When Allentown leased it's Water and Sewer Systems to LCA, did our knowledge and memory go with the lease? We learned recently that Allentown must now form a new department for the storm sewer system, which was part of the water and sewer departments. When West End Theater District residents complained last week of the recent flooding, Public Works Director Richard Young told WFMZ that the new Storm Sewer Department would survey the system, and have a plan within one year. Holy memory Loss, this is the same man who directed the departments last month, before the lease. Holy memory loss, this is the same man who works in the same building, with all the city plans and blueprints of all the pipes. LCA is now operating the water filtration plant, will it take them a year to figure out how to purify the water? Will the residents of the West End Theater District accept this nonsense as a legitimate answer?

Ungrateful Bastards Of The West End Theater District

The West End Theater District just had their street-scape redone, but those ungrateful bastards are now complaining about the overflowing storm sewer pipes. Just given the run around by City Officials, they may find that a real solution to their problem isn't in the cards. Richard Young, Director of Public Works, told the wet, angry crowd that it may take a year just to study the problem; That of course is nonsense, after 80 years the city is well aware of the problem. Although the Morning Call article identified Andrew Street as the problem, the pipe under Early Street, the other alley between Liberty and Allen, is also undersized. On that street, the manhole covers between 18th and 19th Streets overflow even during a moderate rainfall. The neighborhood and pipes were constructed around 1930, my photograph   (click on photo to enlarge) from the late 1920's reveals no houses at that time. I'm afraid that I even have worse news for my friends in the District; Allentown and the surrounding municipalities, rather than make costly improvements to their pipe systems, have been instead insisting that property owners remove their basement floor drains. The floor drains were installed as a safety net, if an inside pipe broke, or something overflowed. Although collectively they contribute only a minuscule amount toward the problem, government would rather have thousands of homeowners spend their money and compromise their safety system, rather than correct the real problem, undersized pipes. Pawlowski and the City recently took credit for the new sidewalks on 19th Street, now let them do a project decades overdue, and fix the storm sewers.

UPDATE: This morning I spoke to a former employee of the engineering department, who confirmed that, indeed, the city has known about this problem for decades.  This city's administrators like the ribbon cutting, photo opportunity projects, not the nuts and bolts of maintenance.

Prince William's Great Grandmother

Long before Prince William walked down the aisle yesterday in Westminister Abbey, his great grandmother, Princess Alice (Princess Andrew of Greece), walked there during the wedding of her son Phillip, to Princess Elizabeth. Princess(Alice) Andrew, later at the Coronation of Elizabeth, wore the habit of a nun. An extraordinary woman, she had founded a nurses order composed of nuns in Greece. She modeled the order after one started by her aunt and mentor in Russia, whom she had visited many years earlier. Born Princess Alice of Battenberg, she married Prince Andrew of Greece in 1903, assuming her new title.
During the Second World War, she hid a Jewish widow and her children in Athens, saving their lives. In accordance to her wish, she is buried in Jerusalem, next to her cherished aunt Duchess Fyodorovna, in the Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene.

reprinted from April 2011

Minority Opportunities In The NIZ

When Allentown started acquiring properties for the Arena, I suggested that the displaced Asian merchants could end up with the rickshaw concession on Hamilton Street. Recently, I suggested that as a Community Benefit Agreement, our downtrodden be allowed to sell peanuts at the Arena. Low and behold, our inspirational leaders did make room outside the new hotel for the underclass, they can operate food carts. "There's a lot of exciting opportunities right now," said Shannon Calluori, operations manager for the city's Department of Community and Economic Development. "Food vending is one of many." Julio Guridy, City Council President added, "It could also be a good opportunity for minority-owned businesses." Who knows, perhaps leather shoes will make a comeback, and the community college could provide training in shoe shining.

Lehigh Valley Not Much For History

The Lehigh Valley isn't much on history, neither Allentown or Lehigh County. The 1824 stone arch Reading Road Bridge is only still standing because of my efforts. It's sister bridge from 1828, Schreibers, may now be closed by the State. Since the 15th Street Bridge(Ward Street) was closed for replacement, Schreibers has taken an incredible beating. Although posted for 3 tons, it has been battered by tractor-trailers no less than half a dozen times. In a further assault to the bridge, Allentown dropped the ball, and allowed the State to make Oxford drive/24th Street bridge one way for repairs, increasing the burden on the old stone bridge.

The Lily Ponds

Although it's been a few years since the ponds at the Rose Garden have been rebuilt, the water lilies were never replanted, except for one small plant in one pond.