The Wildlands Conservancy Fakes Science

Chris Kocher, executive director of the Wildlands Conservancy, forgot to mention in a recent editorial that they will arrogantly fake and lie about the science, if it moves their agenda forward. Their current agenda is demolishing Wehr's Dam in South Whitehall's Covered Bridge Park, but lets examine their destruction in Allentown's Lehigh Parkway. I have a copy of the original 1940 rendering of the Robin Hood Bridge and Dam. This was the last WPA project in Allentown, and the city took great pride in it's design. The bridge piers and approach walls were designed to match and merge with the magnificent WPA stone walls, built in the park between 1935-37. The small dam, only 14 inches high, was no barrier to any self-respecting fish. The Wildlands testified in front of Allentown City Council that the dam was prohibiting fish migration with their canned speech about being experts on such things, never mind thousands of fisherman in the Parkway for 80 years. They also removed the Trout Nursery Dam, contributing to the kill of 2.000 fish this summer, but I digress. The firm hired to prepare the Covered Bridge Master Plan clearly states that removing the dam may very well increase flooding, as untold tons of silt change the downstream bed. The current firm, hired by Wildlands, calls that potential flooding a myth; Science to fit the agenda. Back to Lehigh Parkway. Although it is not my normal format to use two photographs in one blog post, the before and after views of Robin Hood Bridge are a tragedy. Before the Wildlands, the stone bridge piers raised photographically out of the water, a beautiful sight pleasing park goers for over 70years. After demolishing the dam, the Wildlands broke up the concrete and had the rubble placed around the bridge piers, despoiling the the vista forever.

top photograph by Tami Quigley

South Whitehall Commissioners Double Down On Master Plan

It's the year 2030, and a young girl asks her mom if they can go to Playworld's Plastic Playground. As they enter the parking lot, the mother tells her daughter that right beyond that large swath of trees and bushes, is where she played as a girl with grandmother.
  Why did you play there? the girl asks
  Grandmom used to like and sit and look at the dam, the mother replies
  What's a dam?
  It's a wall that the creek water would flow over.
  Is there a creek there mom?

In January of 2014 the South Whitehall Commissioners adopted the Covered Bridge Park Master Plan. It was an expensive plan created by a landscape architectural firm in tandem with input from the Wildlands Conservancy. The public input meetings were either sparsely attended or not at all. What emerged is a unimaginative hodge podge of contemporary environmental hocus pocus and catalog recreational tubberware. What is gone is the beautiful park, enjoyed by generations of township residents. The environmentalists would demolish the dam and replace the vista with a 75 foot wide riparian buffer. This buffer would run the entire length of creek, leaving only a glimpse of the creek as residents cross one of the three bridges. Former icons of the park, such as the dam, would be represented by interpretive signs. A huge playground, featuring Playworld equipment, would be the park's new centerpiece, replacing the current beauty and history.

Enter the Wildlands Conservancy in June of 2014, realizing that the Commissioners are invested both financially and mentally into the Master Plan. Out of this opportunity, they declare that demolishing Wehr's Dam is now their highest priority. We who are defending Wehr's Dam are here to tell you that like water over the dam, the money spent on the Master Plan is gone. However, we will not allow the beautiful park to be lost to our children and grandchildren, just to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy's agenda.
photograph by Mary K Hess

South Whitehall And Wildlands Mislead Public

It's becoming clear that the public is being mislead by not only the Wildlands Conservancy, but also by their own Commissioners. In Thursday's editorial, Chris Kocher, Executive Director of the Wildlands stated that the master-plan for the park has the dam removed. What he and the Commissioners fail to acknowledge is that this master-plan was created in conjunction with the Wildlands.  So, currently the Wildlands and Commissioners are justifying removing the dam, based on a master plan inputed by the Wildlands. In the dog and pony show called government, they would retort that there was public input to the plan. At last night's presentation, they distributed a public questionnaire, hoping once again to actually use the objectors present, as public input to justify their agenda. I left in protest. If all this isn't disingenuous enough, the dam removal director, Abigail Pattishall, told me last night that Koch's editorial was misinformation.

Both the Commissioners and the Wildlands are ignoring the DEP report that states that overall, the dam is in good condition. The Wildlands' hired engineer tried to dismiss that report, by saying that their study is much more thorough. Although the water is only several inches deep, they actually brought in a scuba diver. The dam officially stands or falls by degree of the DEP, which has no problem with it. The problem is the agenda of the Wildlands, and the complicity of the Commissioners.

An Open Letter To Lehigh County Commissioners

Although the state mandates prisons, and no such mandate exists for nursing homes, I believe that a sacred covenant exists between the county and it's elderly, to maintain Cedarbrook. Northampton has a very old prison and a modern nursing home. Here in Lehigh County, we have a modern high rise prison and a very old nursing home. Prisoners in Lehigh County have nicer amenities than the patients at it's nursing home. What's wrong with that picture, what's wrong with those priorities?
UPDATE: I fully support County Executive Tom Muller's plan to renovate a wing of the Cedarbrook into private and semi-private rooms.  His analysis has the project paying for itself within three years, by attracting rehabilitation residents.  Instead of pursuing this viable turn around project, the Commissioners would rather explore the sale option.
photograph by K Mary Hess

Lehigh County Poor House

The Lehigh County Alms House, or poor house, goes back to the 1840's. Today, 175 years later, now known as Cedarbrook Nursing Home, the residents are still fighting for their dignity. A few years ago I visited the county pauper's grave-field. It is now separated from the nursing home by the 309 highway at Hamilton Blvd. Although the name of Cedarbrook has changed over the many years, nobody ever chose to become old and poor.

Julie's Big Fib

Julie Harhart's oversized card contains an oversized lie of omission. While she claims that she voted against a pay raise for state representatives, she omits the fact that she voted for a 50% increase to her pension payments, for life. Although she claims that she has a proven record for jobs and small businesses, the empty storerooms along the main street in Slatington and Northampton prove otherwise. In very small print we learn that the mailing was paid for by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. I hope to send one mailing, paid for by the people of Lehigh Valley. Please consider using the paypal button the the sidebar, to help me inform the voters that they now have an alternative to politics as usual in Harrisburg. Thank you.