Morning In The Parks

Although I have been profoundly disappointed by the Pawlowski administration and City Council in my efforts to defend our unique park features, I have not allowed that defeat to deprive me of one of the benefits of Allentown, enjoying the beauty of the parks. The winter provides a certain magic in the parks, for those who can cope with the cold. This particular winter requires some discipline, but the rewards are there. Recently, I came within six feet of a Blue Heron, standing still while fishing in a creek.

photocredit:molovinsky

The Winter of My Discontent

With the forecast of another snowstorm coming Wednesday evening, my memory turns to the winter of 1993-94. I was living on a long corner on Union Street, in Hamilton Park. By this time in 1994, the path from my front door to the sidewalk was like a snow tunnel, with walls over three feet high. The busy intersection had a crossing guard, and it was important that I kept the corner clear, constantly digging through the plow curl from two directions.  The reason I remember that winter wasn't because of my house, but at the time I maintained buildings in center city. My days consisted mostly of salting, chopping and shoveling, one property after another, from one snowstorm after another. Driving my station wagon, filled with 50lb. salt bags, up the alleys was like a kiddie ride at Dorney Park, the ruts would steer the car, no hands were necessary. This post and the previous one are somewhat unusual for me. I have for the most part maintained a privacy wall between my business and my blogging. Tomorrow evening, The Tenant Association of Allentown will complain to City Council about slumlords; I thought that in the interest of balance I would give a glimpse into conscientious landlording. Although the meeting might be cancelled once again because of the snow, Allentown's many good landlords will still be out shoveling the sidewalks.

photocredit:The Morning Call/Dumping snow off the former Tilghman Street Bridge into the Jordan Creek

They Shoot Landlords, Don't They?

When I ran as a long-shot independent for mayor in 2005, against Ed Pawlowski and Bill Heydt,  the first thing I did was take The  Morning Call reporter on a tour of the properties that I managed.  As an intercity landlord, operating apartments between 4th and 12th, Walnut and Tilghman Streets,  I knew that the rentals would become  Allentown's biggest problem.  After the WW2,  it became fashionable to live in a twin or small ranch, and Allentown's row houses began being divided into apartments.  Those apartments were mostly occupied by singles or childless couples, and helped keep downtown and Hamilton Street vital, long past many of it's sister cities.  In the 1960's, despite the thousands of converted apartments,  center city was clean, and Allentown was the All American City.  Both the tenants and landlords were hard working and conscientious.  As the urban poor from New York and New Jersey discovered the clean streets of Allentown, and it's moderately priced apartments,  a steady influx of new residents arrived daily.  These changes were not encouraged by the landlords.  Nobody ever purchased a building hoping to replace their conscientious middle class occupants, with a poorer, more problematic tenant base.  Various social agencies staked many of these newcomers to the first month rent and security deposits.  Although politically incorrect, I said at the time that Allentown was creating a poverty magnet.  My phrase and analysis back then is now recognized as an unintended consequence of such programs.  During Heydt's administration, Allentown passed a Rental Inspection Law.  Some viewed  this as the solution to the rental problem, I didn't fully agree;  You cannot legislate pride of ownership. Bad operators could, and easily did, cross the T's and dot the i's.  Pawlowski's solution has been to tag buildings as unfit for habitation, so many,  that the process itself has created blight.  Halls of Shame, either by the city or private groups, only stigmatize both the property and owner, but don't produce a solution.  The programs in place, if applied with more flexibility, can work.  The school district is starting to show concern about the consequences of more apartments and students.  Recent zoning changes allowing the conversion of commercial space by right, rather than by variance, could well add to the problem.  At the end of the day,  all landlords want to see their investment appreciate.  The city must learn to work with that basic incentive as a vehicle for change.

UPDATE: There will be a special public meeting with City Council Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m., concerning the housing problems in Allentown. The flyer below was created by the Tenant Association of Allentown. Although I do not agree with all their methods, this blog supports the concept of advocacy in Allentown, and is glad to publicize their agenda.

The Beatles Concert at Convention Hall

In the summer of 1964, when I was 17, I took a bus from the old terminal on S. 6th Street, to California. I had a letter from the manager of Trexler Orchards, asking his associate in Oxnard, California, to give me a job in the lemon orchard. That manager also owned a carwash, and gave me a job there instead.  I rented a small cabin at the end of a backyard, they were built during the war to provide extra housing for the G.I's. After two months at the carwash, I was rescued by a former Allentonian. His father had moved the family years earlier, to work at the Western Electric plant in Hawthorne. Kenneth was about five years older than me, and he and his friends prided themselves on gate-crashing. In my few weeks there we crashed several concerts and Disneyland. I returned at the end of summer, in time for the Beatles concert in Atlantic City. Putting my new delinquent skill to work, I vaulted over the turnstile and ran into the seating section. If the Beatles sang or not, I couldn't tell you, the screaming made it impossible to know.  Kenneth became an accomplished celebrity photographer, among other things. He passed away several years ago, and his family returned to Allentown to spread his ashes in Lehigh Parkway.

The Little Bridge That Could

When I was a boy growing up on the south side, going to the doctor near the current YMCA, meant going over Schreiber's Bridge. Being built in 1828, the bridge even back then was over a hundred years old. When the 15th Street (Ward Street) Bridge opened in 1954, who would imagine that it would come and go, while the stone arch bridge continued providing passage over the creek. The Little Bridge That Could took quite a beating during the last couple of years, while constructing the new 15th Street Bridge. Trucks smashed the northern entrance walls no less than three times, turning on to Martin Luther King Drive. Although it is understandable that the City will wait until this Spring to repair the walls, there exists a more urgent matter. From the extensive use caused by the detour, and this harsh winter, the roadbed is badly cracked over the bridge's arch. These openings allow water to enter and seep down into the stone arch. Perhaps the city administration could give the historic bridge some special attention yet this winter, it certainly has earned some consideration.

Rich Fegley and the DTE Contract

To say that Rich Fegley is upset about the Delta Thermo Energy Contract is an understatement. This arrangement, already approved by city council about two years ago, allows DTE to mix our trash and sewage into some concoction that they will burn to make energy. This precise process has not been done before anywhere in the country. Rich doesn't think that we're innovators, he thinks that we're chumps. He believes that Mayor Pawlowski and DTE outright mislead city council on the projections to continue conventional trash collection.

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 Rich Fegley  wrote: Members of City Council, At the last three Allentown City Council meetings I brought something to your attention that I feel  is very important. As I have stated three times before, the contract that the City signed with Delta Thermo Energy  was based on false and misleading information. Here are excerpts from the PWIA 12-12-2013 letter (attached) to PA Department of  Environmental Protection: Delta Thermo made a number of materially false statements to the public regarding  their proposed project and the waste disposal industry as a whole. Delta Thermo's continued use of false environmental marketing claims Delta Thermo's representatives claimed that landfill tipping fees have increased  7% a year over each of the last ten years. This is false........... The PWIA in this letter continues to point out further FALSE and MISLEADING information  that Delta Thermo Energy and ultimately Mayor Ed Pawlowski and PMF (Scott Shearer)  provided to City Council and the Public. I am stating that we were told information that was fabricated and false. At the last Council meeting I asked Council to look into what research was done by PFM and Mayor Pawlowski on LANDFILL COSTS in the Lehigh Valley. How did PFM and Pawlowski come up with this $90.48/ton cost? This new analysis show that the City will lose $113,000,000. This is a real number based on the "real" numbers that PFM and Mayor Pawlowski presented to City Council and the public. I hope that we can discuss this at City Council this Wednesday. Thank you for your attention, Rich Fegley I wish Fegley well on his endeavor. Approval of the Delta Thermo Contract was a circus, complete with trade union members from out of town packing the council chamber. New council member Cynthia Mota voted no, and then changed her vote, after being taken on a field trip by Delta Thermo. I would think that negating the contract at this point would be more complicated, requiring more motivation, than this council has ever displayed.

Pawlowski's Back, First Snow Emergency

Residents on Tilghman Street learned the expensive way that Pawlowski is back to mayoring in Allentown. Whether you're towed during a snow emergency, or ticketed at a meter, center city residents are the ones who are fined and inconvenienced by the traffic regulations. Community activist Ce Ce Gerlach wonders on Facebook, This is like the 5th snow of the season and now, all of a sudden we are in a "snow emergency". Hundreds of residents were towed, including mine. A city of poor and working class people now have to pay at least $250 to get our cars back. Perhaps Mike Fleck could have hired some canvassers to knock on doors and give the residents some heads up on the towing, like Pawlowski did to get votes back in November.

UPDATE: Mayor Ed Pawlowski claims that 89 cars were towed during the snow emergency  Monday morning, which was instituted with a three hour warning. Police used sirens and loudspeakers to notify residents on both Chew and Tilghman Streets, but the notice given to Walnut Street residents has not been verified.