Parkway Spared Another Indignation, For Now

With the decision by Health Network Laboratories to relocate to Hanover Township, Lehigh Parkway has been spared another indignation, for now. Mayor Pawlowski had planned on moving the fire training facility into the park, next to the current police facility and shooting range. This would have created a public safety campus, and significantly increased the traffic into the park. The facility would have been available to outside fire departments and their large equipment. Although Pawlowski was motivated to retain the Lab's 400 jobs on Lehigh Street, he has no feel for the park's grander and history. Shown above is the Robin Hood Bridge. The former adjoining small dam was demolished last fall, and it's rubble piled around the stone piers, turning a former beautiful vista into visual garbage. Although I was asked to conduct another park tour this summer, I declined in protest to this desecration. I have since reconsidered, and the time and place will be announced later this spring by Allentown Friends of the Parks.

Destruction of the beautiful dam, shown in the previous post, and the desecration of the bridge piers shown above, was done by The Wildlands Conservancy, with permission from Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

Wildlands Conservancy Duped Public With Farr Road Purchase

For several months readers of the Morning Call have read articles and have been submitted to advertisements soliciting funds to purchase for preservation acreage "adjacent" to the Pool Wildlife Sanctuary. In reality this effort is an disingenuous attempt by several influential people to maintain the view from their houses. The land in question does not abut the Sanctuary or the Little Lehigh Creek, but is separated and isolated by Farr Road, from both these entities. The land in question fronts on Cedar Crest Blvd., and is an island created by Farr Road both entering and exiting Cedar Crest in two spots about 1/2 mile apart, about two miles south of the hospital. The fakers claim "This land is a high-priority conservation area due to its location as part of the Little Lehigh corridor,its proximity to a high-quality cold-water fishery....." Ironically, the big-shots who have organized this effort, do live on the creek and adjoin the Sanctuary, perhaps they should protect the sensitive area and tear down their houses. Shame on both the newspaper and the Wildlands Conservancy for promoting this myth. reprinted from 2007 

UPDATE:   I have learned since I wrote the above piece in 2007 that the Wildlands Conservancy has no shame and few principles.   If the beautiful Robin Hood Dam had been located upstream, behind these properties, it would have been preserved.

Photograph by molovinsky of the former Robin Hood Dam, demolished by The Wildland's Conservancy

Bernie and Wayne

Bernie O'Hare is running a story that says that Wayne Woodman pushed Wanda Mercado-Arroyo off the bus to the Republican State Committee, to give the seat to his wife, Lisa Scheller. Although Bernie writes that he isn't calling Woodman a bigot, he points out a couple times that Mercado-Arroyo is Hispanic, and questions how inclusive Woodman really is toward that group? That story was pitched to this blog several weeks ago, and I rejected it. It came from somebody who doesn't have much use for Wayne Woodman. When it landed on Bernie's desk, it found fertile ground. Although Bernie will argue differently, and cite facts, certain people are consistently treated well by him, and others, not so well; Me, I don't like anybody.

While we're on the subject on Hispanics, I like to announce that Steven Ramos collected the required amount of signatures in his run for Allentown's new 22nd State House District, mandated because of the surge in the Hispanic population. His candidacy is supported by Wayne Woodman, who had hired Steven several years ago to direct the local party office.

Chump Change in Allentown

Recently, Mayor Ed Pawlowski said that the community would share in the benefits of Allentown's transformation, and that he was directing $2.5million towards that end. As the riverfront and the Neuweiler Brewery projects come on line, we are fast approaching the $1 billion dollar mark with the NIZ state tax rape. Advocates for community benefit should not despair that their share is less than one quarter of one percent, because the mayor has indicated that more may come their way, if they behave themselves.

When Neon Was King

During the glory days of Hamilton Street, when it came to neon, bigger was better. No store had a bigger sign than Hess's, and that was appropriate. When the city planners decided to built the canopy, that was the end of the great neon age for Allentown. That structure bisected the building's facades, and the vertical signs had to go. Since then we have progressed into sign regulations. Shopping is not a primary part of the new Hamilton Street transformation. Let's move this discussion around the corner to Allentown's new Hispanic shopping district on 7th Street. Hispanic Shopping District is my designation, not the city's. I call it that, because that's what it is. The street is being managed by Peter Lewnes, who is doing a good job. He's giving facade grants and sign guidance. The buildings end up with a historic look, and a professional hand lettered sign. Although it's neat, clean and presentable, it's not too exciting. Of course the City Fathers don't want too much excitement, as the people from Catasauqua drive in to the new arena. These new subsidized merchants are on a short leash. City inspectors remind them that besides for OPEN signs, no neon is permitted, and it must be inside the store. Now I know that I'm not a paid consultant,  and there's no grant involved with this idea, but how about letting our new merchants put up some neon?How about letting them pursue the same dreams as the merchants once did on Hamilton Street. How about lengthening that leash?

The Morning Call's Unbashful Cheerleading

The special section in this weekend's Morning Call is called Great Expectations, The Story of Allentown's Renaissance. In this 36-page special section, The Morning Call will take a closer look at the urban renaissance underway in Allentown, the projects that will bring thousands of workers and hundreds of new residents to the city's downtown... Less than 48 hours ago this blogger wrote that molovinsky on allentown was turning the corner on the arena, but I didn't mean that I would condone unfettered cheerleading by the press. In the first of four sections each Morning Call reporter writes an essay referencing Allentown's past, although none of them have any actual memory or experience of that era, beyond the paper's archives. The second section promotes the new businesses arriving and refers to center city as a boomtown. The article omits the reality that taxpayers across the state are subsidizing Allentown's transformation. Section C is about The People Behind the Transformation. Although the paper writes that they are the engine of change, it can also be said that they are the private beneficiaries of public money. The last section may be the worst. It is supposedly essays by civic leaders. Some of them are bystanders, and some of them had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. All four sections are packed with paid advertisements, with the biggest ads coming from those benefitting the most. Yesterday, I reached out to several current and former members of our political establishment, for their opinion of the paper's special edition. They all agreed that it ranged from unbalanced to outright promotion, dressed up as journalism.

Turning Allentown's Blight Into Success

The recent article about Allentown in the New York Times used the B word. Aided by tax dollars that would otherwise go to state or local general funds, developers should be able to offer attractive rents to companies that bring in new workers — who in turn might move into or buy new apartments and support new shops and restaurants in what had been a blighted urban landscape. The writer of the Times piece is from New York City. We know that, because even J.B.Reilly, who hopes to rent apartments to the new office workers, isn't building condo's to sell in center city Allentown, or as he says, city center Allentown. While that writer is from NYC, this writer is from Allentown, and will now tell you how to change blight into success; You simply move it around the corner and up three blocks. The merchants and shoppers previously referred to as blight on Hamilton Street, are now being touted as the success of 7th Street. On Hamilton Street they had to compete with both the memory and expectation of better days. On 7th Street, thing have been so dire for so long, the same shops and people now look like success. We could debate the sociology of my observation. We could become offended or defensive, but taking the show around the corner did change the perception. Talking of turning the corner, readers may soon notice a change in this blog. Although molovinsky on allentown will continue to write the unspoken, there are  few too vestiges of the old commerce and valves to reference. While nobody will identify me as an advocate of the Arena and Neighborhood Improvement Zone, reporting will shift more to the future.

photocredit:The Urban Shopper/michael molovinsky