Is Allentown Still Corrupt?

Emily Opilo of The Morning Call interviewed Scott Curtis, the FBI agent whose investigation convicted Pawlowski. She ended the article by asking Curtis... So is Allentown a better place after a tumultuous multi-year investigation and the ensuing convictions? 

  “I don’t think so,” Curtis said. “Anywhere you severely disrupt a crime threat or a criminal enterprise … it’s going to create a vacuum where now you’re going to have competing elements vying for control,” he said. “No matter how successful you think you are,” he said, “rarely are you going to totally dismantle a crime threat in your area.” 

Because of this very question and answer, some people felt that City Hall needed a complete cleaning with a new broom. That would have precluded Ray O'Connell of city council,  and many of the current department heads. I have argued against that approach, defending the institutional knowledge necessary to keep the city running. I know Ray O'Connell, and feel that he sees his new mayoral position as his legacy. He doesn't have political ambitions beyond doing a good job. Over the years I've become familiar with many people who drive city hall, and believe that they also want to give honest service to the city. For those few who may not be so honorable, I think the recent trial succeeded in putting enough fear in them to keep on the straight and narrow.

I am realistic enough to know that the Pawlowski administration created a culture of heavy handedness, and that it endured for over 12 years. Although, such behavior patterns tend to persist, I only see improvement coming.

A WPA Monday

A month ago Mondays, I climbed the steps at Fountain Park to speak to the stone masons repairing that iconic structure. The steps were built in 1936, and would soon serve thousands of men walking down from center city to the Mack factory, to produce trucks for the war effort. It took me ten years to get the masons there, but by now I had another pressing objective. In the last couple of years, the top of the wall at the double stairwell at Union Terrace had become open, threatening that structure with potential catastrophic damage. After learning that the masons had no assignment beyond the Fountain Park steps, I drove over to the Park and Recreation Office.

Lindsay Taylor, the new park director, has been fairly cordial to me, considering my reputation as a mauler of city bureaucrats. I explained that the top of the Union Terrace wall was open, and that I had serious doubts about it surviving another winter of freeze and thaw cycles.  I requested that the masons make an emergency repair on top of the wall, while other repairs needed there could be delayed. Taylor agreed to consult her park supervisor, Rick Holtzman, about my request. Later that morning, I spoke with Holtzman, who agreed that it would indeed be appropriate to reassign the masons.  The masons were replacing missing steps and repointing the Fountain Park stairwell,  through a grant from the Trexler Trust. The grant had been written and requested by Karen El-Chaar, from Allentown Friends of the Parks. El-Chaar had attended my meetings years earlier on the WPA structures, and I had since  conducted tours of Lehigh Parkway in conjunction with her organization. Holtzman requested that El-Chaar clear the repair at Union Terrace with the Trexler Trust, since their funds were designated to be spent at Fountain Park. The Trust gave their permission for the masons to be temporally reassigned.

By the weeks end the masons spend a day at the Terrace, and repaired the top of the wall. I'm grateful that Lindsay Taylor and the Trexler Trust responded to stabilize that structure, and optimistic that their commitment to  our WPA history will continue.  I will  in turn  continue on,  when necessary, mauling the bureaucrats.

The photograph above shows the WPA steps being built in Seattle. I'm sure an identical sight could be seen on Lawrence Street in 1936.

reprinted from November of 2015

The Island Of Lehigh Parkway

The scene above shows the island in the Little Lehigh, with the boatlanding in the background. Please note the bridge leading to the island. The island, bridge and landing were created by the WPA. Although the island still remains, as does it's stone piers, the bridge is long gone. The boatlanding, although buried, was partially recovered last year by myself and a number of volunteers. The island, as remaining, has lost it's shape and has been enlarged from deposits carried by the Little Lehigh. The island was created by the WPA in the mid 1930's, by excavating a channel on it's south side. It is the intention of the park department to eventually allow mother nature to fill in the channel. Park philosophy has changed from manicured to al natural. It is my hope that the excavated portion of the boatlanding will be retained. In regard to yesterday's post on Irving Park, I have confirmed that one of the WPA stone stairwells was indeed removed this year by the city. I hope that is not their version of a fix. It clearly indicates the need for the WPA Support Group. Click photo to enlarge.

reprinted from April of 2011

UPDATE JUNE 7, 2018: Aa a boy I played on the island and especially remember the concrete benches inlaid with tile. It was indeed a special place.  Although the island will never be restored, it is my mission that the remaining WPA structures be maintained.  In years past I have conducted tours of the WPA Structures, and will do so again if the park department does some restoration.  In the photo above, note the bench overlooking the stream and island,  with no weed wall in the way of the view.

The Little Bridge Of Lehigh Parkway

A few years ago, new and young visitors to the park would have no idea that a magnificent miniature bridge crossed a spring run to the Little Lehigh. Certainly, such a stone construction wasn't necessary to cross the 24 inch waterway. It was built in a era of masonry art, fueled by the Great Depression, and funded by Roosevelt's WPA. Over the last decade, budgetary cutbacks and environmentalists demanding riparian zones, justified allowing it to be consumed by brush and saplings. In 2010, I persuaded Mike Gilbert, park department manager, to partially clear around the bridge. Although a tree now blocks it's southern approach, the bridge has been given a reprieve on it's destruction. Please join me April 6th, and learn about the hidden treasures of Lehigh Parkway.

This post is reprinted from April 1, 2013.  If Mayor O'Connell and the park department cooperate with a program to preserve the WPA Structures,  and allow access and view of the creeks with some openings in the Weed Wall,  I will again give a tour of the park.

The Boat Landing

Getting to the Boat Landing, for six year old boys who lived above the park in 1953, was quite an adventure. There were three other wonderful WPA structures to navigate on the journey. Unfortunately,  poor foresight by a previous park director has erased some of the WPA's monuments in Lehigh Parkway. As the postcard from the mid-50's above shows, the Boat Landing (my name for the structure) was a source of pride for the city and park system. It is located at the end of the park,  near Regency Apartments. I use the present tense because remnants of this edifice still exist,  buried under dirt and debris. Other attractions lost in that section of the park include the Spring Pond near the Robin Hood parking lot, and the bridge to the "Island", plus the mosaic inlaid benches which were on the island. ( Island halfway between parking lot and boat landing). Neither the Mayor or the Park Director knows that these centerpieces ever existed. These are irreplaceable architectural treasures well worth restoring.

UPDATE: The above post was written in May of 2009. Later that year I organized a small group of volunteers, and we unearthed a portion of the boat landing. The next year I prevailed on the Allentown Water Shed Foreman, Michael Gilbert, to expose the remaining stones around the Spring Pond and remove the growth hiding the Miniature Bridge.

Trexler Smiles, Landing Revealed

I believe that today, for the first time in decades, General Trexler had something to smile about. Most people never understood why three steps were near the lower entrance of Lehigh Parkway; they seemed to lead nowhere. This morning eight people joined a grass root effort to unveil, for the first time in decades, the structure I called the Boat Landing.

Buried under the dirt and grass were several more steps leading to a landing. Chris Casey was the first to arrive and cleared these steps and the first landing himself. A second set of steps led from the landing to the main landing on the creek. These second steps had a foot or so of ground and plants.

The quality and condition of the stonework is excellent, as was all our WPA icons. I will be polite and say only that it was a crime to have let this neglect occur. On the main landing the accumulated earth was two and half feet thick. The crew dug out the curving retaining wall several yards in each direction, and cleared off the top of the wall.

Eight people working four hours managed to reveal about one third of the landing at the bottom of the steps. It was a thrill to realize we were standing at creek's edge as the WPA architects had envisioned. I stood there often as a boy. There still remains a large portion of dirt to remove at the steps base, but you can now experience the Boat Landing.

The retaining wall and the landing continue for fifty feet or so in both directions. Unfortunately a huge tree has grown on the landing to the right, but the left appears reclaimable.

We who worked there today, hope to return and clear off the remainder of the dirt at the bottom of the steps.

Perhaps others will be motivated to clear off the remaining portion of the landing to the left. Now that might even be an idea for the City; imagine restoring an irreplaceable icon instead of buying something from a catalogue. I'm most grateful to all those who helped today, and will reveal their names with their permission.

ADDENDUM:Michael –

I just wanted to thank you for organizing today’s cleanup at the “Boat Landing” in the Lehigh Parkway. It’s not often that one gets to help unearth a treasure while barely leaving home, but that’s exactly what happened today.

It was truly impressive what big difference a small group of people can make. I can’t even estimate the amount of dirt that was moved with nothing more than a few shovels and a lot of hard work.

We can only hope that the City and the Trexler Trust will become aware of this location and start giving all the great structures in the Parkway the care they deserve.

However, the best part of the story for me came after we all left. I got home and my daughter Lucy (age 7) wanted to know how things went. We hopped in the car and soon we were walking up to the stairs leading to the landing. The sun was shining, and the sunlight trickled through the trees and onto the freshly-exposed stairway.

Lucy asked if she could go down to the landing by the water and next thing I knew we were both there at the waters edge, standing on what had been buried only a few hours earlier and marveling at the beauty of the location.

We spent a few moments there - a father and daughter both enjoying something completely “new” to us (even though the landing is over 70 years old). We talked briefly about what was – and more importantly what could be again.

Thank you for making that moment possible, and I hope many others take the opportunity to visit the landing in the near future.

Mike Schware

P.S. – After visiting the landing, Lucy and I walked further upstream and saw the remnants of the bridge to the island (near the water fountain). The remaining supports of the bridge confirmed what you had told me earlier about the island being much smaller years ago.

I organized the excavation shown above in 2009. We did return and remove the remaining dirt at the bottom of the steps.
reprinted from two separate posts combined

The above post is a reprint

Rainy Morning Chronicle

Some of you know that a few years ago I started a sister blog called The Morning Chronicle. I have decided to rebrand it as Rainy Morning Chronicle, and apply more focus to it. This is not to say that all is well in Allentown. While I'm giving Mayor O'Connell a breather to start reforming Allentown City Hall, the park department will continue to suffer my scrutiny. I consider the endless weed wall along our park streams unacceptable, and have told the park director as much.  She is in reality  under the thumb of the Wildlands Conservancy, and its front called the Greenway Trail.  In certain areas, such as South Whitehall,  the Wildlands is directly in charge of the project.  The Wildlands Conservancy has been degrading Allentown's iconic park system for over a decade.  Although they are a local sacred cow,  I will endeavor to regain some stream bank areas for the citizens of Allentown to again enjoy.

Meanwhile,  Rainy Morning will emphasize  a conservative point of view from a nonpartisan prospective.  I appreciate your readership.

Allentown's Park Master

Pity the poor residents of Philadelphia,  they have to sit by the river and be able see it!  They haven't been blessed with a growing weed wall to block both view and access to the water, like us lucky residents in Allentown.

Allentown Park policy has been governed by the Wildlands Conservancy for the last decade. The previous park director agreed to allow the Conservancy to demolish the Robin Hood Dam, in Lehigh Parkway, before he saw the park himself.  When I took him on a tour of the WPA Structures in the park,  and complained about the Riparian Buffer,  he said that water can be more exciting when you only get an occasional glimpse of it.

It is my hope that under the new O'Connell administration, Allentown will again start honoring our iconic park traditions.  I will lobby that several areas in each park be kept buffer free for the enjoyment of its citizens.

In a comment yesterday, I stated that changes were coming to molovinsky on allentown.  Although I have produced the blog each weekday for over eleven years,  starting next week the blog, on occasion, will be less Allentown-centric.