A Park Protestor From The Past

`Green' Curtain Blocks Sledding And The View
January 09, 1992|The Morning Call
To the Editor:

Hold your sleds girls and boys! Others, too, on the alert! With the planting of a dense cluster of 60 evergreen trees and the erection of a "No Sledding" sign, creating a veritable iron curtain, the park and watershed people have once again undertaken their repetitive effort of the past 45 years to eliminate a most popular sledding slope in Lehigh Parkway. The motive -- crass self-interest in defiance of public good. The effect -- an impassable barrier and concealment of a magnificent vista of "one of the finest valleys in Eastern Pennsylvania."

Children and adults from the 400 homes with longtime and easy access to the slope and others arriving in cars have enjoyed sledding here after school and into the night and throughout the day and night on weekends. Yet sledding is but one of the attractions of this enduring slope. In summer children and teachers from Lehigh Parkway Elementary School have enjoyed a walk down the slope and into the park for a break from book and blackboard. Birders, joggers, hikers and others on a leisurely stroll engrossed in their particular interest have found the slope irresistible.

For a host of others, this opening into the park after a long stretch of woods presents a charming vista and urge to descend. Interest is immediately evoked by the sight of a mid-19th century log house  and a historic wagon trail leading past the site of a lime kiln to tillable lands of earlier times.

The view takes in an expanse of meadowlands, now groomed, to the Little Lehigh River and up the western slope to Lehigh Parkway North. Indeed, a pleasant view to be esteemed and preserved for generations to come. It was distressing on New Year's Day to see a family and their guests intent upon a walk down the slope suddenly stop in amazement and shock as the closure became evident.

The cost in dollars through the years of the park peoples' fixation on destroying the Parkway slope must be staggering indeed without dwelling on other deliberate depletions. Typically, the placement of the 1991 "No Sledding" sign employed a team of four men with three vehicles -- a backhoe, a panel truck, and a super cab pickup truck, the latter furnishing radio music.

BERT A. LUCKENBACH
ALLENTOWN

Burt Luckenbach was a park activist, who wrote this letter in 1992. Few remember sledding on that hill above the Log & Stone house, but I do. The open hill was located at the end of Lehigh Parkway South, near the intersection with Coronado Street. The Wagon Trail has also been blocked off for years. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Luckenbach, but like to think that he would approve of my efforts regarding the parks.

reprinted from December of 2017

Another Hatchet Job By Morning Call

The Morning Call,  despite being sued by Marty Nothstein for its previous hatchet job against him, has done it again.  The first dose of yellow journalism centered on a Me Too allegation from an anonymous source.  Although even the alleged victim said no foul, no harm, the paper went with the story anyway.  They now are going with chapter two, demeaning his longterm directorship at the velodrome.  What makes these stories so yellow is that the upcoming election is so near,  and that opinions are formed from headlines, not disclaimers and corrections.

Because of the lawsuit, the Nothstein camp has understandably refused to comment.  Although the story may or may not have some validity on its own,  the lawsuit and election make its publication at this time completely partisan and improper.

If Chris Borick and Muhlenberg College wish their polling to appear legitimate, they should completely disassociate from the newspaper.

Kids Of The Parkway

There were hundreds of us, we were the baby boomers. The neighborhood was built for returning GI's, and the streets were named after the planes of WW2; Liberator, Catalina, and Coronado. The twin homes were wedged between Jefferson Street and the southern ridge above Lehigh Parkway. Now called Little Lehigh Manor, we knew it simply as Lehigh Parkway, and we had our own school.

Historical Fact:
The original part of the school building contained four classrooms, a teacher's room, and a health room. It replaced the Catalina Avenue School which existed in a home near the present site. Lehigh Parkway received national publicity because it was being build as a result of the new neighborhood. Thus, the "Neighborhood School Concept" was born.








Because of the school and the park, the neighborhood was really self contained. The Lehigh SuperMarket on Lehigh Street was within walking distance. Soon, FoodFair would build their first large Supermarket, also on Lehigh Street, which was even closer. Today it has developed into The Parkway Shopping Center. We kids enjoyed our own Halloween Parade and Easter Egg hunt.






Because there were so many of us, Parkway Elementary only went through 2nd. grade. We would take the bus to Jefferson Elementary for grades 3 through 6.

Historical Fact:
Jefferson Elementary used to be a high school, and for years, it had separate girls' and boys' entrances. These entrances were turned into windows at some point, but the exterior of the building still has the two entrances marked.

These were some of my friends from 3th grade. They all lived in the Parkway. Not only were they all boys, only yesterday, 56 years later, I learned the name of the girl I'm holding hands with in the May Day picture above.

Historical Facts from Allentown School District Website

ADDENDUM: other Parkway Neighborhood Posts,
Time Capsule
Allentown On My Mind

reprinted from April 2013

Hyman Addresses City Council

For years I was a regular at city council, advocating for or against one thing or another.  Now I only attend on special occasions, such as Nat Hyman's response to the administration about the fire at his warehouse... He did not underperform.

Hyman gave an impassioned rebuke to council,  claiming he did not receive the option to have his building demolished himself, and that the city was grossly overpaying for the work.  He even had a check with him for what he claimed was the competitive amount for the job.  He clearly resented Ray O'Connell's promise last week that Hyman would pay. Although council president MacLean tried to initially reign in Hyman's personal jabs at O'Connell,  Hyman wasn't having it.

Unless Hyman and O'Connell decide to sit down and come to an understanding,  the discrepancy over the demolition costs will likely go to court...  I suspect that they will sit down.

Local Political Missteps

The week has been dominated by two political missteps... Pat Browne's misinformed flyer alleging that Mark Pinsley owed taxes, which he did not,  and Nat Hyman's failure to get in front of the fire story at his warehouse.

The Browne camp reported a tax lien against a different company that happens to have the same name as Pinsley's business.  The error certainly provides Pinsley with ammunition.  If the Democrat has enough resources to sufficiently exploit the error, remains to be seen.

The political nature of the Hyman situation is less obvious.  Hyman is stating that he was indeed working on getting his building demolished, and that Ray O'Connell was trying to impugn a potential mayoral opponent.  I'm not in a position to sort those assertions out,  but I do know that the public hasn't much sympathy for landlords.

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?

above reprinted from March of 2014

A Wild Ride

No offense to Susan Wild,  but she wasn't exactly a local household political name.  Prior to becoming solicitor in Pawlowski's administration,  most locals virtually didn't know her,  except she did run once unsuccessfully for county commissioner.

In this last quarter alone, she has garnered $1.3 million dollars in contributions in her run for congresswoman.  Almost all that money is from out of state.  They are not contributing because of their faith in Wild, but in their desire to flip the House of Representatives.  Furthermore,  most of those contributions are actually a negative reaction to Donald Trump.

As a local political junkie, I am somewhat offended that our congressperson might be chosen essentially by outside money.