Allentown's Lehigh Parkway Pays Price Of Neglect

Early Saturday morning a section of Lehigh Parkway's entrance wall collapsed onto the bridle path below. This was a result of long time, gross neglect. As an advocate for the WPA, I know more about this catastrophe than others. Today and tomorrow, I will chronicle how this happened, and propose a solution to save Allentown's incredible park legacy.

 In 1928, Harry Trexler commissioned a leading American park architect to design Allentown's park system. When Roosevelt announced the WPA as part of the New Deal, Allentown was shovel ready with those plans. Four thousand men labored throughout the citys' parks, mainly between 1935-37, creating the stone icons which made the parks literally a picture postcard.

Since the early 2000's, when Ed Pawlowski first worked as Afflerbach's Community Development Director, not one nickel, nor one moment, has been spent on the WPA structures. Cracks on the top surfaces of the walls were not kept sealed, allowing water and the winter's freeze cycles to loosen the stones. The Park and Recreation Departments were combined, and a series of new directors, with their background in recreation, were preoccupied with playgrounds.

In addition to the administrators, all originally from out of town with no personal history or feeling for the parks, City Council never asserted themselves on this problem. Understand, that I have lobbied and informed everybody on the WPA neglect for the last decade.

The Trexler Trust also has not exerted themselves on this subject, although they are a major contributor to the park department budget. I was informed that they do not specify how their contribution is spent, but we know that they do have influence.
The Morning Call
The media, specifically the Morning Call, has been a mixed bag. Former columnist Paul Carpenter did  a column on my efforts. Former Opinion Page Editor Glenn Kranzley  featured several of my WPA pieces. However, the paper did not publicize or report on my Parkway WPA tours the last couple of summers.

The section of the wall which fell on Saturday was supposed to be repaired four years ago. Funds were already budgeted for that purpose twice already. The original drainage swale, built as part of the wall, was macadamed over years ago. An overflowing storm sewer, which pushes tons of water against the wall, has never been addressed. The wall had endured decades of neglect. It's a testament to it's builders that it defied so much abuse. While I care about replacing the fallen section, my real concern is maintaining the remaining walls. They need some long overdue attention.

ADDENDUM:  Francis Dougherty, the city's managing director, said that the city has been criticized repeatedly for the deterioration of the structures.

"This is not an issue of neglect by this administration," Dougherty said. 
"[The structures} have been neglected for decades."
 From the Morning Call

Mr. Dougherty, the structures have not been neglected for decades,
but what is your point beyond admitting that the Pawlowski 
Administration has done nothing in it's three terms?

Molovinsky Called It Years Ago

In his post today, LVCI credits my long-standing concern about the Parkway wall and other WPA structures. The wall collapse this morning was catastrophic. A full post to follow on Monday.

Racism In The Allentown School District

I've posted before about the local Power Northeast group, which has been demonstrating against what they claim is institutional racism in the Allentown School System. At public school meetings they have worn surgical masks, and turned their back on the board members. Recently, at POWER'S request, four board members met with the group. While those members may have attended the meeting as a responsive and conciliatory gesture towards the groups' concerns, Scott Armstrong is upset that in doing so, they have validated a very negative agenda. We all know that racism is all too real. The horrific shootings in Charleston this week remind us that racial sickness abounds. It is, however, necessary for students to know that their teachers and school support their success. The meeting produced a document which states that systemic racism must be addressed in the school district. It goes further, and states that this racism is the cause of low test scores and the high drop out rates. I don't believe that this is true, but worse, it discourages, rather than encourages, the students. Many of the students live in poverty, and some come from dysfunctional families. These are difficult circumstances for any student to overcome. But, to convey the message that the deck is stacked against them, even in the sanctuary of their school, is a disservice.

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:  The post above is reprinted from my archives.  I believe that my background enabled me to write a  concise, accurate synopsis of Allentown's downtown housing situation. Today, we learn that Reilly's City Center and other employers and stakeholders in the NIZ are offering $10,000 incentives for their employees to buy houses in center city. I believe that if the plan is properly administered, it can be a useful tool for Allentown.

Reillytown Reinvents The NIZ

Today's Morning Call is dominated by Reilly's plan to own the entire 700 square block of Hamilton Street. Buried within the article are new interpretations of the NIZ, which has always been nothing but a pliable work of opportunity for Reilly. Conveniently placed after the jump to the paper's last page, we learn that Reilly is increasing his NIZ backed credit line from $185 million to $320 million. We also learn that this new project will be built on taxpayer backed speculation. The paper once again presents his press releases as facts. The apartment portion of the project has been moved from Walnut Street to 8th and Hamilton, supposedly to avoid infringing on the residential neighborhood south of Walnut. Let me translate; The apartments have been moved to avoid and segregate the new sought yuppies from the existing low income population. Let me clarify that I don't think that these projects are bad for Allentown. There clearly has been a stagnation in center city for many years. However, as a long time independent observer of Allentown, no person or project deserves wholesale promotion, with no scrutiny.

illustration from The Morning Call

Allentown's WPA Bounty

When the WPA started in 1935, Allentown was in a unique position to benefit. In 1929 the city decided to expand it's park system, and acquired hundreds of acres for that purpose. We had both the space and the unemployed needing the work. A project was built in almost every park in Allentown; Cedar, Irving, Union Terrace, Lehigh Parkway, Jordan, and of course, Fountain Park. The stairwells leading from Lawrence Street (now Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street (Junction Street) and next up to Spring Garden Street became essential several years later. Hundreds of men would use them every day as Mack Truck turned their production to the War effort. As well built as the stone structures were, they are now over 75 years old. Steps are missing on the Grand Stairway, columns are being undermined at Union Terrace, and these monuments of our past need attention. Although they are beautiful, irreplaceable, and the icons of our parks, they are not a priority for the current Administration and Park Department.

reprinted from February of 2012

Allentown Crime Down, So Is Credibility

According to Pawlowski and his chief, crime is down in Allentown. If you have any doubts, they produced a 53 page report, complete with statistics and graphs. The report will be an annual production. I do remember the other week when the chief's son was on trial, there was at least four shootings. The report doesn't lower Pawlowski's and Fitzgerald's credibility with me, they didn't have that much. But, the media seems to have some doubts. The Morning Call placed the story on page 7, and writes according to the mayor and police chief. To me, according reflects doubt. That's the very word I used to start this post. Someone should tell Pawlowski and Fitzgerald that there just has been way too many shootings and stabbings for their first annual report to have any meaning.

Allentown's Lyme Disease Party For Children

Allentown's new park director, following the lead of her predecessors, is closing rather than repairing swimming pools. Worse yet, she is allowing the Wildlands Conservancy to again dictate stream bank policy. Once again, the streams will be blocked from view and access by a uncut swath of weeds and underbrush. Apparently, she took the Wildlands Orientation Course, because this year the barrier is wider than ever. In reality, this is a terrible attractive nuisance for children and pets. They want to see and experience the stream, and will navigate their way through the tick infested mess. In the past, we could count on the Trexler Trust and city fathers to safeguard the traditions of the park system. Those values, like Fountain Park and Cedar Beach Pools, are closed for the season.