NIZ Stock Depreciating

With National Penn having been acquired by BB&T,  Reilly and Allentown is losing more than just bank headquarters status.  Scott Fainor had been a long time center city booster.  Before Keystone merged with National Penn,  he placed a Keystone branch in the PPL Plaza.  He has been Reilly's primary banker, lending him $16 million start up for acquiring and tying up the lion's share of property in the NIZ zone.  Since then, National Penn has continued being Reilly's banker.  News accounts now say that BB&T will reduce staff at 7th and Hamilton by 87 positions.  Fainor was very good to Reilly.  Although, knowing the bank was reaching the asset point of sale,  he signed a 20 year lease with Reilly.  The location will now function as a regional center for BB&T.

In 2018, the Talen workers are scheduled to relocate to Jaindl's riverfront NIZ, but wait!!!! Rumor has it that Talen might be acquired, who then would be Jaindl's anchor tenant?  Meanwhile, back uptown, Reilly has put his mega project on hold, and is proceeding with his office condos.  The Morning Call will have its hands full spinning the decline as progress.  The cigarette tax loophole might become more and more important for the NIZ's future.

Jennie Molovinsky Was A Quiet Neighbor

For nearly a hundred years the Wenz Memorial Company had a tombstone factory at 20th and Hamilton.  Their parcel extended from Hamilton Street back to Walnut Street, across from the home of former mayor Joe Daddona.   Years ago, large granite slabs would be delivered by railroad, using the the Barber Quarry spur route.  During the Phil Berman era,  the facilities were also used to produce large stone sculptures.  Behind the office and production building, most of the property was used for storage of tombstones.  Some of the stones were samples of their handiwork, and others were old stones that had been replaced with new ones, by family members.  Such was the case with my great grandmother's first stone, which has laid at wenz's for several decades.  The row houses and their front porches on S. Lafayette Street faced this portion of Wenz's, and it was very quiet, indeed.

Some readers may have noticed that Wenz's has been demolished, and the parcel will now contain a bank,  Dunkin Donut, and Woody's Sport Bar.  The residents of Lafayette Street,  experiencing complete quietness for all these years, attended the zoning hearing as objectors.  Their previous view, a dark, quiet lot, would now be replaced with a lit parking lot, with bar patrons coming and going.  Although I will not comment on the zoning issues,  residents were supposedly told by the zoners that the development would improve their quality of life.  It's one thing to have the quality of your life degraded,  it's another to have your intelligence insulted, to boot.  Perhaps the zoners need some training in sensitivity.

Allentown Park System's Misguided Priorities

The park department purchased and installed fifteen pieces of outside exercise equipment in Jordan Park.  Beyond being a novelty in a park with a swimming pool, basketball courts and baseball fields,  it symbolizes what's wrong with the park department.  Three things are for sure about this equipment; It is a fad from a catalog, it was expensive, and it won't last very long. Meanwhile, throughout the park system, things unique to Allentown  that could last indefinitely, are being allowed to crumble.

Friends of the Allentown Parks is planning events to celebrate Bogert Bridge's 175th birthday. They will also conduct fund raising to paint and repair  that neglected symbol of Allentown.  The Pawlowski administration and it's park department haven't spend $1.75 on the bridge since his first term, in 2006. The broken WPA wall shown here is in Cedar Park, and has been broken for years. Although the administration is bragging about repairing the wall in Lehigh Parkway, it's only because it is a retaining wall, and must be repaired before the road can be reopened.

I understand that the decline of our traditional park system bothers me more than most.  Furthermore, there may well be many residents, especially newer ones,  who have no special affinity toward the traditional park features.  However, although I may be the lone voice on this topic, I will continue advocating for these discarded structures; They are irreplaceable.

The Magic Of Wehr's Dam

There is a magic place in the northwest corner of South Whitehall Township, called Wehr's Dam and Covered Bridge.  Because you can see watering flowing over a dam and under a covered bridge, people have been coming here for over 100 years.  Because it was a destination for so long, about 25 years ago the township created Covered Bridge Park, extending from that magic spot downstream, to Guth's Covered Bridge.   It now has become unfortunate that the dam lies in South Whitehall, because that township has become  politically disingenuous.  A series of uncontested elections has resulted in both arrogance of leadership, and outright cronyism.

Wednesday evening I approached the County Commissioners,  requesting that they adopt the dam, they already control it's partner in magic, the covered bridge.  Farmland Preservation has become the fashionable favor of the decade.  Lehigh County already designation $750,000 for that purpose, and has an additional $2million proposed for that end.  Farmland Preservation has its own page on the county website. At the bottom of the page it states;  Preserved farmland protects local scenery and promotes local tourism.  I suggest that the county acquire another acre,  encompassing the dam.  Although the parcel would be somewhat wetter than they normally seek, it easily surpasses their scenery and tourism criterion.

photocredit: K Mary Hess

Will Lehigh County Save Wehr's Dam?

On Wednesday evening I asked Lehigh County to value our history, and save Wehr's Dam.  The South Whitehall commissioners, in a disingenuous maneuver, decided to put the issue to referendum.  The dam is in overall good condition.  That's exactly how it was described in the inspection report by the state in 2012.  In 2014, the Wildlands Conservancy set their sights on it's destruction.  They used $259,000 of state tax money on a study designed to find the dam deficient.  Their engineer for hire, reported that it would cost $1.5 million to repair the dam.  Previously, before the Wildlands desired it's destruction,  township workers themselves would repair any issues noted on state inspections.   Myself, and several other people including descendants of the Wehr family,  managed enough public outcry in 2014 to halt it's destruction at that time.

Although, the South Whitehall Commissioners were supposed to hire a masonry contractor to estimate the true work, they instead bowed to the Wildlands connections,  and instituted another engineering study,  this time coming up with a $600,000 cost.  This figure was high enough that they could justify a referendum,  asking the taxpayers if they mind paying more taxes to repair the dam.  Referendums which cost the taxpayer money are almost always rejected. In the last referendum,  township taxpayers declined a new library for that very reason.  In 2014,  6,700 signatures of support were gathered at the dam itself.  The dam has been a destination for over 100 years.

One South Whitehall commissioner, David Bond, incredibly stated that he now favors a referendum, because he doesn't know how many of those signatures were from residents of South Whitehall.  I don't know either, but do know that most were residents of Lehigh County.  I have asked the County to intervene, because  of conflicts at the township level.  The Wildlands is the major park consultant for the township, and the township's park director is the son of a Wildlands director.  Beyond being a county destination for over a century, the former mill and remaining dam were part of our agricultural history. We seek to preserve thousands of acres of farmland, for which there are no farmers or agricultural demand. Let us resolve to save one more third of an acre.  Nowhere else can county residents see water flow over a dam and under a covered bridge.  I'm sick of history being destroyed by greed and cronyism,  and call upon County Executive Muller and the commissioners to save this beautiful part of our history called Wehr's Dam.

photocredit:Michael Kubel / The Morning Call

Adventure Allentown Omission

The Adventure Allentown magazine for Spring/Summer 2016 is being circulated throughout Allentown. In the front pages, Mayor Pawlowski takes credit for many things that he wasn't involved in. Pardon my ego, but one of the things the city takes credit for is the fruit of my labor.  Improvement to the steps at Fountain Park began with a post on this blog in 2008, entitled Stairway To Shame. Subsequently, I created public interest by writing numerous pieces about the WPA, and holding several meetings at the Allentown Library. Paul Carpenter joined me on an inspection of the steps, and wrote a column about the needed repairs. During this period I invited Karen El-Chaar, Director of Allentown Friends Of The Parks, for a private tour of Allentown's WPA structures. El-Chaar secured a grant from Trexler Trust, which was used to replace missing steps and repoint at Fountain. During those repairs last year, I prevailed upon Linday Taylor, Allentown Park Director, to allow the stone masons to also seal the the open top of the Union Terrace stairwell wall. While I wouldn't expect that Pawlowski would mention my name, that photograph in the city magazine represents over seven years of my work.

 Although, I'm not mentioned, The Wildlands Conservancy is featured on a full page. That organization, with no regard to the uniqueness of our parks, has been dictating the park policy throughout Lehigh Valley. Our iconic structures are allowed to crumble, and in some cases are intentionally demolished, to accommodate their agenda, for which they harvest state grants. Tonight, I will make a presentation on behalf of our history.

Allentown, Revitalized or Devastated?

Driving down the arena block of Allentown, one would hardly know that behind all the buildings on the other side of the street,  there is nothing.  An entire square block of buildings has been leveled in preparation for the NIZ baron's mega-project.  The baron, J.B. Reilly, has put those plans on mothballs, and now is going to build an office condo at 6th and Hamilton.  Although the Morning Call has been promoting that smaller, alternative project, they haven't shown one photograph of the devastation two blocks away.

Before anything was built in the NIZ, it was reported that National Penn loaned J.B.Reilly $16 million for site acquisitions.  In the last two years over $30 million a year of state tax money has gone for Reilly's debt service. Did the taxpayers of Pennsylvania pay to create this devastation?  Rather than cutting ribbons for Mr. Reilly,  our state representatives, Michael Schlossberg and Peter Schweyer, would better serve their constituents by getting answers to the questions asked on this blog.

What sort of town allows one person to displace hundreds of residents, and level dozens of buildings with no public input?   Between an ambitious mayor and an agenda driven newspaper,  we now have a wasteland in the heart of Allentown.

Allentown's Future

Contemplating Allentown's future seems somewhat bleak, certainly compared to its past. The All American City of the Mack and Western Electric era resulted in a large middle class,  which  supported three large urban department stores.  Now, we deem some office workers, poached from the suburbs, as a measure of success. The second NIZ, at the waterfront, will now poach their anchor tenant, Talen Energy, from the Hamilton Street PPL Plaza.  Our current leadership is under a cloud of alleged corruption.  Even our newspaper has been for sale for the last decade.

Before Mayor Pawlowski started working for his predecessor, Roy Afflerbach, he headed the Alliance For Building Communities. When he covered the front of their historic brick building in dryvit, I knew that he had no sense of history or aesthetics. He then gave City Line Construction a grant to smear the stuff on their building. Even our historical society, rather than featuring our history,  has shows on Abraham Lincoln. This week I will attempt to garner some interest in preserving the iconic Wehr's Dam, which has been a destination for over 100 years. The dam is again under threat by the South Whitehall Commissioners, who are likewise clueless about history.

We who care about such things as ethics, beauty and history,  face a difficult challenge.  We must stand fast,  despite the indifference of the elected officials,  and the preoccupation of a public which is struggling just to get by.