Lehigh Valley Railroad Piers

In this era of class warfare, while we worry that the rich are only paying 35% income tax, instead of 39%, let us be grateful that once upon a time we had the Robber Barons. In this era when we have to give a grant for some woman to open a small cookie shop on Hamilton Street, let us be grateful that men built railroads with private money. Let us be grateful that incredible feats of private enterprise built piers, bridges and trestles. Trains allowed us to move vast amounts of raw and finished materials across America. This network allowed us to protect ourselves during two World Wars, and provided the prosperity upon which we now rest.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks extended from their piers in New Jersey to the shores of Lake Erie. The Mile Long Pier in Jersey City was the scene of German sabotage in 1916. A train full of munitions, awaiting shipment to Europe, was blown up on July 30th of that year. In 1914, the railroad built the longest ore pier in the world, in Bayonne. The ore would come from Chile, through the new Panama Canal, for shipment to Bethlehem.

reprinted from September 2013

The Hubris of Allentown's Attorneys

Credit Emily Opilo of the Morning Call for a great exposé on the lawyers and firms that have benefitted for the last decade from the Pawlowski reign.   Prominent among them is Oldrich Foucek the Third.  Foucek is also chairman of the Allentown Planning Commission, and a member of the NIZ Board.  His firm was paid over $615,000 for chasing the riff raff away,  when the city demolished 37 properties to build its Great White Elephant.   All together, this firm received  $1.73 million in work, and contributed $32 thousand dollars  to Pawlowski.   He told Opilo that the work they have done for the city is very complex and extremely complicated. 

Now, I can believe that Oldrich's brain is big enough, but I don't believe that anybody should serve in multiple positions of influence in any town.  This isn't a new tradition in Allentown, but Pawlowski's appointments have been particularly strategic.

The Audacity of Hope

Posting on national news is an address this blog seldom visits.  As regular readers know, I keep baker hours.  So, in the early morning I watch  YouTubes of the previous evening's convention speeches.  Obama maintained his status as great speech giver Wednesday, while Bill Clinton has lost some his oratory prowess earlier in the week.  I enjoyed the audience shots during Obama's speech, talk about preaching to the choir.

The only thing wrong with the Audacity of Hope is that it has no substance as a national policy.  Now, while it's positive as a personal philosophy of life in dealing with our daily personal challenges, it provides no strategy for our country's economy or defense.  While Obama  claimed that we are experiencing higher employment and other upward statistics,  I don't think that it translates to many lives.  He even said that people are coming to American to open factories.  We are hard pressed to keep our remaining factories open.  People are working longer for less.  He can certainly lead the choir in singing Kumbaya,  but will the country again rally around hope and promise?

ADDENDUM: HILLARY AND THE GLASS CEILING

 Hillary delivered the best speech of her life, but no less would have sufficed.  She is caught in the contradiction of praising the recovery under Obama, but simultaneously addressing the underemployment reality of America.  In talking about her plans for the first 100 days, she promised to put a chicken in every pot.

While accusing Trump of dividing us, she would pay for those chickens by squeezing Wall Street and the rich.  The fact that she felt it necessary to mention Trump so many times, indicates how close she believes this election will be.

She was most successful when addressing the subject of weapons.  She built a  case that she might have a better demeanor to be Commander In Chief than Trump.  Her approach to gun control was pragmatic; Honor the second amendment,  but refine the background checks.

Both she and Trump are actually running on the same issues,  national security and jobs.

The Artless Walk

When J.B. Reilly built his Strata Flats 1,  he named the walkway along side it,  the ArtsWalk.  You may recall that they arrested the hapless street singer serenading the diners at Shula's,  which folded anyway.  We now learn that despite objections from the art institutions,  the Allentown Parking Authority is going to give the surface lot to J.B. Reilly.  Without the convenience of this lot for pick up and drop off, the Community Music School will leave Symphony Hall.  Why doesn't Reilly just build his new apartment house somewhere else?  He owns the square block between 7th and 8th, Hamilton and Walnut Streets.  Parking Authority board member and city council member Daryl Hendricks thinks that this problem represents success. The Morning Call keeps referring to a booming downtown, with new stores. The town is neither booming, or are the couple new stores doing any business.  What's in play here is simple greed.  Greed by Reilly, and greed by the Parking Authority, a partner in the deal.

Here would be an opportunity for still Mayor Pawlowski to make a contribution to the city, that he refuses to leave.  He should speak out against this plan, and advocate for that surface lot to remain.

Allentown's Sad State of Affairs

If you told someone several years ago that $1Billion would be spent trying to revive a couple blocks on Hamilton Street,  they would be shocked upon visiting.  Take your best shot, even during the noon lunch break,  and it's just dead in the water. I suppose that on the weekend a few restaurants have some traffic, but there's absolutely no vibe.  I think back when Pawlowski hired the slogan company. City Without Limits.  I guess City With No Vibe wouldn't be positive enough, but that's what it is.

Except for the bank accounts of a few men, it certainly was a poor return on our state tax dollars.  However, you must understand that except for a few bloggers, and their readers,  nobody much cares.  Because of this apathy we have a state house that only changes from retirement, not elections.  Because of this apathy we have a one party city government. Because of this apathy, those of you who do care must read your news from the likes of me, rather than a real newspaper.

photograph of 7th and Hamilton, back in the day

The NIZ's Magic Hat

It's difficult for the straight laced, and the main stream media to acknowledge the sleigh of hand occurring in the NIZ.  Officially,  the residential units were not supposed to reap the developer the state tax flow, as in commercial and retail.  Reilly is now interested in building a third Strata Flats on the Parking Authority lot at 6th and Linden. The Parking Authority apparently will continue its practice of neglecting the public good, by allowing chosen developers to build on it's surface lots.  In this case, the lot served the art and music community.  While the first floor of the new building will contain retail,  how much of the project can utilize the NIZ financing is the question of this blog post.  Supposedly, corporations have rented apartments in Strata 1.  That is the explanation for the dark units in a building supposedly full.  One must wonder if the tenant is a corporation,  are state taxes from that tenant  to be used for Reilly's debt service?  We do know that the entire NIZ is neither monitored or scrutinized. * Between the ANIZDA in Allentown, and Pat Browne in Harrisburg,  there's nobody watching the henhouse.

Between the lines,  apparently the  commercial demand has waned; Its been a long time since Reilly managed to poach a commercial  tenant from somewhere else.  I suspect now that somehow the taxes from the residential tenants are being harvested. 

* Reilly told the Allentown Parking Authority that $1million in NIZ tax funds would be used annually for the project.  Apparently, Reilly now makes these decisions directly, instead of just telling the ANIZDA puppets what to say.

Allentown Parks Can Kill Your Dog

Poison Hemlock has invaded the riparian buffers along the creeks in Allentown Parks.  These buffers are to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy,  which essentially dictates all park policy, except recreation, in both Allentown and South Whitehall.  I suppose now the Wildlands can add pet killer to their dam buster credentials.

Allentown has been trying to control the problem by high rough cutting in spots where they see the hemlock.  The real solution is to go back to the way the parks were designed, without riparian buffers.

Frankly, I haven't had much success in curtailing the Wildlands Conservancy's influence in these park decisions. So far,  we lost two small historic dams, and the iconic Wehr's Dam is soon to go. We lost the view and access to the creeks in the park system, around which the parks were designed, by Harry Trexler's landscape architect. I have succeeded in creating a public record of these losses, and I will continue to speak out against how our parks are being compromised.

South Whitehall's Offended Commissioner

After my presentation last week, one commissioner stated that he was offended by my statement that they were accommodating the Wildlands Conservancy.  He claimed that he didn't even know a member of the Conservancy.  I should have introduced him to his park director, who sits in front of him at every meeting, and gives a report.

The Wildlands Conservancy provided the main input in formulating South Whitehall's Master Park Plan in 2012.  Even then,  the finished plan recommended that Wehr's Dam be removed, not because it needed repairs, but because dams have become currently unfashionable with environmentalists.

The dam  was the most substantial  local dam of its era.  At that time of Harry Trexler and his cement company, monumental things were built from concrete, including Allentown's 8th Street Bridge.  When you visit the dam, the portion you see protruding out of the water is the narrowest part of the structure.  The dam is massive wedge over 6 feet wide at the bottom.  Then that massive wedge sits on a thick concrete platform,  14 feet wide. At the last state inspection, the report concluded that the dam was  overall in good condition.  They did find one minor short crack that they wanted patched.

Because the Wildlands Conservancy wanted to demolish the dam,  they paid for a study that recommended that the dam be totally rebuilt,  at a cost of $1.5 million dollars.  The minor crack could have been patched by township workers as in past inspections,  or even by a masonary contractor, at a very modest cost. The dam is considered by the state as low hazard.  That means that because of its location in a park,  it poses no risk to private property or people.  It's a  historic, scenic delight;  It doesn't matter how much water goes over or through the dam. However, the objective of their study was to make the cost so high, that demolition seemed the only feasible alternative.

In 2015,  the commissioners bowed to public pressure at that time, and voted not to allow the Wildlands to demolish the dam; I knew then that it was only a reprieve.  Rather than just patch the dam,  they waited for the public to simmer down, and then commissioned another study. The objective of that study was to make the price high enough to justify a referendum.  They now claim that a third of the dam must be rebuilt,  at  a cost of $600,000.  They know that a referendum will result in demolition,  but absolve them  politically of the decision.

In a responsible township, the park director would be defending the dam, which has been a destination for generations.  However,  the park director's father is a paid official of the Wildlands Conservancy.  That's why when the commissioner said that he was offended by my accusation,  I told him that I could care less.

Photo of Wehr's Dam, taken from under Wehr's Covered Bridge, by K Mary Hess