The Fiefdom of South Whitehall

Users of South Whitehall's water got a surprise in their recent billing.  Although, previously charged for metered usage, the township started charging an additional base rate of $25 per quarter.  While, not so noticeable for larger users,  the add on stands out on the bills of small users.  Usually those users,  such as the elderly, are the ones least able to afford such an increase.  For many of the elderly, this change amounts to over a 50% increase in their bill.  The justification used by the township was a 4% increase in wholesale cost from the LCA, which only provides a portion of the township's water.  Understand, that this change increases the township's revenue by almost $1 million dollars, with no public input, what so ever.

Understand, that virtually no one attends the commissioner meetings,  where the local elected aristocrats enact  such changes under no scrutiny.  This specific increase was by the township's Board of Authority,  which is appointed by the commissioners.  South Whitehall has changed from an affordable, community based government to a aristocracy,  becoming more and more expensive for the same level of service. Uncontested elections do have consequences.

Macungie Madness

Both Lower and Upper Macungie have been experiencing enormous growth.  The number of people residing in the townships has increased about 60% in the last  decade,  and together are the fastest growing regions in Pennsylvania.  Between them, there are now over 50,000 thousand people residing in the two townships.  Recently, I posted about the commercialization of the Rt. 222 bypass in Lower Macungie.

Upper Macungie, bi-sected by both Rt. 222 and Rt. 78, has seen the most growth in warehouse construction. That township will now begin developing a new comprehensive zoning plan, hopefully giving the residents  the sense that there is some restraint on development.

One of the more transparent elected officials in the Lehigh Valley, Ron Beitler, serves as a commissioner in Lower Macungie.  Beitler produces an informative blog on the issues affecting his township.

Shove Your Movies In The Park

The Lehigh Valley park systems, now essentially controlled by the Wildland Conservancy, currently feature Movies and Lies In The Park, instead of parks in the park.

While Allentown recently gave an excuse of delays in rebuilding Cedar Beach Pool, they never revealed that only about two men have been working on it all summer. While they show movies in the parks,  the weed barriers along the creeks are exposing children and pets to ticks all summer.

While South Whitehall will host events in Covered Bridge Park,  they have conspired with a referendum, to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy and demolish Wehr's Dam.

Meanwhile, the Trexler Trust forsakes the General's accomplishments by funding the Wildlands Conservancy. Although, every park in Allentown got a new sign this summer, the park department forgets that the parks were designed to be enjoyed by people, not to provide space for the Wildlands' agenda.  Try leaving your yard grow that way, you'll get a fine.

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

A Petition Against Park System Policy

The weed barriers need to be removed from the Allentown Park System. The zones are unsightly, breed plants that are on Pennsylvania’s invasive plant species list, harbor vermin, and present a public health danger to the citizens who use the park. Pennsylvania remains the state with the highest rate of Lyme disease. The CDC and all other groups that report about Lyme Disease cite one major but simple preventative measure: removal of weeds and high grasses. Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose and not always easily cured. Complications include joint inflammation, neurological problems; cognitive defects, and heart rhythm irregularities; left untreated, the disease can be fatal to humans and pets. Ticks also spread other diseases such as Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, and Ehrlichiosis. Urban parks in the United States were created to provide city dwellers a chance not only to recreate but to do so in a healthy environment. The decision to allow these weed barriers in our parks was instituted without a referendum of the citizens of the city and without discussion with the Allentown Board of Health. The public servants of Allentown need to reconsider their decision and insure that our parks are a safe and healthy environment for the people that visit the parks. We believe the best way to do this is by weed removal along the waterways and throughout the parks.

 The above petition was started by a concerned Allentown resident.  Although, I wasn't involved in this petition initiative, it has my full support.  Those interested in signing can click here.

Crimes By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

The top photo shows the Robin Hood Bridge, before the Wildlands Conservancy demolished the little folly Robin Hood Dam, just downstream beyond the bridge. The dam was only about 10 inches high, and was built as a visual effect to accompany the bridge in 1941. It was the last WPA project in Allentown, and considered the final touch for Lehigh Parkway. Several years ago, the Wildlands told the Allentown Park Director and City Council that it wanted to demolish the dam. The only thing that stood between their bulldozer and the dam was yours truly. I managed to hold up the demolition for a couple weeks, during which time I tried to educate city council about the park, but to no avail. If demolishing the dam wasn't bad enough, The Wildlands Conservancy piled the broken dam ruble around the stone bridge piers, as seen in the bottom photo. I'm sad to report that the situation is now even worse. All that ruble collected silt, and now weeds and brush is growing around the stone bridge piers. I suppose the Wildlands Conservancy considers it an extension of its riparian buffers.

The Wildlands Conservancy is now going to demolish Wehr's Dam at Covered Bridge Park in South Whitehall. The township commissioners are cooperating, by having a grossly inflated price associated with repairing the dam, to justify a disingenuous referendum. Sadly, by next spring I will be showing you before and after pictures of that crime.

top photo by Tami Quigley

The Partisan Dilemma

The Republican partisans are having quite a dilemma  about Donald Trump.  When Charlie Dent announced yesterday that he could not vote for Trump,  local party advocate Scott Armstrong derided Dent as a Rino,  who he could no longer support.  Now, it will become more complicated if Pat Toomey continues to withhold support for Trump, because Toomey hardly fits the Rino description.
I invited Scott to express his opinion for this post;

Mike, speaking as a committee person and someone who has been part of the local committee leadership for years, I find Charlie's announcement troubling and yes,hypocritical. We have for year been told, and I myself have stressed the message that our responsibility is to defeat the Democrats. Many of us have supported Charlie even though over the years, his positions and rhetoric have been counter to basic Republican tenets.  Now Charlie finds Trump's comments as something he cannot support. Fine! So the old adage of what's good for the goose is good for the gander comes to mind.  Finally, with this development, how can I or any other Republican leader ask our fellow activists to do for Charlie what he won't do for Donald.  I  know I won't.  Will this prevent a Dent victory this fall, doubt it. But like Charlie,  I will stand by my own principles and not vote for Dent or his opponent. I will vote to defeat Hillary. Scott Armstrong

For the last decade,  except for briefly exploring the possibility of running as an outsider Republican for state representative this past winter,  I have described myself as an independent.  I ran for office twice as an independent.  I believe that  the straight party lever, which is now a button, should not exist.  In my mind there is nothing at all wrong with a Republican not supporting Trump, or a Democrat not supporting Clinton.  I understand that it is an unusual position for an elected official to take, who for the most part owe their success to party politics. So, for me there are no rino's,  only independently thinking Republicans.

Irony Of The Rt.222 Bypass

In 2005, when the westward side of the Rt. 222 bypass opened, it was a long planned expensive state project, to eliminate congestion on a busy road.. By 2007, when the eastward side was completed, the commercial potential of the Krocks Road interesection was already being planned.  The 63 acre shopping center now straddles both sides of Krocks Road, on the south side of the bypass.  Target and some other stores have already open.  Because the Hamilton Crossing developers also  have the option on the north side of the bypass,  the bypass promises to create more congestion than existed before the new road was built.

Besides the Jaindl family owning so much land in the county,  this portion of the bypass is designated the Fred Jaindl Memorial Highway.

ADDENDUM:  When I opened the Morning Call this morning,  they coincidentally had an article on the expanding commerce of the bypass.  Although, I sometimes do write in response to an article in the paper, such was not the case today.  When I do write in response, I link to the source article.