Empty Nesters Flocking To 7th and LInden

According to Matt Assad of The Morning Call,  millennials and empty nesters are flocking to Strata Flats to rent the apartments.  I suppose that they like the ambience of the 7-11, which is catty corner from the apartments.  Demand is so great that Reilly will build additional apartments across from Symphony Hall, which is next to the Hook Restaurant, formerly the Cosmopolitan, once the project gets through city planning.  Sure hope the city planners go along with Reilly, I know that they're tough on him.  Wonder if they will allow him to use wood frame like he did on the first building?  You will also be surprised to know that Alvin Butz's new NIZ Phase 3 passed city approval.

This is the second infomercial that Assad has written for Reilly, promoting his apartments.  It's apparent to me that Reilly has found a way to harvest NIZ money from residential tenants. If he isn't somehow tapping their  state income tax,  I would then be suspicious of  the prorations between the residential and commercial portions of the buildings;  Understand that nobody checks the NIZ figures, nobody produces or checks financials, and nobody cares.  All is fair in love and the NIZ.

shown above Plywood Plaza, aka Strata Flats 

above reprinted from November of 2015

ADDENDUM MARCH 11, 2020: The reporter mentioned above has moved on to officially writing press releases for a local commercial development agency. Reilly continues to use wood and plywood framing on his new Walnut Street apartments. Community activists need not worry about inclusionary zoning. Reilly will have to rent the Walnut Street units to the dominant intercity rental market, no millennials will live there.

Flash From Past

Occasionally, some of the older boys in Lehigh Parkway would get saddled with taking me along to a Saturday matinee in downtown Allentown. We would get the trolley, in later years a bus, from in front of the basement church on Jefferson Street. It would take that congregation many years to afford completing the church building there today. The trolley or bus would go across the 8th Street Bridge, which was built to accommodate the trolleys operated by Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Downtown then sported no less than five movie theaters at any one time. Particularly matinee friendly was the Midway, in the 600 Block of Hamilton. Three cartoons and episode or two of Flash Gordon entertained our entourage, which ranged in age from five to eleven years old. We younger kids, although delighted by the likes of Bugs Bunny, were confused how the Clay People would emerge from the walls in the caves on Mars to capture Captain Gordon, but our chaperones couldn't wait till the next week to learn Flash's fate. Next on the itinerary was usually a banana split at Woolworth's. Hamilton Street had three 5 and 10's, with a million things for boys to marvel at. The price of the sundae was a game of chance, with the customer picking a balloon. Inside the balloon was your price, anywhere from a penny to the full price of fifty cents. The store had a full selection of Allentown souvenirs. Pictures of West Park on a plate, the Center Square Monument on a glass, pennants to hang on your wall, and picture postcards of all the attractions. Hamilton Street was mobbed, and even the side streets were crowded with busy stores. Taking younger kids along was a responsibility for the older brothers, the streets and stores were crowded, but predators were limited to the Clay People on the silver screen.

reprinted from previous years

Reform That Never Came

When Tom Wolf first portrayed himself as a reformer six years ago, I wondered.  Driving a Jeep and not living in the state mansion doesn't make someone a reformer in itself.

Six years later, we still have the same old, overly large state house. We still have all the useless politically appointed commissions, and we still have the same old reform promises, with no action.

On Friday morning PennDOT sprayed Cedar Crest Blvd. with salt brine. Although there was only a remote possibility of less than a flurry, the brine was flowing like wine at a party.  I then realized that the mild winter was coming to an end, and PennDOT must use up their supplies to justify their upcoming budget.

I know of no aspect of state government that has changed, at all.

Report From A Retiring Watchdog

No, I'm not running for mayor, but I used to consider myself a watchdog of mayors. Ten years ago, this blog would report every day on something about the city, or its government. I would attend city meetings on a regular basis. I would report on city policy, and even try to influence it, through this blog and opinion pieces in the newspaper. For a while my musings were heard regularly on a local radio station.

While some less involved may have been surprised when the long term mayor was incarcerated, I suspected that there were more transactions for which he may have been indicted. When he was elected for the fourth term, while under indictment, I knew that my former Allentown no longer existed.

I still get engerized for such icons as our park system, but I no longer attend council meetings on a regular basis. Occasionally, I still enter the political fray, but only when the proposal is so contrary to the city's well being.

Long term readers of this page may have noticed more republishing of my older historical posts. A year ago I started a facebook group, Allentown Chronicles, with an emphasis on local history. Many members are former Allentonians, who also prefer yesteryear's Allentown.

The Dinosaurs Of Sumner Avenue

Up to the early 1950's, Allentown was heated by coal, and much of it came from Sumner Avenue. Sumner was a unique street, because it was served by the West End Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The spur route ran along Sumner, until it crossed Tilghman at 17th Street, and then looped back East along Liberty Street, ending at 12th. Coal trucks would elevate up, and the coal would be pushed down chutes into the basement coal bins, usually under the front porches of the row houses. Several times a day coal would need to be shoveled into the boiler or furnace. By the early 1970's, although most of the coal yards were closed for over a decade, the machines of that industry still stood on Sumner Avenue. Eventually, they took a short trip to one of the scrap yards, which are still on the avenue, but not before I photographed them.

reprinted from previous years

photocredit:molovinsky

A WPA Monday

A month ago Mondays, I climbed the steps at Fountain Park to speak to the stone masons repairing that iconic structure. The steps were built in 1936, and would soon serve thousands of men walking down from center city to the Mack factory, to produce trucks for the war effort. It took me ten years to get the masons there, but by now I had another pressing objective. In the last couple of years, the top of the wall at the double stairwell at Union Terrace had become open, threatening that structure with potential catastrophic damage. After learning that the masons had no assignment beyond the Fountain Park steps, I drove over to the Park and Recreation Office.

Lindsay Taylor, the new park director, has been fairly cordial to me, considering my reputation as a mauler of city bureaucrats. I explained that the top of the Union Terrace wall was open, and that I had serious doubts about it surviving another winter of freeze and thaw cycles.  I requested that the masons make an emergency repair on top of the wall, while other repairs needed there could be delayed. Taylor agreed to consult her park supervisor, Rick Holtzman, about my request. Later that morning, I spoke with Holtzman, who agreed that it would indeed be appropriate to reassign the masons.  The masons were replacing missing steps and repointing the Fountain Park stairwell,  through a grant from the Trexler Trust. The grant had been written and requested by Karen El-Chaar, from Allentown Friends of the Parks. El-Chaar had attended my meetings years earlier on the WPA structures, and I had since  conducted tours of Lehigh Parkway in conjunction with her organization. Holtzman requested that El-Chaar clear the repair at Union Terrace with the Trexler Trust, since their funds were designated to be spent at Fountain Park. The Trust gave their permission for the masons to be temporally reassigned.

By the weeks end the masons spend a day at the Terrace, and repaired the top of the wall. I'm grateful that Lindsay Taylor and the Trexler Trust responded to stabilize that structure, and optimistic that their commitment to  our WPA history will continue.  I will in turn continue on, when necessary, mauling the bureaucrats.

reprinted from November of 2015

The photograph above shows the WPA steps being built in Seattle. I'm sure an identical sight could be seen on Lawrence Street in 1936.

Stairway To Shame

In the mid 1930's, Allentown, and especially its park system, was endowed with magnificent stone edifices, courtesy of the WPA; Works Progress Administration. This was a New Deal program designed to provide employment during the aftermath of the depression. Stone masons from all over the country converged on this city and built structures which are irreplaceable. The walls and step structures in Lehigh Parkway, as the Union Terrace amphitheater, are legacies which must be protected. Pictured above is the grand stairway from Lawrence Street (Martin Luther King Drive) up to Junction Street, built in 1936. The steps are in a state of disrepair. They lead to the great Junction/Union Street Retaining Wall, thirty feet high and two blocks long, which was completed in 1937. I call upon the Trexler Trust and Allentonians of memory, to insist these steps are re-pointed and preserved. The current Administration knows little of our past.  It's important to save the things in Allentown that matter.

The City of Allentown is embarking upon a $3.8 million dollar capital plan to change the nature of our parks, funded in large part by the Trexler Trust. Although a number of fads will be accommodated, not one dollar is earmarked to preserve the existing WPA treasures. General Trexler envisioned the parks as a reserve for the passive enjoyment of nature. Among the new Disney-World type plans are a wedding pavilion in the Rose Garden, and the largest playground in eastern Pennsylvania to be built in Cedar Park. The trail through Cedar Creek Park will have lights installed, and the picnic areas will be expanded. Anybody driving past Cedar Beach on a Monday morning sees the trash generated currently by only a few picnic tables. How many more park workers will be required to deal with the consequences of these new plans? The playground is being billed as a "Destination Playground", who will pay to keep that clean? Allentown should build and monitor numerous playgrounds throughout center city, within walking distance for children and parents. The Trexler Trust and The City of Allentown have a responsibility to first repair and maintain these iconic stone edifices which are unique to Allentown.

photo info: the dedication stone is on the Union Street wall. The steps shown in the photo here go through a tunnel in the wall and climb up to Spring Garden Street. They are in total disrepair. This posting is a combination of two previous posts, which appeared on this blog last September.

above reprinted from May of 2009

UPDATE APRIL 10, 2018: My campaign to save the WPA structures has been on going  for over a decade. About 10 years ago, I organized meetings at the library to bring attention to the neglect inflicted upon these structures. In the process I tutored Karen El-Chaar, from Friends Of The Parks, on the issues. She then was able to obtain a grant from the Trexler Trust,  and repoint the Fountain Park Steps. I opposed the more outlandish proposals cited above for Rose Garden area, and plans were scaled back.  I organized efforts to dig out and reveal the WPA Spring Pond and Boat Landing, both of which were discarded decades earlier. Because of the neglect, the Lehigh Parkway wall collapsed, but has since been partially rebuilt, to allow use of the entrance road into the park. In cooperation with Friends Of The Parks,  I conducted tours of Lehigh Parkway, featuring its history and WPA structures. During the Pawlowski regime I offered my advice to City Council on the traditional park system and WPA, but it was rejected.  I again make the same offer to Mayor O'Connell and the new administration.

UPDATE MARCH 3, 2020: Although O'Connell did invite me to a meeting about the parks, I am once again a persona non grata.  Karen El-Chaar is now director of parks.  It is my understanding that the Trexler Trust has commissioned a study of the Parkway Structures,  but declined to share any information with me.  It is my informed opinion that the immediate services of a stone mason are much more needed than that of their consultants. Time is the enemy of these structures.

Trouble On Junction Street

I've always been interested in the WPA.  As a child growing up above Lehigh Parkway on Liberator Avenue, I explored structures which, unfortunately, no longer exist. Before this blog and its voice, I prevailed upon both Joe Daddona and Bill Heydt for emergency repairs.

I first posted about Junction Street in 2008. Although only two blocks long, the street contains monumental WPA projects. It hosts both the steps and the high retaining wall on Union Street. The steps served our war effort, as workers used them from center city to work at the Mack plants on S. 10th Street.

In 2009, I conducted a series of public meetings at the Allentown Library on the WPA.  In attendance was Karen El-Chaar, then director of Friends Of The Parks. Karen later secured a grant from Trexler Trust to repair the Fountain Park steps.

El Chaar is now parks director for the city, but unfortunately, the WPA structures still have not become a priority for the city. My stock with the Trust and the city administration ebbs and flows, because I never mince words as I continue to speak out on various issues.

Shown above is recent damage to a small part of the wall leading down to Martin Luther King Drive. Although I want to see it restored, other WPA structures in our parks are actually jeopardized by neglect. Number one on my wish list is the double stairwell in Lehigh Parkway.