Black Friday

Once a upon a time, Allentown didn't have the benefit of current regulations. City Hall didn't have the vision it does now; they just let the merchants put up large neon signs without extensive guidelines and approval procedures. We didn't have the benefit of a Parking Authority; Allentown Park and Shop, one of the first in the nation, irresponsibly gave free parking just to encourage business. We didn't have the benefit of a remote Lanta Terminal; shoppers and buses clogged the street and sidewalks. Prosperity is over-rated, appreciate today's vision in The City Without Limits; Bon Appetit.
watercolor by Karoline Schaub-Peeler

above reprinted from November 26, 2010

High Culture-Free Admission Art Show

Morning/mixed media/5'x5'

I have been tasked with finding appropriate homes for Jessica Lenard's (1950-2016) remaining artwork. Jessica started painting in 1970, and lived in Allentown from 1975 until 1985. Her work is known for frankness and laid bare emotions.  These large (5'x5',4'x6') iconic paintings are nominally priced at $500 each. Other pieces also available. Those interested in acquisition can leave a comment with their name and phone number. Contact information will not be printed or shared.

The Family/mixed media/4'x6'

Weeping For The Willows

Fans of the Allentown park system see that the willows are in their last years.  Planted in the mid 1930's, they have served both the parks and citizens well.  Harry Trexler commissioned the leading landscape architect of his era to design the parks. Meehan Associates of Philadelphia specified that willow trees be planted thirty feet apart along the creeks.  The shallow, extensive root system of the Willows prevented erosion, and provided shade for the creeks and citizens.

Riparian buffers have become fashionable in current ecological circles.  Their intent is to filter out nitrogen from lawn fertilizer entering streams.  They were instituted in Allentown parks in 2006 on that false pretense, and seen by the park department as a way to also reduce mowing. However, in Allentown the reality is different. The storm water system is piped directly into the creeks, under these buffers. Worse, the buffers incubated invasive species, whose removal is much more labor intensive than simply mowing the grass. The park department is now realizing that the buffers are not Allentown park appropriate.  

I recently suggested to a park official that new willows start being planted along the creeks. The reply was that willows are not indigenous, that's another new ecological buzz term. Willows however remain recommended for bank erosion. 

The parks are not indigenous, nor are the swimming pools or the basketball courts.  The willows do however provide erosion control, are not invasive, provide shade for both people and fish, and are beautiful to boot... Not a bad idea Mr. Meehan had back in the 1930's.

I think that the park department need remember that they are managing parks, not indigenous species conservation districts.  More important is that these parks are for people to enjoy. A child playing by a creek bank is an experience now lost from Allentown, that we need to get back.

Weeping For The Allentown Park System

When Harry Trexler commissioned Frank Meehan of Philadelphia to design the Allentown parks, Meehan was considered the leading landscape architect in America.  It was because of Meehan that Allentown was shovel ready when the WPA started in the mid 1930's.  It was because of Meehan that our park system became the envy of cities everywhere.  

Throughout the park system he planted Weeping Willows thirty feet apart along the creeks. Their shallow, spreading root system provided the Little Lehigh, Cedar and Jordan Creeks erosion protection for almost a century. It provided both fish and fisherman beauty and shade along the creek banks.

Move ahead seventy five years, and in 2006 the from out of town new mayor Pawlowski combined the park and recreation departments, and hired a recreation major for department head. The new director turned over many park management decisions to the Wildlands Conservancy. The Wildlands introduced riparian buffers, even though the storm sewer system is piped directly into the creeks. As the Willows neared their lifespan and started dying out, they were not replaced. Rather, other trees were planted, back from the creeks, doubling down on the buffer concept.

We now realize that the creek banks are eroding, and that the buffers are incubators for invasive species. It is now the department's intention to seek outside consultants for recommendations. Rather than go outside again for advice, they should go back in history...Weeping Willows should be again planted along the banks. HOWEVER, the department REJECTS this suggestion, because willows are not indigenous. 

When I was a boy I lived above Lehigh Parkway in Little Lehigh Manor. My father's uncle worked for the park department cutting the grass along the creek. I'm saddened by the state of the overgrown creek banks, and the stubbornness of the city to not see the best solution.

Many of the original Willow trees have died, and the remaining ones are on their last legs.

above reprinted from May of 2022

More on the Willows tomorrow

Picnic Pavilion Blues

For the last decade the picnic pavilions below Cedar Crest College have been in a state of benign neglect. The park department stubbornly wants to replace these older pavilions with their lightning-friendly metal expensive replacements. 

Common sense would say why not just reshingle the older ones, and give them a fresh coat of paint. They have served the city well for eighty years, and still are eager to serve. However, the metal replacements have been put into the schedule years ago, and the bureaucratic way is to let the older ones decay until they're replaced with the scheduled new ones. 

Somehow I suspect that the replacements, when they finally do appear, will not last a fraction as long.

Students of the blog know that years ago I was very critical of Pawlowski and his succession of park directors, which were all of the same mold (Penn State recreation program) and hired by the same city manager. Had the FBI's menu been longer, they might have looked into some of those decisions and contracts.

I actually have a rapport with the current park director, and have not yet totally burned all the bridges with the new mayor. However, it is my avocation to champion for the traditional park system and the WPA. To that end, I will not compromise the mission with polite cordiality here on the blog.

above reprinted from June of 2022

ADDENDUM APRIL 19, 2023: Since the above post was written less than a year ago, there's yet another new park director, but I'm hoping to maintain a channel to that office.  However, as always, my mission remains the parks, not polite cordiality.

While I'm still advocating that the current picnic pavilions be saved, another important park feature has just been discarded.  Before the expensive (10k each) PlayWorld novelty exercise  kiosks were installed, the park had old school exercise stations. A classmate of mine from the mid 1960's would finish his daily walk with pull-ups.  While these time proven exercise stations were in good condition, this park system apparently still prefers gimmicks from catalogs.

Last, but not least, this year's duckling forecast...  You may have noticed very few ducks on the Rose Garden side of the park, but there are a few pairs. Unfortunately, their propagation chances again look slim. The park department did not mow the creek bank on the first cutting, and the poison hemlock is already thriving. If they cut down it before the ducks hatch, as they have for the last four years, once again no ducklings will survive to swim the ponds. The window for the bank cutting has closed, and they must now wait until after the ducklings are hatched and on their own.

Allentown Operating Vehicle Inspection Trap

Thanks to the Morning Call and their right to know effort, we have learned that Allentown dispensed 49,000 tickets last year for cars being out of inspection.  I use the negative word trap, because that is exactly what it is.  Many years ago, Coopersburg ran a speed trap... There was a borough cop actively waiting for traffic on Rt. 309.

Although I'm very conscientious about my car, I have been late for inspection several times. There are only fourteen states in the country which do inspections annually.

Entertainment venues, such as the arena and Symphony Hall, might want to consider how this aggressive beast affects their long term attendence.

I think it's becoming apparent that the current operation of the Allentown Parking Authority might not be in Allentown's best interest.

ADDENDUM 1: The APA stated that they're surprised how few tickets were issued for double parking.  I have never driven through downtown WITHOUT seeing double parkers.  So,  the APA could find 250,000 cars last year to ticket, but not see the double parkers?  They are not even improving the quality of life, just churning out tickets for their cash flow. Who are the real criminals?                                                     

ADDENDUM 2: Auto inspection has a history of abuse in Pennsylvania. It wasn't that long ago when they had inspection TWICE a year....Imagine the TAKE the APA could make from that!!! It's time to send some people at the Parking Authority packing.

Examining The Parking Authority's Appetite

I suppose that nobody can call me a newly hatched critic of the Parking Authority. I have been on their case since before I started this blog in 2007. In 2005, as an independent candidate for mayor, I held two press conferences about that monster's appetite, even back then.

The first conference was at 10th and Chew Streets. I wondered why the Authority still had parking meters out there, when the business district had shrunk to a couple blocks of Hamilton Street decades earlier. The Morning Call was actively suppressing my candidacy, and did not cover my conferences. For my second conference in front of the Authority's office, the paper instead interviewed the APA director at the time, promoting her policies. 

There is a long back story between the Morning Call and The Allentown Parking Authority.  The Authority was started to bail out Park & Shop, when their lots became less profitable. One of the three Park & Shop owners was Donald Miller, owner of the Morning Call.  The Parking Authority started as the handmaiden of the connected in Allentown, and has remained so to this day. 

During the following decades those parking lots have been sold off to a few connected developers, giving them already cleared, inexpensive, ideally located building sites.  The Authority then proceeded to build expensive parking decks, creating a massive debt service. Divide that debt service by the average fine of a parking ticket, and you'll know how many people a month that monster must eat to survive.

In addition to being a critic of the Parking Authority, I have become a critic of the NIZ.  While the NIZ uses our diverted state taxes to finance a few privately owned real estate empires, the APA provides the parking for those NIZ tenants. The APA is financed by tickets placed on the windshields and backs of the citizens. 

The Parking Authority in Allentown can certainly be an appropriate asset, with the current parking congestion and violations. However,  a more equitable funding source, rather than overly aggressive ticketing, must be employed.

shown above Park&Shop postcard, showing the former parking lots

City Council Foxes Guard Parking Authority Henhouse

On Wednesday evening, optimistic victims of the Parking Authority went to City Council hoping for relief from the current punitive ticketing.  Although an elaborate dog and pony show was staged, relief was never in the cards.  Three of the Council members sit on the Parking Authority Board, and helped that agency design the current citizen punishments... the quintessential fox guarding the henhouse.  

Council will never be able to safeguard citizens if they remain on the Parking Authority Board.  Although that provision goes back to the Authority's creation in the early 1990's, it is now time to provide oversight, not complicity.

Matthew Tuerk, who preaches inclusion and diversity, slipped out of the meeting before the citizens realized that only disappointment was coming their way. Those who receive the most tickets are the poorest among us.  He knew the evening's coming script, and had the police and fire chiefs there to defend current Authority policy.

While the Authority touted their new mini lot on 7th Street, they forgot to mention all the surface lots they sold off, for the gain of several developers. 

Matt Tuerk talks a new day in Allentown, but as an old activist, I can tell you it is business as usual.

photo of Betty Cauler, whose efforts brought the reform attempt forward, trying to convince a stubborn city council.