From the current BikeAllentown Blog;
This is a wonderful opportunity for all of our organization's and our community, and we
would like to see everyone involved. Please inform your organization's members and
see how many would be interested in attending. All BikeAllentown members will be in
attendance that evening as well as providing refreshments for the event.
Your presence and support is also needed as we expect representation from factions who
are opposed to this plan.
Sort of reminds me of this past summer, Mrs. Pawlowski's letter to get supporters to City Council to support their Cedar Park Plans. Two full church congregations, totally ignorant of the issues, showed up in response. Outside pickets held signs against Racism and For Inclusion.
I must assume that many respondents to the Greenway survey were members of various Bike Clubs, networking from perhaps even out of state. I can tell you that most Allentonians know nothing of this plan. Some were informed in the last two days by the Morning Call letters by both Mr. Walker and myself. My assumption that most people saw the newsletter in their water bill was incorrect. Several had told me they never received such notice, others threw it away unread.
I think it's safe to say that this plan would be expensive to implement, have no economic benefit to the City and cater to a very small group of people. Although this has been the definition of most plans in Allentown, the time has come to end this absurdity. This plan has reached the point of being an insult to the legacy of the Allentown Park System.
Please join me this evening in wishing the Greenway Consultants a safe return to North Carolina, they have been well paid for their time.
The photo chosen here is courtesy of Send In The Clowns Blog, who also opines on this subject
Lol! I love that picture!That is priceless!
ReplyDeleteFinding and using one group of people, bike riders, many of whom live outside Allentown, to ram home a "Trails Plan" is reprehensable. Where are the road runners and joggers, the horseback riders and the every day dog walkers? The fly fisherman, the bird watchers who use the park? { And where is Trexler Trust and Friends of the Parks? Their silence speaks loudly. Shame on these leaders to watch this sorry exercise without comment.} Why haven't these other park users groups been mobilized to comment on this plan? Have these other groups also got special invitations from the Allentown Recreation Department to participate? Tell me again,these bike supporters are in charge of refreshments tonight? This is community participation? Parts of this plan would have some merit in better economic times, but PLEASE, for the love of God, keep the asphalt and concrete out of the park itself. And please don't call these meetings and that rigged "survey" community participation. This entire thing, and again parts of it could have merit, is looking like another backroom deal with the insider constituents and insider consultents, fix job. This all makes this park user feel ill.
ReplyDeleteAccording to today's Call, tonight's meeting will "accept" public comments on cards. Does this mean no public questioning during this public meeting? Sure hope not. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteOne group,bikeallentown, is invited by the Recreation Department to act as co-hosts and take care of the refreshments. Have runners,joggers,fly fisherman, dog walkers, horse riders,others, been given an oppertunity to co-host? Parts of the "Trails Plan" would have merit in better economic times and if current park needs were already addressed. 17 park workers laid off, 3 more already gone. STAFF DOWN 20 !!! And many important issues in the parks have been waiting for years for attention. Paving with asphalt paths inside the park itself; MADDNESS! Where is the voice of Malcom Gross and Trexler Trust on this? Almost as disturbing as paving inside the park is the "community involvement". Fake surveys, fixed "planning meetings". Please don't insult people with this B.S., another fix. A scam process, from start to finish. I might have supported some parts of this. Now, I feel ill. I want nothing to do with this. Don't use the ADA as an excuse, another insult, for blacktop roads in the park. Look at the blacktop around the Rose Garden. P.S. I ride my bike often. I am ashamed. Where are Allentown's Parks priorities?
ReplyDeleteanon 8:05, i also noted your observation, but will address it this evening, with spoken word
ReplyDeleteOne group,bikeallentown, is invited by the Recreation Department to act as co-hosts and take care of the refreshments. Have runners,joggers,fly fisherman, dog walkers, horse riders,others, been given an oppertunity to co-host?
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT POINT !
Talk about plugging the system with your own party players. Good Grief Allentown. Shame on you. Hope someone contacts Philly TV.
Re: Public Comment.
ReplyDeleteWe have no idea what's going on tonight but sure hope city plans to allow citizens to speak up during meeting.
Paving behind Cedar Crest College will make it so convenient to move Mayfair a few feet West.
ReplyDeletePublic comment cards IS participation. Rigged surveys ARE support. The Trails Plan IS democracy in action. Asphalt roads ARE green. The parks director IS in touch with Allentown's parks. What don't you and the malcontents get Molavinsky?
ReplyDeleteDoes Bike Allentown membership include a city guy with the initials, G.W.?
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has attended all of the public meetings thus far, I know that there are members on the steering committee representing hiking, walking, birding, and fishing groups. Hopefully they will be there tonight.
ReplyDelete"THEY PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT." Hey, Brian and Fritz and friends, now you can help pave paradise too. Foolish,silly,stupid me. I always thought bikes were part of the green solution.
ReplyDeleteanon 9:41, in all due respect; last week the mayor of allentown was quoted as being against any oversight of the the little lehigh, because it might deter development. we have an environmental advisory committee which stood by and said nothing? we have a wildlands conservancy which stood by and said nothing. we have "friends of parks" which said nothing. i'm tired of phony committees and sellouts
ReplyDeleteFolks,
ReplyDeleteSomeone's gota drive up to the Bangor area countryside before tonight's meeting and pick up Ron Angle, cause if ever there was a guy who loves 3x5 comment cards, he's it!
With all due respect, there is nothing wrong with a group of bike people comming together and forming an intrest group. It's a ligit. part of the process for Bike Allentown to support projects they like. They like the idea of more paved parking lots and asphalt paths in the park. That's BikeAllentowns right. Question for the Steering Committee- are Bike Allentown members on the steering committee? If so, would they please identify themselves? Does the steering committee, and the Recreation Director, support the idea of an intrest group co-hosting a public meeting? Has any rep. from city council participated in steering co. meetings? How many times did the steering co. meet? Was public notice given,as per the law, for steering co. meetings? Were members of the public who were not on the steering co. present? Where can the public find the minutes for the steering co. meetings. Is there a record of the consultents who were present. Who chaired the co. and who ran the meetings?? Might we please have answers to these questions before tonights meeting? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteiron, thank you for the compliment i'm not printing, also i believe that the second 9:09 comment is being sarcastic
ReplyDeleteNo way the runners club would support this, or the horse riders, no way! Unless they were really pressured.Were they on the steering committee? The dog walkers can't be happy either. The salt on the current paved trails really hurts the dogs paws in winter. Could joggers,horses and walkers with dogs on a leash really want to share the same paths with fast,serious bike types. It doesn't sound like we are talking about children with the BikeAllentown crowd.
ReplyDeleteTaxpayer Wrote:
ReplyDelete"With all due respect, there is nothing wrong with a group of bike people coming together and forming an interest group. It's a ligit. part of the process for Bike Allentown to support projects they like. They like the idea of more paved parking lots and asphalt paths in the park. That's BikeAllentowns right."
Well said.
However, no group in Lehigh Parkway has more daily participants than runners.
From grade school through college and beyond, thousands of runners utilize Lehigh Parkway on an annual basis and that doesn't even take into account the fun runs and charity events hosted throughout the year by nonprofits. Why the annual October Breast Cancer run alone
draws thousands of women to the Parkway. Should a few hundred bikers rule over thousands of runners?
Fritz claims paved "greenways protect open space ....and ecological resources", as opposed to more "rustic trails". Do tell Fritz, hows that? Do the expanded and paved parking lots protect open space and ecological resources also Fritz? Andrew Kliener, you getting all this? And to Professor Pooley; fake community participation and bogus surveys are one reason many good people are unlikely to engage in volunteer activities in the parks, sir. You know as much professor,and just where is Friends of the Parks in this exercise in expanding asphalt through Allentown's parks? Speak up, please.
ReplyDeleteMikeM- I think you liked my picture! I'm pissed because people ride their bikes 90 miles an hour through the park and expect you to get out of their way now. I've seen dogs, kids, and old people run over in collisions. The park is for everybody, not just the bikers. There's a park down near Macungie that has a one mile trail they can ride on. It has lanes, and I hear the bikers don't stay in them. They ride on the sidewalks, wherever they want, because they think their right to ride is more important than anyone elses. All I want to do is walk in Trexler Park without my head on a swivel. This bike thing will make that impossible.
ReplyDeletethere currently is no institutional memory of the allentown park system. it was never meant to favor one interest group over another, or one activity over another. historically, it was meant to be passive; a flyfisherman or a family picnic. we know we can not accommodate dirt motorcycle hill-climbing, why do we think we can should encourage fast cyclists on bikes? we have several very large parks, why would we want to join all the parks in allentown together? each has its own identity and charm. our current park system dates to 1927, our park director, weitzel, dates to 2007 in allentown. we should turn our nationally know iconic treasures inside out to put feathers in his career application?
ReplyDeleteWhat am I missing here? A private blog is asking for supporters to attend a meeting to voice support for a plan they like. Isn't this blog asking for non supporters to attend and voice opposition to a plan? What is the problem? Private people making their positions on a a plan known.
ReplyDeleteanon 2:04, your comment is fair. i'm still over-sensitive from the shenanigan the city pulled over the cedar park plan, literally bringing shills in who didn't even know the issues to show support
ReplyDelete"A private blog is asking for supporters to attend a meeting to voice support for a plan they like."
ReplyDeleteBut a government entity has invited a "private" support group to act as co-hosts. Now, that's a problem.
Anything government does is good, no matter what tactics are used.
ReplyDeleteAnything private citizens do is bad, unless it is directed and controlled by the government.
C'mon. How hard is that?
Get with the program, people.
There are two issues being treated as one here. Cedar Beach Parkway - and the uproar over potential paving, and the trailways plan in general. One can be supportive of connecting allentown's parks through a trail network (with safe pedestrian and bike routes) without supporting unrestricted paving or widening of paths. I'm personally interested in the connectivity of the parks to the urban core, safe routes from schools to parks. I'm head scratching at the anti-bike vehemence here. I've walked, jogged, bicycled and dog-walked through most of the parks in allentown, sharing the existing paths with the same contingent. Never seen anyone run down - people are pretty capable of making room, even the young 'uns.
ReplyDeleteanon 4:06, spend an hour going back on older posts at the bottom of the blog page and see my photo's of the wpa steps which led from fountain park up to center city. they are in terrible condition. until i started on the subject, and the morning call printed by blog, the park dept. never even weeded them for years. there were saplings growing between the steps. this plan is strictly for the bikers pleasure, any other contention is smoke and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteAnnon. 4:06, its not potential paving at the Rose Garden. Look at that butt ass ugly black top around the ponds. A disgrace. If this plan is also about safe ped. use and neighborhood connections, why was there no mention at all in the draft plan about the WPA steps leadimg down into Fountain Park? I am not anti-bike. I got 3 bikes and I ride them all. I am sure as hell anti-asphalt in the park. I say if we can't take of what we got, and we can't, this isn't the time for new projects.
ReplyDeleteTO: Anon 4:06 pm
ReplyDeleteWhy should people have to make room for you onl your our bike speeding around and passing everybody in a manner that disregards the safety of others? The parks in Allentown were never intended for spoiled and overgrown yuppies to use on their ten speeds. This is a new phenomenon. Go out on the highways and by-ways where you belong and start acting like a big boy!
Anon