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, shame on the Trexler Trust. 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, shame on Trexler Trust. The trail through Cedar Creek Park will have lights installed, and the picnic area's will be expanded, shame on Trexler Trust. 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? Shame on the Trexler Trust. Allentown should build and monitor numerous playgrounds throughout center city, within walking distance for children and parents. Here's an idea; lets keep the parks as is, lets maintain what we have, and stop using the Trexler Trust as a political arm of the Administration.
photo info: the dedication stone is on the Union Street wall. The steps shown go through a tunnel in the wall and climb up to Spring Garden Street. They are in total disrepair.
UPDATE: This post first appeared in September of 2008. For several years I spearheaded a movement to foster appreciation of our historical park system. Our group succeeded in tempering some of the plans. The wedding pavilion near the Rose Garden was never built, and the historic adjacent house was not converted into a catering facility for weddings. The Destination Playground was built, and has turned out to be very popular for families with young children. The plan for a commercial style water park at Cedar Beach was shelved, and the former ambitious park director moved on to another position elsewhere. In the next couple of weeks, I will reprint a number of posts outlining my efforts in regard to our iconic WPA structures. For the historical record, I will leave the original posts as written. Please pardon the bluntness. When the Trexler Trust first began in 1935, a significant amount of their assets were utilized to augment the work being done by the WPA. I believe that they are once again realizing the significance of these treasures.
Thank God for your continued advocacy. There's not enough words for me to express my appreciation.
ReplyDelete@2:10, thanks for your kind words, and the words on the previous post, but that more than fills the thank you quota. in each effort there have been others advocating for the parks, such as frayda kamber, joanne graves and barbara thompson, defending cedar park. eric weiss, rose gallagher, mary anne stinner, and two dozen more advocating for the wpa structures. the allentown park system is precious to thousands of people, for multiple generations.
ReplyDeleteThe Trexler Trust has long been out of touch with reality, much like the Poole Trust. Did you hear that? I think it was General Trexler and Leonard Poole turning over in their graves once again.
ReplyDelete@10:11, my intention yesterday in reprinting the post from 2008 was not to criticize the trexler trust, but to provide some background to the plight of the wpa structures. besides this blog, and a couple of articles in the paper about my efforts, these structures have been off the radar. although the older articles i reprint may criticize our esteemed leaders, future comments which do so, may not appear. the mission is to preserve the structures, not alienate those which must approve the funding.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm ready to start working to preserve the WPA structures in Allentown parks. Where do I sign up? Who do I talk to?
ReplyDelete@ 9:02, this effort began with a public meeting I organized in sept. of 2011. since then we formed a group, and conducted a survey of the more important wpa sites in allentown. the park department, under the previous director, had it's own agenda of building and buying NEW features and gadgets. however, we have managed to gain the support and interest of Friends of the Parks, which is a city affiliated group. They in turn are engaged in some efforts that i cannot publicize at this point, but hopefully later this summer. meanwhile, you can call the mayor's office and express your concern for the wpa structures. phone number on the sidebar of this blog.
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