May 20, 2013

The Dam Difference Between Easton and Allentown

Excerpted from an article by Randy Kraft on the WFMZ Website.
Will removing a dam ultimately destroy a bridge in Allentown’s Lehigh Parkway? The Wildlands Conservancy has city approval to remove the dam in the Robin Hood section of the Parkway. ..But on Wednesday night, Allentown resident Michael Molovinsky suggested City Council rule that no decision will be made to remove the Robin Hood dam until it’s certain that the bridge won’t be jeopardized....  “It’s essential that we preserve this bridge and it’s not worth jeopardizing the bridge for what is essentially a science experiment for the wildlife conservancy. The bridge belongs to the citizens of Allentown," Molovinsky said.... City planning director Richard Young will look into Molovinsky’s contention that removing the dam will threaten the bridge. Young wants to review Wildlands Conservancy’s report on the planned removal of the dam, to see if it includes “scour calculations on those bridge substructures. I hope they did that.” Molovinsky doubts the conservancy did any engineering work regarding the impact removing the dam will have on the bridge. ...“The stress on that bridge has been pretty intense,” said City Council member Peter Schweyer. “We’ve had one accident there that took out part of the railing.”...  Molovinsky said the irony of the conservancy’s plan is that an LCA sewer line runs along the stream through the Parkway and overflows in heavy rains, putting sewage into the Little Lehigh. He said environmentalists consider removing dams a way to improve stream quality, but in this case “it’s just a token” because of that sewer line. “There’s a limit to how much you can improve stream quality when you have periodic sewage spills,” he said.
The above is excerpted from an article by Randy Kraft on the WFMZ Website.

Although The Morning Call didn't write one word about City Council interceding about the Robin Hood Dam, they did publish a report today about the dams in Easton. In the article, the Wildland's representative, Abigail Pattishall, is quoted as saying the Easton deliberation will take ten years. Here in Allentown, it took ten minutes, on the phone with the prior park director.

8 comments:

  1. dour, misguided, archeology stuff older than 100 years, get off your high horse Buttinksy

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  2. MM -

    I'm confused.

    Is Schweyer talking about Schreiber's Bridge, or the Robin Hood Bridge?

    Isn't Mike Hefele the Director of Planning, not Young?

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  3. No one gives a flying fuck about what you say!!! You are an old single man with no grandchildren... hence why you will die an old lonely man. You will not be missed. Seriously, reflect on the people who care about you... there is not much. It hurts, does it not?

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  4. @11:39, schweyer was talking about the robin hood bridge, although schreiber's bridge has much recent damage from trucks turning.

    yes, the article mislabeled young, he is the city engineer.

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  5. occasionally i print the comments from the antagonist, so that people can see how charming they are.

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  6. Is Allentown's new park director here?
    Does he (heard it was a he) visit the Parkway during this weekend's fishing contest? Cars parked all over the place. Little regard for
    no parking signs. Guess when the place isn't yours, why care.
    Schreiber's Bridge is broken in pieces at its left corner. It's been that way for months.

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  7. What did council decide in its 10 minute deliberation. The Robin Hood Bridge Mr. Molovinsky talks about is new. Built when Marty was on council.

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  8. @10:23, the bridge i refer to is the one going to the parking lot, first right after you enter park. it is pictured here on the blog at the top of the sidebar. it was built in 1941 by the WPA.

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