Residents on Tilghman Street learned the expensive way that Pawlowski is back to mayoring in Allentown. Whether you're towed during a snow emergency, or ticketed at a meter, center city residents are the ones who are fined and inconvenienced by the traffic regulations. Community activist Ce Ce Gerlach wonders on Facebook, This is like the 5th snow of the season and now, all of a sudden we are in a "snow emergency". Hundreds of residents were towed, including mine. A city of poor and working class people now have to pay at least $250 to get our cars back. Perhaps Mike Fleck could have hired some canvassers to knock on doors and give the residents some heads up on the towing, like Pawlowski did to get votes back in November.
UPDATE: Mayor Ed Pawlowski claims that 89 cars were towed during the snow emergency Monday morning, which was instituted with a three hour warning. Police used sirens and loudspeakers to notify residents on both Chew and Tilghman Streets, but the notice given to Walnut Street residents has not been verified.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIf one parks on a snow emergency route during a snow storm they need to pay attention and stay on top of any news concerning a "snow emergency". That said up here on 15th I'm fairly certain the police were making every effort to locate owners before the cars were towed(very few were).
Did the city spread any salt on any roads that aren't snow emergency routes? Turner, Linden and many others have packed snow surfaces and the driving is treacherous.
Scott Armstrong
Yesterday was a record snowfall. We got over 9 inches. The previous record in Allentown was a little over 7 inches. The snow emergency was posted on all local media outlets and on many so many social media outlets. Many parking lots were open and were/are free for residents during the emergency. And let's not forget that all of the spots along the snow emergency route are clearly marked as such. People need to take responsibility for themselves and get their cars off of a snow emergency route when large amounts of snow are falling. If Pawlowski didn't call for a snow emergency, then this post would be lambasting him for NOT doing so. I am not Pawlowski fan, but in this case, it was pretty obvious that it was, indeed, a snow emergency. My advice is for City residents to hit "LIKE" on the city or the mayor's Facebook page - all of this was posted repeatedly. Door to door notification, while recommended tongue in cheek, I am sure, are not reasonable and are never going to happen. MM, you are uncharacteristically perpetuating a culture of irresponsibility and entitlement.
ReplyDeletemonkey momma@8:45, heavy snow is nothing new to allentown, i recall the winters of 93 and 94, and driving in ruts which controlled the steering, like a kiddy ride at the amusement park. if a large number of cars were towed from tilghman street, it suggests to me that not enough effort went into notifying the residents. loud speakers and door knocking were utilized in the past.
ReplyDeleteAs in all major snow storms the cars parked on snow emergency routes are towed.The problem for residents is there is no place to park their cars.This is another benefit of living in Center City Allentown.
ReplyDeletemonkey momma said...
ReplyDelete" People need to take responsibility for themselves and get their cars off of a snow emergency route when large amounts of snow are falling."
True, but does the average Allentonian, the one that rents, that double parks without concern to others, the one that lives off the coomunity rather than for the community...does that person take "responsibility"?
VOR
Fact check!
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, yesterday was nowhere near record snowfall.
Driving update,
ReplyDeleteWhite knuckle off any major road in my area of West Allentown.
Scott Armstrong
I seen police on Tilghman St. yesterday warning residents. An entire block of cars were being cleaned off and moved as the officer sat with his lights on. Efforts were made. I seen it on various Facebook page updates, WFMZ website & app as well as the Morning Call website (and I don't live on an emergency route). If you park on an emergency route and are too ignorant to understand when we get a significant accumulation of snow and you don't move your vehicle, then suffer the consequences. At the very least, move your car 'just in case'. Just common sense.
ReplyDeleteI actually find this post more of a witch hunt from you Mike. I really dislike Pawlowski and agree with you on a lot of your subject matter concerning him, but this just looks like you are finding something wrong with everything. Dam him if he does, dam him if he doesn't.
john@12:43, this post was based on ce ce's facebook comment concerning the mass towing. time will reveal how many cars were towed, and how reasonable the notification process was. perhaps certain blocks of tilghman street were given more consideration than others.
ReplyDeleteMM, I just saw on Mike Schlossberg's Facebook feed this: "PLEASE SHARE: A new snow emergency starts tonight at 9 PM. Parking prohibited on snow emergency routes until the emergency officially lifted"
ReplyDeleteAlso, there are are several parking lots available to use for free, according to Pawlowski's Facebook feed: "The Allentown Parking Authority is providing seven free lots:
LOT NAME
LOCATION
Northeast 121-137 N. 7th St
Germania 108-126 S. 7th St
Fountain 923-933 Walnut St
Community 13-37 S. 6th St
Walnut @ 9th Deck Corner of 9th & Walnut Sts.
Spiral Deck 820 – 836 Linden Street
“E” Lot 226 N. 9th St"
Who needs a bullhorn in the digital age?
monkey momma, they still need the bullhorn, for both the dinosaurs and the unconnected, especially with a $250 ding.
ReplyDeleteMy bad on the snowfall totals. I misunderstood what the national weather service posted, which was this:
ReplyDeleteRECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
0435 PM EST MON FEB 03 2014
...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM SNOWFALL SET AT ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA...
9.3 INCHES OF SNOW FELL TODAY AT ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA TODAY. THIS
BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 7.3 SET IN 1961.
I think they meant on the same date, not any day. Oops! Sorry. Well, it still snowed a lot yesterday - more than any other storm this winter.
monkey momma@4:38, another miscommunication is about tilghman street. ce ce lives on walnut and was referring to that street. perhaps chew and tilghman streets were given better notice.
ReplyDeleteI would like to share this, in my former neighborhood I did not park on a emergency route but a side street off of one. 4 years ago during a heavy snow with mass confusion 6 of us one night posted our cell phone numbers on the dashboard to call when plows were there to plow. Allentown parking authority got there just before the plows, called and all 6 of us got lost for twenty minutes and street was plowed curb to curb.We returned to the same spot and parked. Seemed to work well but when I suggested it as a possible plan to the streets dept and to friends at city hall frankly they looked at me like I had two heads.
ReplyDeleteAlso if the Allentown parking authority can be there to give you tickets they can be there to assist in emergencys as well. Just common sense as far as im concerned
ReplyDeleteMM -
ReplyDeleteBeyond the Snow Emergency Routes is the big story.
Roads in large parts of the city have been poorly cleared and untreated.
It wasn't too long ago when Bill Heydt was skewered in the press for failing to have ALLEYS cleared in 24 hours.
Now there's not even a mention of the poor condition of the city roads in the paper. Of course, I'm sure the roads near 6th and Linden are cleared early and often.
Perhaps the city slogan should be "Allentown - The city of reduced expectations"
FYI, the police were going down Tilghman St around 830 pm with lights and sirens (3 of them). They stopped the sirens and then got on the loudspeakers warning residents that the snow emergency was in effect and they needed to remove their vehicles.
ReplyDeleteThis shit Pissed me off..how about those people who worked and didn't get home until 5..my second car was towed..and who the f**k has money to pay $$$...to get their car back...when I'm living check to check trying to make ends meet..his shit is ridiculous...
ReplyDeleteA piece of paper thrown onto the porch sometime between midnight and 7 am was our only notice on Turner St.
ReplyDeleteThis is absurd because the snow had been on the ground for some time. Streets was rude on the phone.
The street was not cleared for 14 hours (good organization.)
Unlike Hamilton St, the snow clearing on Turner was a shoddy job that left a thick layer of ice on the street and did NOT reach up to the curb.
Consequently, residents must park further into the road bed. The road is still very dangerous.
The timing of the street cleaning also seemed to coincide with some event happening at the music hall. Jerk the entire center city driving population for some event.... typical.