I'd like to especially invite the South Whitehall Board of Commissioners to my WPA tour tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, it's mostly a tour and history lesson about wonderful structures which previous park directors and officials allowed to be destroyed or filled in, for someone else's agenda. Tomorrow's tour is a repeat of the tour I gave last year, minus one feature. Last summer the Wildlands Conservancy gave the exact speech to Allentown City Council, which was used again on you this past Wednesday. Although the companion dam for the Parkway's WPA bridge was only 14 inches tall, demolishing it reaped the Conservancy a sizable grant, and administrative fees used for their salaries.
The tour starts at the Robin Hood Bridge Parking Lot at 1:00pm, Saturday June 7, and ends up back there, in less than an hour.
photocredit: Wehr Dam by Gregg Obst
MM. There is also plans to use riparian barriers along the Jordan in covered bridge park!! Ala cedar beach park. I have spoken against this at public meetings HELP...
ReplyDelete@8:38, i assume at those public meetings you must state your name, care to add it here? although i'm not a fan of riparian barriers in public parks, they are not an irreversible mistake. tearing down the wehr dam would be.
ReplyDeleteMM
ReplyDeleteI can only hope that the South Whitehall Commissioners are wiser than those in Allentown City Hall. I guess we'll see.
To the comment made about the riparian buffers, I couldn't agree more. They block views of the water, allow invasive plants to grow unchecked, and turn usable (for people) park land into marshes.
A great example of what the riparian/no mow policies have done to the Parkway is just downstream from the Robin Hood Bridge near the large kiln.
The former meadow once used for picnicking, sunbathing, and play is now a mosquito infested bog. Please point that out on your tour on Saturday.
@9:08, as the summer progresses, and the weed wall grows higher, it eventually hides the stream from the park goers, i agree that it's a shame. then in the fall, the park department has no choice but to clear cut it, because of the dominating invasives. it's the consequence of allowing park policy to be dictated by a private interest group, such as wildlands. last year i gave a private tour for allentown city council, and wildlands had the rudeness to come and lobby council members as i was showing council members around the park.
ReplyDeleteMM
ReplyDeleteIt would appear that your experience shows that the Wildlands Group is more of a bully that will vigorously protect their cash flow, and not a group that's interested in what the public might actually want.
I hope that the SWT Commissioners don't fall for the Wildlands offer to host public meetings for those who might be opposed to dam removal. That would seem little more than sham meetings to say the public was consulted.
@12:47, more concerning, was that it was a reply to a commissioner, who wondered how to handle the uninformed public? the commissioner apparently accepted the conservancy's premises at face value, as gospel. although the ironic park is featured on their webpage, they're ready to sign the line after one pitch. the conservancy has become a sacred cow, presenting itself has the epitome of science and good intention. i have some revelations for them.
ReplyDeleteDams? We need more electronic billboards along Jordon Creek and the Little Lehigh.
ReplyDeleteThe dam is as good as gone. Sadly, this board talks historic preservation when its politically adventageous to do so, but not when there is money to be had for their friends at the Wildlands! Follow the money!
ReplyDelete@8:17, you raise two very good points. the commissioners did acknowledge history lately with the king george inn, which is private property; will they be at least as concerned with history that belongs to the public? secondly, the conservancy is both pc and very connected. my background is to document and defend our history and traditions. sal panto stood up to them, telling them, no way, they are touching easton's historic dams.
ReplyDelete@9:08
ReplyDeleteYou are either delusional or a liar.
M.J.Adams