Yesterday, joining Pawlowski and Allentown City Council,
bureaucrats and elected officials from all over Pennsylvania erected some playground equipment in Jordan Park. The event was planned over several years, and involved three Allentown Park Directors; The former, the acting and the new. Pawlowski boasted that it gave him an opportunity to showcase Allentown. If he was more accountable and introspective, he would have taken them to Lehigh Parkway, and showed them the legacy lost for future generations. He would have showed them how Allentown mistakenly allowed it's beautiful WPA heritage to literally crumble, while it concentrated on fads and public relations. Yesterday, proved that anybody can assemble a piece of playground equipment from a catalog in less than a day. I wonder if Pawlowski and the other officials, wearing their matching feel good tee-shirts, could have built one of our irreplaceable stone structures. I never expected an elected official to have that skill, but I do expect them to make sure the icons of this city are maintained.
photo by Emily Paine/The Morning Call
It could get worse as they run Lights in the Park
ReplyDeleteWay through the park on some park trails never
designed to accommodate automobiles.
I fear additional misuse.
It took me a while to realize this wasn't a joke.
ReplyDeleteYou really couldn't make this stuff up.
Really.
Thank you for writing about the Parkway. An issue of concern for park regulars is the treatment and condition of the former Good Shepherd Barn now housing city workers. For years the Watershed staff treated this barn with care and respect.
ReplyDeleteWith the city's new "group" that doesn't seem the case. Someone opened a second floor exterior door to allow an interior wall to face all the weather's elements--even snow and heavy rainstorms. This door has been nailed open for two years now. Recently someone cut into the second story's wall to install an air conditioner. Why? Aren't these workers suppose to be outside all day?
Please have someone from outside city hall challenge the condition of this barn before it too faces the wall's fate.
ReplyDelete"Yesterday, joining Pawlowski and Allentown City Council, bureaucrats and elected officials from all over Pennsylvania erected"
You don't mean the mayor wore old clothes and actually built this?
@7:02, what i do know is that one reason the former director, mikowychok, was let go was that he dropped the ball on the grant for this nonsense day. the acting director, vicky kistler, spent much energy on regaining the grant, and organizing the activity. it occurred on the new director's watch. city council was very involved. shame on all of them, for putting so much time and energy into a photo opportunity, while the parks crumble away.
ReplyDeletePlease excuse that I'm asking a question, but I wonder if we could get clarification on a previous comment so I can check things out for myself.
ReplyDeleteWhich is the Good Shepherd barn?
Is it the one near the Road Runners house, the one near the covered bridge, or the one near the Firefighters Home?
Mr. Molovinsky,
ReplyDeleteShame to all of them is right!
Think how much more poignant this photo could have been if the mayor and his three park directors stood in the Parkway working on the stone wall.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI think after all this time and dedication by yourself, and the small group around you sounding the "The Clarion Call to Arms" (especially concerning this deplorable issue)
Your "trumpets" have finally hit the right Tone! I wish my physical health was better, so I could of continued to be an ongoing active member of the W.P.A. Group. But you still have best wishes, and my vocal support. I echo your call everywhere I can.
Keep "trudging" onward!! and Blessings upon you All!
"The Old Allentown Curmudgeon" (PJF)
At least a police chase and fleeing armed felon didn't interrupt the festivities this time!
ReplyDeleteAsses.
What is the City's plan for the parks and its structures? Where is it published?
ReplyDeleteWhat money is available for park structure maintenance? Why is the budget so "complicated"? Where is the line on the budget for this? Who is responsible for letting it get this bad?
Dougherty already pointed fingers. So sad.
Who is responsible for letting it get this bad?
ReplyDeleteSadly, it's us (collectively). We've ignored what's been going on around us and voted the same people into office, time after time. We stopped holding those in office accountable for their failures. We've settled for less.
This is an election year. The deterioration of our parks should be THE issue in the fall.
I know many of the races are barely contested, but EVERY candidate for any city office should have to answer the questions about how they will fix the WPA structures, how they will restore the views of our waterways, and how they will reopen our pools.
Make them all work for your vote, and don't vote for anybody who doesn't answer the questions satisfactorily. Work hard for the candidates that "get it".
Go to City Council meetings, meeting after meeting, and ask the same questions of those in office. Write Letters to the Editor. Start a petition. Call the Trexler Trust.
Wehr's Dam is a good example of what the work of one person (or at least a few people) can do to fix things. That's the only way things start to change.
Molovinsky can't carry the ball alone forever. We need to step up and do more to help him.
At least the speeding through the park has ceased.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a solid answer for Rich Fegley. But, it seems the City ain't say'in just yet. The thought occurs to me, perhaps the Parks & Maintenance budget has been 'tapped' over the past few years as a slush fund. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteThere's no question, Pawlowski has never really been held up to close inspection. We also know the City has been facing unanticipated expenses because of the NIZ. Not to mention taxes from that same zone have now been re-directed for other purposes. At least, that's my impression. Few people seem to really know how that entire scheme works. Lot's of room there to 'fudge' things, I think.
Fred Windish
When they have money for ice skating rinks they have money for maintenance. I don't see anybody lining up to take a pat on the back photo op or award serimony in front of the wall. The Allentown City Council should be ashamed for lack of inaction. They are a smug bunch for a better word
ReplyDeleteThe residents keep voting in the idiots making these decisions.
ReplyDelete