Oct 26, 2015

The Business of Cedar Park

As an advocate for the traditional park system, I find commercial companies leasing Cedar Park a complete exploitation of the park.  On Saturday, the park lent itself to the second for profit company this year, The Color Run. (The first was Slide The City) These companies donate a small portion of the proceeds to a local cause, creating the misconception of community benefit, while the traveling shows are actually for their own profit.  Slide The City was really ironic, considering that Cedar Beach Pool was closed because of neglect.  After a long season of one scheduled event after another, one would think that the Rose Garden neighborhood deserved a respite, but not in this administration's commercial mind. I cannot tell you exactly from where the music was being broadcast early Saturday morning, but you could hear it from Cedar Crest Blvd. to 17th Street. These commercial add on events may be fine for a park system with no scheduled recreation, but that's not the case in Allentown, especially Cedar Park.

I don't write much about Pawlowski's trouble with the FBI, that's above my paygrade, but I can tell you I consider him a park criminal. His main crime against the parks is the neglect of the WPA structures, resulting in the collapse of the Lehigh Parkway wall.  Allowing the Wildlands Conservancy to demolish the Robin Hood Dam, to garner a grant, was another crime.  While the park system infrastructure crumbles, Pawlowski brags about people paying to be sprayed with colored powders.

9 comments:

  1. "but not in this administration's commercial mind. I cannot tell you exactly from where the music was being broadcast early Saturday morning, but you could hear it from Cedar Crest Blvd. to 17th Street."

    Once the parks posted rules and regulations including no car repair and no loud music but that's a thing of the past. Lehigh Parkway's parking lots often have cars that open their trunks and place enormous loud speakers that blast sound heard more than a mile away. Who enforces anything?

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  2. Don't even get me started on the effect on the surrounding neighborhoods! We are never informed of upcoming events even though there are numerous road closures. The residents on Ott St were not told that their street would be used for the slide until
    some of them started calling the city to question the rumors that it was coming. Our first indication that something is going to happen is when we see the road barriers stacked up at the intersections a couple of days ahead of the event.

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  3. This "begs the answer" November 4th....DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! and change the City Administration from "Top to Bottom". Oh! and By the Way GET INVOLVED! in making a difference....Two of the Organizations I am involved in are beginning to Valley wide.
    "Stay Tuned" to 2016 for initial results.
    "The Old Allentown Curmudgeon" (Paul J. Fiske)

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  4. While these "special events" bring outsiders into the city they need to be regulated and located better. Cedar Beach Park is over used and the Rose Garden neighborhood is a victim of it. For Profit companies such as the Color Run, Slide the City, Run Lehigh Valley need to pay much higher fees to hold their events when street closures are necessary. The locations of these events should be taken into account so minimally disrupt the neighborhood.

    There is a noise ordinance in the city that states that music, amplified systems are restricted to a 40 ft. radius. While a complaint has to be made for this to be enforced, there are a large number of police officers involved in these "special events that they cahould be enforcing this ordinance without a complaint.

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  5. Not to belittle your point, but, Ott St is not part off the Park system . Is it? Slide the City was on Ott St from Gordon down to Park Blvd, but I don't think The Park was utilized for it. Was it?

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  6. Permits are issued routinely for all day religious events in West Park. This is a moderately high density neighborhood yet loud speakers are allowed to be put on the band shell, the music is so loud surrounding houses shake. This high level of noise can go on all day.

    Scott Armstrong

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  7. Communication with residents impacted by these park events is non-existent.
    There are "no limits".

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  8. @12:43, the park is already over used, and the neighborhood overstressed, without adding additional events.

    @12:42, the park was used to sell tickets and other administrative aspects of Slide The City.

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  9. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd this year. Not November 4th as mentioned above. Please consider me as a write-in for City Council. I will help change the City Administration from "Top to Bottom". Perhaps the FBI will help us all make some big changes in City Hall by sending some people to jail.

    Regarding the color-run...someone (?) spoke during public comment at the most recent Allentown City Council meeting about the hazards of the powder used in these color-run events. The Express-Times ran an article on the powder used. Lehigh Valley color runs' powder different from that in Taiwan fireball

    The City Administration does not communicate with citizens regarding road closures. Public Works closed a street that kept 12 residents from using their cars for more than 24-hours. The "manager" back at City Hall forgot to send out the letter. I guess they forgot to send a letter regarding the Slide-the-City event?

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