You can enlarge the last Pa. State report above by clicking on the image. As you can see, there wasn't anything about the dam that was very problematic for the state. They concluded that it was "overall in good condition." What happen since, besides politics and greed? The Wildlands Conservancy approached South Whitehall with a plan to demolish the dam, with their usual patter about stream health and happy fish. The commissioners, with no sense of history or esthetics, were ready to give their OK, and then entered Molovinsky. Because of my initial defense of the dam and the writeup in the paper, the Wehr descendants become aware of the threat, and joined the battle. The Wildlands then commissioned a study which approached the dam as if it was Hoover Dam, endangering a community below. In reality, all through the years, the township workers themselves filled in cracks as noted by the state in prior inspections. The Wildlands quarter million $dollar study suggested that they demolish the dam, at no cost to the township, or the township would have to spend $1.5 million to completely rebuild the dam. After the commissioners yielded to public pressure and voted to not allow the dam's destruction, they supposedly were going to get bids from an actual contractor to do necessary repairs.
Now, two years later, and continuing pressure from the Wildlands and their minions within the township, they instead commissioned another study with a pre-set agenda; Make the price high enough so that we can justify calling for a referendum. So now, we hear the new engineer saying things like "To do it correctly", we must replace the middle third. Actually not, as they well know, it doesn't matter how much or how little water goes over or through the dam. It's a thing of history and beauty, not a working mill dam. No where else can the public see water going over a dam and then under a covered bridge, at one place. For this reason and the beauty, the public has been coming to Wehr's Dam for over a hundred years. I may not succeed in saving the dam, but there will be at least one place where the truth will be told.
I feel that the Wildlands Conservancy is a corrupt organization that has colluded with people like Ed Pawlowski. They allowed Pawlowski to cut trees in so called preserved woodland regions of Allentown.
ReplyDeleteCorruption. When I questioned them they had no answer and no solution. You could tell they were afraid to say anything.
How can anyone work with a corrupt organization in the Lehigh Valley? Who is not corrupt?
rich@7:43, yes, the wildlands conservancy certainly has become corrupted. their connections to allentown and south whitehall are disturbing. when corrupted organizations are also sacred cows, it's very detrimental
ReplyDeleteThe Jordon creek does not have migrating fish, the dam is not a problem to any aquatic life, What are the priorities of the Wildlands Conservancy? Is this such an important issue, There must be more to this story.
ReplyDeleteray@8:26, the Wildlands has been on a dam busting agenda for a number of years. they use generalities about dams that are not specific to the site. actually, the jordan is a disappearing creek at the dam, and the dam actually is a plus in that situation, by regulating the water flow somewhat, and resulting in less dry ups and fish kills. the Wildlands is allowed to keep 15% of the demolition costs for administrative fees. they are actively assisted by the Pa.DEP, which also happens because of specific personnel, to have a dam busting agenda. so, neither the DEP or the Wildlands hesitated to spend $259 K on their last study, which even used scuba divers in 6 inches of water. because of the prolonged battle two years ago, you will find many posts on Wehr's dam and the Wildlands in my archives. there is a search engine down on the right sidebar of this blog.
ReplyDeleteCorruption.
ReplyDeleteI don't live in Whitehall, but I have been to the dam when I was growing up. It literally has no function other than to look scenic. It's rustic look is what is desired.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be some big money involved for this issue not to have gone away by now. Who stands to benefit financially from the dam's removal, which is what this is really all about?
From what Mr Molovinski wrote above " Wildlands is allowed to keep 15% of the demolition costs for administrative fees". Is this who is responsible for this issue never going away until they get what they want?
jamie@10:52, dam removal is the favor of the decade with the environmental types. in addition to using generalities which may not apply to a specific site, such as Wehr's in South Whitehall, removing a dam can actually have consequences. Removing the Fish Hatchery Dam three years ago resulted in the largest fish kill ever at the hatchery. when a storm came, the water raced into the hatchery water run, unregulated as normal by the dam. that dam was part of the design of the hatchery and the run feeding it. the city of allentown, and the morning call, covered up the cause and effect of that tragedy. understand that the Wildlands is a local sacred cow. in reality, they're in bed with nestle water, and other special interests that help fund them.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about water that makes government officials, the 'planning' class, and environmental wack-jobs go crazy? Remember when we were all going to dry up unless we flooded the western half of Lehigh County by building Trexler Dam? Well, the dam got shot down and what did we get? Virtually all the growth in the local economy, particularly western Lehigh has been in the water industry: bottled water, juices, beer, etc. Somehow they are producing millions of gallons of water-based products every day without causing us to go bathless. It really is about government and related jobs provided by gobs of government grants.
ReplyDeleteThis is really about government corruption. Plain and simple. Shame on the people who work for these organizations.
ReplyDeleteShame on them for acting as if they are protecting us from someone or something. Who will protect us from these corrupt organizations?
The FBI. Hopefully.
rich@12:57, although i share your gratitude that the FBI is dealing with the recent apparent corruption, both the FBI and corruption have been in Allentown for many years. the FBI had their office at the post office right across the street from city hall for decades. i'm not counting on them to save Wehr's dam.
ReplyDeleteIf the dam goes who's to say the covered bridge one day might be replaced by a concrete bridge over similar economic interest?
ReplyDelete