Pawlowski Forsakes Iconic Park Structures

Despite my efforts for the last six years, the city has given no maintenance to the WPA structures except by necessity of circumstance. I began my campaign to save the WPA structures on this blog in 2010, and conducted public meetings at the Allentown Library. Fortunately, the director of the Friends Of Allentown Parks, Karen El-Chaar, attended a meeting and developed an interest in the mission. I subsequently gave her a private tour of the structures, and she invited me to conduct two public tours of the structures for her organization.

Although, I was told for years that money was in the park budget for renovation of the wall in Lehigh Parkway, no maintenance was ever performed. After a portion of the wall collapsed several years ago, it was only rebuilt because it was actually a retaining wall for the park entrance road.

Karen El-Chaar then secured a grant for the steps at Fountain Park from the Trexler Trust. At that time, I prevailed on the city to have the stone masons do an emergency repair on the steps at Union Terrace.

So, besides a collapse necessitating a repair, and a modest grant from the Trexler Trust,  nothing has been done by this administration to preserve this unique legacy bestowed upon the Allentown Park System.  Next week, I will reprint several posts on the structures with appropriate updates.

photo: El-Chaar and Molovinsky in Lehigh Parkway