Yesterday on Facebook, Mayor For Life Pawlowski was bragging about a grant to plan for a new park in Allentown. This park would be around the old incinerator plant off of Basin Street. As a long time advocate for the park system, especially maintaining the WPA structures, nothing represents Pawlowski's disconnect from Allentown values more than this proposal. There is so much wrong with it, it's hard to know where to begin.
Pawlowski spent $1.5 Million Dollars buying part of this parcel and another unnecessary one from a local developer in a questionable deal. The WPA double stairway in Lehigh Parkway is crumbling. One of the landings is starting to cave in from neglect, threatening the steps below. Although the city had to replace and repair part of the wall to reopen the park entrance, the remainder of the wall has received no attention, what so ever. Likewise, other WPA locations, such as Union Terrace, are in dire need of restoration.
It would be nothing less than a disgrace to open another park until the existing park structures are repaired. Likewise, the grant that Pawlowski is bragging about should have been directed to WPA structures, instead of trying to justify one of his back room deals.
Initiatives such as this really need to be put on hold until after the November election.
ReplyDelete