I spend quite a bit of time in our park system. Because of this blog, people who recognize me often share their park peeves. Recently, someone complained to me about how many trash containers have been removed from a certain park. I spoke with a park official and was told that the new fad in park management was encouraging people to take out what they bring in. I know that is fashionable in natural areas like our national parks. I'll bet it is fashionable with the Wildlands Conservancy, who has been negatively compromising Allentown Parks, trying to turn them back to au naturel.
Allentown Parks are not state game lands. You cannot install recreation attractions like disc golf and the prison yard exercise equipment at Jordan Park, and expect people to take out what they bring in. Those who make such decisions should visit downtown on a Monday morning, and survey the litter. If anything, our parks should have more trash containers, not less.
Allentown has an iconic park system that can be improved by trying only to duplicate our previous better days. The park system was widely envied, and graced dozens of souvenir postcards.
vintage postcard of Trexler Park
Parks are parks, wild lands are wild lands. Parks are groomed and maintained to present a sculpted view of nature. Wild lands left in the natural state present a beauty of the whole but upon inspection blight, broken limbs, downed trees, vines high brush are apparent and thus unattractive in what is expected to be a park setting. One would thinking those in charge of our parks would understand this.
ReplyDelete"Take out what they bring in" is another scam upon the city park system, brought to you by City Hall.
ReplyDeleteMuch like the "No-Mow" zones, it's an excuse to downgrade the maintenance standards in the parks.
Speaking of downgrades, look at the debris (natural and otherwise) that's allowed to clog the Little Lehigh. Last year, a Porto-Potty took up residence at the island near the Boat Landing. Go to Schreiber's Bridge to see the logs caught in the bridge supports.
If you're looking for problems outside the creek, drive on MLK Boulevard across from Fountain Park. The hillside on either side of the stone staircase is filled with litter, cans and bottles.
Apparently the homeless that have been allowed to set up camp at the top of the hill aren't "taking it out" - they're just throwing it. Neither are other park users.
Lehigh Parkway is heavily used year-round, and you have to have an ample number of accessible trash cans if you want people to help keep the park clean. Instead, City Hall has actually reduced the number of trash receptacles and the ones they've put in are actually more difficult to put trash into (due to small openings at the top).
Disney World will tell you they need a trash can every 15 feet to keep their amusement park clean. I'm not advocating that, but the current 1/4 mile between receptacles clearly isn't working.
And none of this would be so tragic if the City didn't have their own decades-long blueprint for what worked in keeping the parks maintained. Why that successful blueprint continues to be ignored now that Pawlowski's gone is beyond me.
Anybody seeking office in the upcoming election should have a position on what they will do to fix the problem. If they don't have a plan or the parks aren't a priority to them, they should be rejected no matter what other ideas they have.
by the way Mike, if we maintained our properties the way Allentown maintains its parks me might end up cited.
ReplyDelete