Allentown Parks Victimized

Among the victims of Pawlowski's long corrupt tenure was the Allentown Parks system.  His managing director, Fran Dougherty, hired three park directors in a row with the same background...recreation.  All three of them looked to outside advise in regard to managing the parks' lands.  The Wildlands Conservancy took advantage of this opportunity to dictate Allentown policy and expand their presence in the Lehigh Valley.

They recommended Riparian Buffers along the creeks. Because the storm sewer system is piped directly into the creeks, these buffers are only token, and serve no purpose as true buffers.  However, that reality was of no concern to the Wildlands Conservancy.  They were even given a taxpayer funded grant to plant buffers along the creek in Trout Creek Park. As a consequence of this misguided policy, city residents have lost a unique feature of the iconic parks,  view and access to the creeks.  Ironically, every fall the buffers must be cut down anyway, to prevent invasive species from taking hold.  Also, because of the Wildlands Conservancy policy, we lost the small WPA Robin Hood Dam, and Harry Trexler's Fish Hatchery Dam.

Although Pawlowski is in prison, and we have a new park director,  the system is still under their influence. Along the way, with Allentown's former help, the Wildlands Conservancy became a local sacred cow.  The son of a Wildland's director became park director in South Whitehall, and they dominated that system, even creating that township's park masterplan.  Because they had control of both Allentown and South Whitehall, they are now officially in charge of the $multi $million$dollar Jordan Greenway, which encompasses both municipalities.

Criticism of the Wildlands, a self serving sacred cow, is limited to this blog.  The Morning Call, itself owned by the outside Tribune Corporation, with a succession of outside imported publishers, could care less about such things.

ADDENDUM: It should be noted that the so called environmentalists at the Wildlands Conservancy have never said one word about the raw sewage that spills over into the Little Lehigh Creek.  These hypocrites don't want to antagonize any municipality from which they get grants.  They are allowed to keep 15% of the grants for administrative costs, in other words, their salaries.

photocredit:molovinsky/former Robin Hood Dam