In 2012, then county executive Don Cunningham and his public works director went about demolishing and replacing several historic bridges. When they got ready to demolish the Reading Road Bridge, this blogger went on the offensive to defend the bridge.
The bridge was built in 1824 and totally rehabilitated in 1980. At that time a separate walking bridge was built next to it for pedestrian safety. Because the bridge was documented to be in excellent condition, I decided that Don would have to smile and cut his next ribbon somewhere else...I succeeded in convincing the commissioners to save the bridge.
A couple years later residents in South Whitehall would organize to save the historic King George Inn. I would then play a part in saving Wehr's Dam. None of these structures would exist today if advocates for history were afraid to do battle with elected officials. Often these battles even have to be refought against persistent bureaucrats, and other vested interests.
Yesterday on facebook a group member complained about me mixing politics with the history. I only wish that they were as separate and protected as they should be.
photo/molovinsky/Reading Road Bridge, view from north side
Thank You Michael. The Bridge should be forever, but without people like you & your incessant good work at saving it (and other places in Allentown) it may be lost forever. They can't do this to us, to our city. From Ed Brum.
ReplyDeletePolitics is involved in everything and is getting worse.
ReplyDeleteMixing politics with history? I'd say you need to do more.
ReplyDeleteYesterday you had a post about the South Whitehall Commissioner races, which mentioned two development issues and noted that three of the five commissioner seats are up for grabs this cycle. It didn't mention who the candidates were, or even how many candidates were running for those three seats.
I think it does a disservice to historic preservation NOT to inform your readers better on where those running for office stand on the history-related issues that you write about. In addition to being a time to cast votes, elections are a time to educate people (candidates and voters) about issues, and the voters who read this blog about where the candidates stand on the issues.
For instance, it would be great to know if any of the incumbents voted on the Wehr's Dam or King George issues, and how they voted. Did any of the candidates (incumbent or non-incumbent) advocate for a certain position, or were they silent?
While I think it's great that you've been able to play a role in helping to save some structures, it would be better to have people in place that wouldn't let such structures be threatened in the first place. In addition, politicians aren't mind readers. I think they'd appreciate hearing from constituents about what's important to them. Expecting them to suddenly care about a specific preservation issue when it comes up when nobody brings the general topic of historic preservation up at election time is a little unfair to them.
I'm not saying you need to run ads for candidates on your blogs, but informing your readers about where candidates stand on the issues you write about isn't playing politics.
Unknown, the two incumbents are Morgan and Pinsley. Morgan was very much on board with the Wildlands' plan to demolish the dam. Pinsley was not a commissioner at that time. In my informed opinion the commissioners have not fulfilled the spirit of the referendum, and on the contrary are conspiring to have the dam condemned by the state. I will press the new commissioners on the issue after they are seated in January. You're welcome to interview all the candidates now, and report back here by comment.
ReplyDeleteMM -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the background. Although I'm not in South Whitehall, I appreciate your coverage of what's going on there.
Wouldn't there be a third incumbent? I thought the original post said there were three open spots.
Also, is Pinsley also running for County Controller, after running for State Senate last year? If so, it would seem that he's not too interested in the SWT Commissioner job.
Unknown@2:34. Two incumbents were not up for reelection, Pinsley and Morgan. The third incumbent, Matthew Mulqueen, lost in the primary. There were four democrats and 5 republicans in the primary. I also feel that Pinsley devalued the position running for the other offices. Furthermore, I have other issues with him as a commissioner.
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