Yesterday, Paul Muschick of the The Morning Call speculated on the reason for all the double parking in Allentown. Being politically correct, he overlooked the oblivious answer... We have herds of Rude and Crude living in Allentown. Why has this problem persisted for so long? The Allentown Parking Authority doesn't want to deal with face to face confrontations with the offensive offenders, they prefer placing a parking ticket on an empty car and then running away. The Allentown Police consider the problem beneath their law enforcement pay grade. Muschick mentioned N. 7th Street as ground zero for the problem. Fellow activist Robert Trotner referenced Muschick's column on facebook, and a Hispanic business owner complained about the lack of parking spaces on 7th Street, for the volume of current businesses. He does have a point, but the double parking in Allentown occurs everywhere in center city, even with many empty spaces.
The city should identify parcels close to 7th Street that can be acquired for additional parking. Peter Lewnes has done an excellent job developing 7th Street into a business district, as it was in Allentown's distant past. Being as politically incorrect as I am, I cannot refrain from noting that the same merchants and clientele now on 7th Street, were deemed undesirable when they were previously on Hamilton Street. As I have written before, there was actually more commerce on Hamilton Street with the so called undesirables, than there is now. However, the NIZ wasn't really meant to increase commerce, but rather to increase the real estate portfolio of certain individuals. Another recent article in The Morning Call, on the NIZ, avoided such realities.
above reprinted from June of 2018
ADDENDUM JULY 28, 2022: In Paul Muschick's current column, entitled You Can't Fix Stupid, he laments that the double parking continues, despite a new $million dollar parking lot and signs in Spanish. Although he speculates on numerous possible causes and solutions for the problem, he avoids my insensitive Rude and Crude analysis....Reality can be so awkward!
No excuse for it. It is amazing to see someone double parked on an empty street, or leaving their vehicle at a light to run into the corner store, or 2 vehicles double parked right next to each other blocking the both lanes on a two lane road. Along with seeing people throw litter on the street while passing a trash can, it doesn't make the city welcoming.
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