Sixty years ago downtown Allentown hummed. It was fueled by the vision of people who developed empires, not cookie cutter ideas from the National Magazines for Bureaucrats, like the arena. Shown here is the Transit Office and depot at the side of 8th and Hamilton. General Trexler had been a principle in the Trolley Company, which also built the 8th Street Bridge, to connect Allentown with points south, all the way to Philadelphia. In addition to being the terminal for the Philadelphia bound Liberty Bell, it also fed the merchants of Allentown with thousands of shoppers from its many Allentown routes. The shoppers now sit on the cold steel benches at the Lanta Detention Center on 7th Street, as the non-visionaries prepare to demolish the center of town, to build a monstrosity.
The light and shadows reveal that this is an early morning photo. In a few hours 8th and Hamilton (behind the trolley) would be clogged with shoppers
reprinted from December 2011
ADDENDUM JANUARY 29, 2024:A lot has changed since I wrote this piece over a decade ago, but also very little. Although we have a cookie sheet of new buildings, both commercial and residential, the town remains virtually empty. The arena is vastly underused, seemingly a prop to justify the NIZ scheme. Fortunately for the few principals involved, most criticism of the development is limited to this blog.
Those two buildings shown, on the north and south side of Eighth Street and Hamilton, have both remarkably escaped Reilly's wrecking ball
ReplyDeleteTransit links to Philadelphia and New York is an interesting topic in Allentown today. Right now, the only viable service to Philadelphia is Megabus, which takes 1.50 hours and costs $70 round trip. Service to New York on Transbridge takes 2.5 hours and costs $120 round trip. I'm uncertain of the demand for faster and more frequent transit links to Philadelphia and New York, or what the best options could be, but it seems like an important aspect of livability and quality of life in Allentown.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:59 am said:
ReplyDelete“I'm uncertain of the demand for faster and more frequent transit links to Philadelphia and New York, or what the best options could be, but it seems like an important aspect of livability and quality of life in Allentown.”
Faster and more frequent transit links to NYC or Philadelphia will only positively affect the quality of life in Allentown if it is prevented from happening.
Aside from being excessively costly (to subsidize the ridership), it will only bring more crime and poverty to the city. Allentown isn’t lacking in either of those areas.
The goal should be to move more high-paying jobs INTO the city, not subsidize those working outside of it, and to raise the standard in the city to entice those people into buying homes in the city.
That was supposed to be the purpose of the NIZ, but apparently those pushing the mass transit boondoggles are ready to admit that the NIZ plan isn't working
Off topic, but the city needs to eliminate the bike lane inside of Trexler Park. I was there over the weekend and it was packed with people, kids and dogs.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, there were a few bikers in the park who thought they were at the Velodrome. I watched as one of the bikers nearly hit a child (who was in the bike lane). Said biker then proceeded to yell at the small child, who had no clue what he was upset about.
While I realize that the kid was in the bike lane, there needs to be a bit of common sense shown from the bikers and more so, City Hall.
The paved trail in Trexler Park is relatively narrow when considering it’s supposed to accommodate bike, pedestrian and pet traffic. While I understand what lanes are what, I think it’s a given that small kids and dogs don’t see the difference. In addition you have numerous senior citizens using the park, and also people playing interactive games on their phones, and they might not be as aware of their surroundings as they should be.
Park rules keep everyone from venturing off the paved roadway, so to allow bicyclists to ride at any more than a slow coast is asking for trouble. The speed differential is dangerous. I’d like to think that those on bikes wishing to go faster than a slow coast would go somewhere else on days when the park is being heavily used, but obviously that’s not the case.
It wasn’t too long ago that a bicyclist killed a pedestrian in Trexler Park. I hope that the city realizes that the current situation is dangerous and needs to change.
anon@5:13: I couldn't agree more. The situation is even more dangerous at Cedar Park(Rose Garden), where the path is narrower.
DeleteThe path in Trexler Park is plenty wide. Again, there is no enforcement by the Allentown Police reminding people the bike lane is a bike lane 3 days a week. Of course, their response to such a request would be they have better things to do than respond to quality of life concerns of the middle class in the West End.
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