The current national park philosophy, adopted by Allentown, is Carry In/Carry Out. In our environmentally woke time, the belief is that people will take their trash with them, after they guzzled their sports drink. Allentown accordingly removed most of the trash containers from the parks, instead installing larger capacity containers, which only have to be emptied once a week. While previously one man and a pickup truck removed the bags, now a dump truck, two men and crane are used to extract the 8ft. long bags from a pit below the containers.
It all sounds wonderful, until you drive through downtown Allentown any Monday morning...It looks like there was a parade every weekend. The litter in Allentown is astounding...Many throw their trash down even if there is a container within several feet. Parents throw down their trash in front of their children.
Rather than less trash containers in our parks, we should have installed more. There is nothing Allentown can learn from national park bureaucrats. Our traditional park system was second to none.
above reprinted from August of 2021
ADDENDUM JUNE 7, 2022: Early on Monday mornings, a park employee fills large containers gathering all the trash tossed down on both sides of Cedar Park over the weekend. Although the department did add some containers back since the above post was written last year, littering is a reality in the new Allentown. As the department adds new events and recreational features to our parks, this problem will only increase.
ADDENDUM JULY 26, 2023: Mayor Tuerk, in keeping with both your inclusionary and bi-lingual policies, please don't be bashful about Do Not Litter signs in both English and Spanish, No Bote Basura.
ADDENDUM JULY 23, 2024:Mandy Tolino, the park director, is beginning to see the light, or should I say the litter. She announced that the parks will have more trash containers and that seasonal No Litter signs would be installed in both English and Spanish. Add even a few more containers for good measure, and leave those signs up all year.
Actually citing people for littering is also necessary. Many people will choose to to obey laws if they know they aren't enforced. This we witnesses daily in Allentown. Keep in mind, most people respect parking regulations because they know the Parking Authority will enforce them. The same cannot be said in regard our laws and regulations unrelated to parking. The police have been instructed not to enforce them, and/or not to write citations for violations. The police now spend their time answering calls and giving lectures to lawbreakers. These people often simply carry on and continue to ignore the laws soon as the police leave. This is exactly what Mayor Teurk believes is the right course of action. This is one of many reasons he must go.
ReplyDeleteI tried for years to get trash receptacles installed at the Union Terrace amphitheater, after it was clear that there wasn’t a whole lot of “carrying out” going on. I didn’t feel like I was asking for a lot - just one at the top along St. Elmo Street and one in the parking lot near the Reading Road Bridge (where one had always been for the fishermen but was removed several years ago for some reason). That still probably wasn’t enough cans for the size of that part of the park but at least it was something. But I got nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe sad part was that (when walking my dog) I used to bring trash tongs and small plastic grocery bags to the park to clean up after those who left their trash behind, but it simply became too much to carry out. So the city’s decision not to provide trash cans not only made it more likely that litter would be left behind, but also more likely that it wouldn’t be cleaned up by someone else.
A few notes on trash cans, if the city is serious about installing more containers:
ReplyDeleteFirst, they should be open top containers, so that the trash can easily be thrown into the cans.
Nobody - particularly after the covid era - wants to have to touch a handle or push a flap to throw their trash away.
Also, when I called about trash containers in the past, I was told that part of the reason there weren’t more was because the models they were purchasing cost $1,600 per unit! And that was probably 2-3 years ago.
There’s a lot to be said for the simplicity and cost savings of having the inexpensive barrels used as trash cans. Until someone in city government can find a better model that’s also affordable, the barrels still do the job.
Cultural Incompatibility is a tough issue for Allentown. Just look at South Whitehall Township, they are now experiencing Cultural Incompatibility in their parks and are taking swift actions to ban creek swimming, grass parking, loud music, littering etc... Parkland residents have suddenly found that they can keep certain people out of their neighborhoods and schools, but not their parks. Allentown probably doesn't have the guts to mount a similar no tolerance approach because the optics will make some elected officials feel bad.
ReplyDeleteParkland doesn't keep certain people out of their neighborhoods and schools. Both entities, like everywhere else, are more diverse than they had been. Allentown is catering to diversity, such as the monthly evening Bomba concerts in Cedar Park. That is an overuse of the park, imposition of the adjoining neighborhood, and politically motivated.
DeleteThe people of Allentown are different and less caring today about our public spaces than they were in previous generations
ReplyDeleteI too have observed and attempted to report on the spot, as it was happening. Took photos of vehicles and license plates at the Lehigh county game preserve. I placed phone calls, offices were closed, it was Sunday. Sent emails with photos. There were no patrols through the park either. The location of the gathering of out of state residents was not near any designated picnic area
ReplyDeleteThere were at least 20 people in swimming suits. They carried coolers, canopies, grills, boom boxes for music. There was no system or personnel to stop them. The group chose a location by the creek shielded by brush and growth. The license plates were from NJ. It's unfortunate that these situations will require monitoring.
Why don’t they just start taking away things to get the community to clean up. Board up the playgrounds, take away the hoops, etc till people start respecting their parks.
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny. It seems that ALL cultural groups enjoy USING well-maintained parks, but some groups seem to be given a pass as far as doing ANYTHING as far as MAINTAINING the parks.
ReplyDeleteThat’s wrong, and (as MM noted in a comment), it’s political motivated.
Worse than that though, it’s a racially (or culturally) biased policy that treats certain groups as being incapable of doing the absolute MINIMUM as far as taking care of themselves and their surroundings.
I believe some have called such thinking as the “soft bigotry of low expectations”, and it’s a disgusting way to think of other groups, much less govern a city by.
Great civilizations have been built throughout history by many different cultures. What made them great is that they were held - and held themselves - to a higher standard. All groups are capable of maintaining high standards, particularly if our leaders expect the best from everyone and enforce things when the standards are not met.
Picking up your own trash and keeping noise to a level that doesn’t bother others are not particularly difficult tasks. If our leaders cannot ask people to do the minimum, how can we ever aspire to something greater?
We can’t.
In Allentown the accusation(s) of racist/racism have become weaponized.
DeleteIt's called respect, proper parenting, people today not all but way to many don't teach there kids to respect there community. They will do what they see you do.
ReplyDeleteNo need to improve conditions...re-election is assured.
ReplyDeleteSo people aren't responsible enough as to find a way to take their trash with them when they leave we have to coddle slobs who are either just too damn lazy or to inconsiderate to clean u up after themselves. Tired of this shit
ReplyDeleteI would encourage the Board of Directors of the General Harry Trexler Trust to hold back /pause their generous funding to the Allentown Park systems until the problem has been effectively rectified and solved. The trashing of our beautiful part system is certainly not in keeping with General Trexler's vision and legacy. The City is NOT being compliant with the intended use of these funds (the continued improvement and beautification of our parks) and totally disrespecting the intended purpose of the Board's funding and the legacy of General Trexler.
ReplyDelete