This was supposed to be a Men's Stuff post, about the working cars on the Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Doing research for the
previous post on that company, I became fascinated that they operated a freight operation with the trolley cars. I started acquiring documentation and photographs about the working cars necessary for such an operation. They built power substations throughout the valley that generated electric, then converted the AC to DC for their use. The rolling stock required coal trolleys, wire stringing trolleys, snowplow trolleys, and etc. I will present these black and white photo treasures in future posts, because I got side tracked by a shenanigan; you know me. Lehigh Valley Transit operated out of the Fairview Carbarn, which Lanta still uses off of Lehigh Street. Despite a trolley fleet that covered the entire City, plus the remainder of the Valley (Bethlehem and Easton), all the Men's Stuff working cars, and trolley service to Philadelphia, Lanta now needs Bicentennial BallPark because they acquired five (5) new hybrid buses? Supposedly these five new buses require a special garage. Although the Fairview facility now handles 78 regular buses, the ballfield has to go because of the five new hybrids.
enlarge freight trolley by clicking on image
above reprinted from May of 2010
UPDATE July 4, 2019: Attempting to save the ballpark, I organized a meeting at a center city church. Attending the meeting were two city council members and families involved with Bicentennial Park. Pawlowski and Lanta finally backed off, and the ballpark remains. Some people who attended that meeting became interested in Allentown politics, and attend council meetings to this day. Pawlowski's shenanigans have since caught up with him.
ADDENDUM JUNE 26, 2025: I did this post about the freight trolleys over fifteen years ago. Back in the day, especially when they (Lanta) were accommodating Pawlowski and the upcoming NIZ, I would even attend the Lanta public meetings. My words at the public commentary portion were always met with cold eyes. Lanta has remained a handmaiden for the influential, and serving the public remains secondary.
LANTA's hiring policy is as close to DEI as you can get without publicly screaming it out to the world.
ReplyDeleteI was a LANTA employee 1976-1991. A good employer.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, shenanigans abound elsewhere in the city.
ReplyDeleteJust the other day, while exercising a search warrant for a wanted man in the 200 block of North 8th Street, Allentown had itself a riot.
The man police were searching for had an outstanding warrant for pointing a weapon at someone on June 3rd. According to WFMZ:
“While searching the home, officers say they recovered multiple weapons, including six handguns, two assault-style rifles, a shotgun, a rifle, and a submachine-style firearm, along with magazines and ammunition.
During the incident, several of Fata’s acquaintances allegedly crossed police lines, threatened and assaulted officers, and attempted to interfere with the arrest.
As a result, five additional individuals, including two juveniles, were taken into custody and charged with multiple felonies and other offenses.“
This is Allentown under Matt Tuerk. Imagine yourself living near this property. Does anyone believe this was the first incident there?
This is a block from the arena. This is why people don’t come downtown for events at the arena, and if they do they are quick to arrive and quick to leave. What “progress”!
Maybe instead of coddling criminals with “Welcoming City” legislation and protesting the police, city leaders could try to be tough on crime - and the criminals their policies have brought here.
Meanwhile, in more shenanigans this morning an SUV and motorcycle were involved in a head on crash that resulted in the motorcyclist being thrown over the embankment at the American Parkway Bridge. Apparently traffic was moving too slow for the motorcyclist, who decided to go into the opposing lanes to get by.
ReplyDeleteThose who travel in Allentown see this sort of thing often, along with motorcycles driving between lanes of traffic going the same way, although it never seems to catch the eye of the police or our “leaders” in City Hall, until there’s a fatality.
Not a particularly wise move by the motorcyclist, and the SUV driver should probably be grateful that it was just a single motorcycle that hit her and not one of the roving groups of motorcycles and ATV’s that grace city streets each summer..
Grateful... sure... grateful if she has enough insurance to cover her most likely totaled car because you can bet your bottom dollar the motorcyclist has the bare minimum... been there, done that, had it happen to me four times.
Deleteposter 3:33 and 4:15 must be holed up enjoying their air conditioning and looking for all sorts of things to blame city administration and council...I think the police did a great job containing the situation as did the rescuers of the motorcyclist.
ReplyDelete5:46... 3:33 and 4:15 may as well be "holed up" rather than being out in the jungle, formerly known as Allentown, all America city. We lost the "AAC" and "Queen City" designations eons ago, and that's gone forever.
DeleteYep, the city is living up to it's new moniker... "City Without Limits"... or should it be "Do Whatever Floats Yer Boat" since the powers that be (TPTB) don't give a rat's rump about the constituents, otherwise known as taxpayers, but surely do seem to generally coddle the law breakers!!!... (unless they're REALLY, REALLY BAD) But I digress.... We're headed for the sewer Ala LA, Frisco and other crapholes at our present rate of decent flying flank speed into the ground... like the old commercial said, "This is no way to run an airline!"
ReplyDeleteCity apologist at 5:46:
ReplyDeleteI’m also happy with the outcomes in those cases. However, I believe both situations were likely preventable.
I’d venture that if YOU got out of the air conditioning and WALKED any neighborhood in the city, you could find a few problem properties without even talking to the residents. I am certain that the problems at the 8th Street property didn’t just spring up out of nowhere on that day of the incident. Again, while I’m happy that the police “contained” the incident, the residents in that area were likely dealing with the issues from that property and living in fear for months or even years.
Similarly, while I’m happy that the drivers of the vehicles that were hit by the motorcycle had only minor injuries, it is too common for motorcyclists in the city to drive that way. How many near misses do city residents have to endure before enforcement on that is ramped up? Will it take a child to be hit and killed?
I think both incidents highlight the dangers of elected officials in the city picking and choosing what laws they want to enforce. The easier you make it on those wanting to break the law, the more law-breaking you get.
That’s not rocket science, except to those in City Hall.
You sir, 6:35, are correct. I can drive down a street and pick out the problem houses with little to no problem... our blind/deaf police, not so much! I would like to know why our police act this way... too busy???...too tired???... end of shift???... shiveagitter broke???... OR orders from ABOVE???
Delete6:35 said:
ReplyDelete" I am certain that the problems at the 8th Street property didn’t just spring up out of nowhere on that day of the incident"
He is more than likely to be correct. I have endured similar hell caused by ONE house, sometimes caused by ONE person, in my neighborhood in 40 years. Multiple and numerous notifications to the police go NOWHERE!!! BUT, SHOTS FIRED brings nearly the entire force out. Askin' for a friend... maybe a bit of proactive, rather than reactive, policing may be an answer...???