Just a few years ago, I was often the only one there. Now, after witnessing the invasion myself, I suggest that with only one entrance into the park under the old train trestle, they could close the park until the invaders find another destination. At the least, they could take advantage of the restricted entrance and limit the park to Allentown residents.
This is an administration which removed the flood gates at the picnic grove behind Cedar Beach swimming pool, so that nobody ever feel unwelcome. The parks and taxpayers are paying the price for Tuerk's absurd attitudes about inclusion. We never used to need three police cars for Canal Park.
It seems like the city administration is busy promoting one of the lesser-used gems of the Allentown park system.
ReplyDeleteAs out-of-staters find it a comfortable and welcoming place, the city Administration should also charge a fair, modest fee for using the facilities and covering the cost for maintaining it and also for public safety while using it.
Allentown is quickly becoming “Newark on the Lehigh.” You voted for this folks. Now, enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTourism is up and it’s all negative Nancy stuff. I don’t get it. Maybe some of these people will take a look around and see what Allentown has to offer (hello lower taxes!) and decide to relocate. Why should LMT get all the benefits of growth anyway?
DeleteAll the New Jersey and New York migrants from the 1980s and such have turned Allentown into the city it is today
DeleteYour not thinking dumpy enough. Kensington on the Lehigh,
DeleteAs Mayor Matt gets national attention so do his parks. It’s a positive thing that good people from out of state are once again coming to Allentown for inclusion, recreation, and wellness.
ReplyDeleteThe parks are there for everyone to enjoy.
Be happy for us.
It's nice to know that the Mayor's Office reads this blog daily even if the Manager of Central Information [how did Allentown ever get by without this position before the current Administration???] now has to post anonymously. It's amusing to tax payers that they view the Keck Park "Invasion" as a positive for Allentown, kind of the way Bethlehem views their own "Invasion" of affluent tourists and shoppers to the downtown as positive.
Delete5:46 - It’s a question of what Allentown wants to attract. Do we want to attract more affluent residents who obey are laws and don’t require a police presence? Or do we want people that bring more noise, litter, and drug/alcohol use?
DeleteDo we want to aspire to be something greater than we are, or just lower our standards and quality of life until EVERYONE left in the city is below the poverty line?
Please answer that question, or better yet walk over to the Mayor’s office and ask him to go on the record with a statement about it.
Consider the condition of the ASD. No one with children and modestly significant resources is moving into Allentown.
DeleteFull stop!
It wasn’t too many years ago that the NIZ PR was pumping out the fiction that a tidal wave of young urban professional pioneers were eager to establish themselves in center city.
That it was ridiculous on face value was ignored and now it is ancient history that is simply and conveniently forgotten.
@8:34 You are not going to attract professional, well off people with the ASD being the way it is. Allen High School changes principles about as often as ..... well you name the example of something you do frequently. Normal, well off people don't want to send their kids to the ASD. Or live in Allentown. That's why most of the peple I knew from Allen who still live in the area moved out to the towships a long time ago.
DeleteI have a reunion of sorts this month I will be coming up to Allentown for, and I have not seen what the parks look like. I do know about the weed walls which look horrid, and the western end of the parkway looked like it was poorly maintained last time I was up. Bogart's Bridge looked like it is ready to collapse and the grass is not cut. Then I can look across the creek and see the Police Academy grass looking immaculate with no trash and also, interestingly enough no wall of weeds.
I wonder how the Police Academy can get away with cutting the weeds along the creek, but if anyone else tries to cut them they'll probably get thrown in jail.
Some lawa are optional for the police I imagine. I'll find out how things are when i'm up visiting I suppose.
Did Mayor Turek also put out enough cans so all the Jerseyites can properly throw out their trash ?
ReplyDeleteNo just look at the river banks at Fountain, Canal, Trout creek and the Parkway. Filth. Disgusting
DeleteThese people don’t appear to be homeless, so yeah, that’s a pretty good thing. At least there’s no charter buses yet. I can’t see any license plate but you say that they are Garden State tags. Perhaps they are just new arrivals and haven’t braved the PADMV yet.
ReplyDeleteHere’s an opportunity for souvenirs and refreshments like at the conclusion of Lights in the Parkway, an internationally acclaimed event. Let’s make some lemonade out of this people.
ReplyDeleteYes, this was a perfect opportunity for ICE cream men!
DeleteAgain, what Matt excuses/welcomes/celebrates as cultural isn't cultural at all, it is simply adolescent male behavior of rudeness, brashness, recklessness, and excess. My Latino neighbors hate the chaos of the speedway streets, high decibel car stereos, in your face bicycle gangs, screamed profanity,... Why wouldn't they? Clearly word of this has gotten out and the bad boys are taking advantage, doing what they do with no fear of consequences. One merely needs to drive to Bethlehem, a city with a similar ethnic makeup to find civility. That move is looking better to us here every day.
ReplyDeleteDon't these people from New Jersey have their own parks they can use?
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey won’t tolerate the same behavior, or will at least charge a fee to cover the costs associated with such activities.
DeleteThe fools at City Hall don’t want to call ANY type of behavior unacceptable, and want Allentown RESIDENTS to pay for it.
I understand that people are disturbed and angry but it’s ridiculous to suggest that the people at Canal Park are dropping off the homeless. The sad reality is that the homeless smell very badly at this time of the year. This folly is reminiscent of the myth that Mayor Joe was importing undesirables and doesn’t add anything positive to the dialogue.
DeleteiCE BABY ICE
ReplyDeleteThey are likely being paid to drop off the homeless from NJ at the Jordan Creek encampment, and then stopping to party at Canal Park before heading back.
ReplyDeleteAnd Allentown residents are paying the tab while they’re here. Thanks Mayor Tuerk!
The parks are once again disgusting. Hundreds of out of state people come everyday to drink, smoke, litter and pollute the rivers. Doesn't anyone realize you will eventually drink that water?? Tuerk is the worst mayor Allentown has ever had and just wants re-election. Wait until this weekend, the parks will be absolutely disgusting. Yet Police Chief Roca, doesnt enforce anything as well. Its time for real leadership, to clean this dump of a city up.
ReplyDeleteThe people see the weeds along the creeks and how trashy they look from the lack of caring so they have no issues in adding to the amout of trash and acting badly.
DeleteNo one cares, so they don't either. They aren't from here so they don't care.
This past weekend was large event at fountain park behind pool , complete with river swimming and Tarzan rope!! 60 people filled the river and banks complete with food and music that could be heard in Emmaus. This city is getting worse !!!
ReplyDeleteHow about raising the New Jersey flag? Just a thought.
DeleteThere have been large weekend gatherings across and just upstream from the Police Academy for years with absolutely NO sanitation facilities. The used diapers alone could fill the better part of a 55 gallon drum.
DeleteAPD enforcement along the Little Lehigh is nonexistent.
The overall decline of the park system is criminal.
12:06 - Isn’t that ironic?
DeleteNo enforcement in the area of the Police Academy, which should be one of the most covered zones of the city just because there are police constantly in and out of there.
It’s almost like they’re being told to ignore such problems.
And certainly the Mayor, who is always flaunting what an avid runner and cyclist he is would see this more than anybody.
Again, it’s almost like such problems are being deliberately ignored.
Lower Naz. and Bushkill Twp. have experienced this type of invasion, of course there is probably no one at City Hall who has the institutional memory or the intelligence to know this.
ReplyDeleteInvaders? What a small minded post and comments this is. Full of the attitude that breeds resentment and discord. I guess when all of you visit the Jersey shore, you would be regarded as invaders.
ReplyDeletetroll@6:04: The Jersey shore is. designed for and encourages visitors, they have a tourist industry. Last time I checked, Allentown Parks, especially Canal, were not designed or intended for such.
DeleteAnonymous 6:04 pm said: “I guess when all of you visit the Jersey shore, you would be regarded as invaders.”
Delete6:04 - As fate would have it, I happened to visit the Jersey shore over the weekend.
When I parked my car, I paid $2 an hour to park on the street. Daily and half-day options could be found at public lots in the $20-$30 range. In addition, to walk on the beach, I had to buy a $10/ day beach tag and wear it conspicuously. I’m sure there were numerous other hidden taxes and fees I paid when paying for my hotel room and items that I purchased.
While I don’t like spending money and being taxed, I understood that it paid for the lifeguards on duty, the people who drove the machines that raked the sand overnight, the numerous trash receptacles that were emptied EACH MORNING, the police that patrolled the town and made sure that their laws were being enforced, the roads I drove on, etc. I’m sure a portion of those fees also goes towards making improvements for the future.
The result, thousands of people flocking into that town, having a good time and obeying the regulations that were in place. Then spending even more money at private establishments to eat and shop while there.
Contrast that with Allentown City Hall, which allows non residents to overtake our parks without any fees. These “guests” pay nothing and ignore park and city rules, leaving behind their litter for others to clean up. In the instance mentioned in this post, police cars patrol Canal Park trying to keep the peace for those using it.
But unlike at the beach where visitors contribute to paying for the costs of what they get, it’s the taxpaying Allentown resident that already paid to build the park, pays annually to maintain the park, pays the police that monitor the crowd that takes over the park, will pay for the people who clean up the litter in the park and will pay to repair the damage to the park. All while being crowded out of the very parks that they built and continue to fund.
That seems VERY unfair to me, and I question the competence of the city’s elected officials who don’t seem to see that as a problem.
What an outstanding reply to the Manager of Central Information's post. I was impressed by the response at South Whitehall to their parks being invaded by the New Jersey hordes, who showed up ignored park regulations, damaged park equipment and dumped litter. South Whitehall immediately updated park rules and regulations and ramped up police presence to prevent any and all of the above so that tax paying residents could continue enjoyment of their parks. The suburban municipalities beat Allentown every single time at delivery of quality services.
Delete