Allentown's War of the Roses

A local newspaper is at its best when it tells us what is going on in our own community. Blogs, I've often argued, complement that coverage. We might focus on aspects discounted by the MSM, or go into much more detail. True, most of us lack the objectivity of trained journalists, but because of our interactive nature, we are often an early indication of a hot button issue. Here in Blogistan, people, and not some detached newspaper editor or publisher or even the bloggers, set the agenda.

Who would have guessed that renovations to an aging Allentown park would set off such a raging firestorm? Not me. I don't live there. I would have predicted Peanutville's major budget deficit or its near daily gunfire might bother people more than the Cedar Creek Parkway project, which includes a playground and changes to Allentown's famous rose garden. Perhaps because that's all Allentown really has left, people are very upset.

Recent Morning Call coverage provides a glimpse into the growing grass roots opposition, but makes no attempt at editorializing the competing claims. Here are links to some of the most recent stories: Residents critical of Cedar Creek changes (Pawlowski and Parks Director MIA); Allentown council set to discuss Cedar Creek Park plans (citizens complain plan too ambitious); Mayor Pawlowski agrees to delay building playground at Cedar Creek Park (until August 20, according to City Council Prez Mike D'Amore, because Mayor still MIA); Handicap-accessible park is long overdue (and Parks Director Greg Weitzell is wunderbar); and Corrections & Clarifications (Cedar Creek Parkway calls for 290 new parking spots, but much of that will be accomplished by realigning existing parking).

This is where blogs come to the rescue, supplementing the MSM with more factual background and lots of perspective.

Blogger Michael Molovinsky would have to be the leader in the editorial perspective category. He once chided me for "bitch slapping" erstwhile congressional candidate Sam Bennett, but has had no difficulty taking pot shots at everyone else - from Council members Michael Donovan and Tony Phillips to Mayor Edwin Pawlowski - over planned Cedar Beach changes. Twelve of his last thirteen posts lament an "assault" on our "quality of life." "When a Mayor from Chicago, and a Recreation Director from Philadelphia, wish to remake Allentown's historic, iconic Park System, public notification must be more than a rendering taped on a wall." Molovinsky pointedly notes the absence of both Mayor and Parks Director Weitzel from most public discussion. He accuses Tony Phillips of being asleep at the switch when park changes breezed through one of his committees a year ago. Council Prez Mike D'Amore and VP Michael Donovan are supposedly participants in a conspiracy to prevent public comment at Allentown City Council's most recent meeting, even though nearly thirty citizens were allowed to speak. Molovinsky has even started calling himself the "Shadow Mayor." Obviously, he has a point of view. Unfortunately, much of what he has written is accurate.

Nor is Molovinsky some lone voice in the wilderness, howling at the moon. As Pam Varkony makes clear, "the neighborhood is mobilized and organized. Many of them were in the crowd at Wednesday nights City Council meeting. They are concerned about traffic, parking, noise, litter, and crime."

In response to Molovinsky and this growing public criticism from grassroots groups like "Save the Parks Alletnown," Pawlowski has done what he always does when one of his "visions" is challenged. He attacks his critics. His wife has launched a Facebook page in which park opposition, particularly to a "great, big, playground," is marginalized as a small group of about 20 men. Her Facebook group is infested by political nonresidents like anonymous robocaller Rob Hopkins and commissioner wannabe Hillary Kwiatek. Opponents are snarked as "the doom and gloom crowd." "[U]nfortunately, there is no easy way to deal with people like Mr. M."

In addition, Pawlowski has posted an undated letter on the city web page, complaining about the "misinformation" that has arisen. What Pawlowski fails to acknowledge, and what was abundantly clear at Wednesday night's council meeting, is that most of this comes from the city itself. The city distributed plans it had to know were inaccurate. Parks Director Weitzell refused to make a copy of his most recent plan available on Wednesday to two female opponents who were meeting with him at the Mayor's urging. Weitzell has refused to attend public meetings and actually walked out on Wednesday night. As a result of the administration's outright refusal to be transparent, council member Michael Donovan has been forced to post the city's most recent drawings on his own blog.

Last Wednesday, city council unanimously requested the Mayor to stop his Cedar Creek Parkway renovations until the public could be better informed about his actual intentions. Before the meeting had ever started, Pawlowski assured Council Prez Mike D'Amore that nothing would be happening until August 20th. Yet on Friday, LVCI reports that construction was still going on in the Rose Garden. It appears that Pawlowski not only has ignored the sentiments of city council, but has failed to keep his own word.

What do we know so far?

1) Plans being proudly distributed by the city at Mayfair and at its web page are inaccurate and have been changed.

2) The city refused to supply a copy of its most recent plan to two West End residents.

3) Parks Director Greg Weitzel has refused to participate in public meetings, even walking out of one of them.

4) Whether for 200 or 567 kids, the city plans to build a 19,000 sq. ft. playground somewhere in Cedar Creek Parkway. By Pawlowski's own admission, the city has made no provision to address increased trash, noise and other issues at the park, to say nothing of supervision.

5) Most of the confusion surrounding the parkway appears to be the city's own doing, and it is questionable whether Pawlowski has stopped construction as promised.

5) No new parking will be added to Cedar Creek Parkway in the initial phase. In other words, there will be new parking later, which adds an impervious surface and contributes to flooding in a flood-prone area.