Deep Freeze: Summer - Video Post

In the midst of an arctic blast, the following video is to serve as a reminder of warmer times. Check it out.

The Warpath

Now that the mulch has settled, and the Eagle Scout and the SEIU (the union for city employees) have made public amends, I figured it would be worthwhile to talk a walk down the path that briefly made national news.

At the far end of the parking lot at Kimmet's Lock, without a sign or mention is the beginning of the trail. The trail travels a short distance while providing excellent views of the mostly empty Lehigh Canal that runs along its entire length.

The trail is a wonderful addition to the park and once it connects with the D+L trail that ends just past Hanover Township's Canal Park a few feet away, it will really be an amazing and long lasting addition to our park system.

I want to thank the Scout for his hard work and I really hope that what has happened with this situation can lead to a new understanding between the SEIU and the city of Allentown and more of these projects can happen throughout our city.

Allentown, The SEIU, and Fox News

Last week The Morning Call ran a story concerning local SEIU president Nick Balzano and his apparent interest in an Eagle Scout project done at Kimmet’s Lock. Mr. Balzano was allegedly troubled by this project. It would seem to him that it may be the kind of project that Union workers could have done and bee paid to do. I would imagine that Mr. Balzano thought this volunteer effort violated terms of the Union contract with the city of Allentown.

The story made the rounds across the local mostly conservative blogosphere. It’s a polarizing story that adds a little local heat to a long running conflict between conservatives and unions. The difference here is that Mr. Balzano and his issue with this volunteer project is uniquely rooted in a particular problem with layoffs, volunteer projects and the city of Allentown.

Given that the SEIU has suffered the greatest amount of layoffs here in Allentown, I understand why such a volunteer project would be troubling to Mr. Balzano had it been sponsored or encouraged by the City of Allentown. It was not however and the story should have ended there. It has not. As a matter of fact, this morning I found the story on foxnews.com which is disturbing because god only knows what those hucksters will use this story to legitimize or spin.

The bottom line here is that there is an issue in Allentown that is unfortunately, difficult to solve. There should be an active volunteer park stewardship in this city. Any city that isn’t Allentown, that would have the amount of park land we do, would have such a stewardship. I guarantee it. People want to be a part of things like this and I know first hand how difficult it is to attempt volunteer work in our parks because of the fear of violating the Union contract.

This story never should have made it to faux news. There really isn’t a story here to begin with which is why I hesitated before writing about it. The SEIU is not going to go after this kid. In truth, we do not even know in what context Mr. Balzano made his now infamous comments. Bottom line, this is a non issue and the actual issue here is the need for the City to work with the Union to figure out a compromise that will allow greater volunteer efforts in our parks. It is a glaring issue in my opinion and one that needs to be addressed.

For the record, these volunteer projects should exist, not because the City shouldn’t pay people to do the work. They should exist because as I have documented just two weeks ago, these kinds of projects reinforce and help build community ties and identity. These projects allow a deeper connection to develop between citizens and their parks. They allow people to quite literally become part of a park or playground.

I wish Mr. Balzano luck. It would seem only a matter of time before this story reaches the nonsensical hands of jester Glenn Beck or one of the other ideologues parading around on that channel.

In the meantime, I hope a compromise can exist soon to end future conflicts over volunteer activities. Until then, things are pretty much going to continue like this:


Warning, opinion below.

Glenn Beck is a moron, for the record.

Don't miss today's other post:
Indian Summer

UPDATE

The aformentioned moron, Glenn Beck, has already commented about this on his crazy time hour TV show. No surprise but his coverage was misinformed and inane.

Adventure at Kimmet's Lock

I must confess something here before I talk about Kimmet’s lock and my subsequent adventure. In my Canal Park log, I erroneously stated that Canal Park was the only Allentown Park on the Lehigh River. Bucky Boyle (which will be documented later in the week) and Kimmet’s lock are both on the river.

Kimmet’s lock is primarily a boat launch access point on the river.

The water here is of questionable quality.


Past the ruins, a trail leads to train tracks which stretch next to the river all the way to Canal Park and points beyond.


I decided to take a seat by the side of the water, and take the chance to actually relax. The water here is beautiful and on as hot a July day as this one, the breeze was refreshing.

Looking up from my rocky seat I could see the old railroad trestle looming.

Figuring it had to be fenced off, I decided to walk back to the parking lot and head home. As it turned out, the fence was not much of a fence at all and the old bridge was easily accessed. "Well then, probably should go out on it".

There is an old rail car still left up there.

Being familiar with the much smaller and lower trestle in the Parkway, I knew what I would be putting myself through if I went out there. I couldn’t resist though, the opportunity seemed too great not to go and with the thoughts of my paralyzing stroll on the wall at Fountain Park dancing in my head, I headed out on the bridge.

The first few feet were a cinch. I was riding high, chest out, back straight with the gait of John Wayne that is until I looked down (Mental dialogue: Way to go Andrew, now you're going to break through these old wooden beams and drown. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.) and instantly began quaking and nearly peeing my pants. I kept walking though for whatever reason and as long as I looked straight ahead, I was golden. The views of the river here are incredible.


Reaching the other side, I was truly feeling pumped. It was a beautiful day (despite the heat) and I had done it. No sitting down and being scared silly. No sissy stuff. I was all man up there and I even looked down a few times and it was totally fine. Then, I met a shirtless fellow. He was a nice guy. He jumped off the bridge; which seemed a perfectly normal thing, if you know people who frequently jump from bridges. There is, it turns out a bit of tradition here of jumping. There is even a rope swing.


After seeing the shirtless fellow leap I realized just how slow I was walking across the wooden planks. I also began to notice how many of them were in no way structurally stable. At this point, my Fountain Park experience seemed to be returning. But, by this time, I had reached the other side. See, I was looking down the whole way across. Stupid I know but it felt like the right thing to do, because apparently as this shows, I happen to be actually stupid.

It was beautiful up there though...

(For the record: Do not attempt this. It is unsafe and probably trespassing.)