Then and Now: Seriously, WTF?

And if it wasn't for Tim Tielman's fast action in filing a lawsuit against the City, Granite Works would have been demolished. Months later Mayor Masiello stood in front of the cameras taking credit for saving the buildings!

in addition to being dead looking buildings, Smart Pill is a bad neighbor. They do a poor job of clearing the sidewalks that border their property on both Main and Washington St, and almost never do it before 9am as required in the city charter. They decided that the corner of Main and Virginia was the best place for a parking lot, yet most of their employees have some kind of arrangement that allows them to park on the street all day without having to pay the meters. Go figure. I realize that this is not technically Allentown but it seems to me that the Allentown Association should voice more opposition to bad development surrounding the preservation district (ie- the horrible apartment building proposed for Maryland and West).

Here's an article about saving buildings in Mount Morris, New York. 'Like so many small upstate rust-belt towns, it was not prepared for the final quarter of the 20th century. Its manufacturing jobs evaporated.'

One man started buying properties and helped turn around the fortunes of his town by renovating the old buildings. 'He restored the historic storefronts and interiors, cleaning the tin ceilings. He renovated the apartments on the second floors, bringing in fresh paint, oak and maple floors, new windows, nice bathrooms.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20KEYSmallTown-t.html

I don't remember those buildings. Seeing the before and after pictures is very upsetting. The density at that corner would have been awesome along with Ray Flynn's.

dead-looking is an apt description.

in 99% of cases, tearing down an old but vacant building has gotten us something worse in its place: surface parking, whether legal or otherwise; a litter-filled weedy or muddy lot; a dry-vit corporate pharmacy or something comparable that lasts maybe a decade before being abandoned; a new-build like this that diminishes rather than enhances the neighborhood.

nimbyism is wrong when it is a response to new people ("i don't want those senior citizens, immigrants, or disabled people in my neighborhood!") but, sadly, it is usually right when it comes to demolition and new builds.

i lay the problem at your feet, steel. the architectural profession has spent too many decades in thrall to an ideology of violation, namely, that buildings must be startling, jarring, disorienting, and alienating in order to be considered good and that history is worthless.

it is pretty juvenile how much your profession still relishes shocking the bourgeoisie.

Nope-we never get those back, and now we live with a dead block. It would be nice to see some additional retro structures like this built along Main to continue the commercial thoroughfare.

As Riverside Men's Shop,the stretch of buildings on Michigan, etc. come up for demo, just remember the lost opportunity on this block.

After World War 2, many German cities rebuilt replicas of the buildings they lost. If only that idea could be applied the the US.

example - city of Freiburg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau

Tim Tielman tried his best to save these buildings. Masiello won out - he wanted to have "shovel ready" sites for high tech development.

Masiello had help with this too. He was abetted by people that labeled Tielman an "obstructionist", someone that wants to stop progress.

And now folks, you see what that mindset gets us.

Lawsuits are, unfortunately, the only way to get the city's attention. But it isn't easy finding lawyers to work pro bono filing Article 78s against the City. I could think of at least a half dozen lawsuits against the City, on just Elmwood Avenue, in the last few years that could have been filed. The City simply refuses to enforce its laws.