Allentown crews continued working Tuesday to clean up after severe tree damage in the city’s West Park during weekend storms, and planning for long-term improvements to the urban green space.
According to the West Park Civic Association, two mature oaks on the park’s southwest corner were “total losses,” with the larger of the pair uprooted entirely. Several others lost much of their crowns, including a white pine, Japanese pagoda, Norway maple and black locust. The park’s bandshell, fountain and other structures remain intact.
Most of the trees had stood since the park opened in 1908, and “reckoning with their loss emotionally will take time,” the association wrote in a social media post.
The storm ravaged the surrounding neighborhood on Allentown’s West End; one tree fell onto an occupied car at North 22nd and West Chew streets.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk told The Morning Call on Tuesday morning that city crews have now cleared branches and debris from all of the park’s paths, meaning people can walk through it safely.
Efforts to clean debris from the park will continue throughout the week, Tuerk said, but “recovery” plans to rebuild the park following the damage will take longer.
Tuerk said he is hoping to have residents’ input and feedback on the park’s future.
Following suggestions on social media, Tuerk said he has asked city crews to preserve as much of the wood from the fallen oaks as possible, in the hopes of finding a “creative use” for it that pays tribute to the park’s history.
“There is an opportunity now to plan for West Park’s second act, and to put some real thought into planning, developing a planting plan, a landscaping plan that will set West Park up for its next 100-plus years,” Tuerk said. “We have to get through clean up first and start that planning effort, and we need residents to be involved with that.”
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Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.