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On April 26, a new, freshly uniformed cleaning crew hit the streets of downtown Allentown.
Armed with brooms and a city-loaned street sweeper, the crew's mission has already earned compliments from downtown merchants such as Kris O'Hara and Catherine R. Elwell.
"I'm very happy to see we have a cleaning crew on Hamilton Street, said O'Hara, owner of AlphaGraphics Printshops of the Future, 801 Hamilton St.
In operation for 14 years at the comer of Eighth and Hamilton streets, O'Hara said she had noticed how dirty the streets had become. "Ever since ADIDA was disbanded, things were looking very bad," O'Hara said.
ADIDA, the former Allentown Downtown Improvement District Authority, was a fixture in the central business district for nearly three decades. Its existence became an issue during the 2001 mayoral campaign. In 2002, the administration of newly elected Allentown Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach disbanded the nonprofit agency.
Funded through state, county and city allocations, individual donations, grants, and a central district property owner special assessment, ADIDA helped to market the city, according to Christina Fenstermacher, former ADIDA executive director.
"We would recruit new businesses, encourage visitor and tourism traffic and maintain the downtown corridor sidewalks and streets," Fenstermacher said during a recent interview. "ADIDA was also responsible for holiday celebrations, open air farmers markets, a free concert series, and more. Many times, we personally would help to market the downtown to prospective businesses, too."
After ADIDA was disbanded, some of its functions were transferred to various city departments. When asked about the issue of clean streets at a recent press conference, Afflerbach indicated that he thought downtown street and sidewalk cleaning had fallen by the wayside.
Those sentiments were recently echoed by a guest panel of urban redevelopment experts who in March spent five days touring the city.
On March 26, representatives of the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, presented their findings during a public meeting at city hall. One of their top recommendations was to cleanup the downtown.
"Criminals perceive a dirty downtown as a community that does not care," the panel said. "Clean your streets and visitors will come."
Catherine R. Elwell is one downtown merchant who wants to...