Allentown Hosts Home Buyers Supermarket Tomorrow

FREE Home Buyers Supermarket April 25th, 2009 9AM to 4PM The Palace - 623 Hanover Ave. Allentown FREE Admission Everything you need to know about buying a home in one room! Whether you're a first time home buyer or looking to make a move to a new neighborhood you will find many valuable resources at Allentown's Home Buyer's Supermarket.

Supporting Local Radio Supports Allentown's Urban Forest

from the WDIY web site:

WDIY and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
invite you, our listeners, to plant a tree and become a part of Pennsylvania’s TreeVitalize program!

In response to alarming tree loss in our cities and towns, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
created the TreeVitalize program in 2004 to help restore tree cover across the commonwealth. The public-private
partnership teaches people about tree planting as a way to become environmentally active, and helps local governments
revitalize their communities by restoring trees.

Now you will have the chance to help the TreeVitalize program in the Lehigh Valley.

This fall, WDIY, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Allentown Parks and Recreation will be planting trees at Cedar Creek Parkway, Allentown. Throughout our current fundraising drive, your donation will contribute trees for the planting area.

With a frequency membership donation of $88.10 to WDIY, we will plant one seedling and the PA Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources will match one seedling to be planted at the Cedar Creek Parkway site.

The trees will be planted along to the waterway to help with runoff, improve the quality of the water, and make the park
even more beautiful for future generations.

Trees provide so many benefits. In addition to beauty, shade and wildlife habitat, they improve air and water quality in our communities by absorbing the pollution that can affect our health. Tree-lined streets and parks also reduce stress and fatigue
for people.

TreeVitalize plans to plant one million trees across Pennsylvania by 2012. We need your help here in the Lehigh Valley.
Donate today to make our communities and state a better place to live, work and play!

Green Ribbon Committee Meeting Friday April 17 at 2pm

Please join Allentown's Green Ribbon Committee, a special group being assembled by the City of Allentown to address both the urgent needs and the historic opportunities being faced by our community at this time.

This group has a single goal:

Create a well-defined strategy for a green community and a sustainable economy for Allentown.

To do this effectively, we hope to draw on your experience as it relates to community/economic development and the environment. We will benefit greatly from your participation and expertise.

Allentown, relative to the rest of the Lehigh Valley, has the greatest concentration of people in need of family-sustaining wages and the greatest number of properties in need of retrofit or remediation. This places us squarely as a leader with respect to the new economy, and we must proceed wisely.

Every day we hear more about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Stimulus Package”). The City will be receiving allocations of funds from the Act. Additionally, competitive grants will be available for collaborative projects. Being prepared with a clear, focused plan will allow for the maximum impact of the available funds on the community.

A facilitator will help us establish a plan of action within two meetings, after which the committee will disband. Membership on this committee will require your attendance at both of its meetings, which are presently scheduled for Friday , April 17th and Friday May 1st. Both sessions will be held from2:0 0 to 5:00 p.m. at the Lehigh County Government Center, Public Hearing Room, 17 South Seventh Street, Allentown PA 18101.

Here are some suggested areas to be addressed, but you may have others. Please bring them with you.

1. EDUCATION AND TRAINING – Providing low-income people with training for, and access to,
green jobs and careers.

2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND GREEN ENERGY – Residential housing and commercial,
industrial, institutional, governmental buildings.

3. INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION

4. WATER, PARKS, AND REMEDIATION/REUSE OF BROWNFIELDS

Help Needed in Trail Planning Effort

The City of Allentown's Department of Parks and Recreation needs your assistance with their Trail Network Feasibility Study. You can learn more about the project by checking out the site that Greenways, Inc. set up. In short, this project could lead to the creation of a trail network linking Allentown to the rest of the Lehigh Valley and beyond. Greenways wants to assess demand through a variety of means, one of which is a survey. Please pass this survey to your biking, walking, park-loving friends. The link is posted in its entirety below, for easy copying and pasting:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hBDATTw3S6k86UfEHV5fzA_3d_3d

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