Honoring Rosa Parks Commendable

A letter to the editor, as seen in The Morning Call on-line on Thursday, February 6, 2014.

I was moved to tears when I saw the photo of one of the bus seats being dedicated to the memory of Rosa Parks. Rochell Figueroa, a bus driver, is to be commended for her suggestion and the entire Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority board applauded for its decision.

My family is blessed with vehicles and therefore does not rely on public transportation, but I will be taking my children for a ride on a LANta bus to honor Parks and discuss with them her heroism.

Chris Zweifel
Northampton

ROSA PARKS REMEMBERED

ROSA PARKS REMEMBERED

As Black History month begins, the Allentown Chapter of the NAACP,   the Liberty Bell Museum of Allentown and the LANTA Authority Board of Directors have joined forces to honor Rosa Parks in a very special way on the 101^st anniversary of her birth. LANTA has designated a “Rosa Parks seat” on each of the 86 buses in its fleet at a dedication ceremony held earlier today, Tuesday, February 4 at the LANta terminal at 1:00 p.m. Then officers, employees and dignitaries “rode with Rosa” to the Liberty Bell Museum in Allentown for the reception opening the museum’s winter exhibit, “From the Bell to the Bus and Beyond: Rosa Parks.”

On each LANta bus above the seat bearing a plaque, an explanatory placard features Rosa Parks’ picture and a note stating “The seat located below this sign is dedicated to the memory of Rosa Parks. Her refusal to move from a bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 sparked a bus boycott and helped usher in the civil rights movement, changing public transportation and American society. As you sit here, remember her.”

The Liberty Bell Museum exhibit traces the civil rights movement back through time to the civil war, when abolitionists first began to call the iconic bell, the Liberty bell. Moving forward in time, the exhibit shows how, following the abolition of slavery, the development of Jim Crow laws necessitated the modern civil rights movement. Rosa Parks’s story emerges from this background, then raises questions about the issue of racial justice today.

The museum exhibit also features an actual seat from a LANta bus where you can sit and ponder Rosa Parks’ action, then think about contemporary issues. There also is a section about Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the relationship between the Liberty Bell and the Bible.  The exhibit will run through May.

A Few Good Men

LANta would like to recognize two dedicated and longtime employees who are retiring from the Authority.

Denis J. Meyers, LANta Assistant Executive Director:  7.1.1975 –  1.31.2014

Denis J. Meyers, Assistant Executive Director, Development for the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA), Allentown, PA is retiring after 38 ½ years.  Meyers joined the Authority in July, 1975 as Director of Marking. 

Over the years, he advanced in responsibilities and held positions as Director of Special Projects and Director of Development before being appointed Assistant Executive Director in 1990. 

During his tenure, he contributed in a variety of levels within the LANTA organization including: marketing, public relations and advertising, planning, government relations, grants, project development and management, labor negotiations, paratransit contract management, human resources and training.

Meyers graduated in 1970 from DeSales University with a bachelor of arts in English Literature, an area of study that prepared him well for work in the transit industry with its challenges of Shakespearian proportions.

Meyers is married to Michele B. Meyers and they have three grown sons: Joshua, Christopher and Alexander.

 Mike Lopsonzski, LANta Director or Maintenance and Material:  1.1.1979 – 2.28.2014

Mike Lopsonzski, Director of Maintenance and Materials, is retiring from the ranks of LANta after a 35 years career.

After graduating from Penn State University he spent several years employed in the Planning Department of the City of Allentown before he joined LANta in 1979 as an assistant in the Development Department. In this department Mike was assigned to the preparation of grant applications but it became apparent that his real affinity and forte’ was for the “hardware” of the organization: the city transit fleet.

Mike soon was demonstrating not only his abilities to understand the mechanics of the fleet vehicles, but in understanding the mechanics: literally! During a re-organization of staff a new position of Parts and Information Manager was a perfect fit for Mike. 

Mike was named to the senior management as Director of Materials and Maintenance in 1998.

Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce...Community Development Award

        For more than forty years Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANta) has been an engine for community and economic development throughout the greater Lehigh Valley region. As our demographic, business and residential patterns shifted so did LANta’s response in providing bus service. Today LANta serves some five million riders a year. More than 50% of those trips are taken by people going to and from their jobs. Riders and their employers know the important role LANta plays, through its LANtaBus fixed-route division, in the economic vitality of the valley.

        LANta’s leading role in the development of centralized transportation centers is appreciated by riders as well as business and municipal leaders. With the completion later this year of the Easton Intermodal Transportation Center on Third Street, LANta will have major modern transfer centers in all three cities: at Sixth and Linden Streets in Allentown as well as Broad and Guetter Streets in Bethlehem. Lehigh Valley Mall also serves as an important hub for the transit system.

        In addition, LANta provides leadership as we move to a more transit, bicycle and pedestrian-friendly smart growth paradigm. And through its LANtaBus paratransit division, LANta has been a pioneer since the 1970s in providing specialized, door-to-door transportation at a low cost for the elderly and people with disabilities.

       While keeping their eye on its mission to provide safe and reliable transit service LANta has committed to helping the community’s environment with the addition of hybrid-electric buses. Given the millions of miles driven LANta’s slogan on those buses, ‘A Greener Lehigh Valley…One Mile at a Time’, may be a bit modest.

       For decades the people of LANta including bus drivers, maintenance personnel and administrative staff, have been a very important part of LANta’s commitment to the development of our great community. Hundreds have participated in United Way campaigns, blood drives, as well as food, clothing and toy drives for the less fortunate among us. And LANta is always at the ready when local emergencies strike.

      As the Lehigh Valley continues to grow we can be assured that LANta will to play a vital role in our economic development.

Happy Thanksgiving and Hannukah!

Happy Thanksgiving - one of the 7 holidays LANta observes during the calendar year - No bus or van service Thursday, Nov 28th. Regular service resumes Friday, Nov 29th.  This year, Thanksgiving and Hannukah fall in the same time period so Happy Hannukah to all our Jewish friends.  We are thankful for you!  Gobble tov!

LANta does not operate service on Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas
and New Year's Day.  The specific dates are listed on LANta's web page: 

http://www.lantabus.com/holidayservice.html

Armando V. Greco Maintenance Facility

October 22, 2013 was a major day in the forty-year history of Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority. The dedication of its new $14-million state-of-the-art maintenance facility was crowned by its naming for long-time Executive Director Armando V. Greco.

Named LANta's first executive director in 1977 the young Villanova University engineering graduate laid the groundwork for the formation of the Authority from his position at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. Under Greco's leadership LANta has grown significantly both in fleet size as well as ridership. Since 1997 ridership has risen by more than 70 percent.

In remarks at the dedication board chairman Timothy Brady noted Greco's leadership role in many capital improvement programs  "that not only improved the physical assets of the Authority, but replaced the fleet twice during his tenure, all of which ensured the very best travel experience for our riders." 

"Over the decades," Brady added, "Armand has also been leader in the development of major transportation Centers in Allentown and Bethlehem, with the new Easton Intermodal Center scheduled to open in 2014."

The newly minted Armando V. Greco Maintenance Facility replaces a structure built in 1953, with parts dating to 1909.  It is three times larger than the original facility and features in-ground self –contained lifts, more space to work between buses, pressure washing steam room for undercarriage cleaning of buses,  tire room and battery rooms, a nearly full-length skylight for better vision,  above ground storage tanks, and additional modern equipment and utilities.

More than one hundred guests attended the dedication including Greco's wife, Jacqueline, their twin daughters and grandchildren, LANta board members, staff,  bus operators and mechanics and other leading members of the Lehigh Valley community.            

Greco was also cited by Lehigh Valley Congressmen Charlie Dent "for his untiring dedication to the riding public in this great community" and State Senator Pat Browne provided a resolution honoring the LANTA Executive.

In his own remarks, Greco thanked the board for "an honor that is rightly shared by hundreds of LANta employees who over these many years helped make this the quality organization that it is."  Greco stated that he "accepted this honor on behalf of the hundreds of employees over the decades, who were responsible for LANTA's successes."

       

At the conclusion of the dedication a large bronze plaque was unveiled. It will be affixed to an exterior wall where the executive offices meet the new Armando V.  Greco Maintenance Facility.

The New Garage

In mid April, 2012, the LANTA Board of Directors, representatives of the Federal Transit Administration, PennDOT and invited guests and employees, gathered for the groundbreaking for a new garage and maintenance facility at the Allentown headquarters, 1060 Lehigh Street, Allentown.  Here it is 18 months later and the same group has been invited to a ceremonial dedication of the new facility on Tuesday, October 22 at 10:30 a.m.

The Armando V. Greco Maintenance Facility - 2013

The new building was actually occupied two weeks ago as maintenance staff and mechanics moved into the new environment and workspace.  It is working and working well as a state-of-the-art bus maintenance facility.

As with most of LANTA capital improvement projects, this one has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget.

The new garage was necessitated in order to accommodate new vehicle technologies and different kind of buses.  In the past three decades, electronics are more and more essential elements of a city transit vehicle.  You are as likely these days to see a bus mechanic with a laptop as you are with a wrench. Therefore, new diagnostic and electronic calibrating repair tools are necessary: this new facility offers those in abundance. 

Also, within the past 10 years, LANTA has made a commitment to purchase hybrid vehicles - vehicles powered by a combination of diesel and electric energy.  Hybrid buses are more efficient in terms of fuel economy, pollutants are kept at a minimum and systems last much longer with less maintenance. These vehicles are engineered differently than the standard diesel engine bus. Many of the systems on the vehicle must be accessed above not below the vehicle.  So, a garage with high ceilings and catwalks in addition to bus lifts was needed.

The building is of course, more energy efficient; brighter in terms of illumination; and easier to keep clean.  Special materials were employed on floors and walls to make clean up easier and more effective.  It is also a healthier work space with great attention paid to safety and a cleaner air environment.

We will publish more about the building after next Tuesday's Dedication Ceremony but one surprise announcement we cannot wait to reveal: The LANTA Board of Directors earlier this year decided to name the new facility in honor of its long term Executive Director.  The building will be officially dedicated next Tuesday as the Armando V. Greco Maintenance Facility.

Again, we will publish more about this next week, but right now we want to say congratulations to Armand for a most fitting honor.  He was instrumental in the planning effort that led to the creation of LANTA back in 1972 and, since 1977 has guided the Authority to stability and growth that exceeded everyone expectations way back when.  With more than 40 years of public service, Mr. Greco is one local municipal authority executive who truly deserves recognition.