Allentown adventure the first

It is Friday, and the Lisas are walking today.
We go through the requisite prep talk: Where do you want to go and when. I leave the where up to Lisa because one day she thought to herself, hey, I should walk all one thousand miles of Pittsburgh city streets and then she thought, still to herself, hey, why don't I walk all one thousand miles of Pittsburgh city streets in a year? And so she is crossing streets off her city map, and I am coming along sometimes for some of the walks and leaving route decisions up to her. Because she has The Plan.
Pittsburgh is a pretty chill place. I will ride my bike pretty much anywhere I can get it to go (it is a little gunshy of tackling some of the hills, but it does OK for a bike). And I will talk to pretty much anyone. Which means I don't generally feel too nervous about "bad" parts of town. Still, it is a good idea to keep your eyes about you and sometimes the companionship of a friend isn't the worst idea. So I do make a teeny suggestion to Lisa, today, that maybe we do a sketchier neighborhood because, you know, one Lisa is awesome but two Lisas are damn near invincible.
We toss around some ideas, Carrick. Mt. Oliver. And then she sends a note: Allentown is calling me. I don't know much about Allentown, overlooking the Southside, hugging Beltzhoover, tucked between Arlington and Warrington. I have walked the main drag there just once or twice, 10 years ago when I would occasionally walk the 12 miles to work or to a ballgame. I remember the neighborhood sidewalks were the worst, cracked enough to break any mother's back, and with even more rocks than cracks.
And guess what? They haven't fixed or patched one inch of sidewalk in 10 years. There are a lot of families and people have to push their strollers in the street because the sidewalks are so horrible. Some city council member needs to be barraged with phone calls.
Seriously, stop reading this right now and go call City Council President Bruce Kraus, who represents District 3 which covers Allentown, and tell him to get some public works crews over to the hilltop and fix up those sidewalks.
Here's the contact info: Bruce A. Kraus, Councilman, City Council President
Email: bruce.kraus@pittsburghpa.gov
Telephone: 412-255-2130

Kevin J. Kerr, Chief of Staff (For scheduling, legislation, and policy inquiry)
Email: johnkevin.kerr@pittsburghpa.gov
Telephone: 412-255-2130

Neil Manganaro, Community Relations Manager (For concerns, community meetings, and proclamations) 
Email: neil.manganaro@pittsburghpa.gov
Telephone: 412-255-2130

Tomorrow:  OK, we found the coolest spaces in Allentown. But I want to give you some time to recover from your outrage over the condition of the sidewalks. And you needed something to look forward to anyway, didn't you?