Spotlight On Allentown

Who would have thought that Allentown would be visited by both presidential candidates within the week before the election. Such is the case as Kamala Harris is scheduled to visit the Little A today. As a small town pizza blogger, presidential politics are not my usual fare. 

To the outside world, Allentown looks like it's booming. How could you possibly explain the NIZ to anybody? Even here few people understand it. Thanks to state senator Jarrett Coleman there will finally be some light cast on that lucrative scheme. I give myself some credit for scrutinizing it on my pizza blog menu since its get-go. 

The Supreme Court has affirmed that provisional ballots in Pennsylvania must be counted. Meanwhile, the district attorney is investigating a batch of fraudulent voter registrations. I suspect that Pennsylvania's final tally will be quite a controversial calculation.

Mayor Tuerk Acted Inappropriately

The head of the policeman's union has criticized Tuerk for moving protesters closer to Trump supporters than the police wanted.

Tuerk was wearing two hats on Tuesday... One as a leading Democrat in the city, the other as mayor of Allentown. Considering that presidential candidates have been visiting the city since the 1800's, that should not have been that difficult of a situation for him, but apparently it was.

I understand that as a Latino he was riled up about the distasteful comments at Madison Square Garden. However, any solidarity with those protesting against Trump should have been more thoughtfully demonstrated. Instead, Tuerk wore it like a banner, on both news and social media. YouTubes of him wanting to open up center square for voters early Tuesday morning, if a political shenanigan or not, demonstrated poor judgement. Certainly there was no way to accommodate both voters and arena attendees at the same time in the same square. 

Allentown may be majority Hispanic and majority Democratic, but everybody living here pays taxes and is supposed to be represented by city hall. There are some traffic adjustments Tuerk could make. He might instruct his police chief to enforce the law against double parkers, especially on Tilghman and Linden Street.

Allentown's Big Night

This blogger has always complained about how underused the arena is, but nobody can level that complaint about this past Tuesday night. Because it was a week before what might be the most polarized election ever, and the Trump camp just insulted Allentown's largest demographic a few nights before, Allentown was in the brightest spotlight since Billy Joel's song.

Trump, needing to make amends to the Puerto Rican community, had a bevy of Hispanic surrogates warming up the crowd, who itself spoke very little Spanish.

Local Republicans, like taxpayer's champion Jarrett Coleman was on hand, along with nationally knowns, such as Marco Rubio. Local Democratic mayor Matt Tuerk appeared with the organized counter effort, which included Martin Sheen. Although a video emerged on social media with him questioning a Trump worker about barricades, it appears as if the city ended up cooperating fully with the Trump rally.

Although the comedian's regrettable line at Madison Square Garden ended up dominating the national coverage of the rally, it didn't appear to diminish the enthusiasm of those attending the event.

A Failing School Administration

At the last Allentown school board meeting, Leslie Franklin, head of the teacher's union, gave a scathing report of conditions in the system.

“We hear the educational jargon being used, promises being made and the glamor being touted, yet for the last few years, we have lost so many of our faculty members in our district buildings due to a disconnect in expectations,”

She went to say that the staff lacks basics, like pencils and toilet paper. Reports indicate that the school superintendent, Carol Birks, was let go from her former district for  similar complaints. However, Miss Birks looks like the school board, even if she less resembles the students themselves. Looking like the district, meaning being a minority was paramount to this board. Ms. Birk's contract was bought out by her previous employer, New Haven School District, although some on that board though she should have been simply fired. Complaints included unnecessary outside consultants, not unlike the diversity analysis she had recently commissioned for the Allentown School District. If all that isn't enough, our school board started her salary off at $250,000 a year plus increases.

Trump Rally, Manna For Allentown Parking Authority

Anybody who has driven up Linden Street at around 5:00PM knows that the decks are emptying out with the poached NIZ workers. So much so that the APD directs traffic free for Reilly.  Tonight at 7:00PM Trump is having a rally at the PPL Center. Those coming for that event won't be from Democratic center city. They will be driving in from the boonies beyond, and the Allentown Parking Authority will be waiting for them.

If all the above isn't commotion enough, our mayor has suggested that people come downtown to protest against Trump. Now I understand that Tuerk has convinced himself that he is Hispanic, and that he found some statements made in Madison Square Garden offensive, but he is the mayor of Allentown. As such, he should know that the Allentown Police will already have their hands full, without their own commander and chief inciting more crowding to control.

I do not have a candidate for the top of the ticket next Tuesday. However, unless this mayor drastically refocuses his priorities this coming year, I know who I won't be voting for in the next local election.

Shooting At The Campus Shop

On Sunday the Morning Call reported that there was a shooting near Birney Crum Stadium, Muhlenberg College Stadium and 24th & Liberty. Those of us more familiar with Allentown know that the Crum Stadium and the Muhlenberg field are not that close to each other, so we're left with 24th & Liberty.  The Campus Shop is actually at 23rd St., and hasn't had that name for decades. But, when it did have that name a shooting in that neighborhood was unheard of. Police chief Roca, as usual, tells us that the incident doesn't present any threat to the public. That implies it was one thug shooting another thug. Then much later we always learn that the victim was the one who was turning his life around. 

In the short term we usually don't hear much more about these weekend shootings.  Everybody moves on except the blogger that the Morning Call once described as dour and misguided... they were referring to me, thank you. We have a city administration that wallows in DEI instead of public safety. We have school system which wallows in DEI instead of education. Hopefully the college isn't mired in that nonsense.

Although it may not mean much to the Morning Call or Roca, a shooting at 24th & Liberty is costly. It costs the peace of mind for the college students and their parents. It's also very mentality expensive for residents of a once safe neighborhood.

I did not straighten out the postcard of Muhlenberg shown above, because unless the college pushes back hard against the forces connected with this shooting, it will go downhill quickly.