Apr 21, 2015

Lehigh Valley's Political Lethargy

Political apathy in the valley crosses most sectors of the community. If it's inter-city low income people preoccupied with day to day food and shelter issues, or the well heeled in the suburbs, few elections provide choice at the ballot. Last fall, I observed that the majority of incumbent state representatives were unchallenged. Despite the Wehr's Dam controversy, come November, South Whitehall residents will have three choices for three slots. Uncontested elections have almost become the norm in the Lehigh Valley. There are a few exceptions. The Allentown School Board race this year is highly contested. The local Syrian Community tends to vote, and vote en masse. Although election returns indicate higher turnout in the more affluent areas, that demographic seldom produces candidates on the local level. There will be no waiting in line at the primary election next month.

3 comments:

  1. Voter turnout has been declining steadily since 1990, and Allentown is hardly the city with the worst figures. In fact- Harrisburg's voter turnout is lower by a percentage point to Allentown's- 29% versus 30%. Lethargy is probably not the reason the turnouts are dragging- it's the loss of voting-age people from the urban areas of Pennsylvania, especially in distressed cities. Come to think of it- EVERY city in this state is distressed, essentially. The only exceptions to the declination in turnout trend are Harrisburg and Erie, which has a stable, older population and multi-generational families. The statistics cited above come from reports generated by think-tank Keystone Crossroads.

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  2. One of the reasons people flee inner cities is a lack of access to basic commodities. You know- like, food.

    http://crossroads.newsworks.org/index.php/keystone-crossroads/item/80876-philadelphia-sees-major-uptick-in-grocery-stores-other-parts-of-pennsylvania-lag

    Shiny new arena, not a grocery store in sight- or ANYwhere.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Comrade Molovinsky,

    I must respectfully protest.

    There is plenty of overpriced food at the transformative Pawlowski Palace of Sport.

    And, when the new ice hockey season starts up again next October, the food will be available again.

    Forward to Progress!

    Sincerely,

    Col. Viktor Tikhonov
    Soviet Red Army (ret)

    ReplyDelete

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