Pawlowski's Poor Excuse

Someone once told me the difference between Parkland and Allen is that the Parkland kids can buy better drugs from nicer dealers. There's probably a lot of truth to that statement, and I think truth goes a long way in problem solving. I didn't take much consolation in Mayor Pawlowski's statement that he spent his first two years reviving Allentown financially, and now will focus on crime; those words are almost enough to make me go out and buy a bullet proof vest. All the solutions offered, such as the Route222 anti-gang task force, surveillance camera system, yearlong study of police force, Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and the anonymous tip line, ignore the politically incorrect reality that there is a correlation between poverty and crime. Although the administration wants to make Hamilton Street appear more affluent, by relocating the bus riders to sabotage the existing merchants, elsewhere Allentown remains a publicly financed poverty magnet. The mayor of Hazleton, although offering no solutions to the national dilemma of immigration, sought to avoid its consequences in his community. Allentown can ill afford to lead the nation in a solution to poverty, drug abuse and crime.