molovinsky on allentown has declared Ray O'Connell Allentown's new mayor today, Friday March 23rd, at 12:30 pm. Although the official announcement will not be made until April 6th, the blog's editorial board has decided to go ahead with our congratulations.
Ray will make an excellent mayor and we look ahead to reporting good things about his administration and positive changes in Allentown. Once again, our congratulations.
ADDENDUM: There was some speculation on social media that this post was satire, it is not! With Roger MacLean apparently not submitting his name, I am convinced that Ray has the necessary votes with no contention. I am sincere in my sentiment that Ray will do a good job, and with my congratulations. While other media may report on the next week's interviews as serious deliberation, I consider the matter closed.
Lol.
ReplyDeleteNOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Sorry.
ReplyDeletechris@7:55, i assume you believe that charlie thiel will prevail. any elaboration is welcome
ReplyDeleteCharlie Thiel will not prevail. I do not believe he has the votes on Council. Neither will Nat Hyman. Some of the people who applied do not meet the basic qualifications of being both a city resident and a registered democrat.
ReplyDeleteout of the frying pan into the fire.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Thiel's stock took a major hit yesterday with news that the ASD has a 24 million dollar budget shortfall. Definite problem there. By the way, another "rising star" Ce-Ce Gerlack is also on the board that facilitated that calamity.
ReplyDeleteIf it is true, and I believe your right, he better shake the pillars of Allentown to rid the Pawlowski stench from government. He has almost two years to prove himself, however, he must embrace major initiatives to make change! He can start with public safety and work down. If he thinks Allentown is working, it will be a long two years with detractors like me hunting him down. He wanted the responsibility, now accept it and correct the problems that beset this once great city.
ReplyDeleteEverybody can see what a waste Charlie Thiel is. As president of the school board, a projected 28 million deficit and no way out, he has shown that he is incapable of managing million dollar budgets and infrastructures. What ever council person supports him, should be shown the door and ousted.
I believe that council will do the safe and amazingly right thing, and grant every single applicant, eligible or not, an interview. I have reason to believe that they will follow the opinion on eligibility put forth by Solicitor McCarthy. But they will not say that publicly. There are council people angry at Ray for the Write in campaign that enabled Ed to keep office, albeit temporarily. The ASD budget revelations are damning, but look at the track record of Council, they slid Glazier to Controller, because it was convenient. O'Connell is gone, replaced by Zucal, and Glazier has been replaced by Robinson. Affa, Robinson, Zucal and Hendricks will NEVER let O'Connell gain from his write in gambit. I doubt Mota, Guridy, and acting Mayor Maclean want to be seen enabling Ray either. Ray blew those bridges sky high. Maclean loves working for the D.A, and he had no ambition to be mayor. The Council can easily explain away picking Thiel, or even Hyman, for their managerial experience. Personally, I will NOT BE SURPRISED if they go outside the box and pick a qualified candidate with no political aspirations to be a caretaker until January 2020. There are a couple of folks on that list of 31 who are Democrats, residents of the city, and more importantly, have large scale management experience.
ReplyDeleteRan into Ray on my way into mass. I give him credit he walked up, shook my hand and asked if he could call me if/when the time comes. I said sure.
ReplyDeletechris @4:53, although i have put myself out there and declared ray mayor, i decline to speculate on council's individual votes other than ray receiving at least the necessary four. however, that said, i will opine on two things you wrote. I believe that hyman will receive no votes, and that hendricks will vote for O'Connell.
ReplyDelete