Since the controversial local branch NAACP letter on that topic, their leadership has changed. Lisa Conover is now president, replacing Walter Felton.* Conover is also on the school board.
City Councilman Ed Zucal co-sponsored a resolution asking for an investigation of the allegations concerning city hall. Some might phrase this as an investigation of the Tuerk administration. How culpable Tuerk is remains debatable. While some might blame an ingrained institutional mentality in the building, others feel that Tuerk hasn't been proactive enough about the problem.
Several minority activists had reached out to me with their concern about Tuerk, so I stopped in at last night's council meeting to gauge the climate. In Tuerk's quest for inclusion, he has brought whites, browns and blacks together to criticize him. As you can tell from the photo, at least one rather animatedly.
By meeting's end, after heartfelt pleas, council voted unanimously to fund an outside investigation into the allegations.
* Felton does not consider the changeup legitimate. He states that he was excluded from a zoom meeting when the voting occurred.
It’s fair to say the mayor invited these accusations by making his only initiative diversity & inclusion. There really isn’t any other topic in town for people to focus their energy on.
ReplyDeleteI had thought you weren't going because the rear row rougheins no longer exist? We all can tell from the picture of tureks socks and sneakers stance he's about to take off exitside left.
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard the good ship Allentown government Sh*t show maties ! It has been a joke for at least two decades, full of clowns, stooges, self promotors, and puppet masters. But now suddenly it has become a comedy. Turn this farce into a Netflix's series. A naïve, geeky, woke, white liberal mayor is falsely accused of racism, in a majority, minority mid size northeast city. Those making the charge are themselves deeply flawed characters merely seeking advantage for themselves and perhaps to settle scores. Throw in the peanut gallery that is city council for addition comedic material. That's a real cast of characters and a rich vein to mine for additional pompous buffoonery. Yes, it's laugh or cry time in the former Queen City. I'm too old to cry anymore so I'm enjoying the show.
ReplyDeleteAh, if only Lou Hershman were still around to tell us what he would have done about this situation when he was on city council :-)
ReplyDeleteGive Lou his due, he was honest, served without ambition for higher office, and ran a transparent controller's office. This said, he was a real character.
DeleteThe garbage, weeds and all the zombies on 7th are of no concern to this administrations gateway to riellyville. Just a few more customers lost to this farce that is claimed to be a thriving metropolis.
ReplyDeleteTwo things:
ReplyDelete1). The race-baiting industry is obviously alive and well in Allentown. Apparently Mr Felton has too much integrity for some in the local NAACP, but the race-baiters are firmly in control there now also.
2). City Council is being lead by buffoons who don’t understand what they’re doing. They were unable to differentiate the legitimate governing issue they had (the mayor possibly going around council to pay legal settlements) from the false accusations about racism in city hall.
What they did last night is fund an investigation (at taxpayer expense) that will surely be used against them (and the taxpayers they supposedly represent) in the class action lawsuit threatened by the former personnel chief.
With all that in mind, it’s important to remember that Council wants a pay raise too! I’d urge every Allentown resident to vote ‘No’ on that referendum during what is now Election Season.
The new leadership of NAACP ought to be asking how 1 rich, straight, white male was able score the NIZ monopoly? Maybe females and black and brown and people should have been given a chance to participate. And of course Ce Ce would want to know if homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, transphobia and all the other phobias in the world caused JB Reilly to get all the NIZ money. Or maybe the Ku Klux Klan is behind the whole scheme as poor Phoebe Harris just had childhood visions of them in her face again! Maybe Pat Browne is associated with them...perhaps he's the great rich, evil, straight, white male causing all the problems?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Armstrong, I think Allentown City Council meetings would make a great reality TV show, just sit back and enjoy!
Dems eating Dems. Priceless!
ReplyDelete