Two police officers have filed a lawsuit against the department and city alleging misconduct. While the suit itself didn't attract my attention, one of the plaintiffs is officer David Howells III. Not only is David the third Howells, both his father and grandfather were on the force.
This is turning out to be a lucrative year for municipal lawyering. There are now at least two lawsuits against the city alleging the dirty D, discrimination, among other charges.
I've been informed on good source that involvement with prostitutes is nothing new to Allentown administrations. The allegation involves a former mayor.
On the note of police and lawyers, I have a confession to make. I justify showing off my photograph above because it shows Chief Roca, a defendant in the police case, trying among others to restrain an enthusiastic citizen at council's courtesy of the floor. Mayor Tuerk can be seen in far right side trying to ignore the commotion. Also shown, among others, are school board member Ms. Phoebe Harris and Jessica Lee Ortiz from the non-profit sector.
click on photo to enlarge
The mayor looks like Bozo the Clown wearing those socks and sneakers. Doesn't the man know how to dress for the job ? He's the mayor of Allentown, not working for Barnum and Bailey.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the city is run like a circus, given his various policies and now lawsuits against the city. Is this the type of leadership Allentown really wants?
Shoes and socks aside, check out this morning's scoop on the 20 million the mayor and his administration bagged for the city. I won't be surprised if the blog's readership will be lacking in their congratulations.
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ReplyDeleteI struggled with the sentences about a prostitute. I'm not comfortable with salacious topics. I rewrote it both specifically and vaguely. It was only included because of the source. Anonymous comments are not a good source. Don't expect anonymous allegations against a particular mayor or police chief to be printed.
Delete“Don't expect anonymous allegations against a particular mayor or police chief to be printed.”
DeleteAnon 6:57 here (NOT Anon 6:43).
I think this is why you need an independent investigation of the matter. If there are allegations against “a particular mayor or police chief”, the public deserves to know and those who the allegations are being made against deserve an opportunity to clear their names.
Otherwise, the innuendo spreads and the cloud remains over the police force. I have no doubt that the majority of Allentown Police officers are professionals and do things by the book. They shouldn’t have their reputations tarnished by a few bad apples.
Even more important than that, the public deserves to know if the current chief and mayor are involved in covering anything up (either from a past chief or mayor, or through actions that took place during their tenures).
RGR
“I've been informed on good source that involvement with prostitutes is nothing new to Allentown administrations. The allegation involves a former mayor.”
ReplyDeleteI have no inside information, but the fact that Howells is a plaintiff adds some credibility to the allegations. I believe he is the grandson of a former Chief and the son of a current District Judge.
Even prior to knowing who was involved, I found it very interesting that there was little interest in opening an independent investigation into these allegations by the CURRENT mayor. That’s usually a given in order to maintain the public’s faith in the Police Department.
The lack of such an investigation makes me think that the mayor is trying to hide something.
I found all the reported media stories confusing and vaguely written. Circumstances dating back to 2010 and 2016 were layered with a sentence or two of dissatisfaction with how a complaint was resolved. A thread of mention of FBI and a popup comment from the current "quasi unapproved investigator" and former agent. All the makings of a diversion from the genuine concern of are police services those of integrity? There will always be a bad actor or two, an opportunist or three, but do rumblings constitute an institutionalized pattern?
ReplyDeleteanon@7:40: I agree with you. I fault Afflerbach for the contract back in 2005 with its retirement clause which emptied the police department of most experience. I was also critical of from "out of town" chief hires. Currently, I would like to see Roca crack down on quality of life issues, but have not subscripted to allegations of corruption. However, as an Allentown blog, I should provide a dialogue on issues as they arise.
DeleteI find the body language of the young mayor very interesting. He is assuming the classic position of flight held in check by a heroic effort of survival motivated restraint, think of a rabbit, motionless, but for an almost imperceptibly
ReplyDeletequiver, hovering in that Zen moment in the instant before flight, gaze straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, Terrified of some unknowable. The critical element of the posture is the hands, a position that speaks to both an attempt at self soothing mixed with tremendous anxiety and tension. My past experience exposed me to some training in the interpretation of body language. It would be intriguing to have this remarkable photograph analyzed by an experienced professional.
This photo shows an incredible ensemble of Allentown personalities. It is a snapshot of a remarkable moment in time.
Hat tip to the photographer. Great capture. Thank you for sharing this photo with your audience.
It’s worth noting that David Howells Sr. was the APD Chief of Police and the decorated and widely respected Dave Howells Jr.,aka Davy, was interviewed for that same position, including by the now incarcerated Mayor Ed Pawlowski, on several occasions.
ReplyDeleteThe current administration is full of actors from the criminal Pawlowski era. This isn’t salacious innuendo but a simple statement of fact. More than a few of these individuals carried out directives and actions specifically issued by Pawlowski, some legal and ethical, others not. One of these individuals was recently given a promotion to a Department level position of considerable importance. Let me be clear, I am not questioning this individual’s competence but the faint wiff of ethical impropriety lingers in the air. Some, like Pawlowski’s City Solicitor, cling to the notion of total ignorance of any wrongdoing. Susan Wild was rewarded for her cluelessness by a significant promotion. How precisely Wild was plucked from clueless obscurity to a position in the People’s House is a story waiting to be told.
ReplyDeleteThe lead FBI Special Agent made some pointed comments about the depth of the municipal rot and corruption that remained unaddressed as he was leaving town.
I think the point of above is very valid. This mayor is dealing with a lot of the Palowski era mindset and they are mostly all corrupt. Look at his cabinet and you can see that they are major contributors to making this Mayor fail because they are leftover from the corruption era. I am not saying that mayor Tuerk doesn’t have his own issues, but these that are coming to light in the last year or cannot solely be a result of him and his administration. The culture in City Hall needs to change and people need to start getting removed who are disloyal to achieving the necessary culture.
DeleteWasn’t Davy Sr. also City Council President? Wasn’t he also a candidate for mayor and for a very brief period the Chief of Security for Mack Truck?
ReplyDeleteAs institutional memory disappears the details of history become all the more important.
Congressman Wild, not unlike Kamala Harris, was anointed to her position in some sort or other than precluded anything resembling a democratic process.
ReplyDeleteIn Wild’s case the combination of clueless and compliance with just the right amount of deference to authority continues to serve her well in her current position.
mja
Hopefully Ms Wild will be retired from her position later this year, just as Mayor Turek hopefully will be next year as well. However the number of people who tend to support them seems to grow every year as Allentown sinks more and more into the abyss.
Delete8:28 - I can’t tell if you think it’s a good thing that Allentown is getting the $20 million, but you are correct that I won’t be offering MY congratulations.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that after being the largest recipient of municipal welfare in state history (with the one-of-a-kind NIZ), that the city wouldn’t need even more from the FEDERAL government. But apparently they do.
In addition, I have a feeling that this money will be quickly doled out to various non-profit groups, with little to no measurable benchmarks and thus little to no accountability.
I also suspect this money will be used less to solve the stated goal of addressing unemployment in the city, and more to do with helping the short term unemployment issue of keeping those questionably-needed nonprofits afloat.
So while this $20 million might help a few select nonprofit groups (that apparently can’t survive by making their cases for funding to the general public) it will be of little benefit to the taxpayers of the city.
At the end of the day, taxpayers will still have a $6 million budget hole, and a mayor who wants to hike taxes to close it (instead of cutting spending).
When a competent administration comes along and is able to balance the city’s books (which include record revenues) without adding a tax hike, then my congratulations will be forthcoming.
I have no difficulty writing what I know to be true, Bina Patel, recently appointed Finance Director for the City of Allentown, had no ethical compunction in carrying out tasks issued by the subsequently disgraced criminal former Mayor Pawlowski that were at the very best easily interpreted as ethically questionable.
ReplyDeletemja
mja is Michael Adams, who was removed from the Parkway's Log & Stone house for not kissing the ring
DeleteUnfortunately with all things Allentown the worse things become, the more financial rewards it receives. Not a good thing!
ReplyDelete5:27 - I would point out that the person who has the ability to hire/fire and set the culture is the Mayor. The fact that we are now in the third year of his term and there hasn’t been a wholesale firing of the problem Pawlowski holdovers or a reset in the culture makes me believe that Tuerk is either truly clueless or was backed by the powers-that-be to maintain the status quo. Either way, I think it’s clear that he’s not up to the task of cleaning up city hall.
ReplyDeleteI would also argue that the same people who backed the current mayor also backed Ray O’Connell before him to similarly maintain the status quo. Any chance at real reform was missed by Allentown when O’Connell played third candidate spoiler to Nat Hyman’s run for mayor, which kept the criminal mayor Ed Pawlowski in office prior to his conviction.
Given the headlines that continue to come from Allentown City Hall, I think it’s clear that there is still the need for reform there.
Hopefully all the candidates running for Mayor in the next election will run on reforming City Hall and finally ridding city government of the stench of Ed Pawlowski.
I doubt that will happen, and my hope is that the FBI has gotten involved in the current allegations with the police department and that any investigation spreads to the entirety of city government. I’m hoping that the recent non-denial by the FBI of an investigation is an indication that they are already gathering evidence.
RGR