One girl gets a new hair-do and wardrobe, but the other one gets asked to the prom?!? While a $Billion Dollars of our diverted state taxes went to Allentown's Hamilton Street, Bethlehem was voted Best Main Street in the nation.
Years ago, Starkist Tuna had a campaign where Charlie Tuna, although dressed in the best, was never picked. Starkist wanted tuna with good taste. Nobody has ever accused Allentown of having good taste.
Children learn that all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Despite one promotion after another, Hamilton Street remains dead. I suppose I should be glad that only the street is dead, as opposed to the people walking on it. Last Friday we learned of a shooting off Tilghman Street. Almost a week has passed, but not another word on the incident. When shootings became so common place in Allentown that there was no follow-up story in the paper, we were in trouble.
Tuerk may be the worst Mayor Allentown has ever had. I say “may” because it’s a close race with Afflerbach
ReplyDeleteAfflerbach by far. Tuerk is a lightweight who means well. He is just wrong- all the time. Afflerbach was the epitome of a career politician who only knew how to enrich himself and the interest groups who supported him.
DeleteWrong he is. His LGBTQ and illegals stance is far worse than any other mayor. He has done nothing as mayor except raise flags and promote JB Reilly interests. Time to go. ##Zucalformayor
DeleteAlthough I support Zucal in the upcoming Democrat primary (as independent cannot vote in it), I have no interest in this blog becoming an anti-Tuerk venue. Repetitive comments against Tuerk may not appear. As for city policy on LGBTQ and immigrants, regardless of Tuerk's support, these are decisions enacted by council.
DeleteRoy was a loser as a mayor but his worse act was creating the space for the criminal administration of Ed Pawlowski, a stain that will linger in the real
Deleteworld for another generation.
Mayor Matt, the first Latino mayor, is considerably worse than Roy, if not driven by sociopathic corruption. Mayor Matt is a clueless incompetent at a critical time in Allentown’s history. The former All American City is near the tipping point if it hasn’t already passed it.
Main St in Bethlehem is nice, but I think it’s a stretch to say nicest in America! I’m curios to understand who voted for this and if a few was paid to participate in the survey.
ReplyDeleteanon@6:25: You are correct that it was a concerted effort by the Bethlehem business community, especially the hotel, to win the contest. However, I latched on the story because of the taxpayer's massive investment in Allentown, vs. nada in Bethlehem, yet Bethlehem got the prize.
DeleteHey, let’s face it,both downtown Bethlehem and the South Side,are pretty darn nice by most any standard. Easton meanwhile is struggling with the byproduct of success. It’s a terrific place to spend time with friends and family.
ReplyDeleteAllentown is going nowhere positive fast and in a league of its own. It’s not a league that few care to visit for shopping or dining or a peaceful family outing unless they are looking for a great time at the ballpark,safety away from center city.
Let’s give the Philadelphia Phillies minor league affiliate a big A+.
Summer sports in Allentown is a bright spot.
We live in the near suburbs, Emmaus address. For a downtown type outing for this family it’s most often Bethlehem, Easton frequently, and sadly, very rarely Allentown.
ReplyDeleteThis is the difference between having a plan (and following it) that requires private buy-in and investment; or becoming a recipient of municipal welfare.
ReplyDeleteWhile the award might be phony (in the sense that the results are skewed), it confirms what we already know. Bethlehem’s downtown thrives due to private investment, while Allentown isn’t even in the race.
While Bethlehem aspires to something higher for the entire city, Allentown’s policies are schizophrenic. While Bethlehem’s success spread beyond its Main Street, any improvement in Allentown goes only as far as the NIZ lines.
Bethlehem Steel money kept Historic Bethlehem, and Church, Broad, and Main, wonderfully maintained for generations. Hotel Bethlehem was for all intents and purposes a Bethlehem Steel facility.
DeleteMoravian College, including the Seminary and Music annex’s, booked the North Side.
Lehigh Un., has anchored the SS.
The Moravian and Episcopal ethos and aesthetic can’t be underestimated. People aspire to live in or near downtown Bethlehem.
People aspire to leave downtown Allentown. The young generation of West Allentonians are heading to the safer, cleaner, suburbs of LMT.
When the JCC pulls up stakes, and it ultimately will, the blow to Allentown’s social capacity will be incalculable.
10:27 - and don’t forget PP&L.
DeleteTheir move from the PPL Tower is merely step 1 to leaving the city. And the current mayor allowed it to happen, likely because it was in the best interests of the largest downtown landlord.
Makes you wonder who the mayor is actually working for.
anon@1:05: The current mayor, Tuerk, had no control on PPL's decision, just like former mayors had no control on Hess's closing, or anything else closing. We're fortunate that PPL still has its offices downtown.
DeleteI fear the standard for what is considered the best has been greatly diminished in this country. I suspect there are some places in other parts of the world, that could possibly qualify for such a rating.
ReplyDeleteWe have reservations for the Thai restaurant on Main Street Bethlehem next week. Bethlehem is a fun, safe, attractive place to enjoy a night out. It is also a relatively well governed city. Wish I could say the same about Allentown.
ReplyDeleteWhy not live there if it is so great by comparison? It’s an easy move.
DeleteWe often hear the words ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ when discussing government. For me, the failed city of Allentown is a prime example of those negative attributes.
ReplyDeleteFrom the mysterious NIZ finances everyone is afraid to discuss, to the obvious neglect of public spaces and parks, the idiotic and time consuming wokeness, the failed public school system, a shaky public safety safety reputation, and everyday ignored nuisance violations, Allentown is simply not a place to spend time with. I simply choose not to go there.
Allentown:
ReplyDeleteCharm C
Safety (real & perceived) C-
Dining Scene C
Cleanliness B-
Attractions B-
Shopping C-
Parks A-
Recreation/Sports A
Parking D
Walkability B-
The saddest part of the relatively kind report card at 9:20 is the A for Parks. Not long ago the Park grade would have been A+++.
DeleteAmbiance F Nuisance activity proliferates and traffic laws routinely ignored.
Delete9:20: I’d love to hear how recreation/sports earned a grade of A.
DeleteMost of the city’s youth leagues don’t exist anymore, and the Recreation Department has accordingly been lumped into the Parks and Recreation Department.
Maybe you’re talking about the publicly subsidized Phantoms or Iron Pigs, but certainly not Recreation/sports in the traditional sense
A little bird suggested that enforcement and fines would improve both quality of life and finances of our once great but now crummy city.
DeleteAt the very least, you would expect they'd pursue the finance angle, since their thirst for money is NEVER quenched...
I have to agree with Scott Armstrong. My top 5 peeves about the ambiance downtown:
Delete1. constant smell of skunk weed from car windows and apartments
2. dangerous riding of electric bikes and scooters on sidewalks
3. Loud car mufflers
4. Loud car stereos
5. Tolerance of double parking all day long on all downtown streets.
One can't cross West Park during the school year without smelling weed. And as far as the grade for parks, C minimal maintenance at best. Very few of the park department employees lack even a basic knowledge of landscaping.
DeleteThe Allentown Art Museum, is sorta walkable, near the Courthouse and of course the excellent Baum School. No one walks around and stumbles on these treasures.
ReplyDeleteAlas, the fabulous Symphony Hall, in all it’s historic magnificence, struggling to survive.
Allentown Central thrives against all odds.
Allentown still has some treasures
Just for clarification: The statement "They don't want tuna with good taste, they want tuna that tastes good" is a memorable phrase used in advertising campaigns for StarKist tuna, specifically featuring Charlie the Tuna.
ReplyDeleteWhile Allentown does have some beautiful parks, myself and others are afraid to go to them for fear of the crime. The relatives from Bethlehem won't even come for a visit with the kids for fear of getting shot. Keep on pushing people in, when you can't handle the ones you have. Allentown is a microcosm of the U.S.
It's pretty simple really. A girl with natural beauty does not need much make up to look attractive and appealing.
ReplyDeleteWhile a girl who doesn't have that beauty, can spend a lot of money on cosmetics and still can not look as nice as the natural beauty.
Downtown Allentown lost it's attractiveness decades ago when it essentially destroyed its appeal by building that horrid Hamilton Mall. Even tearing down the canopys, then destroying the classic buildings, replacing them with glass and steel boxes that cost a billion dollars did not restore its appeal.
Bethlehem, on the other hand, retained its central buisness district and retains the attractiveness of its former self.
The opening day of Trout season was a huge day along the Little Lehigh up until about a decade or so ago.
ReplyDeleteHuge!
Now it’s almost nothing. I’m not exactly sure what that means but I believe it’s a significant social shift worth mentioning.
These folks in the circle are entrpping the whole of PA in this fail venture that has been a money theft farce from its insemination! The area this is taking place in is unfit for human constipation, the wording is right. The label on the Campbell's soup can can be changed but in some cases the bile is still the same. It festers and easts the can from the inside out similar to constipation potions one from the inside out!
ReplyDeleteanon@2:40, although anonymous, has become recognizable to me through his unique style! I have labeled him the poet laureate
DeleteActually, you touched on several things. Seperate, but in the end interconnected. Taken together, however, has turned a once-desireable and a wonderful city to grow up in, and turned it into a large urbsn disaster, somewhat bigger and also far less desireable.
ReplyDeleteWhen Daddona brought the welfare state to Allentown was the first thing. Up until then Allentown was a working class, predominantly Caucasian city with a culture from Europe that had civic pride and was well mixed into American society.
Daddona brought in all of the problems of New York city of poverty and crime. Emma Tropiano was correct, and 40 years later Allentown is the result of those decisons made in the 1970s by Daddona.
Although Whitehall Mall was built in the 1960s, and Lehigh Valley Mall also has its origins in the 1960s, the flight of retail buisnesses from Hamilton Street to the suburbs really happened when the Caucasians began to leave Allentown in the 1970s and 80s when Daddona began the welfare state in Allentown and the Caucasians took their purchcising power with them to the townships. Largely as a result of Daddona's decision to give Allentown its povery and subsequent crime problem. Food stamps and welfare checks don't have a lot of purchacing power either.
Then it was woe is us in City Hall as Hamilton Street deteriorated, the movie theaters all closed and the downtown stores of previous eras were replaced by vacancy signs and the stores of the growing segments of the new population of the city.
Allentown then did what Allentown has always done, it re-invents itself with wrecking balls and "newness". It did that in the 1970s with Hamilton Mall, and it did the same thing, but even more so with the NIZ in the 2010s...
The result is the same. It looks nice but it is devoid of people. And the welfare state with its associated crime problem now has deep roots in the city as the first generation brought in by Daddona now has its children, and maybe even grandchildren of gang members and generational povery well established.
And taken the ASD along with it. To the point the district doesn't really care much about education. The kids are promoted without even being able to read at their grade level. Indoctrination is probably more important now. And being able to decide what pronoun to use for yourself.
The township schools, still value academics it seems. That's where the families of my generation of Allentown residents now live.
It just seems like the City of Allentown and its daily newspaper focus on all the wrong priorities.
ReplyDeleteBrent@2:43: Nobody can accuse you of being "politically correct", but that's also an accusation not made about me. I believe the "Daddona welfare invitation" is more myth than reality. The demographics also changed in York, Lancaster and Reading. In Allentown's case, several non-profits sported new residents to move-in money, without regard to employment, or even the ambition for such.
ReplyDeleteThere certainly was "white flight" from blue collar center city, but at least half the city remains as always. I don't celebrate the changes, but I accept them as the new reality. The children today going to school will have their fond memories of growing up in Allentown, just as we did. My only retro obsession is trying to reestablish some traditional creek experiences for them in the parks.
Alan Jennings deserves at least honorable mention in the transformation of Allentown. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Not for nothing did Emma say, “Alan Jennings thinks he is Allentown’s own Jesus Christ.”
DeleteWhen Hogar Crea came to town a significant number of Latino IV drug users discovered Allentown during their long term treatment residency and their families followed.
Like other groups before them they were searching for a better life than they had where they were coming from and they found it in Allentown.
It’s what people do.
The problem with Allentown isn't who lives here but rather who they elect to public office. For the past twenty five years leadership has been abysmal. This abysmal leadership then get re-elected, and the vacancies created by the abysmal leaders being voted into even higher office is quickly fill by even more abysmal leaders. The areas of the city with the highest voter turnout on the off year elections, when these abysmal local leaders are elected is in our upper class areas. Therefore it isn't the poor destroying the city is it?
DeleteAfflerbach was benign, Pawlowski was malignant.
ReplyDelete