Once a week I go on the same loop and occasionally report on the state of the city's civility. Sorry to say that there is no improvement, but one sign of hope.
The loop starts at Ott and Tilghman. A little west of Ott, the city is once again preparing to dig up Tilghman street. As residents all over the city can attest, there has been no coordination between UGI and the water department. The streets are in a constant state of being dug up. Once upon a time, such activity was managed by the city.
I assumed the car in front of me at 9th and Tilghman had a very loud sound system. But when he turned off on 7th Street, the sound continued, even getter louder? Finally, the gentleman passed me going west at 6th and Tilghman. I started hearing him back at 10th, and I'm getting hard of hearing!
2nd Street was surprising void of the usual double parkers, but I did pass a patrol car in the 200 block. 7th and Linden was devoid of life, but then again, it was only a Saturday night at dinner time :) Apparently, there isn't enough of our tax money to restore vitality to center city, but only to expand one man's real estate portfolio.
Back to that sign of hope. Ed Zucal has a campaign banner at 7th and Tilghman. Unless loud car stereos and litter are your values, you better support him in the upcoming primary election.
molovinsky:7th & Turner
“… you better support him in the upcoming primary election.”
ReplyDeleteAmen!
Matt Teurk will not enforce nuisance crimes. As a result nuisance crimes abound. Very little enforcement of traffic laws make driving a white knuckle adventure. Allentown is very often a cacophony of loud music, loud mufflers, screamers, and shouters. Litter is omnipresent even in West Park despite almost daily efforts of residents to pick it up. Add to all this Matt's insane vision of increasing density in the city with his new zoning proposal. Whether Matt intends it or not, all this leads to us further down the road to dystopia. I have concluded woke is worse than corrupt.
ReplyDeleteOne more point about the upcoming primary election:
ReplyDeleteThe democrat primary will likely decide the mayors race in Allentown.
If you live in the city and you’re interested in voting for Zucal, but currently registered as a republican, independent, or any other party, I believe you have until May 5th to change your registration to democrat and vote in that primary. You can always change your registration back to what it was after the May 20th election.
Similarly, if you’re not currently registered to vote, you have until May 5th to register as a democrat and vote in the democrat primary. Again, you can always change your party after the May 20th election.
Every vote counts. The 2021 democrat primary was very close. Don’t wait until May 5th to change party or register to vote. Do it today, and then help others who are Zucal supporters register to vote in the democrat primary!
Why my visits to Allentown are less frequent. The older I get, the more and more disinterested I am in the Allentown of 2025. it is no longer the city i grew up in and remembered fondly.
ReplyDeleteI can't get lost in Allentown, the city is the same physically. However all of the places I used to go to or hang out in are gone. The west end still looks night, but my friends who still live there tell me even that's changed. I do like the Target at Crest Plaza and the old sign from one of my dad's old gas station still stands alongside Route 22 just west of the Cedar Crest Boulevard exit. Also i'll stop by the cemetary and talk to my wife for a bit, catch her up on things I'm doing.
But more and more my interests are on other things, and of course sharing things I know about an Allentown of half-a-century ago. Which was a much better, cleaner, and safter place than the Allentown of today.
By the way, getting rid to Turek isn't going to change much. Yes, the flag raisings will likely disappear, but the things which matter, that affect the quality of life; crime and taxes, don't expect that to change much. Move to the townships if you want a change, or maybe to a place like Hershey.
Brent, on this we agree. The Allentown we once knew is GONE. Any negative quality of life issues like noise, litter, parking, traffic violations, personal responsibility and respect for others, etc. are so prevalent now, it will take many years to reverse.
DeleteThere really is no need to spend time in Allentown, unless you have event tickets. All the rest is more attractively available in every direction outside the city.
For those who can, and depending on age, the best remedy is to move elsewhere. I sold three properties there 20 years ago and enjoy a better quality of life on a daily basis. Sad, but urban decline is becoming common in America.
Zucal will not make a dent in the city with litter or noise. He will set the city backwards with his lack of knowledge and skills required to deal with the economic and lifestyle concerns. At council, he has repeatedly displayed a narrow interest only in what things cost and he has made many leaps of misjudgement and accusations.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the banner, representing yourself in a dated picture portraying yourself in police uniformed though you retired 10 years ago and shows you way younger than your years smacks of shiftiness. And MM, should a political candidate be giving out cash gift cards to potential voters because they notified him that they saw his banner? Are you hoping if he wins, you will be awarded a seat on the Parknership board?
anon@8:50: I'm supporting Zucal because Tuerk has shown no interest in what I consider quality of life issues. As for the parks, I'm not looking for a position, I'm looking for an appreciation of the traditional system.
DeleteThe problem with Ed Zucal is that he's an old white guy who is campaiging to run a city that is no longer the Pennsylvania Dutch city of the 1950s. Those middle-class dutchmen who lived and worked in Allentown's economy and industry are long gone, replaced by a largely lower class latin population who basically are the takers of society, and mostly work in the lower classes of employment.
DeleteThe Allentown of today is a crime-ridden spanish barrio from Brooklyn, Purteo Rico, and the Dominican Republic. That influence is pushing further and further in all directions in the city, pushing into the south side of mountainville, the areas east of the Lehigh River, and even the once coveted west end. And its growing
The white flight started decades ago in the 80s, and that's also reflected by the quality of the ASD, as the parents who cared about how their kids did in school moved out to the townships and their kids went to Parkland or Salisbury or Emmaus, rather than Allen or Dieruff. Now those kid's kids go to those surburban school districts and the only kids that go to the ASD now are the ones whose parents can't even afford to dress them proerly, and don't care really how their kids do in school because the single family homes have to work in minimum wage jobs or as retail clerks in order to keep their heads above water financially as the cost of living in Allentown goes up and up along with their rents in those old large homes that are now multi-floor apartments.
That's another reason for the crime as the poor education being afforded to the kids leaves them unable or unwiling to be qualifed for jobs with pay enough to live on. And they turn to crime and drug dealing and break-ins to simply earn enough. The APD is strapped for money along with the city as revenues into the city, in terms of inflation, are far less than when Allentown had a higher earning workforce when there was less crime and less poverty.
I agree with the previous commenters. Get the hell out if you haven't yet. You aren't going to get ahead and have a better life in Allentown any longer.
anon@2:35: This blog, although almost 18 years old, is still called molovinsky on allentown, because I'm still committed to the city. I would have preferred for Zucal to run as a Republican or independent, to insure that he was on the ballot for the general election. There are many people, Hispanics included, that are concerned with quality of life issues. Hopefully he'll surprise you in a few weeks.
Delete@2:35 well you really describe the inner workings of poverty pretty well. glad you made it to the middle class!
DeleteSounds like you suffered through some Cultural Incompatibility on that car drive. My guess is the Hispanic person blasting the music, was just as incredulous that you opted to have your windows up and play the radio low enough so that just you could hear it. It would be inexplicable for the 65% or so of Hispanic residents of Carribean descent in Allentown to suddenly modify their entire way of life to start acting like the incumbent locals of mixed-European ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteanon@10:28: I pass by many drivers whose radios are IMO inappropriately loud. However, in this case he was disturbing the peace, by any standard. Despite your attempt at race-baiting, most residents of any background display consideration.
Delete10:28, my Latino are as annoyed by the loud music and I am. The culprits of loud car stereos are generally adolescent and young adult males of just about every race.
DeleteMatt is just a distraction and diversion of the real culprits behind the curtin of, " theft of services"! Allentown has and still is a swirling swimming dump into the cisternious lehigh where the water intake leads to some other unsuspecting community down stream.
ReplyDeleteThis is and has been the agenda of the local ngo's proped up as for mankind, look closely Mike and you too could put the commercial gig on guard.