On Wednesday evening, Ed Zucal broke ranks with the Democratic City Council and voted against Bill 16. That bill essentially changed zoning to allow homeless shelters anywhere in the city, by striking the phrase seniors only concerning certain community center kitchens. While we all have compassion for the homeless, having a homeless encampment, inside or outside, across from your home can be trying.
Such a shelter was a controversy for the West Park Civic Association at the former church at 16th and Chew. That strong neighborhood has successfully maintained itself, despite dealing with discipline issues outside of the high school.
City Council voted 6 to Zucal for the new ordinance. While Ed lost the Democratic primary, he did secure the Republican write-in vote, and now will be on the ballot for November. As an independent, I appreciate that there is now an alternative to what I consider an administration preoccupied with a social agenda. Yesterday, as I navigated through double parked cars and blasting car stereos, I longed for a less tolerant Allentown.
Let's face it - Allentown is doomed!
ReplyDeleteSome history, two years ago an NGO/Ripple communities was gifted the former Emmanuel Church at 16th and Chew. The executive of that NGO Sherrie Binder told the community they intended to convert the church into low income income apartments. We knew the sanctuary was an historic beauty and would be destroyed but expressed no objection. Several months later we discovered through press reporting that they had appeared before zoning asking for the moon. Funny how the zoning notices were never sent out to alert us of this. We read that they weren't just seeking low income apartments, but offices, a temporary shelter/homeless shelter and a community center. Trust lost, residents lawyered up to fight this. We saw this as an existential threat to the West Park Community, a harmonious, stable community of homeowners and long term renters. After many, many hours at zoning we prevailed when the variance for a community center/now homeless drop in center was denied. They appealed to county court and we again prevailed on the minor point that as Ripple had hoped to feed the homeless, community centers could only serve food to seniors. Ripple and their NGO allies then went to city council to craft a Bill around this ruling.
ReplyDeleteThis brings us to June 18th and Bill 16. An innocent enough sounding bill that stated the zoning regulation that Community Centers can only serve food to seniors is hereby null and void. Who could be against that? Needless to say all of our well reasoned testimony that this was the perfect example of bad government that served the needs of special interests rather than the best interests of the community were ignored. "The people must be fed" triumphed over the concerns of homeowners and renters who rightly feared the consequences of the presence of numerous homeless people lingering around their homes. It's interesting to note that the Lehigh conference of Churches was a cosponsor of this bill. To no one's surprise very few of them live in Allentown, most are in very safe, cozy neighborhoods where homeless drop in centers will never be a problem. In fact, the member of this group that penned the Morning Call letter supporting Bill 16 lives on a quiet leafy street in South Whitehall. One must ask, who are the real nimbies here?
But this isn't the end of the story. Mike is correct, this Bill, intended as a special favor to help Ripple around unfavorable rulings will open a Pandora's box. There is a mountain of grant money out there for NGO's and struggling churches willing to "assist the homeless". Is there any doubt how this will turn out? Allentown will become a homeless magnet because, " the people must be fed".
Only Ed Zucal sided with reason, good government, and the better interests of homeowners and renters. The other 6 very dim lights on council fell hook line and sinker for the platitudes and obvious demagoguery of the crass politician Ce-Ce Gerlash and the largely, well paid, self righteous, suburban dwelling Non profit directors and staffers. This night was a non event to the local media but will have repercussions down the road. My hat is off to Ed Zucal for siding reason and the beleaguered taxpaying residents. He has my support for mayor.
If the name Binder sounds familiar (as in Sherrie Binder referenced above), it might be because her husband just won in the democrat primary for city council. I don’t believe there are any Republican candidates for council in the general election.
DeleteThose seeking to profit from growing poverty in the city just put another person inside city government. Things will continue to get worse, before they ever even have a chance to get better.
everyone at ripple lives near to Franklin Park. who gets to define what a community is, especially in 2025? the fact that the church was donated at all proves that there’s been a decline in community. newsflash- homeless people are coming to allentown regardless of whether there are services here or not because this also has the cheapest housing in the region. surrounding municipalities are not doing their fair share of building residential, they’re all focused on warehousing. so where are the people who work at the warehouses supposed to live? you know that there are working homeless, right? at the public hearing you mentioned that homeless folks are “urinating in your yard” suggesting that 1. they are already IN your neighborhood and 2. they have nowhere to conduct that necessary biological function. wouldn’t it be great if there was a place in the neighborhood where they could drop in and do that?
DeleteThe democrats rule the local public thievery agenda designs upon this once all American city. This while most republican leaders have moved above this local agenda for the bigger piece of the pie. For the most part both are taking and faking numbers for federal allocations and enriching themselves through the different venues.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Ed Zucal will not be one of them as to my knowledge he is a hands on person. This is not like our current cardboard cut out for photos and flag raisings.
Good for him, I'm impressed. What bothered me the most about converting the church to a homeless shelter is that West Park is such a vulnerable neighborhood and the immediate neighborhood has almost all well maintained owner-occupied single family dwellings. The low income apartments would have had enough negative impacts themselves, but adding in the homeless shelter seemed like a deliberate attempt to undermine the character of this neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteRadical Liberal Allentown voters are getting the city they deserve. That is, a government dependent community of needy, unproductive families who believe it’s the job of someone else to feed, clothe, house, and entertain them. Keep facilitating that and you only get more of the same. Probably time to move out . . . if you can.
ReplyDeleteThe Conference of Churches has been a mixed blessing for decades. It’s another example of an organization whose track record indicates a mixed blessing for the community at large. While it has produced some modest programs it’s mostly been a small player in addressing the homeless issue. There was another group that consisted of a coalition of Allentown Churches a while back, rolled out with a lot of public and organizational hoopla. It’s one big effort, if memory serves, was a push for a County wide three digit, non-emergency telephone number to complement the existing 911 system.
ReplyDeleteWhen the group’s funding was cut off it’s local “Community Organizer” and her family left town for greener pastures. All those congregations who had been “organized” went back to their separate ways.
The West Park Civic Association’s concerns are well founded. The proposed homeless programs are indeed an existential threat to that still relatively stable neighborhood.
I wish them well.
The Council of Churches has been clueless for decades. Let’s not sugar coat it. It’s one big piece was paying an outreach worker a poverty wage to do, well, to do something or other, to assist homeless people.
DeleteRev. Bill was a nice guy who never did anything significant to address homelessness in Allentown, including the period of time when Lisa Pawlowski, “The First Lady of Allentown”, set her sights on ending homelessness in the once All American City.
I'm on board with Scott Armstrong's comments above regarding the well meaning liberals at the Conference of Churches who live in the suburbs. It's not easy to own a home and raise a family in West Park these days, especially when your own government is encouraging homeless shelters in your neighborhood.
DeleteI heard that CeCe Gerlach stated that she wants to see these “community centers” throughout the city.
ReplyDeleteA sane person (and a sane council) would realize that such an occurrence would represent the failure of city government to improve the lives of city residents. Instead, she wants people to believe that it’s progress.
Meanwhile, numerous non-profits and others are willing to carve up our neighborhoods to pursue their “mission”. They are actually making things worse for the city, but better for themselves. Apparently there is good money in government grants to feed the homeless.
There should be money for those who want to SOLVE the homeless problem. Unfortunately, right now it seems there is only funding for those who profit by perpetuating it.
where are poor people supposed to go? “anywhere but here Jack! now excuse me, i’m late for mass”
DeleteAs someone who was born in Allentown and spent several decades as a professional dedicated to building strong neighborhoods across the Lehigh Valley, including Allentown, my residence, let me get right to the point.
ReplyDeleteThe West Park Neighborhood Association has the best interests of it’s residents, indeed the entire city, at heart in stopping this half baked project.
“Ripple” is an appropriate name for this project. The instability it will create will ripple across West Park and adjoining neighborhoods already struggling with instability and decline.
Ripple, The Council of Churches, and most significantly, City Council, is clueless, reckless, and irresponsible in promoting this entirely irrational and misguided agenda.
God bless the people of West Park in their efforts to maintain a stable community.
I neglected to sign the comment I posted at 8:49.
DeleteApologies for the oversight.
mj adams
I happened to be driving along Linden Street the other day. The funeral home near 14th is gone, and is has been converted to another Ripple property.
DeleteI wasn’t able to notice ANY positive change there as I drove by.