Yesterday, around 5:00PM, I witnessed a car back up and park on the corner of 7th and Linden. Not near the corner, but on the corner. The driver locked the car and strolled away. Across the street an Allentown Police officer was directing traffic out of the parking garage, and ignored the illegal parking. Meanwhile, a three wheel motorcycle blaring a stereo loud enough to be heard for blocks was also ignored by the officer.
I now realize that my excursion, annoying as it was, could have been much worse. Thirty minutes later, there was a shooting at 8th & Linden. The decline seems fast and steep.
It does appear the Mayor, the Police Chief, other municipal officials, and local news media are unwilling, or afraid, to confront lawbreakers who operate within Allentown.
ReplyDeleteSo, like several other American cities headed by Democrat Socialists, an entirely new designation of residential living has been created. That is, a Sanctuary City for Criminal Behaviors.
You voted for this. Welcome Home!
Allentown is not “headed by democrat socialists.” You have an opinion but it’s not a fact. You are passing on misinformation when you present your opinion as a fact.
DeleteWell, OK. From now on we''ll just refer to them as Democrats.
DeleteAllentown is a Democrat city, and has been for decades. and will continue to be. Comments, signed or anonymous, dwelling on that reality are becoming irrelevant, and may not be published.
DeleteAllentown - rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.
ReplyDeleteAmerica on wheels, eh?
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the local police not being able to enforce rules and laws. But it appears that most young males in Allentown are carrying guns they really don’t know how to use, and why should a lone cop approach these thugs? Police policy in Allentown needs to change.
DeleteMike, we have been here since 93 and have never seen, or heard it worse. This is no exaggeration, very often our West Park neighborhood sounds like a speedway with painfully loud car and motorbike stereos, and backfire mufflers that mimic the sound of gunfire. This is Matt Teurk's Allentown. Apparently he thinks it's great! He's the problem not the punk adolescent males he has unleashed on our streets to act out as they please with not a worry of consequence.
ReplyDeleteThe good news?
ReplyDeleteThe actors in the recent drive by murders were arraigned by Magistrate Ron Manescu, still serving the public after he retired from the APD. While Asst. Chief Manescu got little to no acclaim for his steady, consistent and professional performance while steering the Department through difficult times.
Ronald Manescu is an unsung Allentown hero of the people.
He deserves to be celebrated.
Ditto on Judge Ronald Manescu. During his tenure as Assistant Chief of the Allentown Police Department he was THE glue that held the department together.
DeleteIf you know you absolutely know.
According to the Morning Call, noise complaints are down and the "Burnout Rally" was "quickly dispersed." Obviously, you are being mislead by your own personal experiences and not putting enough weight on the city's press releases and news conferences. Dammit, when are you going to become a "real" reporter!?!
ReplyDeleteThis morning around 9:00AM, two cars (one a bright red Corvette) did burnouts from the Rose Garden picnic grove on Honochick Dr. to Ott Street.
DeleteNoise complaints AND others are down because people are sick and tired of being pushed off and/or ignored!!! WHY BOTHER just to be even more aggravated at the dispatcher's response!!!!!
DeleteAbout 20 years ago, in the early 2000s, my godmother was going to sell her house in the 19th and Highland street area. Now that was a nice area when I was growing up in Allentown in the 1960s and early 1970s. She was getting older and wanted to live in a retirement community in Whitehall, so she said to me that she would sell it to me for what she paid for it in 1980, when she bought it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I asked her why she would sell it to me at such a low amount, she said she wanted me to move back to Allentown, as I had left after graduating from William Allen and never returned.
Now in 2025, I am loath to return to the Allentown of today. Quite honestly the taxes are atrocious living in PA and there really is nothing in the current Allentown to move back to anyway. The people who live in Allentown today are quite different than the ones I grew up with, and the city is a real shithole of crime and poverty.
The city fell off a cliff when it imported its poverty and crime problem some decades ago, which it never had when I lived in it, and there are far better places to live than Allentown.
I write about Allentown a great deal, and generally I don't write about anything newer than 1980 or so, as honestly, there is nothing about Allentown in the past 40 odd years worth writing about. The best things about Allentown is its past.
So true, Brent. I lived in Allentown area from 1940's-1960's, and then from 1978-1992. Those were reasonable times to live in the area.
DeleteI expect many of the leaders in Allentown, have the same standards for their kids.
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved here in 1972 I was always proud to say I lived in "Allentown." Now, thankfully, it is easier to say I live in The Lehigh Valley. The latter is respected in wider circles, while the former is loathed.
ReplyDeleteI’d love to know how many citations and arrests were made in that take over of union blvd this recklessness will only continue with this administration in charge.
ReplyDelete