Two candidates no one great

 

So, council will take to picking a new City Controller this Wednesday, and honestly… the choices are not super exciting. The Controller, which is basically the person who makes sure the money doesn’t disappear into a black hole. Sounds important, right? I don’t think Council is taking it seriously.

EVETTE D’AMORE 

She is basically a friend of the mayor, so it is easy to see who he is probably pushing behind the scenes. They worked together previously and seem to have many similarities. 

Some grown‑ups say this means they “have” experience, but other people say it’s kind of weird because the Controller is supposed to check the mayor’s work. I don’t see either of these candidates, based on their short qualifications sheet on the city website, to be the right candidate at this time.

It’s like if your teacher said you need a hall monitor but then picked their favorite kid who always gets special jobs. You just wonder if they’ll tell the teacher when something is wrong. Her qualifications for the job are not what is needed for a Controller. Like Talarico, she is probably a plant for the mayor, so he isn’t held accountable.

PATRICK PALMER

This person is fine. Just… fine. He doesn't have big ideas or big problems. Palmer is generally seen as a well‑intentioned community figure who has been active in local issues and supportive of underserved groups. He has prior political involvement, including unsuccessful attempts to join Council. While he is respected for his advocacy, his qualifications are thin for a position like the city's Controller.

--- Who remembers when Patrick Palmer called out the mayor for using race as a steppingstone during his campaign? “Why do you need to highlight her race?” “What value comes from that?”

He probably won’t mess anything up, but he also won’t fix anything big or make the city better in cool ways.

Both candidates appear to lack the depth of experience typically expected for the Allentown Controller role. One raises concerns about independence due to close ties with the mayor, while the other is seen as competent but not particularly transformative. The selection process feels less like a search for the strongest financial watchdog and more like settling for two modestly qualified options. 

What we do not need is another individual that will greenlight the wasteful spending and support any tax increase in the next budget.

Also, I can only see Palmer doing the requested audit of the Mayors travels.  A real audit.  Not a Frank Kane bullshit special. 

Such a great conference

 Well, media diva extraordinaire Matt Kardashian-Tuerk has quickly returned from his global jaunt to Morocco to attend a “conference” and immediately called a press conference to shift all attention to him. He looked rather jet-lagged and disheveled while standing at the news conference podium, most likely because he had to cut his two-week vacation to Morocco short.

The news conference provided essentially no information that wasn’t available already through the DA’s office, so I am not sure why he needed to call it at 5 pm on a Friday. Oh wait! He needed to look like he “showed up “for Allentown, even if he wasn’t here during the critical hours.  

The firefighters and police officers were probably so annoyed to be standing with him after working non-stop on the fire and subsequent investigation. They stood there and listened to him take ownership and lie about the mayor’s office involvement when they are the true superstars in this incident.   

I can’t say enough how amazing the firefighters, police, and EMS were fighting this fire and responding to the community.

Tuerk thanked the Fire, Police, EMS, Building Standards, and Streets department but then he thanked the mayor’s office?! He said they were up into the late night/early morning working on communications.

Not sure where the communications were going, maybe to the residents of Tangiers Morocco? Maybe they are still working on the communications and haven’t sent them out? Either way the mayor’s office, as should always be expected, failed again on getting information out. Remember Snowmageddon during the winter when the city was so negligent that they went silent and did nothing? You would have thought they learned something from that situation? No chance.

I would honestly like to know how much the city had to pay for overtime to pull off this wasted conference. It is clear that it was put on to show the community that Tuerk is here and that the case is solved after 48 hours. He is right, it was solved after 48 hours but he had absolutely nothing to do with it being closed. He was at a Moroccan bathhouse and then on an expensive early return flight for a jog in the park and a worthless press conference, even WFMZ realized there was no news here – they cut the feed early and returned to normal programming. I prefer Judge Judy anyway.

It’s hard to take any messaging seriously from this administration. It always shows up late, polished, and completely disconnected. The city’s problems are real time. His responses feel like reruns.

If he spent half as much time in the city as he does traveling and curating his media presence, maybe the message wouldn’t always feel out of touch — or arrive after everyone’s already figured out what’s going on.

It should be known that this isnt a Hyman property. WFMZ and the Morning Call have all reported that the owner of this property is Urban Residential Properties, John Palumbo. 

WFMZ .com Mar 2026: "The plan is for a 16-story, 360-unit apartment building at 249-301 N. Front St. Urban Residential Properties plans to demolish the former American Atelier furniture factory to construct the building."

A fellow Allentonian made this.  So funny

The real Truth of Travels

Oh Mr. Mayor you and Frank have out done yourselves and got caught again. My sources and loyal followers have confirmed our fearless leader is in Morocco.

You know that country in Africa. 

 Thats why he hasnt addressed the city face to face. 

How many trips has he taken this year? Six, seven, eight? Frank better update his tracker, I hope it is electronic because it is changing weekly.

This time he is attending a “conference” in Tangiers, Morocco. Yet another exotic international destination. Is he with his newly appointed Manager of Civic Innovations Michaela Boyer again? How long have I longed for the days of our active Manager of Civic Innovations? The community was not ignored, and communications were plentiful from the city. 

While we are all sitting here waiting for our Leader to lead and working our tails off to make ends meet, Matt is packing his bags full of sneakers and dirty ill-fitting suits and travelling the world for no apparent reason. 

His trip can be dummied down to another networking event for government officials that are looking for a job soon. I cannot wait to see the public trip report for this trip.

Good luck dodging this Fraaaaannnk

If he is using city funds to pay for these trips, that is simply wrong. Taxpayer money is supposed to help the community, not help one person build his résumé or expand his personal network. But if the trips are paid for by outside organizations, that is also a huge problem. Accepting gifts and travel paid for by private groups creates serious ethical conflict. It makes me wonder what this trip sponsor expects in return — and we know Matt has no problem sending our tax dollars to organizations that sell him a promise to make him look better. That is exactly why rules exist to prevent this kind of thing.

Off topic

Curious is their a Starbucks over in Morocco?

On topic

Mayor you can't be transparent about your trip and its killing you because you are missing out on all this media coverage relating to the monster fire last night.

Fire in the 1st Ward

As we saw or am seeing tonight a major fire is occuring in the 300blk of N. FRONT ST. and will probably burn through the night. My hope and prayers are with the residents in the area. 

This is a catastrophic event with multiple houses on fire as well as a block long building.  

Posts of this were all over social media. I saw the Police Chief gave an update on the fire along with the advice to leave out your back door.

My biggest question is, where is our Mayor? Where are you Matt? Why does it seem everytime the city has a pressing issue you are not here.

A city employee source told me you are out of the country again at some mayors meeting."thanks Frank." Who is running the city? Frank? Frank claims the mayor is always running the city thanks to modern technology and data centers that allow him to be reached at all times. 

Shouldn't he have given a statement by now? Address the city damnit. 

Added 0850am

Showing us the photos of neighboring fire trucks that gave the city coverage isnt a news address. That is pathetic.  

Putting out an emergency alert post on the city facebook 3 hours after the fire has been contained and basically out is pathetic as well.

The words "Do Better" aren't in your vocab I see.  Where is the communications director?  They suck as well.

Cynthia Mota and even Eddie Aviles gave advice and showed compassion to those affected.  

Show your face Mayor.  We know how you love to see yourself.  You can't possibly be around and miss your chance to get on 6abc and every other news station.  

I've been absent like the Mayor

I took some time away from posting for a few days to shift my focus away from the shit hole that I am watching our city become to spend time with family and community. My sincere hope is that one day this blog will become completely irrelevant because we have ethical and capable leaders and administrators in the Allentown government. This is where I live and raised my family, so I will continue to fight for a better Allentown. I must admit that it is getting increasingly difficult with the current occupant of the mayor’s office and his administration, and I do not see it changing for the next 3 years and 6 months.

This last weekend was the annual Juneteenth celebration at Cedar Beach, and sadly it ended up turning into yet another chaotic scene. Instead of a safe event, the day and night were overshadowed by fights, disorder, and violence. A viral Facebook video has been shared showing the violent acts of several attendees that spoiled the Juneteenth events for the individuals and families that were there to celebrate. Where was the APD during this display of lawlessness? Where was the city plan to de-escalate the violence? Promise Neighborhoodz?? The mayor was in attendance but did nothing but stay long enough to get his picture and video for his social media post. Notice mo media coverage on the fight.

We get it Matt, you “show up” only to serve your own interests and feed your ego. The community is on to your game. We realize that you are an absent mayor and your crafted “present mayor” persona is showing strong evidence of cracking, dare I say large holes? Shit, even your teeth are falling out at this point. 

Obviously, the mayor is not the only party that failed in this event for the community. What is going on with the Events team? It seems to me they cannot manage a celebration without it turning into a safety nightmare. 

Don't bring your guns??? No shit. Only Fists, rocks, and hair pulling is allowed. Sad you have to put that on a flyer. 

There is a big problem in the Events team – my guess is that it is at all levels up to and including the mayor. The Events team hasn't gotten a single city event right this entire year.

Juneteenth should be a day of pride and community — not another opportunity for violence at Cedar Beach.

Onward

Speaking of the absent mayor – Our supreme leader is once again out of Allentown. Is he on another trip? Frank better update his tracker, I hope it is electronic because it is changing weekly.

Finally, City Council is back at it again, trying to push through another round of data center legislation like the last few attempts have never happened. Honestly, it is getting old. Every time they mention this, it feels rushed, confusing, and way more focused on helping developers than helping the people who live here. Residents ask questions, and the council gives the same vague answers, like they are hoping people will just stop paying attention. I am sure it is because not one of them on the dais or from the administration has a clue about data centers.

Council keeps trying to force this legislation, so I wonder who is pulling the strings behind the curtain? Look at how quickly Cynthia Mota and Jeremy Binder changed their minds last week – appears they may have been influenced. We know Pungo is easily influenced when it comes to construction. His employer, Butz Enterprises, has a hand in many construction projects in the Lehigh Valley.

If Council wants our trust, they need better transparency, community input that is not ignored, and a plan that benefits the city — not just the companies waiting to cash in and extract valuable resources from our community.

The council members claim that is why they passed bill 20. They needed to pass the bill to change the bill. Sounds eerily familiar – circa 2010 during the passing of the ACA Nancy Pelosi said, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it”. Well, let us see what they can do. At this point it has been passed and the residents have no choice but to hold them accountable. Sadly, in the end we have people like Pungo (who should recuse himself), Napoli, Binder, and Mota who are easily influenced and do not hear or listen to the community.

I have an idea — Council should summon the mayor to all meetings related to AI and data centers. Remember the taxpayers paid for him to go to a conference on this exact subject? We have a resident expert and have yet to tap this valuable resource.

Also I cant stop laughing at this photo.  

Ohhhhh and Eddie Pawlowski gets released at the end of the week.  His 1st purchase will most likely be soap on a rope.

Are their pockets getting lined??

I listened to the council meeting last night. The biggest concern was Bill 20 which concerns the approval of data center ordinance language to the code. Mainly a data center on Emaus Ave was the building in discussion.

There was a strong presence from the community begging council not to vote for data centers instead to vote for a currative amendment which would allow 180 days halt to allow for amendments to the implementation of data centers.

What we do know is that communities who have these data centers have seen increases in electricity bills, water bills, and impact on health and safety. Additionally there are noise and a slew of other complaints.

I can see Frank and the Mayor's office wants the data centers. I am sure for Tuerk there is pressure for him to get this done.

I really think this vote defined the word politics. Meaning, the vote was influenced by higher entities with deep pockets. 

Councilperson Mota complained in previous meetings and reiterated tonight that she did not want these centers in her back yard, and basically stated she was against them. Then she voted down the currative amendment and yes for bill 20.

The reality is the data centers are coming. There is way too much money behind them. These companies have endless money to fight the city to get what they want. 

Big companies and construction firms just like Butz enterprises - or the company Councilperson Pungo is employed. I dont think any amendments would matter.

However, I think council should have opted for the currative amendment to atleast give them some time to try and strengthen the bill.  Pressure and fear casted their votes. 

Bill 20 passed 4-2. Gerlach and Santos the only yes votes for the currative amendment.

And Napoli needs a button to mute people when they get out of order (and he doesnt control the meeting) or go past there alloted time limit or a trap door. 

It was painful watching all these people go say the same thing for hours. Also some of them were saying the dumbest shit. 

Also two other news worthy items

Today there was almost a 3rd teen homicide in what 3 weeks?  A 14 year old girl was stabbed almost to death.  Wtf is with these kids? 

Where is Promise Neighborhoodz?  They get all this money and what is the result? Nodda. 

2nd

Conveniently, the audio failed at the county council meeting tonight.  The big discussion of the "Wealth Tax" trying to be imposed on all people who work in the county. Greedy fuckers.  

☆☆☆☆Added June 18th 5:15pm. 

 I am going to predict the next data center.  Across from Parkettes, where the homeless camp was. Thats why Tuerk pushed them out.  Huge warehouse going in and its right aside of the lehigh and jordan rivers. 

Blues, Brew and No One Came Through

What is even happening with Allentown right now. For real. Today was the big Blues, Brews, and BBQ thing and it was basically Blues, Brews, and BIG FAT BUST.

Nobody came. Like, zero humans. Not “a few.” Not “slow start.”

 I mean ZERO, like the city hit the mute button on the whole town.

And honestly, duh. We just had two shootings in two weeks downtown. TWO. Back‑to‑back like some kind of awful “double feature.” 

Who is gonna go stand around eating BBQ when bullets been flying lately. I’m not trying to be on the news as “random bystander #3,” thanks.

Only people there were the workers who had to be there and Sherri, who looked like she got lost on her way to Walmart. 

She kept looking around like a crowd was gonna magically appear if she stared hard enough. Spoiler: it didn’t.

And yeah, the city did their usual trash job advertising it. Like maybe a few flyers taped to telephone poles somewhere in the west end. But honestly, even if they screamed it from the rooftops, nobody’s showing up when the city feels like a 

DANGER ZONE. Safety first, BBQ second.

And because Allentown can’t go five minutes without acting up, the dirt bikes were back again, buzzing around like they forgot they annoy everyone. APD walked around and did nothing.

What really fries my brain is I KNOW they’re gonna pretend it was a win. 

They’ll post some cropped picture of a table and be like “Great turnout today!”.

Meanwhile the whole community is staying home because we’re tired of the violence and tired of City Hall acting like everything is fine and crime is “down.”

If the goal was to show how out of touch City Hall is, then wow. Congrats. You nailed it. The empty streets today were basically screaming louder than any public comment ever could.