Lets put an art sculpture on Hamilton.

 

Did you see the new statue placed in the 900blk of Hamilton St?  

"The Abduction of Psyche” was placed outside the Archer Music Hall in downtown Allentown.

The crooked Niz Brothers Pat Browne and J.B Reilly were there to present this statue.

I personally think the statue would look good in a fountain somewhere in Greece.   The 900blk of Hamilton St. tho? 

Wait until Gerlach and Siegel march with the defund the police crowd.  That statue will be destroyed.   

Or some kid will come by and spray paint it.

Of course Tuerk and his shadow Mota were there as well. 

Tuerk proclaimed there is art everywhere in the city, around every corner.  Yes Matt you are correct if you consider trash, graffiti, and homeless people art.

"Thats been our core mission from the beginning, not just to build buildings but to create places that people want to be in. Public art is a really critical part of creating these kinds of places." J.B. Reilly

J.B. I believe your core mission was to become rich and not pay taxes on the buildings you built. Thats how you will be remembered. Not for any art.

The fact is Hamilton St. is a ghost town after 5pm.  There is no reason besides the PPL center to head there.  Statues, bike lanes and whatever else anyone tries to implement or build will never get people to come there. Keep pumping money into your boat. You will never get it to float.

Shortage of Police Officers

 

Its appears Allentown isnt the only police department struggling to get applicants and are short on their manpower.  Bethlehem PD is low on their man power as well.

I spoke to a friend who has been on APD for over ten years and they stated their force will be losing close to 20 officers this year and possibly another 20 or more next year.

I asked is this because they hit the retirement age.  Their response was officers are leaving anywhere from 16 to 25 years on.  Those with prior military can buy up to 5 years of service to put towards their pension.  

That does not sound so bad.  

My contact stated APD is seeing some rough times.  "Officers dont want to work 25 years anymore.  Most dont stay past 21." I was told in the past most career street officers burned out by year 15.  Now they are seeing officers with as little as 3 years wanting to leave.  

"The job isnt fun anymore, I shouldnt say this, but the leaders need to go. They are so out of touch as to what a street officer goes thru since they havent done it in over 20 years. I'd say more than half of the officers want to leave."  

I was shocked to hear this but I guess with all the bad publicity APD gets its no wonder.  I think this could however be a trend throughout all law enforcement.

I still think the benefits are good and so is the starting pay at around 70k. So why are departments struggling to fill spots?  The days of a shiny badge and carrying a gun must not be that cool anymore. 

Memory Lane

 A Trip Down Memory Lane….

This November 4th voters will go to their designated voting location and make their choice for the future of Allentown and the Lehigh Valley as a whole. Historically the voters for non-federal seat years have been very low and that low turnout tends to benefit incumbents. The sad thing is that incumbents like Matt Tuerk do not deserve a second term. His first term has been routinely littered with scandal, corruption, and weak failing leadership. We will get into that further down as you read. Voters need to realize that this Lehigh County election has lasting implications if not paid attention to before casting their vote.   

Follow along….

Josh Siegel 

Who can forget Mr. ”F the Police” who while as sitting City of Allentown Council Member protested the Allentown Police Department. 

https://www.mcall.com/2020/08/02/three-allentown-council-members-call-for-gerlach-and-siegel-to-be-censured-for-joining-black-lives-matter-protests/

 When pressed for his actions, he claimed that he was in support of the movement but did not utter those words. If you believe that, you are as much a fool as he is.   

FTP partnered with CeCe Gerlach with a more symbolic than effective effort to cripple the APD by not supporting any legislation that would improve the APD, from hiring to protective gear. It was a big “NO” …a trend that Gerlach continues to this day.  

And dont forget her arrest:

https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/allentown/2022-03-30/allentown-councilwoman-ce-ce-gerlach-enters-ard-program-in-child-endangerment-case

When tensions were high Mr. FTP, in a moment of mental breakdown, handed out the sitting mayor’s personal cell phone.

Mayor O'Connell received death threats and hundreds of calls thanks to FTP. His response was essentially an “oops”.  

Heres another oops.

Lehigh Valley Ramblings:

Then FTP saw an opportunity to slither from small time City of Allentown Council to a vacancy in the PA House of Representatives.

 He won that race and since being in the position he has amassed an outstanding (sarcasm) voting record of 18% in 2025 and an overall voting record of 23%. Legislative Scorecard - PA Chamber Strangely, the exact same record as his contemporary, “Sneaky Pete” Schweyer and slightly eclipsed by Mike Schlossburg. (18%/26%)

Now FTP Siegel is running for the Lehigh County Executive and wants us all to trust him with the direction of the entire county?

A big “N-O” vote from me. What is even more scary is that if he wins, Cece Gerlach will move into the void left by FTP.

 

The two of them back together will ruin the Lehigh Valley and precious Allentown.

Matt Tuerk

It is no secret that this blog is not a fan of Matt Tuerk, nothing personal against him, I simply feel that he is not qualified to lead a city. 

He hasn’t really done much of anything for this city, unless you count pushing us into debt while destroying morale and quality of life. Let’s list his best, worst accomplishments below and I will leave it to the reader to decide if this is the direction they want to see our Allentown go.

- Discrimination and Harassment in the halls of City Hall The administration spent a lot of time and YOUR TAX DOLLARS on proving these to be false.

In the end, the firm they hired, Duane Morris, indicated there were instances of discrimination but blamed it on Human Resources. Are we surprised the Tuerk Administration had a firm say he was not discriminatory but “others were” and then paid them well? 

As if he is to be relieved of any wrongdoing. You are the mayor – if it is happening, it is YOUR fault for being a absent leader because you are focused on bike lanes and a flag.

-Safe Streets Initiative that has failed to deliver significant results.

-Streets are the worst in the Lehigh Valley. 

Allentown is a giant pothole, unless you are driving Hamilton. You are highly likely to be blessed with damaged tires and rims entering and exiting the Allentown city limits.  

Crime is down, or is it? .35% year over year is not an accomplishment. My suspicion is that crime data was manipulated to show a decrease because the data did not fit a narrative. Do you feel .35% safer in Allentown? How is that even newsworthy? Its not. Over 35mins of fluff.

- City events have been reduced from places to showcase culture and provide a space to get to know the community to events that require battle gear. Remember the shoot out at N.7th St./Linden St.   

-The Halloween Parade is gone and has been replaced with the Woke Walk. Lights in the Parkway is teetering on cancellation every year. The controller himself reported that Lights does not generate substantial revenue, if any at all.  

-City infrastructure is crumbling but the position of the administration is to give new facilities to Fire and Police, because they bring votes.   

-Spending it out control and the ability to balance a budget has proven difficult. Yet as I navigate the city, I see employees who are driving around in brand new pickup trucks and cars. Vehicles that are better than most people have in their driveways. Let’s not start with the car the mayor drives.

- Leadership The city lacks leadership in key roles. As I have stated previously, many cabinet members are just collecting a paycheck and provide very little effort to take the steps necessary to improve the lives of employees, visitors and residents. The only concern is that they hold on to their jobs another day. They know Tuerk is a flake and will fire anyone as soon as they don’t agree with his position on a given subject. The mayor has turned his advisory cabinet into a gaggle of mindless fools who rubber stamp his crazy agenda that benefits him. Of course, let us not forget his puppet master pulling all the strings in the background is a 25-year-old former Starbucks barista.  

-The city financial position is hard to figure out because the Finance Director has no idea what she is doing. She is unable to provide a comprehendible or clear answer to most questions she is asked by council and citizens. Watch any council meeting where Ms. Patel responds and your brain will hurt or you will puke.

The controller is no better…see my post about the controller for more information. With these two at the helm of the city finances it is fearsome exactly where we are going. My guess is down the drain.

This is a highlight of 2 (3 if you count Gerlach) candidates for two important positions that will change the next four plus years of our lives. My hope is that the voters of the Lehigh Valley and Allentown see that we are not being served well by these two individuals. My love of Allentown as the place where I grew up, went to school, married, and raised my children runs deep. I am deeply concerned about where we are going and as your humble Honest Abe blog host, I would be a failure by not speaking up.

We can change the trajectory of Allentown and the Lehigh Valley by casting our vote on Nov 4th. Stop listening to the garbage about people being Trump followers and loyalists. That is only an effort to further divide by drawing up a relationship that does not exist. The federal government is chaotic, but it matters most here where we live. Get out and vote! If you aren’t registered, the last day to register to vote is 10/20/2025 Register to Vote | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/VoterRegistrationApplication.aspx

Nov 5th is too late to play coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Abe

These two guys won't stop

Sorry I didnt want to write anything today and give Chief Roca and Mayor Tuerk a break. However, after reading the Mcall report on the crime press conference today I had too.

Mcall reported

"So far this year, the violent crime index, which includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, is slightly lower — 0.35 % — than it was in 2024."

0.35%!!!!  .035%!!! What is that? Half of a robbery would make it equal to last year.

More Mcall:

Broadly speaking, Allentown is a safe city,” Tuerk said. “All the crime statistics indicate Allentown is safer than many other cities around the commonwealth.”

What city's?  Technically there are only 3 major cities in Pa.  And Im sure Allentown has a higher crime rate than Bethlehem, Lancaster and Harrisburg.  Reading may be close. 

Matt can you quit bullshitting?  How about say "things are a little better in areas and we are showing an improvement."  Not compared to others. You can compare Lebron to Jordan, but he isnt Jordan nor will he ever be.

Moving on from Mcall: Roca

Cited an incident Saturday in which a tip from the community allowed the department — with help from Bethlehem and state police — to successfully disperse about 1,000 motorcyclists who had flocked to the city, many of whom were driving recklessly, performing stunts and disrupting traffic.

In preparation for this, luckily I know a few Allentown cops.  Here is the truth.  Apd was made aware of the bikers coming to town in advance. There was no preparation made. No operation plan made.  More like the eastside APD officers responded to the scene. When they realized they were well outnumbered they had to have most of the shift come help.

Someone hit the help button and PSP and Bethlehem City were called to assist before anything could be done. QUIT LYING!!!. 

You did nothing to prevent anything.  Is that why there are burnout marks all over the streets over there? Videos of straight chaos and smoke everywhere from tires burning. Funny the news didnt cover that story.

This looks under control. Not a cop in sight.

And I hate ragging on the officers out on the street.  They do the best they can with what they have.  They can't hire overtime when they are notified in advance of a huge biker presence.

Roca and Tuerk will spin anything to make themselves look good.  Its sickening.  Please share my blog with everyone you know.  Post it on facebook.  There were 39,000 views in the first whole month of the blog. This is great considering the target audience is small. 

Same script same sad cast

 The Morning Call published an article today on the uncoming mayoral race between current Mayor Matt Tuerk and Councilman Ed Zucal.

I guess it isnt too early to start talking about this. I do see yard signs up already.

Let’s start with Ed Zucal. A former Allentown Police officer and City Councilman for several years. He has an old school approach with more conservative views in my opinion, certainly more conservative than Matt.

Ed isnt trying to reinvent the wheel, but be is definitely not someone who ignores when the tire is flat. He sees the quality of life issues and crime as one of the biggest concerns people have. Its no secret he isnt a fan of police Chief Roca. Although he has publicly he would fire Chief Roca if he won, I think the problem isn’t entirely Roca's fault and Ed should take note that Tuerk’s stronghold on the way the city operates is most likely the real issue. I would also submit that Tuerk listens to unqualified, evil and vengeful people within his office and cabinet and that is a major problem.  

If mayor Tuerk let Chief Roca do his job without any political influence things may be different.  

Zucal has also been outspoken and opposed to the outlandished spending by the mayor and administration. I believe Zucal will reduce spending and perform a Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and redundancy review of all city positions. He will look for smart ways to fix the quality of life issues, and also trim some the wasteful spending. This should result in less tax raises. 

The quoted professor from Muhlenberg college doesnt speak favorable of Zucal, but lets not forget Mrs. Tuerk is an Environmental Sciences professor at Muhlenberg as well and the Tuerk family probably had a hand in the Morning Call article.  

As far as dedication to the city, well this is a toss up. Zucal despite unseemly good odds is still trying to win. 

On the other hand Mayor Tuerk has gone out and got the city seal tattoed on his chest and has become quite arrogant in his statements to media about his chances. “Winning reelection, it’s really a referendum on the job you’ve done, so I did a good job over the past 2.5 years, clearly we have done well, but we still have a lot to do, and I made that case to Democratic voters in May, and I continue to make that case to all voters in Allentown,” said Tuerk.  

I will leave that there-you can tell a lot about the type of person he really is with that quote. Arrogant, pompous, condescending, and self-important. 

Mayor Tuerk has been in charged for a few years now. Lets look at what he has done.

I cant think of anything positive. The morning call acknowledges the fact the Mayor got a grant to get people to work and for starting the building of the new police station. Getting a grant. Okay it can help. But what is the outcome so far of that grant? No stories on people getting jobs. Building a new police or fire station isnt an accomplishment at all. Especially when it takes on so much debt and degrades the quality of life of its citizens by tax increases. It’s not like he is out there laying brick himself, but I am sure he will be outside both raising his favorite LGBTQ flag. He has renamed parks that were already named after someone. He has targeted employees who disagreed with him or his closest allies. He has bulldozed a homeless camp. Embarrassed himself and the City by acting like a fool when Trump campaigned in Allentown. He has moved to pile on more debt than any previous mayor. He opposed the Safe Cities legislation publicly but then became increasingly unable to argue his opposition when the community pressured him. He changed his mind publicly because he saw votes.  

Oh he covered up the Curtis Investigation by paying him off.  Then spent around $400,000 with Duane Morris to say there was only "isolated discrimination" and the human resources department is useless.  Still hasn't fixed H.R 

When you sit back and evaluate these years he has been mayor one thing becomes obvious quickly. Tuerk is playing a part and not doing it well. He is the equivalent of a Lifetime made for tv movie actor…actually, that is an insult to lifetime actors. Every move he has made has been to preserve himself and keep his power.  

Tomorrow Tuerk will talk about the reduction of crime just to try and combat Zucal’s main priority. Note there was a homicide tonight 100blk N. 8th St.  Tuerk however will be raising your taxes, especially if he wins another term. 

Look for my pre budget post coming out soon. Its great. If that doesnt have an effect on who you vote for, you are either dumb or just dont care. I’ll leave it with Tuerks administration has been spending out of control and now they find themselves in a bad fiscal situation for 2026. My sources in his cabinet tell me that they know City Hall is a sinking ship and are just collecting their checks until it sinks.  

I don’t see Allentown changing for the better or even changing if he continues for another four years. I see Tuerk as someone that tries too hard and plays the citizens because he isnt a dumb individual. I mean people think he's Latino. They also think he really has Allentown’s prosperity at heart. They don’t know that it is all a carefully crafted script to make him appeal to the demographic. It is a fraud, he is a fraud.

Zucal is a certainly a long shot, but I have to go with him this time.

Mostly because I cannot vote for a fraud. Republicans shouldn’t sit this one out because they have no candidate. Democrats who really understand that Allentown isn’t being equitably and effectively served by this administration should consider Zucal and reach out to him on issues they need clarification. The political machine that serves this country that relies on media snippets and lies works overtime during this time. Tuerk is a big part of that machine fueled by deception and lies because it has worked so well for him thus far.  

Zucal doesn’t have any further political agendas and genuinely wants to serve and improve this community. I don’t feel the same could be stated for Tuerk. That is important to note.

Press conference on nonsense

This Thursday Mayor Tuerk will once again attempt to minimize crime and the perception of crime. He is scheduled to be holding another press conference at the Allentown Police Academy. We have heard and seen this all before.

 He has to kick into overdrive in preparation for election day.

Please attend if you want to hear Tuerk say how great Chief Roca is. Tho he isn't. Chief Roca may speak and tell you how proud he is of the men and woman of the Allentown Police Department. Tell a story about something he did.

Or Brag about something the police are going to start to do. And say its because of the officers hard work day in and out that this is possible. Same nonsense and same council persons will be there to stroke the mayor and chief's egos.

The Mayor will say there are less homicides and shootings than previous years. He probably is right. But what is the correlation between lower crime and the officers policing from the parking lots they sit in all day? Im sure DUI's are down, simply because officers aren't pulling people over. Drug and gun arrests are down because officers aren't stopping people. Dont be fooled by the numbers they present.

 The drugs are still here, so are the drunk drivers and people with guns. I mean what does it matter if you have an illegal gun? You might get 30 days in jail. Kick the window out of a patrol vehicle. $150 fine. 

I wrote about the reality and the preception of crime. The Mayor is only talking about the crime levels because election is next month.

Plus word is he might be getting several complaints from people on the east side over the motorcycles and dirt bikes that took over the streets this past sunday. Obviously, Apd did not have a plan to deal with that. It was a sunday, so the chiefs werent working. 

Honestly, I think people are more concerned about quality of life issues than homicides, drug dealers and overdoses. What bothers you more, not being able to sleep all night from someone blasting loud music or hearing 2 shots from a homicide? The music, no brainer. 

Old news but has anyone had any homeless sleeping on their property yet? 

Philly or Camden?

 

As some of you might have noticed if you live near Jordan Meadows, the homeless were kicked out today.  The question is where do they go now?

The YMCA is apparently opening early but their isnt enough space for everyone nor do many people want to go there.  So where do they go now?

Did Mayor Tuerk really think out this eviction plan?  Are the homeless even on Nate Hymans property? This power move is going to have dramatic effects on the look of the city.  Which is Allentown going to start to look like, Philly or Camden?

The once somewhat clean Hamilton St. I feel is going to start seeing some trash once more people start camping out there. .  As for the rest of the city, well there is enough trash on the streets.  Probably wont notice it.   

Be prepared for some homeless to start to migrate to the west end.

You could wake up to this.

 They will end up in every patch of woods between the lehigh river and cedar beach.  

We are lucky Tuerk isnt an Army General because his planning skills would surely end in the demise of us all.  His flood plan excuse is so weak.  Instead of letting the people live there in one area and being able to better help them, lets kick them out and spread them throughout the city. Good job Matt!!!!! Einstein has nothing on you.

Lawlessness on the Eastside

 

There was some biker event yesterday on the Eastside of Allentown on Union Blvd yesterday.  Close to 1000 people and bikers attended this chaos.  

Apparently, some biker club trying to be 1%ers was there and appeared to be recruiting.  

There was even a Barista there.

From the pictures traffic was blocked at times.  Motorcycles were burning out. Just complete chaos.

Of all my photos I dont see a few things.

1. Chief Roca.

Oh Chief where were you? Shouldn't you be out here locating the organizers and giving them fines or arresting them?

2. Cops

Where were the cops? I assume they were on the outskirts waiting for a shooting to happen. I bet they weren't even given an instructions on what to do. Though out numbered why not grab some license plates and photos of the actors and mail them $1000 worth of fines???  

Chief why do you allow this?  During the Puerto Rican day parade you allowed the same lawlessness at the same spot.  

Who gets blamed if some idiot crashes his bike into the crowd and kills some people?  

If heavy fines aren't imposed, I can only imagine this happening again in the future.  

Honestly, it doesnt appear that APD had any plans made to combat this.

Sorry Chief, but if your going to allow Allentown to be like Philly maybe its time you move on.