As I sit here and think of more about this
disastrous borrowing that the city is considering tomorrow, I am reflecting on
how the out-of-control spending ride that these city “leaders” are taking us on
currently is going to hurt, if not send the city to bankruptcy. I am a
lifelong(58 years) Allentown resident, and I have seen bad leaders (e.g.
Dadonna, Afflerbach, O’Connell) but this current mayor and the cabinet he
assembled must be the worst. I fear that Allentown’s best days are
going to be behind us if the citizens keep voting for such failures into
office. This is not solely a reflection of the mayor, our council
members are just as ineffective and detached from reality. The thought
that the city would be entertaining a taking on of so much debt when just 5 years
ago, prior to the influx of CARES and ARPA money the city was handed a bankrupt
in 5 years report by the Novak Firm is concerning. The situation could not possibly
have improved. Our leaders gave money to the DaVinci Center who promised
the site at Cedar Crest was going nowhere – no sooner did the check cash and
they closed the site. They handed money to vocal community members who
were all about unfair treatment and discrimination of employees along with
their “concern” for funds going to the wrong places. Then they were
handed their check, and they disappeared. I am sure they will return
during this budget season crying about the injustices and discrimination in the
city. ARPA funds were then used to hire new staff but there was no
mention of a plan to end the positions at the end of the ARPA season. ARPA
funds must be spent by Dec 31, 2026 – there should be a plan to remove those
positions from the city roster and not by moving into another city fund.
These position should go completely. The $1million+ paid for the ARPA
positions is a drop in the spending bucket but as I review the debt payment
amortization on the city site, $9m-14m is no small number. That
would be $1million less to come up with – let’s face it, our clueless council
is going to pass this spending. When you have a business owner on the
dias who gives everyone a promotion because he knows how important it is to pay
top wages (I wonder if he pays his people so well?) and a "lame
duck do nothing" his entire career, Daryl Hendricks on council, it is
not rocket science to know we are in for a fun ride. Buckle up!
Along with cutting the ARPA positions next year the mayor should
be looking at all staffing and removing redundancy and waste. It is
my understanding that there are 20 clerks for 200 police officers. Is
that necessary? Imagine if the effect on our school if our school district was able to maintain such a student-to-educator ratio? I write this because I am concerned for my city and I
don’t think there is anyone in City Hall, including our Controller and Finance
Director, that cares much about the city.
The ARPA positions
Heres link
https://www.allentownpa.gov/Portals/0/adam/Content/vQSEOIJQJUiH1uNjTQE68g/Url/12-%202025%20ARPA%20Fund.pdf
Please copy and paste it to see.
11 comments:
Damn Abe. I had no idea about everything you wrote. Well about the mayor and city council being ineffective is obvious but the rest needs to get out there. The favors these council people must get if they vote for this should be investigated. I mean we all know Mr. Hendricks son got promoted recently in the parks department and ever since then Daryl has supported everything the mayor wants. The city is going no where fast.
I find it interesting the city was on track just 5 years ago to be bankrupt but now want to pass this bill. How can the finance director sign off on this as a good idea? I cant wait to hear the explanation by Tuerk and Patel.
I lived in Allentown 25 years. Worked there for 35 years. Now, I live elsewhere and am satisfied with my life in an adjoining township. I remain curious about my former city, however.
There is absolutely no doubt Allentown is in free fall decline. No one particular reason. Is it leadership incompetence, ignorance, thick-headedness, even deviousness? All of the above?
My message to Allentown voters is consistent. You simply WILL NOT reverse course until you elect different people to man the controls. It will take time to fully flush out the underachievers, but the process MUST begin. There’s no other way!
But our alternative right now is Zucal. i do not feel he is the right choice either. He is part of the old Allentown that is gone. He even stated he wanted to take Allentown back to Irish and PA Dutch times. Maybe a poor choice of words but it came off elitist and discriminatory. We will be stuck with another damaging Tuerk administration and no one will be able to dig us out of the hole after 4 more years of his crazy politics and wasteful spending.
Do a search of the Mayors biographical material. He claims that he brought thousands of jobs and billions, with a B, of dollars to Allentown in his last job.
Give the kid a chance, apparently he’s some kind of financial genius.
@9:10 AM
Cool, vote for the city’s “First Latino Mayor”.
Good luck.
Except those billions were thanks to a alliance between a certain PA senator and his bff JB. Tuerkey just rode their coat tails and packaged it as his own success.
@10:30am I am sure a lot of others will as well, you’ll see shortly
No one in their right mind believes that JBR has ever informed Mayor Pee Wee about anything of significance.
What percentage of Allentown residents who are eligible to vote actually vote?
How many actual voters did the Boy Mayor get?
No one ever went broke betting on the stupidity of the Allentown electorate, such as it is.
JB is a mega successful real estate developer, his brother is a highly respected medical doctor. JB fully understands the Mayor Matt is an incompetent goofball.
My thoughts are will ice erect a statue of the walking dick with ears. After that the feds come in in one swoop and scoop up those for insider trading of real-estate as well as the now infamous Z law that started with KOZ.
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