$1200 for a one Bedroom Apartment!!!

"According to Apartment List, an online marketplace that matches renters with apartments, the median rent price in Allentown rose by 1.4% in July.

The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city now stands at $1,199, the report said. For a two-bedroom, that number is $1,427." Amy Unger WFMZ

So if someone makes $40,000yr/ $20/hr $800wk/ $3200month, $2500ish after taxes and pays $1200 rent. That means there is roughly $1300 left or  $325 a week for food, clothing, car insurance/payment, cell phone etc.  How the $@%# is that Affordable!!!  

This is why you sometimes see 2 families or extended family members living in apartments in the city. The landlords know these people cant pay for two units so they allow them to stay and just jack up the price.  

The landlords need to be held way more accountable in the city.  Apartment units should only house 1 family because 1 family should be able to afford to live there.  

The worst part is most of the landlords in the city live in New Jersey and New York.  They probably never check on their property's unless the rent money stops coming.  Hence all of the dumpy homes throughout the city.

Someone needs to seriously look into these landlords and their practices. Its getting ridiculously hard for the average person to even live.

Affordable Housing for Who

 This is straight from the Morning Call

"Officials and developers broke ground for The Standard at 111 N. Sixth St., plans for which call for a four-story, 196,000-square-foot apartment building with 130 studio apartments, 89 one-bedroom apartments, 38 two-bedroom apartments, a dog park and a pedestrian bridge to a nearby parking garage.

J.B. Reilly, president and founder of City Center Group, said it will be the developer’s biggest apartment in downtown Allentown and that it will be complete in the next 12 months"

I mean where should I start?

Positives: 

1. A big new building in a struggling downtown that has nothing to offer its tenants .  

2. See number 1

Negatives:

1. No one who currently lives in the city will be able to live there.

2. No one who lives outside of the city wants to live there.

3. I believe this is covered in the NIZ so NO tax revenue on this until like 2097 or when we are all dead.

4.  This is starting to get into the ghetto.  Well just deeper into it.

How is this something Allentown needs?  

Siegel and ICE

 Ill try to stay within the confines of Allentown but after Tuerks shenanigans with ICE and the courthouse and now Siegel I mean guys cmon now, this is big boy stuff and you two are just little fish.  Quit trying to get on the news. 

Rep. Josh Siegel has decided to support a bill that doesnt allow ICE agents to wear masks or drive unmarked vehicles or basically be undercover during their operations.  Josh do you even watch the news?  I get your point ICE and law enforcement should be identifiable (once they go and try and make contact with someone) because there may have been a few incidents were someone pretended to be ICE and were not.  But people pretend to be politicians, police chiefs and Mayors and are not.  Whats the difference?

However,  my man do you realize or understand why they are so secretive?  Don't you watch Fox news (Im sure your a CNN guy) when it shows ICE agents being attacked by people.  Their vehicles getting destroyed.  What do you think would happen if their vehicles said ICE  or immigration enforcement on the side of them?  They would immediately be put in danger. 

I totally support them covering their faces when they are serving warrants for fear of retaliation to themselves or their families. Wouldn't anyone want that type of protection? BUT why is it that bad guys can cover their faces when they loot and riot but your cool with that And arent signing any bills to stop that. But lets support a Bill that as long as violent illegal criminals know ICE is there its okay. Lets give the bad guys time to run.

Summing this up,  Siegel then goes on and says hes okay with masks if law enforcement is doing undercover operations, raids or tactical situations. WHAT do you think ICE is doing?

Sweep Tickets Truth

You always hear Chief Roca and Mayor Tuerk talk about Sweep Tickets.   They claim if you swim in our waterways you can get a $100 Sweep ticket.  Lets look at the truth of these tickets. What happens if you do not pay them?  Do they turn into a warrant?  No.  Do they increase in price for penalty for not paying on time. No. Does your drivers license get suspended? No. Is their any real reprocussions for not paying the ticket? No.  There are alot of No's associated with the Sweep ticket.  But I was able to come up with a number that is a yes.  Though I do not have paperwork documenting this, my sources are very strong.  The yes is that there are 3.5million dollars in outstanding Sweep tickets that have not been paid.  3.5 million!!!! So why do these two brag about the consequences of getting a Sweep ticket when their isnt one?  There is no way someone from out of state is going to pay one of these things when people living in Allentown dont. Then you have a former Sweep officer state in a council meeting that Councilman Hendricks tickets were always forgiven. Hendricks didnt dispute this statement either. So whats the damn point of these things? Lastly, the new head of the Sweeps department is conviently good friends with one of the mayors staff.   The drama never ends. Guys please stop trying to impress everyone with this Sweep crap and how effective it is.  The truth hurts.

Safe Driving or more like Frogger

 This week has been a great success story in Mayor Tuerks safe driving, safe streets he claims Allentown has.  Police chased a man from Philly the other night (good job, though the officers involved wont get any credit) who drove into a bunch of cars. Then there was a hit and run to a pedestrian yesterday.  I dont know about you but how the hell are you even supposed to walk in the city?  Maniacs trying to flee from the police then ping ponging off of cars.  People getting hit by cars.  This is a regular occurrence, but not everyone who gets hit makes the news. You need to walk with your head on a swivel and park your vehicles in garages or they might get hit.  Yet the Mayor wants bike lanes and says there wont be accidents by 2030 or something. Am I missing something?  

Allentown City Council... a joke

 How can these people even call themselves a council? At last nights meeting, I watched the Finance director Bina Patel claim there was a $300,000 surplus in the budget. So instead of saving it, they had council vote on giving this money to another non-profit. This non-profit is supposed to better downtown by somehow getting more people to come spend money there. Then these two guys claim the money spent downtown will trickle out to other businesses in the city.  What!!! This is Never going to stimulate the economy outside the NIZ zone or probably within it.  These two guys just took $300k of taxpayer money and council bought their bullshit scheme.

Then out of budget season once again the slimy mayor got council to vote yes to give some of his people ridiculous raises.  One raise was like $10k.  Council and this mayor are going to bankrupt the city. Disgusting to just keep throwing tax money to these people.  

Fountain Park Rocks

 Did anyone notice the boulders put across the parking lot entrance to Fountain Park? Perhaps Mayor Tuerk or Mandy Tolino realized that limiting parking for out of state swimmers would help.  Such a simple fix to help combat the scumbags that ruin the river.  Is this reaction tho, only because South Whitehall decided to react and put restrictions on the people at Wehrs Damn. Id say its probably the only reason the Mayor did something.  Now move onto the next watering hole say the Parkway and fix that situation.  No one likes to see a whale in a bikini sitting in the middle of the river at a table eating.  

Heart beat of the Lehigh Valley

 Why does Mayor Tuerk continue to say that Allentown is the Heart Beat of the Lehigh Valley?  It is more of the brown starfish of the valley.  City is way overpopulated for the services it puts out vs. the taxes it generates.  Downtown is a joke. No one goes there anymore.  Moxey never has people staying there, atleast no where near capacity.  The Archer doesnt seem to have many people attending the concerts either.  This city used to be a destination when Crocodile Rocks was open.  Banana Joes was awesome back in the day.  The Sterling Hotel was another favorite.  Now who wants to dare go to a club around 3rd/hamilton st.  There is no heartbeat.  The city has Cedar Beach and Birney Crum events going for it and thats about it.  How did it become so shitty?