And they're off!Allentown City Council member Tony Phillips is running for Mayor Edwin Pawlowski's job this Fall. For months, people all over Allentown have been asking the same question. "Where's Tony? He'll never win if he doesn't campaign." Late last week, I learned that Tony has actually been going door to door for months, matching Pawlowski's pay to play money with shoe leather. I caught up with campaign manager Ken Matthews, who told me to expect to see Phillips yard signs sprouting with the chrysanthemums and sunflowers, as Summer fades into Autumn.
Yesterday, his campaign blog also fired an opening salvo with these questions:
Are you safer than you were four years ago?
Are there more jobs in the city of Allentown than there were four years ago?
Has the Riverfront project even started yet (the one Mayor Pawlowski held 3 press conferences about) ?
Why are so many businesses leaving the city ? ... and what's the total so far?
Why does Ed Pawlowski keep saying serious crime is down ?
Why does the Mayor Pawlowski say he created a surplus ?
Do Ed Pawlowski's Campaign donors get special treatment or has Ed's Chicago Political model just become the new Allentown model?
Let the games begin!
Tony Tone Toni has done it again.
ReplyDeleteGoing door-to-door personally is very effective! It's going to be an interesting and exciting election!
ReplyDeleteSounds like the Nixon campaign.
ReplyDeleteSpecial ed doesn't know whats about to hit him! Overheard some big shots talking about upcoming election,they were not talking good about King Eddie at all. The Bully just might get tko'd :)
ReplyDeleteAnother tough choice between two very poor candidates. It reminds me of last week's comments about the timber of ABE mayors over the years. Unlike Bethlehem and much like Easton, it seems A-Town will continue its tradition of electing poor mayors.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteFolks this year have tried to reach Tony over and over but to no success. He's even been issued a city owned cell phone and folks can't reach him on that either!
Sorry, Bernie, but that's how it is.
Also, this guy as chair of the parks committee, allowed Cedar Beach plans to proceed without even bothering to read them or make certain nearby residents most affected would be considered.
Allentown's been a D stronghold for decades. It desperately needs fresh candidates who care.
ReplyDeleteAt recent city hall public meetings, mayor was seen outside the doors, looking in.
We've been a block watch meetings where mayor makes appearance, gives his boring powerpoint presentation, answers 3 questions at most and leaves before anyone else can speak with him.
He's all show.
Phillips yard signs:
ReplyDeleteHave you seen them? Poorly designed and impossible to read.
Phillips Yard signs are great. Saw a bunch yesterday in the west end. Thy must be part of the kick King Ed to the crub Pride Pack
ReplyDeleteI agree that Tony asks some interesting questions, but I'm much more interested in hearing HIS solutions. It is easy to point fingers about what a person did wrong, but what are your plans for making it right? Where is Tony getting money for police? What is his plan to get more businesses into Allentown? He was absentee as a chairperson on one of the most polarizing projects in the city. There has GOT to be more talent than this out there!!!
ReplyDeleteTony's site says.... There is $4.6 million dollars of uncollected fines and fees in the city's computer collection system... When Councilman Phillips tried to document and catalog these funds as part of his budget recovery plan, the mayor collected all the councilperson's computers the next day for an "update.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm not the only one !
Just yesterday I called the clerks office why the minutes of council meetings are not posted when I know they're on the server somewhere. I was told they haven't been uploaded since May 20th.
However if you use the search engine on the city's website for an hour or so, you will come across them after searching through hundreds of council meeting pages. Much of this information is on the servers as required under 'The Right To Know' Pa. Law... you just got to spend a lifetime to find a sliver of information.
Which is the theme of this present administration... Every day is like panning for gold. You know it's there, you just have to spend your entire day to come up with one nugget of truth!
I tried to help Mayor Ed in his former life as a low income housing Executive Director and he has yet to even return my recent phone calls with items of importance to me and my family. I have more info about his (supposed) public service. Hope and pray he loses election to Tony! I have zero contact or relationship with Tony but wish him well, nonetheless. Also, Ed's BA and housing folks are inept as public (sic) servants can ever be, is my opinion. Councilman Donavan at least took my calls and listened to my concerns, to his credit. A-town sucks as is with all their nonsencical rules, regs and taxes! inept leader's (sic)?
ReplyDeleteBTW, Bethlehem is BIG city to the East as I often advised Mayor Daddona since Bethlehem is 21+ sq. miles geographically and Allentown is only 19+ sq. mi. while 100,000 people live there and only 74,000 population in Bethlehem.
I agree with Anonymous 9:07 AM 100%. Now that Tony stated the problems... Part 2 should be what he will do about them.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise he's ringing a bell w/o a clapper
Southside residents wrote to Tony early in year to suggest
ReplyDeletehe host a press conference in front of absentee landlord squalor.
Never heard back.
Allentown is doomed
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:42, 10:17,
ReplyDeleteI've heard the criticism here and elsewhere that Tony can be difficult to reach. I've also heard the criticism that the Cedar Park crisis was the result of shoddy work done by his parks committee.
If Tony is difficult to reach, that might be because of his daily commute to Philly, which must be taxing. Or he may be forgetful. Whatever the reason, I prefer that to someone who refuses to communicate and who often miscommunicates, as Pawlowski has done so many times, whether it be Cedar Creek Parkway or the budget deficit.
Now, as far as his Cedar Creek Parkway failures on city council are concerened, it's my understanding taht Council had asked Pawlowski to scale things back, he had agreed to do so, and in fact did scale things down. He just did a poor job of communicating.
You gotta' call this as you see it. I f you think King Edwin is more responsive, you should support him. But that's a side of him I've never seen.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:07,
What is his plan to get more businesses into Allentown?
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There has GOT to be more talent than this out there!!!
Getting business of the kind Allentown needs is going to be tough and I would like to hear plans on how Phillips will do it.
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A good part of Allentown has a population that has too low an income to support business, and no business of any size is going to move into a low income area. It's a Catch 22 situation.
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Either candidate has to have a broad vision for rebuilding Allentown. Pawlowski has an ad hoc approach, Phillips seems to have none.
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At this point I'd rather have the devil I know than the devil I do not know. I have been very critical of Pawlowski, but he has done a few things right. Maybe it might be wiser to keep Pawlowski and just beat him into submission than the have a candidate who at this point in time has offered no program other than "more cops". Phillips should have had a plan long ago.
Think about Allentown 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThink about Allentown now.
Think about Allentown 20 years from now.
SCARY and DEPRESSING
More social programs should fix everything
Looking to Escape:
ReplyDeleteLast I check Ed Pawlowski has been having small businesses leaving from allentown. Go to center city, everything is borded up. Its awful! Pawlowski is a joke, not doing anything for allentown but for himself! Go Tony! And Tony is having a campaign event this saturday, everyone needs to come!
What a terrible choice. Pawlowski walks to re-election.
ReplyDeleteJust observing from Bethlehem (Eastern suburb?) and have to weigh in. The mayor sounds like a bit of a scoundrel, but the electorate needs to be given a good choice. Is this fellow (Phillips) a good choice? Based on what I'm hearing, he seems a little weak. Hopefully he will run an aggressive campaign, because for Allentown it's getting late.
ReplyDeleteVOR
Bernie -
ReplyDeleteAs far as the park issue, it seems that the Mayor refused to attend committee meetings and kept his park director from attending committee meetings. Why should Tony have held more committee meetings to be stonewalled by the Mayor?
As to coming out swinging, I think the points Tony raises are good ones. However, putting those out on his blog is simply ineffective. He should be holding weekly press conferences with the local media attending.
Tony seems to have a dislike for the Call. Given their track record of fawning over Pawlowski I can understand this. However, the Mayor holds a large edge in fundraising. Tony doesn't have the luxury of excluding any means of communication.
Tony and Ken boy will never be close this November. Tony is lazy. he knocks on a few doors of those who won't even vote.
ReplyDeleteBernie attacks every other pol who won't return calls but he gives tony a pass because of his ever irrational hatred of Pawlowski.
VOR,
ReplyDeleteI think we all agree it will be an uphill battle.
Anon 4:34, A few weeks ago, three R LC Comm'r candidates called a news conference. Ken Petrini, who writes for EPenn Press, was there. I was very late. The MC sent no one. Neither did 69. It made no difference that one of these persons chairs the largest legislative body in the LV. It did not matter that another chairs the A-town school board. The papers and other media are struggling, which is bad for all of us.
Anon 5:28, My main problem w/ Pawlowski is the disdain he shows to ordinary people. Unless you have $ or power or can get him votes, he wants very little to do with you. He ignored mostly minority merchants on Hamilton Street adversely impacted by LANTA routing changes. He sicced code on a septuaganerian who conducted yard sales for pin money. He has code doing systematic inspections, but only in the poor neighborhoods. He could not even be bothered to tip waitresses. He is also vindictive to people he does not like. I hear this from many people who may not support Tony, but know very well just how arrogant Pawlowski is.
ReplyDeleteWell, we all know how much of a scoundrel Ed Pawlowski is. So with all the stuff he has pulled in his 4 years in office, we should not tolerate this anymore. He thinks he can bully and intimidate everyone ,and its time for us the small guys to take the bully down.
ReplyDeleteTony may be a refreshing face for city hall ,from what I see of him (at least he is straight up and forward with his decisions)
I don't think I could deal with 4 more years of the the sneakyness and corruption we have with Mayor Ed. I will sell my home and leave if he wins, I promise this. We all have our dislikes about others ,but Ed has so many of them its disgusting. I wish people had some balls and just vote against him this november.
On another note:
A friend of mine ,who is an acquaintances with The Pawlowski's. mentioned something funny about Ed & Lisa P.
My friend's kids hung out with The myor's kids. The kids were playing with some other children and She told me one of their kids told her child, that ,"mommy and daddy" (Ed & Lisa) told me "I have to like a certain kid because their parents have alot of money".
Even though the mayors kid didn't get along with this other kid.
Now that does not sit well with me. If they tell their kids this kinda stuff. What kind of people are these two! They seem very fake and I just get a bad vibe from them, They smile in your face and tell everyone what they wanna hear.!
I just had to get that off my chest,it bothered me not to tell someone that sickening personal information that i came across.
Anon 6:06, aka Ken Matthews. Give me and everyone else a break.
ReplyDeleteWhat a crock of Bullshit. If it were any one else, ohare would have called the bullshit meter on you.
Really, that is the lamest bs story I have heard in a long time and I hear quite a few.
If you want a disparaging story keep it simple, not a Twilight Zone episode.
True huh, name names? When? Where? Verify.
I have to give you credit for immagination and of course kudo's to ohare for selective BS calling.
Anon 10:08,
ReplyDeleteActually, I just got home from a county council meeting and only now have seen the comment posted by Anon 6:08. The story reported involves children of the mayor, who are off limits as far as I am concerned. Moreover, there are too many he saids and she saids. Finally, even if these kids said what was reported, these are still kids who may have misunderstood their parents.
To me, what matters are the questons raised by Ken Matthews on the blog he posted.
As a 30 yr. resident and taxpayer of Allentown I am embarrassed and depressed to have the choice of Tweedledum v. Tweedledee for mayor. The third largest city in the state and these two jugheads rise to the top?
ReplyDeleteWent to the fair and stopped by the GOP tent.
ReplyDeleteTony has a total of 20 words a giant picture of himself on the literature he is handing out to voters.
His 3 point plan of Really doing things is a joke.
Lastly when asked what Tony would do, the nice Republican lady I was speaking with was hardpressed. Than told me she was voting for Ed.
The recentg post about the incident at the Fair points out a significance between the Republicans and Democrats.
ReplyDeleteWe do not force anything down anyone's throats, and respect each persons viewpoints. Not the Democrats. Someone at their booth was handing out Joe Sestak literature. He was told to leave. And then staffers went around trying to collect all he had handed out to Fairgoers.
Sounds like censorship and group think to me.
And to those who hate the Republican Party - join and help us improve it and its candidates.
Please forgive the typos, spent most of the day at the Fair.
ReplyDelete