Blogger Michael Molovinsky has reported that Ed Zucal, a retired cop who currently sits on Allentown City Council, plans to announce his Mayoral bid on November 19. It's hard to see how incumbent Matt "Pee Wee Herman" Tuerk can be re-elected since he's alienated just about everyone. But Allentown citizens are the same voters who routinely re-elected Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski, even after he was indicted. Molovinsky believes Tuerk will be "hard to beat" in the primary, which in a one-party town is the election. I believe Zucal has spent most of his time on Council over the past two years attacking Tuerk, which I believe is counterproductive.
One of my readers has this assessment of Allentown's Mayor and City Council: "I have lived in Allentown through several mayors. Tuerk is by far the worst. He truly isn't qualified to run this city. Nor is Boyer, Genesis, those in H.R. Then Kistler is a yes woman to the mayor. Council is awful. Santo [Napoli] couldn't be more bought by the mayor. "well l, I mean, I own a business and I know hard it is to find good workers" blah blah. [Candida] Affa- let's scream at everyone and say negative things under her breathe. [Daryl] Hendricks- "I was a police officer for 30 years, I served this city." Okay but irrelevant, times have changed. CeCe [Gerlach]- police get nothing, [Natalie] Santos- is it my turn to vote? Otherwise I won't speak. [Ed] Zucal- let's call the mayor out on everything, [Cynthia] Mota- I know the right thing to do, but I am gonna vote against it or for it. Guys what is going on here!!! No one has blasted the mayor for making Allentown a viral comedy. We all look awful. Next council and mayoral elections will certainly bring new people."
I agree with everything this reader said except for his last sentence. I believe the new Council will be very much like the old Council, perhaps even worse.
26 comments:
Allentown, we want to be dirtier than Reading!
Zucal should switch Parties. It’s his only chance.
wild is the obvious choice
Allentonians enjoy having a Spanish speaking Mayor, the only phrase Zucal knows is "Mas Cerveza por favor". He's an angry old hater who was part of the mass incarceration machine that captured and imprisoned our BIPOC brothers and sisters, he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near power!
Given the state of Allentown and especially some of those wack-jobs on city council, Allentown may want to look to Connecticut for her next mayor.
I hope Hyman runs!
Tuerk is the worst, but like you said, Allentown re-elected Pawlowski after being indicted. I truly don't understand how blue cities can keep re-electing the same people who destroy their cities.
Nothing surprises me anymore in Allentown- after a revitalization, its been really regressing the last few years. Easton is now the place to be!
Nat Hyman or Susan Wild?
First of all Roy Afflerbach was the worst mayor in Allentown history hands-down. There is also speculation that Cynthia Mota is also going to run for mayor as well. Anybody who has ever attended or watched a city Council meeting for more than 45 seconds will realize she is a joke and is clueless.
Tuerk ran a pretty good campaign in 2021 as an unknown in the Democratic primary and is a hard working campaigner. He should be considered the front runner as an incumbent, but his performance hasn't been real good and his partisan antics at the Trump rally damaged his credibility. Should be a really interesting race for Allentown as the masses of clueless low IQ straight ticket D voters will not be able to decide the election as it will be settled in the D primary. Zucal should have a fighters chance, especially if Mota joins the race as she could split some of Tuerk's support. He will need to work really hard on the East Side, South Side and West End/Trexler Park & Hamilton Park neighborhoods and try to appeal to voters who value public safety and tougher law enforcement in the City.
Zucal is a liar. He would fit right in as mayor.
Wild was bankrolled for 6 years by out-of-state donors, did her damage, and can now move on.
I doubt that Wild will even be living in the Lehigh Valley, much less Allentown.
Tuerk has been awful. Zucal is a clearly better option and has my vote for now. That could change as others get into the race, but I wouldn’t vote for Tuerk again if there was a gun to my head.
It’s Tuerk’s arrogance and sense of entitlement that make his ineptitude all the more repulsive. He clearly is incapable of doing the job I hear that he has 12 people in his office where prior Mayors had 3. It’s interesting that last year he said Allentown would be doomed without a 14% tax increase but, now that he’s running for reelection, he is proposing no tax increase this year. I know no one who respects him.
Worse than Afflerbach?
We need Ray back.
Sure there was worse than Afflerbach. Wasn't there a sitting mayor that went to federal prison?
Spend a few minutes checking out all the grants he has garnered for the city. Talk about respect. Bernie pee wee's comment is disrespectful and your claim no one respects him is unsupported. Regardless, look at the video that took off with ther trump visit and observe that he never disrespected anyone. He'll get my vote for being decent as well as knowledgeable about economic development. Neither ed or cynthia have demonstrated both qualities.
Ray was a self-serving hack. Allentown would have Nat Hyman as Mayor had Ray not sabotaged Hyman’s campaign with a third-party candidacy.
That allowed Pawlowski to win another term just before Pawlowski was convicted of corruption, and Pawlowski rubber-stamp O’Connell (just coincidentally) to be appointed as Mayor by City Council.
7:00 pm : Ray is 112 years old, got beaten by Tuerk in the primary last time , purposefully ruined Hyman being our Mayor by running a no chance write in campaign to give us a Pawlowski reelection and wasn’t a good mayor when he was in there.
I also think that it is hard to say Tuerk is the worst mayor ever. Pawlowski set a very high bar to get over for that title. I sincerely hope Nat Hyman gives running for mayor another try. It would be great to have someone run who is a native to our area and hasn't been depending on earning a buck off the public tax trough.
Zucal is a joke. You might not like the current Mayor but he is intelligent and Zucal is as close as it comes to Special Ed. He should resign from council and go away.
Boy some people do not like the democrat Ray I wonder Why/
Ray was a former school administrator that should tell you a lot--Look at the schools in this country
I wish people would attend council meetings and see the nonsense that this administration does, look at last year budget, first he needed 6% increase then came back two more times till the lights came on in his head that council wants no tax increase. Now this year everyone was saying the city was running 6 million in red. Now he presented no tax increase budget smh. This is because your trash fees is increasing 190$ and again in 2026 , 5% after that. If Ed Zuckel didn’t speak up numerous times questioning the facts etc looking out for taxpayers we’d be paying a lot more. Ed Zuckel deserves to be mayor to correct this mess
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