KEEPING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS SAFE AND HEALTHY

Mayor Ed Pawlowski recently announced an initiative to improve some of the city’s most challenged neighborhoods to coincide with the revitalization of the downtown area.

The “Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods Program” was announced in front of a crowd of over 300 business leaders during a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast held at Muhlenberg College. The city will spend $2.5 million to address blight remediation, housing redevelopment, home ownership, and streetscaping, partnering with the Allentown School District to target education and early childhood education programs.

“The neighborhoods are critical,” said Pawlowski. “It’s the one piece of the puzzle that we really haven’t addressed in its entirety. As long as we have people who are still living below the poverty line, we are never going to be a city that has truly succeeded.”

The Mayor also challenged the business community to match or exceed the $2.5 million that the City is investing. The funding comes from the remaining proceeds of $1 million from the Concession Lease of the City’s water and sewer system, and $1.5 million of unused federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership funds.

ADDRESSING THE VIOLENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY: PAWLOWSKI PARTICIPATES IN CITIES UNITED CONFERENCE IN NEW ORLEANS

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, along with new Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, traveled to New Orleans recently to participate in the annual Cities United meeting that explored solutions to reduce the appalling number of violent deaths of young African American men.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu first launched Cities United in 2011, and have since produced a growing network of 56 mayors who collaborate to inform and equip local officials with the tools, practices, skills and resources required to reduce and hopefully eliminate violence-related deaths for young African American men.  The program is located at the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Institute for Youth, Education and Families.

The event was a two-day session that brought 225 officials and staff members from 37 cities to create a course of action that will put a stop to homicide as the leading cause of death for young African American men. Their goal is to reduce the number of deaths by 50 percent in the 15-24-age range.  Sadly, there were seven homicide victims in the past two years in Allentown that fall into that category.

“As leaders, our greatest responsibility is protecting the safety and prosperity of the city and our residents. That means preventing violence and investing in the opportunities that we all need to feel better about our future. We all have a stake in keeping our streets and our young people safe, and in strengthening the city so that everyone can achieve their full potential,” said Mayor Pawlowski.

By participating in the meeting, Pawlowski hopes to be able to replenish the hope and opportunities available to the young African American and Latino men who are affected by violence. The topics covered at the meeting include effective strategies for engaging black men, rethinking juvenile justice, restorative justice as a tool for community healing, educating for a strong community, leveraging philanthropic partnerships, and developing strategies that ensure a long-term impact.

A SAFER EAST SIDE: RENOVATED EAST SIDE FIRE STATION OPENS

After being closed for two and a half years, the former Irving Street Fire Station, now known as the East Side Fire Station, was reopened after extensive renovations to serve the residents on the East Side of Allentown.  Mayor Ed Pawlowski, Interim Fire Chief Bob Kudlak, retired Fire Chief Bob Scheirer, members of City Council and community leaders attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially commence the reopening of the station.

The original building, which was built in 1953, was closed in September, 2011 due to structural damage which included cracks in some walls and the foundation.  Apparently, the building had been constructed over a water runoff area known as a drainage swale which caused the damage.  The building was completely rebuilt on top of more than 40 yards of concrete to prevent this from ever happening again.

“This new station is a substantial improvement over the old facility,” said Mayor Pawlowski. “It is better for the firefighters and the equipment. It also has women’s quarters which were lacking in the old station.”

“The old station was pretty much a garage with very tight living quarters,” said Kudlak. “The workout area for the men consisted of a treadmill that sat between the firefighter’s beds.”

The newly renovated building, designed by W2A Design Group of Allentown for $1.95 million, consists of a three-bay, two-story station that can accommodate up to eight firefighters and two paramedics. Boyle Construction, also of Allentown, managed the project, and UGI donated appliances for the station.  The Fire Department immediately began to move in, and the station is now fully manned. 

FURTHERING THE GOAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: PAWLOWSKI RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION FOR STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is doing his part of furthering the goals of the state Democratic Party by running for re-election for the State Democratic Committee.  Pawlowski is seeking his second four-year term on the committee, whose primary objective is to get quality Democrats elected to office by encouraging registered Democrats to vote and recruiting members to join the state Democratic Party.

Pawlowski also assisted Rob McCord’s campaign for Governor by circulating petitions and capturing hundreds of signatures to help McCord officially get on the ballot for the May primary. 

State Committee members are elected every four years at the primary in the year in which the Governor is elected.  State Committee members are apportioned to each county based on the percentage of statewide voter registration.  They are placed on the primary ballot to be voted in to office like any other elected office in the state.

 

A BIG THANK YOU TO PUBLIC WORKS, BUT SNOW REMOVAL NOW MEANS POTHOLES

This past season, the Lehigh Valley has suffered through an unusually harsh and bitter winter with a significant amount of snow.  The City of Allentown’s Public Works Department  worked tirelessly to clean off public walkways, plow city streets, and remove snow that was causing parking/driving problems, and we owe them a huge thank you for their dedicated, around the clock work after each snowfall.

Unfortunately, snow removal means potholes, and as we move into the coming spring season and the roads warm up, more and bigger potholes will arise on many streets. 

Please remember our pothole hotline, and if you see a pothole, call 610-437-8775. The faster our Public Works Department knows about them, the faster they can be filled. 

 

 

 

KEEPING OUR ENVIRONMENT CLEAN: ALLENTOWN RECEIVES RECYCLING PERFORMANCE GRANT

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has recently awarded the City of Allentown roughly $265,000 in a Recycling Program Performance Grant. The grant, whose letter cites the city’s “exemplary efforts,” is in response to the nearly 20,000 tons of residential and commercial materials recycled by local residents and businesses in 2011.

Performance grants are offered from the state based on certain criteria, mainly the type and weight of the materials being recycled.  Recyclables can be from residential, commercial and drop-off recycling programs. 

“The residents of Allentown and our business community have embraced with open arms the idea of green living through recycling and waste reduction,” said Mayor Pawlowski. “Allentown continues to be a recycling leader in the region and strives to decrease trash that is land filled while increasing the types and amounts of materials to be recycled.”

The city’s commendable recycling program has received other awards from the Pennsylvania DEP, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Recycling Coalition, the Solid Waste Association of North America, the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania, Keystone Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America, and the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association.

The Pennsylvania Act 101 authorizes curbside recycling to municipalities with a population over 10,000 and proposes grants be applied toward recycling program sustainability and enhancements. “The grants allow us to provide quality services and programs to our residents and businesses,” said Ann Saurman, Manager of the Bureau of Recycling and Solid Waste. “This $265,000 grant is based 100 percent on the city’s recycling performance, and therefore, I am very grateful to all our participating residents, businesses and schools.”

Allentown’s recycling program is available to all 365,000 households and 375 businesses that participate in the weekly curbside collection program. The Act and program have goals to reduce Pennsylvania’s municipal waste generation by recycling at least 35 percent of waste generated, procure and use recycled and recyclable materials in state governmental agencies, and educate the public on the benefits of recycling and waste reduction. Recycling in Pennsylvania is a billion dollar industry that generates momentous economic and environmental benefits.

For more information about the recycling programs within the city, please call the Bureau of Recycling and Solid Waste at 610-437-8729, or visit the bureau website at www.allentownrecycles.org.

 

SHARING THE ALLENTOWN SUCCESS STORY: MAYOR ATTENDS NLC CONGRESSIONAL CITY CONFERENCE IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski attended the National League of Cities 2014 Congressional City Conference last week in Washington, DC, along with 2000 elected and appointed city leaders.

A number of influential leaders spoke at the event, which was held at the Marriott Wardman Park, and included U.S. Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, and Us Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina Johnson.

The purpose of the event was to discuss federal policy issues of importance to local government, and Pawlowski was enthusiastic about the many positive changes the event could produce for the City of Allentown.

“This is the members of the League’s best opportunity to communicate directly with the top elected and appointed officials in Washington,” said Pawlowski.  “We hope to move them toward ending partisan gridlock and beginning to focus on ways to boost the economic recovery and enhance job creation activities in cities and towns across America.”

The Mayor looks forward to working with other NLC members in his continual effort to revitalize the City of Allentown through the exchange of ideas and replicating programs and initiatives that have proven successful in other cities throughout the country.