Allentown mayor, challenger make final pitch to voters ahead of rematch

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mayor Matt Tuerk and Councilman Ed Zucal met Tuesday night in a church basement for one of their few face-offs since a lopsided primary victory for the incumbent.

At a candidates forum at St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church led by the Allentown Crime Watch Presidents’ Council, Tuerk laid out his goals for a second term, while Zucal urged voters to give him an upset win.

“What I want to do is spend more of the next four years unifying our city, bringing us together,” Tuerk said after identifying Allentown’s biggest challenge as “a lack of connection."

Residents have “grown disconnected” in Pennsylvania’s third-largest city, he said. He blamed “decades of demographic upheaval” for many quality-of-life issues, such as ”unsafe streets” and a lack of jobs, housing and parking.

The mayor said he plans to continue “proactive outreach” to residents “to make sure that our administration is accessible and approachable.”

Make 'Allentown a better place'

Zucal, a former Allentown police officer, also pinpointed quality-of-life issues — such as “motorbikes, loud music, parking complaints and crime” — as his top priority if elected.

“I've always stressed the fact that when you solve the little crimes, the big crimes will not be there as often,” he said, noting his belief in the broken windows theory.

That theory, common in criminology, argues that visible signs of crime and disorder — such as broken windows — encourage more serious crimes.

“My plan is to attack all forms of quality-of-life issues to make living here in Allentown a better place,” Zucal said.

The two-term councilman said he wants to “put more officers on the streets” and restructure Allentown Police Department.

Zucal in April said he would fire Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca.

He signaled Tuesday that he instead would replace members of the police department’s leadership after their expected retirements in coming years.

Budget choice

The candidates offered differing takes on raising property taxes next year.

The mayor defended his proposal to increase taxes about 4%, which would be the first millage-rate hike in seven years.

Then-Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell forced through a 27% property-tax hike after he couldn’t reach an agreement with council.

Allentown must offer its residents essential city services provided by police officers, firefighters, paramedics and others, many of whom will get contractually obligated raises in the new year, Tuerk said.

City leaders are faced with a choice: “Do you cut services or do you find ways to increase revenue?” Tuerk said.

“We want to make sure that we're continuing to provide the level of services that you deserve as Allentonians," he said. "And to do that, we're asking everybody to put in a little bit more."

Zucal said he thinks the city should make the opposite choice when faced with budget constraints.

The mayor’s 3.96% tax increase could significantly affect people on fixed incomes, according to Zucal, who called Tuerk’s budget “stacked” with personnel.

“I believe that you can function with [fewer] people,” Zucal said. “That means more people have to step up. But it's not an impossible job.”

More cordial debate

Tuesday’s forum was a more cordial event than the debate hosted by LehighValleyNews.com in April.

The candidates clashed at multiple points then, but Zucal after his primary loss pledged to run a more positive campaign focused on issues.

Tuerk on Tuesday credited his opponent for doing just that, while Zucal called the mayor a “great campaigner” who will be “hard to beat” in their second electoral match-up.

The incumbent beat the challenger by more than 60 percentage points in the spring.

Tuerk swept all of Allentown’s 50-plus voting precincts in the Democratic primary as he picked up almost 5,000 votes to Zucal’s 1,191 votes.

But Zucal earned just under 500 write-in votes from Republicans to earn another shot at the city’s top job.