- Residents and nonprofit leaders are urging council to help build a new youth center and an affordable housing project with pandemic-relief funds
- Mayor Matt Tuerk wants to use the city’s remaining $10 million in ARPA funds on new police and fire stations
- Both options could be debated at length Saturday morning
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown’s remaining pandemic-relief money looks likely to take center stage Saturday morning as council tries to pass a budget for next year.
Allentown received $57 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, and about $10 million has not yet been earmarked for other projects or programs.
Mayor Matt Tuerk proposed spending that money to rebuild Central Fire Station and the Allentown Police Department’s patrol station at 10th and Hamilton streets -- a plan Council President Daryl Hendricks fully supports.
He said he plans to argue for council to adopt the mayor’s proposal as part of Allentown’s 2024 budget, with $5 million to support each project.
“We owe (taxpayers) some infrastructure upgrades that are critical to the city,” Hendricks said Tuesday.
Saturday morning debate
Council is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Saturday to hear from residents, debate various proposals and vote on a final budget.
Members have held four committee meetings over the past week to hear from city officials about their budget requests, with more scheduled on Wednesday night.
“Infrastructure’s important, and nice, shiny municipal buildings are important. But do you know what the most precious piece of infrastructure is in the city of Allentown? It’s our families and our children. They are the very fabric of our society.”Joe Welsh, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute
The first four meetings have been held with little input from residents. But those who have shown up — and been allowed to talk — have implored council members to use some of the city’s ARPA money to help get two projects off the ground.
Ripple Executive Director Sherri Binder asked council members on Oct. 25 for $1.5 million to support its project to convert Emmanuel United Church of Christ into a dozen “deeply affordable” apartments.
Community Action Lehigh Valley is seeking about $1.85 million in ARPA funding to demolish the former Cleveland School at 424 N. Ninth St. and turn it into a youth center.
'Most precious piece of infrastructure'
Joe Welsh, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, on Tuesday urged council to back the organizations’ plans, calling Binder and CALV Executive Director Dawn Godshall “two tremendous community leaders that we’re very lucky to have.”
If it could be quantified, the cost of "not addressing youth problems ... would make the national debt look like the amount of money in your kid's piggy bank."Joe Welsh, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute
Helping CALV build a youth center would be a “proactive” way for the city to keep kids “occupied” and out of trouble, Welsh said.
“If they’re not going to be occupied at the youth center, they’re going to be occupied somewhere else,” Welsh said. “And that somewhere else is going to probably involve the criminal justice system.”
The LVJI published in 2021 published a report on mental health conditions among students in the Lehigh Valley that about 11% had attempted suicide at some point, Welsh said. That report also showed 40% reported being depressed.
“Infrastructure’s important, and nice, shiny municipal buildings are important,” Welsh said. “But do you know what the most precious piece of infrastructure is in the city of Allentown? It’s our families and our children. They are the very fabric of our society.”
If it could be quantified, the cost of "not addressing youth problems ... would make the national debt look like the amount of money in your kid's piggy bank," Welsh said.
He also suggested the mayor’s plans to rebuild the fire and police stations should be paid for by the city’s capital budget and not a “one-time revenue (meant) to address a pressing, pressing community need.”
"As a matter of fiscal prudence, buildings belong in the capital budget," Welsh said. "They get paid for by the taxpayers who are actually reaping the benefits of that building" well into the future.
