Allentown ready for its ‘second act’: Mayor envisions new era at State of the City

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown is better positioned than it's been in decades to launch a chapter of sustained prosperity, Mayor Matt Tuerk said Monday, trumpeting the past year's successes at his annual State of the City address.

Crime is down significantly in Allentown — now the second-safest city in the state behind Bethlehem — Tuerk said, crediting the “consistent leadership” of Charles Roca, who’s served as police chief since September 2021.

And Allentown is on a strong financial footing, thanks to a huge jump in tax revenues over the past decade without tax-rate increases since 2019, according to the mayor.

Tuerk delivered the address to about 300 business and nonprofit leaders at an event organized by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce at the Da Vinci Science Center, which he called “one of 2024’s most exciting venues.”

The mayor is set to deliver a second, free State of the City address at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Inkwell, 1125 Hamilton St., where, h e told LehighValleyNews.com, he hopes and expects to have a more back-and-forth conversation with residents.

'The story of our future'

Tuerk highlighted Allentown’s first credit-rating upgrade from Moody’s in more than a decade last year and its largest-ever federal award — a $20 million Recompete grant to boost employment in some of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods.

“While those results tell an impressive tale, we strive to do even better,” Tuerk said.

Allentown’s unemployment rate of 5.5% is its best since 2006, but city officials plan to use the eight-figure Recompete grant to make it easier for residents to find quality jobs by increasing access to public transportation and affordable child-care services, Tuerk said.

“We’re tackling the child-care crisis because we know that parents can’t work if they can’t find affordable care for their children,” he said.

“This is a whole city effort to write the story of our future."

'We need to invest' in housing

Health Bureau officials last year conducted Allentown’s first-ever community health needs assessment, and city officials will work in 2025 to address the biggest issues it identified: social isolation, a lack of economic mobility and high housing costs, Tuerk said.

The Lehigh Valley’s housing market is among the most popular in the nation, but a housing study recently completed by the city shows the region also has one of the highest rates of price increases, he said Monday.

Tuerk said he plans to hire a homeless services coordinator to help “people up [while] holding them accountable” and create a network of organizations to help people struggling to find housing.

“While services provide a band-aid, we need to invest in the real solution, which is building more housing,” Tuerk said.

He called for greater investment in affordable housing through programs that preserve existing units and prevent displacement.

And a pending zoning overhaul should make it easier for developers to “build more density while preserving the look of our beautiful city,” he said.

Rewrite Allentown's 'narrative'

The story of Allentown is riddled with hard times, Tuerk said. But the city stands at an “inflection point,” ready to rewrite that “narrative” and seize its opportunity to thrive in coming years, he said.

“We’re not talking about a second chance; we’re talking about a second act, where we take everything we’ve learned, everything we’ve built, and we use it to create something stronger and brighter,” Tuerk said.

He urged business leaders in the room to “step into this moment with unwavering resolve.”