She stated that she does not want to be a part of the club where her kids
are in the ground. She stated that the city is not safe.
Mr. Eddie Aviles, 209 N. Fourth Street, stated that he is here to talk about
how to help businesses stay open and stay safe. He stated that the city
has not cooperated with the clubs and deemed them undesirable. He
asked the city to make the police available to make their presence felt. He
stated that he wishes and prays that Ms. Gerlach will resign.
Mr. Lance Lopsey, 779 E. Washington Street, stated that he is here as a
father, a husband, and an Allentown resident for over 37 years. What he is
seeing in Allentown is Pay to Play going to the Dominican Republic,
signing the city up as a Sister City, giving certain people special rights and
special amounts of money to stop gun violence. He stated that we need to
stop all the violence. He stated that we have a mayor who is disappearing
with a board member to make deals. We have a person on this board that
dropped a teenager off to a tent city. We are giving all this money and
there are no resolutions at all.
Ms. Jeani Garcia, 208 S. 13th Street, stated that she is a mother with a
dead son in this city and would never come before Council and represent
herself like that. She talked about the businesses, the community and the
violence in the city. Crime is down by five percent in the city. Promise
Neighborhoods canvasses the streets and the schools for prevention and
response.
Mr. Pas Simpson, 215 N. Ninth Street, stated that this was a little
disappointing. At the end of the day our leaders do not know how to lead.
You can't end gun violence if you can't sit down and be quiet. It is about
violence prevention.
Mr. Dave Derosa, 1216 W Turner Street, stated that he is a high school
student. This city requires passion instead of pointing fingers. If we teach
our students that is how it works, that is not something to be taught.
Mr. Tim Ramos, 1408 Linden Street, stated that David took the words right
out of his mouth. The problem is there are a lot of personal gripes and
grudges. We seem to not be able to put any of that to the side to get the
job done. The people that have lived here for generations can no longer
able to afford to rent rooms in this city.
Mr. Sean Forkid, (sp) 219 1/2 E. South Street, stated that he was invited
here to speak. He stated that he owns a lounge. It is crazy when he hears
people state to work together and then he sees this nonsense. He opens
his lounge for everyone to have a good time. He stated that certain people
owe him an apology because they were wrong with the actions that they
stated. He hopes that they can find a solution.
Betty Cauler - Courtesy of the Floor (February 1, 2023)