Allentown mayoral race: Ce-Ce Gerlach unveils sweeping ‘economic justice’ platform
Allentown mayoral candidate Ce-Ce Gerlach on Tuesday repudiated City Hall’s “trickle-down” economic policy and vowed that she would take a much more interventionist approach to ensuring the city’s lower-income and minority residents reap the benefits of development.
Gerlach, a first-term city council member and longtime community activist, outlined her “economic justice” plan in front of the former Allentown State Hospital site, where a massive redevelopment project will likely commence during the next mayor’s four-year term.
A vocal critic of the tax-subsidized Neighborhood Improvement Zone, Gerlach said city leaders for too long have ignored the costs of development on residents, businesses and neighborhoods. Historically marginalized communities, she said, have borne the brunt of those costs and been largely shut out of the benefits.
“Yes, please come to Allentown and develop,” she said. “But as you develop, you must uplift the people. We cannot continue to have these wealth gaps widen in Allentown and the Lehigh Valley.”
While expressing hope in the future, Gerlach painted a somewhat bleak picture of the status quo. Citing the city’s recent comprehensive plan, she noted that 4 in 5 residents need to leave the city to find work, and about the same share of city jobs are held by nonresidents. She also stressed that, according to a Brookings Institute report, the Lehigh Valley has experienced from 2009-19 faster-growing wage and poverty gaps between white people and people of color than most large metropolitan areas. (The same report also shows that the employment rate gap between racial groups in the Lehigh Valley has shrunk.)
“When historically marginalized residents become the majority of the population, the failure to end their economic exclusion means the failure of the economy overall,” said Jennifer Alpha, a community development consultant who helped Gerlach develop her economic plan and pointed out that roughly two-thirds of Allentown’s population is Latino or Black.
She predicted good things if Gerlach were overseeing major developments like those at the Allentown State Hospital site and along the city’s riverfront: “Allentown is uniquely positioned to address longstanding inequities and position itself as an example of truly equitable change.”
Gerlach, a 35-year-old street outreach worker for the nonprofit Valley Youth House, said the city needs to focus on investing in its residents and neighborhoods and abandon a “build it and they will come” mindset. Among other policies and initiatives, she’s calling for:
An “Employ Allentown” jobs ordinance that creates a database of resident job seekers; sets up an alert system to notify them of new city jobs; incentivizes city employers to hire city residents; steers contracts to more women and minority-owned businesses; and offers additional support to people with criminal records, disabilities or experience with homelessness.
A “Community Benefits
Ordinance” requiring developers to proactively meet with residents, address potential negative impacts of their projects and incorporate some of their recommendations (anything from playgrounds to workforce training programs).
Attracting industries that do not require post-secondary education while also investing in post-secondary education and customized training opportunities for residents.
Making Allentown a hub for “green, new jobs.”
Assisting entrepreneurs by providing an online resource portal, creating incubation centers and creating areas for food trucks and other pop-up business activity.
Adjusting the zoning code to include more mixed-use areas where commercial, residential and industrial uses can be near one another.
The city can promote economic justice, Gerlach asserted, by “raising the bar for new development to embed racial equity into institutions, businesses and city policies and practices.” Development will only benefit everyone, she added, if the city commits to intentional planning.
“The mayor needs to be a champion for investment, but the right investment,” she said. “There are companies that target folks with felony records. Let’s get those companies here. There are companies that will target and invest in customized training programs, especially in manufacturing. Let’s get those companies here.”
Gerlach minimized the additional city and school district property tax revenue generated by the NIZ and other downtown development over the past decade, arguing that both continue to face budgetary issues. The two-term Allentown School Board member blamed the district’s financial woes on insufficient state funding.
Her economic plan does not project how much it would cost to implement the various proposed policies.
Gerlach hopes to oust incumbent Ray O’Connell, who has led the city in the three years since former Mayor Ed Pawlowski was convicted on nearly 50 federal corruption charges. In seeking reelection, O’Connell must also defeat City Council President Julio Guridy and regional economic development official Matt Tuerk in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Tim Ramos in the general election.