Lehigh County’s Armstrong points to Cedarbrook expansion during annual State of the County address
Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong highlighted new projects for pardoning residents, preserving farmland and planning for increasing housing Thursday in this year’s State of Lehigh County address.
“People, purpose, impact,” Armstrong repeated as the evening’s slogan to a packed room at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. “You have it, we have it. Together we make this … No. 1.”
The county achieved many victories in 2023 and has more to win this year, Armstrong said.
He noted the county upgraded its emergency system last year so residents can give video access on their phones to dispatchers. He said that could, for example, let a dispatcher now help residents apply CPR during an emergency.
The county received $17 million from the $26 billion national opioid settlement, which Armstrong said the county is putting toward uses such as creating an opioid treatment center in northern Lehigh County in partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network; providing treatment programs at Lehigh County Jail; and creating a program to deter youth from becoming involved with opioids.
Other recent highlights included passing a balanced budget with no tax increase; helping residents with minor, nonviolent offenses get pardons; hitting a farmland preservation milestone of over 28,000 acres preserved; reopening the Wire Mill Bridge in Allentown; renovating the county’s
historic courthouse; and providing $10 million to small business and $3 million to nonprofits.
In 2024, the county is continuing work on the expansion of Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehabilitation. Another project is the Lehigh Valley Housing Equity Plan, part of a strategy to increase housing availability.
But whether it’s the work the county has done or the work still ahead, Armstrong emphasized that it is the people here who make the Lehigh Valley “probably the best place to live in the state of Pennsylvania [and] in the United States.”
“What do we have that everybody should be studying?” Armstrong said. “Well, what do we have? We have you: everybody in this room.”
Among those in the room
were Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Tony Iannelli, state Sen. Nick Miller, state Rep. Jeannie McNeill, state Rep. Pete Schweyer, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, and county commissioners including Geoff Brace, Zach Cole-Borghi and Dan Hartzell.
Before Armstrong made his address, Schlossberg performed some stand-up comedy, with jokes such as how Armstrong was actually born in 1868 and how he once featured in the Facebook group “Lehigh Valley Double Parkers.”
Jokes aside, Schlossberg concluded, “Phil is a dear friend and a valued partner. During his tenure as county executive, the people of Lehigh County have been able to count on their government being in good, stable hands.”