Fierstein, GOP incumbents will not run

By ANDREW MARTINS
Staff Writer

More than two decades of service as Allentown’s mayor will end for Stuart Fierstein in December.

Fierstein and two fellow Republicans did not file nominating petitions to run in the Nov. 3 general election.

Allentown Borough Council members Daniel Wimer and Margaret Rose will leave the governing body at the end of the year.

The deadline to submit a nominating petition was March 30. No Republicans filed to run for office.

According to Deputy Municipal Clerk Nancy Buckalew, Fierstein was sworn in as a member of the council in January 1987. He was sworn in as mayor in January 1992.

In the last two municipal elections, Republican council members Michael Schumacher, Audrey Mount and Jean Hunter were defeated at the polls by Democrat Robert Schmitt and independent candidates Madeline Gavin and William Borkowski.

Democratic Councilwoman Angela Anthony was re-elected to the council in November 2014.

Wimer said that as the filing deadline approached, he knew he intended to end his 21-year stint on the council.

“It has been an absolutely wonderful experience,” Wimer said. “I think it’s time for new people to take over … sometimes you just get tired and want time to sit back and enjoy your grandkids.”

Fierstein and Rose could not be reached for comment.

Although Wimer said he and Fierstein made up their minds long before the filing deadline that they would not seek re-election this year, he said he felt it would be “silly to try to stay” on the council, thanks in part to what he described as a lack of cooperation between the incumbents and the new members.

“The times have changed. The people have elected four individuals that they think can accomplish a lot more than us,” Wimer said. “It is fair to say these four individuals have their own agendas and they will not share or accommodate any other interests, suggestions or comments.”

As a result, Wimer said, his service on the council in recent months “was no longer a wonderful experience.”

“I just don’t see any room for negotiation with these four, so it’s going to be their cup of tea and let’s see where they go with it,” he said.

With Republicans out of the political picture, Borkowski will seek a four-year term as mayor and Democrat Thomas Fritz will seek a three-year term as a councilman.

An individual who wants to run as an independent candidate in November has until June 2 to file a nominating petition.

Borkowski said he is looking forward to running for mayor after less than a year in public office.

“This year, as council president, I have learned about what we have in terms of resources and what we planned for in the past years, both correctly and incorrectly,” he said.

Borkowski was elected to the council in November as an independent candidate. In January, he was selected by his fellow members of the governing body to be the council president.

The independent-turned-Democrat said he hopes residents will judge him based on “what I have accomplished so far.” “I believe that when people see the past three months and how we made our decisions to go forward, I think they will realize that is probably how they want their government to work — to really govern and not to talk,” Borkowski said.

Borkowski’s recent filing as a Democrat changes the makeup of the current council to three Democrats, two Republicans and one independent.

“Councilman Robert Schmitt and Councilwoman Angela Anthony did ask me questions as to why I was running, and they both gave me their support,” Borkowski said.

According to Borkowski, some of the issues facing Allentown that he hopes to continue to address as council president and potentially as mayor include the sewer plant, consistently securing grants to fund capital projects, and addressing abandoned properties in the borough. “So far this year we have figured out a path to get the sidewalk project started without losing the grant money … and we have used an independent engineering firm to assess what we were planning to do over the last five years, the results of which will be coming soon that could save us money,” Borkowski said.

He said he hopes to continue opening the lines of communication between residents and the governing body.

“It is disappointing that prior councils did not have information to weigh in and I think now our council is taking the right approach by asking questions about why we do the things we do,” Borkowski said. “I want to continue that.”

Wimer said the lack of information Borkowski was referencing was not from a lack of trying.

“I always asked residents to submit their questions prior to the meetings so they could get answers at the meetings,” Wimer said. “They (opponents) never did that. They loved blindsiding the council, and it made us look as if we were unprepared or did not care.”