ABSTRACT
It is one of the most historic cities of this study. Allentown has roots that reach back to colonial times as an important landmark during the American Revolution and is Pennsylvania’s third largest city with a population of 125,845. Its median household income is on the lower end at $43,816, and its median home value is 135,800, with an owner occupancy of 41.5%. The city utilizes a strong-mayor form of government and its council consists of seven members elected at-large in partisan elections. With respect to term limits, an ad hoc committee of residents in 2005 recommended several charter revisions for Allentown that included term limits, but nothing ever materialized from it (Nerl, 2005). Twelve years later, unconnected to the 2005 push, Allentown incumbents placed term limits on elected officials on the ballot in 2017, a unique occurrence for Allentown as ballot referendums are highly unusual in the city. Prior to 2017, a referendum had not appeared on the ballot since 2008 (Opilo, 2017b).
