Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski announced his campaign for Pennsylvania governor in front of a crowd of supporters this morning in Center City Allentown.

Shouting over the sound of construction for the high rise buildings and hockey arena being built in Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), Pawloski laid out his priorities for the state of Pennsylvania, including education, job creation and infrastructure safety following the explosion in Allentown last year that leveled an entire block.

Pawlowski was introduced by his wife, Lisa, and Lehigh County Democratic Party Chairman, and former congressional candidate for PA-15, Rick Daugherty. Daugherty highlighted the successes of Allentown under Pawlowski’s leadership, saying that he has turned Allentown into a city “filled with hope and destined to succeed.” Through Pawlowski’s eight years as mayor, the city turned around a multi million dollar deficit into a multi million dollar surplus. Next year will be the ninth year in a row where Allentown residents have not seen a property tax increase and the city has developed a unique solution to funding their pension obligations. This year, Allentown leased its water provision to Lehigh County Authority for over $211 million, much of which goes to Allentown’s pension fund.

The announcement was conspicuously in the middle of a construction site and Pawlowski kicked off his speech by pointing out the Pennsylvanian jobs that were at work behind him. The 4,000 tons of steel beams being erected behind him were made in Erie and Pawlowski estimated that the NIZ development created 100 construction jobs. The mayor hit Corbett on Pennsylvania’s landslide from 7th to 49th in job creation, telling the crowd that the state now leads only Wyoming in job creation. He also condemned the cuts to state education and the loss of 20,000 teachers while the spending on the prison systems has increased exponentially, “[we] need to fund education now so we don’t have to fund prisons later.”

Pawlowski called Allentown a model of redevelopment and explained the bipartisan support behind the NIZ legislation that made the new downtown construction possible. He said that he worked with state senators Pat Browne and Jennifer Mann and with the leaders of local municipalities. Bipartisanship was a common theme in his announcement as he stated, “by working together, we can overcome any challenge.”

Following his announcement, several other local representatives pledged their support for his campaign, including State Representative Dan McNeil, Allentown city council members Cynthia Mota and Peter Schweyer, Easton Mayor Sal Panto and local labor leaders, among others. Also in attendance across the street was Pawlowski’s mayoral opponent in November, Michael Donovan, a former city councilman who is opposed to the LCA water lease and believes that Pawlowski’s gubernatorial campaign will impede his abilities to govern Allentown.

Pawlowski and his campaign staff left the announcement in the campaign RV, headed to Harrisburg for the beginning of their 20-counties-in-9-days-tour.