from Puerto Rico while his mother was Pennsylvania Dutch. He was a member of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention, and was involved in the Lehigh valley Hispanic Business Council. He was given a better chance to win against Heydt in opinion polls despite running a grass-roots campaign with little support from the party. Tropiano was a four term veteran councilwomen who entered the city council promising to abolish the downtown historic district law to allow massive demolitions and construction. Unable to revoke the law as a member of the city council she hoped that being mayor would give her more political capital to achieve her goal. She also garnered the ire of the city's Hispanic population when she proclaimed that the English language should be made sole official language of the United States as well as claiming Hispanics committed 99% of Allentown's crime. She described herself as a champion of the working class and proposed outlawing sofas on front lawns and yard sales. Falk was the Lehigh County commissioner and ran on a six-point plan to implement urban renewal in Allentown. She also sought to reduce the number of at-large city council seats from seven to three and having the four seats be elected via districts to better represent the different neighborhoods of the city. However, she was heavily criticized for her fiscal policy as commissioner as the county's debt increased by $39 million during her tenure. Despite this she had the endorsement and support of the city's Democratic "kingmakers" and entrenched political elite. Initial results showed Tropiano holding a slim 30 vote victory over Velazquez with 2,656 votes to his 2,626 with Falk coming in third with 1,796. However, other results showed the lead as just being 3 singular votes, while still other results showed Velazquez leading with 3 votes. It was determined that 50 of the city's 57 voting machines where faulty and that all votes would have to be recounted by hand. After a lengthy recount, Senior Judge James N. Diefenderfer announced that Velazquez had won by a singular vote with a total of 2,681 to Tropiano's 2,680. Velazquez would be the first Latino nominee for mayor from either party. General election The general election between Velazquez and Heydt was hard-fought with Velazquez focusing his campaign on the shortcomings of the Heydt administration and his abrasive personality while Heydt