Please be sure to read Mayor Donchez’s annual reflective/prospective report to the City!
“Bethlehem is strong, our people are engaged, and our accomplishments are too numerous to find their way into this message.”
“As my fifth year in office comes to an end and my sixth begins, I am proud of the progress we have made with an emphasis on our streets and public infrastructure, parks and recreation, public safety, neighborhood improvement, our downtowns, and improving the financial and operational stability of Bethlehem.”
Looking ahead, the Mayor highlights:
- the transformation of Martin Tower
- new vitality at the Westgate Mall
- the sale of the Sands casino
- the Factory, the new innovation center for food entrepreneurs
- Five10 Flats and the growing of a new neighborhood, a “knowledge neighborhood”
- continued investment in our school system
- improvements to Memorial Pool, Friendship Park, and the Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course
The Mayor expands on the Factory, 327 Columbia St., which is not on Gadfly’s radar at all. How about yours?
Former Bethlehem Steel building set for ‘scale up’ companies, Morning Call, September 15, 2017.
“The Factory is a new, 40,000-square-foot innovation center for food entrepreneurs. It is the first facility of its kind on the East Coast. This exciting development will hopefully be the start of another economy in Bethlehem, one not based on steel and its many byproducts, but one based on healthy food, drinks and innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Delicious!
The Mayor’s annual State of the City address is March 7, 7:30, at ArtsQuest.
Not surprising to see that the Mayor looks at the state of the city primarily in terms of economic development, which so often has a negative impact on community development.