Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13
(4th in a series of posts about 11 and 15 W. Garrison St.)
More beautiful Bethlehem voices–
Voices worrying about practical things like damage to foundations in an area in which there was a sinkhole, but mainly worrying about damage to community, serenity, peace, safety, beauty — yes, beauty (who’s in charge of Beauty in Bethlehem, Gadfly has asked).
Julie Cordero (17 W. Garrison)
- It’s a safe place to live. It’s an affordable place to live.
- I have two kids in the Bethlehem School district who walk to school.
- How does breaking ground affect my foundation and foundations down the street?
- My house is my heart, my home.
- I don’t really see that as a feasible option to break ground for a 74-space parking garage . . .
- I’m a disability advocate . . . we have people on our street who have wheelchairs and are on walkers. You gonna shut down Garrison St. [during construction] and make everyone walk?
- Is this street going to be closed down for weeks on end?
- Housing for veterans . . . I’m all for that . . . if it doesn’t carry on into Garrison St. which is a well-established family neighborhood.
Vanessa Torres (23 W. Garrison St.)
- I come from New York. I left New York to get away from high-rises and buildings.
- I left New York city to be in a calm, beautiful environment, and I love my neighbors, and I know everyone’s name,
- But for that I just move back to New York city, a high-rise with so many families, such a busy environment.
_____ Toledo (18 W. Garrison)
- I like a family.
- We have community there.
- We’re not going to feel safe there.
- [Now] all the kids are outside playing, and we feel safe there.
- So if there are two big buildings across the street, I know a lot of us won’t feel safe there.
- [she speaks for others in the audience]
- applause
Chewing? Next, comments from a couple of resident gadflies, who do not live in the neighborhood.