Month: December 2020

While you are at it, add Elijah McClain

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

“Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop.
I have a right to stop you because you are being suspicious”
Aurora, Co., police officer

NBC News video, June 27, 2020, 6 mins.

Gadfly notes this segment on 60 Minutes two Sundays ago.

You may have seen it.

The specific focus was on the phenomenon of “excited delirium” and the use of Ketamine to control it by public safety personnel.

But we have here again a “first contact” situation that goes out of control and ends up in a tragic death.

The police and paramedics followed policy.

Goddam.

To Gadfly, it just makes sense to say that police have to do better than this.

Gadfly assumes that with our dual accreditation that our police department is trained as best can be expected, but he fears for this kind of thing happening here and, again, looks forward to open discussion of how our department handles “first contact” situations.

And what can be learned from case studies like this one.

John Dickerson, “Excited Delirium: The Controversial Syndrome That Can Be Used to Protect Police from Misconduct Charges.” CBS 60 Minutes, December 13, 2020.
video and transcription

  • District Attorney: “Well, the escalation started when [the 140-pound] Elijah McClain didn’t stop walking. They took it to the next level and say, ‘All right. This person’s not complying with our lawful commands. Now we’re gonna stop him and go hands on.'”
  • District Attorney: “They have a policy in the city of Aurora that says, ‘Paramedics do this when you have these circumstances.’ And they follow that policy.”

It gets worse, believe me, officers were fired for re-enacting the chokehold on McClain.

Add Casey Goodson to the list

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

December 9 news video

Add the Columbus, Ohio, case of Casey Goodson, killed by a police officer in front of his home December 4, to the necrology list of what Gadfly calls “first contact” situations.

This case probably has flown under your radar because there is no body cam footage or witness video.

Nothing visually shareable to cause “sensational” national coverage.

The details, the facts, are particularly obscure here even going on three weeks after the incident.

The Columbus police department apparently has a history of such incidents and a history of being charged with systemic racism.

Our police department has neither of those histories, but Gadfly is looking forward to the promised Public Safety committee meeting in January, where, among other things, we might hear how our department is trained to handle such situations.

What troubles Gadfly is seeing police departments/unions time and again defend officers in such situations by saying they acted properly according to their training.

Which means we should hear about that training, especially applied to a specific situation.

Gadfly has wondered aloud here several times about whether our department uses such situations as the GeorgeFloyd as opportunities to review training with officers.

———–

Bill Chappell, “Casey Goodson Update: Death At Deputy’s Hand Is Ruled A Homicide.” NPR, December 9, 2020.

“What we know about the fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr.,” Columbus Dispatch, December 17, 2020.

Danae King, “‘This has to stop:’ Faith leaders angry over Casey Goodson shooting, hot potato handling.” Columbus Dispatch, December 19, 2020.

Bethany Bruner, “Casey Goodson had a concealed handgun license. Here’s what that means.” Columbus Dispatch, December 21, 2020.

The question of “community police”

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

ref: Police chaperone fee  . . . is questioned

Gadfly:

BPD used to have a semi-separate “community policing” group, although I don’t know the organizational [structure]. Then, quite a few years ago now, that was abolished, and we were told that the entire department would be using a community policing approach.

Two former police officers have told me that when that change was made, community policing was, in effect, eliminated from the department.  One of them said there was always an antagonism against the community policing officers, that they were not seen as “real police.” Maybe the problem was the culture, not the structure.

Perhaps the new Chief will find more effective ways to restore true community policing.

Peter Crownfield

———-

Gadfly:

True community policing has happened in 2 forms. The key is the level of integration into the neighborhoods.

The first was the team policing of Adam, Baker and Charlie teams who were assigned to one-third (roughly) of the city each. This way they became quite familiar with those areas and residents became familiar with them. The level of cooperation was strong because these relationships were established.

The second was the neighborhood substation/bike patrols who also became integrated into the neighborhoods that they served.

I remember one commenter at a council meeting saying we don’t need more pizza parties.

They are wrong in my opinion if we use “pizza parties” as a metaphor for socialization, because that helps to break down barriers.

It’s not the sole answer, but it’s a large part of the equation.

In Bethlehem, when bonds and identification and buy-in were best, it was because officers and residents worked together, met on the streets and sidewalks during the normal course of a day, gathered at the local playground, cooperated on a break-in spree, etc.

Each side needs to feel respected, and strengthening relationships via community policing efforts goes a long way to breaking down barriers.

Follower

Gilrain gets scared

Latest in a series of posts on the Swifts

Save Our Swifts GoFundMe page

One day I was walking by the site and noticed a chain link fence . . .
and then I got really scared.
Jennie Gilrain

ref: Bethlehem’s dolphins of the sky

Meet Jennie Gilrain.

And listen to her “little story” (3 mins.):

“A little story . . . I’ve lived on the south side of Bethlehem . . . since the 1980s . . . I love animals, and I love birds, and I love to sit on my back porch . . . I love birds, and so I watch them . . . and I had been noticing at some point these birds really high in the sky . . . and I couldn’t figure out what they were . . . sort of looked like barn swallows . . . maybe bats . . . They flew in such an amazing pattern . . . almost like they were playing with each other in the air . . . in pairs, in trios . . . I figured out finally that they were chimney swifts . . . My husband Mark and I went on a walk every night one summer to figure out where they were roosting . . . and one day we were walking across the bridge to go to the north side, and we noticed this swarm of birds going into the Masonic Temple chimney . . . and then we started to visit the chimney frequently to watch them go in . . . and this summer I started inviting . . . groups of people to the parking lot at the Masonic

Temple to witness this amazing phenomenon . . . such a beautiful sight . . . and even one morning convinced a friend of mine to go at dawn to watch them come out of the chimney, which is

a whole other thing, very different dynamics . . . I knew the Masonic Temple was slated for demolition but didn’t know how soon . . . One day I was walking by the site and noticed a chain link fence . . . and signs of construction . . . and then I got really scared . . . and put it in high gear . . . and then good things started to happen . . . which have a lot to do with John and Lynn and Casey Noble.”

to be continued . . .

Chief Kott’s memo on fostering police-community relations

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

ref: Chief Kott outlines plan to engage our community

Here’s the actual Kott memo that I didn’t have when posting on Friday. Add this to the info on implicit bias training that I didn’t have when I posted on Friday, and it looks like Chief Kott has been busy.

 

 

Police chaperone fee when alcohol is served is questioned

Latest in a series of posts on City Government

Another issue involving the police, marginally, was also raised at the December 15 City Council meeting.

A City policy requiring a police officer present at events on City property at which alcohol is served is apparently under review.

The cost is $50/hr. for an officer to be present.

The crux of the issue is the financial impact on non-profits.

Mary Toulouse spoke against the policy on behalf of the Mt. Airy Neighborhood Association/Rose Garden Farmers Market, and Jp Jordan and Christopher Schorr spoke against the policy on behalf of Touchstone Theatre.

For Ms. Toulouse, the issue was a vendor (and a Bethlehem merchant at that) at the Farmers Market selling alcohol for home consumption, not at the market. The cost for a policeman would have been $200 per Saturday for 20 weeks . Ms. Toulouse ultimately argued successfully with the City for an exemption this year, but it sounded like she might have to argue similarly next year, and, in any event, she felt “threatened” by the police in her interaction over the fee. Ms. Toulouse spoke against the policy both for herself and other groups in similar situations.

The issue for Touchstone was selling alcohol at events for consumption there. Mr. Jordan described the different situation elsewhere in cities at which the theater troupe performed and suggested it might be a “cultural issue” here in Bethlehem (close to being a sin tax). Mr. Schorr argued the difference between a large entrepreneur who sold alcohol at events to make money, and to whom hiring a policeman was an acceptable cost of doing business, and the cost to a non-profit simply trying to make expenses and for whom a policeman might account for 50% of the profits. Au contraire, said Mr. Schorr, the City should be trying to “incentivize” the non-profits.

Neither the reason for the policy nor its duration (a remnant of Pa. blue laws?) was given, so it’s hard for Gadfly to judge the merits of the policy, but Gadfly can tell you the three residents made good sense.

One more thing, though, that intersects with wider police discussions.

Ms. Toulouse remembered a time of community policing that West Side neighbors still remember positively and fondly — nostalgia for a neighborhood beat officer they all knew and — speaking to the issue at hand — one who could visit the Farmers Market in the due course of his or her beat work. Councilwoman Negron gave this idea legs as well.

Gadfly has heard others  — he thinks especially of resident Lisa Rosa — who speak fondly of this past successful version of community policing and urge its return. Such comments always confuse Gadfly since the department describes itself as already doing “community policing” on the City web site: “The Bethlehem Police Department is structured using the community policing philosophy and is committed to community and police partnership. The department structure has three divisions: Patrol, Criminal Investigations and Professional Standards.”

There’s confusion somewhere.

There must be different definitions of community policing.

Gadfly’s thinking on this subject is no doubt influenced by his Norman Rockwell image of the idyllic small town with its friendly police, but he must admit that he would like to see this form of community policing discussed in the promised meetings early in the new year.

Mary Toulouse (8 mins.):

Jp Jordan (5 mins.):

Christopher Schorr (5 mins.):

Do you know what Bethlehem police’s implicit bias training is?

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

ref: Implicit bias training for Bethlehem police
ref: A vision of Bethlehem as anti-racist city
ref: Bethlehem: The Anti-Racist City
ref: New branding campaign takes off

Maybe you missed it.

It was easy to gloss over.

But the pilot program of implicit bias training for officers in the police department we posted about Friday is a self-described anti-racist act.

We know the difference between “not racist” and “anti-racist.”

Being not racist is passive, refusing to support or participate in racist ideas, action, attitudes, systems, behavior, belief, policies, procedures.

Many of us are “not racist.”

Being anti-racist is active, doing something to fight racist ideas, action, attitudes, systems, behavior, belief, policies, procedures.

Only a few of us are “anti-racist.”

Chief Kott recognizes the difference: “It would be incredibly naive and irresponsible of us to say that there is no such thing as a racist cop. . . . It’s one thing to say that I’m not racist, I’m not prejudiced. But it is a completely different thing to be anti-racist. . . . That [being anti-racist] is the driving force behind this [pilot implicit bias] training.”

Chief Kott has chosen anti-racism for herself and her department.

Gadfly would like to know the backstory, but he assumes this pilot program was her unforced idea, and she reports that she herself underwent the training.

How’s that for leadership.

So good.

Gadfly has been excited by the attack on systemic racism explicit in the Community Engagement initiative, and ever-so-tongue-in-cheek he has envisioned an additional brand for Bethlehem as “The Anti-Racist City.”

One step at a time.

He hopes anti-racism and systemic racism will be issues in the now fast upcoming mayoral and councilmanic campaigns.

Bethlehem’s dolphins of the sky

Latest in a series of posts on the Swifts

Save Our Swifts GoFundMe page

You’ve seen them.

Just like the Gadfly.

Perhaps at summer dusk on manic 378 cruising south while trying to navigate the tight thru lane with one eye.

Perhaps on the 3rd St. Perkins hill, waiting at the stop light (does anybody ever get through that light?), where you can roll down your windows and hear as well as see them.

And you’ve wondered.

Just like the Gadfly.

And maybe you stopped one time for a closer look.

Just like the Gadfly.

 

And felt your questions succumb to a sense of awe at the magic unfolding before you.

Just like the Gadfly.

———-

film by Jennie Gilrain, August 2020

Starts Sunday! Christmas with Touchstone!

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Touchstone Theatre

Christmas City Follies XXI

Directed by: Jp Jordan

Performed by: the Touchstone Ensemble and friends

Premiering via YouTube watch party December 20 @7p
and available through January 2, 2021

Touchstone Theatre’s high-spirited, homegrown sendup of the Christmas season in the Christmas City goes online for 2020! For the last 20 years Christmas City Follies has been singing, dancing, laughing, and cartwheeling its way into the hearts of its audiences. This year, a streamed video edition of Follies – starring Touchstone favorites like the Old Guy, Little Red, the Better Not Shout Network, and the Shopping Cart Ballet, as well as a host of new material – will premiere on December 20th at 7p via a YouTube watch party and be available to watch, as many times as you want, in the comfort of your home through January 2nd.

TICKETS

Prices
$5/Reduced ticket**
$12/Individual
$35/Household

**Touchstone typically offers a Pay-What-You-Will ticket at the door and instead will offer a reduced $5 ticket this year.

This is a little confusing and different! We know, so much is this year. Basically, choose your adventure. Two people in your household? You could buy two Individual tickets or, if you want to support more, buy a Household ticket. Struggling this year? Get the Reduced ticket. We kindly ask people to refrain from sharing the link with folks who haven’t purchased. The best way to show your appreciation and keep Follies coming another year is by purchasing tickets.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

“Touchstone Theatre is a Bethlehem Treasure”

Implicit Bias training for Bethlehem Police

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

Gadfly is rather astounded that he is just finding out this news (like, literally, 20 minutes ago), and from the Brown and White.

Gadfly tries to be alert to what’s going on, but he does not believe that he previously heard about this program in all the buzz about the police department lately, a program which is said to have begun in the summer.

Before or after the retirement of Chief DiLuzio?

This is a good thing!

Selections from Miguel Cole, “Implicit bias training begins in the Bethlehem police Department.” (Lehigh University) Brown and White, December 17, 2020.

The Bethlehem Police Department has been working closely with the Pennsylvania Youth and Disproportionate Minority Contact and Law Enforcement Corporation to develop an implicit bias training program for the department.

There is currently a pilot program in place that six of the city’s officers have participated in. The program is still in its early stages as the two entities continue to iron out the details.

Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott has spoken about what is involved in the pilot program, its importance to the department and what they expect to get out of this partnership.

Kott hopes to have the program available to all officers by either the first or second quarter of 2021. The pilot program is broken down into three sessions. Each session provides officers with information regarding implicit bias through PowerPoints, videos and tests. Kott said she would like to add a pre- and post-survey to the program to see what strides have been made.

“As you go through the course, you start to realize that this is something that no one is immune from,” Kott said, who took over as the city’s police chief following former Police Chief Mark DiLuzio’s resignation earlier this year.

Implicit bias refers to the subconscious attitudes and predetermined concepts an individual has regarding another social group. These biases are influenced by personal experiences and the context in which people live.

Virtually no one is free from implicit bias.

“All cognition is influenced by past experience, goals, culture. Even perceptual experience can be different in people raised in different cultures,” said Gordon Moskowitz, professor of psychology at Lehigh University.

Kott and Capt. Rodney Bronson, both of whom participated in the pilot program, took the Harvard Implicit Bias Test as a part of one of the seminars.

Through this test, both Kott and Bronson realized they had their own implicit biases.

“Your upbringing, your cultural conditioning, carries you through your entire life. It fills those biases that you might have and don’t even know because they’re in your blind spot,” Bronson said.

The training has had its challenges and barriers as they attempt to piece together what works best.

Because of COVID-19, the training program has been virtually constructed. However, both Kott and Bronson have expressed the desire to have this be an in-person program.

The implementation of this program is geared to help officers recognize their implicit biases in hopes to correct and improve community interactions.

The department got the ball rolling on this program this summer after the murder of George Floyd.

“It would be incredibly naive and irresponsible of us to say that there is no such thing as a racist cop,” Kott said.

In the past few months, there has been a lot of conversation about what it means to be anti-racist. To be anti-racist is to take the extra step and be actively against racism while promoting racial tolerance.

“It’s one thing to say that I’m not racist, I’m not prejudiced. But it is a completely different thing to be anti-racist,” Kott said. “That is the driving force behind this training; trying to make people aware of what is unconsciously going on in our heads so that we are able to have better interactions with the community that we serve.”

These biases can show themselves in many police-community interactions, from arrests to traffic stops to suspicion to stop and frisk. But recognizing implicit bias has surfaced as an important part of Bethlehem’s police-community interactions.

“Just as with all other training, it is something that has to be done periodically. It can’t just be a once and done course,” Kott said. “This is a practice that, as chief, I want to be a norm.”

Smith’s Song of the South(side)

The latest in a series of posts on the Southside

At the December 15 City Council meeting Anna Smith called in to support the “pending ordinance” resolution regarding the new ordinance regulating student housing, especially around Lehigh University.

This is a long-awaited ordinance designed, among other things, to protect Southside residential neighborhoods around Lehigh.

Anna devoted most of her supporting statement on the ordinance to her “personal perspective” as a Southside native and resident.

And in doing so Anna provided what Gadfly finds to be a wonderful definition of “neighborhood” and of “Southside” neighborhood.

You may have seen and heard her words yesterday in a business context, but now Gadfly encourages you to luxuriate solely in this vision of a residential quality of life separate from restaurants and parking garages and casinos and waterparks — a Southside many of us need to know exists and that must be preserved.

Listen to Anna’s excitement (4 mins.):

———–

 

I’d like to contextualize this policy change from my personal perspective.

I want to talk to you as someone who loves everything about South Bethlehem and who has spent the majority of my life living and working on its streets. I moved back here after 8 years away and decided to invest in the neighborhood that made me who I am, much in the way that my parents decided to invest in the Southside 33 years ago. Not because of ArtsQuest, or the Southside Arts District, or Lehigh, although those are all important aspects of our neighborhood’s character that make the Southside a great place to live. I moved back here because I want to raise my Latina daughter in a neighborhood where she won’t be the only kid speaking Spanish, and where she’ll hear Spanish on the street just as often as she will hear English. I invested in my neighborhood because I want my daughter to grow up like I did, with friends and neighbors of all racial backgrounds and socioeconomic levels. I came back because I believe in our public schools and want my daughter to be able to walk to Donegan Elementary in a few years. I moved back because I wanted to live within a five-minute walk of a playground, a pool, and the Greenway, restaurants, mini-markets, and the woods. I moved back because South Bethlehem represents the best of what it means to live in a true community. Sure, we have some challenges, like any community, but we have so much to be proud of.

And it is so important for our elected officials to understand that—not just at a surface level, or based on their own experiences on the Southside as outsiders, or from conversations with representatives of institutions… We need our elected officials and their staff to make an effort to listen and spend time with residents of all backgrounds that make up the vibrant, dynamic community at work in our Southside neighborhoods. To walk around, like I do, and chat with my next-door neighbor, a single Grandma who gives my daughter a little present for every holiday, and the young Puerto Rican couple with twins next door who always offer us food from the barbecue. The young married couple of women with the pit bulls who hang out on the porch every evening with their next-door neighbors, a black family with kids who race their scooters in front of my house and always ask to pet my dog. The older white man with a disabled son who always keeps the front of his house impeccably maintained and watches over the street. The Mexican family who just moved in this year but have already shown us all up with their holiday decorations. This is what my ideal neighborhood looks like, and where I chose to invest. We need you to understand why this is worth protecting and thinking about, not just today but each time you are asked to consider a policy change that will impact us.

The neighborhoods of the Southside have always had a certain reputation, and most of those who live here have rarely had a say in decisions that are made about it. We don’t have many elected representatives or appointed ones who live on our streets, and we often assume that no one from the other side of town cares about our neighborhoods. But things are changing, and folks from outside the Southside are now paying attention. New folks want to move here, to live or open businesses. Developers want to build, and others see opportunities to make a profit. And I want to be clear: I appreciate the energy and the fact that folks are getting excited about the neighborhoods that I love so much. But we can’t forget what is attracting these folks in the first place—the essential character of our community that has been here for a lot longer than I have. And we owe that to the people who defined these neighborhoods, who invested their time and livelihoods into these streets and homes, who send their kids to local schools, who watch over neighborhood parks and walk the Greenway to work every day. The families who opened businesses decades ago in a different economic climate, and who have won the love and support of generations of residents. Please remember them. As our Southside evolves into the future, we need to plan for the long-term and be proactive, lest we risk losing the very heart of our community and what makes it truly unique, and irreplaceable.

***That’s Anna and family at Saucon Park.

———-

Anna and her mother are dual “Sirens of the Southside.” Remember that her mother Kim Carrell-Smith has exhorted us to keep South Bethlehem funky!

Officer Audelo provides perspective

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

Turns out that police and policing were in good view during the December 15 City Council meeting (look for another post involving the police after this one!).

Officer Audelo, president of the local FOP, called in with these comments (7 mins.):

  • bad air quality in the police station, a test would be sure to show “positive toxic mold”
  • a movie needing a 70s look was just done in their cell block — outdated infrastructure
  • think better starting salaries to attract the best new hires, ours are lower than Allentown and other surrounding communities
  • when thinking about the cost of pensions at budget time, realize that officers do not take social security and pensions for new officers were cut not too long ago
  • “experts” like Lehigh profs Ochs and Mikell are “embarrassing,” for instance in statements like force should never be used on juveniles (gives personal experience as example)
  • force beyond taking a person to the ground was used only 38 times out of 62,000 calls last year
  • the department always could be better
  • minorities don’t want whites speaking for them
  • people not encouraging love and who are just shouting not speaking, they are on the wrong side
  • police stand with the small business community

Officer Audelo’s call was immediately followed by one by Greg Ragni, whom we now recognize as co-head of the Lehigh Valley Good Neighbors Alliance.

Mr. Ragni complimented the officer (It’s nice to hear “what a true expert on policing sounds like” “it’s nice to hear someone speak facts”) and, in the conversations about policing we have been having, he called for “true experts versus political hacks with an ideological ax to grind.” We should be talking about what policing is like “in Bethlehem,” not Seattle or elsewhere, he said (2 mins.).

Officer Audello remarked that he had encouraged Council to watch a particular body cam video but that no one had. Gadfly would like to do that. His understanding is that body cams are not obtainable via Right-to-Know, but he will try.

Chief Kott outlines plan to engage our community

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

ref: Councilman Reynolds requests a Community Engagement Plan outline from the City

In a November 30 memo Councilman Reynolds prompted Chief Kott to put some thoughts to paper regarding police interaction with the community.

The Chief did that at the City Council meeting December 15.

And did so generously.

Councilman Reynolds was pleased.

Gadfly will try to get a copy of Chief Kott’s detailed reply to Councilman Reynolds, but for now you can listen to her reading it (4 mins.), and Gadfly will share a few highlights below.

  • General outline of the police department’s plan to engage our community.
  • During these divisive times, community-police engagement opportunities can genuinely and organically build understanding, trust, confidence, and respect between police agencies and the communities they serve.
  • . . . seek to remove barriers . . . embrace diversity, and encourage two-way communication . . . strive to identify the community’s public safety priorities, build trust, increase understanding, improve satisfaction, and initiate a collaborative effort with community stakeholders for addressing community issues and concerns.

Here are some of the “measurable actions” to be implemented. Listen to the audio for more detail on each.

  • various surveys
  • Your Neighborhood/Your Police Department events
  • community walks
  • community-police forums
  • re-introduce Citizen and Junior Police Academies
  • expand partnerships with other City departments
  • partner with stakeholder organizations . . . listening sessions, focus groups
  • increase social media presence

The Chief’s comments were followed up by supportive comments by Councilpeople Reynolds, Negron, and Crampsie Smith. Councilwoman Negron highlighted for Chief Kott suggestions by earlier resident callers Toulouse and Schor that we will cover in a subsequent post. Councilwoman Crampsie Smith hoped for future collaboration with services provided by the County (so as not to duplicate) and she highlighted increases in autism that need to be addressed.

It is evident that relations between Chief Kott and Council are off to a good start.

525 Main St. architect: “It is an honor for us to do that building”

Latest in a series of posts about Northside

“There is a misunderstanding about what we are trying to do,” says one of the owners of 525 Main St. Gadfly followers will indeed know that the owners are controversial figures because of their Airbnb use for their several homes in the Historical District. See Airbnb on the sidebar.

———-

Selections from Dave Howell, “Bringing back the spirit.” Bethlehem Press, December 16, 2020.

One of downtown Bethlehem’s most imposing buildings is being remade at 525 Main St. with extensive renovations that include a new elevator. After being delayed due to the COVID crisis, work should be completed by the end of the year.

The first floor will be retail. One new store will be occupied by ArtsQuest, and another by Domaci, a furniture and decor provider. Both are expected to open by the end of November. There will also be nine B&B units included in the five floors, called Lofts on Main.

The upper exterior will remain the same, with its fancy, green-trimmed cupolas jutting from the roof. On the side of the building you can see the faded letters “Steinway Pianos Huff Music,” a reminder of the store that used to be on the second floor.

“The building has greatly changed over the course of history,” said architect Fred Bonsall in a phone conversation. The exterior is being redone in a historic fashion.

“The new facade harkens back to the Victorian period of the original building,” says Bonsall, a principal at Serfass Construction. “It is quaint, not overly ornate, but not modern.”

Because of its significance, Bonsall said last month at a meeting of Bethlehem’s Historic and Architectural Review Board, “It is an honor for us to do that building.”

Husband and wife Jay Brew and Mary Ellen Williams bought the property two years ago.

“We like to collect old houses and redo them,” Brew said at his Bethlehem home on Market Street. “We try to bring back the spirit of the houses. The Main Street building was tired and not fully utilized.”

The couple have retained the original maple and pine floors, decorative window glass, many of the light fixtures, and all of the original doors. Brew estimates that the cost of the renovations will be about a million and a half dollars.

525 Main was originally known as the Myers Building.

“In 1892 George H. Myers, director of the Bethlehem Iron Company, the First National Bank, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, built this building, then the largest building in the Lehigh Valley,” according to the willis-g-hale.tumblr.com website. “Five stories high and built of Milford pink granite, it was designed by Philadelphia architect Willis G. Hale, whose flamboyant, highly ornate style was popular in the 1880s and 1890s.”

“Myers built the most modern building in downtown Bethlehem.” Brew said. “There were fireplaces on every floor, but no sign that they were ever used. A number of them were closed off. They were built just as steam heating was coming in.”

“There is a misunderstanding about what we are trying to do,” said Brew, who wants to disassociate himself from Airbnb landlords who do not screen renters. The couple say they are careful about customers.

“We have turned away hundreds of thousands of dollars in business from clients we were unsure about,” Williams said. They use the online Airbnb rental marketplace.

“We want to keep these properties at the highest level,” Blue said. “We are working to preserve these houses and preserve the green space.”

Profits from their B&Bs are donated to ArtsQuest. The retail space will be ArtsQuest’s first occupancy on the north side of Bethlehem. It had a precursor with a merchandise tent in front of the Main Street building during this year’s Musikfest. The new store will offer merchandise that was formerly in the first floor gift shop at SteelStacks on Bethlehem’s Southside, which was recently removed to accommodate a new bar, restaurant and performance space.

“This will give us a chance to be directly involved with our business partners of the Northside,” Lunger added. “We have wanted to be a more active participant. By having a year round presence, we can participate in events like the Harvest Festival and the Mother’s Day Fine Art and Craft Show.”

The new location represents ArtsQuest’s resilience in overcoming its revenue losses due to the COVID crisis.

photo credit Bethlehem Press

The EAC annual report

The latest in a series of posts relating to the Environmental Advisory Council

Annual report from one of Gadfly’s favorite committees, read at City Council December 15.

Your non-tax dollars at work.  A model for us all. Amazing!

———–

Good evening, my name is Lynn Rothman, speaking tonight on behalf of Bethlehem Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) members Beth Behrend, Elisabeth Cichonski, Ben Felzer, Ben Guthrie, Brian Nicas and Mike Topping.

In accordance with our bylaws, each yr we submit a year end report to City Council, which I’ll summarize tonight.

In April we moved our meetings from Illick’s Mill to a virtual platform and will continue to do so until it’s safe to meet.  In accordance with the Sunshine Laws, our virtual meetings are open to the public over zoom.

Letters sent during the year include in March, a recommendation to the Director of Planning and Zoning that the property at 2105 Creek Road retain its Rural Residential designation because it’s located in the Saucon Creek floodplain and a recommendation that the City pass an ordinance banning single use plastic bags to take effect in July and thus be grandfathered in before the State budget was passed.

In June, we supported the City’s WalkWorks grant application for the creation of an Active Transportation Plan focused on the Broad Street corridor.

In July, we recommended creating an Office of Sustainability to oversee and implement the Climate Action Plan (CAP).  This Office would engage and partner with the public, collaborate with all City Departments, and work with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission to provide coordinated climate action. Because climate action is onging, the Sustainability Offce would monitor actions  the CAP and update the plan,incorporating the latest climate science & technology.

In November, we sent a letter supporting the Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Study.

During the year, events and activities included the first EAC Network Meeting for all Lehigh Valley EACs, coordinated by the Bethlehem, Allentown and Easton EACs. The meeting was held on March 11th at Illicks Mill. There was a strong turn out, and each EAC shared ideas for possible collaboration.

In May one of our members was a panelist at the virtual 2020 Pennsylvania EAC Network Conference.

In partnership with the Monocacy Creek Watershed Association, we held successful Monocacy Creek clean-ups in August and October, with the help of additional volunteers from outside our two groups.

In August, we tabled at the Rose Garden Farmers Market and handed out information about the upcoming CAP public meeting along with EAC flyers about sustainability.

We’ve met with City Forester David Shaffer to discuss the city-wide street tree inventory, which will be completed this month.  Several of our members also joined Mr. Shaffer in an online Tree Tenders Course given by Penn State Extension.

Two of our members mentored high school students who prepared environmental essays for the Touchstone Theatre’s Festival Unbound.

Because the City was no longer able to host the EAC on their new website, in February we launched a separate Bethlehem EAC website.  We’ve continued to maintain our Facebook page, with increasing numbers of followers.

Speakers at our meetings included Katharine Targett Gross, Sustainability Officer at Lehigh University and Kathy Fox and Joe Klinkhoff from the Bethlehem Food Co-Op.

Bethlehem Backyards for Wildlife, an active standing committee of the EAC with a dedicated group of volunteers, will give their report following this one.

Our most important work this year has been supporting the City’s Climate Action Plan, being written by the consulting firm WSP.  EAC members are part of the CAP Stakeholder Working Group and the mitigation subgroups for Land Use & Green Space, Transportation, Food Waste & Product Sourcing, Electricity Sourcing, and Education & Behavior Change. Once the CAP is finalized, we’ll continue to assist with its implementation.

Our great appreciation goes to Robert Vidoni, City Clerk, and Judy Kelechava, Assistant City Clerk, for responding to our requests and questions, placing meeting notices in the newspaper and facilitating communication between the EAC, City Council and the administration.

We recognize and appreciate our City Council liaison, J. William Reynolds, for his assistance, attendance at our meetings, initiative and continued efforts to bring the CAP to fruition. We also acknowledge and thank Michael Alkhal, Director of Public Works, Matt Dorner, Deputy Director of Public Works, and Darlene Heller, Director Planning & Zoning, for their ongoing contributions to the CAP. Thanks also to Michael Halbfoerster, Director of Recycling, for his assistance to our Waste Reduction Committee. We commend City Council and the Administration for their support of the CAP and initiatives to make Bethlehem a greener City.

Council acts “to protect and preserve Southside neighborhoods for everyone” (the Antalics ordinance)

The latest in a series of posts on the Southside

Anna Smith is a Southside resident, full-time parent, and community activist with a background in community development and education.

Early in the coming new year, the important and long-awaited ordinance regulating student housing, much discussed here in previous posts (click Southside on the sidebar), will have a public hearing and go through the normal first and second reading process.

However, at their December 15 meeting, City Council passed a resolution making it a “pending ordinance” as of December 31, which, if Gadfly understands correctly, means that in a sense it is in effect as of that date.

Anna Smith tee’d up the vote superbly.

———–

Comment delivered to City Council December 15, 2020.

Good evening, my name is Anna Smith, and I live at 631 Ridge St in south Bethlehem. I’d like to thank the members of Council who took the time to attend the Community Development Committee meeting in October to hear from residents and other South Bethlehem stakeholders about their support for the regulation of student housing. In addition to the over 20 people who spoke at the meeting, over 100 additional stakeholders signed their names to a letter in support of the zoning overlay. Tonight, you finally have the opportunity to take action to protect and preserve Southside neighborhoods for everyone. For families, renters, homeowners, boarding house and group home residents, and, yes, students.

Why is this so important? You’ve heard from a lot of us, and we’ve given a lot of reasons – preserve affordable homeownership and rental opportunities, protect quality of life, encourage Lehigh students to live closer to campus to reduce the numbers of cars brought to campus, and encourage students to live in or near the business district so that they can easily patronize locally-owned businesses. Restrict haphazard development on steep slopes. Reduce evictions and displacement of long-time residents when properties are converted to student housing. Concentrate student housing in neighborhoods where it already dominates, making it easier for colleges and universities to keep tabs on issues of safety and social life.

Now, if those aren’t enough reasons, I’d like to contextualize this policy change from my personal perspective.

I want to talk to you as someone who loves everything about South Bethlehem and who has spent the majority of my life living and working on its streets. I moved back here after 8 years away and decided to invest in the neighborhood that made me who I am, much in the way that my parents decided to invest in the Southside 33 years ago. Not because of ArtsQuest, or the Southside Arts District, or Lehigh, although those are all important aspects of our neighborhood’s character that make the Southside a great place to live. I moved back here because I want to raise my Latina daughter in a neighborhood where she won’t be the only kid speaking Spanish, and where she’ll hear Spanish on the street just as often as she will hear English. I invested in my neighborhood because I want my daughter to grow up like I did, with friends and neighbors of all racial backgrounds and socioeconomic levels. I came back because I believe in our public schools and want my daughter to be able to walk to Donegan Elementary in a few years. I moved back because I wanted to live within a five-minute walk of a playground, a pool, and the Greenway, restaurants, mini-markets, and the woods. I moved back because South Bethlehem represents the best of what it means to live in a true community. Sure, we have some challenges, like any community, but we have so much to be proud of.

And it is so important for our elected officials to understand that—not just at a surface level, or based on their own experiences on the Southside as outsiders, or from conversations with representatives of institutions… We need our elected officials and their staff to make an effort to listen and spend time with residents of all backgrounds that make up the vibrant, dynamic community at work in our Southside neighborhoods. To walk around, like I do, and chat with my next-door neighbor, a single Grandma who gives my daughter a little present for every holiday, and the young Puerto Rican couple with twins next door who always offer us food from the barbecue. The young married couple of women with the pit bulls who hang out on the porch every evening with their next-door neighbors, a black family with kids who race their scooters in front of my house and always ask to pet my dog. The older white man with a disabled son who always keeps the front of his house impeccably maintained and watches over the street. The Mexican family who just moved in this year but have already shown us all up with their holiday decorations. This is what my ideal neighborhood looks like, and where I chose to invest. We need you to understand why this is worth protecting and thinking about, not just today but each time you are asked to consider a policy change that will impact us.

The neighborhoods of the Southside have always had a certain reputation, and most of those who live here have rarely had a say in decisions that are made about it. We don’t have many elected representatives or appointed ones who live on our streets, and we often assume that no one from the other side of town cares about our neighborhoods. But things are changing, and folks from outside the Southside are now paying attention. New folks want to move here, to live or open businesses. Developers want to build, and others see opportunities to make a profit. And I want to be clear: I appreciate the energy and the fact that folks are getting excited about the neighborhoods that I love so much. But we can’t forget what is attracting these folks in the first place—the essential character of our community that has been here for a lot longer than I have. And we owe that to the people who defined these neighborhoods, who invested their time and livelihoods into these streets and homes, who send their kids to local schools, who watch over neighborhood parks and walk the Greenway to work every day. The families who opened businesses decades ago in a different economic climate, and who have won the love and support of generations of residents. Please remember them. As our Southside evolves into the future, we need to plan for the long-term and be proactive, lest we risk losing the very heart of our community and what makes it truly unique, and irreplaceable.

I’m speaking tonight because I think that the policy change you are considering is the product of that very type of consideration that I just mentioned. The Mayor and his Administration have listened—truly listened—and committed themselves to a long, exceedingly thorough process to proactively protect and preserve the essential character of our diverse neighborhoods. They understand why this is important for the future of our Southside as whole—how strong neighborhoods are a necessary condition for a viable City. And you have listened. You’ve attended meetings, read emails, talked with residents, and informed yourselves about the issues. This is, perhaps, the most thorough, well-informed proposal that I’ve seen this current administration put forward, and I’m proud to have been a part of the coalition that consulted with the administration over the last several years as the policy was developed. Tonight, you finally have a chance to stand with the residents of South Bethlehem who have implored you to act. Please vote to cut off all new authorizations of student housing development outside the student housing overlay as of December 31. Our neighborhoods depend on it.

Thank you.

Anna Smith

———–

Councilwoman Negron was kind enough to remember the years of toil that Stephen Antalics put in both in print and at the Town Hall podium in support of such an ordinance.

With due respect to the yeoman work of Anna and many others, in Gadville we’ll think of this as the “Antalics Ordinance.”

So we follow the Councilwoman’s lead and give a tip o’ the hat to Gadfly #1.

Councilman Callahan: The Department of Community and Economic Development is “over-bloated”

Latest in a series of posts on the City Budget

View the Mayor’s 2021 Proposed Budget

City Council December 15 video

For the purposes of voting at the December 15 City Council meeting, the budget was broken up into these 12 parts, corresponding to parts of the actual budget that you can see if you follow the link above.

Council took 12 votes.

All parts passed by a 7-0 vote except parts 8A, 8K, and 8L.

Parts 8A, 8K, and 8L passed 6-1, Councilman Callahan being the nay vote each time.

8A: General Fund Budget

This is the section of the budget containing the police and fire departments.

Councilman Reynolds had previously asked Chief Kott to report at this meeting with a community engagement plan for the department. The Chief read her response and discussion ensued with Councilfolk Reynolds, Negron, and Crampsie Smith. Councilwoman Crampsie Smith raised the troubling possibility of low morale in the Fire department. Gadfly will devote a separate post solely to this discussion.

Councilman Callahan indicated, without elaboration, that he would vote “no” on this section of the budget because of the cuts to the fire department and Lehigh University’s withdrawal of an annual $100,000 that had been going to fund city housing inspectors.

8K: Tax Rate

Councilman Callahan voted “no” here without elaboration.

8L: Stormwater

Gadfly had not been paying a lot of attention to this issue and thus has not reported on it to you previously. Here’s what he understands. The City has been mandated by the state to set a “Stormwater Collection and Management User Fee.” The City set the fee at $60 per homeowner. Council members — especially Crampsie Smith, Negron, and Van Wirt — have sought a way to alleviate that burden on low income residents and have questioned whether fees for the Housing Authority and School District would additionally be passed on to low income residents. There was thoughtful discussion. One option, for instance, might be a tiered system in which higher income people would pay more than $60 and low income residents would pay less or nothing at all. The City is considering options and further thoughtful discussion on the fee will take place early next year. See meeting video mins. 1:50:00-2:05:00.

The discussion of the stormwater piece of the budget ended in a way that highlighted tension over Councilman Callahan’s desire to cut the budget. Sounding much the fiscal conservative in contrast to liberal spenders, Councilman Callahan pointed out that we can’t just keep adding taxes and fees, that somewhere along the line we need to cut. He used the feasibility study for the pedestrian bridge again as an example of something that he was in favor of but that was improper funding at this particular time.  He predicted that next year at this time Council would again be faced with raising taxes. The Councilman reminded everybody that he tried to cut inspectors from the DCED budget — DCED being the only department that has grown significantly in the past six years and a department that is “over-bloated.” Councilman Callahan’s discussion engaged Councilman Reynolds and President Waldron and was marked with a reference to Councilwoman Van Wirt.

This part of the meeting outlines importantly different perspectives on the budget and is worth listening to (7 mins.):

City Council passes the 2021 budget

Latest in a series of posts on the City Budget

View the Mayor’s 2021 Proposed Budget

Inarguably, the prime responsibility for the hard-working part-timers who make up our City Council is approval of the City budget.

City Council passed the 2021 City budget Tuesday night December 15 at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, the last of the year, after 4 previously held budget meetings.

Numbers are definitely not Gadfly’s metier, but he’ll spend 2-3 posts trying to fill you in on the budget doin’s.

Some budget highlights:

  • $87.4m
  • 5% tax increase (average +$46 per homeowner)
  • cut 4 firefighters
  • cut 2 Service Center staff
  • draw $1m from reserve
  • add $60 stormwater fee
  • Councilman Callahan was the lone nay vote on several portions of the budget

Councilman Colon comparing us positively with other cities (2 mins.):

Councilman Reynolds on Council acting responsibly (2 mins.):

Selections from Sara K. Satullo, “Bethlehem passes budget with 5% tax hike and new stormwater fee.” lehighvalleylive.com, December 16, 2020.

Bethlehem City Council Tuesday night backed a 5% tax increase to help the city weather the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and created a new stormwater fee.

The $87.4 million spending plan cuts six jobs through attrition and means the average homeowner of a home with an assessed value of $50,000 would pay $46 more a year in city taxes.

It passed in a 6-1 vote with Councilman Bryan Callahan dissenting due to the tax hike and cuts to the city fire department through attrition.

The budget includes no new jobs or programs. It cuts four firefighters from each city platoon as well as two Bethlehem Service Center employees, estimated to save $500,000 annually in salary and benefits. Bethlehem’s workforce will drop to a low of 588 people, from a high of 670 back in 2010.

Council also voted to create a new stormwater fee that was postponed amid the pandemic. It’s needed so the city can comply with a federal mandate to cut pollution in stormwater to protect Bethlehem’s waterways.

For single-family detached residential properties, the rate will be $60. The fees for other properties will be set via a city formula.
Councilwoman Olga Negron earlier this month raised concerns about a blanket fee vs. a tiered fee for homeowners. She reiterated those concerns Tuesday night, saying she’d be happy to pay more so her neighbors on a fixed-income don’t get hit with a fee they cannot afford.
Negron is also worried about the burden this might present to the Bethlehem Housing Authority and the Bethlehem Area School District, which could pass those increased cost on to taxpayers.
City Public Works Director Michael Alkhal told council Tuesday evening the city is working to incorporate guidelines to offer certain residents up to a 50% discount on the fee based on income and property size.
Budget projections for next year show the city starting the year with a $4.5 million budget hole, largely driven by skyrocketing pension costs and a $1 million drop in earned income taxes. The spending plan is making up the loss with the tax hike and $1 million from city cash reserves.

Health of people and health of economy not opposed

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

Peter Crownfield is officially retired but spends most of his time working with students in his role as internship coordinator for the Alliance for Sustainable Communities–Lehigh Valley

ref: And there’s economic mortality too

Gadfly:

The really sad thing is that both are the result of the US government’s ham-handed approach, setting health of people and health of the economy as opposed.

For decades, people have known how to deal with an epidemic:

• frequent testing, especially of people who are not showing any symptoms;
• effective isolation or quarantine of all who test positive or were exposed to those testing positive;
• basic precautions such as wearing masks when with others and frequent hand washing;
• spend money on treatment and protecting essential workers, not on vaccines;
• When the epidemic is as severe as this one, provide cash assistance to individuals & small local businesses.

None of these are difficult or controversial; they were all learned from experience with previous infectious diseases. None of them require shutting down businesses or events except those where large numbers of people are brought into close contact.

Countries that followed such practices this year have much, much lower fatality rates and much less harm to individuals & businesses.

Failure to strictly implement these common-sense policies in this country has killed about 350,000 people and caused serious harm to small, local businesses (especially when the big corporations are allowed to steal the meager assistance that was provided.

Peter

Councilman Callahan: “We have to find some way to help these businesses survive this”

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

While not blaming anybody, including the governor, Councilman Callahan pressed Council and the Mayor to support the open container relaxation, calling attention to the importance of the restaurants to the vitality of the Northside downtown and calling attention to the sale of liquor as the source of their greatest profit margin. The Councilman recognized that the relaxation was a small thing, that it wouldn’t solve all problems, but that it would help these important small businesses survive. “It’s our job to help alleviate some of the pain,” the Councilman said, for businesses around for 15-20 years will not survive into February. If they close, it will be a “shame,” and we’re going to have a “hole” in the City. This is the least we can do to help them make it through the next couple of months, the Councilman argued, hoping to get the issue resolved right then at the meeting. The Mayor had previously said in a memo to Council that a positive effect of relaxation was “questionable” and “debatable,” but Councilman Callahan urged Council to go with the “professionalism” of the restaurant owners (5 mins.).

Councilman Callahan’s push for action ran into a snag. The Solicitor ruled that the request should be in writing. Councilman Callahan countered by asking that a letter he sent to Council a few days ago be considered the “written declaration,” pointing out that the next two weeks (3 actually) before Council meets again are the crucial downtown shopping time and waiting till then to approve action would not be good.  The Councilman asked for a show of “unity,” but “If it’s not the will of Council to help out the downtown businesses, I understand.” Perhaps sensing that there was something a bit snarky in Councilman Callahan’s words, President Waldron affirmed that he was certain all Council members wanted to support local business but that they couldn’t change the ordinance then under new business and that there were legal issues involved. The Mayor then entered the conversation affirming that the City has done “everything possible” to help the small businesses, but “on this issue, there’s reservations about legality and precedent” and Musik-Fest is a little different. Councilman Callahan countered that, though he didn’t know the legalities, there were many events (which he named) in which the open container law was relaxed. Continuing to push, and assuming Council was with him (indeed Councilpeople Negron and Colon did speak in favor of something being done), Councilman Callahan urged the Mayor to talk with the Downtown Business Association, the City Solicitor, and so forth again to see what could be done since now is the precise time that such a relaxation would have the most impact (6 mins.).

So that’s where we are left.

Decision-making interruptus.

Councilman Callahan is a stubborn man. And Gadfly has had occasion to chafe at the way his stubbornness has been irritating and self-defeating. But here his stubbornness seems a virtue.

The legalities the Mayor refers to were not explained.

The difference between this request and the Musik-Fest-type events was not explained.

What the City is choking on is not clear.

And while Gadfly was writing this Peter Crownfield commented on the previous post, indicating the decision should be a no-brainer, wondering about the ordinance to begin with.

Without such explanations, Gadfly has to feel that the prohibition against open containers should be waived and by Mayoral decree if necessary.

What are you thinking?

“We are begging you” . . .”We’re sort of in desperate straits right now”

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

Gadfly has always said he loves your voices.

That has limits.

It hurts to amplify these voices.

In addition to the Borderline owner, two prominent Northside downtown business owners called in to City Council last night to ask for relaxation of the open container laws that would enable them to sell alcoholic drinks to customers who could then walk around with them socializing and shopping during the holiday season. They are now allowed to sell take-out, take home drinks, but they are asking for so-called open container permission, such as happens at Musik-Fest and other kinds of events.

They know such support would not solve their problems.

But they are desperadoes, begging and beseeching for any kind of help.

Apollo Grille (2 mins.):

  • Our downtown businesses are drowning.
  • Anything that can be done on the City of Bethlehem’s part to help us, to rescue us . . . would be greatly appreciated.
  • Holiday season . . . relaxation . . . would help us significantly.
  • [small business, keeping employees, washing own windows, sweeping own sidewalks]
  • It would have impact on businesses that are suffering so much right now.
  • Anything you can do . . . please, we are begging you.

McCarthy’s (3 mins.):

  • I personally laid off 3/4’s of my staff on Friday . . . I was in tears.
  •  . . . allow people to walk around with a drink, it might help.
  • We’re sort of in desperate straits right now.
  • We’re kind of on our last legs.
  •  . . . holding on by the skin of our teeth.
  • Anything the City could do would be helpful.
  • I beseech you, please, consider doing this.
  • It’s ok at Musik-Fest, so why wouldn’t it be ok in December or January?

This specific issue of open containers occasioned significant discussion at the Council meeting.

Next post.

Continue to think about what you would do if you were in charge.

to be continued . . .

And there’s economic mortality too

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

There were voices at Council last night that reminded us of the loss of businesses too.

A different kind of death.

Goddam pandemic.

The governor has tightened the restrictions.

Listen to the owner of the Borderline who called in to Council last night (2 mins.).

He got a call from the Health Bureau to stop indoor dining — or else.

“Isn’t there something the Mayor can do about this??

  • What do you want us to do? Curbside is not going to pay my bills.
  • How do I give my waitresses a nice Christmas?
  • I have 27 employees, and I have to lay off 22.
  • My restaurant is COVID free, I have 6 air purifiers in my restaurant . . . My air is 99.1% germ free.
  • And now they’re going to take my health license because I’m open for indoor dining?
  • Isn’t there something the Mayor can do about this?
  • The Mayor can overrule this.
  • Or the Mayor could not worry about this . . .
  • What can I do?
  • This is threatening to close my business.

Tough spot for the Borderline guy.

Tough spot for the Mayor.

I often ask you to role play.

What would you do if you were Mayor?

Tough call.

to be continued in the next post . . .

 

A morning moment of silence

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

Gadfly has always been acutely aware of the pandemic: age and household vulnerabilities.

But especially since the virus moved in next door, as he reported to you the other day.

So he begins today with the Mayor’s report at Council last night on the status of the virus in town.

Which includes 85 deaths, an average age of 37 in recent cases, and 45% of recent cases Latino (Bethlehem Latino population = 30%).

Listen to these and other statistics as well as vaccine info (1.5 mins.):

Councilwoman Crampsie Smith suggested a moment of silence for our 85 dead, and President Waldron called for that moment at the end of the meeting.

In a real sense this silence, a time when nothing was said, should be thought of as the most important part of the meeting.

Let’s join with the Council folk in a wider community member moment of silence to start our day:

Something to think about, we who are lucky, as we shovel out today and tomorrow . . .

 

Christmas with Touchstone

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Touchstone Theatre

Christmas City Follies XXI

Directed by: Jp Jordan

Performed by: the Touchstone Ensemble and friends

Premiering via YouTube watch party December 20 @7p
and available through January 2, 2021

Touchstone Theatre’s high-spirited, homegrown sendup of the Christmas season in the Christmas City goes online for 2020! For the last 20 years Christmas City Follies has been singing, dancing, laughing, and cartwheeling its way into the hearts of its audiences. This year, a streamed video edition of Follies – starring Touchstone favorites like the Old Guy, Little Red, the Better Not Shout Network, and the Shopping Cart Ballet, as well as a host of new material – will premiere on December 20th at 7p via a YouTube watch party and be available to watch, as many times as you want, in the comfort of your home through January 2nd.

TICKETS

Prices
$5/Reduced ticket**
$12/Individual
$35/Household

**Touchstone typically offers a Pay-What-You-Will ticket at the door and instead will offer a reduced $5 ticket this year.

This is a little confusing and different! We know, so much is this year. Basically, choose your adventure. Two people in your household? You could buy two Individual tickets or, if you want to support more, buy a Household ticket. Struggling this year? Get the Reduced ticket. We kindly ask people to refrain from sharing the link with folks who haven’t purchased. The best way to show your appreciation and keep Follies coming another year is by purchasing tickets.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

“Touchstone Theatre is a Bethlehem Treasure”

“School spirit alone cannot Prevent COVID spread”

Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus

To my fellow Citizens of Bethlehem,

I am forwarding two articles for your attention.

The first article is from this Sunday’s front page, entitled “After Students came Back, Deaths Rose In College Towns.” It recounts data learned through contact tracing, which confirms that asymptomatic students do in fact have an effect on the larger community.

I have communicated, or attempted to, repeatedly, with the Bethlehem Health Bureau for months about this subject. I did communicate directly with Moravian as well. My concern has been and continues to be their lack of routine testing. Latest videos on the college website tout their plans to bring students back to campus, including new students, as of January 18. Any testing plan is completely unavailable, in contrast to other local colleges and universities.It seems to me that any reasonable person, especially those who live in the immediate vicinity of Moravian, or frequent the same businesses as their students (many of whom live off campus) has reason for concern.

I have attempted to bring this issue to the attention of City Council and will continue to do so. It’s interesting that Council is conducting virtual meetings yet condoning the college policies through inaction.

Given the recent and predicted rates of infection, I think it’s unconscionable for Moravian to bring students to campus in January, particularly if they again do not test students upon arrival.  Surveillance testing is the responsible course of action but inquiries about doing so have met a brick wall, and a lot of assertions that Hounds can do what no one else can! School spirit alone cannot Prevent COVID spread.
It would be gratifying if someone in the city would take a greater interest in public health and investigate this information.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/us/covid-colleges-nursing-homes.html from Sunday’s front page.

Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter.
Betsy C. Golden
1124 Main Street
Bethlehem