Month: April 2021

Gadfly council forum #6: the George Floyd anniversary

Latest in a series of posts on the Gadfly Forum

The Council candidates comparison chart

Candidates: Callahan, Crampsie Smith, Kwiatek, Leon, Wilhelm

(Note: the prompt was assigned before the Chauvin verdict, the responses were done after.)

“We must commit and recommit to creating that safe, inclusive, and just
place—on all the days, any day, every day.”
Kiera Wilhelm

“To imagine that Bethlehem is somehow different than every other place in this country where we’ve seen these things happen is, I believe, naive. . . . I think we can be an actively anti-racist city. . . . We need to do the work to understand and recognize white privilege . . . so that all of our residents, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, can feel a true sense of belonging in Bethlehem and walk without fear in our community.”
Hillary Kwiatek

The prompts don’t get any easier as the finish line approaches.

The prompt:

The Chauvin jury has just started to deliberate as I write this. We look for an “end” soon. Maybe even before all the candidate responses get published.

We look for an end, but whatever the outcome, there will not be “closure.”

Floyd’s death is of too great significance for that. The waves will ripple out for years.

Gadfly gave the candidates, mayoral and council candidates alike, a scenario.

George Floyd died May 25, 2020. The one-year anniversary is approaching. An anniversary that will be marked around the country. One can imagine it a day of speeches and ceremonies.

My basic prompt question was should there be an anniversary response at the City Council meeting of May 19 or June 2?

If so, what; if not, why not?

The Floyd death triggered a national reckoning with race and a reimagining of the way we do public safety.

The Floyd death challenged us to be anti-racist.

What have we done? Have we done enough?

The mayor and Police Chief made speeches on the heels of the Floyd murder. A City Council meeting overflowed with heated resident commentators brimming with ideas. A sensitive political climate caused the Police Chief to bite the dust. We resolved to initiate community engagement. We partnered with the NAACP on a Community Advisory Board. We piloted a program with the Health Bureau. We reorganized the police department.

How has what we have done gone? Have we done enough? Do we plan to do more?

Should we pause and take stock of our response to Floyd’s death or not?

Do we owe residents some sense of how we have used that year in which we have all been challenged to work seriously on some of the most deeply rooted problems in our society?

Have we done enough?

Or will we simply let the anniversary slide by in silence?

Big open field again for the candidates to play in.

But looking for big ideas.

If you want to listen to my full prompt, click here.

———–

Kiera Wilhelm

This week’s prompt asked, “Should we do something around the year anniversary of the George Floyd killing?” In short, yes. Yes. (Ed, I’m sending this post to you on the evening of April 20, 2021—the day that Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict has been issued. I’m overwhelmed, as so many of us are, and I admit that language is feeling somehow insufficient.)

Almost a year ago, the City committed via the Community Engagement Initiative to act against the foundations of systemic, historic, deep-seated biases that underlie the everyday lives of people of color. Addressing these biases demands, and deserves, our attention.

The resolution is a clear call to action. It strongly states the need to “build bridges and trust,” to “work collaboratively and self-reflectively to improve the relationship between our Police Department and our diverse ethnic and racial communities,” and to “create a consistent, public space for the long-term discussion of issues surrounding systemic racism, discrimination, race-based in equities, social justice, mental health, addiction, poverty eradication, inclusionary housing, education, and fair policing practices.” It expresses a genuine intent to do more, do better. One year later, how have we done? Have we made progress?

Anniversaries help us to remember. And so as we approach this terrible anniversary, we must remember George Floyd. And Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain, and Ahmaud Arbery, and Daunte Wright, and all those who came before George Floyd and those who have come since. And we must honor their memories by continuing to act. As a City, we have rightly committed to doing all we can to create a safe, inclusive, and just place for every resident of Bethlehem. Should we do something around the year anniversary of the George Floyd killing? Yes. But not only on the year anniversary. We must commit and recommit to creating that safe, inclusive, and just place—on all the days, any day, every day.

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Hillary Kwiatek

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Bryan Callahan

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Rachel Leon

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Grace Crampsie Smith

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Residents are welcome to fashion reflections on candidate comments, sending them to ejg1@lehigh.edu. On Gadfly we seek the good conversation that builds community, so please be courteous at all times. Gadfly retains the right to abridge and to edit your reflections and to decline posts that are repetitive or that contain personal attacks. Gadfly will publish resident reflections on the week’s Forum at noon on Friday.

Speaking of new construction!

Latest in a series of posts on new development

photo Sara Satullo

Yet more apartments! Zoning approved this project catercorner from the post office and across from Moravian Village.

selections from Sara K. Satullo, “116 apartments pitched in former Laros silk mill in Bethlehem.” lehighvalleylive.com, April 6, 2021.

A developer wants to convert two floors of a former Bethlehem silk mill into 116 apartments.

Dubbed the Laros Lofts in submissions in to the city, VM Development Group is pitching a mixed-use redevelopment of the Laros Silk Mill, 601-699 E. Broad St., which currently houses Lehigh Valley Dual Language Charter School and other commercial tenants.

The Easton-based developer plans to keep the charter school and first floor tenants, and add 59 apartments on the second floor, 57 on the third and a rooftop terrace. The conversion of the third floor is already approved and expected to be completed in July, along with an exterior facelift and historic window restoration.

VM Development is seeking city zoning variances to convert the second floor commercial space into the 59 apartments, bringing it to 116 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 555-square-feet to 1,594-square feet. Plans call for extending elevator access to the roof and creating a rooftop deck.City zoning does not allow that many apartments of that size.

S. New St. developer offers affordable housing while maintaining height

Latest in a series of posts on 319-327 S. New St.

HISTORIC CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MONDAY, APRIL26, 2021 AT 6:00 PM

Members of the public may enter the meeting via GoToMeeting at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/434977885

or via the phone at:+1 (224) 501–3412Access Code:434–977–885

ref: Another developer thinking big . . . er, tall
ref: The HCC discusses the proposal for 319-327 S. New
ref: “The current proposal for a 12-story structure is inappropriate”
ref: “What we have in front of us is going to be a big stretch for us”
ref: “Going to 5-6 stories definitely wouldn’t work”
ref: Southside developer blows some smoke
ref: The developer plays hard ball
ref: Establishing Community-Centered Principles for Responsible Southside Development
ref: Testing the principles for responsible development on the S. New St. project, part 1
ref: Testing the principles for responsible development on the S, New St. project, part 2

ref: The Mayor enters Southside historic district proceedings

Ok, Gadfly’s got it right this time.

The S. New St. project is on the table again this evening.

See the developer’s new narrative letter here.

Remember that height, as elsewhere on the Southside, is the so-called elephant in the room: the developer has come down from 13 stories to 10, though district guidelines call for a height limit substantially shorter.

A major new development is the entrance of the Mayor on the side of the developer.

See the Mayor’s substantial letter of support here.

Note especially how heavily the way the developer’s commitment to providing 10% “affordable housing” weighs in the Mayor’s support.

Tricky.

Plays one important issue for many residents off against another.

Followers will remember the strong voices against a tall building at the last HCC meeting.

Candidate Grubb critics don’t respond to the facts

Latest in a series of posts on candidates for election

Breena Holland is an Associate Professor at Lehigh University in the Department of Political Science and the Environmental Initiative. She is a past and current director of Lehigh University’s South Side Initiative.

ref: Hardball

Dear Gadfly,

Thanks for posting the responses of Willie Reynolds and other city councilmembers to Dana Grubb’s mailer. It’s interesting that none of them respond to the facts on the mailer but instead come close to making ad hominem attacks. Even the comment by the usually fair-minded Dr. Wirt is devoid of substantive content. She seems to be suggesting Mr. Grubb’s proposals are somehow backward looking, but I’d certainly be willing to argue with her about the accuracy of that description. Mr. Grubb does tend to focus more on what can be done immediately, in contrast to Willie Reynolds’ fantastical imagining of what our city can be at some far point in the future. It’s good to know where you are going, but I trust Grubb’s practical mindedness and capacity to listen to good ideas to get us there faster. Mr. Reynolds has often shown disdain for and a lack of follow through on many good ideas. After torpedoing the ethics ordinance that councilmembers Negron and Colon put forward, he never delivered on his publicly proclaimed intention to put through smaller substantive pieces of the ordinance; I would hardly call the ethics training and gifts ban that Councilmen Martell and Callahan put through substantive commitments to ethics. And that is just one instance where he did not deliver.**  Many of us are hoping he’s stopped taking such large donations from developers.*** It would seem politically stupid to continue accepting donations from developers after he voted in favor of the Martin Tower rezoning, despite citizens’ requests for recusal based on the hefty donations he had already accepted from the property owners.

The most troubling response among those you posted is from Grace Crampsie Smith, who goes as far as to call Mr. Grubb malevolent for stating facts about Mr. Reynolds’ record. By definition, this means she thinks Mr. Grubb wants to do evil to others. Well, she fits in perfectly with the kind of politics we have in Bethlehem. Those who disagree with the decisions of people in power – in this case, by simply stating facts about a public official’s record – frequently get called “divisive” and “negative,” and now I guess those people are evil as well. It’s a well-honed strategy to silence dissent and speaks volumes to precisely the kind of candidate that Mr. Reynolds is. Rather than defend his decisions, he proclaims himself the victim of negative campaigning, tries to say the presentation of facts about his record (some of which are relevant to decisions made before councilwomen Crampsie Smith and Van Wirt were even on Council) are an attack on all of Council, and does not bother to explain any single fact presented on the mailer. This is the go-to response of Mr. Reynolds: criticize those who disagree and mobilize your allies to help silence them. It saddens me that citizens have only two choices where his campaign is concerned. We can either agree that Mr. Reynolds’ lofty hopes and dreams for Bethlehem are enough to make him our choice for mayor, or shut-up and go away. And for the record, I do agree with Mr. Reynolds’ hopes and dreams—who wouldn’t want the city he talks about? Unfortunately, after watching him operate for ten years, I just don’t think he has either the capacity or commitment to get us there.

He is right about one thing, which is that nothing will change the “vision, passion, and enthusiasm” of his campaign. They are literally drowning in it. Those of us who are not, however, would like to see some concrete discussion of how he’s going to achieve his vision in a way that involves something besides bringing people together and creating new positions at City Hall. For instance, there is the small matter of managing the day-to-day work of the City. But first, of course, all those people who think he is being victimized by his opponent delivering facts about his record need to send more money to his campaign. I guess the endorsements of the entire democratic establishment that controls Bethlehem politics are not enough? All the money he’s stockpiled from developers over the years is not enough?*** No, now that someone is talking about his actual record, people need to send him more money. Or maybe he’s already worried about raising money for his next political ambition?

Sincerely,

Breena

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** Candidates Reynolds and Grubb were asked a question about the ethics ordinance at the Lehigh Valley for All candidate event, and the interchange is in the Gadfly’s queue for posting in the near future. Followers can see the substantial discussion of the ethics ordinance at the May 2, 2017, City Council meeting here.

*** The candidate Reynolds financial disclosure for this campaign will probably be posted here in the first week of May. Followers can see his past disclosures there as well. The candidates did have an exchange about campaign contributions that Gadfly can’t put his finger on at the moment but will search for and post.

3 weeks left!

Latest in a series of posts on candidates for election

Three weeks left to the walk-in, gang.

Gadfly’s mail-in has been processed and should be arriving this week.

Time to be paying attention.

Be informed with your vote.

Let’s have record turn-out for a “municipal” election.

Morning Call, Nation and World, p. 15 print version, April 25, 2021

Developer John Noble on saving the chimney to save the Swifts: “It’s going to be pretty cool”

Latest in a series of posts on the Swifts

The Swifts are the official City Bird of Bethlehem
They need your help

GoFundMe

On April 21 Masonic Temple developer John Noble kicked off the last forum in the S.O.S. Save Our Swifts by Saving their Urban Habitat: Telling the Story of the Chimney Swifts and their Connection to Our City series hosted by the Bethlehem Area Public Library and the Audubon Society.

Noble’s immediate commitment to this project suggested to him by Jennie Gilrain is absolutely remarkable.

Listen to his philosophy of developing in general and his passion for this project of saving the Masonic Temple chimney for our Swifts.

I personally have always felt that conservation and basically nature was part of any element you do in life, so anything I’ve tried to do I’ve actually tried to create balances so it didn’t impact surrounding neighbors, nature, and everything else.

One of the thing I’ve always strived to do . . . No matter what I did, you ultimately had to improve how it impacted the community, the neighbors, and nature.

When I brought the property, there was a minimum amount of trees. When we get done with this project, it’s actually going to be a lot more harmonious with how nature, birds, and wild life, and people can live in that area.

As a developer, it’s always important not only to create different structures and uses but also create a better environment for the neighbors and nature. It’s a big balance and you have to do it.

We’re going to make the environment a lot more natural [doubling the number of trees].

I already had a vision for the property and how to make it better. . . With the phone call I got from Jennie [Gilrain], it was pure enlightenment. . . . It was kind of a fun phone call. . . . She sent over the video. . . . And all of a sudden the project became something that was not only going to benefit the community and be fun to do, it also became a passion — how do we do something that most people wouldn’t think to do, which is to save these birds. . . . It became that much more fun.

For probably two weeks after that phone call, I learned more about Swifts, birds, and chimneys than I could ever have imagined in my lifetime.

The ultimate outcome of this thing was we kind of created awareness in the entire town, in the community, my own personal awareness, and it became a real challenge, how do we save this chimney, and save this habitat so that these birds have a good probability of using it.

When we get done, right now we’ve actually saved the structure, but we’ve also totally redesigned the building to accept the load of this chimney, so when we’re done . . . we’re going to have that chimney as literally a focal point

It’s one of those big time bonuses that everything fit together.

When you come in, when you drive on our site, probably the first thing you are going to see is a big chimney. It’s going to be pretty cool.

Save Our Swifts
GoFundMe

How can we be a walkable, bikeable city?

Latest in a series of posts on Walkability and Bikeability

“The problem is there’s not a lot of options housing-wise.”
Grace Crampsie Smith

“There’s more to the City than just north and south; we need to make sure that
public transportation goes everywhere.”
Rachel Leon

“It’s not necessarily if you build it, they will come.
Kiera Wilhelm

“We need to create the infrastructure that creates a more dense and walkable city.”
Hillary Kwiatek

“One of the things that we could de better is educate the residents about
the trails that we do have.”
Bryan Callahan

“We must first recognize that our streets are not built for pedestrians.”
Willie Reynolds

“There might be opportunities to close the streets more frequently and just create the
area where pedestrians feel a little more welcome.”
Dana Grubb

This is the last post taken from the candidates’ productive visit to the Environmental Advisory Council meeting on April 1.

The responses are short. Listen to the voices. Sometimes you can tell a lot.

What do you think the City could do to allow more people to live in and around our downtown areas where they could walk and bike for their daily transportation needs and be less reliant on a car?

Grace Crampsie Smith

  • need housing available for people with multiple income levels
  • cf. her work on inclusionary housing
  • knows a lot of people who want to live downtown
  • my friends and I walk down ton all the time
  • The problem is there’s not a lot of options housing wise
  • a lot of high-end luxury apartments going in downtown
  • also need more and accessible biking paths
  • safe sidewalks
  • bike program like in Philly

Rachel Leon

  • affordable housing
  • public transit system
  • bike lanes
  • study where bikes aren’t safe
  • pedestrian bridge
  • public transportation must go everywhere

Kiera Wilhelm

  • agree with everything that’s been said
  • safe sidewalks
  • bike lanes
  • educate people
  • not just build and they will come
  • must tell people in multiple, accessible ways

Hillary Kwiatek

  • on the Southside many people walk most places
  • dangerous crossing on north side of Fahy bridge
  • pedestrian bridge would make it more walkable
  • create infrastructure

Bryan Callahan

  • we could do a better job educating about our trails
  • beautiful trail system
  • need to reconnect some pieces of it
  • need to keep updating all intersections with ADA ramps
  • handicapped want to enjoy the environment like everybody else
  • appropriated more money for that in the budget

Willie Reynolds

  • streets are not built for pedestrians but cars
  • Linden, Center, Broad — too wide
  • must make it easier for people to walk and cross streets
  • streets as dividers that break up communities
  • create master plans and gradually work on them
  • too many places where people choose to drive because conditions for walking are not good
  • Bethlehem Food Co-Op
  • hope for Linden and Broad changes getting underway soon

Dana Grubb

  • experiences on D&L Trail led him to reconstitute the Department of Parks and Recreation
  • poorly maintained
  • boardwalk on Monocacy Way deplorable
  • reinvest in those areas because they are ways to walk downtown
  • supports pedestrian bridge for biking
  • bridge in Jim Thorpe a huge asset
  • close streets more frequently to make pedestrians feel more welcome

IceHouse Tonight celebrates National Poetry Month Tuesday night

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

IceHouse Tonight

Developed as a model sustainable arts venue, IceHouse Tonight is a cultural
initiative designed to serve and share the arts of the local culture.
It is a vehicle for creative place-making, focusing on works
created by local and regional artists.

Poetry Showcase – National Poetry Month
Tuesday, April 27, 7PM

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Live from IceHouse Tonight presents 6 outstanding local poets in an online event. Each poet will read a 10 minute set. Event produced by the Crowded Kitchen Players.

Suggested donation for the show: $5
Paypal: elynnalexander@gmail.com
Venmo: Lynn Alexander @Elynnarts

Poets include:

–Lynn Alexander – E. Lynn Alexander is a poet, artist, and founder/organizer of Lehigh Valley Poetry which is a collaborative group meant to expand opportunities through events, workshops, and shared resources. Currently, this involves virtual programs such as open mics. www.elynnalexander.com
www.Lehighvalleypoetry.org

–Kristina Haynes – Kristina Haynes is a poet living in Bethlehem, PA and is a co-founder of Basement Poetry. Her second collection of poems, Chloe, is available for purchase on wordsdancepublishing.com.

–Ann E. Michael – Ann E. Michael currently directs the writing center at DeSales University. Her most recent collection of poems is Barefoot Girls; her next book, The Red Queen Hypothesis, is slated for publication by Salmon Poetry sometime in 2021. More info at www.annemichael.wordpress.com

–Danielle Notaro – An OG writer/actor of the Lehigh Valley, Danielle has also studied, taught and read in New England and Mid-Atlantic States. She’s published in several magazines and journals. Her book, Limn the Mask, was self-published in 2013. In 2019, she released a CD of pieces from her book w/improv music, Limn the Chord. She won Outstanding Spoken Word Artist from the Lehigh Valley Music Awards in 2018. To buy book: https://www.amazon.com/Limn-Mask-Danielle…/dp/1484075668. To buy CD: https://daniellenotaro.bandcamp.com/album/limn-the-chord

–Roy Smith – Roy Word Smith lives in Bucks county Pa and has been writing for about thirty years. He is currently working on another novel and writes poetry as well. Roy has been published in Live At Karlas – 13 New Hope Poets and Phantom Billstickers Cafe Reader out of New Zealand. He has also been published in Apiary and Bucks county writers magazine as well as several others such as River Heron Review. He was the MC of New Hope Beat Poets Society for eight years.

–Matt Wolf – A poet and mindfulness instructor, Matt has also organized over 50 poetry-related events since 2014. Matt was named the Outstanding Spoken Word Artist by the Lehigh Valley Music Awards in 2019. You can purchase his book of poetry and photography, A Journey, at www.bapl.org/bapl-books/

The show will be streamed on the IceHouse Tonight Facebook page and the IceHouse Tonight Youtube channel.

Live from IceHouse Tonight delivers local arts to your living room. Presenting a diverse selection of virtual performances, the series is part of the larger IceHouse Tonight series, which features over 100 events each year. The series is proudly sponsored by Fig Bethlehem magazine

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Plan on the table for Hill to Hill bridge renovation

The latest in a series of posts on the Southside

Gadfly wonders if a public meeting would be in order. Pretty complicated. See the virtual public meeting video embedded in Christina’s article

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selections from Christina Tatu, “Bethlehem’s Hill to Hill Bridge plan calls for $74.4 million in repairs and addition of a second span.” Morning Call, April 23, 2021.

A $74.4 million plan to fix Bethlehem’s Hill to Hill Bridge would add a new, two-lane bridge parallel to the 100-year-old span over the Lehigh River.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which is working with the Federal Highway Administration, is asking the public to weigh in on the proposed plan, which was the finalist among several PennDOT has been studying.

The public has until May 7 to comment on the plan, which is available on the PennDOT website.

It would rehabilitate the existing bridge and add a new parallel bridge on the southern side to provide additional width with two northbound travel lanes and a sidewalk. The new span would taper back and tie into the existing bridge just before the northern truss.

The proposal would also widen the left turn lane onto the 2nd Street ramp and add a right turn lane to westbound 3rd Street.

Other plans under consideration were to just rehabilitate the existing span, but that didn’t address significant traffic congestion issues.

Engineers also considered installing a new parallel bridge that runs the full length of the Hill to Hill Bridge, but that would inflate the cost to $100 million and require removal of the Fritch Fuel sign and its silos, which qualify for the National Register of Historic Places.

Mike Alkhal, Bethlehem’s Director of Public Works, said city officials have been working closely with PennDOT to identify the main issues, which include the need for increased vehicular capacity and wider turning lanes. Other key issues include pedestrian access and increasing capacity on the 2nd Street ramp.

Morning and afternoon rush hours are always an issue in the area, and city and state officials have been trying to come up with solutions for years, Alkhal said, adding that he can remember traffic studies on the area from 10 or 15 years ago.

The project is complicated for many reasons.

Numerous utility lines, including fiber optic, telephone and cable lines, use the bridge to cross the Lehigh River, and four Norfolk Southern rail lines run underneath the bridge on the north and south sides of the Lehigh River.

The Delaware & Lehigh Canal Trail and planned Bethlehem Greenway are also near the bridge. The South Bethlehem Historic District must also be protected.

Officials also want to protect the Hill to Hill Bridge’s unique architecture, which qualifies for the National Register of Historic Places with its Hudson Trusses and closed-span arches.

The Hill to Hill Bridge provides a critical link for residents, businesses and services, and is important for the city’s many festivals, including Musikfest. PennDOT studies show that 300-350 pedestrians and 60-100 bicyclists use the bridge each day.

During Musikfest, up 150-250 pedestrians use the bridge per hour. The development of the Bethlehem Greenway trail is expected to increase pedestrian use.

Angela DelGrosso, senior vice president of the Bethlehem Chamber at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the biggest request she hears from North Side and South Side business owners is the desire to provide a pedestrian-friendly connection between the two downtowns.

Reducing traffic congestion when trying to get between the two downtowns is also crucial, she said.

DelGrosso was happy to see a six-foot-wide sidewalk included in the plan for the new, parallel span, but she and others in the business community want to see a dedicated pedestrian bridge. A pedestrian bridge is something city officials have been exploring for several years, but it would be separate from the PennDOT project.

Chief Kott mixing business and pleasure tonight at the Latinx Block Party

Latest in a series of posts about the Bethlehem Police

“I will absolutely give [Salsa] a try, in addition to being Chief of Police, my more important job is I’m a mom of a 6-yr-old and a 3-yr-old. Something I’m really big on is trying things, I don’t believe you shouldn’t try things, even if you are bad at it, you have to give your best attempt. So I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn’t try, and I want to show my kids that it’s about getting out there and having fun, experiencing things, I’m going to give it my best shot.”
————

Touchstone Theatre

Latinx Block Party
Tonight 6-9pDoors open at 5:30pm
Seating is first come, first served
Tickets are FREE, donations are welcome
Performance takes place OUTSIDE, in Touchstone’s parking lot. Masks and social distancing are required for all attendees.

———–

Interview: James Johnson.BPD Chief Michelle Kott & Guillermo Lopez with Latinx Community Outreach. WDIY News, April 22. 2021.

Listen to Guillermo give you background about and a pep talk on the paaaarty tonight!

But Gadfly really especially wants you to listen to Chief Kott (begin min. 9:00).

Pay attention not only to what the Chief says but how she says it.

We’ve heard her forefront community engagement by the police at Council meetings.

And we’ve seen that community engagement recorded in social media lately.

This is the first time Gadfly has heard about the newly born (1 1/2 weeks ago) “Neighborhood Outreach Initiative.”

But, in addition, Gadfly wonders if, like him, you can hear in her voice genuine personal enthusiasm for community engagement and being a good mother.

Give a listen:

  • sees “perfect opportunity to get out into the community and recruit some local individuals to become Bethlehem police officers”
  • “I’m very big on having a department that represents the community”
  • “One of our goals in recruiting this year is to really try and reach out and have more Hispanic applicants, have more African American applicants, individuals of color, people who speak different languages, members of the LGBTQ community
  • “so this was perfect on the recruitment level”
  • “but also, since being appointed to this position . . . I really wanted to bring back that sense of community engagement, that community policing the BPD used to be so well known for”
  • “This is an excellent opportunity for a great cause, for Touchstone Theatre, for us to get out into the community, be there tp answer questions, learn and celebrate our local Latinx culture and community”
  • “I feel like it’s a win-win”
  • “We have a neighborhood outreach initiative that just started about a week and a half ago”
  • “We already have community police officers assigned to the business districts”
  • “We just don’t want community policing to be about a community policing unit”
  • “It’s got to be something that’s embedded in every single unit, so our neighborhood outreach consists of time slots where officers have a designated time to walk around a neighborhood or bike, get out of the car, and be more approachable, and talk to residents, play basketball with kids, hand out literature”
  • “In addition to going to events like the Block Party, we have other initiatives to get officers out of cars, interacting and talking with community members”
  • “I am a horrible dancer, but I am willing to try anything, and learn, I’m just really looking forward to engage with members of the community, informal conversations, laugh, smile, the spring is such a great time of year, and having this block party couldn’t come at a better time”
  • “People are getting vaccinated, we are no means in the clear yet with the pandemic, but this is a great opportunity to gather safely and celebrate and have a great time”
  • “I’m just looking forward to everything — the food, music, dancing, and fellowship”
  • “I will absolutely give [Salsa] a try, in addition to being Chief of police, my more important job is I’m a mom of a 6-yr-old and a 3-yr-old”
  • “Something I’m really big on is trying things, I don’t believe you shouldn’t try things, even if you are bad at it, you have to give your best attempt”
  • “So I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn’t try, and I want to show my kids that it’s about getting out there and having fun, experiencing things, I’m going to give it my best shot”

Dance on, Chief!

Mayoral candidates Reynolds and Grubb on their qualifications

Latest in a series of posts on candidates for election

Good article by Christina here. Take a look at the entire piece now if you wish, and Gadfly will break it down for specific focus over ensuing days.

———–

selections from Christina Tatu, “Q&A with Bethlehem’s Democratic candidates for mayor.” Morning Call, April 22, 2021.

Q. What makes you qualified to be mayor of Bethlehem?

Grubb: Experience. I worked for the citizens of Bethlehem for 27 years in city government, managing budgets and staff, and negotiating the tax increment financing at SteelStacks, as well as other contracts, loans and grants. I am also a small-business owner and I work for a nonprofit affordable housing entity, HOM. My willingness to listen and incorporate other viewpoints into my decision-making combined with my experience make me qualified for the job.

Reynolds: We need a vision coming out of the pandemic that will create a more vibrant and dynamic city. That vision must be based on sustainability, economic revitalization, diversity and equity. During my time on City Council, we have worked to economically revitalize our city and helped to lead us to our strongest financial position in decades. I have introduced and implemented initiatives related to neighborhood revitalization, climate action, economic redevelopment, technology and transparency. Every one of those initiatives has been designed around organizing, listening and bringing people together to create change.

Our campaign has broad support from families, progressive organizations, small businesses, environmental advocacy groups, public education advocates, organized labor and elected officials at the local, state and federal levels. That cross section of support will be the same citywide coalition the next mayor will need if Bethlehem is going to emerge from the pandemic an even stronger community.

The Mayor enters Southside historical district proceedings

Latest posts on 14-18 W. 3rd St. and 319-327 S. New St.

14-18 W. 3rd St.
ref: Another opportunity to apply the “Smith Principles”
ref: Is the proposed 14-18 W. 3rd. St. a good addition to our community? Part 1
ref: Is the proposed 14-18 W. 3rd. St. a good addition to our community? Part 2
ref: We need eyes tonight on a proposed Southside project again
ref: Stepping down on 3rd St.

Damnation. Gadfly failing. He might not make it to his May 19 retirement date.

He transfixed only on the S. New St. project on the Historical Conservation Commission April 19 agenda and thus didn’t attend the meeting when discussion of that project was shifted to next week.

Damnation, so he missed discussion of the demolition at the W. 3rd St. site to make way for an 8-storybuilding, which was denied by a 3-2 vote and passed on to City Council — where there should be an interesting discussion and at which the Councilors will earn their keep.

Lately, the height has been the “elephant in the room” at these Southside projects. Gadfly’s impression from the last meeting was that the Commissioners were pretty much all against the 8-story proposal and were looking for ways to revise it.

In a letter to the HCC, the Mayor argued for approval of the project.

Gadfly understands that Commissioners Lader, Starbuck, and Cornish voted to deny, Simonson and Hudak voting for.

The Mayor’s finger on the scale is, at least during Gadfly’s 3-year tenure, unusual. The last time he can remember the Mayor doing this was his disapproval of developer plans on First Terrace.

Gadfly would love to have heard the discussion of the Commissioners going against the Mayor or about the Mayor inserting his opinion at all. But it doesn’t look like the meeting was recorded.

So, now look for major tension when this comes before City Council. The HCC only recommends. Council has the ultimate power.

———

selections from “Sara K. Satullo, “2 towering urban-infill projects proposed for South Bethlehem with apartments and eclectic food court.” lehighvalleylive.com, April 22, 2021.

Two towering urban infill, mixed-use projects are pitched for South New and West Third streets in Bethlehem, fueling a debate over how best to balance the Southside’s historic features with new development.

The West Third Street project is proposed at eight stories while the South New Street one stands at 10.

This comes as the city is in the midst of a South Bethlehem Historic Conservation District study aimed at reducing heights in central business district areas from 150 feet to 90 or 60 feet on certain blocks. A 150-foot building is about 14 stories. The Wilbur Trust building, commonly known as the Flatiron building, stands at about 75 feet tall while the Fred B. Rooney Building is about 175 feet.

The South Bethlehem Historic Conservation Commission’s spent the last few months reviewing certificate of appropriateness requests for both projects as developers revised plans based on board feedback. Mayor Bob Donchez recently lent his support to both projects.

The historic board voted 3-2 Monday to recommend Bethlehem City Council reject the request to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with an eight-story building at 14-18 W. Third St., said Darlene Heller, city planning director. The 317-327 S. New St. proposal was bumped to the April 26 meeting due to the long agenda at Monday’s meeting.

————

14-18 W. Third St.
The Mayor’s letter of support

Developer Joseph C. Posh wants to tear down two structurally unstable buildings at 14-18 E. Third St. to construct an eight-story building with first floor commercial space and apartments on the upper floors, according to paperwork filed with the city. The property is adjacent to developer Dennis Benner’s six-story Gateway at Greenway Park, which generated much debate when it was proposed.

The building has been vacant since 2016 when a partial wall collapse at 18 E. Third St. displaced 10 people. The wall is still shored up with wood supports.

“This is an important entry to the pedestrian Greenway and Lehigh University all by the way of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge, which is a major entry point of the South Side,” Posh wrote in a letter to the board. “We feel it is important to provide a development on this critical site that is evocative to the renaissance that is occurring on the South Side while incorporating the South Side Bethlehem history.”

The proposed West Third Street project offers a new anchor to “south Bethlehem’s struggling western gateway area,” Donchez wrote in a letter to the commission. “The West Third Street corridor is challenged with the vacant lots, the high vehicular traffic and wide intersections at Brodhead (Avenue) and a lack of pedestrian activity along this corridor.”

The historic board liked the look of the building and its nods to the architecture of the neighborhood, but ultimately felt it was too high, Heller said.

———–

319-327 S. New St.
The Mayor’s letter of support

A developer has big plans for the site of Your Welcome Inn, 325 S. New St., a favorite Southside dive bar before it closed in December 2017. At the time, the team behind some of Main Street Bethlehem’s most popular restaurants —Juan and Cara Paredes and Rafael Palomino — planned a pub. The trio own numerous eateries including Tapas on Main, the Flying Egg, Cachette Bistro & Creperie.

Now, Palomino has grander plans for 317-327 S. New Street, where 325 South New Street Development LLC is pitching a 10-story building of 65 market-rate apartments and affordable housing, anchored by an eclectic food court, according to documents filed with the city. The building incorporates the Italianate Facade of 321-323 S. New St., the only building deemed historic, and the building adds square footage as it rises back to East Graham Place.

The ground floor would be leased to Palomino Food Court incorporating Tapas, Mesa, Humble Garden (vegan food), Burger (American food), and Piccolo offering Italian.

The first three stories of the building are designed to match the style of the historic district and building materials used. It features a rooftop patio and a gym as building amenities.

“I believe there are many exciting qualities in the project,” Donchez wrote in his letter of support. “These aspects include the redevelopment of underutilized structures, an exciting complement of food and restaurant amenities, much needed market rate and affordable housing, and an architecturally appropriate project for the Southside Historic Conservation District.”

The food court meets the high demand for limited service restaurants found in a 2019 retail market analysis of the Southside. But the most important aspect for Donchez is the commitment to make 10% of the project affordable housing. Housing costs for qualified residents, based on federal guidelines, would be limited to less than 30% of household income.

“The importance of the willingness of this owner to commit to affordable housing cannot be understated, as this is the first project of its kind to commit to addressing this important issue without financial incentive specific to the creation of affordable housing,” Donchez writes.

There’s also significant demand for market-rate apartments in the arts district with a tight 3.5% residential rental vacancy rate, the mayor states.

“This high demand for new units will meet the demands of health care providers, young professionals and graduate students, and concentrating them in the downtown has been the goal of my administration,” he said.

The mayor believes the project design aligns with the historic district’s design guidelines and he notes the developer has reduced the building height from 150 feet to 100 feet. While the study of the historic district does propose limiting heights in this area to 90 feet, the mayor says the extra height is a necessary tradeoff to make 10% of the units affordable housing.

The historic board thus far has objected to the height of the proposed project, but liked the look of the exterior, Heller said.

ADUs, not sexy but potentially part of the solution to the need for affordable housing

Latest post in a series on Affordable Housing

Councilwoman Van Wirt shares another piece of her reading. The productive conversation on affordable housing continues.

In an earlier post, Gadfly remarked that Councilwoman Van Wirt was nudging the City toward a quick ADU pilot program, like right now.

Councilwoman Van Wirt: “I would actually urge your committee to come up with a pilot program. Let’s just try something out of the gate. Let’s just change a zoning code to allow RDUs in a targeted area, serviced by public transit, maybe a 10-block area. . . . I don’t see why we wouldn’t try it. Let’s see what happens. . . . This crisis is right now upon us, and if we can come up with some tools that actually work now, I think that’s a good idea.”

“Who can afford to build one of those ADU’s in their back yard?
Who is this really serving?”

Mayoral candidate Dana Grubb: “Our public parks are a precious resource”

Latest in a series of posts on candidates for election

Dana Grubb for Mayor

click here for video

Candidate Grubb at Monocacy Park:

  • Our parks have provided peaceful places for fishing, picnicking, and walking for generations.
  • Unfortunately, maintenance is often wanting and floods wreak havoc.
  • Regular maintenance can defer cost of capital improvements.
  • I will reconstitute the Department of Parks and Recreation.
  • The park resources will gain a new focus.
  • And will be available to future generations as they were to him.

Let’s believe in a better Bethlehem.

Let’s meaningfully remember George Floyd on the anniversary of his death

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

“No one should be above the law, and today’s verdict sends that message. . . . But it’s not enough. It can’t stop here. In order to deliver real change and reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen again. . . . We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done. We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country.”
President Biden

“We are at the beginning of the Ice Age, if you will, and unless policing is prepared to evolve, it will become extinct. Unless policing is prepared to move toward a more restorative, transformative justice model, it will be replaced. They have to be fully prepared to start walking back from what was the policing model of the 20th and the 19th century to a public safety model, and to move toward a holistic model, a more comprehensive public safety model that respects the sanctity of human life.”
Marq Claxton, Black Law Enforcement Alliance

Gadfly would like to make a modest proposal, a modest suggestion.

Gadfly would like to propose that the City mark the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020.

Such marking could take place at the City Council meeting on May 19 or June 2.

But better yet would be a special meeting devoted solely to marking Floyd’s death, such as, perhaps, a meeting of the Public Safety Committee on May 25.

We need a meeting where we have enough time and space to breathe.

Derek Chauvin is guilty in the death of George Floyd. Guilty three times over.

But we can’t think of that verdict as the end to the GeorgeFloyd chapter of American racial history. We still have work to do.

George Floyd’s death plunged the country into (yet another) national reckoning with race.

George Floyd’s murder challenged us as individuals and institutions 1) to be anti-racist (a new term for many of us), and 2) to reimagine how we do public safety.

George Floyd’s fate challenged us to work seriously on some of the most deeply rooted problems in our society.

May 25, 2021, will be a ceremonial day across the nation. People and entities are announcing gatherings of various sorts. We need to be among them.

We need to mark the GeorgeFloyd anniversary in two ways: 1) we need to take stock of how we have met those challenges, we need to gauge how productively we have spent the year in this regard, and we need to give ourselves a candid report card, and 2) we need to set some plans and goals for the future.

What do we have to show for the year?

Frankly, if Gadfly were to give a grade for how we have spent the year in this area, it would not be a good one.

He recognizes that there has been a transition in Police Department leadership. He is aware of the argument that there are good intentions in the police department and that we need to wait for the department to establish a new direction under a new leader. He understands that argument, has seen a reorganization plan, and recognizes through social media the department moving in positive directions. But Blacks have been waiting for justice for six centuries, have been waiting since Gomes Eanes de Zurara inaugurated racial ideas in Western Culture in his 1453 defense of African slave-trading, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea.***

The waiting argument falls on deaf ears.

Women have been asked to wait — for the right to vote, for reproductive autonomy, for equal pay. How has that worked out for them?

Blacks, all people of color have been asked to wait. Be patient. The arc of the universe bends toward justice. We’re working on it.

Sorry, we have to do better than that. We have to get our butts movin’.

Now during the past year there was for a while a pocket of political resistance to any change in policing. Gadfly wonders if that has had impact on our willingness to act, especially in an election year. He hopes not, for echoing the quote above by a Black law enforcement spokesman, Gadfly believes that those voices are more and more clearly on the wrong side of history.

Gadfly believes public safety is going to change substantially.

And he would like to see Bethlehem in the forefront of that change.

Let’s use the Floyd anniversary to re-energize.

(Over the next few days, Gadfly will review local Floyd doings over the year.)

———-

***Knowledge of the history of racism thanks to a powerful anti-racism program sponsored by the Bethlehem Area Public Library.

Bethlehem is going to need a CAPed crusader

Latest in a series on Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan

City of Bethlehem
Climate Action Plan 2021
launched April 12, 2021

“The keystone to implementation [of the Climate Action Plan] is creating a Bethlehem Office of Sustainability and associated city Sustainability Director to guide the roll-out of the CAP.”

ref: Let’s hear it for the Climate Action Plan!
ref: The Climate Action Plan by the (impressive) numbers

Sequesterd and sedentary Gadfly’s been spending his Earth Day morning so far reading our newly launched Climate Action Plan.

See the link above. The CAP is huge.

It’s like the Bible.

Everybody will find something in it.

No, it’s not like the Bible, it is a bible.

And the City will be reading from it for years to come.

Gadfly spent a good deal of his “teaching” career administering.

He loves organizing and planning. He used to say that he found planning aphrodisiac.

So his mind went right to a question like “who the hell is going to run all this?”

Riddle me that.

Gadfly sees why CAP guru Councilman Reynolds sees one of the first key structural steps is the creation of an Office of Sustainability with a Director of Sustainability (p. 204).

It may be that there will be a kind of shadow government running City Hall!

So be prepared for a request for a Director of Sustainability position in the 2022 budget.

In the meantime, responsibility for certain activities will be delegated to city departments.

Such a position seems absolutely necessary.

Gadfly will return to highlight some aspects of the CAP that drew his attention this morning.

How are you spending your Earth Day?

Skyline West will “nestle in the woods”

Latest post in a series on Skyline West/143 W. Broad

Gadfly’s major focus at the April 8 Planning Commission meeting was on the new 404 E. 3rd St. apartment project.

But ’tis the time when older and deferred projects are now starting to come back on line in the seeming race to glut Bethlehem with apartments.

Followers will remember this one, Skyline West.

There was controversy on demolishing this kind of odd, interesting house at 143 W, Broad to make way for the new project.

This house sits on an isolated, narrow sliver of property virtually abutting Rt. 378.

The historical folks voted against demolition. Council reversed and approved. And in such cases there is always the whiff of favoring the developer, who is, as we say, “prominent.”

Anyway, the house will go, and the new project will sit behind it on what is an oddly shaped piece of land on a hill.

The proposed building — 40-50 apartments — is a kind of marvel of construction, tucked into an island of land on a hill.

One big issue last time around the bureaucratic horn, as Gadfly remembers it, was how this very new modern looking structure would look from the historic industrial area below and across the Monocacy.

This was the scary picture. From Monacacy level.

Gadfly is happy to say that the discussion this time around the horn took into consideration Bethlehem’s position as a finalist as a World Heritage site.

Nobody wanted to bum our chances.

The developers explained that the building was not planned to be as glaringly “white” as the rendering makes it appear.

Instead the plan is to make it more subdued and to have it “nestle in the woods.”

The wooded topography was said to have a “lot of character,” and the developer planned minimal earth disturbance, as little tree removal as possible, and always sensitivity to topography.

Good luck. Looks like a building hard to nestle, doesn’t it?

Our candidates on Earth Day

Latest in a series of posts on the environment

“I’m an organic gardener. At home we are very focused on sustainable living.”
Hillary Kwiatek

“I personally take the opportunity to advocate in my daily life to people around me. . . . Being a teacher is always with me.”
Kiera Wilhelm

“I like to consider myself a Lorax, I speak for the trees.”
Rachel Leon

“My kids and I, pretty much all of our clothes are from gently used stores.”
Grace Crampsie Smith

“The biggest thing that I do in my personal life . . . financial backing as much as I can . . . I’m a big supporter of Tara and Congresswoman Susan Wild.”
Bryan Callahan

“I’m that guy out on the trail who’s picking up litter.”
Dana Grubb

At the Environmental Advisory Council meeting at which the candidates for election appeared, Breena Holland posed some good questions appropriate for today, Earth Day.

What have you actually done personally to protect the environment?

Hillary Kwiatek

  • Involved in protests
  • support climate action candidates
  • walk to work
  • organic gardener
  • very focused at home on sustainable living
  • lives in 1860s home
  • picking up trash at Higbee playground
  • captained playground bill to clean up park

Kiera Wilhelm

  • voting record of support
  • walk to work
  • use own grocery bags
  • if use plastic bag, wash it
  • advocates in daily personal life with people around her
  • a teacher, teaching young people about environment was important part of her past

Rachel Leon

  • she’s a Lorax
  • life revolves around environmental issues
  • environmental studies career path (student At NCC now)
  • environmental justice subcommitee of Climate Action Plan
  • Sierra Club
  • president of Climate Action Network at NCC
  • monthly clean ups
  • does Earth Day events
  • global environmental issues at UN
  • Afros in Nature
  • working with school in Puerto Rico

Grace Crampsie Smith

  • has always supported the EAC
  • grew up close to the environment in a small town near Jim Thorpe
  • spent young years at Glen Onoko Falls, Mauch Chunk Lake
  • gave great appreciation for the environment and the land
  • instilled compassionate care for environment in her children
  • recycles, no plastic
  • cleanups
  • clean up at Musik-Fest
  • reusing items
  • clothes from gently used stores
  • clothes at Cancer Boutique
  • walks and bikes
  • car with almost zero emissions

Bryan Callahan

  • Mauch Chunk lake every year
  • avid camper and hiker
  • regular upstate New York
  • lot of time on our trails
  • South Side Little League clean up
  • biggest thing is financial supporter of officials like Tara Zrinski and Susan Wild

Dana Grubb

  • Drives Subaru, made in zero-waste facility
  • executive committee of Boutique at the Rink
  • Sierra Club
  • picks up litter on the trail and in parking lots
  • canvas shopping bags, no plastic
  • huge recycler, waste stream is limited
  • walks the walk

Councilman Reynolds, could you give some priorities in the Climate Action Plan?  What do you think is important, and what do you think you
can actually get done and how?

Willie Reynolds

  • enormous undertaking
  • building 6-7-8 different roads at the same time
  • need coalition as big as possible
  • building codes, internal city operations
  • priority is creation of sustainability office
  • Green Ribbon Commission
  • Climate and Environmental Justice Council
  • biggest thing we can do is education and show people we are serious
  • will take a while but confident in coalitions

More voting info

Latest in a series of posts on City Government

Caution: Gadfly asks you to take note. The Gadflys did “mail-in” voting in November. And signed up to do so henceforth. About a month ago he received a letter from the local elections folk. Gadfly glanced at it quickly, noting a section at the bottom to fill out if he did not want to do mail-in again this time.

Gadfly saw the letter as an opportunity to bail out if he wanted.

Wanting to mail-in again, however, Gadfly put the letter aside to throw out.

Oops, he picked the letter up again just now and read it more thoroughly.

Sure, I could fill out the bottom of the front page of the letter and return it if I wanted to change my status and do in-person voting.

But I had to fill out the back of the form and return it if I wanted to remain “mail-in.”

I hadn’t noticed that. Careful you won’t make the same mistake.

By the way, we’ll be getting those mail-in ballots soon.

Are you giving all the candidates a chance?

from City Councilman Michael Colón
April 18
 
Last year we had record turnout for the presidential election but are you ready to vote in your local primary a month from today? Here in Bethlehem the May 18 primary will very likely decide our next mayor and also elect four city council persons. My name isn’t on a ballot but my first election was decided by a 17 vote margin in case you don’t think your vote matters. Below are some useful links:

Register to vote *May 3 deadline*
https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/…/VoterRegistrationA…

Request a mail-in ballot *Request by May 11*
https://www.votespa.com/…/Mail-and-Absentee-Ballot.aspx

Check your voter registration status
https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/…/voterregistrations…

Northampton County Elections Office – 610-829-6260
Lehigh County Elections Office – 610-782-3194

Remember, BAPL Swifts panel tonight! The surprise, special guest is . . .

Latest in a series of posts on the Swifts

The Swifts are the official City Bird of Bethlehem
They need your help

GoFundMe

“Emma’s like our own Greta Thunberg with a smile.”

Added recently to tonight’s panel is Freemansburg Elementary 4th grader Emma Huertas, a member of Jennie Gilrain’s class (see creative work by the students in the current issue of Sustainability Lehigh Valley) that has taken the Swifts under their wing, so to speak.

“When swifts fly, it’s like a paintbrush gliding through the air. . . . When the Chimney Swifts are flying it’s like a princess is dancing in a ballroom,
because it is super dainty and elegant!”
Emma

————-

 streamed on Bethlehem Area Public Library’s YouTube channel

REGISTER FOR THE FORUM

Modeling a Solution of Cooperation between Conservation and Development: A Panel Discussion, 4/21, 7PM

John Noble, Developer and property owner of Masonic Temple and Wilbur Mansion

Peter Saenger, Ornithologist, Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, President

Lynn F. Rothman, Environmental Scientist, Bethlehem Environmental Advisory Council, Chair

Karen Beck Pooley, Professor of Practice, Director of Environmental Policy, Lehigh University

Scott Burnet, Chair of the Habitat Committee of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society

Emma Huertas, 4th grade student at Freemansburg Elementary School

Breena Holland (moderator), Professor of Political Science and the Environmental Initiative, Lehigh University

Save Our Swifts
GoFundMe

The old Bethlehem Steel east annex on 3rd St. has “potential to be the most modern and forward and unique business or office space in all the Lehigh Valley”

Latest in a series of posts on new development

selections from Sara K. Satullo, “A look at what’s envisioned for the Bethlehem Steel General Office annex.” lehighvalleylive.com, April 15, 2021.

Developers envision linking the storied Bethlehem Steel General Office building with the adjacent east annex via a glass atrium and transforming the annex into a modern office building for 600 people, who work on a campus that includes a roof deck with views of the blast furnaces.

current east annex, photo Sara Satullo

Peron Development offered the public a first glimpse into its vision for the 120,000-square-foot building at East Third Street and Founders Way in Southside Bethlehem, during a Thursday afternoon meeting of the Bethlehem Revitalization and Improvement Authority.

Peron principal Michael Perrucci, who owns the five-story annex and the 13-story general office building, sees the smaller annex as the perfect way to launch a phased redevelopment of the site. But first he must environmentally remediate the annex to attract tenants.

Peron’s director of development, former Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, told the authority redeveloping the Steel General Office building property has long been his own white whale. This property is the lynchpin and tipping point fo Peron’s ambitious plans to reimagine the Third Street corridor into a live, work, play, knowledge community, Callahan said. This requires bringing more employees into the neighborhood via office space.

“We’re certainly looking and attempting to try to restore the entire complex back to its grandeur,” he said.

Early concepts call for reorienting the entrance of the annex onto East Second Street and creating a sprawling plaza fronting the campus that Peron hopes is a selling point to companies. The building could feature a roof deck and open concept office spaces.

“I think this building has the potential to be the most modern and forward and unique business or office space in all the Lehigh Valley,” Callahan said.

Fully redeveloping the entire Steel General Office complex will be a massive undertaking and require an unprecedented public-private partnership, Callahan said. Applying for the state remediation grant is just the first step.

The massive 115-year-old SGO building was headquarters for Bethlehem Steel Corp. until it moved its executives to Martin Tower in 1972. It has sat vacant since the mid-1990s.

 Across from the annex, Peron is in the midst of a three-phase urban infill redevelopment on former Steel parking lots on East Third Street. Five10 Flats features 95 luxury apartments anchored by a first floor Starbucks, the Mexican eatery El Jefe and the future home of Mister Lee’s Noodle’s second location. Back in February 2020, Peron shifted its plans for Six10 Flats from office space to another 74 apartments with ground floor retail, and the developer plans more office space in a third Flats building at East Third and Fillmore streets.

The Bethlehem Parking Authority also selected Peron and J.G. Petrucci Co.’s plan for a mixed use development fronting the planned Polk Street parking garage at East Third and Polk streets. Plans call for a five-story building with 32 luxury apartments on the upper four floors and a unique first floor retail user. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Polk Street was ready to break ground, but financial uncertainty paired with unexpected emergency repairs at the Walnut Street Parking garage have stalled the deck. The city is awaiting a parking garage condition study to determine its next steps.

 Even with the coronavirus drastically upending traditional working environments, Peron still believes the Steel annex is best suited for office space, Callahan said.

Martin Tower proposal significantly interrogated at Council

Latest in a series of posts on Martin Tower

ref: The Martin Tower site — almost two years later
ref: Martin Tower addendum
ref: Martin Tower developers request parking limitation exception at Planning this afternoon
ref: The tweaking of the Martin Tower site plan begins
ref: Martin Tower site: “we want it done the right way”

for City Council April 20:
00 PH02 2021-02-15 Martin Tower Text Amendment Petition – Final.pdf
00 PH2 06c Planning Commission Martin Tower Zoning Text Amendment
00 PH2 06d LVPC Martin Tower OMU Design Standards

———–

Scott Slingerland Letter on Martin Tower Redevelopment Project
April 14, 2021

Many of you are Martin Tower site watchers.

None perhaps more carefully than Scott Slingerland. See his letter to the City and the Planning Commission linked above.

A new round of Martin Tower activity began at the March Planning Commission meeting. To Gadfly’s understanding, as reported earlier, what was discussed and approved there in regard to parking and which was considered at City Council last night (see the documents above) was not of substantial consequence.

But Gadfly was substantially wrong.

Council spent a lot of time — I mean, a lot of time, like 2 hours — in discussion with the developer about the proposal on the table about parking and several other issues.

Gadfly followers concerned about the controversial development of the site can take heart at the scrutiny that Council members gave to the proposal and their general concern beyond it to making sure they knew what was going on and that certain priorities were being addressed.

Gadfly will return and break last night’s discussion down, but, in the meantime, followers can listen to the discussion here beginning at min. 9:50.

But, as also reported earlier, Scott Slingerland raised some issues of greater import than parking at that March Planning Commission meeting captured in a letter he had sent to the Commission. The Commission told him basically “to hold his water” for consideration of issues at later meetings. And to revise his letter. And to keep it in front of the Commission for discussion at later meetings.

Scott revised that first letter in one dated April 14 and that is linked above.

Last night Councilwoman Van Wirt noted the high quality of Scott’s letter.

Scott speaks interestingly of the possible development of a spur trail “ending just shy of Airport Road,” which “in 20 or 50 years when we look back on this project, could be seen as kickstarting a crucial branch of east-west multi-use rail trail that will have connected so many west and north Bethlehem neighborhoods with these businesses, downtown, and Bethlehem’s Memorial and Illick’s Mill Parks.”

He also speaks about the amount of asphalt, the need to clarify the green spaces, stormwater management, and the Monocacy Way Trail Crossing at Schoenersville Rd.

Scott’s letter is a treat in tone as well as substance. Take a look.