(The latest in a series of posts on the Southside and Neighborhoods
and Affordable Housing)
Contact for the Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development is Seth Moglen: moglen@lehigh.edu. This group is open to all, not just 1st Terrace area residents. The more membership, the greater the power. And the issue here is not limited to one neighborhood.
Continuing here the thread started with the May 22 letter from the South Bethlehem Historical Society and reinvigorated Saturday by Gadfly Antalics’ essay in the Morning Call.
“Our neighborhood now faces an existential threat.”
Gadfly quotes from Seth Moglen’s presentation at City Council July 16 in which he describes the situation in his Southside neighborhood, describes what he and his neighbors want from the Mayor and City Council, and announces the formation of Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development.***
Gadfly wants you to listen to Moglen. No pulling soundbites to make it easy for you this time. Always go to the primary source. Listen. Takes but six minutes.
Gadfly is depending on you to have listened.
He wants to focus on and play off one element.
The assertion of political power.
“What we are asking you for now is this. We want you . . . to develop the tools that City government requires in order to stop this kind of predatory real estate speculation. . . . That’s what we are asking you to to do now, not years, months. There are dozens of us who have joined in an organization [Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development], we hope there will be hundreds of us soon. We will vote in the next election. . . . We are not going away.”
The nascent Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development has thrown down the gauntlet.
“We want . . . We will vote . . . We are not going away.”
Sounds like the BRRDers are telling the politicians that action on this Southside “existential threat” may determine the way they vote.
Gadfly urges you — wherever you live in the City — to email Moglen (moglen@lehigh.edu) as an act of solidarity and to get your name on their mailing list.
Bodies on board count.
And have you emailed the Mayor and City Council? Sent a letter to the Morning Call?
*** Gadfly focuses on Moglen’s presentation here, but that City Council meeting featured a half-dozen moving resident comments. Please find complete audio here.
(Latest post on such topics as Neighborhoods, Southside,
1st Terrace, Affordable Housing)
Gadfly:
If “data-driven” means making decisions based on fact rather than assumptions or favoritism, I’m all for it. But I think we all know that statistics data can be shaped to prove almost anything, so that approach can be dangerous as well.
The ABCs should not be mere puppets, but for the Mayor to be silent on important issues is also inappropriate. He is, after all, an elected representative of the people, and silence communicates agreement. (Too often, he has used his platform to speak out in favor of developers, even when proposed development clearly violated the city’s own ordinances.)
(Latest post on such topics as Neighborhoods, Southside,
1st Terrace, Affordable Housing)
Contact for the Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development is Seth Moglen: moglen@lehigh.edu. This group is open to all, not just 1st Terrace area residents. The more membership, the greater the power. And the issue here is not limited to one neighborhood.
So Gadfly has covered in detail the forceful first appearance of what he thinks we can now call the “Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development” at City Council Tuesday night. A group that he feels can accomplish much good.
But there were two meaningful responses by Council members that we should note as well.
First, Councilwoman Van Wirt.
In reference to the 1st Terrace issues that the residents spoke about, PVW wants data and seemed to get into a slight bit of tangle with the City rep over getting it. Nothing serious. But I don’t think the rep got the importance of what PVW was asking.
PVW has described herself as data-driven. She’s a doctor. A “fixin’ doctor,” a term Gadfly’s kids used to differentiate their father’s degree.
Data-driven — Gadfly likes that.
PVW wanted “firm data,” a “firm study” to show “actual need” for housing around Lehigh. She wanted “something to refer to.”
(Ha! Gadfly would “fix” that ending preposition to “something to which she could refer.” See, kids, your dad is a “fixin’ doctor” too!)
Gadfly likes that. Glad we have a person like that on Council.
Second, Councilman Reynolds.
JWR thanked the Mayor for weighing in strongly on the 1st Terrace proposal, but his more general point was the power that Mayor has in such situations, implying, Gadfly thinks (he almost literally talked directly to the Mayor at one point), that the Mayor/Administration should wield that power more often.
“One of the lessons going forward here is the power the Administration has to weigh in on these projects publicly and privately. . . . when Administrations take positions on any of these things, it is extraordinarily rare for these Authorities, these Commissions, these Boards to necessarily say no, no, no, we disagree with what the professionals say, we disagree with what the full-time people say, we disagree with what the elected officials say about this. . . . and I want to say thank you to the Mayor for weighing in on this, but at the same time it’s also a model. We can pass all the ordinances we want. But the strongest thing that we have is that we have an Administration that will stand up and say we like this project, we understand some people disagree, we understand some people don’t like elements of it. . . . I just think that going forward . . . as we talk about other development projects throughout the City, all of our voices are important, but the most important one is siting there [the Mayor], and I have confidence, I have faith, and I just want to say thank you.
Gadfly thanked the Mayor too. He didn’t trust the Zoning Commission to have any more “No” than the Planning Commission in this 1st Terrace proposal that seemed so obviously wrong. Gadfly liked that the Mayor saw it his way.
But how would he feel in the opposite case.
Which, Gadfly feels, has happened in the not-so-distant past.
JWR seems to literally argue for a strong Mayor (Administration). But does that tilt the ABCs toward puppet rather than independent status?
Gadfly needs to chew on this some more. You are welcome to help.
(Latest post on such topics as Neighborhoods, Southside,
1st Terrace, Affordable Housing)
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.
Great to have this group [Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development] speaking out!
One thing about off-campus student housing is that it tends to promote gentrification—despite its generally poor quality and high rents. This is exacerbated by new high-end rentals (such as the new SouthSide Commons) which also drive rents in the community.
One more factor: overpriced dormitory housing, which makes the off-campus housing more attractive. Colleges & universities could easily price their on-campus housing at a price that would pull many students back on campus.
Peter
Contact for the Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development is Seth Moglen: moglen@lehigh.edu. This group is open to all, not just 1st Terrace area residents. The more membership, the greater the power. And the issue here is not limited to one neighborhood.
(Latest posts on such topics as Neighborhoods, Southside,
1st Terrace, Affordable Housing)
In a model display of public participation and activism, a group of residents associated with the 1st Terrace situation that Gadfly reported on earlier attended City Council last night, announcing the formation of “Bethlehem Residents for Responsible Development,” describing the deteriorating situation in their neighborhood from the increasing pressure of student housing and firmly pushing the Mayor and City Council to take action NOW before it is too late.
You can find audio of the full individual statements from these residents at the bottom of this post, but here just below Gadfly has arranged clips in the form of an interview to capture the powerfully cumulative effect of their presentations.
Describe your neighborhood. (Moglen)
Why are you living there? (Mendez)
What is your purpose in coming here to this meeting? (Moglen)
Isn’t off-campus housing for students needed because of Lehigh’s expansion? (Handler)
What’s it like to live next to students? (Handler)
Are you opposed to neighborhood students and development? (Handler)
Give us some historical perspective. (Evans)
What’s the developer like? (Stark)
What’s your experience with the developer? (Long)
How urgent is the problem and how committed are you to pushing for a solution? (Saunders)
We have written about this before as a bad proposal. Gadfly was troubled that the Planning Commission couldn’t find its “no.”
Now it is before Zoning.
Stimulated by the posts of Kim Carrell-Smith, Gadfly devised the notion of butt-sharing.
Neighbors helping neighbors.
You get your butt to the hearing about my neighborhood, and I will get my butt to the hearing about yours.
Lots of you have never been to a City Council meeting, much less a Planning or Zoning meeting. Tonight would be a good opportunity to see important City neighborhood business in action.
Please turn out and lend silent symbolic support, even if you don’t plan to speak.
But the 1st Terracers have an unusual, powerful ally. The Mayor has taken a position against the proposal in the letter below. This IS unusual. Word is that this Mayor has not taken this step in a residential case before.
But the attorney for the developer is a good one. We’ve seen him in action before. He’s used to winning.
And the Planning Commission, faced with the same kind of evidence, couldn’t find its “no.”
It seems hard to say no to a developer. That’s why every neighborhood should be on the alert.
And butt-sharing.
Zoning Hearing Board meeting, Town Hall, tonight, Wednesday,
June 26, at 6PM
Well, butt-sharing is my term for what she suggested.
We have bike-sharing, ride-sharing, why not butt-sharing!
Kim suggests that even residents from outside the 1st Terrace neighborhood attend the Zoning Hearing Board meeting, Town Hall, Wednesday, June 26, at 6PM, in a show of support.
What a great idea.
Butts-in-the-seats!
And in one of her posts Kim even suggested standing in solidarity during the testimony! Better yet!
We give blood to our neighbors in need. How about giving your butt to a neighbor in need?
Are you free Wednesday night? Stop by. Developers are persuasive in this town. Our volunteer resident Boards sometimes have a hard time saying “no” to them.
“No” is easier with lots of butts in the seats.
Developers are easily emboldened. Let’s activate some restraint.
(The latest in a series of posts on the Southside and Neighborhoods)
Kim Carrrell-Smith is a 31-year resident of Bethlehem’s historic Southside, where she taught public history at Lehigh University for almost two decades. She is also an aspiring gadfly, buzzing in on issues of historic preservation, public education, city government, and other social justice issues. She tips her wings to the master gadflies who have served our community for so long!
Greetings active citizens,
Sorry to be sending alerts two weeks in a row, but there is another local govt-related issue coming up, and Southside residents could use some significant support.
Southside residents and environmental folks need your body in a seat
THIS WED NIGHT 6/26 at 6 pm
ZONING HEARING BOARD
TOWN HALL IN BETHLEHEM
(You can bring a book, and there is free wifi available in town hall, too…)
Newspaper article links and specifics are at the bottom of this email, but here’s the main info about a proposed 8 townhouse (40 student) development on First Terrace on South Mountain near Lehigh…
At issueare
the stability and safety of a great neighborhood
the request for significant variances* (see below email) to key environmental provisions in city ordinances, in particular steep slope and impervious coverage, among other requests.
THIS MATTERS TO THE WHOLE CITY: if one developer can bypass key ordinances in such a significant way, it sets a precedent for others to do the same.
Can we beat this?
City officials have told us “butts in the seats matter” to the Zoning Hearing Board. Please help us back up residents in the face of a powerful landlord with deep pockets.
And we’ve also heard elsewhere that standing up behind residents who speak could matter to the ZHB, since these folks may not be aware that that the Southside neighborhoods are places many Bethlehem residents care about.
Happy to fill you in about any of the particulars on traffic, parking, quality of life, etc., connected to this case, if you need more info.
THANK YOU, and thanks for sharing this with sympathetic friends and colleagues,
Kim
________________________________________
* The developer is asking to “increase the maximum impervious coverage in steep areas from 5% to 39%” and “decrease the minimum lot area from 10 acres to .7466 acres”
The ordinance states that if a parcel has any steep slopes above 35% grade within the construction area, the lot size must be a minimum of 10 acres and have a maximum impervious coverage of 5%.
Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez wants board members to reject an appeal at the upcoming Bethlehem zoning meeting that would pave the way for more student housing on a sloped street near Lehigh University.
“The plan as presented is not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood development which consists of single family detached homes,” he said in the June 19 letter. “The project more than doubles the density of these four parcels when combined.”
At a Planning Commission meeting this month, residents voiced concerns that bringing students to the area would add to an already overloaded parking situation. The board voted 2-1 to advance the proposal to the zoning board with no action for or against. Vice Chairman Matthew Malozi cast the lone no vote because he did not believe the project would fit with the community.
Now this is interesting.
Gadfly agrees with the Mayor’s petition, as will be obvious from Gadfly’s post on the Planning Commission meeting referred to and linked above.
For one thing, Gadfly is glad to see an official negative response to a developer. Gadfly was upset by the Commission decision (well, 2 of 3 members) when the evidence so clearly required a negative vote (at the very least, negative commentary) .
But two mayoral decisions within a few days makes Gadfly wonder about the role the Mayor’s position has in Planning and Zoning decisions.
Is it suggestive? influential? determinative?
Coming from someone just like us or from He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed?
Gadfly was troubled by the recent 9th-inning Administrative (Mayor?) affirmation of a developer proposal in the 2 W. Market case.
Now in the 1st Terrace case, on the other hand, he gets a position he likes from the Administration.
So it gets him wondering about the principle and the practice involved here.
I believe Planning and Zoning are designed to be independent.
What is the relation between the Mayor and these groups in general? Is his input welcome, helpful, or disruptive — especially since, in this upcoming case, it comes before the ZHB has heard a word of testimony? Should he be weighing in personally at all?
A City official sits at the head table at Planning meetings. Gadfly has been at Planning meetings at which a report from the City professional staff has been presented. Gadfly, frankly, is not quite sure that he has heard such official make definitive statements that the PC either should or should not approve a proposal. Gadfly’s memory sense is that such positions are communicated more softly.
But the Mayor is upfront and direct.
Here in the 1at Terrace case, though I very much agree with the Mayor’s position and hope it prevails, his letter, coming before the Board has heard any testimony, seems peremptory.
(The latest in a series of posts on the Southside and Neighborhoods)
Dana Grubb is a lifelong resident of the City of Bethlehem who worked 27 years for the City of Bethlehem in the department of community and economic development, as sealer of weights and measures, housing rehabilitation finance specialist, grants administrator, acting director of community and economic development, and deputy director of community development.
Gadfly:
Kim is absolutely right with her assessment. If you chip a piece of marble off of a statue in a less obvious location, most wouldn’t notice it. But, when you chip a piece of the nose, and then another chip, and then another chip, etc., pretty soon you won’t have that magnificent piece of art.
This is exactly what is happening in Bethlehem, a chip here, a chip there, but no holistic approach that says enough is enough because each of those chips contributes to destroying the original. Whether it’s a marble statue or a community, how much can be absorbed the integrity of the statue or character and quality of life of the community are lost? And, how many of these citizens who are appointed on the ZHB and PC are ever directly impacted by the decisions they’ve made? A rhetorical question. When I was the City’s deputy director of community development, I was constantly stressing to staff to treat each situation as if you lived next door, or your parents did. Bethlehem’s residents need public appointees and officials to put themselves in others’ shoes, and show some empathy and consideration. Empathy and consideration are currently lacking greatly in Bethlehem’s processes and in some very key employees, and that contributes to a declining quality of life and civility.
Yes, Gadfly, we need to mount up. But not just the immediate neighborhood, although that is important. But EVERYONE in our city needs to be concerned about the way developers are bypassing city ordinances. The developer’s lawyer said at the last Planning Commission meeting that they are seeking “small variances.” SMALL?? Check out the percentages of steep slope and impermeable surfaces they are asking for and compare with the ordinances they are seeking to bypass! This is about environmental damage and quality of life in the First Terrace neighborhood . . . aside from the other obvious issues of serious traffic problems and inadequate roads and parking, as well as scale of the project, noise, and housing a total of 40 students, where four houses stand today. But if ZHB only wants to hear about steep slope and impermeable surfaces, those issues are egregious enough.
ALL CITIZENS of Bethlehem should be concerned about this. Although we are told there are no such thing as precedents with these kinds of decisions (that’s what we’ve heard from Planning Commission folks, ZHB, and others), we have definitely heard the same folks say, “well, we did this for the __ project, so I guess we have to do it again for this developer, or they could sue us.”
Is that the way we want our city to function? I don’t live in the First Terrace neighborhood, but I see what may happen to neighborhoods on the Southside, OR North, when developers with deep pockets can come in and bypass our city laws, which exist for good reasons and are the will of the people of our city. The developers have the lawyers; residents don’t, and won’t, unless they can find themselves some deep-pocketed supporters; that’s not happening on First Terrace.
Please support the residents and other speakers on June 26 [Zoning Hearing, 6pm, Town Hall]; just stand up in the audience when they speak! Don’t let the Zoning Board think that no one cares about this kind of thing. You should, and I think you would if it were your neighborhood . . .
Kim
Gadfly was “nonplussed” at the lack of courage by the Planning Commission on this 1st Terrace case last week.
South Side Bethlehem residents Thursday implored the city’s Planning Commission to take a long, hard look at a proposal for additional student housing in their neighborhood before recommending it move ahead.
City dwellers living nearby 1st Terrace took turns voicing their displeasure over Lehigh
the site on 1st Terrace
Property Management’s intention to add two four-unit town homes each numbering five bedrooms with three floors above garages to the narrow, hilltop street zoned high-density and overlooking the Asa Packer Campus of Lehigh University.
The board reviewed a sketch plan revision from one presented to them in March and opted by a 2-1 vote to advance it to the zoning board with no action for or against.
Vice Chairman Matthew Malozi, who cast the lone no vote, said he’s concerned that the project might not fit within the community, and urged those in attendance to return for the zoning hearing and speak again.
“We’ve created a plan that conforms to all of the ordinances of the city,” [the developer rep] said.
“Implored” — there’s that tough verb again.
The one that indicates the gulf between the powerless and the empowered.
Some South Side Bethlehem residents Thursday implored the city’s Planning Commission, the Morning Call article states, just like the May 22 South Bethlehem Historical Society letter implored the Mayor and City Council.
People who implore are, figuratively if not literally, on their knees.
They are looking for mercy (or justice).
So residents of upper Hillside Ave. and 1st Terrace implored the Planning Commission to take a stand against the developer sketch plan (second version) to raze four homes on 1st Terrace and build two town homes accommodating forty students.
The residents were calm but firm. In short, they said, this is an out-of-scale project involving the need for serious variances regarding steep slopes, impervious surfaces, and parking that will destabilize a highly cohesive neighborhood when the University has said there is no need for extra student housing.
This is a highly functional, mixed-income, ethnically and racially diverse neighborhood in which neighbors know each other, look out for each other, which
1st Terrace looking west
will be destabilized by this project . . . if Bethlehem city government allows all those variances to be issued for a project which is demonstrably destructive to the neighborhood, we have to ask what is the Planning Commission for . . . This is a project that simply has no place in this neighborhood. (Seth Moglen, min. 7:55)
We have been threatened several times by the developer’s maintenance persons saying that you should move, you are not going to like where you live in a couple of years . . . we should sell our houses now before the area is destabilized. I invite you all to please take a drive up to our lovely little quaint neighborhood, it’s a beautiful quiet street, we’ve lived there a long time, we have a great neighborhood. (Gretchen Starke, min. 13:20)
Last week we were on the front porch, and Justin my 9-yr-old said, “This neighborhood is starting to suck . . . there’s no kids around here any more.” We can’t make it go worse. We want more families to come into the neighborhood. And we have the potential to do that. . . . We want to be here, we choose to be here. My grandfather grew up in this house . . . we want to stay in this house. . . . We want to be sure we have a community and a place where we can raise kids like Justin to know all the things the Southside has to offer not just being a party town where kids come to party. (Murdock Saunders, min. 17:40)
One of the things that makes all of the Southside a cool and interesting place to live is that we have an eclectic blend of architecture, and we like it that way, it’s kind of cool, but what we don’t have are new things that completely depart from that old
1st Terrace looking east
look of a neighborhood . . . those are just not ways houses were designed in the old days . . . part of the interesting features of the Southside are things that blend, they might be different but they blend . . . the biggest issue is scale that does not blend. (Kim Carrell-Smith, min. 20:52)
The problem with this project is to put such density of housing on this relatively small site on a steep slope with all those cars means a malformation of the neighborhood. . . . Those would be conditions under which we would consider moving. . . . The difference between what is permitted and what is requested is so great, I don’t understand how people could really consider it just a variance. . . . Consider the scale of the variance. It’s not minor. (Kristen Handler, min. 27:28)
When you buy a home and put a lot of money into it, the expectation is your Planning Commission and Zoning Board keeps that stability. They don’t go ahead and put a Wal-Mart behind your house. This is not Rt. 22, this is not Catasauqua Rd. . . . A project like that would be 3rd St., 4th St. (Steve Mendez, min. 31:05)
Gadfly loves the power of Bethlehem resident commentary, and he encourages you — please! — to listen to their full testimony:
So what was the up-shot of this forceful testimony?
The purpose of the PC at this meeting was to review the developer sketch plan (2nd version) before it headed to the Zoning Board, allowing the Commission to provide any comments they would think meaningful to Zoning for the future development of the plan.
One PC member said “we heard you loud and clear,” and it was a “tough decision” — and two members of the 3-member PC recommended that the neighbors attend the Zoning Board meeting on June 26.
The PC had three options: recommend for the sketch plan, recommend against it, or take no action.
A motion to take no action passed 2-1.
“We heard you loud and clear,” but we will take no action.
Gadfly was nonplussed.
Why is it so hard to say no to a developer?
Ok, in fairness, the sketch plan had moved in a good direction in this second version, and there was no significant testimony from the developer (no rebuttal to the residents), and, the key decision on those significant variances seems to be with Zoning, and, if Zoning approves, the PC gets to vote again — ok, Gadfly gets all that . . .
But why is it so hard just to say no when that is manifestly the right decision?
Take no action. Such a wussy decision.
But at least one PC member was willing to be clear about the significant negative issues here.
(The latest in a series of posts on the Southside and Neighborhoods)
Dana Grubb is a lifelong resident of the City of Bethlehem who worked 27 years for the City of Bethlehem in the department of community and economic development, as sealer of weights and measures, housing rehabilitation finance specialist, grants administrator, acting director of community and economic development, and deputy director of community development.
Gadfly:
Kim is absolutely right with her assessment. If you chip a piece of marble off of a statue in a less obvious location, most wouldn’t notice it. But, when you chip a piece of the nose, and then another chip, and then another chip, etc., pretty soon you won’t have that magnificent piece of art.
This is exactly what is happening in Bethlehem, a chip here, a chip there, but no holistic approach that says enough is enough because each of those chips contributes to destroying the original. Whether it’s a marble statue or a community, how much can be absorbed the integrity of the statue or character and quality of life of the community are lost? And, how many of these citizens who are appointed on the ZHB and PC are ever directly impacted by the decisions they’ve made? A rhetorical question. When I was the City’s deputy director of community development, I was constantly stressing to staff to treat each situation as if you lived next door, or your parents did. Bethlehem’s residents need public appointees and officials to put themselves in others’ shoes, and show some empathy and consideration. Empathy and consideration are currently lacking greatly in Bethlehem’s processes and in some very key employees, and that contributes to a declining quality of life and civility.
Dana