What: Bethlehem Council Meeting
Date: August 25th, 2021 at 7:00pm
A big topic of conversation of the September 7th meeting was the Bethlehem Police Department’s pilot program concerning integrating social workers into police platoons. This program was undertaken with the support of Kutztown university, which supplied two social worker interns, and had the goal of better connecting people to existing social services. The speakers said this would reduce the “use of force” encounters with police and reduce the workload on police. They plan to expand this program from a single platoon to the whole department.
While connecting people with social services and reducing violent police encounters is a commendable goal, reducing the police budget as result of decreased workload was not discussed. The speakers made reference to the George Floyd protests but could not bring themselves to utter the one word battlecry of many protesters: defund. The US police and prison system are the largest in the world and are ineffective at promoting public safety. If Bethlehem’s social work integration program reduces police work load sufficiently, then police budgets should be reduced accordingly. LVDSA believes a plan should be in place to reinvest the police funds for better infrastructure and social services.
A second crucial topic of discussion on Sept. 7th was the LERTA zone. This has been discussed at previous council meetings. Councilwomen Van Wirt, Crampsie-Smith and Negron all again voiced concerns that the LERTA fee was too small. Crampsie-Smith reiterated that the $25,000 fee in the legislation was not based on an objective standard. Negron also raised the issue of the zone’s location, which covers many formerly industrial zones that can be cost prohibitive to develop. Negron stated, “the developers are going to pay $25,000 but they’re not going to build anymore affordable housing. It’s just so backwards.” The ordinance and associated resolution both passed 4-3.
Attempting to extend the olive branch, Councilman Callahan suggested allocating $5 million of the $33 million American rescue plan funds to constructing affordable housing. However, he mostly spoke of Bethlehem being in competition with Easton and Allentown for developer’s projects. Callahan stated that, “my idea of an impact is 30 or 40 affordable units and I think we can do that over the next five years.” In a city of over 75,000 people, adding 8 affordable units a year is laughable.
LVDSA firmly supports serious efforts to develop affordable housing. The proposed LERTA appears to provide a significant tax break for developers, while not providing appropriate funds to affordable housing. In contrast, Kerala, a state in India, is constructing 100,000 houses each year for the next five years to end homelessness and inadequate housing. These are actual houses with good construction and aesthetics. This is about 1 house for every 70 residents in Kerala over 5 years. If Callahan’s goal succeeded, Bethlehem would build about 1 house for every 1,875 residents over 5 years. Bethlehem can do better.
Under Van Wirt’s questioning it was revealed that Councilman Reynolds was the person who decided to cease allowing phone calls for public comment. Van Wirt questioned this choice stating that if councilmembers can remotely participate in the meetings, so should the general public. This is especially true since city hall has not mandated vaccines and any residents visiting city hall for a meeting risk exposure to the virus.
The Sept. 25th council meeting mostly concerned routine topics, other than the efforts to have Bethlehem registered as a World Heritage Site. Resources were requested to help improve and maintain Bethlehem’s historic structures so the World Heritage representatives see Bethlehem’s best face.
Of concern to LVDSA, were statements made by public commenter Stephen Antalics at both the Sept. 7th & Sept. 25th. Antalics raised concerns about out of state contributions to elected officials. These contributions could be much greater than contributions made by Bethlehem’s residents. Moreover, due to Pennsylvania’s laws, an elected would not need to recuse themselves on votes in which donations create a conflict of interest. Such conflicts of interest may have influenced voting behavior concerning developers’ projects during this last year. Council did not respond to Antalics' statements at either meeting.
Last, two important meetings are coming up. On Tuesday Sept. 28th at 6pm there will be a meeting to discuss the use of the $33 million allocated to the city by the American rescue plan. Also, on Tuesday Oct. 19th at 6pm there will be a meeting to review the city’s capital plan.