Shouts of laughter echo through Yosko Park as children run across the playground. The sound of dribbling basketballs fills the crisp autumn air as Aida Rivera watches her son take a shot.
Rivera grew up on Bethlehem’s South Side and loves the community surrounding Yosko Park. However, she believes there’s room for improvement — particularly with the bathrooms, plumbing and overgrown trees.
Yosko Park is one of the many sites included in Bethlehem’s park renovation and cleanup plan. The Bethlehem City Council’s 40 in 10 plan outlines a decade-long effort to improve every park in the city.
The plan, announced in April in response to community concerns, is now nearing the end of its planning phase.
To guide the process, the city hired Omnes Consultants: a multidisciplinary design studio specializing in landscape architecture, planning and art. The firm is conducting a scientific study of Bethlehem’s park systems and has organized 15 pop-up engagement events to collect feedback from residents.
Colleen Laird, the chairperson of Bethlehem City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, said her committee has been working with Omnes to develop survey questions focused on the community’s top priorities.
She said the survey showed the top priorities were park maintenance, care, accessibility and connectivity.
Laird said the city is already responding to that feedback, starting with renovations at Friendship Park on the North Side. Prior to the start of the renovation, the park consisted of mostly blacktop with a driveway leading to an electrical facility running through the site.
She said the new completed design will have more grass, shade and a new splash park, all which were considered from public feedback.
Celina Daddario, the coordinator for the Northside Alive Plan, which outlines strategic efforts to improve the North Side, said the changes will be transformative — especially with the addition of the splash pad because there’s currently no safe route to access public pools from the surrounding neighborhood.
“This is going to be an accessible way for folks to cool off in the summer and (where) kids can play,” Daddario said.
Dylan Schlosser, an engineering assistant and the project inspector for the Friendship Park renovation, said he hopes the updates will create a comfortable and welcoming space for families.
He also said the new design incorporates lights to improve safety, especially at night.
South Side resident Christina Dingman said safety improvements are also needed at Yosko Park.
“Even if it was just a camera, it would keep the shenanigans away,” Dingman said.
Daddario said she hopes the renovations at Friendship Park will encourage more family-friendly activity.
She said whenever community events are hosted people always show up. Since it’s not an ideal location with the way it was previously designed, she said she hopes the renovation will inspire more people to use the space.
Schlosser said it’s exciting to see families visiting the construction site and showing interest in the project’s progress. He also said many families often ask when the park will reopen.
Laird said parks play a vital role in shaping communities by creating gathering spaces in nature. She said it’s important to ensure residents have access to these spaces to promote community wellness and connection.
“Bethlehem is a place of community gatherings where people are just coming out and being together,” Laird said. “One of the strengths of our city is that we’re able to say we already have a lot of great parks and a lot of great programming happening. Let’s do more.”