Devynn Goodspeed, \u201823, is the social media and marketing manager for Five Maidens Cider Company.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
My family moved to the Lehigh Valley shortly after the 2008 recession. Like many families from New Jersey, we were looking for lower property taxes, more affordable housing and a place that felt more sustainable long-term. Back then, the Lehigh Valley felt quieter and more grounded. It felt like a place built by people who stayed. Since then, the region has grown rapidly, and while much of that growth has been positive, it\u2019s also changed the (Lehigh) Valley in ways that are hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
The Lehigh Valley today feels very different from the one I grew up in, and even from the one I first knew when I started at Lehigh University.<\/p>\n
There are real benefits to this growth. There are more jobs, stronger schools, better health care and more opportunities overall. Bethlehem, especially the South Side, has become a place where students, hospital workers, retirees and people working remotely all live side by side. That mix can be exciting and energizing. It shows that people want to be here.<\/p>\n
But growth also has consequences.<\/p>\n
When I first knew South Side Bethlehem, it was mostly defined by Lehigh University and Third Street. Third Street wasn\u2019t polished or trendy. It was practical and local. The businesses were small and family-owned, many of them serving the Spanish-speaking community that had lived on the South Side for generations. These places weren\u2019t designed to attract attention or follow national trends. They existed because they served the people who lived there.<\/p>\n
Over time, that\u2019s changed. Rent has increased year after year \u2014 my rent increased $400 in four years. Property values have gone up, and with them, the cost of simply staying in the neighborhood. For many families and business owners, staying is no longer realistic. Slowly, familiar storefronts have disappeared.<\/p>\n
In their place are chain restaurants and cafes that you can find in almost any college town: Playa Bowls, Starbucks, El Jefe\u2019s, Wingstop and Insomnia Cookies.<\/p>\n
When I started at Lehigh almost 10 years ago, none of those places were on Third Street. What we had instead were family businesses. Many of them had been part of the neighborhood for decades. They served locals first, not just students. Today, it feels like the South Side is being reshaped around what\u2019s convenient and profitable for people who are only here temporarily.<\/p>\n
This is something I\u2019ve been thinking about for a long time. In my senior year at Lehigh, I wrote my anthropology thesis on Bethlehem and the way the city was changing, especially the tension between development and the city\u2019s roots. Even then, it was clear that rising housing costs and shifting demographics were putting pressure on long-established communities. I remember wondering how much change Bethlehem could absorb before it stopped feeling like itself.<\/p>\n
Looking around now, it\u2019s clear that the change has only accelerated. I see it in my own building.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I live in a newer apartment complex, and most of my neighbors are young and from New Jersey or New York, like me. Many of us are here for a few years and then will move on. Meanwhile, families who once lived here permanently are being priced out of the neighborhoods they helped build.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to say that this kind of change is inevitable. Cities grow, neighborhoods evolve. That\u2019s true. But inevitability doesn\u2019t mean neutrality. Growth always benefits some people more than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The question is: Who gets to stay, and who gets pushed out?<\/p>\n
What concerns me most is not just the loss of small businesses, but the loss of identity. When every college town starts to look the same, something meaningful disappears. We lose the sense that a place has a history and a culture that cannot be replaced by a chain storefront.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t about blaming newcomers. I am one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My family came here looking for an opportunity, just like many others. Being part of that story also means being honest about opportunity costs and who pays for it.<\/p>\n
South Side Bethlehem doesn\u2019t need to stop growing. However, it does need to remember where it came from. Once the families who built the neighborhood are gone, once the businesses that served the community for generations are gone, there\u2019s no way to bring that back.<\/p>\n