{"id":30029,"date":"2025-11-10T13:20:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T13:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/30029\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T13:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T13:20:06","slug":"democracy-and-citizenry-at-its-finest-inside-the-plan-set-on-bettering-bethlehems-northside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/30029\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Democracy and citizenry at its finest\u2019: Inside the plan set on bettering Bethlehem\u2019s Northside"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Dinner and data occupied a packed room at the Bethlehem YMCA.<\/p>\n

As basketball players thumped around on an upper floor, about four dozen Northside residents, business owners, community partners and city staff hunkered down to reflect on six years of neighborhood impact.<\/p>\n

The Northside Alive<\/a> initiative, originally known as Northside 2027 until a name change to its current one in 2021, among many proposed area improvements, calls for a total overhaul of Friendship Park<\/a> on East North Street and a major two-way conversion for a stretch of Linden Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s time to further update the plan<\/a> and put together a new steering committee, officials said at the Thursday meeting, as a whole lot can change locally in half a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of our middle housing neighborhoods, and we want to preserve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Community Development Director Sara Satullo<\/p>\n

\u201cThis plan was developed in a different Bethlehem, at a time we were doing a blight study because we had so much blight and we were worried about high vacancy rates,\u201d city Community Development Director Sara Satullo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd obviously our housing market has shifted radically. This is one of our middle housing neighborhoods<\/a>, and we want to preserve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Northside Alive work focuses on a mixed-income area with Maple Street to the east, Monocacy Creek and Mauch Chunk Road to the west, as well as Laurel Street to the north and Broad Street to the south.<\/p>\n

Community development officials recently told City Council it\u2019s time to renew the Northside\u2019s designation as a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-approved title allowing for \u201cgreater flexibility in the use of federal Community Development Block Grant funding, allowing [Bethlehem] to target resources to support community revitalization,\u201d according to city documents.<\/p>\n

\"Northside<\/p>\n

Distributed<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

City of Bethlehem<\/p>\n

Physical landmarks as seen throughout the Northside Alive boundary area, marked by the black dotted line. The work will focus on a mixed-income area with Monocacy Creek and Mauch Chunk Road to the west, Maple Street to the east, as well as Broad Street to the south and Laurel Street to the north.<\/p>\n

‘Challenging,’ ‘expanding,’ ‘progressive’ neighborhood<\/p>\n

Generally, those in attendance at Northside Alive\u2019s annual meeting Thursday said they hoped for safer, more walkable streets; stronger community events and groups; more neighborhood businesses; and better parks and cleaner public spaces.<\/p>\n

They described the neighborhood\u2019s most urgent housing needs to include affordable rental housing, maintaining existing housing quality and preventing displacement of long-term residents.<\/p>\n

A \u201cpulse check\u201d of the room had folks describing the Northside Alive neighborhood as \u201cchallenging,\u201d \u201cconnecting,\u201d \u201cdiverse,” \u201cdelicious,\u201d \u201cexpanding” and \u201cprogressive,\u201d among others. <\/p>\n

Complaints generally included parking issues, overgrown yards and incomplete maintenance at some properties.<\/p>\n

\"Friendship<\/p>\n

Will Oliver<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

Workers plant new trees at Friendship Park at 247 E. North St. in Bethlehem on Nov. 6, 2025. The park is undergoing a major revamp and is expected to open to the public in the spring.<\/p>\n

The discussion was led by the urban planning firm, WRT, which also spearheaded the design of the previous Northside Alive plan.<\/p>\n

The data shared was centered on work toward economic vitality, housing, community branding and neighborhood development, and green spaces over the past six years.<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/p>\n

Here are some highlights:<\/p>\n

Northside is majority working-age adults, ages 18-65, and over time that population remains stable, as is the case with the neighborhood\u2019s children. A 2% rise in the senior population since 2019 could mean there are many people aging in their homes\u00a0The neighborhood has become more diverse over time \u2014 just like the broader city \u2014 such is the case with the Hispanic population going from 26% in 2019 to 30% in 2024Northside has had a large renter population. From 2019-2025, the number of vacancies shrunk from almost 8% to less than 3%, indicating vigorous competition in the market and affordability challenges\u00a0Median home price rose 32% in Northside over past six yearsRents rising even faster, going up 35% from 2019 and 2025 across Bethlehem, while Northside went up 50% (prices not including utility costs)Significant increase in median incomes around the city, about 14% when adjusted for inflation. Northside saw an income increase of around 30%\u00a0One-fifth of the population has lived in Northside for more than 20 years. \u201cI think there\u2019s a story here about household turnover and change that\u2019s happening, but also a really stable and strong community,\u201d WRT Project Manager Anastasia Osorio said.Increasing population of seniors and younger renters in the overall mix of the neighborhood345 businesses within the Northside Alive boundary, employing 3,600 people (mostly professional services jobs and small neighborhood firms, retail spaces and restaurants; largest employers likely the local schools)The revamp of Friendship Park on East North Street is expected to be done in the spring, officials saidLinden Street two-way project in the design phase, with potential completion spring of upcoming yearPaving to come for the Monocacy Trail this spring. Trail-users will be able to start at Memorial Pool and go all the way down to the D&L TrailNew community garden expected to open for use next spring at 52 E. Broad St.Bike Day at neighborhood schools, Holiday Bike giveaway and neighborhood bike rides \u2014 courtesy of the Coalition for Appropriate TransportationCommunity yoga brings out 30 people once a month.’Democracy at its finest’<\/p>\n

Woo Kim, principal with WRT, said the meeting\u2019s turnout was \u201cdemocracy and citizenry at its finest,\u201d especially during an election week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys all took time to come here and participate in the outcome of your neighborhood \u2014 that\u2019s so, so encouraging.”<\/p>\n

Woo Kim, principal with WRT urban planning firm<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys all took time to come here and participate in the outcome of your neighborhood \u2014 that\u2019s so, so encouraging,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n

Celina Daddario, Northside Alive neighborhood coordinator, said of WRT, \u201cThey\u2019re familiar with the area, and they are ready to jump in and look at the future of our Northside.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that plan should be built with all of you and the community in Northside, so we\u2019re going to be looking for feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northside Alive offers a monthly newsletter to keep up with the latest happenings.<\/p>\n

The next community meeting, in a virtual format, will highlight the city’s master parks plan<\/a>. It’s set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

\"Northside<\/p>\n

Distributed<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

City of Bethlehem<\/p>\n

Bethlehem City Council on Oct. 7 approved a $39,960 contract with urban planning firm WRT, LLC, to steer the Northside Alive revamp alongside neighborhood residents, public committees and city staff. The work will focus on a mixed-income area with Monocacy Creek and Mauch Chunk Road to the west, Maple Street to the east, as well as Broad Street to the south and Laurel Street to the north.<\/p>\n

‘Meeting people where they are’<\/p>\n

Victoria Fields, 36, a local youth advocate and member of a number of community committees including Northside Alive, said she wants expanded food access, walkability and integrated community hubs for the area.<\/p>\n

Fields is a native New Yorker and marketing consultant who\u2019s lived in Northside for three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data definitely tracks, and I do believe that it\u2019s super promising. It\u2019s a strong-knit community.”<\/p>\n

Victoria Fields, 36, of Bethlehem<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data definitely tracks, and I do believe that it\u2019s super promising,\u201d Fields told LehighValleyNews.com following the meeting Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s a strong-knit community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy capacity is always the youth \u2014 so anything that helps the youth and maintains the integrity of the neighborhood, I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said her daughter is set for early graduation from Liberty High School and Northampton Community College. She also has two boys who attend Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and a retired mother who lives in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Regarding the Northside Alive initiative moving forward, Fields said it\u2019s all about \u201cgetting the word out and meeting people where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Dinner and data occupied a packed room at the Bethlehem YMCA. As basketball players thumped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,19112,19113,19114,19115,5077,19116,547,19117,635,19118],"class_list":["post-30029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-ymca","tag-broad-street-bethlehem","tag-friendship-park-bethlehem","tag-linden-street-2-way","tag-north-bethlehem","tag-northside-alive","tag-sara-satullo","tag-victoria-fields","tag-will-oliver","tag-wrt-urban-planning-firm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}