Year 2008
Mayor
John Callahan
State of the City Address
February 21, 2008
I want to thank the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce
and the Bethlehem Business Council for hosting and organizing
my fifth “state-of-the-city” address. It is fitting
for this event, that I am joined today by both my city management
team and by you, the private sector leaders of the Bethlehem
community. It is all of you – through your daily activities
of running your businesses, creating jobs, and volunteering
your time, who make this city work and this community so special.
I want to take a few moments to introduce you to the members
of my staff, who are here – many of whom you know…
A little more than 10 years ago I decided to run for City
Council because I saw the City at a crossroads. There were
too many people looking backward rather than looking forward
lamenting what we had lost instead of dreaming about what
we could be. A decade ago there was a great deal of uncertainty
over the future of the City and with good reason. Today, however,
that uncertainty has been replaced with great anticipation
and optimism about tomorrow.
Last year, at this time, the City was basking in the glow
of being awarded a license for a stand-alone casino. But even
then we knew there was much work to be done. This casino development
will be the economic engine that allows the City to realize
the dream started over a decade ago on the old Bethlehem Steel
property. Today I want to take the opportunity to discuss
the preparations the city has undertaken in anticipation of
the opening of the casino.
It is really easy to see the progress of this project. One
needs to just drive over the Minsi-Trail Bridge and look east
and west to see the transformation. To date, about $100 million
has been spent on demolition, remediation, utility relocation
and other site work and only now is steel rising from the
ground. This tremendous capital investment reaffirms my belief
that the only way to develop this particular piece of steel
land, which in many ways is one of the most difficult parcels,
was through the extraordinary resources brought by the casino.
The foundations have been poured, the utilities have been
laid and soon the steel will be put in place – American
steel at that. A new era for Bethlehem is just around the
corner.
Today, we are preparing for this new era. We too are laying
the foundation by investing in some of the most fundamental
areas of City government, planning, infrastructure and public
safety. While the Sands development will be a tremendous boon
to the city’s economic development future, we will not
sacrifice the character and quality of life in Bethlehem,
which has become our hallmark. Today, we are the envy of most
cities throughout this Commonwealth. Through proper planning
and preparation we will remain the envy of cities decades
from now. We must continue to be the gold standard for mid-size
cities in the state.
We need to ensure that our roads are prepared to handle the
traffic generated by an additional 5 million visitors each
year. Over the course of the next four years $100 million
in road improvements will take place in South Bethlehem alone.
Penn Dot is undertaking a long-awaited $70 million major reconstruction
of Route 412. Las Vegas Sand is investing an additional $18
million in road improvements along that corridor. The City,
meanwhile, is implementing plans to address the traffic patterns
at the Five Points intersection. For some time now it has
been clear that the current configuration was insufficient
to handle even existing conditions, threatening this part
of the city with gridlock. The Five Points Gateway Enhancement
plan, a $2 million private-public partnership among the Sands,
St. Luke’s, the State and the City will improve pedestrian
safety, increase parking, and improve the flow of traffic
through this corridor a decade sooner than otherwise would
be possible.
While it is certainly important to invest in hard infrastructure
I want to turn my attention for a moment to something that
has long been a focus of mine, and that is our public safety
infrastructure. There is no more important indicator for a
city’s livability and ability to attract more economic
growth, than safety. We can’t attract millions of visitors
to Bethlehem if they don’t feel safe. We can’t
expect someone to raise a family here if they don’t
feel safe. We can’t expect someone to grow or relocate
a business here if they don’t feel safe. In the first
part of this decade Bethlehem has been the safest city in
the state with a population over 30,000. This is a testament
to the unprecedented investment in public safety - the most
important of which is manpower. Between 1984 and 2004 the
City added a total of 12 new police officers. Since 2004,
we have added 10 police officers. And, for the first time
in 20 years officers were added to patrol. Today, I am proud
to announce that we will add an additional four officers in
next year’s budget bringing our total force to yet another
all time high of 158 strong.
Not only do we have more police officers, but also they are
better equipped and better trained than at any point in the
City’s history. Our police department recently received
accreditations – national accreditation from CALEA and
statewide accreditation from PLEAC. Our police force is one
of only eight departments with such a distinction and is the
largest municipal police force to achieve both accreditations.
Furthermore, we have invested $5.5 million dollars in upgrading
our equipment, radios and computers to ensure our police officers
are equipped with the best crime fighting technology available.
As part of a new police master plan, we have redeployed our
officers in an innovative community patrol model – to
ensure that community policing, a program that this city lead
the way on in the 1990s, becomes more than just a division
in a department but rather a philosophy that permeates the
entire department. We have empowered our officers to make
more decisions at the street level, bringing greater accountability
and resources to bear sooner before a small problem becomes
a larger one. A critical component of this plan is the redeployment
of our officers to four major neighborhood substations in
each quadrant of the City. By placing more officers in the
neighborhoods where the residents need them, we have helped
to improve the quality of life in our City. This model has
been well received by all of our community groups and block
watch captains.
Our investments in technology and manpower have paid off.
In last year’s state of the city I said that no matter
what the budget constraints, we will never skimp on public
safety. And I will invest whatever is necessary to ensure
that we maintain or improve public safety as this casino is
developed. I am happy to report to you today that I made good
on that promise and that these investments have paid off.
Violent crime has dropped from 2006-2007 by 8%, non-violent
crime by 4.5% and total crime in the city is down by almost
6% year over year.
Just yesterday a long time city resident walked up to me
and asked simply “Are we ready?” This simple question
sums up the challenge we have before us as a city government.
And the answer is yes, we are ready because we are aware of
the work that needs to be done, and we are prepared to meet
the needs that this change will bring.
The story of the Sands development is but a small part of
the tremendous growth on-going in the City today, and one
of the challenges for us is to ensure that a casino does not
come to define just what or who we are. It needs to be part
of our success. The redevelopment of the steel land places
Bethlehem in the enviable position of being able to accomplish
some extraordinary things. However, the redevelopment of the
steel land alone will not guarantee the vitality of Bethlehem
for years to come. Balanced growth and investment in all areas
of the City are equally critical to ensure our success.
Bethlehem is in the midst of the most rapid period of growth
and change in our 265-year history. Bethlehem is the fastest
growing, most prosperous mid-sized City in Pennsylvania. Over
the last four years we have seen a $91 million increase in
our tax base, $30 million year over year, last year alone.
In that same four-year period the City has experienced $682
million in economic investment, and has created and retained
3500 jobs, in every sector of the economy - all the while
investing in ourselves and maintaining fiscal responsibility
by not taking on more debt than we pay off. Unlike so many
other cities we have not mortgaged our future. Since I became
Mayor we have decreased the city’s total debt by $35
million and we are on track to aggressively pay down debt
by fifty percent in the next seven years and sixty percent
in the next ten years – a claim that very few governments
can make. And I’m happy to add that we have accomplished
all this without a tax increase in the last two years.
Today, Bethlehem has more than $1.8 billion dollars of investment
on the horizon and anticipates more than 5,000 new jobs in
the City. This does not include the Majestic property or any
other LVIP announcements that have not been made. Undeniably,
$1.8 billion will change the way Bethlehem looks.
But as we grow it is important that we do so in a responsible
manner. That is why for the first time in 15 years we are
updating the city’s comprehensive plan. This comp plan,
along with the $450,000 of corridor studies and master plans
that were already completed, will act as a guidepost and blue
print for our future. To ensure that as we continue to grow
we do so with an eye towards smart growth, sustainability
and quality of life - we’re not going to grow for growths
sake. We’re also embarking for the first time in our
city’s history a city-wide parking master plan to evaluate
capacity, utilization, anticipated projected demand and the
feasibility of additional parking garages. We recognize that
the Walnut Street garage is at capacity and the North Street
garage is close to capacity – these are all good signs
of a vibrant downtown but we need to address the deficiency
of parking at the south end of Main Street so that our north
side business district remains strong and our merchants can
compete. Now some say we cannot afford to look at these issues
– to those individuals I say ask Central Moravian Church,
ask Moravian College, ask the Moravian Book Store and ask
the Hotel Bethlehem. They will say we can’t afford not
to, and I agree.
It is also vital to our long-term success to preserve our
neighborhoods and our quality of life. It is our neighborhoods
that make this City so special, it is our neighborhoods that
make this city what it is today, and they are the lifeblood
of our community. I encourage any of you to drive the 20 square
miles of our city and see the amazing diversity that is Bethlehem.
Or if you want to train for a marathon, you can probably run
those 20 square miles. If we fail to invest in our neighborhoods,
we will fail our residents.
Our ongoing Elm Street initiative focuses on two important
core neighborhoods on both our North and our West sides. But
investing in our neighborhoods is not limited to bricks and
mortar. It is also important to focus on the subtle investments,
not readily visible to everybody but important nevertheless
to maintaining a strong quality of life. These include clean
streets, increased code enforcement, and better parks and
recreation, just to name a few.
I am also happy to announce that in a matter of weeks, we
will close on the South Bethlehem Greenway in the weeks ahead
- a project that will have a transformative impact on each
neighborhood that it touches and each neighborhood that it
connects.
Today, Bethlehem enjoys a reputation of being a well-managed
city. This reputation was not earned by accident. We take
pride in delivering more with less. While we have worked to
put our resources on the front lines - we have our largest
police force in history, largest EMS and fire departments
in history, - we continue to have one of the smallest non-uniformed
workforces in our city’s history and we still deliver
services at an unprecedented high level. The Continuous Improvement
initiative has helped to continue our goal of delivering more
with less. CI in the City is the innovative public-private
partnership with Air Products that eliminates waste, increases
efficiency, and empowers employees to do their jobs better.
Through Continuous Improvement we have decreased the permitting
process from 42 days to 2 weeks. Most recently we have announced
curbside pick-up of paper products saving an additional 100,000
more trees a year and an additional 750 tons of carbon annually,
all without increasing costs to the taxpayers. CI has become,
and is an essential tool in providing good, cost effective
government.
Bethlehem is a remarkable community, but you don’t
have to take my word for it. Clearly the plans are in place
and they’re working, but you can see I’m not giving
this speech on an aircraft carrier with a “mission accomplished”
banner behind me. There is more work to be done. And I want
to stress, this is not about a mayor, its not about a city
council, or its not even about a city government - it is all
of us working collectively to prepare this community for change.
As late President John F. Kennedy said, “Change is
the law of life. And those who only look to the past or present
are certain to miss the future.”
It is important that I end where I began, by thanking all
of you. It is you who will ensure that the promise of tomorrow
becomes a reality. We need to look beyond today and prepare
for tomorrow.
So if you ask me what the state of the city is - my answer
is:
We are a fiscally healthy city that is getting healthier.
We are an improved city that is continuously improving.
We are a growing city that is growing greener.
We are the safest city, getting safer.
In short, we are the best, getting better.
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