##VIDEO ID:eF0ukq-b_Po## good evening everyone I'm going to ask we all rise for the pledge of the flag okay flag States of America and to the rep for stands Nation God indivisible and justice for all we're working on it Mr Miller please call the role Mr Callahan M GRC Smith present Miss quch present Miss lard present Miss Leon present Miss Wilhelm pres Mr col present thank you Mr Miller just a couple of points to make before we get started councilman Callahan advised me he's running a little bit late so he should be joining us into the evening and then mayor Reynolds also maybe joining us late as he is welcoming the delegation from our new sister city from Puerto Rico paas that's here for the sister city celebration later this week so they both may be joining uh into the agenda tonight for the approval of the minutes for the September 3rd of 2024 meeting any comments on the minutes seeing none the minutes stand approved public comment we will start as is typical with our first public comment period which is for any anything that we are not voting on this evening so I'll start with everyone who signed up in advance and then I'll open it up to the room I do ask everyone to uh do your best to respect our five minute time limit out of respect for everybody here and I'll start with Miss Mary Joe mol and if everyone doesn't mind stating your name for the record please Mary Joe mol 449 Grand View Boulevard at the last meeting I asked if the council could enact an ordinance requiring utilities to complete work in a timely fashion well this is week number 12 of UGI working on gas Mains laterals and me Replacements on Grand View and Glendale Avenue hopefully the end of this week they should be completed but some workers um I noticed the one was with the traffic and one was with the um the main company doing the the digging and everything else they have no regard for what I view as a possible Public Safety concern the replacement of the gas Mains along Grandville and Glendale have been completed work on the laterals and meters continues there's gas in both the Old and the new main until the work is complete and the old main is closed I have witnessed several workers one in the traff with the traffic the another with the hankle and McCoy both with lighted cigarettes the hankle and McCoy employee was working in the excavation site I mentioned this to to both workers that I did not think it was wise to be to be doing so both acknowledged my concern but flagrantly ignored me I contacted Bethlehem police only to be told to contact UGI I did contact contact UGI and was told that the matter was up to the UGI supervisor on site we as consumers are told to give give three days advanced notice if we wish to dig where utilities are located to avoid potential problems I also remember when the safety valve blew on the propane tank along baskam Street on the car dealership lot Bethlehem fire department was extremely Vigilant regarding any Poss ibility of an explosion am I overreacting I would rather air on the side of caution than not my neighborhood is zoned RT as you are aware and as such there is a lot at stake I would like some input from the proper City Department thank you thank you Miss MC and our next speaker this evening is Jordan bold and while Jordan's coming to the lecture I just remind everybody I may defer you or refer you to different department heads that are here that manage the day-to-day business of city council whether it be Council bringing it up during new business on the floor of council or after the meeting the department heads are always here to speak with anybody who has follow-up questions or once that one-on-one engagement after the meeting thank you good evening my name is Jordan bold in response to last meeting I would like to applaud every single member of the Comm Community for coming out and using your voice to try and uh make a difference for the betterment of everyone uh I think we need to lean into this force that you're building up and actually do something about it though we need somebody to lead the charge I'll assist in any way I can but please for the love of our citizens let us come together to take care of our neighbors as God intended the government was never created to help the people with anything more than Freedom liberty and justice we the people need to stand together to help solve the problem not just put a Band-Aid on it and call it a day until next time we need the real creative thinkers of the community all of them regardless of class or any other material thing that humans tend to covet time is something you willingly give to anything these days why not choose to use your time like money and invest in yourself first so you can then help those who want to help themselves faith in us has to come before faith in anything else to those who can help please do to those who cannot we cannot expect you to do anything other than than send Good Vibes if you will uh to those who are homeless now it may not be your fault how you ended up here but it is your fault if you stay where you're at at you need to want it so bad that you bypass complaining and get straight to doing can't is just a state of mind and I know you s i sound harsh without heart but on the contrary I've been in this situation and I know what it takes to make it out of the pit the darkness can't hide from the light forever and I will do my best to put this together I hope I have some support from the community you don't have to like me just my idea God bless you all thank you thank you next speaker this evening Christina ritar hi Christina ritar I'm right up on Broad Street I was here on the 20th of August and wasn't completely prepared when I had left I had gone home to jot some things down per se um I do get a little shaky up here but it's not because of necessarily the atmosphere but because this is a worldwide issue um and it is out of the citizens hands anymore in any way and everywhere employment itself has been such a drastic culture shock for society then you have your historic Hometown that was become overbearingly welcoming Metropolitan even impersonal explosive distrusting as far as the housing and my situation that I'm here to speak of have no personal motivation in so many words to leave my home and and go to work um I dread it it sounds contradictive but when I leave the house I feel well or well enough um when I come home the mold in my place uh just smacks me in the face um I then have a crazy amount of sinus pressure I have to figure out how to sleep with an ice pack now it is a must for me to afford allergy medicine regularly I tried supplements to find a remedy of of assisting my well-being this has only caused me a different medical condition to flare up and also I have homeless people that sleep in the hall that I would not have known of if it wasn't for my my previous neighbor um I've recently myself because of living conditions I've had random itches on my shins my calves the top of my foot my ankle my forearm they're there for a few hours or days and then they're just gone um my living situation in the home I have to choose on leaving work to put pots out for my feeling my ceilings that trip or I have to leave work to attend to my son or the many times that my son had to miss school to watch the ceiling because I had to go to work or how he struggled through his senior year with numerous types of illnesses this all caused too many points that might job I came to having to decide my son the rainning inside or my job which one of these triage that day of rain also would it really rain or would they would be wrong do I request off or do I save that time for a future incident I can only do so much the place with the place that I live in the environment it makes me feel groggy the mold and the heavy heavy air from the old carpets the crookedness of the foundation is horrible I have to figure out how to level my stove to keep my pots from sliding off the water that runs off my tub the silverware that slides out of my dish drain my bed needs to be leveled so I don't sleep on a slant I continuously walk crooked and lose my balance if I am able to hear that it's raining I must get up and check what needs to be moved covered put away cleaned up then toss and turn in prayer that it will not fall in besides the pieces that flake off the business below me has a water bucket because when we shower the water drips down onto their t-shirt presses when and where for this classified level of while poverty Hometown OG's that built this town that is no longer we're allowing everybody to move in and we're almost going to have to create a refuge for ourselves to move out of what rebuilt my only lifelong interest was to have a home of my own the wall with the pencil marks of my son growing up the tree that we planted when we moved in the concrete imprints at our steps the Cozy Grill area for marshmallows and shared memorable laughs and tears my son and I have a blessed relationship and I feel that there is so much we are missing out on cuz we're trying to struggle to live in this mess I have called Bethany Ministries I have called numerous lawyers throughout the years I have tried to move I have called the Red Cross I've called the morning call I've called the news stations I've called the conference of churches I have the chief city inspector that I speak with I have the city inspector that's involved um my building owners I believe do have a warrant out on them uh they were cited in early February a court date was still not scheduled but in June the owner paid the fine and did not fix anything he was cited again and I still don't have a court date thank you thank you mrar and of course our director of community and economic development Miss Collins is here in the front row you may be familiar with her already if you wish to speak with her at a point or if you want to stay till after the meeting speak with members of council you're you're more than welcome of course our next speaker is Harry fa um Harry Faber uh what I wanted to talk about today was on September 6 a fellow American asor eggy was assassinated in the West Bank she was um protesting uh the Conquering of settlements um of the Palestinians and she was a member of the international solidarity movement the same organization that uh on March 16th in 2003 Rachel Corey another American who also belonged to the international solidarity movement was also brutally murdered um aor was shot in the head by a sniper um an iof sniper uh Rachel Corey was crushed to death with a bulldozzer um all purposeful um in 2022 uh on May 11th uh an American journalist Abu Akay was also assassinated by an Israeli sniper rifle while she was wearing a uh blue vest protest or um recording the Janine um Camp Invasion and it's just it's been proven time and time again that you know the state of Israel the illegitimate State doesn't care about American people about human rights and I know you guys I've been coming here and talking about the horrors that are going on in Palestine for since October 7th um and for the last like eight months since I've been coming to city council but it really just comes down to there's the BDS movement I do what I can I boycott I am very careful with what I consume uh obviously you guys don't have the power to sanction but what we can do as a city is divest that's the whole middle part the individual boycotts local institutions and local government divest and the federal government is supposed to but in order to put on pressure it starts with us and considering like I'm an economist and in my own opinion I believe our economy is essentially a giant Ponzi scheme constantly um producing and consuming in this cycle of of debt um where we're perpetually uh using up all of our finite it really doesn't make any sense but so the the time comes where we have to take action you know and I last last meeting we you were talking about I believe it was the police department's um retirement budget and about their Investments which I recall was in the um Stock Exchange and I'm confident and sure that a large majority of those companies which I'm positive that we are invested in are also complicit if not funding this active genocide and I want to know how we can divest from the genocide and what actions are being taken I don't know who to talk to I mean I guess I should have been asking that uh six months ago since I've been coming but I really want to we I talked about it last last meeting we're the city on the hill that's what we were made after we're supposed to be the Beacon of Hope you know and we're better it's not like we are hell on Earth but again Ju Just because we're not evil doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be better you know what I'm saying so it's like how can we as a city the city on the hill the Bethlehem you know in which Jesus was born I believe I don't I'm not really just I said that but that's what we're named after you know like can we stick to our values Our Roots how do we do that that's just all I want to KN I can do the re like I'm willing to put in the effort and try to figure this out but it's always like I come here I speak and it's that's the end of it and I have to come back I just I want to help and I want to do what I can to stop this genocide and it would be very appreciated if you guys would do what you can too thank you thank you Mr favor our next speaker this evening Valerie Nan hello um well as always um I find it difficult to hear about people in rough housing situations who may not have housing or that um it's inadequate um I I want to kind of before I go into what I had written down kind of note that um there is a little something called survivorship bias and I I really take umbrage at um any kind of commentary implying that people without homes that it's their fault that they can't get out of that situation um but moving on from that um I I am here speaking again about um the situation with the encampment under fahe bridge um at the last meeting I kind of uh took issue with um all all of the situation being referred to as rumors um clearly there was some miscommunication happening but um everyone involved was acting on the best information that was available at the time um and and clearly we we were able to clarify some things I have a few more questions um that hopefully some of this information has been investigated since then maybe it can be answered by Chief got or by Miss Collins or someone else in the city staff are on the council um at some point um so like firstly I I want to clarify um if there's been any investigation into to what information was actually given by the police to the residents on the encampment by the bridge um if it lines up with what we had learned before or not what was actually said to them um were the Mounted Police accompanied by any other liaison or staff um we we learned that they try not to have police visit the encampment without otherly on our staff I want to know is that official policy um you know outside of someone calling the police and they're needing to be a a response in other situations is it policy that police do not approach the encampments without um other help um and regardless of that um really like what was the specifics of this situation and incident um then moving on from the actual police response um have we obtained any further information from PPL um and whenever this electrical work is to be done what is the plan to keep it to complete it keeping in mind the needs of the residents where can they stay how quickly can they come back if they are temporarily displaced um what are the plans for properly notifying them and what amount of timing and leeway what notice will be given um and you know can we guarantee um we we heard that PPL reported to the Bethlehem police that they had previously tried to speak directly to Residents and the police didn't know about this until afterward when PPL was talking to them so from now on you know will PL be going through the city to contact the residents or are they going to do whatever they want you know um are they going to approach themselves um and then just like how are we going to ensure you know good behavior on all parties that are you know interacting with this vulnerable population going forward um and finally furthermore uh you know what is Norfolk sub 's knowledge and involvement in all of this because they didn't seem to be very involved in any of it um from the information we had last time um yeah that that is essentially what I have to say regarding the homeless population uh I'll add a side note um Harry I'm looking into the um divestment issue um and you can always file a right to no request um which I intend to do once I've seen the 2023 audit thank you thank you our last speaker signed up is Ry CA I will recognize Mr Callahan's join us hi I'm Marty Kura a13 law for Street in Bethlehem Pennsylvania um if you Google wake up rise up live for peace you'll find that that International virtual concert peace concert that goes throughout the whole world for over 24 hours will be happening this Saturday on the 21st which is linked with the United Nations International Day of Peace I'm one of the many hosts on that thing and a performers that's amazing I could perform all over other cities and all over the world but I can't get anything in my city I can't work in my city because I've been like blacklisted because I was I was was named racist I was named anti-semitic you know I was who else I I don't even some of the other intonations that are going on around but the thing is it's amazing my attorney which is uh Dave shatenstein doeses that sound Italian to you no he's Jewish uh my other attorney was J sherline does that sound Italian no he was Jewish I performed at the betham club for his 50th birthday I went to his funeral I have a lot of Jewish friends Jerry dben does that sound Italian no he was Jewish that was my partner in Philadelphia we had the creative Sound Studio back in the 80s and the 90s but however I can't get anywhere bethle because he first Arts Quest got at me and then city council because I mentioned that betham was named after to the city that Christ was supposed to be born into and he his main teaching was we should be an example so we caused the little ones not to sin I was anti-semitic and because of some other little things that I said that were factual in history and in the Bible anti-semitic I was going to run for the mayor but no way I will bet my $45,000 Les Paul 61 guar mayor Reynolds will be the next mayor here no problem at all Arty catola don't stand a chance in you know what I'm talking about I will not get there I will not be there and okay so maybe I don't know that much about running a city but I can learn what about Trump he was elected president of the United States he didn't know much about but now he does so anyway if Trump could be a president of the United States why couldn't I be mayor but anyway the fact remains we got too many things going on in the city we are a safe City but I don't get no credit for it but if you look at the book at the records for over 35 years I was pushing for surveillance cameras in the city of Bethlehem and 2017 they came about we became the top 20 safest cities in the whole United States because of there Fess cameras and a great police force other cities don't have that other ities listen to these podcasts in Philadelphia you bet they're listening to right now and if they don't get to the city council meetings because they're the ones that run the city the mayor and the city council you don't get there if you're listening your city is going to continue on having crime I talked to the mayor over there said hey it's no brainer no hoodies after dark and then this way you could find out who's committing the crimes now we can't do that and they told me years ago when I said about the surveillance cameras you realize what that would cost Mr Kola you know that's what I get from Philadelphia I got that pretty much from betham too for a while but the thing is I had ideas and I still have great ideas and I'll probably utilize them even if I don't get elected I won't get elected anyway but there's a lot of things we could do for the safety of the homeless people and do things to help the homeless people here and we shouldn't be homeless people with the high rates that most elected officials get of $90,000 or better you know take a little bit less and get rid of the homeless situation put them in halfway houses or uh um you know different uh communes or something like we used to have back in the 60s and 70s you know this is and Veteran homeless veteran that shouldn't even be in a sentence but the thing is it happens but there's a lot of things that could be done sure we're safe we're a safe City for the people that are not homeless but we need to be good for the people that are homeless Google me J Creed JC re D and you will find a lot more about me but yet I can't do nothing in my city of Bethlehem but yet I'm on Google God bless you all keep on rocking thank you Mr Caris H we did have someone sign up um for the second public comment but the topic was parking procedure is that something we're voting on this evening or you could come up now to make your comments so it is for something that we're voting on this evening it's related uh understood I just want to make sure thank you so open it up to the room I'll start with the left yes ma'am turn me around I [Music] know good evening could you hear me yes my name is elain yret I live at 2337 Brown Street Bethlehem my husband and I were the first to build on the street 63 years ago I am 88 years old a mental health facil facility was put in directly across the street at 2340 Brown Street why weren't all of us neighbors notified there is a lot of cars police cars and ambulance is coming and going that is a lot of excitement on for a person my age I always felt safe in my home and now I feel unsafe some nights I can't even sleep because I'm afraid in the past the next door neighbor wanted to close in their patio and two of the neighbors and myself were sent a letter from the city asking if we would give our consent first and we did and then they closed it up and there was never a problem let's see what can be done about this situation thank you okay I'm her daughter Lisa Anderson to live at the same address I'm her caregiver uh we were just wondering why a commercial business is allowed to operate in residential area um like I said this this place is called Beacon specialized living they handle everything from dementia to substance abuse to schizophrenia and um my mother grew up in a time when um you know people with mental health disabilities were segregated from the public so this is fearful to her it's fear of the unknown and I'm sure all of you at some point in your life have faced fear of the unknown so she just would like to know why there isn't um you know uh why there wasn't an ordinance or some type of variance that's required to put this type of commercial business in a residential area and we have 13 uh ranch homes on our street I don't want our street they because because of people with physical disabilities they kind of Target ranch homes I don't want every ranch home on my house my street um to become one of these public facilities or businesses in a commercial um you know in a residential area so thank you thank you ladies again as I stated before if you wanted to stay till the end of the meeting I I don't have answers for you right now but you're more than welcome we did we did contact zoning zoning told us to come here understood we left a mess with the zoning officer he never got back with us understood and again I invite you to stay after the meeting if you want exchange some information as well as our absolutely director of community Economic Development who here absolutely is there anyone else to the left side of the room who wanted to make comment Who's not had an opportunity I turned to the wide Center was there anyone in the center who want to make comment who has not had a chance Mr Shire well sounds like B sh 1898 in Avenue sounds like we uh could use a little more enforcement in the city um just a word about Gaza you all know I feel we have to lean more heavily on Israel and should suspend military aid for a while uh our beef is or my beef is not with the people of Israel it's not with the country of Israel for that matter it's just with the present government of Israel and Mr Netanyahu is doing what he has to do to keep the support of the extreme right because otherwise they will leave his government and he will no longer be in power it's all about staying in power that's the driving force here it's not not completely unlike Mr Maduro in Venezuela got too many people trying to hang on to power um couple remarks about the agenda I've made this comment maybe 10 years ago I'll try once again um approval of the minutes comes before a public comment public never has a chance to comment on the minutes which may inadvertently have mischaracterized something they said at the previous meeting uh the remedy is simple put appeal of the minutes after public comment by the way uh the summary of what I said at the last meeting is accurate as it usually is but I think the agenda could be fine-tuned here under old business we have old business tabled items unfinished business which is orally characterized as new business uh table items are old business so once you've done old business you've done table item table tabled items which is why it skipped over uh a little cleaner uh Arrangement would be tabled items first and then other old business unfinished business is also old business so that's kind of redundant and I approve of the idea of replacing it with new business which in itself is a change of longstanding tradition a new business used to be at the end of the meeting putting it where it is now is an interesting change and it does help uh to the public because uh they have uh comments that they have made and the comments from Council can occur sooner than other otherwise uh there is a downside though and that is that the council members are still more energetic senates earlier in the meeting and so we have had extended discussions and repetitive discussions recently because everybody's got so much vim and vigor still and if it's at the end of the meeting people are more tired and they're more to the point and but the downside there of course is that the members of the public have to wait until then so it's uh neither here nor there I guess uh one other thing I have a minute and a half left um I got a slight education before the meeting about how to find crime data on Facebook uh I'm afraid I did not master it but I'm going to try to get on Facebook search on city of betham and see if I can find the crime data the um it shouldn't be so difficult uh in fact when you log on to Bethlehem p.gov and you get that Matrix of little boxes kind of like Hollywood Squares and there should be one there that says crime data and you click on that and you get the crime data U at the very least what the city does submit to the state which then goes to the FBI 42 seconds left um the tonight oh no I'm sorry I got to save that one thank you thank you Mr sh was there anyone else in the wide Center who had to make comment who has not had a chance yes ma'am hello my name is Joyce zet moer I live on Brown Street 2346 I live right next to this mental health facility I was very disturbed thank you I was very disturbed that I didn't get notified that this mental health uh organization was moving in right next to me now I am the only house on Brown Street that does not have a driveway so I must park on the street so it makes parking difficult and I refuse to walk a block to carry my groceries when winter comes because it gets even worse when the snow mounts up people have to slide in wherever they can park and that's not fair to the residents as myself I'm 77 and I have to plow and shovel my snow I don't want somebody else parking in that because they didn't get to work soon enough to plow their own parking space so I would like to know what you're going to do with it how we are going to address this problem we don't know how many people will be allowed in this facility to live we don't know what to expect what else they will require these people to do not that we're against handicap my best friend is handicap or the mentally defici they have a right to live too but we have a right to know what's going to transpire with all of us that pay taxes on that Narrow Street and it is narrow when we have parking on both sides thank you thank you and I I invite you to stick around we have a light agenda tonight so I invite the neighbors to exchange contact information please and we'll you know try to get some information and go from there apprciate that thank you no problem is there anyone else in the wide Center who want to make comment who has not had an opportunity to I turn to the right a by to the right all right that concludes our first public comment now we're going to continue on to ordinances or resolutions that we're going to vote on this evening we have two people signed up starting with Mary Joe MC Mary Joe mol 449 grandv Boulevard after attending the safety committee meeting and City Council meetings last earlier this month I am pleased that an ordinance prohibiting illegal dirt bikes and four-wheelers use in the city is finally being addressed I want to thank Chief cot and Northampton County district attorney for collaborating to make this possible Chief cot researched ordinances in reading and another M municipality to draft bethlehem's ordinance Bethlehem is unique in that is the it is the only city in the state of Pennsylvania to straddle two counties Lehi and Northampton I wonder since I live in the portion of Bethlehem in Lehi County if the district attorney in Lehi County was consulted or included in any discussions and infractions as infractions within Lehi County would be overseen by his office I bring this to the attention of the governing body to ensure that all law enforcement agencies are equally informed and as such on the same page thank you thank you and our next speaker Miss White my name is Sheila White and I live at 2351 woodrest Avenue I hope to see city council approve the permit application for the varied Community engagement activities presented by touchdown theater for their sixth Annual Festival Unbound this would demonstrate an understanding of how Arts participation is a vital part of community life and well-being and a community cannot support the Arts without full consideration of public parking having worked in South Bethlehem for a while I'm familiar with the ongoing changes to parking access that lived experience informs me to look up potential construction zones that could impact both vehicular and pedestrian travel as well as Parking Solutions each time I plan my Venture into North and South Bethlehem business districts I'm a big fan of the new street parking garage it's a great asset for the citizens like myself who want to participate in a walkable City it's an ideal solution to be able to leave the car in one safe space and to walk freely from a dining experience to an Arts experience without worry of an expired meter the Poke Street Garage is also a wonderful asset street parking we have some work to do last Saturday when volunteering at Godfrey Daniels I saw a challenge for about 30% of the people who were there including the musicians there was a significant information gap for people who were trying to figure out the new parking rate zones kiosks mobile apps and all other means for which our community can maintain a fair fair and accessible parking solution without the restrictive or oppressive procedural evil that is the parking authority and I'm paraphrasing Thomas Payne's Common Sense there and this is why I'm making this statement I have two concerns about these new public uh parking policies communication and inflexibility I find the communication from the parking authority lacking from The Parking Authority website the new rapid park zones feature a two and a half doll per hour rate with a maximum stay of two hours this higher rate and shorter limit are designed to encourage turnover and ensure that more visitors can access convenient parking spaces that's fair the flex park zone situated slightly further from the downtowns is a walkable Zone that maintains a $1 and half per hour rate with a three-hour maximum stay this approach helps reduce congestion in high demand areas and supports a more pedestrian friendly environment so we do understand pedestrian pedestrian friendly environments the sign on the meters State 2hour Max but does not expand that that two-hour limit is for any spot in that zone a driver must find a new spot in zone number not just the next available spot on that street the same information or lack thereof appears on the mobile app and the kiosks if you can spot those from your parking spot I'm not expecting a level of technology similar to knowing about how to order my hogi while I'm filling up my gas tank at the Wawa but has there been full consideration of how people are informed of their parking situation be before they pull up to an available parking spot and attend a show that lasts longer than two hours could the parking authority possibly add more details on the app could the parking authority work with each business to provide better explanation that can be embedded onto their websites or with anoint M confirmations for Salon appointments that last two more than two hours and don't let me get all L Woods on you on that one and advanced ticket sale emails or text Communications so that audiences are better informed I saw a brochure it isn't very clear a brochure produced by the BPA it tells me that the parking authority does have information available but not as easily access accessible or more proactively shared secondly might there be more flexibility in the established zones for varied business models has the parking authority done a detailed survey of the businesses and venues within the rapid park zones that offer services where a customer would need more than two hours could there be a way to shift the hourly limit in the rapid park zone after 6 pm to accommodate a more pedestrian friendly environment for evening activities I don't want to speak for all business models but I will fiercely Advocate on behalf of the audiences who venture out of their homes at night to experience something magical their drive home ought to be buzzing with Elation from their shared experience not cursing the parking authority for a ticket placed on their windshield what do you think of the chances of an audience member coming back to South Bethlehem for any other experience after they've earned a parking ticket from inefficient communication as city council members and administrators I implore you to consider the full impact on the artists musicians and customers these businesses serve it's not enough to publicize partial information that makes sense to us and stays within certain boundaries of how things are done we all need to do better to share and to listen to our Collective awareness thank you thank you so that exhaust our list for the second public comment period so again I'll go around the room this is related to anything we're voting on this evening is there anyone to the left who wants to make comment in regards any resolution or ordinance again I turn to the wide Center Mr sh Bill Shan uh just to comment on I think it's the last Cova on a new sign for gy house and I noticed in the supporting documents of which there was one copy available in the hallway used to be more but now lately there's only been one even when you get here at 6:30 that the new sign will be three and a half feet by 3 and A2 feet and that strikes me if memory serves is larger than the old sign um if I had gotten the agenda at home in the mail I would have known before I came into town and I could have driven by to see what the old sign looked like but since I was coming at the last minute before council meeting there was not or I could have gotten my car and gone back but then I would have missed the beginning of the council meeting so that's my concern about that and also my concern about not getting copies of the agenda in the mail anymore because they don't have the internet at home thank you thank you Mr sh was there anyone else in the wide Center who would to make comment on anything we're voting on tonight anyone to the right that concludes our second public comment we're going to move on through the agenda old business any old business for members of council I don't see any we're going to move on to new business any new business for members of council Mr Callan I just want I wanted to um um I I already spoke to uh president colog but I'm uh taking my first trip to Europe and uh I'll be gone for a month uh so I I just want to tell everybody I'll be gone uh for the next two meetings and I'll be paying attention if I can on uh on uh online and uh if anybody has any questions you can still text me uh but I looking forward to this trip and uh trip of life of a lifetime first time going to Italy so thank you very much and I'm sure all of you will miss me very much so safe travels Mr Callahan safe travels any other new business for members Council I'll start with councilwoman lard um just a question following up on the um residential facility on Brown Street I think this would be directed to Laura uh about zoning um so I I know that there are many residential facilities for various uh causes mental illness physically disabled people addicts in recovery throughout the city uh and I know some of them are in residential areas not just this particular chain or bus that's operating one um is that a permitted use in a residential zoning District um or do those do is there some process that they need to go through do you know that off hand I would be most comfortable like writing up something after the meeting just so I don't misspeak I don't know this property specifically so I can't speak to the nature of the services they're providing or the housing that is provided um there are Provisions in the zoning ordinance for group homes that's specifically called out and there's a very specific definition of what a group home is I don't know if this facility has been evaluated under that standard um but what I could do is obviously look into this specific facility and then also just share information about group homes generally yeah my question was sparked by that facility but was more General so um so if a facility would meet the definition in the ordinance of a group home then there is no addition variance or notification or anything that that has to happen it really kind of depends um you know while it might meet the definition of a group home there could be other reasons that a facility might need to go for a zoning Varan or or or something of the sort but um if it's a residential facility generally that meets the definition of a group home and it's in a zoning District that permits group homes then that would all be you know as a general matter um right and that's all residential areas there's some provision I would have to double check all right yeah if you could look into those things just so we can give the the resid if you could look into that so that we can give a clear picture to the the people in question then that would be great thank you miss Colin counc I I also have a couple of questions I think I'm going to start with uh uh with Chief cot um I know that we had spoken offline about this but if you can give some update as to which Patrol was actually on the greenway um and I I don't know if this is a question for you a question for Laura but is there anything that legally we could legally require ppnl to go through the police department or are is that something we can actually do that I can't answer so that's you guys but if you can give us an update on which officer was down there or what's the procedure like if an officer is on the canal absolutely I can answer Miss nunan's questions um Community Connection staff did accompany the officers down for the notifications and that is policy uh that unless like you said they're called down there for a specific reason um like a medical uh medical call or or a fight call um Community Connection staff will go down or will accompany uh a street medicine um and the Community Connection staff uh it was not a mounted officer that spoke to the residents it was uh Sergeant Ryman um that is the sergeant in charge of our community uh Services Unit he was on bicycle and he had his bicycle helmet on so they may have been confused uh when when you know speaking to Sergeant Ryman um but that's who they spoke to there was body camera footage of that interaction as well that was reviewed um to see how that message was conveyed to make sure that it was conveyed properly and in a respectful manner any updates from ppnl we are working on it um I'm I'm not thrilled right now with the timeline that we were given but we are going to work very very closely with them to try to make it where it's going to be beneficial for them to get this job done but also it's going to provide the individuals that are being displaced with proper shelter and resources and the the last question was North folk southern I'm not sure of that so I can't speak to that okay thank you Chief um and uh the other question I had regarding that whole situation was it's either for the city's legal or our legal the city's legal is there anything that is already in place that requires ppnl to go through the police department and if not our legal is there anything that we can do to put something in place that would require ppnl to go through the police or the health department to relay uh accurate information I'm certain PPL has an easement to access their polls on Northfolk southern land which is where this is located so that's between it would be PPL would have if they have any obligation it would be Northfolk Southern not to notify people trespassing there okay so if that is an easement that's basically that is what it is then got it like you have in your backyard or somewhere where the cable company can come through that that sort of thing understood understood um the other questions I have might be for you miss Collins um they regarding the housing situation uh again um I know that the city has done kind of like everything that you can do I'm wondering what the next steps would be like is condemning the next steps and if the property is condemned is there anything that Pro protects the resident that's there or is there any kind of safety net that would catch somebody from having a property condemned right from underneath them and my last question is is there anything legally barring us from knowing who this person is I'm not above public shaming are you speaking about the Broad Street uh yes the the woman with her son who's getting sick um so my understanding I I just tried to double check while we were sitting here is that we are still waiting on a a court date from the magistrate as was relay we had cited them had gone and gotten a court date the fines had been paid we cited them again so at this point we are waiting for the court to act I mean uh we could certainly send some inspectors back out there to to check the status of the situation if it were the case that the situation had elevated to a level where it needed to be condemned I I think we had talked about this before but we certainly try to do our best and work with the health Bureau and Community connections and service providers um to try and get people at least temporary housing in a in a situation like that it's um you know or at least connect people to Services as you know we don't necessarily provide housing ourselves in those instances but we do want to try and help people and give them enough notice um so you know we could certainly have somebody go back out there and meet the resident out there and see what the condition of the property is currently and when it comes to ownership of property especially properties that um whether it's people coming to council or people approaching us individually when they see us um if somebody is coming to us about a property over over and over again and these properties are owned by the same people over and over and over again um or by the same LLC With No Name Behind it is there a way that we could find out who that is or is I might defer to Mr spurk I I think we would generally encourage people to submit a right to no request and and determine at that point like what of the information that we have we able the legal process would be just submit a right to no request in order to understand like who owns these these properties okay all right um thank you I think the only other thing that I had was there was a comment said about um increasing communication all this isn't for you Dr Collins if you wanna sit you totally can I don't want to keep you up there um I did speak with one of our gentleman that has worked with our unhoused population for for decades Pastor rap and he has been um more than willing to meet with uh members of the community who are are taking a recent interest in the unhoused population how they get their Communications how they survive the Summers and the winters um he's more than willing to sit down and speak with you all so if there is a genuine desire for increased communication and how we can help these people um then we should be connecting with the people who've been doing this work for decades that's all I have thank you Miss Leon any other new business for members of council councilman KY Smith um just a followup regarding the um Community Living Arrangement um or group home on Brown Street I was looking up and on page 175 IT addresses it in the zoning um ordinance but um I guess the question is that what needs to occur and it sounds like it doesn't it can be in a residential area or other areas um but that the um provider needs to submit specific information to the zoning officer so at this point do we know if that's happened or not we don't know I don't know okay so yeah if you can find that I think that would be the first step so we know where things are at thank you any other new business members C any other new business councilwoman lard uh just a question um starting with a uh Kudos um the police I know have responded to the request to have like a police blader published um and it's on social media and I've heard good feedback um including from some people in this room about that but there's been a question of why um or could that be on the website um so yeah if you could it looks like a Google drive folder so if that yes it is so if you go to the city web page go to the police dropdown and there is a spot to get the UCR data but there's also the public blader so it is available on the city web page thank you thank you any other new business for members of council thank you everyone I'll just reiterate to the neighbors that came out because we some questions about it please after the meeting if you will share your contact information and we could communicate whatever director Collins is able to find about kind of the the background related to that property going to move on to Communications Mr Miller communication 6A September 11 2024 memorandum from city solicitor John fburg Jr with an attached use permit agreement resolution permit is the greater lehab Valley Chamber of Commerce by and through Woods downtown Bethlehem Association sub permites are McCarthy's Irish Pub Incorporated and social still LLC the event is 2024 Harvest Fest event times will be noon to 5:00 P pm on October 12th duration will be 8:00 am to 700 p.m on October 12th specified premises is Main Street from Broad Street to the Hotel Bethlehem parking lot entrance and resolution 10A is on the agenda this evening 6B September 11th 2024 m memorandum from city solicitor John urg Jr with an attached use permit agreement and resolution for miti is Touchstone theater the event is 2024 Festival Unbound event times and durations vary and are specified in the agreement for September 30th through October 6th specified premises of Bethlehem Rose Garden Sand Island including the boat launch the ice house and the greenway from New Street to the Bethlehem skate park and resolution 10B is on the agenda this evening communication 6C the September 9th 2024 memorandum with an attached exhibit listing equipment for sale from Sandra sell director of purchasing listed items will be offered for sale in an online auction within 60 days in accordance with provisions of resolution 2009 95 and if Council has no objections to the properties listed the items may be added to the online auction if Council would like to discuss a specific item the same shall be removed from the list and then discussed at the next council meeting which will be October the 1st would any member of council like to remove any of the items from the list and discuss it at the next council meeting I don't see any so it will be communicated to the purchasing director that city council has no objections to auctioning the the listed property thank you moving on to reports tonight I don't have anything to report this evening Mr Evans thank you president cologne the mayor does have one announcement and um as you had mentioned in your opening remarks he is currently welcoming guest from ptia our our newest sister city uh which is in Puerto Rico and we he would like to and we would like to all welcome everyone to the flag raising and ceremony which is going to be on Friday outside on payro Plaza the ceremony will begin at one o'clock and expected to run for about an hour and all are welcome that would be Friday thank you Mr Evans for our finance committee hwan ksey Smith thank you the finance committee will meet on Tuesday October 1st 2024 6m in town hall several budget adjustments will be on the agenda Grace kampsy Smith chairwoman of the finance committee thank you M cramy Smith continuing on to ordinances for final passage Mr Miller please read bill 29 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the Community Development block grant fund budget for 2024 bill number 29 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss grmy Smith any discussion we'll call the rooll M Wilhelm i m Callahan I M gry Smith I miss quac I miss l i uh Miss Leon I and Mr col I pass 70 Bill 30 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the Community Development block grant fund budget for 2024 bill number 30 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss kmy Smith discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I kmy Smith hi M quch I miss lard I miss Leon I Mr cologne I pass 70 Bill 31 2024 ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the 2024 capital budget for non- utilities bill number 31 2024 is sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion all the RO Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan hi Miss grmy Smith hi miss quch I miss L hi Miss Leon I and Mr colog I pass 70 Bill 32 2024 an ordinance of the city of Bethlehem counties of Lehigh and Northampton Commonwealth of Pennsylvania establishing article 525 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bethlehem titled all terrain vehicles and dirt bikes and establishing prohibited offenses involving the operation within City Limits bill number 32 2024 sponsored by Miss Leon and Miss crampy Smith discussion on the motorbike ordinance Mr Callan uh Chief you got a minute so if this if this passes tonight what what's the plan going for like as far as enforcement or education so to start off we would educate the public um the gas station owners about the new ordinance uh there would be a grace period during that education period trying to just let people know about the new ordinance and then there would be enforcement um and and again that officer still has discretion regarding you know what exactly is going to happen with that bike um any citations a lot of times like I mentioned before there was a case where there was just a gentleman that was unaware uh that you had to register the vehicle and you couldn't operate it on Broad Street um but that's the plan going forward how about is there is there any is there any thought process or or now or in the future as far as like having any like roving patrols like in in in Third Street Fourth Street like the B Central Business districts where they're most affected by we've we've done directed patrols before Main Street not only for the vehicles but also for the the loud um vehicles that have the aftermarket um exhaust on them so we have done that before yes and that's something we plan on doing again in the future I appreciate it thank you thank you Mr cahan councilwoman l um I just wanted to note that um the uh amendments that we discussed last time are in fact reflected uh in here so that everyone's aware so it does now Define Highway and uh has added snowmobile thank you any other discussion from members of council Chief cot just two quick questions following up on something that was brought up during new business and if this was discussed at the Public Safety Committee forgive me for missing it um was Lei County district attorney it's hallahan um consulted or do you and even if not do you foresee any issues with enforcement in West Bethlehem versus northampt County none the ordinance would apply to the city as a whole and speaking to the district attorney's office over in Lehigh County they were very very aggressively going after this problem because of how pervasive it is in the Lehigh Valley so it should not be a problem understood thank you chief you're welcome anything else before we call the rooll Mr Miller Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I miss grmy Smith I miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon I and Mr cologne I pass 70 we don't have any new ordinances this evening moving on to resolutions resolution 10A be resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller Andor such other City officials has deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with greater lehab Valley Chamber of Commerce fying through its downtown Bethlehem Association for the 2024 Harvest Fest resolution is sponsored by Miss lard and Miss Leon discussion we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm hi Mr calan hi M grmy Smith hi M quch hi Miss lard hi M Leon hi and Mr colog I pass 70 thank you resolution 10B be it resolved by the Council of the city of Bethlehem that the mayor and controller and or such other City officials is deemed appropriate by the city solicitor are hereby authorized to execute a use permit agreement with touchdown theater for the 2024 Festival Unbound resolution is sponsored by Miss L and Miss Leon any discussion on the use permit agreement councilwoman Wilhelm yes president clone because of my uh consultancy ongoing consultancy work with Touchstone I'll be recusing myself from this vote understood thank you Miss L um this is a question actually for our leadi on uh Miss wilham um we had someone speak about uh parking and uh so parking L I didn't say that word okay um yeah so we had someone speak about U parking and um issues surrounding like when there is an event that would take longer than the designated period in the rapid uh Exchange areas um I'm wondering if you could just confirm that you would discuss that with the parking authority folks and um I'm just remembering when I way back worked at the Boyd theater and uh the owner there would get so frustrated because it was one hour parking in front of a movie theater um and we would go put the tokens in the meters for people and stuff so I'm hearing the same types of things and thinking of theater and concerts and um wondering if there's any temporary permits that might be uh dreamt up to give people who are attending a specific concert or something like that I don't know yes I I appreciate your inquiry obviously I'm not going to answer on behalf of the BPA BPA but I do have a note to myself to to reach out and I will report back thank you any other discussion we'll call the role Miss wilham Rick Hughes Mr Callahan I M grmy Smith hi miss quch I miss lard I miss Leon I and Mr colog I resolution passes 60 with one council member recusing themselves I will accept a motion in that second to consider the resolutions 10c through 10g the certificates of appropriateness as a group so move up second I'm G to say motion by Mr Callahan and second by councilwoman Wilhelm any discussion on the motion to consider them as a group Mr Miller please call the rooll on the motion Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I M gry Smith i m quch i m lard I miss Leon I Mr cologne I pass 70 now they're grouped together Mr Miller please read the coas certificates or appropriateness under the provisions of the act of Pennsylvania legislature Bethlehem resolutions are hereby granted for 3032 West Market Street to replace a total of 36 Windows including 32 double hung units one picture unit and three casement windows with Marvin Elevate Windows the applic also proposes to remove restore repaint the existing shutters repaint the wood Sills and lentils for the windows being replaced and install new 6-in half- round gutters for 2020 for 227 East Church Street to install a Bosch climate 5000 duckus mini split heat pump with uh which will replace the current oil heat and window wall air conditioners for 238 East Wall Street to replace existing shingled roof with g AF slate line architectural shingles in the antique slate color install new EPDM membrane in the Box gutters on the front porch replace existing downspouts related to the repaired box gutters on the front porch reside the walls of the existing Roof Dormers and replace the rubber roof system on the rear Dormer for 127 East Wall Street to replace the leaking slate line shingle roof with GAF slate line architectural shingles chimney flashing is beyond repair fabricated in kind aluminum step and counter flashing will replace the damage flashing the applicant also proposes to repair and replace the roof Eve and rake Prim board which will be painted to match the existing and for 501 Main Street to replace a sign at the goody house in the same style with goody house Welcome Center the overall size of the sign will be 42 in by 42 in by 2 in inches the letter and Graphics will be hand painted on premium vinyl graphics resolutions are sponsored by Miss L and miss leam any discussion on the group we'll call the rooll Miss Wilhelm I Mr Callahan I grmy Smith i i slard i Leon I and Mr cologne I COA pass 70 that concludes tonight's agenda get home safe everyone I'm gonna grab the we want to take the group photo I don't have a good eye for these oh he's not my yeah anywhere with the library relation happy e e for