--------- We are live. Okay. I will call to order the community development committee meeting. I am Hillary Quietitech, chair of the community development committee. The other committee meetings present are Grace Crampy Smith and Kira Wilhelm. Other council members present this
evening, Rachel Leon. Clerk will please call the role. Miss Grampy Smith present. Miss Wilhelm present. Miss present. YouTube stream reminder. If you start this meeting after 6 PM, please make sure to scroll ahead so that the YouTube
stream is current rather than a recording of an earlier portion of the meeting. There is one item on tonight's agenda, the annual financial accountability incentive reporting hearing. This matter is forformational purposes only. Uh public comment. I will
recognize the public for comment. Is there anyone who would like to make public comment with a fivem minute time limit? Seeing no one, we'll move on to agenda item one. I will now recognize a representative of the administration. Great. Good evening. Thank you, Chairwoman Cuitech, for holding this
meeting of the community development committee. Uh this evening I'll be presenting alongside Alex Miller. So Sean Ziller, Alex Miller, very easy. Um our economic development coordinator. Alex assumed the role in October of last year following Asher Siobhan's
departure. Um, Alex has really proven to be an exceptional addition to the community and economic development team. Uh, with his prior experience at the Commonwealth Department of Labor and Industry, uh, he was wellprepared, uh, and we kind of threw him right into it for the this year's fair report. We're
also joined this evening by Miss Collins, the director of community and economic development. We're here uh, as you stated for the annual financial accountability incentive reporting or fair hearing. As you all know, the fair program was established by ordinance in 2018 to help city council better
understand and have transparency into the economic development tools we utilize here in the city. With that in mind, you received and should have in front of you uh the annual fair report, which is what we will be reviewing at this hearing. This report is a look back
at the year 2024 examining how economic development incentives both tax and non-tax incentives have worked and had had an impact um have had an impact during the last year. You can see from the table of contents that the report
includes an incentive inventory, incentive program summaries, valuation reports for each incentive program, incentive program impact statements from select recipients, and tax expenditure spreadsheets and reports. The incentive inventories on
page one and two list the tax and non-incentives included in the report. And as you're probably familiar, these include the local economic revitalization tax assistance program or commonly referred to as LERA, the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone or
CRIS, the Enterprise Zone Loan Program, the Bethlehem Small Business Loan Fund, BBLF uh/CDBG Loan Program, and the Business Infrastructure Development or BID loan fund. Program summaries are on page 3 through 10. They have not
material materially changed from prior years. Importantly, the program evaluation portion is on page 11 on pages 11 through 27. As has been done in prior years, we will go right to the evaluation reports and provide brief refreshers on the incentive programs.
To prepare these evaluations, program beneficiaries receive a request annually from our office seeking information such as where they are with their projects, how many employees are hired or retained, and how the program has impacted their project. Information that
we gather is aggregated and presented for each incentive program. I want to make clear, we do not report and we represent to program recipients that we will not report on specific financial or employment data of individual projects on a project by project basis. As we go
through the incentives, we can certainly stop um after each section to take any questions you may have before moving on to the next. Um we'll start by turning to Lerta on page 11 and I'll have Alex review the section uh with you.
Thank you, Sean. So, as you all are aware, um, Pennsylvania passed LERA in 1977, and the city of Bethlehem has implemented numerous iterations of the Lerta in different areas of the city for uh, more than three decades.
As you know, the program incentivized developers to transform much of the former Bethlehem steel land into productive, job creating, and importantly, taxable area that it is today. Uh so we include in the LERA section of the report the two current active LERA zones.
So Betham's current LERA ordinances reflect the more specific goals articulated when the city created them. Uh council revised article 342 in 2021 to create the Southside affordable housing lerta effective through the end of 2026 and then Southside LERA 2 went
into effect 2023 and expires at the end of 2027. Uh on page 12 in section two, you'll see uh the effective cost uh that the city paid or relinquished in real estate taxes last year came in at around $1.3
million. Um the figures around both the reassessments and also the taxes relinquished remain obviously changed but remarkably similar to last year's values due to the nature of the abatements. Um, as a refresher, both Florida zones offer graduated abatements
based on building reassessments after improvements over a period of 10 years. After reassessment, building values used to calculate assessible taxes begin at 10% of their total value, then increase by 10% per year until the abatement expires.
In the first year after reassessment, one would add the full land assessment to 10% of the new building assessment. And in the next year, the building proportion jumps to 20% and so on. In the affordable housing learn district, uh projects with 10 or more
residential units must either uh reserve at least 10% of the units in the new building uh for affordable housing or make a payment in lie of 25,000 uh per unit that they do not reserve.
Southside Lerta 2 also has the payment in L structure with a per unit cost of $52,320. The affordable housing fund um has collected since its creation in 2021
approximately $750,000 in revenue uh due to inloo payments from four projects in these zones. And as you know, uh there are additional abatements for lead certified buildings
uh within the lured zones. These apply to city and county taxes, but the school district did not approve uh these increased abatements. Just to speak briefly about the available open parcels in the two active
lured districts. Uh these are largely vacant spaces, many of which are parking lots uh in and around the former TIFF geography. um and they represent more of the challenging infill and commercial and industrial development areas uh that remain on the south side.
I believe that we can open it up to questions about LERA. Thank you very much. So I will um ask comm committee members first if they have questions. Yeah. Y I do.
Thank you. Um I have questions on page 13. Um, under section 4C, it says about evaluate the program, revisit during the next opportunity to renew. And when when will
the next opportunity to renew be? So for the two zones that are currently active, one expires at the end of 2026, the other at the end of 2027. So that will when that will be when it can be looked at to renew it then at that time
is that we can evaluate the effectiveness of the zones as they stand um and whether removing parcels um the amount of land in these zones that is undeveloped or has not taken advantage of the incentives and and go from there.
Yes. Okay. Are we looking to um to do the renewal then? Do you have any idea yet or is it too premature? I think it's it's I wouldn't say it's premature, but I think a consideration is also thinking about uh you know the LERA program
respective of of really what LERA was intended for originally and that is in many ways targeted toward as we know we've had a lot of for-profit you know um commercial or marketer developers that have utilized LERA and I think you
know especially when LERA was initially proposed and enacted um we were at a time when Bethlehem um really relied on that that LERA. So I think you know especially as we approach renewal or as we as council considers you know additional tools including LERA
really what is applicable for the area in the city in which we want to deploy those tools. Um I can speak to my experience when I worked for the city of East which is you know each man municip municipality in some form or fashion kind of takes different approaches uh in Easton it's not a kind of larger alert
alerted district they um originally did that and then they shifted to projects project based lura so every time a lura would be passed or would be requested by developer the community and economic development department would have to really go to the taxing bodies to kind of essentially carry the water and and
and advocate for these projects and something that we learned through that is is really you know not speaking for the other taxing bodies um you know there is an acknowledgement that um especially for these kind of for-profit you know really larger developments east
Bethlehem the Lehigh Valley alleys at a point where you know maybe we want to rethink how those luras are enacted and and implemented um so I would say you know it's not certainly not premature but also just examining you know where in the um and and how it can best be utilized
alongside all the other incentives and other programs we have going on at the time. And just to just to add u roughly 40% of Southside to 2 has either received abatement or will receive abatement. Um it's only the case that
about 5% of the acreage in the affordable housing la has received abatement or will will receive abatement. So um in our whole department approach to thinking about the types of development we want and also where that
is likely to occur um I think a re-evaluation of of the zones uh for renewal or not um will revolve around you know looking at those numbers of used acres. Okay. Thank you. And then the other thing I just want to clarify
under um section 4 again is D and I just was confused because it said the southside two and then it said the fee in L of 52,000 and then the affordable housing it says the fee in L of 25,000. Now I know the one was 25 and then it was amended to
52. So, is this is that affordable housing that 25,000 perf affordable unit? Is that the ones that were grandfathered in before the 52 came about? I'm just confused by that. These are two separate alerted zones. Um, and the way that they
were passed were under separate ordinances. So, it's the case actually that there's some parcels that are their neighboring parcels fall under a different ordinance and so would require a different inlue fee. Uh, so these are not there was there was no
grandfathering in the way that the legisl legislation is structured. Okay. So I get Yeah. Can you explain? I'm confused. You see what I'm amended the affordable housing l I'm sorry. You never amended the affordable housing. So there was one affordable housing lura that was created for a particular set of
parcels and then there was a southside lord of two completely different set of parcels and that was the point at which there was a a different payment. Okay. Two lures in existence and they have different payments. All right.
Because my understanding is I when we did the amendment I thought it was for Lerta totally the whole program the Lerta program it was for it was just for the Southside Lerta when where do we have the affordable
housing lura then is that throughout the whole city the south and north and certain part shows or they're both project based I'm sorry go ahead I'm sorry no no they're both on the south side it just it's there's a distinction so affordable housing L mostly covers
parking lots uh vacant spaces that we're looking at um backfill you know so and whereas Southside Lerta 2 is in its name sort of suggests but it's more of a continuation of previously lertified parcels for lack of a better
term largely in the industrial park the southside. Okay. Yes. Right. Um, and then for the affordable housing, so for the affordable housing money that we get from the litter for the fee and loo, just so I'm clear, we're getting the fee
in L for both the affordable housing lur and the southside la. Correct. Okay. And um how do we have how do we determine what we're g how we're going to spend that money from the affordable housing fee in L is it just in-house within the department of community economic development or is
there a committee or so we've talked about a couple of times do you want to go just in case for the for the record thanks I I think we've mentioned here a couple of times now that we have proposed earmarking that money for the gateway on fourth affordable housing project. Yeah,
I'm aware of that. I'm just wondering how um because I know some municipalities like they'll have some kind of, you know, a committee or they have a housing uh from doing programs like this. They'll have the trust fund and then they'll have either, you know, the task force or in-house or whatever. So, I'm just wondering how it's
designated as far as you're marking the money. Um we're working on that internally within the Department of Community and Economic Development. Okay. Thanks. And then the only other question, I know this has been brought up multiple times, but I'll bring it up again. um for the Lerta and I know with
Morton Tower we've talked numerous times about what's happening on the residential end of that and um I guess I'm just wondering and I'll bring it up again. I know that when the developer was initially doing the plans and they redid the plans, um the administration
asked them to meet with us individually and they did with every council member individually and at that point they um in in indicated that they really would like to do the LER and give up the quiz from that partial of land. Um and if they did so, we would be able to get a
substantial amount of money for the affordable housing. Is there is that something that's still on the table? And if not, is there a reason why that cannot be pursued? I I don't know that that would be more for you, Lauren. Sure. I'm happy to take that one. And you're you're right. I mean, I think we've talked about this before, and I
don't have a significantly different answer than I've communicated previously. Um, obviously, the entire Martin Tower site has received a lot of public support over the years. We just had the $9 million RCAP come back to um,
city council. Now that that you know that is being um expended on the uh medical office buildings um it also has as you noted CRIS on the entire um 53 acres and and CRIS will also be part of
the medical office buildings project. Um the zoning has been amended numerous times. So a lot of public support has gone into that project. Um you are correct and we've talked about before the developers have come back asking for additional public incentives. um asking
for the lerta, also asking for a zoning amendment to allow for significantly more than the 1,085 units that are already allowed on the site. Um and I think we've talked about like the combined plan as proposed isn't one that
um you know as as last discussed that we were you know particularly um interested in you know supporting as presented at that time. that doesn't prevent city council from proposing something if that's you know if you feel differently.
Um but there hasn't been significant change on that portion of the project at this point. We are continuing to work with one of the developers um in particular on the medical office buildings. We have regular communications. Sean's working um with them on on their ARCAP and has regular
meetings. We will be working with them on their financing agreement for the CRI debt. um that that also is um you know being backed by public tax dollars um to pay down their debt, you know. So all of that conversation is ongoing. It's not that we're not working with the developer um but just you know with
respect to the residential piece, we haven't seen any new proposal since since we previously talked to them about it. Okay. Thank you. Again, I I probably would be the first one to say I I would not be in favor of giving developers multiple ongoing um you know, breaks.
Let's put it that way. But incentives for affordable housing, I know we've talked about that for you know, a number of years now. And I'm just thinking that if there's a way that um they can get the LERA and we could get multi-million dollars to do, you know, toward affordable housing, that would just be
great for the city. So, I just have to put that that out there. Okay. Thank you, Miss Wilhelm. Yeah, you actually may have answered my question already, but uh just in think so thinking broadly, this is my fourth fair hearing and and
final one and had me thinking just about the LERA journey over the last four years and uh I was wondering um similarly similarly to Miss Crampy Smith's inquiry about sort of evaluation
just are there um things that we have learned about the way that Lerta and function more effectively in Bethlehem. And um not just in terms of the the things you've already mentioned, but even in terms of um schedule, structure,
processes internally. Just curious about what we've learned and um maybe have already applied even internally and what we might envision um you know, applying moving forward based on what we have learned these last few years. Sure. Sure. I mean, you kind of beat me to I think what my final question on this
section or my final comment on the section was going to be, which was especially with bringing Alex on board and his background. You know, I think we've really taken some time to look at each of our incentives and particularly LERA and the processes that we had in place that have worked for us, but
especially as some of these uh LERA zones, you know, start to as we saw the north side alive expired and we have, you know, one in 26 and 27. Um really tightening our relationship before we offer any proposals or or come to you
with any new ideas. really tightening up the processes we have in place with the school district and with the county because for us it's really you know versus in Easton um because Alerta a pro a property's already lertified I'll use Alex's word um you know they submit a
one-page application and then it goes to the county and then that process really starts to to go and I think Alex and I recognized that there was opportunity to strengthen our relationships with our partners at the county at the school district um really kind While we had
hard copy documents and it was necessary to have those to move them forward really, you know, um streamline our database and how how we were tracking these LERAS, especially when we know that, you know, especially when a project is is coming on is is interested
in LERA. Um you know, sometimes they may say, "Oh, yep. Our project will be ready for a CO certificate of occupancy in a year." And sometimes that goes out for longer. Um, so making sure that the county's aware that, you know, this is a Lord of property, you have to come back to do a reassessment which triggers that
exemption schedule. Um so I think we've done a you know a really great job Alex has done a really great job at just um ensuring that our processes we have in place for our existing LERAS and LERAS in for example North Side Alive which has expired but there's properties there
that have taken advantage um are already designated as LERA maybe already in the abatement schedule and so we're not forgetting about North Side Alive or North Side Lerta but we're just keeping cognizant of those properties. So I would say internally we've certainly tried to certainly tried to batten down
the hatches so to speak. I don't know if Alex you want to com. Yeah I think we're just having had the chance to for the first time sort of run some data analysis on our projects understand that what we saw when these luras were passed
and and what we're seeing now in terms of the tax revenue relinquished is it's just a very different climate now. And you know, with so much successful development, we're now seeing our sort of um effectively payments towards
rejuvenating the southside fall pretty dramatically. And and so we're also seeing a lot more return for, you know, a lower cost to the taxing bodies for the largely residential projects that have have come in of late. I appreciate
I appreciate that. I mean we can there's a lot we can see those of us you know from these seats and in the public at large but just um knowing a little bit about well just knowing that you are taking the time because you have the the bandwidth perhaps or um human resources
to do so to sort of look internally and see how things can work better. There's a lot more than than most of us can see. Um, so I appreciate that and I I think you can probably stamp that question at the end of every section of this presentation and and
maybe maybe the answer will be nope. It's actually exactly as it should be and working just fine. I I'm interested to know um you know at every level. So thank you. Thank you for that. And I'll just add too I think also with AL benefit of having Alex um you know a lot
of the things we're looking to do now are really to lessen the administrative burden. these programs are are important, but lessening the administrative burden on our bureau and on our department, which frees us up to explore, you know, new incentives certainly from the statewide level that
are coming down. Um, it just gives us room to explore new things in, as Alex said, a new climate. Absolutely. I think pro processes um, you know, and really evaluating them can do exactly what you said and have a great impact on other work. It's just when you're doing the
work, it's hard very hard to take the time to evaluate those things. They just end up in many cases just running the same way because they're running. Um so so great that you've had the opportunity to to do that. Thank you. Miss Leon, did you have any questions? Um I just had
one quick question. Um Mr. Miller, you mentioned $750,000 collected in um payment in lie of um was that I thought I heard you say that it was only on the affordable housing lura or was that the combined?
That's the combined. I apologize. No, that's okay. It's difficult with the ordinance being called affordable housing. No, it's across both um or both of the zones created by both ordinances. Okay, great. Um that was all I had. I think in the interest of time um we can
move on to the next section. Um so as you'll see the evaluation report for the city revitalization improvement zone or CRIS is on pages 15 to 17. Uh the CRIS was authorized for Bethlehem by the Commonwealth in 2013.
It's a program managed locally by the Bethlehem Revitalization Improvement Zone Authority or Bria. The authority has its own members appointed by the mayor and DCD and city administration play a role in managing the program. The focus of the program is to provide
opportunities to spur new growth helping to revive downtowns and create jobs for the residents in the region. vacant, desolate, underutilized or abandoned spaces will be developed, thereby creating jobs, increasing personal incomes, growing state and local tax
revenues, reviving local economies, and improving the lives of Bethlehem City residents and visitors. As a reminder, the CRI valuation report actually covers the taxes paid to the city and Commonwealth in 2023, which are then returned to the authority as increment
in 2024. So taxes generated in 2023 are reflected in the evaluation meaning it actually lags a year behind the rest of the report in that respect. So in 2023 we have five uh projects in the quiz um as designated by the Commonwealth wind
uh which are listed there Wind Creek Wilbur Social Still Beth Works 5106 and Flats in Greenway Third and New. The total dollar value of tax incentive received by beneficiaries in 2023 was a little over 1.5 million. So that nearly
2 million reflects the eligible state and local taxes generated that have come back to the authority to distribute to property owners to pay down debt and for a smaller portion to go to the administration of the authority as well as public projects associated with the the CRIS. The private investment in
these projects supported a total of 37.6 million in CRIS debt. Turning the page, you'll also note that property tax assessments prior to CRIS were about 1.63 63 million and we are now at a nearly 28.9 million. No pro property taxes are abated or lost through this
program. So the additional delta uh go straight to essentially the city. Um finally you'll also note that there are 500 and through these projects there are 567 employees in the Chris zone 4 of 888 of whom are full-time. Um and these
figures do not include the construction jobs associated with these projects. many of these projects can last um you know a good amount of time. Um so before we turn to the non- tax incentive programs I'll leave it open to any questions around uh Chris
zone. Miss Grahamy Smith, do you have any questions? No. Same same question. Any anything we see here that we want to improve upon? Sure. Yeah. And I'll I'll leave it open to to my colleagues. I think again it was a
benefit of of um my coming on board and um you know Miss Carner's departure um who who really was in the weeds in in terms of what Chris can do what it is doing and and uh Miss Collins has really done a great job at at taking that picking up that mantel and as we have
new projects that have come to us for Cris um really walking them through that process because it is such a stringent process through the Commonwealth um and so I think you know really It's it's been an opportunity for all of us in the bureau in the department and in the
bureau in particular to really sit down and look at CRI legislation. It's a great tool. Um I would say in many ways the Commonwealth sees as they do with several other things here in Bethlehem with our incentives see in Bethlehem as as the model. Um, as you may be aware,
additional quiz quizzes were designated. Um, I believe one in Reading for for instance. And so, you know, we've gotten inquiries from those folks to understand how we operate our quiz, which has given us an opportunity um to really dig down deep on our processes. So, you know, before we make any broadstroke changes
to CRIS, I think it's our internal processes really getting a hold of those um and making sure, you know, it's it's a good relationship we have with the Commonwealth and it needs to be with this program. Um and so just you know continuing to advance that. Do I understand correctly that that there is
a bill in the in PA Senate right now looking to expand Cris. Um is that I I don't know. I was going to ask you about details but I I understand as I understand it the state is looking at sort of expanding and enhancing Cris and
I know using Bethlehem as a uh something to to appropriately brag about. Um, I don't I don't know about Chris specifically. I know that there are some, you know, looking at other tax incentives, you know, at TIFF, which we formerly had in the city. There's
legislation in the pipeline, um, to add kind of affordable housing components to that. So, I think you'll, you know, my personal capacity and personal opinion, I think you're starting to see more of, you know, these are great incentives. They're being utilized in great ways, but how do we, you know, pivot it to,
um, some affordable housing benefits as well and components. Got it. Thank you. Um, and I don't have any further questions on that. So, we'll turn to the enterprise zone. The enterprise zone begins begins on page 18 and goes to 20. This is the
enterprise zone loan loan program. Um, a bit more detail for the enterprise zone. This year with our enterprise zone in the city, we have a, as you may be aware, we have a renewal every 10 years. Um, as you may or may not note, uh, our enterprise zone actually expired on
September 30th of last year of 2024. In ongoing conversations with our contact for this program at the Commonwealth, we've confirmed that should it be our intent to renew the enterprise zone, um, which I think ultimately it is, you know, there's no immediate need to work through a new enterprise zone
application upon exiting, uh, the zone. I actually have a copy of our last renewal in my office. Pretty pretty dense document and requires a lot of um you know data analysis and lift. Um and the only way to obtain another designation is to apply with a new
application which would involve um a significant ramp up. Um this would include the creation of a new 5-year strategy and business plan and for us to demonstrate a renewed need. as my had conversations with the Commonwealth that was the focal point which is if you're going to renew uh is it the same zone
and you have to demonstrate that the enterprise zone has worked for you and also that however you designate the enterprise zone uh moving forward it it is a a need b in based in the community in the interimm while we pursue renewal uh many of the benefits still apply for
another two years uh beyond the 9 uh 930 2024 exit date including the opportunity for businesses to apply for enterprise zone tax credits, tax credits which have been particularly um utilized uh here throughout our time with the enterprise
zone. While the zone is deemed inactive, the boundaries are still intact should the city wish to access benefits until September 30th of 2026 uh unless a renewal should be approved beforehand. Also, in my conversations with the Commonwealth, beyond the tax uh credit
benefit, there are some other additional benefits to businesses in the enterprise zone. Those last for an additional five years. So that'll actually go out to 2029. So it's just that tax credit component that has a two-year window. Overall, the enterprise zone allows us to tap into
two things. Grants to loan funds and tax credits to the companies. As I stated, the tax credits are applied directly to the Commonwealth. They don't come through the city, so they are not reported as part of fair, but the city acts as support uh to really guide applicants through that application
process. and were inevitably a part of the conversation as they look to um you know look to uh deploy those those tax credits. For the enterprise zone loan program geared toward blight, private companies and nonprofits can make qualified investments to rehabilitate,
expand, and improve buildings or land that promote economic development activities. The loan program consists of legacy dollars that the city received many years ago. Uh we do talk to businesses about partnering on grants to us and loans to them. However, the program uh at this point remains
undersubscribed. Um maybe to kind of head off a question you may have, I think as we examine the zone renewal, we'll also take a careful look at how this loan resource can be best deployed and utilized moving forward. I'll take any questions on enterprise
zone. Y now. Okay. Thanks so much. Um, do you have any idea was it a matter of no one was interested in it as far as this program or is there like or is it something that um there was no applicable or appropriate applicants or
like why is it not being used I guess? Yeah, I think you know not having the the um you know history of because this program goes back quite a ways and understanding of those you know interest or lack thereof um you know I think it may be a kind of combination to some
degree of all of that. I think, you know, something Alex and I have thought about and in conversations with Laura and the department is, you know, um partly I think it's communicating that these great resources exist. You know, especially as I talked about those fiveear benefits um that are just
associated with enterprise zone. We realize that's a lot that's um that would really help businesses in their interaction with the Commonwealth. Um I think also um you know for for companies it can often
be a bit of a um you know a bit of a hurdle um for them to go through the process of applying and that's a commonwealth process application process we can't um you know mitigate or or go around um but I think what we've really
realized is that for for most for most of our economic development incentives you know we can do a better job and continue to improve on how we guide them through that process um you know and not just facilitating calls with our commonwealth compact uh contact our
regional director um but also you know working through the different steps often I had an application for an enterprise zone last year and they would reach out to me just to bounce ideas as they work through the application so I think it's just our willingness to not only promote these programs um but also
recognize that there's going to be a bit more I won't say handholding but a bit more assistance that we can with Alex's background we can really uh provide. Do you think um is it is it maybe that it's just not worth all the work perhaps that in in the mindset in some cases
it's a lot of work a lot of bureaucratic kind of Sure. Sure. Yeah. I mean I think it's it's you know it's that that idea of kind of the juice juice worth the squeeze. Um, yeah, you know, but I think what we've recognized is, you know, especially once companies, even if it's smaller projects, go through that
process, they go, "Oh, man. I I'm really glad that I went through this and and and went through the the process of applying for this." Um, and also have come back to us and said like, "I really appreciate that just the city acting as a sounding board as we work through these." So, yes, I can especially with
it being a Commonwealth, they're applying directly to to the Commonwealth for a lot of these things. um separate from the loan program but tax credits for example um I think it's just you know they see us as a resource and we're not deploying those funds directly um for many of our incentives that's the
case but um I think we can really just ask act as a shepherd and a guide and that's that should be the role of an economic de development bureau to to a certain extent okay thank you sure as well um I was curious excuse me so you talked
about tax credits and you talked about the loan program. So, do um do are do we have people who are currently making taking advantage of the tax credit piece of it? Okay. So, the Commonwealth opens up traditionally one round per year.
It's a window in which businesses can apply for those tax credits. Last year, they actually opened up two two windows. Um, and so, you know, I do I actually went through just to double check myself and went through our tech tread applicants and awardees because obviously that's a decision by the
Commonwealth year to year. And I'd say in the past couple years it's kind of lessened. Um, but still great projects, you know, people who have were we've either reached out to and promoted and they've taken advantage of it. And one of one or two applicants that have come to us to say, I know of this program and
I want to take advantage of it. So, yes, it's still utilized. Um and uh you know I think our regional director at DCD2 is very um you know very eager to us for us to apply when opportunities arise on behalf of these companies. And then what
what's the dollar range for the loan program is it is it all is it from like zero to zillion? I don't have that that uh amount at this point. Um and then my my final question is we're more than halfway through this year. Yeah. Is
there anyone in the pipeline for the loan this year? Not that I'm aware. Okay. Not that I'm aware of. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Shall we move on to small business loan fund? Sure. The uh Bethlehem Small Business Loan Fund, BSBLF um/CDBG
loan program is on pages 21 through 24. This incentive is administered by rising tide and small business owners located in the city can access loans for acquisition of property, new construction, expansion and equipment. No new CDBG money entered city CDBG
money entered this loan fund in 2024. The return to the city is through job creation, economic development benefits, and direct dollar investment resulting from the supported projects. In 2024, there was one LLC that received the incentive. Total total dollar value of
the incentive received uh by that taxpayer by taxpayers, excuse me, was estimated at 100,000. Any questions on that piece? Miss Wilham, do you have any questions? You can go first. No, no, not in particular. Just similarly, any um processes
improvements we see coming here? Yeah, I mean uh and I'll let Alex chime in if he has any additional thoughts. I think since this program is administered by Rising Tide, you know, for us it's an opportunity again to strengthen our relationship there. Um I serve on the
Rising Tide board um and and as well as on their their loan u committee um and you know really understanding what is the climate out there now uh and how businesses are interacting with rising tide. you know, what are the headwinds they're facing as they take on these
opportunities uh through uh through Rising Tide. Um and so, you know, I think for for us it's again continuing to push these opportunities. Um but working through Rising Tide to really understand, you know, what what are they experiencing day-to-day because they're
doing this, they're doing the loan administering these loan programs, you know, what's what's the hurt businesses are feeling? What's the struggle in these loans being given out and then repaid? um and just how do we you know what would be a focus of this fund uh moving forward? Um so you know really
having just ongoing conversations there so that you don't have to say the same thing again uh this evening. It sounds like in general you really are taking the time to evaluate um processes, partnerships, communication, promotion sort of at all levels. We Yeah, we have
to. I mean, I think I I don't think I would not be comfortable coming to this council to to propose anything new until we really had a sense of what um you know, what incentives, what programs have worked effectively, what haven't, and how could we adjust uh moving
forward. Um, and uh, you know, I think with Alex and just our ability to sit down, clear the board of kind of, you know, day-to-day tasks and sit down really strategize and think long term about the bureau and these tools um, is is really a focus of us uh, in the last
couple months. And I think I think just moving forward. That's great. I'm I'm glad for you, for your partners, and for the folks who can benefit from these programs. Thank you. And uh so there was just the one for
$100,000 last year. Yes. Um and and so now you're on the board there at Rising Tide. I mean, do you can you um can you share what some of the challenges are for people who are applying for the loans in terms of um meeting, you know,
a particular standard? Um because this this one, you know, they do kind of focus on sort of low to moderate income business people who are sort of wanting to maybe grow something they've already grown. Um, but is it is it hard for
those folks to meet some kind of a level of qualification or you know I think it's really um I can speak broadly not maybe Bethlehem specific or spec specific in any way you know I think it's what we've seen which is um things
are getting harder for businesses and these are loans to restaurants and and different um uh you know retail and and other commercial I I think it's really just the headwinds in the climate that we're experiencing. Uh Rising Tide does a great job with, you
know, if you're struggling to make a payment on your loan or really just struggling generally, they're willing to to work with you, which is where that community rising tide community loan fund, that community piece really comes into play. Um, and so, you know, I think it's just with getting that financing, a
lot of these own business owners, property owners are also going after other financing and just keeping all of the the kind of balls in the air, so to speak. Um, and you know, it's folks who also run the the spectrum of, you know, really knowledgeable business owners and
folks who have done this and and have just come to rising tide for a benefit and those who are just entering, you know, want to start a new business for the first time. Um, and so for me that's been good because that's been a big focus of mine, which is, you know, I say all the time, we don't have a pot of funds we can give to businesses that are
struggling, but understanding, you know, are they struggling with marketing? Are they struggling with accounting for their finances? And who are the partners and resources we can connect them to? Um, are they operating in the right location in the right area of the city or would they find success elsewhere? Um it's a very high level answer to your
question but kind of that's my you know that's my thought process there on why they're struggling. That's helpful. Thank you. Okay, moving on. So uh the business in infrastructure development or bid uh details regarding
the bid program are on pages 25 through 27. The goal of the bid program is to provide loans to private companies or developers for the construction I think we've heard it before tonight uh construction rehabilitation or repair of infrastructure improvements on privatelyowned property which
improvements are necessary to complement industrial investment by private companies uh and increases PA's share of domestic and international commerce and obviously creates net jobs. The bid revolving loan fund is funded by grants to loans from the Commonwealth. The city loans out this money and the loan
repayment goes back into the fund. The recycled loan funds are then made available to eligible applicants. As we noted previously and and I believe last year as well, the dollars in question are legacy dollars that go back to the late 1990s and no loans were approved in
uh 2024. Any questions from my fellow committee members on this? Um, no. I mean, I guess I'll just say I know I think I 100% agree with um the times, you know, in our country and all
everybody is a lot more um concerned and cautious, but I'm wondering um with these loan funds, I mean, is there a way do you think that if there was better um marketing regarding them that that would even help or not as far, you know, putting it out there somehow that they're available?
I just thinking of all the ones that we already had spoken about. Yeah, I just briefly so the last three programs, some of these are sort of legacy dollars and technically available but functionally not particularly active just by nature
of the the outreach and okay the limited bandwidth we have on sort of marketing the programs we have to offer. But I think they certainly inform the ways in which we want to limit administrative hurdles as you mentioned with is it worth it for a small business to go
through X Y and Z for for example an enterprise zone tax credit and we're seeing businesses have to be in a very narrow sliver of being ready for growth, having the resources to navigate bureaucracy, but also not so big that it doesn't make
a splash to their bottom line. So, I think it's there's a very narrow tailoring to some of these things that we want to address with other sort of small grants we go after or other types of financing we we can provide. That makes sense. And and sometimes it's all about timing, too. Like maybe in the
future be if things improve and there's not as much red tape with it or there's more funds available than thinking about more of a PR, especially using the people that have used it and have been successful that you know, little snippets from them. So, and I and I think too you're seeing a lot of, you
know, relative to these last few programs we've talked about. I think it also depends on, you know, the dollars we can access through the Commonwealth, especially in these particular areas. You know, the uh Shapiro administration is very heavy on tech, entrepreneur,
entrepreneurialship, manufacturing, and a lot of that applies to, for example, Southside, our Keystone Innovation Zone, which exists down there. Um so also like you know moving forward is there an opportunity to kind of replenish some of these um some of these funds given that
we're in a time where an administration is open to um those types of funding resources and the small and midsize businesses that are coming to us don't look like they did when a lot of this was enacted in the early 2000s and late 90s. So it's also just a different difference in how they grow their
workforces or not what type of product or service they're in. And so adapting to that is critical as well. Thank you. Sense Wilhelm. Um Mr. Miller, can you just expand on that a little bit? Did you mean that um
so they're they're not adding personnel so they wouldn't qualify for something or they're in a particular industry that has not been sort of like included in these in the past? Well, so for example, not part of our report tonight, but Kis um is the
innovation zone for targeted industry sectors and enterprise zone has undergone revisions as well under the Shapiro administration. And so Kis a lot of focus on tech where you have a startup that can be sustained by one or two people for a number of years whereas
you know a company that's producing in-house would be hiring. Um it's just a changing nature of innovation um in 2025 versus 2004 when that legislation was enacted. For enterprise zone though, as as Sean alluded to, it's so critical
that we just be able to create a plan around that because so many other grants like NAP, those sorts of grants are often tied to those zones. And so just having those as a backs stop in the event that it can unlock dollars for something we're not even addressing
here. um maybe in more of the community development realm. Um just having those sort of in the back pocket even if some of the loan products are effectively dormant is still critical sense to me.
Thank you. Uh so uh the project impact statements are on pages 28 and 29. These are kind of as we asked for feedback from beneficiaries project uh specific beneficiaries
um you know again providing us a a lens into how the particular incentive has worked for them or the particular tool. Um there's a few notable callouts uh related to LERA. I just wanted to read one of the one of the pieces of
feedback we received. Uh, quote, "The alerted tax abatement was a powerful incentive for this tenant um to locate their expanded operations. Having a gradual increase in the property taxes helped offset startup costs for the facility. Um, and the tenant moved into
that facility in Q2 of of 2020. In fact, had the building not had the lowered tax incentive, the tenant would have most likely located their operations in New Jersey." And then related to the quiz, um the quiz made the project quote the quiz quiz made the project possible. Uh and
we should see growth in 2025. Uh in a separate applicant or or project said quote the quiz incentive was crucial to attract restaurants, restaurant tenants which make up the entirety of the retail portion of the building. So really demonstrating that, you know, for the
property owners, for the developer, these are great tools, but even the business owners are seeing the the benefit and value to and it's what they're utilizing to attract uh certain restaurants or retail developers. Um and then lastly of note, the tax expenditure
spreadsheets uh and reports are on pages 30 and 31. And I won't spend time here tonight going through those. Um, but that gives a full kind of I think 10-year uh evaluation of uh Lerta and Kris in particular. Uh with that, we kindly submit this year's fair report
and then we're happy to take any additional questions the committee or members of council may may have related to fair. Thank you. Does anybody have any closing questions? Any last questions they want to ask? I just want to say thank you and welcome um Alec. Alex, thanks. Same,
thank you for the presentation. We appreciate it. Thank you. And that makes three. Thank you very much for your work on this. Um, it's great to have you on board, Mr. Miller. And, uh, thank you again, Mr. Ziller, for all your work. This meeting is adjourned.
Good job. Thank you. Part: 2
are the foundation of our entire political economy, not just our governing structure. I've stated many meetings the imperial boomerang theory. Again, I will reiterate the repressive techniques our country developed to control colonial territories will eventually be deployed domestically
against our own citizens. ICE is said boomerang. Their violent and illegal treatment is nearly identical to the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza, where the IF abducts people and holds them without due process for prolonged periods, often years without formal charges or trial of
a crime, let alone conviction of a crime. They are often also subject to torture. This that is exactly what happened to our own community members. It is still unknown where these people have been taken to, but what is known is these people have families. They have committed no crime. They unequivocally
need to be freed. I must be clear, violence is not just action, but inaction. Inaction of those with power is historically the most damning of all. Complicity is violence. Silence is violence. So now, Bethlehem City Council, Mayor Reynolds, Bethlehem PD, I
ask, who are your loyalties to? What are you going to do to bring these people home? Shame. Thank you in favor. Next speaker signed up this evening is Joel Atkinson. Good evening, council members. My name
is Joel Atinson and I'm a member of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America. I'm here today because I'm outraged that the federal government has violated and invaded our community. What happened last week was not
immigration enforcement. It was a raid. It was an act of political theater and terror meant to terrorize, frighten, and destabilize workingclass immigrant communities. Families are now living in fear. Children are afraid to go to school.
Workers are afraid to go to work. That fear is the intended result. and it is our moral, political, and class responsibility to stand against it. Community members have already made clear their stance on Thursday, marching
down the road of New Street Bridge, outside of this building, and voicing their anger. Let's be clear, ICE is here to discipline immigrant labor. Decreasing the security of a segment of workers
decreases the security of all workers. ICE raids Bethlehem to tell us that no matter how hard immigrants work, no matter how long they live here or how much they contribute, that they will never be seen as equals in the eyes of
this federal government. Bethlem is a city built by immigrants, steel workers, laborers, and craftsmen came here from across the globe. And yet today, those same uh workingclass values are being betrayed. The federal government has
sent militarized agents to drag brown and black workers out of our city and cause it enforcement. But again, it's really just violence. We must respond and not with half measures. We need real safety. That means condemning this raid,
legally enshrining non-ooperation policies, supporting affected workers legally and otherwise, and also building the capacity to resist and disrupt ICE. Community is not just a
word. It is a practice. It is how we prove that Bethlehem will not be a city that collaborates with bigotry and anti-people policies. Because make no mistake, these raids are not just about immigration. They are part of a broader war on the poor. ICE goes after
undocumented workers today. And tomorrow, who knows what the feds will crack down on. protesters, uh, tenants speaking up against greedy landlords, workers trying to organize their workplace. These ICE raids are about testing the limits of federal
power and seeing if local communities have the strength to resist. Right now, we're failing. Do those who say these federal laws um legally compel us to act in certain ways? I ask you, what law permits ripping families apart? What law justifies the denial of humanity? Laws
can always be used to excuse barbarity or excuse an action. Justice, however, is not what the law demands. It is what we demand here in this room. And today, we demand justice for immigrant neighbors. In the face of Barbara's federal laws, I would urge you
to get creative with local laws. Our enemies have certainly gotten creative uh with the law, bypassing the legislature and ignoring the courts. Why can't we? But the creativity of the people is greater than the creativity of those in
Washington. We will not let Bethleam become a city of disappearances. We will not let people be hunted by federal thugs on our streets. And if city council won't fight, then we will fight the court. We will fight in the courts, the streets, the workplaces, wherever
these raids may happen. We're not waiting to vote in November or waiting for you to act. We're organizing now. and we will do our best to defend Bethlehem ourselves with or without you. And we'll give a minute of silence.
Solidarity with the immigrants. Our next speaker this evening, Jack Schuber. I may read Schuber again. I apologize if I'm misreading it. Hi, I'm Jack. This is my first time
attending a uh city council meeting. I came to speak about the ICE raids at 510 Flats and to hear what all of you had to say about the matter. It is
abhorrent what happened in our city to hear all of you offer nothing but empty promises. to offer nothing but I don't knows offer nothing but
fake promises of of trust that we can have in you. Um I I think it's disgusting for you to move public comment to the end of city
council of this meeting. I think it's disgusting for you to make all of these people stay here for your job. It is your job to stay here for as long as it takes. Some of us have jobs, as was mentioned.
I don't care if you have to stay until 1 in the morning. By pushing this off until the end of the meeting, you were attempting to silence the residents of this city, to push them out, to make them not stay, to give their comments.
I don't want to hear you call the president a bully. He is a fascist. I want to hear what you are going to do to protect the residents of this city. I'd like to use a minute of my time uh in honor of the 17 who were kidnapped. I
wanted to dedicate it to any certain member of that group, but seeing as the administration could not so much as care to even get their names, it will be in dedication of all 17 of them. I think you're all disgusting.
[Applause] Before I call the next speaker up, I I do just want to say while I understand people's emotions and obviously given everyone the ability to use their time as they want to, as does your right, I I
do just want to reference our council rules that ask anyone to res refrain from personal attacks and insults as we talk about and again I'm here to give everyone the opportunity to speak who had signed up. You use your time how you wish to. I respect everybody's right to
be here speak. I haven't interrupted anybody tonight, but as we try to have dialogue in this comment and us receive it, I do ask everyone to be, you know, mindful of what the spirit of public comment is, which explicitly outlines
trying to uh avoid inflammatory language, personal attacks, and insults for the good of the conversation in the room. So, I do want to I'll continue to moderate the meeting as I've been, but I also just think that bears mentioning, too. Our next speaker who signed up is
Sed Shri. Hi, my name is Sad. Um, I live in the township. Um, I love this city though. My girlfriend lives here. Uh, I was taught driving from Callahan and I I I was with in class with Mr. Evans.
Um, I wanted to give a a pretty specific perspective on the uh on the issue of ICE. Um, as a as a child of immigrants, um, it's been scary. It's been very very scary. I
I I'll tell you a story. The day before the 510 flats incident, um my sister and my family went out for a walk and I had to tell them, "Please be be safe because you literally have no idea what's going on anymore." And my sister laughed. She was like, "What are you talking about?
Like ICE isn't going to come here. You know what the hell happened? Huh? What? What happened? They came. They came. Nothing happened. They They came. They did what they wanted. they left it. It is
abortant. I It is very abhorent. It's It's an awful thing to happen. And to to hear that, you know, like Yeah. Like the just the confusion in this room over this thing when we're all scared. It like we're we should we
we we should be coming here for you guys to like let us know, okay, this is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to do it. You're sitting there and telling us you can't do anything. What are the other mayors doing? Glendale just got rid of their contract with ICE or whatever. Is there nothing we can do?
I Is there literally nothing? I I I I just don't believe that, you know? I I really do think that like there must be something. I'm sorry. We can't do it. You guys are the people that can. There's no one else. I don't know who
else to go to right now, you know? Like, who else am I supposed to go to? [Music] Another thing I wanted to mention, Mr. Callahan, you you talked about how immigrants have come through Ellis Island throughout the years. What you didn't mention is how they've been hated
the entire time. The Irish have been hated. The Italians have been hated until they were considered white. You know, the brown people that are coming, yeah, they're going to be hated even more because their skin color is different. It's it it is insane, you know. And and
the thing is is that Yeah. Like there are there are people out there that are that are getting swept up in the propaganda, you know. There are people out there that are um that the the there is a a as Mayor Reynolds put like a a little bit not of a majority but a
plurality of people who like believe that this is right. It is your job to showcase that this is not right. It is not it is not on like yes they should understand but like there is something to do with ignorance that like it's really hard to get through. It is on you
guys to be there for them as well. It's it like come on. What are you going to do about this? How are you going to bring them home? I want you to think about that in this minute of silence.
one more thing I wanted to say before wrapping up. Um, it is hard to even speak my own language now. I I do not feel safe speaking udu which is which is my native language in
public. I many years ago I've been told you know speak American or whatever. It feels much much more real now that like someone might do something to me or better yet you know an ICE agent sees me as has been reported and just
take me. You know it's bad. This has been really bad. This is Yeah. fascism. Do better. Thank you. Our next speaker tonight, Maryanne Sturgis.
Good evening. I am the Reverend Maryanne Sturgis, 321 Wandot Street. I am a priest at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in the south side of Bethlehem. I've seen many of you even at our church at different event functions we've had
there. And I am here tonight because like many other people in this room, I am heartbroken because 17 people were snatched less than a mile from where I live and work.
They were taken from their jobs as they were attempting to rebuild my neighborhood that I live in. And the belief that this is the way the world has to be, that there's nothing that we can do
about it, as was said here tonight by the people on the city council, is really tempting to believe. It's tempting to believe that, yeah, there's nothing we can do about it. this is the way the world has to be. But I as a
person of faith believe that there is something we can do about it. And I believe that love for our neighbors, for all people, for those who look like me, for those who don't look like me, for those who speak my
language or don't speak my language is the answer. And so that is why I am here. I pray that all of you will have your hearts broken over what has happened in our city, but that we will not stop at the heartbreak. Instead, we will work
together, the citizens and the elected officials, to make Bethlehem a place that is actually safe for our immigrant brothers and sisters. And so, I pray that we can use our imagination to come up with something that we can do
together. And I pray that the next time that this happens, that there is no next time this happens and that I don't get a phone call that some of my congregants have been taken and kidnapped and I'm
calling to find out where they are. So I ask in we take a moment of silence to come up with our holy imagination for what we can do to make Bethlehem a place that is actually safe and welcoming for
everyone that lives here. Thank you. Next is Gwen Dietrich. Hi, good evening. My name is Gwen Dietrich. Um, I don't actually live in Bethlehem, but I don't think that this is an issue that only applies to Bethlehem residents. So, um, first I'd
like to say it's really ridiculous that the public comment section was pushed to the end of this meeting. You're all paid to be here. If your agenda runs late, that is not our problem. We do not need to sit through two hours of that just to speak our mind. The public comment
section is at the beginning of the meeting for a reason. Anyway, we all know what happened last week. 17 people were kidnapped by ICE. And I'd also like to add a name I haven't heard mentioned, I don't think. Um, Edwin Sanchez. He is a Bethlehem
resident, 23 years old, who at the beginning of June reported for a mandatory monthly ICE check-in in Philadelphia and was detained um, and has been since then. There is a GoFundMe for Edwin um, for his legal fees online if you go to Make the Road
PA and want to donate to him. Um, first I want to say these people have families. We're all talking about like, oh, they were hardworking, whatever. Ultimately, these are humans. These are people. These are our neighbors that were taken. They were disappeared. We, no one knows
where they are. How is it that no officials in this city can even tell us the names of 17 people from your city? What are you doing? Isn't this your job? If you can't figure these things out, who can? And what are you doing? What
are you being paid to do? You can't tell us their names. You don't know where they are. We didn't even get the number from you. You wouldn't even have known. If this was not recorded, I don't even think that you would know it would have happened.
I know that all of this was addressed earlier in the meeting, but I just all I've heard from anyone here is a bunch of platitudes. There is not a single solution that has come up and I've heard a lot over and over again of what can we do you know there's nothing we can do oh this that figure it out that's your job
if you don't see a solution find one or make one you think in the past when horrible things have happened people saw an easy way forward no they figured it out they pushed through they persevered look at all the people here they figured out some we figured out
something to do why can't you. I'd also just like to point out with all this, what can we do? In February, you had a massive opportunity to do something, to pass a welcoming city ordinance to protect people, and you chose not to. And now you're all going
to sit here and say, "We can't do anything." No, you chose you chose not to do anything. you chose to remain inaction inactive and now you're seeing the consequences and you're going to say you can't do anything. I don't believe you. I don't think you want to do anything. I don't think you care.
I'd also like to add when that welcoming city ordinance um was being debated, there was a statement that was released by Mayor Reynolds and the police chief. Um, Mayor Reynolds is quoted as saying, "In this city, we believe in the power of coalition building and creating a safe and vibrant
quality of life for all of our residents. Does being stuffed into an unmarked van count as a vibrant and safe quality of life to you?" It does not to me. In that same statement, Bethlehem Police Chief
Michelle Cot was also quoted as saying, "A welcoming policy was unnecessary because our current policies are so strong in this area." So, how are 18 people gone if the policy is so strong? Seems quite weak to me.
This council chose inaction earlier this year when faced with the possibility that has now very much come true, that your residents would be at risk of being disappeared by ICE. And now they have. That was the wrong choice. But it is
never too late to rejoin humanity. You have the option to make the right choice. Now, I know I'm bringing up all the things that happened in the past, but you have an opportunity here to really dig deep and figure something out.
Take a strong stance and say you won't sit idly by while your residents are taken or at least look for them. Try to find them. So now I'm going to take a moment of silence for a minute so you can really
all think about what you've done. Thank you. Our next speaker is Sharon Finnegan. Hi, Sharon Finnegan. Allentown. Um I was at the Allentown City Council meeting when we were trying to pass the um
sanctuary city ordinance. Um, what we got was the watered down version, the the uh welcoming city. Um, and the fear-mongering that went behind it. It's going to bring the federal
government down. What brought the federal government to this area and would anyway would be the makeup of the city. Anywhere there's immigrants, anywhere there's black and brown. And ultimately, it's going to be just anywhere period. Um, people who look
like me have the luxury of feeling hopeless and just being, oh, throw my hands up and there's nothing we can do. The people who are afraid to speak their language out in the streets, the people who have family members who they worry
about every day with the children are worried about their parents coming home. They don't have that luxury. So, it's do whatever possible. Whatever possible. Again, people said creative, come up with something. Um, the language around
immigration, criminal, felon, illegal, that only belongs to our president. That is not the description of the community. Um, and it's the uh we have to disentangle the legal and the immigration system. It's not a criminal
matter. It's a civil matter. Um, it doesn't deserve or need raids or manhunts. And it creates so much human pain. Destroys basic fairness and human rights and the safety of millions. And it'll be
everyone's safety because it doesn't end here. It's not This is a a Christian white nationalist white supremacist government that we have right now. And it's going to go everywhere. It doesn't end here. It doesn't end in any of the
cities. So, whatever we can do, again, people said, "Get creative. Let's come up with something." Every area in this state, in this country, has to do whatever it takes because there's more danger coming than we can even realize.
And on that, I'm going to take a minute um for the 17 or less. [Music] Thank you. Next on our list is Sarah Leiden. Sarah Leiden here in the restaurant. Oh,
yeah. I'm going to continue on. I'll go back. Next is Valerie. Hi. Yes, Valerie Nin. Um, so first, a little earlier, um, when discussing the rules of council, Mr.
Clone referred to public comment as a dialogue and a conversation. Um, you've explicitly said before that it's not, and we all know the rules of council here. It's not a dialogue or a conversation because we don't go back
and forth. Um, and it's even less of one because you've moved public comment to the end. Um, so I'm not a fan of you having an hourlong discussion about this topic without including the will and the thoughts of the people in your
assessment. Um, and when a large peop group of people show out for counsel, that's exactly when you should be most diligent in taking in their opinions and their questions into account before having your own discussion. And as we know it's
also prohibitive to people who cannot stay late and it may discourage people from returning in the future which is something that you you propose to uh believe that people should feel
comfortable coming and coming back. Um, I do kind of in a in a way I can kind of appreciate the honesty of council here where they're saying they can't do anything.
Um, and that it's not going to be solved here because it's not um, and it's not going to be solved by a couple marches either. Um, you know, I did see a few council members out at the
march. Um, and it was reported in the news as well. I saw a press guy from Lehigh Valley News hopping up and down on rocks and dividers and stuff. Um, didn't see the police hardly at all. Um,
and I'm given to believe that was an intentional choice. Um, and I mean I I prefer not having cops at my protest, so I was fine with that. But, um, uh,
the thing about cops is that they're there to protect the law and not the people. And this is a really explicit case of that. Um, you know, we are kind of hearing that the the police essentially lacked even the knowledge or
the information to respond and that the member of the police previously reported to have been on site was just like an attache to like an ambulance or something. Um, wi which does give a
slightly different picture. But even if the police were there, we all know they wouldn't have done anything. Like they've basically said as much. Um, and that's why I don't really mess with the police. Um,
you know, like we're all familiar with the people who say they were just following orders, but what about people who look the other way? Today a friend of mine made a comment about the advice in a book that has become popular recently called on
tyranny on tyranny. He rewrote the advice do not comply in advance to do not comply. He said it's not enough to just not comply in advance. When a law or order is unjust, it is our duty not to follow it. This is not an easy ask.
These are the hardest decisions of our lives. One of the points the author of on ty on tyranny Timothy Snyder shares over and over is be a patriot. I would offer in its place be a human. This
country will never love you but your neighbors will. So to council and to everyone, what are you going to do to bring these people home? Thanks. Is Sarah back in the room?
Hi, my name is Sarah Leiden. First time being here attending a city council meeting. Um, I live on Church Street, so local. Um, so I just kind of wanted to start with a story that, um, when I was
little, my dad would tell me about how my great-grandmother would make the best luck. If anyone doesn't know what that is, cabbage rolls. Um, yeah, nice. Um, so she would make the best cabbage rolls. And it was because he would say
that because you know she came from Slovakia like she she had this great recipe and so I come from ancestors. Everyone here comes from anc like comes from their ancestors who are all immigrants. Uh unless you're a Native
American but everyone comes from immigrants. So, uh, I also was told that we were, now that I know 2% of one of the 2% of the population who had to not come through Ellis Island, we had to
sneak in through Canada. Uh, I don't get too much more details on that. uh probably best not to, but uh that we had to sneak in through and they found a life here in America and
we grew up and I don't think that anyone here is going to blame them for wanting to live in America. uh what we're doing to our immigrants. Uh why why aren't we exuming all of our
ancestors, digging them up and throwing them into the ocean because they came here illegally? I don't think anyone is actually seriously going to do I hope not. No one's actually going to do that.
Uh, so why are we letting our ancestors stay in the ground, but we're so willing to not treat living human beings with the same dignity that we're allowing them to just get shoved into vans and
how we're just saying we don't know where they are. It seems absurd that we care more about bones in the ground than we do about our own friends and neighbors and family. And from what I've
heard, we don't know where they are. We don't know if they're I hope they're not bones, too. Um I It's absurd. It's absurd that we can't tell where these people are. We don't know when they're coming home. Uh, we don't know anything.
And we also don't know when it's where there's going to be a next ice raid, do we? What's preventing them to from coming in with somebody buying an ice jacket, coming in, taking anybody here? We don't have any protections. Uh, there
was the welcome city organ ordinance that didn't get passed. Uh, I just urge that people here in this room would want to put pen to paper and say, "I want to protect my fellow people who live in
Bethlehem." That you guys can do that for us so we know that we're safe here in what is otherwise a fairly great city. Why Why can't we do that? It's
very upsetting. So, I just kind of want to give another a minute to just have you guys muddle that over all of those questions of what we can do better and what we can do to return these people home. Thank you.
Next is Josie Lopez. Hey. At first, I was upset, but now I really just want to thank you all for moving our public comment to the end and trying to exhaust us. I think that that backfired spectacularly on all of you guys. Um, here we all are because who
protects us? We protect us. It's deeply concerning that these questions that you guys are all saying here tonight were not asked prior to this meeting and prior to our neighbors being kidnapped. As a lot of these questions you had today were things I learned at my first ever meetings about protecting
immigrants. Your ignorance is willful and it is a choice. You are all here admitting to us today that you are not remotely prepared or aware of what to do right now. Look around you council. This room is full of people working on these
very issues in much more tangible ways than you ever will most likely. And I encourage you all now in this room after 1000 p.m. I know it's past my bedtime. Everyone that's left here, look at our leaders in the eye
during this last minute or this next minute as they ignore us. They scan their phones, they eat their chips, and they refuse to meet us in the eye. And occasionally, some of y'all have been rolling your eyes. And I ask you, council members, to sit with these
feelings of discomfort and maybe shame while you look back at us, can you look at your constituents in the eye during this next minute of silence as we ask you, what are you going to do to protect our kidnapped neighbors?
Hear me my friends in this room and council members. The constitution begins with we the people, not them the council. And we the people was not meant to be taken as a metaphor. We the people are quite literally the first line of
defense to our own. We will protect our families, our neighbors, and our futures with or without your permission. But I suppose it would be nice if we could work together. So while you delay, we organize. While
you hesitate, we protect each other. And while you fail to act, we are building something stronger than any position or title you may hold could ever be. because this movement is rooted in solidarity and love for its community
and its people. And in that spirit, I thank you because your failure to lead has honestly inspired some of the greatest movements I have seen in this area and I've lived here my entire 36 years of life.
In every corner of the Lehigh Valley, community members are stepping up. Not waiting, but building. Not begging, but becoming. Because who protects us? And go get that pizza when you're done here today. Because we also feed us,
too. Next speaker is Jess Slappy. Okay. Stefan Rogers. Stefan Rogers here. Does anybody know? Leo Atkinson. Leo Atinson. Um I'm resident of Bethlehem 702 Broadway and I am the
co-chair of Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialist of America. Um first of all I just want to address this stunt of moving the public comment to the end of the meeting and um after this extended grandstanding we all got to watch earlier. I want to say uh it's a shame that this is how we're
conducting public meetings. Um I think you know uh there are plenty of people that you're not going to hear from tonight. We've been hearing them get skipped in the roll call because they could not stay this late and um I don't think uh you know I think people have already commented on this but that was clearly the intended consequence of
moving public comment to the end of this meeting. Um it did give me some time to add some to my statement though so thank you for that. Um, we are all here uh because we want to uh uh because we wanted to uh work with you
uh because we wanted you leaders to lead us in this community and help us keep our friends and neighbors safe. You had every opportunity to talk and have answers before today. You could have been ready for your constituents and you put all these people through that performance before these people. your
constituents took the time out of their evenings wanting to give you public comment and if you're going to move it, we deserve for you to have the answers ready for us. If you want us to treat you and these meetings with respect, as you have said, uh we deserve some
respect in return. So, I do want to address uh the the ICE as well, but I do want to pause for a minute right now and let us reflect on our stolen friends and neighbors um and this poor process that we have experienced tonight.
Thank you. Uh what happened last week is not an incident or an issue as it was previously described. It was an abduction and the beginning of what our federal government promises will be an ongoing act of terror against our community. I want to emphasize that what
is happening are acts of terror. It is not enough to hear our absent mayor at this point um and acting chief pat themselves on the back for what they could have done or not done. It is not enough to discuss how powerful the federal government is and how scary all of this is. We're all feeling it. We're
all scared. That's not why we're here. Unlike what one some of you have said, there is more that can be done and there's more that you can do and that we can do together. The discussion we need uh our leaders to have is what they can do for us, for our community. Uh what
additional services are needed right now? Uh it seems that you are all at a loss for ideas, but I came up with a few sitting here tonight. Are we discussing funding legal aid for people in this community to help protect help them get legal status or to give them aid after
they've been abducted by federal agents? Are you discussing ways to start alerting the community when we get tipped off and aware of ICE presence in Bethlehem? Are you organizing aid for the families and friends of people who may get
kidnapped in the future? Again, I've heard the mayor, the police, and the multitude of solicitors we have here tonight, um, who maybe could help with some of these immigration, uh, uh, legal questions, uh, discuss what happened last week and what strategies are already in use, but not what more we
can do together. We are here tonight because we wanted to work with you and with the city to make our community safe. I sincerely hope this conversation can start today. And I want to invite you if we're not going to be able to keep our community safe in this space to
come to some of our spaces. So I'm going to hand out some flyers. If you want to join us in Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialist of America, we'd love to have you if you want to be part of the the solution to this problem. I am going to move on with our next speaker.
I'll I'll give the gentleman a minute. Hold a few seconds. We're going to move on to the next person, John Irons. My name is John Irons. I live in Bethlehem. I'm also a Lehigh County Commissioner. Um, I want to echo first
both uh things that that Leo and Valerie mentioned about um moving a public comment. I'm a little bit at a loss for how uh what the actual rules of this uh council are with this. Um, I've seen that the the council seems to have an ability to uh produce an emotion produce
a motion out of nowhere uh and change the the structure of the agenda out of nowhere. Uh when they feel it's it's uh in in the council's best interest, but when it's been directly requested and organized by uh community members, it was somehow impossible and doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Um
when you put out the agenda, stay to the agenda. Do not modify the agenda. Uh it's just it's not just it's not respectful to people who are showing up uh people both who are organized to show up to a meeting like this and people who are not organized who are who are showing up just to talk on on other
issues. Um it just I I really don't get it and all it does is just betray trust and and erode uh uh relationships with with organizers in the community. On that note, um I think the conversation that we heard around ICE uh and the relationship to the city of Bethlehem,
these are the same conversations that we're having in Lehigh County. Um and one thing that's really clear to me is that because of the inability to do anything, right? That there's nothing we can pass. There's nothing that we can do. There's nothing that the police can do. There's no no way to expect this information. Maybe maybe someone has a
number that we can call. Um maybe not. But we're definitely not going to share that number with anyone who actually is, you know, here in the room. Um it's really showing that there's a huge power vacuum that's opened up in this country and that's not unique to Bethlehem. Um but I am acutely aware of it and that
power vacuum uh thankfully for community members who are being taken and kidnapped from from work sites uh for doing their job and rebuilding our community. Thankfully that power vacuum is being filled by organizers and activists right now. And you're also seeing those same organizers and activists being uh targeted by riot
police, by national guards, and by active duty marines in the streets. We need your help. Um I think there's this idea that it's somehow hard or difficult or when you get elected you can't be an activist or that it's hard to be an activist and elected at the
same time. It is it's not difficult. Um you need uh a couple of things. You need to be able to listen and trust activists and organizers. build those relationships, that's on you. Uh you need to uh be prepared for what it's going to take to to put your body and
use your credibility and use your position on the line. Um and there are ways that you can prepare for that. And the last thing you need to do is have courage uh and and creativity to come out of a moment of uh things that have been done, precedented times, uh uh you
know, motions and rules and and even laws and understand that we are operating uh with actors that are not acting within the law. [Music] So, a couple other things you can do. Uh, and this is something I I would uh two things I'm going to invite you to do
directly. One is that um some of us have been organizing a a rapid response network. Uh and you know, uh Mr. Cologne, you asked, you know, is there a number we can call? Who can we call? Is there someone who we can call to sort of deal with this? Um we're trying to to build that and it's taking
a lot of time but uh it's it's it's in process and you can be a part of that. Um uh at the at the action that happened on Thursday many some of you were there. Uh there is an opportunity for you to sign up to become part of that network and be prepared to be act as a volunteer. Uh use whatever skills and
position you have to bring to that moment. Um, and so I'm going to ask you to to if you have not already signed up to sign up and if you need information, you can come and and talk to me or reach out to me and and we'll get you connected. The other thing that you're probably going to need to do, and we can see this because we see mayors and
senators and everyone being arrested, is get trained in what non-violent direct action actually looks like. So, one of you on this board, one of you on this council, I think, should organize a direct action, non-violent direct action training for elected officials in the Lehigh Valley. I will come to that. I will attend that. I've been trained in
nonviolent direct action, but I will come and support and be there. Um, I'm not going to do that because I'm already busy trying to organize the number that you all are looking for. Um, and the last thing I'm going to say is that uh it's, you know, I'm I'm an immigrant. I was not born in this country. Um, and so
I know that they are going to come for me. And I'm going to ask you all to take this time, this last uh 20 seconds to uh think about what it is that you're going to do when they come for me and they take me away from my job site. Thank you, Mr. Arts. Our next speaker is Alex Nap.
[Applause] Hello, Alex Knap. Uh, this is my first time speaking here at Bethlehem City Council. Uh, I just want to reiterate everything that has just been spoken about by the organizers and activists
here. uh not only about the ICE raids but the political theater uh that occurred this evening. Uh I am also coming here as an educator uh of students. I am deeply concerned not only and a student of history of course too
and deeply concerned about the obvious and apparent uh rise in fascism in this country through this administration from the local uh to the federal level. And as I do with my students,
I like to do close readings, right? So, I brought some art and his uh historical analysis to you all tonight rather than the uh excellent speeches that you've heard of political analysis. I think we can go a little more into other ways of
thinking. Obviously, we're looking for solutions here, too. Uh so, if you would listen along with me, I think that would be really uh meaningful. And uh then at the end we will have yet another moment of silence for you to reflect on the words I am about to speak today. So uh I
wouldn't be a good teacher if I didn't give you a little historical analysis and uh context. This is a poem an excerpt from a poem called those born later by the exiled playwright poet and performance theorist Bertil Breck who
fled uh Nazi Germany. Truly I live in dark times. The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs has simply not yet
had the terrible news. What kind of times are they when a talk about trees is almost a crime because it implies silence about so many horrors?
That man there calmly crossing the street is already perhaps beyond the reach of his friends who are in need. It is true I still earn my keep. But believe me, that is only an accident.
Nothing I do gives me the right to eat my fill. By chance, I've been spared. If my luck breaks, I am lost. They say to me, "Eat and drink. Be glad
you have it." But how can I eat and drink if I snatch what I eat from the starving? And my glass of water belongs to one dying of thirst and yet I eat and drink.
I would also like to be wise. In the old books, it says what wisdom is to shun the strife of the world and to live out your brief time without fear. Also to get along without violence.
To return good for evil. Not to fulfill your desires, but to forget them. That is accounted wise. All this I cannot do. Truly I live in dark times.
Moment of silence for those 17 taken. Starting now. [Applause] Next, Steven Meek. Uh, hello. My name is Steven Meech. I am
actually resident of Allentown, but I consider Bethleam my second home. um 12 score and nine years ago our country was founded as a response to a lack of representation from a tyrannical desperate. Our country was founded on an
ideal and although that reality has made as such that we have not achieved that ideal. We have slowly chipped away towards that ideal. The ideal that all people are created equal and that we all are allowed to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our history is a
history of waves. With each wave, we have a large part of a population fighting against this wave with all of our might, often with people from the previous waves part of participating in this discrimination. Today, we are at a crossroads, a Rubicon at which the
crossing of Shell changed the course of this country forever. Last Wednesday, ICE agents abducted 17 immigrants without warning. These immigrants, people trying to pursue the American dream of a better life, not just for themselves, but for their friends and
families and everyone they care about. These people were taken without warning, without due process, and placed without warning into into a detention center with abhorent conditions, often with a lack of basic necessities such as food and water.
Due process is a basic right of our country is a foundational right to everyone in our country regardless of legal, financial, social, religious, racial or political status. To put it in perspective, literal Nazis were given due process during the Nur Nuremberg
trials. to nothing to do nothing about this to let ice take away these people often to places unknown is to say that these people people often just trying to find a better life are lesser than people who knowingly actively proudly committed genocide.
It is our duty to do something to bring these people back and to prevent more kidnap kidnappings indefinitely. I will now leave a minute of silence for the 17 I've taken. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Farah Farbod
and previous speaker. I apologize for mispronouncing your last name. I'm going to be stepping out for a moment. Uh, Council Vice President Rachel Lead will continue going through the list and opening up to the room. I'll be back in a couple minutes. Actually, my full name is Farboot, but
Farah does it. I've Americanized it for um people who have known me here for the past 40ome years. I'm a naturalized immigrant, so I know the pain of being a bational and having the grief of having
two homes and never being in the same place and feel holistic. Um, but I wasn't going to come here um because I was tired. I had not eaten since last night. I didn't sleep much. The reason
was because I was paying attention in detail um to the bombs that are dropping in the country and the city of my birth toran. Um and this is being done by um complicity of a rogue state called
the United States. I'm sorry to say so because this is my second home of my choice. Um and also by another state that's committing genocide uh in Palestine. bombing people in Yemen,
heroic people of Yemen. We're actually doing something about stopping a genocide when the international community and the United States doesn't do it. And also an expansionist state that has gone and bombed Syria,
taken more territory of it, and it's going to stay that way and occupy it. and it's now bombing Iran, an ancient civilization whose country's age is far far greater than the country that's bombing it. Like
the country that's bombing it, its age is less than some of the people here. So I'm very angry and of course I'm here also because this country is devouring itself and it's not a surprise to me because
when you colonize people when you're an imperialist country when you don't confront those truths about your own past when you're not an immigrant nation even Though we say we are
because we stole people from another country, another continent, Africa, brought them here. They're not immigrants. They were forced, enslaved, enslaved, died on the passage.
Then we killed the natives and exterminationist policy. That's not an immigrant nation. And if it is to some extent, okay, so there's a partial story about immigrant nation, but that's a feel-good story.
But even there, it's stunning that as an immigrant nation, I mean, claim that's what we are with all the um things that I just said that we don't really know or think about or confront. It's stunning that we don't understand the experience
of immigrant people, particularly the ones that come from the global south like myself because these are the people who often times have chosen this place as their home, but at the same time are torn
apart not just by physically, geographically being torn from their homes sometimes and often times especially because they're from global south, not because they chose to leave in their comfort of their being. But they left it because US policies and
Anglo-Uropean policies made those countries and their people in it desperate. So they came here because of that. And while they're here, this country bombs their homes.
So how often do we even discuss that experience? of immigrants that are not from European countries, separated from their homes and family, come to a strange land
because they have to and also see this country bomb their own. Now what I would like to say in the remaining few seconds is if we don't confront this past of extermination of the
natives, past of enslaving people, stealing them from another continent and then the massive atrocities committed by this country over the decades and decades of its imperialist policies with
academic studies showing that at least 20 million people have died as a result of US policies and continue to this day. If we don't confront that, there's never going to be a possibility of resolving the issue of
this immigration policy that we just seen. Act locally, but think globally. Thank you, sir. [Applause] So that that exhausts our list. So I will go around the room as this custom for any
day and waiting to speak. It's her first time at this council and she wrote I I'm gonna So I'm going to finish what I was saying that exhaust the list as is custom. I will go around the room to anyone who hasn't had a chance to speak yet. You'll be given the same five
minutes everybody else was given. So, I typically go left to right around the room and I'll continue to do the same. So, I'll start to the left. Yes. Let's hope I don't stutter today. Um, hi, my name is Regina Padilla,
Allentown resident, born and raised Bethlehem. Um, I just want to say that pushing back the public comment was incredibly inappropriate. Um, I had to find time in an increasingly busy schedule to come here today. Uh, y'all's $7,100
salary surely cannot be worth upsetting this many people. And perhaps the salary increase that you voted for will remind you that you work for us and you will act accordingly in the future. That that's for one. Um, I am fortunate that my mother was born in Puerto Rico and my father's family has been in Bethlehem
from Mexico since 1916. Uh, but this is still incredibly important to address. I grew up on East Third Street just down the road from the fire that took place um on May 2nd at the 510 flats displacing 135 tenants. Um, we're now
faced with a staggering reality. 17 of our immigrant community members were kidnapped by ICE while they were actively working to repair what had been shattered. Um here's just another reminder that being undocumented is not a crime. It's a civil matter no worse than jaywalking. Um these men were not
criminals and they were not agitators. They were hardworking family men who did not deserve to be taken from their families. They deserved uh commendation not capture. I understand that the chief had been apprehensive about a welcoming city ordinance for fear of retaliation from
ICE, but ICE is already here. They came anyway and without any opposition. I feel that this is a direct consequence of the city's unwillingness to take a stronger stand for its immigrant residents. And I wonder how many more members of the community will be made to suffer this fate before braver action is
taken in their defense. How can we consider ourselves a city based on compassion and unity when we allow people to be imprisoned for no other reason than immigration status? If we truly believed in the ideals that we claim to stand for, we cannot turn our backs on them now. Um, we must ask
ourselves, if we do not stand for what is just, then who will? If you allow uh fear of federal backlash to muzzle your commitment to justice, then you have failed the very people that you claim to serve. The moment for action is now, not tomorrow, not next week, but today. The
moment is now to demonstrate that our city stands on the side of compassion, dignity, and justice. I am asking you to stand with the 17 members of our community who are in detention, stand with their families, and stand with the values that define us as a city. We need our stolen neighbors back. Thank you.
I'm going to go home now. Barely. Is there anyone else to the left who wants to make comment? sir in the front. Hi. Uh, my name is Brett Schaefer. Uh, I don't really want to be here. Um, my alarm goes off at 3:45.
Uh, I usually snooze it a couple times though, so I'll be all right. Uh, I don't really know what to say. I thought the mayor would still be here. So, I'll Did I miss the part? He's not coming back. I don't I won't speak for
He might come back. I'll take my minute now in case he is coming back. Moment of silence. We'll use it now in case we get lucky and he shows back up. [Music] And sorry if I didn't clarify. That
minute was supposed to be used to think about the 17 people that you know that you didn't seem to care too much about before. Uh, I thought I'd get to potentially speak earlier in the night and if I did, I
don't know what I would have said. But, uh, when you pushed it off, I got on my phone a little bit. I was bored and, uh, some news today that I guess a mayor and may candidate in New York City today got
arrested or grabbed or kidnapped, right, for trying to stop another kidnapping in a federal building. I didn't get all the details. It was today. Uh that was about all I heard about it till I got here and then you pushed off the boat or the
speaking part. So I was playing on my phone and I just wanted to let everyone know that he was released. The charges were dismissed because he didn't do anything wrong. All he wanted to do was, you know, see warrants and badges and find out what
exactly is going on and not just let it happen. You know, the mayor was telling us how it is going down in the country. Like this is what this is how it is everywhere. Well, it doesn't have to be that way.
And you know, we could write our own story here in Bethlehem. People might talk about it. Is there anyone else left who wants to make comment? I'm sorry. Um, hi, my name is Allison Mikl. I live
at 1204 West Market Street. Um, I am concerned that the press is here and there's a few points of fact that I think need to be corrected. Um, one was what Valerie already said that um, uh, Mr. Cologne, you said that this is a time of dialogue and conversation. Um,
but there's been a number of periods where people have used their time of silence to ask you a question and you haven't responded, which I think demonstrates that this is in fact not a time of dialogue and conversation as we've been reminded many times. Um,
another point of fact is that uh you haven't interrupt us interrupted us. But in fact, um, when Harry used the sword, he was very quickly and sharply rebuked, which was the quickest and sharpest and most emotive rebuke that I've seen tonight about anything. Um, so I'm using
my comment today to ask you to care as deeply about the 17 people plus Edwin who were taken as you do about the sword in public comment. Um, another point of fact is that the last time it was proposed to move public comments to the end of the meeting by a city council
member, that city council member ran for election for another office very shortly after and lost. It is a losing proposition to be this dramatically anti-democratic. Um, you've asked a number of times, what can we do? Um a number of of proposals
have been brought here to not only tonight but well before. Um one is the welcoming city ordinance which um some folks showed some interest in but quickly said that that would lead to consequences and backlash but as a number of people have pointed out. Another point of fact is that we have
now had ICE raids in our community. And in fact, to my knowledge, we have had more people taken from the city of Bethlehem, which is profoundly and visibly not a welcoming city, compared to Allentown, which is um another thing that you can do is to participate in our rapid response
training and network, uh which we are trying to do to create a system for uh notifying people where ICE is there and to create witnesses as well as to train people in legal documentation and observation which can be used after the fact in their legal to aid in their legal defense and help
them after the fact. We're also trying to organize mutual aid and fundraising to support their legal defenses and um feeding their families and the loss of wages from them being taken as many people have pointed out from their workplaces. Um another thing that you can do as a number of people have
pointed out is to use your visibility to uh show up um and to yes potentially get arrested. I fully understand a fear of consequences, but most of us are um invisible. Uh you are much much more visible. Your name and the word council
member before your name carries a lot of weight that I would love to see more of you use. You also clearly receive courtesy notices at least sometimes from these federal agencies with whether or not you choose to share those publicly. We've been debating privately how to publicize when ICE is in our
neighborhood and how to show up for uh for them. and we we're working overtime to get there as quickly as possible. And it actually is kind of sickening to me that some of the members of council who are standing in front of me um are part of those group chats uh that are going on about how we can respond as quickly
as possible. And you so clearly knew hours before we did that this was going to be happening. And we were left scrambling and trying to show up for people. And that is like so stomach turning I can't even I cannot even put words to it. Um, another point of fact that I want to correct is that the the
mayor said that at the protests we we did our best to stay respectful and stay on the streets. That is not true. Uh, there was no interest in being respectful. We purposely did not work with the police. And in fact, uh, for the first time in, to my knowledge, uh,
Lehigh Valley history, Josie, 36 years, we took over the entire FA Bridge, marching from one location to another, which was the outcome of two separate groups simultaneously organizing responses within 24 hours to the kidnapping of our neighbors.
We weren't concerned with staying respectful. We weren't concerned with consequences. We put our bodies on the line. We organized medics. We organized marshals. We organized almost an entire parallel city for those two hours because this one is so ineffectual. And
so we are asking you to take some action and to get just a little bit matter, get a little bit braver and stop being so worried about what has already happened. People have organized uh 17 speakers to give 17 minutes of silence for you to think about what you might do. Uh those 17 people have been gone for much much
longer for 17 minutes. And so the time is urgent. it is now for you to think and act actually on what you're going to do to bring our kidnapped neighbors home. Thanks so much. Anyone else left? Good evening, council members. Uh, seed
Jack. I live on 315 RA Street and as a brown Caribbean immigrant married to a lovely Cuban woman with a teacher in this community. I have to be honest that I'm scared to
live here. I'm scared to live in this country because as you can hear every accent. I'm scared to talk. Fortunately, I don't have to go out a lot. that help a little, but I would like to take the time and I know
that this event with the eyes red was important, but I think that you should see that as a signal for you guys, signal that you have to take care of the community because I would like to take this opportunity and you already received
many remarks regarding this ice rate, but I would like to give you that remind you that in the recent years developers have flooded into these communities building dense expensive housing on
every patch of land they can find. I will not give you example. You know a big one on the west side. They target our neighborhoods home to workingclass families, people of colors and longtime residents while they themselves live in greater
quieter wealthier areas where parks space and peace are protected. They talk about housing crisis to justify these buildings. But what they build isn't affordable.
And like Mrs. Smith said, the cost of living is crazy in this town. How many people in this neighborhood can afford a 2,000 rent? Let me know. That's why we see many people from New York to Jersey coming here and local
people living. They don't have choice. The rent are skyh high. The character of our neighborhood is erased. And the gap between the privilege and everyone else keeps growing. If housing is a human right, we must ask
for whom are we building and at what cost? Why do working-class diverse communities carry the weight of overdevelopment while wealthier areas are predated by zoning and privilege? We all thought this is progress but the basic services in our neighborhood are
failing. So please, the Le Valley already has some of the worst air quality in the country. Yet we keep paying over I'm sorry, we keep paving over every
bit of green spaces. Treating major trees as if they were disposable, turning high densities communities into pressure cookers where people suffer from overheating, pollution, asthma and other health risk. Our street are buried in concrete and
trash. You can drive around, you will see. Except that you will not see it in some neighborhood. Example in the north side overflowing bins, illegal dumping, mis pickup and flooding of basement and straight from the storm.
We now face due to climate change. The city's basic water management regulation have not been updated to meet this new reality. This is daily life for many of us. So I'm asking you now even if I am glad to see that you take in consideration
the climate action plan in all your planning what are you going to do to help the community to live in their house to live a decent life have the way to afford housing.
What are your plan on that? That's what I would like to know me. So this ice rate was terrible but I think this is like the signal for you to take care of the community and as others I will leave the rest of
my time for the 17 but not only for the 17 or the one in Bethlehem they took never talk about all the people who cross the border that they took away all the people of this country they took away but also for the people the missing person that you can see on pictures in
Mexico. Heat. Hey, thank you. Hi, my name is Kelsey Morrison. I live in Fountain Hill. Um, I wasn't planning on speaking today. I didn't actually even know if I'd be able to make it to the meeting at all. So, thank you to everyone who spoke before me to be able
to give me some time to speak. Um, I'm an educator. I serve my community. I love the students that I work with. And I am a helper. It's who I am as a person. I look out for my neighbor. I
make sure the people around me are safe. Um, as I said, I'm an educator. I am also a medic by choice. I'm an activist by choice. I want to help others. You are in a position of public service.
Your job is also to help others. Your job is to look out for those who can't look out for themselves. Your job is to make sure you stand up for your neighbors, for the people who are around you. I know some of you up there on council personally. I've known you for
years. I know that you are very proud of your heritage. I know that you're proud of the countries you came from. You're lucky because of the color of your skin or you're lucky that the country you came from is not the one
that's currently being targeted. That doesn't mean that's not going to change. If you don't act out of your job to look out for those around you, act for self-preservation
cuz it won't be long before the target changes. That's all I have to say. Is there anyone else to left who wanted to make comment who hasn't had a chance to yet? I turn to the center and I go from left to
right. Yeah, in the middle row. Just one second. My phone died. I understand. Good evening, council. I'd like to thank you for hosting this public comment section, delayed as it may be. My name is Zach and I just come to you as a
concerned resident of the Lehigh Valley. I've lived here my entire life alongside immigrants. I went to public schools with immigrants. My girlfriend is a child of immigrants. So, it deeply concerns and disturbs me
to see ICE rounding up and rounding people up and acting with impunity in this city, even without effectively letting our local police departments know what they're doing. Across the city, we've seen ICE agents impersonating local law enforcement,
refusing to identify themselves, and acting unconstitutionally without judicial warrants. I'm not going to make a moral argument here tonight or throw around accusations or do any of that stuff because I think we've all heard enough of that. I think
I think I'm I'm going to say what I think should be done and I'm going to hope that you listen to me and that when this is all over you discuss it among yourselves and take a stance. Firstly, I believe we should adopt this welcoming city legislation, which it
sounds like the council already supports even if it was shot down before because I mean the mayor who's not here right now talked about how this is an inclusive city and I don't think we consider ourselves such without such legislation. putting this on the books
would make it clear to undocumented residents or legal immigrants scared of ICE that they can trust the Bethlehem police that that I think this type of ordinance will go a long way in building the trust with local law enforcement and and the hope that when they if they
respond to calls about ICE raids that they will respond on the side of the people not the side of the federal government. Secondly, I would like to speak to you directly and I want because I want Bethlehem police to take a more aggressive stance in ensuring that ICE
operations, if they must be done here at all, are done entirely by the books and legally. I would also ask the local police to arrest people who may very well be pretending to be ICE agents like we saw in Philly a week ago where
someone impersonated an ICE agent ICE agent tied someone up and stole a grand from them. And I hope you're all aware that enshrined in Pennsylvania law, immigrants, undocumented or not, have the right to any public service that is
necessary to protect life and safety. ICE has proven themselves to be a danger to public safety both directly and indirectly because of what they have shown that they can do and how they've shown they can act with impunity. ICE agents routinely go unidentified and act
recklessly without informing local government of their actions or a few minutes before they are pulling up to go arrest 17 people like what happened here. So what stop people from pretending to be an ICE agent if we allow such irresponsible use of power?
And I've mentioned how it's already happening. And I'm asking the city of Bethlehem to do whatever they have to to do whatever they can to put an end to this in our locality to adopt ordinances to force ISIS to show their faces, give
their names, serial numbers, and sign judicial warrants to all people who ask. Otherwise, they should be arrested for impersonating local law enforcement. Bethlin PD should be present at every ICE operation or responding to reports of ICE operations with the highest
priority because we don't know whether they're ICE or not when they don't identify themselves. We need to make sure that the fourth, fifth, sixth, and 14th amendments are be are being respected that the rights of our people are not being diminished because the
federal government is out of control. I would also ask the council to request state representatives to inspect nearby ICE facilities or immigration facilities as they have the authority to do to find our people, our neighbors. What we need
is effective leadership and a powerful stance against federal aggression and overreach. Not thoughts and prayers or hope for change without actionable steps, which is what I hope I'm able to to get you guys thinking about. We've
seen what happens when ICE is allowed to do whatever they want. And I don't want that here. And I don't think any of you want that here. I really don't because I mean I'm I think you guys want to do the jobs you were elected to do. I hope you want to do the jobs you were elected to do and that means protecting your
people. Even if it's from the federal government, even if you're scared, just God, I know I'm scared cuz I'm shaking right now. It's not enough to shake our fist in the air out of reaction. We must be proactive. Thank you, Mr. Antalics.
Stephen Antalics, Senator Southern Ridge. I have this prepared speech here which I'm not going to read simply because well and it's intended to ex to
display ineptness and lack of leadership of council from a historical point of view but I've just witnessed that by the speakers
on the current event, the kidnapping of the workers. Clearly, clearly the speakers are spoke from someone who orchestrated it.
Brilliant move. Brilliant move. Clearly orchestrated. And with the intent of doing the same thing I was intending to do and he did it
or she did it. But how? All the speakers had one common denominator. The person's abducted and in a formal properly form formally
run meeting it require only one moment of silence. Repeat in a properly run meeting it will require only one moment of
silence from a person who could be speaker for the group because they were here for a common cause. Clearly they had communication because it was orchestrated. So what did that do? It exposed the ineptness and lack of
leadership because the continued moments of silence should have been overridden because you only need one. When a person dies, everyone doesn't get up and have a moment of silence.
Come on. So, whoever did it, you should run for city council because you'd be a hell of a president. Alex, continue on. Okay. Constantencio
esencia. Bethlehem. Foreign No. C. C. Lesbons. for nose. Correct. Sequestencia.
The ineptitude A group of activist Or is there anyone else in the wide center who wanted to make comment? I'll start with the person right behind the lectern. Sorry, I couldn't see you where I was at. Thank you. And then the person who started coming around, you'll be
next. Hi. After you. Hello, my name is Paul Christian. Like many in this room, I was disgusted to hear about Wednesday's ICE raids. Who were these men who were ambushed and carted away? What were they doing that necessitated
this treatment? Were they, as our government's propaganda informs us, rampaging through our streets with guns, slaughtering innocent white citizens? No. These men are workers. They have committed no crime. In fact, they were
complying with the demands this country puts on all immigrants to work. The same people who rail against welfare and handouts demand deportation for these men, for the crime of working a job, for putting groceries on the table and money
in the landlord's pocket, for doing what nearly everyone in this room does every day. Because of this, we have more in common with these kidnapped workers than with the pandering politicians who demand their abduction or with the cowardly
bullies who carry out those orders with or without a warrant. ICE says these kidnappings are for our safety and well-being. But the sight of workers and students dragged into vans and disappeared to god knows where does not
and should not make us feel safe. The victims of these kidnappings never did anything to hurt me, nor did the many immigrants I've worked with in the warehouses and restaurants of the Lehigh Valley. I do not know their legal status, and I don't care. It's not my
business. What I do know is that my life would not be better if a single one of them disappeared. On a personal note, my partner teaches ESL in Allentown, and one of the one of
their students, despite following to the letter each legal requirement to preserve his visa, has been forced to self-deport. His choice was simple. He could walk away from his job, friends, and loved ones on his own two feet or be dragged
away by ICE thugs. he would have graduated this Thursday. I will now ask you the same question that has been asked you many times tonight. What are you going to do to return our stolen neighbors? Thank you.
[Applause] Hello, I'm Evelyn and I just wanted to start off with the fact that some of you just look so disinterested right now that you are seem to be more you seem to
care more about being here until 11 p.m. than you do about 17 of our neighbors being abducted and taken who knows where and who knows if they're still alive or not. It disgusts me. Um, and I would
also, you know, like to say that like I you like for as welcoming as this city claims to be without any sort of legislation,
I am scared as a trans woman in America. Now, if you aren't willing to step up for anyone else, who are you willing to step up for? Will it be me? Will they come for me? And
will you be here to protect us as is your job as counselors and 17 people? You might look at the city of Bethlehem, all 80s something thousand of it, but I feel like
17 people, you know, that's a lot of people. That is all of the council, the three first responders here, our absent mayor, and you and the three suits who are here, that I feel like that 17 people would go noticed if they got
dragged off. So I think it's sort of a disrespect to the equality of people that the answer so far that we have had is outside of U
counselor Leon finding the names of four of the people have been largely we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. And I would like to uh finish off with uh a quote from uh Mr. Rogers that uh in
times of disaster you look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping and I find a lot of helpers in this audience today but not many behind desks. Thank you.
Was there anyone else in the wide center who wanted to make comment? Turn to the right. Anyone to the right? Yes, in the very front. Hello. Um, my name is Rya Abdal. I'm sure you're all excited to see me again.
I was here multiple times last year uh where we were told that um anything outside of our city should not be brought here because it uh was not any of your business essentially. Um and now we have brought forth something that is
your business and it got shut down. So um as many people said in this room, I feel like you are not doing your jobs. Um, I'm not going to repeat everything that everyone has said because we've heard it tonight, but I will tell you what the expectation is moving forward.
And the expectation is that every single one of you show up to the protest. Show up to our rapid response meetings. Give us a heads up when we're about to have people get abducted in our city. That's the least you can do at this point.
That is your responsibility. You were elected by the people, by the people who are also 50% Latino in this city. And those are the demographics that are being targeted right now. I would like to spend one minute in
silence for the 17 folks that were kidnapped and that did not to get did not get to go home to their families and are still missing. and before I get out, speaking to your constituents should never be an inconvenience. Just saying.
Thank you. Was there anyone else to the right who wants to make comment who's not had a chance? Did I miss anyone? [Music] There were so many good things said tonight. These are young people that are speaking
and I think you I really really hope you all take to heart a lot that was said this evening. As you can see what I I'm wearing at Kafia. I don't presect Oh, what do I want to say? I want to say every I ever since October 2023,
I've been participating in a ceasefire vigil on the corners of Wandot. Every day I leave, my husband says, "Be careful out there. Make sure you get home safely." So I'm I'm acutely aware of some of the
things people have said this evening about about first they came for you know uh these people then they might come for me. So I think that we really need to take to heart what is happening here in our community and take care of our
neighbors. I go out there each week for the people that can't. That's all I wanted to say. Was there anyone else in the room who has not had a chance to speak who wanted to
make comment this evening? That concludes tonight's meeting. Get home safely, everybody. [Music]