At the Bethlehem City Council meeting yesterday, the public continued to urge the council to pass a “welcoming city” ordinance similar to one recently passed in Allentown.
This followed an official statement released by the City of Bethlehem on Monday, which denied the calls to enact a welcoming city ordinance. The statement, signed by Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds and Janine Carambot Santoro, Bethlehem’s director of equity and inclusion, said the city already has practices and protocols in place that foster a welcoming community.
These existing protocols include working with community-based organizations that support immigrant communities and requiring Bethlehem police officers to pledge to protect all citizens, regardless of race or immigration status.
Throughout two and a half hours of public comment at the meeting, several Bethlehem residents expressed a desire to pass an official “welcoming city” ordinance that pledges to forgo collaborations with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Regina Pediez, a descendant of an immigrant with deep roots in Bethlehem, was one of these residents.
Her grandfather, Pedro Gonzales, a Mexican immigrant, worked at Bethlehem steel for over 40 years. She emphasized that the growth and cultural richness in Bethlehem is due to immigrant contributions.
“Pedro was not just a hard worker,” Pediez said. “He was a community builder.”
Gonzalez was once sent to Texas and Mexico to recruit workers for Bethlehem Steel, and Pediez said he brought in 1,500 new workers and 80 new families to Bethlehem. She said he also organized the opening of the Mexican American Azteca Club and helped create the Puerto Rican Society.
The welcoming city ordinance, Pediez said, will send a clear message that Bethlehem welcomes all individuals, regardless of their backgrounds.
Harry Faber, a student at Moravian University, said the council must not normalize violence committed against marginalized communities.
He said ICE is a system built on oppression, which subjects people to inhumane conditions. He also compared the actions of ICE to those of the Nazis in Nazi Germany.
“Just as the Nazis rounded up Jewish families and put them in concentration camps, ICE is rounding up immigrants and placing them into cages,” Faber said.
He called upon the council to stand up against abuse and normalization of violence as a local governing body.
Ciaran Buitrago, ‘25, said the United States was created by immigrants. He reflected on history in his comment, specifically that of the Wampanoag People and their contributions to the Pilgrims when they first settled.
Buitrago said labels such as “documented” or “undocumented” are tactics used to divide people and further dehumanize immigrants.
Out of 23 public comments, Mary Jo McCool, a Bethlehem resident, was the only person to speak against the act to protect immigrants. She said she’s concerned about crime and believes some criminals have never been tried because of liberal policies.
“Let me state for the record, my vote goes to those who support my values and my pocketbook,” she said.
Councilwoman Hillary Kwiatek later addressed the public’s concern on the matter.
She agreed with the consensus that false stereotyping of immigrants must be rejected, but she said she had some differing views than some of the commenters.
“I may have a different opinion about how we can best protect our residents of every immigrant status, but certainly my views on what’s happening right now in our country do not differ,” she said.
Police and administrative policies
At the meeting, Councilwoman Colleen Laird said she had concerns regarding new police and administration policies in response to stopping or questioning any person. She asked for clarification on how policies and procedures would be updated, as well as what the consequences would be for not following them.
Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said there are directives that can be found online. In the policies and directives section of the Police department’s website, these policies can be found under Section 1.1.4, “Prohibition Against Biased-Based Policing.”
Kott said a request to change a policing policy would start at the officer level. The request would then be brought to administration, but most of the direction would be from comments from the community and experts in the field.
She said there are also standards that must be met in policies and directives, and the accreditation body reviews these policies on a yearly basis.
Kott said consequences for not following official policies include a department losing accreditation or an individual officer being disciplined dependent on the infraction.
Another concern discussed was the policy of data storage and if the department had access to specific records regarding immigration.
Kott said information about immigration status is only accessible in a police report if the information was relevant to the case.
Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith asked Kott if she was aware of any ICE raids in Bethlehem since the new administration was implemented.
“I am not, and, like I explained to some folks beforehand, I am not always notified,” Kott responded.
Kott said the detaining of immigrants is typically handled by the Northampton County Prison and the Lehigh County Prison.
ICE has 48 hours to detain people held at Northampton and Lehigh County prisons, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Kott said the Bethlehem police do not typically hold people for more than six to eight hours without a federal warrant or court order.
Kott also said things are constantly changing and evolving in Washington D.C. and beyond, but the Bethlehem police are doing their best to stay on top of it.
“We are going to continue to work with our community members to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure that everyone here in the city of Bethlehem feels safe,” Kott said.
Petition To Rezone 11, 15 W Garrison Street
A discussion to rezone 11 and 15 W Garrison St., a current building on the North Side, was also a topic on the agenda. Many public commenters expressed concerns on the outcomes of the zoning.
The map zoning amendment had been previously recommended by the Bethlehem Planning Commision with a 5-0 vote.
Bethlehem Property Group, represented by Gabe Moyer, presented the request for a zoning map change.
The group’s plan for these requests is to build a mixed-use building that consists of 70 units. Moyer said the benefits of commercial business zoning include additional parking spaces, lower building heights and more retail space.
During public comment on this issue, Bethlehem resident Bill Shire argued against the rezoning due to potential illegal spot zoning.
Spot zoning is when a small parcel of land is given different zoning classifications than the surrounding land.
Shire said there have been past mistakes involving the rezoning of residential areas to a commercial business district. He questioned the need for more apartment buildings and the feasibility of the project.
Moyer reiterated the proposal was a zoning map change as opposed to a spot zoning change.
When the issue was opened up to the public, multiple residents raised concerns on the narrowness of Garrison Street, the lack of parking and the safety of the building due to a previous sinkhole.
The next city council meeting will take place on March 4 at 7 p.m. The agenda has not yet been finalized but will be posted on the city council website the Friday prior to the meeting.
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