Stroll around the neighborhood: Staying connected in the community

The Brown and White took a stroll around the neighborhood and spoke to community members about living and working on the South Side. 

Hector and Maria Rodriguez (Alexandra Bauman/B&W Staff)

Hector and Maria Rodriguez

The Rodriguezes are Bethlehem residents and regularly visit the South Side.

Q: What have you found enjoyable about spending time on the South Side? 

Hector Rodriguez: Bethlehem, it’s a growing city. Back (when I was younger), all you had was Bethlehem Steel. There wasn’t much. But now, since it’s growing, there’s more things to do. You have the casino, you have the ice skating rink.  

Q: Do you have family activities you enjoy doing on the South Side? 

Maria Rodriguez: We come to the church. We participate a lot in Holy Infancy. SteelStacks does a lot of Spanish festivals with food. There’s really good food.  

HR: SteelStacks, every year, every summer, they have different types of music. You have your Spanish, you have your rock, you have your country, and they bring all that, and it’s free.  

Q: What do you think makes this area different from other areas?  

HR: You always have your crimes everywhere, obviously. But major crimes, like your homicides and your big crimes, you do have them here, but it’s rare.  

MR: One of the biggest qualities of Bethlehem and (the) South Side is that they’re known as the Christmas City. It’s amazing, just walking the streets with the decorations, the old places. There’s so many things here.  

Q: What do you like about the South Side? 

HR: I went into the military. I never thought I would get home sick from here, and I did. I was like, “I can’t be here.” I went through the whole thing, but I needed to be here. I love it. Loved it since I was 2 years old. 

Paeve Pailbrack (Alexandra Bauman/B&W Staff)

Paeve Pailbrack

Pailbrack is an employee at The Flying V.

Q: How long have you worked on the South Side? 

Paeve Pailbrack: Just a couple months. I’m horrible with remembering, but I think I started in August last year.  

Q: What do you enjoy about working at The Flying V? 

PP: I loved the food before I even started working here. I was always the one in the household who was like, “How about Flying V for dinner?” Other than that, all my coworkers are really nice. The customers are generally good as well. You don’t get a lot of rude customers, shockingly enough.  

Q: What brought you to the area? 

PP: I lived here initially. I moved to Chicago for college and then dropped out and came back here. I was a comedy major. It was a great place to be a comedy major too.  

Q: What improvements would you like to see on the South Side?  

PP: There are a lot of events, but I think spaces don’t necessarily have to have an event for you to want to hang out there. Places that are walkable — museums, libraries, that kind of thing — more spaces like that would be cool. 

Wes Smith (Alexandra Bauman/B&W Staff)

Wes Smith

Smith is a Bethlehem resident and an employee at Starbucks.

Q: What are your favorite parts of living around the South Side? 

WS: The artwork, just, like, lying around in the different buildings. If you turn a corner, you’ll see amazing artwork. 

Q: What has it been like to work on the South Side? 

WS: Overall, it’s amazing. I’ve been working here since high school, and I’m now in college, so I stuck around for a couple of years now. I don’t know where I’m going next after this. I’m in college right now. I’m studying political science, so I think my next plan is to go into my career. 

Q: Have you had good experiences with the people here? 

WS: It’s good vibes overall. I haven’t had no weirdo come in or anything, so that’s good.  

Eva and Daniel Veloz (Alexandra Bauman/B&W Staff)

Eva Veloz

Veloz lives and works on the South Side.

Q: What brings you to the South Bethlehem Greenway? 

EV: We walk the dog every day around here. 

Q: How do you enjoy spending time on the South Side? 

EV: Going to eat and having food. We love that (the) South Side has a lot of places that offer different kinds of food. 

Q: Do you feel connected to the community here? 

EV: I do, because I work here. So, I feel like I know a lot of people that live around the area, because we have regular customers. But, I will say, only at work and the restaurants that we visit, because we are regulars at the restaurants that we visit. 

Q: When you envision the future of the South Side, what do you hope it looks like? 

EV: I would like even more green areas, like parks, and I would love to see that there’s still the college area but also people that have always lived here to still be around.