Residents voice frustrations about City Council’s lack of response to public comments

Tensions between local residents and the Bethlehem City Council arose during Tuesday night’s meeting, as multiple people addressed the council to say its members are ignoring community concerns and failing to address issues ranging from local services to broader human rights. 

Residents voiced frustrations over the council’s lack of response to public comments and expressed concerns about surveillance spending and deportations. The council also moved forward with budget votes and project approvals. 

Stephen Antelics, a Bethlehem resident, said there’s a “subtle animosity” growing between the council and the general public. He also said there’s a sense of ignorance among the council that has been around for a long time.

He said a former regular attendee of council meetings, Mary Jo, stopped coming because she felt she wasn’t being listened to. 

Antelics also said the city’s residents are suffering under the current city council, and change is required. 

“We need to get some of you out of your office and not reelect,” Antelics said. “That’s how change will happen.”

He also referenced Artie Curatola, a Bethlehem resident whose public comments at a past council meeting were criticized by council members. Antelics said Curatola being labeled “antisemitic” due to his comments showed an “adversarial form of government.”

Curatola also made a public comment at Tuesday’s meeting. He said he was labeled “antisemitic” in a WFMZ article published about two years ago. Since then, he said he’s been requesting the city council do something to “clear the garbage” that was published about him, but no action has been taken.

“I cannot wear a hat anymore, because I am ‘antisemitic,’” Curatola said. “Yet, all of my friends that have passed away have been Jewish, and the people that I have worked with at Warwick (Pottery) Studio have been Jewish.”

Harry Faber, another Bethlehem resident, criticized the council voting to spend $33,000 on security and surveillance cameras due to recent deportations by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement instead of helping people in the community. He said this action showed the council does not care about the people.

When the idea to invest in more surveillance cameras was initiated last month, the Bethlehem Police Department said it was for the purpose of improving local traffic safety. The council, however, did not respond to Faber’s comment. 

Faber then talked about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was deported by ICE to El Salvador despite being a permanent resident of the United States.

He said Garcia had been sent to a prison in El Salvador that violates human rights. The prison Garcia has reportedly been sent to is the Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT, which is described as a “mega-prison” where no visitations, recreation or education is permitted. 

Faber also discussed President Donald Trump’s recent deals with the Middle East and airstrikes launched by Israel that destroyed the last functional hospital in Gaza.

He said he brought all this information up at the meeting to make sure the council was “aware of everything going on in the world.”

“You’re aware of the things that are going on, and every day, every week, every meeting, you don’t take action and don’t call for change,” Faber said. “You remain complicit.” 

Bill Shire, a Bethlehem resident, also made a public comment. He said he’s concerned about the city’s curbside recycling pickup procedure. 

In particular, he said the lid of his recycling can is always off after the pickup employees leave, which he said is a problem.

“One day, I came home and saw that the lid of my recycling can was off, and the wind blew it into the traffic lane,” Shire said. “There were no accidents, as cars were going around it, but that should have never happened.”

He said there’s a possibility that putting the lids on the bins isn’t specified in the employee contract, which would explain why the pickup person does not do it. Otherwise, he said it’s possible it’s in the contract, but the employees are not following proper procedure.

“Either way, this is a problem, and you should include this into the contract if it is not there,” Shire said. “And if it is, the contract should be reinforced.”

Budget adjustments 

At the meeting, the council voted unanimously to adjust funding for an infrastructure project, Pembroke Choice Neighborhoods, which will allow them to transfer $110,000 from the city’s recreation fee fund to spend on the project.

Laura Collins, city director of community and economic development, said the project is going to respond to the concerns the council has received from residents in the Pembroke area.

She said historically, public housing has been built on the outskirts of land, so improving pedestrian safety is a major goal.

To address this, she said there will also be additional pathways and improvements to LANTA bus shelters.

“We’ve also applied for a grant to do street art and art on the sidewalks as well,” Collins said. “There are a lot of plans, and it is an early action project that we are very excited for.”

Additional resolutions

The council also voted on the appropriateness of building additional stories above the department store at 555 Main St., which is considered a historical building.

Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith said if approved, the new addition should not be visible to the public from a distance. She also said it’s important the color of the new roof matches the historic building. 

“Lastly, the rooftop edition should not be more than one story in height, and this is more than one story in height,” Crampsie Smith said. “I would like further clarification from (the Historical Architecture Review Board) why it was approved.”

The resolution passed 5-1. Crampsie Smith was the only one who voted against the resolution.

The Bethlehem Greenway Trail Gap Construction was also voted on. The council unanimously agreed on the project being funded through the Livable Landscapes Grant.  

Additionally, the council voted unanimously to approve use of ArtsQuest for the 2025 Levitt Pavillion Concert Series and 2025 SteelStacks Concert Series.

The Bethlehem City Council will meet again on Tuesday, May 6. The agenda will be posted on the City of Bethlehem’s website the Friday before.