The Northside 2027 neighborhood planning process was announced in the fall of 2017 by Mayor Donchez and Councilman J. William Reynolds. Almost one year to the day later, the city, along with Philadelphia consulting team WRT conducted its first public meeting on October 11, 2018 at Liberty High School. Open to all residents and business owners in the area, the forum sought input as to the strengths of the area - and also what could use improvement.
The two hour meeting provided a brief overview of the neighborhood and then asked attendees to visit various stations to tell the city about the things that impact them the most. How is traffic? Shopping? Recreation? Housing? All of these answers will be put into a report for the city that will help guide the next steps in the plan. The meeting did feature an announcement by the Mayor that Friendship Park will see $100,000 of improvements starting in the spring of 2019.
The full story of the fall 2017 kickoff can be found here:
https://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-nws-bethlehem-north-side-meeting-20171017-story.html
The full story from the Morning Call covering the October 11, 2018 meeting can be found here: http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/bethlehem-mayor-announces-funding-for-redevelopment-of-friendship-park/806138851
Photo credit: Lehigh Valley with Love Media