Mayor Willie Reynolds, who had previously told Council how busy the City was in getting ready for Musikfest, rebuked City Council for making Artsquest officials wait at their busiest time of the year. He suggested that, out of courtesy, the matter should have been heard before the City's other business.
When they did finally get to it, City Council agreed with the proposed demolition and new cultural center by a 5-2 vote. Council members Michael Colon, Paige Van Wirt, Grace Crampsie Smith, Hillary Kwiatek and Kiera Wilhelm sided with Artsquest, though they really, really, really, really respect the Historic Conservation Commission and love history. Council members Rachel Leon and Wandalyn Enix sided with the Historic Conservation Commission, though they really, really, really, really love the arts and Arstsquest.
All too often, I see historic conservation commissions used to bludgeon homeowners with page after page of ridiculous rules and regulations that have little to do with history but a lot to do with making neighborhoods exclusive. Here, it was being used as a sledgehammer to prevent a nonprofit organization which has done everything it can to preserve much of the rusting hulks once known as the Steel Stacks.
Historic preservation is great for old churches and libraries, but a banana factory? Give me a break.
Dr. Lee Reilly, a physician who dabbles with art, told Council that "[h]umans have a basic need to be creative," and thinks the proposed cultural center will ignite artistic sparks in children for decades to come.
Wait a minute, what about those damn chickens?
Well, civil rights leader Esther Lee, church hat and all, addressed City Council about what certainly seemed like misplaced priorities. She said she'd like to see that much enthusiasm for the homeless.
By the way, City Council decided to delay its vote for two weeks. Council member Paige Van Wirt, who had assured mayor Willie Reynolds just two weeks ago that she had all the details, apparently missed a few. Council President Michael Colon had to introduce a series of amendments, which must be advertised before a vote. So backyard chickens will have to wait two weeks, where another 100 people can come again.
How does Mayor Reynolds feel about all this, asked President Michael Colon.
"This is your ordinance, not ours," snapped Reynolds. He went on to note that the City has a lot of serious problems. "There are a lot of things on fire right now. On a 1 to 10 level, we're an 11." He went on to note that there are 40 vacancies at City Hall, but workers who are left have been besieged with calls from people seeking chicken permits. He said that some of them even want "dreamer" permits for chickens who came to Bethlehem illegally, through no fault of their own, when they were little chickadees. His health director is dealing with monkeypox, Covid and other public health issues, but now has to deal with chickens.
Call me cRaZy, but I'm beginning to think Hizzoner will veto chickens.
44 comments:
Shooting on Main Street apartment, illegal motor vehicle gangs flying through the streets and kids in bicycle packs blocking traffic. Absentee landlords letting properties go to crap.
Yeah, Bethlehem is doing great. What we really need are chickens that will be unkempt and ruinous to Neiborhood's. If these carpetbaggers had any knowledge of the past, they would know Bethlehem did that and it weas a disaster.
Letting the dynasty boys, donchez and willie take over the city has been and will continue to be a debacle. Bethlehem voters, you earned this. glad I'm not there anymore.
Don’t worry willie is not busy answering phone calls
I'm all for the chickens, fresh eggs, chicken pot pie for the old hens, and maybe even Saturday night rooster martial arts. Who needs music fest.
Why are there 40 vacancies? Were employees fired for refusing to take a vaccine that didn't work? Remember when the "health care is a fundamental human right" crowd wanted shot refusers denied basic medical treatment? Is this what happened in Bethlehem? I'll check back for an answer. I must check on my 4x "vaxxed" neighbor who now has CoVid for the second time. Poor bastard damn near died last November. But he's still masking like a demon!
Good morning! By chance, Bernie, do you or any of your readers know why Bethlehem stopped allowing backyard chickens in the first place? It seems to me, the discontinuing of the practice indicates there were problems. I am no fan of Willie Reynolds, but I think he is making a great deal of sense right now. As for ArtsQuest, too darn bad Kassie Hilgert and company had to wait their turn. They are no more important than any other person who wished to speak.
Empty nester Amy Zanelli is super pumped - she can never have enough chicks!!!!!
What the cluck? Backyard chickens in a congested city? Sure. Bring on the disease, smell and noise. Welcome fox, coyotes, raccoons and other predators to roam city streets in search of chicken dinners. An eggscellent idea!
Cry me a freggin river that the greedy fest staff had to wait their turn. People's lives are upset/disrupted for 11 days straight.
if you want chickens get chickens there really isnt much they do about it fuck the ordinance hire some firefighters....put your political knowledge to good use ohhh! wait there isnt a smart one in the bunch..LOL
" Bernie, do you or any of your readers know why Bethlehem stopped allowing backyard chickens in the first place? It seems to me, the discontinuing of the practice indicates there were problems"
Yes, they were banned bc of rooster fights. The current bill continues the ban on roosters.
Sexual discrimination at its worst, no roosters, it must be because of the women on the board. Roosters are necessary for the propagation of chickens, and who is going to go out and search for roosters.
I don't live in beth or allentown, but if I did, I would play a recording of roosters, pigs, and cows every morning at 6Am.
I started out tending to support the idea as a pilot project. But it disturbs me that we've only heard from enthusiasts and not so much from city officials at a committee hearing that was requested by the Mayor and denied by Van Wirt, who claimed to "have all the details." It could be that Colon's amendments are an attempt to address those concerns. The Mayor indicated that city staffers are very opposed, and I really want to hear from them.
I am also disturbed by comments that some readers left in my first post, noting that the infusion of chickens would attract predators. They are supposed to be in enclosed areas, but I doubt that will be the case for some or at all times. I'd hate to see small children attacked by coyotes looking for chickens. Is that a possibility? I don't know but would think that subject should be discussed. I also think this will be another bone of contention between neighbors in densely populated areas. If people complain over loud cars and parking spots, they will complain about chickens.
I think the ordinance should require not only the approval of the homeowner, but the approval of all immediately adjoining homeowners.
I do like the suggestion you made, Bernie, that immediate neighbors should have to sign off on something that may directly impact their quality of life. I have neighbors who appear to be chicken-ready, but I would veto only because they clutter their yard with debris and I am not confident, by what I have seen, that they would be responsible “farmers.” I also think the City needs to take a few steps back and really determine need vs. want. Sometimes — and I emphasize sometimes — the government must protect us from ourselves.
The cock ban is sexist and may be hard on some. For cock meetings lasting more than four hours, seek emergency treatment right away.
It will be interesting to see how this is implemented. Will Willie direct that it not be implemented by his administration? That would set up an interesting legal dilemma. Will Council, or some chicken lover, bring a mandamus action?
What is the added cost to the taxpayers for this chicken program? I assume the permit fee will not cover the entire cost to administer the program. Who will review the chicken coop designs? Do they need building permits? Or shed permits? Will there need to be setbacks, or variances for these coops? Seems like some valuable time in code enforcement and permits may be wasted.
I think Willie was correct to want a committee meeting on this issue. I would not be surprised if there is a veto, depending on the council vote. Or if Willie decides to let it become law without his signature.
“A lot of things on fire”? Or a lot of people getting fired? 40 vacancies? Or 40 anticipated vacancies because the HR Director is on her high horse again digging to find things wrong so she can terminate those she doesn’t care for? This City is a mess and an embarrassment. Start at the top fixing problems and the results will trickle down.
I am gonna go ahead assume it is more of a morale issue. Mayor Reynolds is correct when he says city hall is at an '11' right now. As well as many other departments.
And yet another major investigation is an ongoing issue. The hammer shall strike soon! Mr Reynolds walked into a hornets nest on his first day as Mayor. A bee keeper can only keep the nest intact for so long.
Will the chickens have free range of an enclosed back yard? What is a fence is only 4 feet high? They can potentially leap up and over that. What if a neighbor has a dog in their enclosed back yard? The pooch will bark nonstop with chickens next door. Hawks can swoop down on them. Dried chicken guano can blow up in the air and be breathed in by neighbors. This is a bird-brain proposal!
Bern over there in bedlum they just don't have a cock in the fight.
That is not a possibility. We don’t have coyotes in the city, so they certainly won’t magically appear because chickens exist. Take a look at Emmaus. They allow chickens, they have a smaller city but they have no predator issues. Filth brings rats, not chickens. Of course we already have raccoons and opossums, they only come out at night, they may look to get into a coop and have a feast but this really only affects the chicken owner…. And you learn pretty fast from one mishap.
I appreciate they want to hear from city workers, but why not hear from experienced chicken owners instead?
Another thought, if there were so many phone calls of people in opposition, than where were they at any of the meetings. Lord knows people of this city like to come out and complain.
Lastly I’m rather disappointed with the obvious tantrum Willie is throwing as a grown man. I and thought a lot more of him. City hall lacking employees is really his problem, maybe pay more? They’ve pushed if off for years saying they’re too busy or other things are more important, but fresh food is important. To chide city council for not allowing musikfest to go first was completely unacceptable and if he was there the whole meeting, which he wasn’t… he’d have noticed that the other issues were very short and it made sense to get them done first. Is it that money comes first for him? What exactly was his reasoning. I really hope he can compose himself better and focus on what leadership means.
One more thing, if adjoining homeowners need to approve chickens maybe they should approve dogs as well since they have to deal with barking and smell.
Chicken pot pie. Three of my favorite things!
"That is not a possibility. We don’t have coyotes in the city, so they certainly won’t magically appear because chickens exist"
Hate to break it to you, there are coyotes on south mountain and out near camel's hump. There are also fisher cats and bob cats near or in Bethlehem.
Also, the City Council spent an hour talking about LERTA. It was a four hour meeting, and council spent 20 minutes saying how they support the HCC but were voting against them. The Arts Quest matter should have been moved out of courtesy to the people who came to the meeting.
We are all up in arms in the modern city of Bethlehem when we forget that it was less then 100 years ago when there were pigs, goats, and cows in many parts of the current Bethlehem. My how things change and then come full circle.
Bernie 9:49 you mention coyotes as predators. But we already have foxes in and around most of the town. They are bigger predators to chickens then Coyotes. Although coyotes are growling in abundance in the area there are are far more foxes.
Reynolds arrogant comment to Council about making Artsquest supporters wait for its rightful turn at the end of the agenda was immature political grandstanding. I give credit to Colon for ignoring him.
Reynolds wants to control Council like he allowed Donchez to do while he was Council President. He was a lapdog for whatever Donchez administration wanted. I see this Council pushing back as they should to his antics as evidenced by the LERTA vote last night.
"Reynolds arrogant comment to Council about making Artsquest supporters wait for its rightful turn at the end of the agenda was immature political grandstanding. I give credit to Colon for ignoring him."
Reynolds was absolutely right. This is their busiest time of the year, and it was a slap across their faces to make them wait and delay their Musikfest planning and execution. I have seen issues moved up on an agenda when people need to be somewhere. Colon probably never thought about it, but he had an unforced error.
What will be the fan favorite at musikfest this year? The Hokey Pokie or the Chicken Dance?
I never saw Reynolds move items on an agenda because people were waiting for their item to be voted upon.
It was a cheap political stunt by the mayor because he was pissed off about the LERTA vote that had just taken place & took this cheap shot to embarrass them. Council had just ignored his appeal against raising the fee for affordable housing buyout against his favorite developer buddies.
Then they proceeded with the chicken ordinance against his wishes to squash it so he went 0-2 & threw his bat like a spoiled kid that didn’t get his way.
This is what happens when you let crazy-ass liberals run a city. Chickens first, roads second. The city has a lot of problems, and other than CrAzY ass Zanelli, I have never heard of someone complaining about the lack of chickens in Bethlehem.
The roads are horrible, code enforcement is lacking, and it takes forever to get a permit. These are the issues City Council should be focusing on.
@10:22. Just think if we dug a ditch across roads every couple hundred feet it would solve so many problems. Speeding would decrease, accidents would decrease, trucks traveling those roads would decrease. We would have to spend less on road maintenance. Less road crew employees, and taxes could go down.
Oh yeah what a fantasy this would never happen the politicians would have less money to steal from everyone under the $3 dollars in 10 arrangement they are currently grifting. Tax you $10 for roads. grift $6 into other areas and others pockets, put $1 in their own pocket and put 3 toward the roads.
It most definitely is morale. When employees see people in administrative positions who aren’t qualified for their jobs, who mysteriously are MIA for “45 days”, who treat their subordinates like trash, yet the hard-working union level employees get targeted and terminated for unjust reasons… yeah, morale sinks pretty low.
Huh?!
Mr Reynolds will have some cleaning up to do. Kind of like left over trash just laying around.
🙌 you hit the nail on the head. Leave it to a majority of women to push back.
Code enforcement is either looking the other way or non existent as there is an illegal rather large shed being built directly under power lines and other utilities on Linden St directly across from Azar Market. Very dangerous situation.
Mr Reynolds brought the trash in.
Because there’s an unqualified director running the show who’s too busy getting high to effectively run that department.
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
Mr Reynolds brought the trash in."
He did not bring in Karner, the HR Director, Evans, Evans, or Heller. Those are the biggest problems in the City. He should have cleaned house with this cabinet, and brought in all new people.
From the original post:
"Mayor Willie Reynolds, who had previously told Council how busy the City was in getting ready for Musikfest, rebuked City Council for making Artsquest officials wait at their busiest time of the year. He suggested that, out of courtesy, the matter should have been heard before the City's other business."
I would point out to Mayor Reynolds (and anyone else who was miffed about Artsquest officials having to wait) that if Artsquest is too busy to wait their turn, the city or Artsquest could have requested the matter be tabled until after Musikfest is over.
Artsquest might believe they own the city and the rest of us our peasants, but they can wait their turn like everyone else.
The complaint about waiting was likely a tactic to garner a quick review and vote from Council.
This blog about chicken makes me think of The old proverb of which came first:
Which came first lying sacks of crap or politicians. Do you have to be a proven liar to be a politician or do you get trained to lie without remorse once you become a politician.
Hmmm
One can assume that Mayor Reynolds' eyes and ears are now more than used to seeing and hearing what really goes on in the shitty.
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