Daily Archives: January 7, 2022

Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds spent the hours before his Monday inauguration revisiting the roads that led him to City Hall.

He departed from his home near his alma mater Moravian University and passed Liberty High School until he found himself at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. He visited the classrooms recalling his childhood in Bethlehem Area School District schools.

I just was taken aback with this level of gratitude for the fact that I grew up in a place that didnt act like it was in decline, didnt act like we were in trouble, Reynolds, 40, said to those gathered in Town Hall. Growing up in Bethlehem as a kid you didnt feel that way, because there was a sense of what it meant to be from our city.

He got to grow up worrying about recess and little league games while the mayors who came before him tackled the monumental challenges facing the city as it reinvented itself after the collapse of Bethlehem Steel Corp. Four of those mayors Ken Smith, Don Cunningham, John Callahan and Bob Donchez attended Mondays swearing-in and Reynolds acknowledged their vision.

The opportunities in front of us are because of the hard work of our community, the fact that our people were resilient, our institutions were resilient, Reynolds said. The four mayors ... spent hour after hour trying to plot this citys comeback.

Bethlehems 14th mayor touted the industrial citys revitalization into a thriving mixed economy of business, arts, medicine and innovation. But he spent a lot of time focusing on those who have been left behind in this rebirth and how his administration plans to tackle that head on.

The pandemic has broken wide open things that people in this room knew existed for a long time -- inequity, systems that were broken, opportunities that exist for some of us and dont exist for everybody, Reynolds said.

His administration is already working on how to expand those opportunities for everybody. How does Bethlehem recover from the pandemic? How does the citys history fully reflect the stories of all whove played an integral role but have been omitted?

Bethlehems been a city of risk takers since the Moravians founded it 280 years ago, the mayor said. But Bethlehems only seen this success when its citizens and leaders band together for the greater good, he said.

We want to be this kind of place where people can move with no education, come from any part of the world and have an opportunity, Reynolds said.

Bethlehem can become a sustainable community of healthy, well-resourced neighborhoods with ethical economic development, said Janine Carambot Santoro, Bethlehems first director of equity and inclusion.

We cannot make each flourish without addressing systemic issues of equity and inclusion for all people, Santoro said. And when we say all people, we mean all people.

There is a place for you in this city of opportunity, whether you can trace your ancestry to European immigrants in the history of the Moravian Church or Bethlehem Steel or the Latinx or Black or Asian communities, if you immigrated from across an ocean or just a state away, Santoro said.

We are a city that believes in being a place of belonging for all, however you choose to identify or whoever you choose to love, Santoro said. And while it is one thing to say that we believe in these things, its quite another to live into them. But were going to do this by striving to combat discrimination when we see it by forming intentional relationships with officers and the community members, by making places like City Hall truly representative of all the people that live and work in Bethlehem and to ensure that everyone has the same ability and access to succeed through deliberately created opportunities and resources.

Bethlehems 2022 budget includes $3 million to establish a community reinvestment fund with the citys $34 million of federal coronavirus aid.

Reynolds takes office as Bethlehems top elected officials after 14 years on city council. The former high school teacher became councils youngest member in city history. He served two terms as council president, launching Bethlehem 2017 a series of policy initiatives aimed at making Bethlehem a more progressive community.

This led to the citys first climate action plan, a financial accountability incentive monitoring program as well as NorthSide 2027, a neighborhood reinvestment and revitalization program.

He defeated Republican candidate John Kachmar in the General Election, capturing almost 65% of the vote.

He lives in north Bethlehem with his wife Dr. Natalie Bieber.

Bethlehem City Council will swear in its new members Tuesday evening, ushering in the citys first female majority governing body.

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Bethlehem swears in its 14th mayor - lehighvalleylive.com

A funny thing happened on the way to Broad and High: Even before pandemic lockdowns made urban-dwellers dream of more space, Central Ohios suburbs were thriving.

Joy Frank-Collins| Columbus Monthly

For city people, jokes about the suburbs are low-hanging fruit. From long commutes to chain restaurants to comments about rolling up the streets at dusk, the material is plentiful. But in Central Ohio, the burbs are no laughing matter. They remain growth hot spots, even as hip city neighborhoods, glitzy Downtown high-rises and ambitious urban revitalization projects have attracted most of the headlines in recent years.

Columbus suburbs have shown across-the-board growth that, in many instances, outpaces that of the city of Columbus, according to 2020 census data. And given that Columbus itself grew by more than 100,000 people in the last decade, the only Midwestern city to do so, thats saying something.

Within the last 10 years, nine Columbus suburbs (New Albany, Hilliard, Canal Winchester, Pickerington, Grandview Heights, Powell, Dublin, Grove City and Reynoldsburg) have grown faster than the city, which grew by a respectable 15.1 percent. And even the seven that trailed Columbus (Groveport, Whitehall, Westerville, Worthington, Upper Arlington, Gahanna and Bexley) still showed population growth ranging from 7 to 12 percent.

Columbus 2020 Census Report: Six Charts That Show How Columbus and Central Ohio Are Changing

So what makes the suburbs so darn appealing? Tom Rubey thinks it centers on family. Seventeen years ago, he and his wife moved from German Village to New Albany, where he already worked, after having kids. Its a stage-of-life thing, says Rubey, the development director for Les Wexners New Albany Co., which turned the sleepy village of New Albany into Central Ohios fastest-growing suburb, with a population that has increased by 40 percent over the past decade.

For the past 20 years, Rubey and his colleagues at The New Albany Co. have worked in concert with the city of New Albany to create a true cradle-to-grave community boasting residential development that includes apartments, traditional single-family homes, townhomes and even zero-lot-line cluster developments. They have a long-term view when it comes to development, he says, taking small, incremental steps to build a community around four key principles: environmental sustainability, health and wellness, arts and culture, and lifelong learning.

And it seems to be paying off. According to the real estate service Zillow, the average home value in New Albany (as of the end of September) is $504,182. That figure, the priciest in Central Ohio, has increased by 14 percent over the past year and 36 percent since 2016. When listed, houses typically spend about 13 days on the market.

Discover more of Central Ohio: Subscribe to Columbus Monthly's weekly newsletter, Top Reads

Kerstin Carr, director of planning and regional sustainability for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, cites several additional reasons for the enduring appeal of the suburbs, including good schools, bigger lot sizes and redevelopment within the communities themselves. I feel they also worked really hard over the last five to 10 years to reinvent their downtowns and green spaces to be sure that residents can bike and walk to school and to trails and to coffee shops, she says. Cities like Hilliard, Grove City, Gahanna and Reynoldsburg are trying to make significant changes to their downtowns to add what she calls intentional density, while Dublin essentially created a whole new vibrant town center with its Bridge Park development.

In the past, the word density evoked negative connotations of cramped spaces and concrete jungles. But Carr and others are working to change that. You need density to provide the amenities that people are looking for, she says. Grandview Heights, another one of Central Ohios fastest-growing suburbs, is a perfect example, Carr saysa walkable community that embraced density from the get-go.

Jon Melchi, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, views Columbus suburban growth through a broader lens. This whole region is growing, he says. The diverse employment opportunities, multiple universities and other booming industries make Central Ohio extremely attractive. That growth, in turn, has driven up demand for real estate in the region, he says, pushing people who were initially looking to buy homes in established cities and neighborhoods to look into new builds, many of which are in the suburbs.

In many high-density urban areas like New York City and San Francisco, the coronavirus pandemic seemed to kick off a retreat into the suburbs and away from exorbitantly high rent and mortgages. Melchi doesnt believe that happened here, although it could account for some uptick in new builds as the work-from-home reality drives some families to look for space for a home office, an amenity more readily available in new construction.

Carr says that while there was a temporary slowdown in Downtown development during the height of the pandemic, its picking up again. The suburbs are not necessarily taking away from the Downtown, she says. What she does see happening is communities working to provide more options within the region so people can choose where they want to live, especially when remote work takes commuting out of the equation.

Living Beyond City Limits: A Guide to Columbus Suburbs

But dont rent the U-Haul and bust out the cornhole sets yet. Fast growth often leads to growing pains. According to Michael Wilkos, senior vice president of community impact for the United Way of Central Ohio, Franklin County is adding roughly the equivalent of the population of Bexley (13,349 people) a year. By 2050, Columbus population is projected to grow by 1 million. According to a housing study conducted by the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, there will be an additional need for 457,597 rental and owned units to house this population surge. The organization estimates that it will require the construction of 14,000 new housing units per year to meet the demandand the current rate, according to the BIA study, is around 8,000 per year.

While many fear that this growth will lead to the dreaded urban sprawl, Melchi says there is significant room for expansion inside 270 as well as outside of it. But doing it the right way is going to take thoughtful planning like that done by New Albany leaders, partnerships between other innovative communities and developers, and revisions to zoning laws to ensure that the Central Ohio of 30 years from now has the diverse and affordable housing needed across the region, from our suburbs to Downtown, to accommodate all of our new neighbors.

This story is from the December 2021 issue of Columbus Monthly.

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Suburban Strength: Columbus Suburbs Are Growing Faster Than the City - Columbus Monthly

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The face of domestic bike racing continues to evolve in North America, and on Saturday, Jukebox Cycling became another team committed to bucking tradition.

The new six-rider squad includes former WorldTour pro Phil Gaimon, off-road-focused riders Adam Roberge, Alexey Vermeulen, and Dylan Johnson, cyclocross and track racer Ruby West, and 12-year-old up-and-comer Xander Graham.

Loredo Rucchin, the CEO of Jukebox, a global printing company based in Vancouver, Canada, said that the multi-discipline mashup is intentional.

We want our athletes to all be different, he said. We want to empower our riders to push the envelope with whats possible in cycling. Our athletes arent constrained to a single discipline, and thats what makes them unique.

The six riders on Jukebox hail from three countries, and bring a wide range of cycling backgrounds, experiences, and goals in the sport. Roberge, Vermeulen, and Johnson have ambitious goals in gravel and cross-country mountain biking. All three were selected for the upcoming Life Time Grand Prix series, and Roberge is also in contention for the Belgian Waffle Ride Quadrupel Crown.

Gaimon, who retired from professional cycling in 2016, has spent the last five years creating a following of nearly 110,000 on his YouTube channel and using cookies and antics on the bike to raise money for No Kid Hungry. He does not plan to return to racing.

Jukebox is the title sponsor for me to continue riding bikes and eating cookies on the Internet for a living, Gaimon told VeloNews.

West will be the first Jukebox rider to toe a start line in 2022.

The 22-year-old Canadian who holds three national cross championship titles will be heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas later in January for the UCI Cyclocross World Championships. She also has ambitions on the track.

Its been a dream come true to work with such a supportive, excited staff of people at Jukebox who love cycling as much as I do, with other riders who are doing amazing things in the sport, West said. Its exciting to be part of a group of people who really genuinely love cycling.

Xander Graham is the youngest member of the squad. The 12-year-old made headlines at the Tour of Britain last year when he sprinted up a hill alongside a break during the final kilometers of stage 7 of the Tour of Britain. He then went on to take the under-14 Scottish national cyclocross championship title and hopes to become a pro someday soon.

All of the riders on the squad will be sharing their stories throughout the season, and on January 13, Roberge, Vermeulen, and Johnson and will host a gravel-specific Facebook Live webinar to discuss their schedules and training.

Vermeulen, who spent two years on LottoNL-Jumbo and has shifted his focus to cross-country mountain bike and gravel racing, said that Jukebox is a perfect fit for his current goals on the bike.

When I left the road, part of my goal was to establish more community, and Ive been able to do that, and now I can in a bigger way, he said. This isnt like it is a team in the traditional sense of a team. It doesnt exist like that. We all have different sponsors. We all have different events well go to. But we will be at some events together, and we all get to experience cycling in the way that best fits us, which for me means blending racing with creating communities.

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Adam Roberge, Phil Gaimon, Ruby West and three others headline new Jukebox Cycling team - VeloNews

TRENTON, N.J. Sadaf Jaffer is used to being first.

She was the first South Asian woman to serve as a mayor in New Jersey, and the first Muslim woman to serve as a mayor in the U.S. When she gets sworn in next week as one of the newest members of the New Jersey Assembly, she and fellow newcomer Shama Haider will be the first Muslims to serve in the Legislature.

But it was during a casual conversation with her daughter, now 7, when it sank in what her trailblazing means.

We were talking about a man who was running for mayor somewhere, and she was like, A boy mayor? Thats silly! and then she started laughing so hard. And I said, This is it! This is why its important! Because for her, the most normal thing in the world is that her mommy is a mayor, and that means women must be mayors, Jaffer said. And thats the future that we want to build where anything is possible for anyone.

If Jaffer seems upbeat and unjaded for a politician, its intentional. Its also surprising, given shes a Muslim woman of color in an era when political speech often starts at disrespectful and plummets to dangerous.

But thats just how Jaffer is.

Im very a results-oriented person. I dont like to complain. If I see a problem, I like to be involved in making it better, she said.

An academic in the AssemblyA Harvard-educated scholar of South Asian studies, Jaffer teaches at Princeton University. The Chicago native will be one of just a few academics in the Statehouse, including Princeton University physicist Andrew Zwicker, whose Assembly seat shell fill after he moves to the Senate.

At 38, shell also be one of the youngest legislators in a state where close to three quarters of state lawmakers are 50 or older.

In Trenton, the Democrat will represent the 16th District, a collection of towns in Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties. She hopes to focus on a few priorities:

Inclusive public health

Equitable education, with a goal of expanding funding to public and higher education, especially for traditionally underserved students

Green economic recovery, including green jobs and investments in clean energy infrastructure and open space

Selaedin Maksut is excited to see what Jaffer and Haider will do in the Assembly. As executive director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations of New Jersey, Maksut knows that representation matters, especially as the Muslim population grows. New Jersey has more Muslims per capita than any other state, accounting for 3% of the states nearly 9.3 million residents, Maksut noted.

Its important for everyone to see people who look like them in political office. When you have that, its encouraging and inspiring, Maksut said.

Muslims, in particular, bring experiences and ideas that are unique to them, Maksut said. Many are children of immigrants. They may know what its like to face state-sponsored oppression. They understand firsthand the difficulties marginalized groups experience. In public office, they can take that and translate it into policies that can help and uplift marginalized people.

Jaffer has a few ideas brewing for specific bills, including investing more in mental health services in schools and ensuring school curriculum includes the contributions and history of indigenous people and Muslim Americans. She testified this month before a state Senate committee in support of another bill that would require schools to teach Asian American history.

Jaffer comes to the Legislature from Montgomery, the township in Somerset County where she served two terms as mayor before deciding to run for statewide office.

As an assemblywoman, she aims to continue a mission she started as Montgomery mayor: making government more participatory, especially among younger generations.

People who are involved in government and politics are living in a very specific world where everyones informed and they know what to do, and they know how to be engaged, and they know what the issues are. But the vast majority of the public doesnt, Jaffer said. A general goal of mine is just to make government more user-friendly and accessible to everyone.

In Montgomery she held town halls, created educational videos, formed a budget and finance advisory committee, and established a youth leadership council. She also launched Montgomery Mosaic, a social justice discussion and action group, to fight bigotry and hate after someone left pork on the car of a local Muslim family.

Speaking of Islamophobia

Jaffer entered politics when Donald Trump was president, a time when it wasnt unusual to see the nations commander in chief stoking Islamophobia on social media.

Honestly, I was scared, because I had seen the reaction that Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar had gotten at the national level, she said. Its intimidating to think about all that negative attention being focused on you.

In New Jersey, another legislative newcomer has drawn most of the attention since the Nov. 2 election and for quite opposite reasons.

Edward Durr made plenty of headlines when he wdefeated Senate President Steve Sweeney in a stunning upset in South Jerseys 3rd Legislative District, but it was the Republicans tweets denouncing Islam as a false religion and cult of hate that made the story go national.

I think that its very telling that at the same time Shama Haider and I are being elected that hes also being elected, Jaffer said. Its a sad reality that Islamophobia is pervasive in our society and our state.

Maksut agreed Islamophobia remains deeply rooted, two decades after 9/11.

Just because Trump is not in office anymore, racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia didnt just go away, Maksut said.

Durr publicly apologized for his anti-Muslim tweets and met with Islamic leaders a week after the election. But even if that hadnt happened, Jaffer said, she would greet him as she would any other legislator. Human connection is the key to compassion and tolerance, she said.

Person-to-person interactions are so important. We want to be the best of ourselves and hope it brings out the best in others, she said. It shows how important it is to continue to speak out against hate speech and educate the public and build bridges between communities, because ultimately, hatred stems from ignorance.

Its a lesson she underscores often in the classroom with her students.

The American dream is an aspiration and something were always working towards, Jaffer said. There have been terrible things in our history and our present, and we just have to keep trying to build those bridges of understanding and create a more positive future for ourselves and future generations.

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Trailblazing scholar heads to the N.J. Assembly with eye on public access - The Philadelphia Tribune

Pittsburghs former mayor describes the citys transition from its heavy industrial past to a sustainable future.

BY WILLIAM PEDUTO

Once a smoky industrial city, described as hell with the lid off by journalist James Parton in 1868, Pittsburgh has experienced a transformation into a 21st-century metropolis and leader in sustainability and technological innovation. While the impact of climate change and injustice is felt locally by members of our communitiesfor instance, in how they deal with increased flooding or how disadvantaged neighborhoods have not experienced the same type of investment in sustainable solutions like expanded tree canopiesglobally focused solutions will be required to address these major issues.

In recent years, Pittsburgh has benefited from partnerships and mutual learning with other cities around the world, especially locales that share our industrial past and our sustainable future. In collaboration with the Sister Cities Association of Pittsburgh, my administrations work to bolster Pittsburghs relationships with international cities has transcended the more ceremonial model of past Sister Cities relationships. Instead, our efforts have led to tangible action to address issues such as climate change, food systems, social equity and economic diversification.

In 2019, Pittsburgh and the city of Aarhus, which is the second-largest city in Denmark, advanced a clean energy agreement. The agreement formalized the cities relationship as former industrial bastions that have reinvented themselves as higher education hubs attracting a young and educated workforce and creating an innovative business environment. Both municipalities are on track to achieve lofty climate action goals, including cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. This agreement will allow for strategic planning and information sharing with a target of advancing district energy projects that provide heating and cooling service to groups of nearby commercial buildings from a single energy source, rather than building and operating separate heating and cooling systems for each building. This will generate cost as well as energy savings and advance the agreements aim of creating healthy and livable cities and transforming old industrial areas to attractive urban spaces.

This year, Pittsburgh and Dortmund, Germany, also a municipality with a history of industry, were selected as participants in the European Unions International Urban and Regional Cooperation Sustainable Agriculture Program. This partnership, which was made possible through the Sister Cities Association of Pittsburgh, will allow the two cities to collaborate on municipal policies, programs and initiatives related to sustainable food systems. By sharing information and participating in a two-year program, we will aim to boost the resilience of our food systems and build on our work to adopt the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on Zero Hunger.

In a historic partnership with an eye to action rather than ceremony, Pittsburgh added our 20th sister city in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic: Glasgow, Scotland. Like Pittsburgh, Glasgow is situated along rivers, and the city experienced an industrial decline that led to population loss and lingering health effects. Thanks to the resilience of the residents and institutions of both cities, Glasgow and Pittsburgh experienced economic revitalization. This new partnership will enable information sharing, innovation and action on climate change, public health and ensuring an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a historic partnership with an eye to action rather than ceremony, Pittsburgh added our 20th sister city in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic: Glasgow, Scotland.

We presented a progress report on this partnership at the November 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, COP26. It is an example of what can be achieved through intentional relationship building and idea exchange, including shared policy advancements in the areas of pension funds; creation of environmental, social and governance criteria for investments; and advancement of basic income pilots. Pittsburgh and Glasgows collaborative strategies will also address the challenges of energy burden or fuel poverty, the disproportionate costs spent by households on utilities and the health inequities caused by the deindustrialization of both our economies. Our example can be replicated by other cities striving to address the climate crisis and to recover from the pandemic in an equitable manner.

In addition to collaboration with other municipal governments, the city of Pittsburgh has worked with organizations, including ICLEILocal Governments for Sustainability, to exchange ideas for climate action. Through ICLEI and its Urban Transitions Alliance program, Pittsburgh has worked with cities with a similar industrial heritage and a promising sustainable future such as Katowice, Poland; Buffalo, New York; and others, to engage our communities and strive toward action.

Beyond the important goal of addressing climate change, Pittsburgh is working with our sister cities to share information, learn from one another and take action on a host of other issues. Da Nang, Vietnam, is learning from the transformation of our riverfronts. Through a formal partnership, Saitama, Japan, is sending a cohort of students to study a variety of fields at universities in Pittsburgh.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Pittsburgh and our nonprofit partners sent personal protective equipment to Wuhan, China. Pittsburgh and the Israeli city of Karmiel/Misgav are partnering on a business-to-business exchange and incubator program. Finally, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Bilbao, Spain, are working to exchange information on the growth of our technology sectors and post-industrial diversification of our economy.

Pittsburgh has made remarkable progress toward achieving our climate action goals and advancing equity in all that we do in municipal government. However, there is much more work to do. I believe that it is our duty to current and future generations to share our replicable successes with cities across the world. The lessons we have learned from our friends in Aarhus, Dortmund, Glasgow and other cities have already benefited the residents of Pittsburgh, and I am heartened by the headway we have made to address the concerns facing our world together.

William Peduto served as the 60th mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 2014 to 2021. During this time, he worked to modernize municipal government and invest in critical infrastructure. He also became an international leader in action to combat climate change

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The Benefits of International Partnerships - The Foreign Service Journal