Bethlehem swears in its 14th mayor – lehighvalleylive.com

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.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.

Follow this link:

Bethlehem swears in its 14th mayor - lehighvalleylive.com