Bethlehem To Reverse Back-In Angled Parking On Main Street

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Come on Pottstown, follow suit!

The back-in angled parking on Bethlehem‘s Main Street is going to be reversed.

Mayor Bob Donchez said merchants on that end of Main Street have long been asking for the parking to be switched to head-in and he’s complying with their requests.

“It was clear the back-in angle parking was a negative to bringing people to lower Main Street,” Donchez said. “It’s the right thing to do to help the merchants.”

Donchez is hopeful the switch could occur in time for the Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival scheduled Sept. 26-28 or shortly thereafter.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/08/bethlehem_to_reverse_back-in_a.html

The Bach Choir Of Bethlehem Presents: Young Meister Bach

Young Meister Bach, the delightful one-act comic opera by Chuck Holdeman and Bill Bly, which premiered at our Family Concert, is perfectly paired with J.S. Bach’s popular Coffee Cantata. Young Meister Bach is a lively, imaginative look at the misadventures of a young J S Bach as he embarks on his career at age 18. The Coffee Cantata, although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera. In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig, where this work was premiered. Both pieces are sung in English.

The Concert begins at 10:30 am in Baker Hall at the Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem. Take your Ticket Confirmation to the Zoellner Arts Center Box Office, purchase your RUSH TICKET Today for Young Meister Bach with Coffee Cantata on May 10th for ONLY $9.99 (Normally $28)!!!

An Introduction to Young Meister Bach (YouTube Video):www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQAW4xoPQuI

For more information on the Bach Choir of Bethlehem:
www.bach.org – 610-866-4382 – office@bach.org 

Click Here to Buy
Last Minute Discount
RUSH Tickets
for Young Meister Bach with Coffee Cantata
on May 10th –
ONLY $9.99!
(NORMALLY $28!)

Lehigh University South Side Initiative Looking To Get Campus Bus Into City

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lehigh University runs buses to the Lehigh Valley Mall and The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley.

But not into South Side Bethlehem.

Some at Lehigh are looking to change that. It’s an idea that came out of an open community meeting held last month by Lehigh’s South Side Initiative.

“So many here at Lehigh depend on the bus or the bus system that wraps through the upper and lower campus,” said John Pettegrew, the initiative’s director. “It would just be a practical addition to include a route that goes into Third Street and possibly SteelStacks or any other destinations.”

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/04/lehigh_university_south_side_i.html

Bethlehem’s Vegan Treats Named One Of World’s Best Bakeries

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vegan Treats, the little Bethlehem bakery where stars shop, has just received sweet news from American Express. It has been named as one of 10 of the World’s Best Bakeries.

It’s featured in Departures, an American Express magazine available only to the company’s Platinum and Centurion charge card holders.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/dining/mc-vegan-treats-american-express-20120906,0,6639845.story

Musikfest Braces For Better Year After Record Loss

Musikfest was preparing to hit a high note last year, introducing the 10-day party of music and food to south Bethlehem at its ambitious new SteelStacks campus.

But rain doused the festival for six days, flooding the Monocacy Creek and closing down nearby venues on the north side. The festival lost $750,000 — triple the amount of its worst year since it began 28 years ago.

The deficit came in the very year its nonprofit organizer, ArtsQuest, could least afford it because of the uncertainty that came with launching its performing arts center at SteelStacks. The loss from Musikfest, which provides half the nonprofit’s revenue, pushed ArtsQuest into a $1 million operating loss, more than 5 percent of its budget.

So, as Musikfest opens Friday evening, its financial performance is stealing some of the spotlight.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/musikfest/mc-bethlehem-musikfest-preview-20120802,0,7463125.story

Tens Of Thousands Still Without Power In Berks, Lehigh and Northampton Counties

Here is a list of the latest figures on how many people are still without power in the Allentown, Bethlehem and Reading areas:

31,425 Lehigh County PPL

8,732 Northampton County PPL

1,475 Lehigh County Met Ed

4,608 Northampton County Met Ed

27,060 Berks County Med Ed

Lehigh Valley Air Quality Not Good

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Like Lancaster, the Lehigh Valley does not have good air quality.  The Lehigh Valley was rated 13th on the list of smoggiest mid-sized metropolitan areas in the nation.  Lancaster was ranked 10th. 

Pennsylvania ranks as the sixth smoggiest state in the U.S.  Air pollution is linked to respiratory problems such as asthma and allergies.

Poverty Rate Climbing In Pennsylvania

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According to statistics released from the U.S. Census Bureau, families in Pennsylvania are worse off than they were 10 years ago.

Cumberland County saw its poverty rate for families increase from 6.2 percent in 1999 to 7.8 percent.

Dauphin County saw its poverty rate for families increase from 12 percent to 20 percent!

Lebanon County saw its poverty rate for families increase from 8.9 percent to 15.2 percent.

York County saw its poverty rate for families increase from 7.1 percent to 11.4 percent

Crawford County saw its poverty rate for families increase from 16.2 percent to 20.7 percent.

Erie County saw its poverty rate rise to 17.4 percent while the City of Erie’s poverty rate increased six percent to 30.2 percent and is the second-highest poverty rate in Pennsylvania.

The City of Reading has a poverty rate of 41.3 percent and comes in at numero uno!  Poverty rates for other major Pennsylvania cities are Allentown 27 percent, Philadelphia 26.7 percent, Pittsburgh 22.3 percent, 21.1 in Scranton and 20.9 in Bethlehem.

The poverty rate for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is 13.4 percent or more than 1.6 million Pennsylvanians.  More than half a million people living in poverty are children under the age of 18!

These rates are higher for minority families.  For example, 45 percent of blacks and Hispanic families in Erie live under the poverty level.  The poverty rate is 25 percent for white residents.

The U.S.poverty rate hit a 17 year high of 15.1 percent.  46.2 million people in the United States were living below the poverty level in 2010.  The federal poverty level for a family of four is a yearly income of less than $22,314.

President Clinton To Attend Bethlehem Rally For Onorato

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Former President Bill Clinton will be campaigning in Bethlehem for Dan Onorato (D), candidate of governor of Pennsylvania, on Thursday of this week.  The rally will be held at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem.

In other political news, several major newspapers have endorsed Tom Corbett (R) and Dan Onorato (D).  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is endorsing Corbett while Onorato received the support of the Philadelphia Daily News, the Scranton Times-Tribune and the Easton Express-Times.