The City of Bethlehem Parks Department has applied for a $250,000 grant for the Bethlehem Skateplaza with the Pepsi Refresh Project. This grant is unique because the project that receives the most votes from the general public is awarded the money. Therefore, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Starting Today, March 1, the public will be able to cast their vote for this project once a day, every day, in the month of March. It is important that we receive as many votes as possible to ensure that we are awarded the grant!

It is Easy to vote.

Go to: http://www.refresheverything.com/bethlehemskateplaza

To create a new account, click on “join refresh everything” and follow the instructions to register your email. You can vote once per email registered, per day. Once registered, Click “Sign In” along the bottom of the page by using your Facebook Account or by your Pepsi user name.

Once signed in, find the Skateplaza page. We are in the Neighborhoods section under the $250,000 ideas, or type in www.refresheverything.com/bethlehemskateplaza.com

        And then click “vote” along the right hand side of the page

1. Spread the word to all your friends, coworkers, family via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, email, etc. to vote for the project

REMEMBER TO VOTE EVERYDAY!!!!

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

Thanks

Mark Atkinson
Southside Recreation Coordinator
City of Bethlehem Parks and Recreation
610-997-7971
matkinson@bethlehem-pa.gov

Batten down the hatches folks. This could be a nasty one…or it could be nothing. Weather prediction is more crap shoot than science it seems. They are currently calling for probably 10-12 in Bethlehem and high winds so if you have anything loose in your yard, now would be the time to go pull that into the house or tie it up on the porch.

Get the shovels ready, gas up the snowblowers…..maybe even talk to your neighbors about a plan. Maybe park the cars a certain way or even take them to the parking garage for the whole block so the plow can actually get in there. Think about your older or disabled neighbors and maybe pitch in and help em out if you have some time the next couple days or maybe Saturday.

Don’t forget to scramble to the stores screaming milk and bread as well. Actually…with high winds and a big snow, it’s possible some trees might come down or at least branches that may affect power lines. Are you ready for a power outage? Always helps to have some easy to eat food around.

Watch those alternate sources of heat. Proper venting. Safety in filling and using etc. With all our houses so close, remember, your neighbors fire is probably your fire too. Lots of snow and narrowed streets would probably be challenging for the big ginormous fire trucks to navigate so think safety if you have to use alternate heat sources.

Lastly….guys, seriously, keep the hands out of the snowblowers! Get a broom handle or some sort of stick. A snowblower is a finger quisinart! The hand surgeon is always busy after a big storm. Keep the hands out of the blowers.

Now that you are ready, get the popcorn, put on the snuggly jammies and enjoy winters last blast. Take some pics of the kids making a snowman and/or snow angels and enjoy. Kids will probably be off Thursday and Friday if the forecast holds up.

Come join us on Tuesday February 23rd at 7pm at the Ice House to talk about and get involved with improving your neighborhood. We will take a look at what we have been able to do and what we will be able to do going forward. We would like to hear from you on ways to make the neighborhood better on a very very limited budget.

See you at the Ice House!

Back in 1997 I think it was, we had a pretty significant snow year. At the ripe old age of 35, I decided I wasn’t getting any younger so I’d take the plunge and get some mechanical assist. Having seen some pretty lame little “snowbrooms” and under-powered snowblowers around town, I decided more power is better…so, I ordered the 8hp 24″ wide Troy Built Snowblower. I think it was about $800 bucks at the time.

So, the next year, I was a very popular guy on the block. We store the thing in the back so we have to go out the alley on 5th to clear our 12 ft x 54 ft of sidewalk on W. Broad so basically, I clear the alley, 5th from the alley to Broad, Broad btwn 5th and 6th and a gravel parking lot that’s about 54′x30′. I think in the first 2 years, I paid for the snowblower and had a little left over, not counting the cases of beer, bottles of wine and even a bottle of Dewars from happy neighbors.

Now, we are pretty fortunate to have descent sidewalks the whole way. Many of the neighbors to the west of me on Broad all got together back in the early 90’s and did all their sidewalks at the same time and divided the bill by their linear footage. Good move. If we had bad sidewalks, I don’t know if I’d be able to do the snowblowing as easily as it is now.

So, if you are suffering from lackofmechanicalassistanceitis on your block, ask your neighbors if they would be willing to kick in a bit each time it snowed and see if somebody on the block would take the plunge and get a serious snow eating monster machine and take turns clearing those sidewalks and getting all the cars out etc.

Mine has been great, in for service once in all this time cause it ate a bunch of big stones in our parking lot and the tines got a bit bent. Starts on the first pull and handles like a dream. My only complaint….needs a cupholder and maybe an iPod charging dock.

Well, seems like we are getting a double header here. More snow on the way this week. Forecast is 6-12″ today (Monday) for Tuesday overnight through Wednesday. Looks like we are close to the 12-18 line so I’m guessing we are closer to the 12″. My call right now is 10-12 but then again, I’m the one who postpones movies for rain that doesn’t materialize.

Where will the additional snow go? If you have a chance today to do some snow management, get out there and clear what you can with the idea that twice as much is on the way. It’s easier to shovel when the base is not a rough coat of ice and chunk.

Gas the cars, top off the snowblowers, hit the supermarket as the kids will probably be off Wednesday and if we get the higher amount, possibly Thursday as well. Maybe get out there a couple times so you don’t have to lift 12″ of snow all at once and remember the more “Seasoned Citizens” on your block when you head out there.

BASD and the Bethlehem 222 Anti-Gang Task Force are hosting a workshop for parents, teachers and social workers to talk about children, gangs and warning signs of gang activity. Please come out to learn more.

Northeast Middle School - Monday March 15th. Doors open at 6:30 Program at 7pm

Nitschmann Middle School - Monday March 22nd. Doors open at 6:30 Program at 7pm.

Forecasts are calling for a cold and snowy winter this year. Normally, Bethlehem doesn’t have snow that sticks around all winter long but I think this year, we might see snow on our streets for quite a while. With that in mind, it pays to pay extra attention to how the shoveling and piling is done. Think about where the snow will go if we get another 6 inches in a week or two and another 6 after that and so on and so on.

Please take every opportunity when it’s soft enough to move around to push the snow on the street side of the cars into the curb area. Think about it, if you have a 5-6 ft pile of snow on the driver’s side of the car and a huge mound behind the car, it’s gonna be tough for a car traveling down the street to see your car pulling out at some point.

Snow not removed, will become packed down and with a few freeze/thaw cycles, a shiny coating of ice making walking difficult for all and treacherous for our school kids and seniors. Speaking of seniors, if you have some folks on your block that are more seasoned citizens, maybe everyone on the block can get together and clean up their cars, shovel their sidewalks and make sure they are ok when we get these winter storms.

On a bright note, with the new metered parking on the Broad Street Bridge and Route 378 Bridge on West Broad, it seems like the Parking Authority will have to do a good job keeping the sidewalks on those bridges clear of ice and snow. In past years, I’ve seen that stretch plowed over making it next to impossible for a pedestrian to walk into downtown across those bridges. Hopefully, this will mean it’s clean and dry pavement this year!

On my way in today I saw signs of life at the long dormant Groman’s Building. Groman’s used to be a bakery on 2nd Avenue. It was converted to about 15-20 apartments but ran into some roofing trouble I think and ended up having to be vacated. Looks like it is now in new hands. The plywood covering the windows has come off and hopefully that means renovations will begin. That’s a great Christmas present to the neighbors on that block!

The building had been hit with graffiti while it was vacant. It was cleaned but is back again. Hopefully the new owner will clean that up soon!

We had some friends/neighbors over on Saturday for some Christmas cheer and the new tradition in the past few years of lighting the luminaria. We do them for all the businesses on our street as they are not around after hours to do it but they chip in for the kits.

This year was very good weather for Luminaria Night. Not too cold, no real wind and dry pavement. After we finished with ours, we piled in a car and drove all around to see how it went around town. A realtor friend with us made an interesting comment. She said that if she were considering a neighborhood to buy a house for a young family, she would probably drive around on Luminaria Night to get an indication of which neighborhoods and which blocks had a sense of neighborhood and were engaged with one another. Blocks that were lit up suggested a warm and friendly place were a new neighbor would likely be greeted as a new friend. Blocks that were dark suggested less involvement in the goings on around the block.

Luminaria Night has been around for about 10 years now. It’s an easy way to spend a few minutes involved with those who choose to live where they live. I hear from lots of people from Bethlehem and beyond that drive around town to see all the beatiful bags aglow. Remember Luminaria Night again next year. Bethlehem shined on Saturday Night, good job Bethlehem.

I remember growing up, the annual get out the candles for the windows day right after Thanksgiving. My parents were very organized and all the boxes for the candles were labeled….Living Room SW corner etc. so the candles went up pretty easily. Every day after school before dinner, I would go around the house and plug all the candles in. Part of Christmas and getting ready for Santa’s visit.

The tradition of candles in the windows goes back to 1741 on Christmas Eve. That’s a long standing tradition! These lights guide and welcome family, friends and visitors to Bethlehem as we celebrate the Holiday Season.

Over the years, it seems there are less and less candles in the windows and more and more inflatable Frosty’s and waving motorized Santas. I kinda like the candles better. Maybe the tradition will come back when LED light bulbs for those candles come out and last for 20 years. Maybe it’s just that everyone ran out of those little bulbs.

I think the white candles in the windows is something that distinguishes Bethlehem from Anytown USA. You can go to any big box retailer and buy an inflatable this or motorized that but I’m still putting up my white candles! I have timers now so we don’t have to run around plugging them in. Kind of miss that though…part of the tradition.