SOS In The News

From The Morning Call -- March 28, 2004

New panel considering mixed uses is suggested for Steel property

Historians meet in Bethlehem to look for ways to contribute to site's future.

By Kevin Pentón of The Morning Call

The president of New York City's South Street Seaport Museum recommended Saturday that Bethlehem explore creation of a new economic development corporation that would handle the Bethlehem Steel property, remaining open to such mixed uses as businesses and residential properties.

''The premise to save parts of the authentic history does not preclude adaptive reuses of other parts of the site,'' said Peter Neill. ''The question here is, 'Is Bethlehem going to take ownership of its destiny?'''

Neill's recommendation was one of the conclusions a group of historians came to during a day-long brainstorming session about the South Side landmark. The group met at Bethlehem's Kemmerer Museum on Saturday.

The event was organized by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities. Kate Carte Engel, a member of the center's steering committee, said that rather than rallying simply for preservation of the Steel site, those interested in that preservation need to work on creating an education-based model for what would occur there.

Bethlehem Steel had created a $450 million plan to redevelop the site, known as the Bethlehem Works plan, but some in the community believe that that early concept, released in 1997, has lost its relevancy in the ensuing years.

Community activists, developers and politicians need to work together and satisfy a variety of needs if a historically minded redevelopment of the Bethlehem Steel site will ever get off the ground, Engel said. ''It's obvious that we cannot try to simply create a shrine. We need to be open-minded and work with numerous entities of varying interests to still achieve something that is historically minded.''

Those present at Saturday's meeting promised to remain in contact with each other, explore creating a new advocacy group for the Steel site, create an education proposal, and make a report of their recommendations to Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, who attended a portion of the session.

Neill praised the group for working toward a proposal that would mix the three concepts of a ''temple of enlightenment,'' an economic development engine for the site's surroundings and a community development model.

''The renewal of the site is a symbol of the city's future,'' Neill said. ''If the political will is in place, this will happen. If it is not, then it will be very hard to achieve.''

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