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Save Our Steel in the News
State's first lady urges Bethlehem officials to
continue building arts, cultural district
She says the arts scene is essential to city's
economic revival.
By Genevieve Marshall Of
The Morning Call
May 14, 2004
The key to economic revival in Bethlehem is a thriving arts
scene, according to the woman who breathed life into Philadelphia's cultural
center a decade ago.
No one associated Philadelphia with arts and culture before 1993, when Marjorie
Rendell — then the mayor's wife, and now the state's first lady — helped found
Avenue of the Arts, a nonprofit organization that developed Broad Street in
Center City into a popular destination for theatre and art lovers.
Rendell encouraged local political and business leaders at
the Bethlehem Business Council dinner Thursday to continue building on past
successes such as the Banana Factory and Musikfest in south Bethlehem, where the
impact of arts on economic development continues to be a major issue in the
redevelopment of Bethlehem Steel land.
''You're in the halfway position,'' Rendell said to an audience of 150 that
included Mayor John Callahan and three former mayors: Don Cunningham, Ken Smith
and Gordon Mowrer. ''Stick with it, and go the extra mile. You have the makings
here of what we had in Philadelphia.''
As a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Marjorie Rendell has to
walk a fine line between her judicial position and her role as Ed Rendell's
wife. When he asked her to get involved in some aspect of his mayoral
administration, Rendell said she knew she had to avoid ''anything too
policy-oriented.'' The arts seemed to be the perfect fit.
''Ed saw the arts as an uplifting economic engine,'' said Rendell, who will
deliver the keynote address at Moravian College's spring commencement today in
Central Moravian Church.
Since 1998, N. Broad Street in Philadelphia has sustained more than $242 million
in development, and $850 million has been invested in South Broad Street since
1999, she said.
''My husband was the Pied Piper,'' Rendell said. ''He made people into
believers, and the money followed.''
Now the money follows Gov. Rendell. In late April, he delivered $1 million each
for Allentown's Arts Walk and Easton's State Theatre.
South Bethlehem also stands to benefit from the governor's proposed Keystone
Innovation Zone, which would provide tax breaks and other incentives to
high-tech and biotech businesses that open around hospitals and universities.
Continuing to develop Bethlehem's rich tradition of blending heritage and the
arts is important in luring businesses. ''They want to be where the action is,''
she said
State Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton, who attended the dinner, said nowhere
is the link between arts and industry more evident than in south Bethlehem.
''Northampton Community College wants to build there, and new businesses are
moving in every day,'' Samuelson said. ''One success leads to another.''
Also at the dinner, awards were given to Michael Albarell and Jeff Parks for
their contributions to the city's business and arts communities.
Albarell, the president of Albarell Electric Inc., received the Frank L. Marcon
Distinguished Community Leadership Award. He has served on the boards of more
than a dozen local associations, including the Bethlehem Economic Development
Corp., of which he was president from 1990 to 1998.
Parks, president and chief executive officer of ArtsQuest, was given the
Priscilla Payne Hurd Award. Parks was the principal founder of Musikfest, a
10-day music festival that attracts an estimated 1 million people to Bethlehem
each August. In 1998, his organization opened the Banana Factory, a community
cultural arts center.
Copyright © 2004,
The Morning Call
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