SOS In The News

From The Morning Call -- July 6, 2004

Film examines steel site makeovers
Group hopes Bethlehem avoids redevelopment pitfalls.

By Nicole Radzievich Of The Morning Call

"Don't it always seem to go

 They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

With mellow notes of ''Big Yellow Taxi'' as background music, a video camera pans a bustling mall sprawling 265 acres across a former steel plant site: Waterfront.

The video flashes to vacant downtowns in the neighboring steel towns just outside Pittsburgh.

The impression is one of despair — something Bethlehem area preservationists hope will resonate when they show the 15-minute documentary ''Homestead: From Mill to Mall'' to Bethlehem City Council at 6:30 p.m. today at the Bethlehem Public Library.

Amey Senape and Paul Kramer, co-founders of the Save Our Steel preservation group, made the film earlier this year as a way to show the importance of saving landmark structures at the old Bethlehem Steel plant as it is redeveloped.

The film, shot by artist Bruce Ward of Bethlehem, explores the redevelopment of Homestead, one of three boroughs that became depressed after U.S. Steel closed a plant there.

Developers built a mall of big-name retailers on the old plant site that covers three boroughs.

Senape said the film reveals the pitfalls of redevelopment by showing that historic gems were torn down to make way for low-paying retail jobs.

''We've heard about all the good things that Waterfront has meant for Homestead,'' she said. ''We wanted to present the other side.''

Bethlehem Steel is to be turned into a $1 billion industrial park and $450 million entertainment and retail complex: Bethlehem Works.

The debate has centered on the 160-acre Bethlehem Works because it includes iconic structures such as the blast furnaces and No. 2 Machine Shop.

Save Our Steel aims to provide a platform for the community to have a voice in Steel's redevelopment.

The film, also shown at the South Side Film Festival, must be viewed in a context. Senape said her film only draws attention to the ill effects because those effects have been mostly unreported.

Senape talks to officials mainly from Munhall, one of the three boroughs that Waterfront is in.

The film reveals that while Waterfront, which began construction in 2000, is bringing in hundreds of thousands of tax dollars, much of the money goes to pay off loans that the municipalities took on to build roads to the site. Meanwhile the boroughs must still spend money to provide police coverage and other local services to Waterfront.

Historians discuss how treasures were lost in the historic boroughs where several people were gunned down during the landmark 1892 Homestead strike.

Several historic structures, such as the pumphouse, remain, but they are not denoted as historic, to the chagrin of many preservationists.

Still, Waterfront has been touted for putting brownfields back on the tax rolls.

Homestead Borough Manager Cindy Dzadovsky, who is not featured in the film, said the downtown has been blighted, but it's starting to grow, at least in part, because of Waterfront.

''On the positive side, I think it has begun to spur some development in the old business district,'' she said. ''This is where people went to shop 20 or 30 years ago.''

Dzadovsky said Homestead is finding diners, restaurants and specialty shops are starting to trickle into the borough just outside Waterfront.

''The answer as to whether was a good decision still remains to be seen,'' Dzadovsky said.

Although lessons can be learned from Homestead, Senape said, Bethlehem is not a carbon copy. She described Homestead as more desperate because the community depended more on steel.

She said she has received a warm response from the Bethlehem administration about the importance of preservation during redevelopment.

''We can't save everything,'' Senape said. ''But progress means taking the best pieces of an era and building upon them.''

Senape, a graduate student of history at Lehigh University, is working with community groups to create a historic interpretation of the Steel site. Once completed, the interpretation would teach people about Bethlehem Steel and tie it into South Side neighborhoods. That plan could be as simple as signs for historic buildings or audio tours using cell phones.

''When people go to that site, whether it's for retail or other businesses, we have to give them the opportunity to understand the history of that site,'' said Meg Sharp Walton, a curator for Historic Bethlehem Partnership. ''There are a lot of stories to be told from that site as well as from the vibrant downtown.''