From The Morning Call

South Side slots favored by region

Some wary of gaming in Bethlehem, but also back casino, poll finds.

By Josh Drobnyk
Of The Morning Call

May 12, 2005

A majority of Lehigh Valley residents, particularly those who live in Bethlehem, support an $879 million proposal to revamp part of the former Bethlehem Steel site into a tourist attraction with a slots parlor, according to a Lehigh University poll released Wednesday.

Sixty-four percent of the respondents said they strongly or somewhat support the developers' plans. Twenty-two percent responded they either strongly or somewhat oppose the proposal. The remainder said they weren't sure about how they felt.

Of Bethlehem residents surveyed, 68 percent said they either strongly or somewhat support the plans.

The survey, conducted from March 29 to April 11 by a Lehigh graduate class on urban sociology, polled 414 Valley residents — 185 in Bethlehem — and was coordinated with Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

The New York investment group BethWorks Now has teamed up with casino-owner Las Vegas Sands and is planning a residential, retail and entertainment center on 124 acres of former Bethlehem Steel property.

Key to the project's development is the investors' bid to win one of two available slots parlor licenses.

Pennsylvania legislators last year approved placing up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 facilities statewide to generate money to reduce property taxes. Only two parlor licenses are up for grabs outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and BethWorks Now has said it could build the project within five years if it gets a license.

''This is a proposal that has public support,'' said Sarah Niebler, a political science graduate student at Lehigh who teamed up with 14 sociology students on the project. ''People are saying this is a good idea.''

Niebler and her classmates presented their findings at Lehigh on Wednesday to university students and administrators, as well as a handful of residents.

While most residents said they supported the BethWorks project, the survey found respondents had split opinions about the prospect of gambling in south Bethlehem. Forty-six percent said they support having gambling in the city, while 47 percent said they oppose it.

The random phone survey, which the students said over-represented whites, women and residents who have lived in the Lehigh Valley longer, found that most people — 88 percent — were at least somewhat aware of the plans and had followed the proposal's progress.

However, only 2 percent had participated in community meetings about the project.

''Overall, you're talking about a lot of people who know about this,'' Niebler said, adding that most people indicated they'd learned about the project through the news media and conversations with friends.

The poll also found residents appeared most concerned about the project's impact on traffic in the city, with 73 percent saying they thought it would have a negative effect.

Meanwhile, 84 percent said the project would have a positive effect on economic development.

Bethlehem Councilwoman Magdalena Szabo attended the presentation and said afterward the results verify what residents have told her about the project.

''I'm hearing that support,'' Szabo said. ''I think it is mostly because of [the prospect] of the jobs.''

Still, Szabo said her discussions with residents in her South Side neighborhood revealed that many people worry about being pushed out of the area after the development is finished.

''There is a great fear that those who live on the South Side are going to suffer from this because [newcomers] are going to take over,'' she said.

The class that conducted the poll, called Urban Communities, specializes in studying how cities have developed and change over time.

Sociology professor Judith Lasker said every year the class focuses on some aspect of south Bethlehem.

''I suspect this project will continue to develop a lot of interest,'' said Lasker, adding future classes may revisit the topic. ''So stay tuned.''

josh.drobnyk@mcall.com

610-861-3619