The Quality and Character of a Sustainable Lehigh Valley
By Zane Kratzer
This is a critical time for the Lehigh Valley, a time for the community to become active in determining the way we
develop the cities of Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the surrounding landscapes of the Valley. The fact that
growth and development is happening all around us is not the major issue, it has been happening for decades. It
is the nature by which these things are happening that is the issue. We are experiencing a form of growth which,
for lack of a better term, is not “locally grown”.
Think for a moment, about the development trends we are starting to see in our cities. Developers from New
Jersey are coming to the Lehigh Valley because property is cheaper here and there is a vast amount of space just
waiting to be developed. They have already built up everything in their densely populated state, now they are
coming to make a profit off of our land. Resident commuters to New York and North Jersey are growing in number.
Once again, cheaper property means many more opportunities for residential development. Even the threat of
casino development now in Bethlehem, composed of a partnership between a New York-based development firm
and a Las Vegas-based casino corporation, has reminded us that maybe this land really isn’t our land. Do we
really want to leave the development of our precious community-based urban districts to the same minds and
hands that have developed cities like Newark, Trenton and Camden?
So why should this even concern us to begin with? Commercial development in the hands of non-local decision
makers can create many dilemmas for the future of our region. Non-locally owned development teams, without
the benefit of the community in mind, are more likely to promote commercial development that prefers non-locally
owned chain stores over locally-owned businesses. In essence, Starbuck’s beats out the Deja Brew or the Coffee
Works for a prime location. Unfortunately, because we have become comfortable with this type of development
we forfeit the charm of locally-owned businesses and its natural effects on producing a unique community, the
types of places where everybody knows your name. Doesn’t this make us feel more American? The Starbucks
makes us feel like our small city has finally made it on the map. It is a symbol of American urban culture. But our
money, instead of going to our local community members, is filtered up the chain of Starbucks branches and
reinvested into building other Starbucks branches in other cities. (Not to pick on Starbucks here for any reason,
but it just seems like the most appropriate example.)
In the end, this is really an import business. A product is shipped in from outside, we exchange money for
that product, and watch their ship return to the shores of corporate gain. Not to give an economics lesson here,
but a sustainable local business economy must be able to balance its import and export economies. Export
businesses, or industries, are services or products created locally which people from the outside come in to spend
money on. Money spent at local businesses gets filtered within the community. It’s called the multiplier effect,
and it allows money to go a lot further. Joe gets his hair cut down the street from Suzy, who goes around the
corner to Bill’s to get a cup of coffee, Bill goes to his neighbor’s store to buy a bike for his kid. That initial dollar has
not left the community, it has just circulated.
The current path of development in the Lehigh Valley is following a very different pattern. When the time is ripe
for development, a group of local elites decide on the critical aspects of growth. Housing developments are built
on the outskirts of town where land is plentiful. When enough people relocate to the newly established housing,
the commercial developers are close behind to cash in on the communities increased spending power. They bring
with them the strip malls, seas of endless parking lots and the need to develop increased transportation systems
to handle the influx of vehicles on the road. The once unique business districts of downtown cities lose out.
Entertainment is directed away from town centers to newly developed commercial districts. The problem is that
most commercial districts are filled with chain stores and non-locally owned businesses, another example of how
money is redistributed out of the community into the hands of non-local owners. This statement is not meant to
breed a fear and distrust of all that is not locally grown, but it is meant to remind us that non-locals are obviously
not faced with the same questions and challenges as residents living in the Lehigh Valley. It is only natural that
our priorities will vary from time to time.
The important thing to remember is that the Lehigh Valley still has character. Both Easton and Bethlehem have
very unique downtown districts, successful businesses, beautiful town centers, undeveloped land and sustainable
transportation systems. People are developing here because we have a lot to offer, but if the residents of our
communities do not get involved in the future of our area we will be become a “West Jersey”, with an endless sea
of parking lots, traffic jams and struggling downtown business districts. Now is a crucial time for the residents of
Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the surrounding areas to become active in the decision-making process of the
region. The next time you see commercial development happening in your business district, start to ask some key
questions. What type of business is going in here? If it is a chain store, are there any other alternatives from
local business entrepreneurs? What are the zoning restrictions for this space? Are there any community meetings
being organized to this discuss this new development?
New residents moving here from the urban landscape of New York and North Jersey buy homes here because it
is cheaper, but a majority of their lives will still be where they work, in the city. They will be hard pressed to be
involved in community affairs in the Valley and to consider what is good and sustainable for the region. That job is
up to the hands of the local community members, the church organizations, the coffee-shop crowds, the artists,
the musicians, the homeowners, the small business owners and especially the readers and writers of the
Irregular. Write to the Irregular about these issues. Discuss the positives and negatives of the different types of
development you see around you. (Discuss whether growth should even be a goal for this region??) How do we
define successful growth? Are we talking about population growth, or are we talking about the growth of a
sustainable local economy?
There are many questions to be raised, and they have to be raised now, before it’s too late. The problem with
the development plan in Bethlehem is not that they are building a casino, but that for ten years, no local investors
came to the table with a vision for the Bethlehem Steel site. It wasn’t until a development team from New York
came to the table and put together a plan that action began. Now the community is scrambling around trying to
decide what to do. But this would be a whole different story had the community held the cards in their own hands
to begin with.
We need to support a Lehigh Valley where the community holds the cards. Where important land use
decisions are being made by the homeowners who live and work here, the business owners who have invested all
their time and energy into the future of this region, the teachers who educate our next generation. Developers
speak of community too. Their language is no different from ours, but the picture they envision can be drastically
different. Profit is not the key to success for the Lehigh Valley, but sustainability, creativity, quality and character.
You can become more involved in the planning of your town, by contacting your local planning office, The Planning
Staff and Easton Planning Commissioners can be reached: Telephone: 610.250.6721; Fax: 610.250.6607; e-mail:
planning@easton-pa.gov. The Bethlehem Planning office can be reached at 610.865.7088. For a more grass roots
approach, you can contact the Alliance for Sustainable Communities, Lehigh Valley at www.sustainlv.org.
Zane Kratzer is a resident of Bethlehem who is currently attending Lehigh University for his graduate degree in
Sociology. He is mainly focused on studying about different forms of urban development and its affects on
community and social ties. Before moving to the Lehigh Valley, Zane worked in Philadelphia for three years for a
non-profit community development organization which promoted neighborhood enhancement through various arts-
based initiatives.
