Brown and White Vol. 130 no. 14

              charted the available
parking in the study area during
this time.
They found, during this time
period, only 44 percent of the 894
on- and off-street parking spaces
were occupied.
The demand for parking for the
employees of the new St. Luke’s
building and Lehigh is 180 spots.
Including tenants, the demand is
only 300 parking spots.
The Parking Authority is build-ing
the garage, despite the surplus
of spots, for this possible future
development which has not yet been
planned or approved by the City
of Bethlehem. The remaining 326
spots would be left for future devel-opment,
said Tim Tracy, the exec-utive
vice president at DESMAN.
“Part of what this project is
an investment in the city for the
future,” Tracy said. “Whether it
is development that could occur
today, tomorrow, next week,
but hopefully we will be
able to support the
redevelopment, the
repurposing, the
reoccupancy of
a lot of existing
building . . . for
years to come.”
Some Bethlehem
residents and business
owners recognize a need for
more parking in both the North
and South sides, as many parking
lots for places such as Steel Stacks
and the Banana Factory are always
full.
Kassie Hilgert, the president
and CEO of ArtsQuest, said she
supports the construction of the
garage.
“It would be fantastic to get people
to go into parking decks throughout
the South Side so they have to
walk, perhaps, over to Steel Stacks,
explore some other shops and mer-chants
along the way, much like
we had done with Musikfest on the
North Side,” she said.
Holland, however, believes
spending taxpayer’s money on
development that is not, for the
most part, approved, would be a
waste. Instead, she says the city
needs to become more walkable
so people feel comfortable walking
longer distances to their destina-
The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 14
Tuesday, April 5, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Kraft facility shutdown to leave locals unemployed
Community split on South Side parking garage
By DANIELLE BETTERMANN
Associate News Editor
The plans to build a parking
garage in South Bethlehem have
been approved, and construction is
scheduled to begin this month.
The 626-space, six-story garage
will cost $17.7 million and will be
constructed at the intersection of
New Street and Graham Place. It
will be built simultaneously with a
new building by developer Dennis
Benner, which will house medical
offices for St. Luke’s University
Health Network and advancement
offices for Lehigh. With the new
building, 29 percent of the spots
will be set aside for it its employ-ees.
The Bethlehem Parking
Authority has received both neg-ative
and positive comments from
the community in response to the
parking garage.
Breena Holland, an associate pro-fessor
of political science at Lehigh
and member of the Environmental
Initiative, an interdisciplinary
By EMILIE MOY
Special to the B&W
In July 2015, Kraft Foods Group
Inc. announced its plans to merge
with H.J. Heinz Co., creating the
third-largest food and beverage com-pany
in the United States. The man-ufacturers
of household staples such
as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and
Heinz Ketchup, are targeting and
shutting down facilities nationwide
in an effort to consolidate production
and cut costs.
With this decision, The Kraft
Heinz Co. has determined the fate
of 2,600 employees. Among them are
the 400 workers in Upper Macungie
who will be left unemployed by the
end of 2016.
“It’s tough,” said Michael Mullen,
the senior vice president of Kraft
Heinz Co. “At the same time, we
regret the impact our decision will
have on employees and the Upper
Macungie community. We know that
communities such as those, where
Kraft Heinz is the major employer,
will be especially impacted by our
decision.”
Lehigh Valley’s facility is one of
seven Kraft manufacturing plants in
the nation that will be closing. For
over four decades, Upper Macungie
has been producing household favor-ites
such as Lunchables for on-the-go
meals, Kraft cheese slices to accom-pany
hamburgers and Grey Poupon
mustard to dress up sandwiches.
More recently, the local plant began
manufacturing the increasingly pop-ular
single-serve coffee pods, which
some workers believed could prevent
the plant from being acquired with
the merger because Heinz lacks cof-fee
products.
However, Lehigh Valley residents
have become familiar with news
of local businesses closing in the
last four years. Last September,
A&H Sportswear Co. Inc. closed its
swimsuit manufacturing facility in
Nazareth Township putting 93 out
of work. Over the last year, Merck’s
pharmaceutical facility closed in
Hanover Township leaving 156 peo-ple
unemployed, and the closure of
the Walgreens distribution center
in Hanover left 400 out of the job
market.
See KRAFT Page 3
program focused on the interac-tion
between humans and nature,
believes the parking garage
is a waste of money because
there is little to no demand
for extra parking on the
South Side.
“It’s a solution for a problem
that does not yet exist,” she
said, “and if it existed it would be
the wrong solution, at least based
on the data that we have so far.”
There is a surplus of parking in
the area and minimal need for the
garage at this time. The Parking
Authority says it is planning for
future development.
The data to which Holland refers
is from a Parking Demand and
Feasibility Study by DESMAN
Design Management for Bethlehem
Parking Authority. DESMAN stud-ied
the parking demand in a specif-ic
study area, which included parts
of both on- and off-campus areas.
The study defined the peak
demand time to be 1 p.m. and
See GARAGE Page 2
The Lehigh Valley Hispanic Center
For Bennie Khamneh, there is
no better feeling than changing
someone’s life, no matter how
small the change. Knowing she
could help one person find a job,
feed their family in the middle
of a food desert and regain their
independence was all Khamneh
needed to join the Hispanic
Center Lehigh Valley as the food
pantry and community resource
coordinator.
“They drive me crazy, but I love
it,” she said.
The Hispanic Center in South
Bethlehem is one of several local
organizations that have played a
vital role in helping residents find
middle class jobs that are needed
to maintain Lehigh Valley’s eco-nomic
growth. Whether residents
have recently lost their job or they
know someone who needs help
finding employment, the Hispanic See CENTER Page 3
Center has built a community
simply by word of mouth.
The center has formed strong
relationships with local temp
agencies such as Career Link,
CACBB and the Sands Casino,
giving clients the opportunity to
meet with potential employers at
job fairs. During the process of
finding employment, the center
helps clients connect with resourc-es
they need sustain health bene-fits,
apply for food stamps and
seek housing.
Fernanda Ferolie, the center’s
community resource coordinator,
believes most of the unemploy-ment
in the local area is due to
a language barrier and lack of
transportation access. For many
local residents who are unable
to afford a car, getting from
Bethlehem to the warehouses on
Route 100 every day is nearly
impossible.
By EMILIE MOY
Special to the B&W
Courtesy of
Bethlehem Parking Authority
Courtesy of Bethlehem Parking Authority