Brown and White Vol. 135 no. 3

              The Brown and White Vol. 135 No. 3
Friday, September 14, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Residents react to changing cityscape Business
owners
face double
standard
By JESSICA HICKS
Editor in Chief
In the middle of Wyandotte Street
sits an invisible yet inescapable
divide — the border of the South
Bethlehem Historic District, a bar-rier
between the past and present.
The border marks a portion of
the changing city that, in some
ways, is frozen in time. However,
drivers traveling the bustling street
might be surprised to find their
windshields blurred with a golden
hue — one that is not original to
Bethlehem’s cityscape.
“If you come down Wyandotte
Street into the historic district
of Bethlehem, instead of seeing
the glow of Bethlehem’s famous
Christmas lights, you see the glow-ing
of McDonald’s neon lights tell-ing
visitors how many hamburgers
McDonald’s has sold,” said Stephen
Antalics, ’52, a South Side native
and visiting research scientist at
Lehigh. “It’s a retro disaster.”
The South Side Historic District
encompasses the area between
Wyandotte, Columbia, Hayes and
Morton Streets. The Bethlehem
McDonald’s was built in 2002 and
sits right on the edge of this distin-guished
area, which was established
to embrace the city’s architecture
from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The construction of the
McDonald’s is just one battle in
Bethlehem’s ongoing war between
historic preservation and urban
development.
As the city moves forward with
Kate Morrell/B&W Staff
The Bethlehem McDonald’s was built in 2002 and is located right outside of the
South Side historic district. Buildings inside the historic district must follow
guidelines outlined by the South Bethlehem Historic Conservation Committee.
revitalization efforts, Becky Bradley,
the executive director of the Lehigh
Valley Planning Commission, said
the community must come to a con-sensus
on its values and priorities.
“The greatest places in the world
— the places that are on our bucket
lists … tend to be places that evolve
well and balance historic charac-ter
with new development,” Bradley
said. “Any time there is change,
especially if there hasn’t been a lot
of change in that place for a while
… you’re going to have a complex
community conversation on what
that change could be.”
Within the South Side’s historic
district is New Street, which accord-ing
to the South Bethlehem Historic
Conservation Committee, has “mod-est
commercial storefront architec-ture.”
In the eyes of many Bethlehem
residents and city officials, that
By JESSICA HICKS
Editor in Chief
When he was 21 years old, Joe
D’Ambrosio opened his barber shop
in the South Bethlehem Historic
District. Now, at the age of 77, he
stands at the screen door of his
creative hair center each day and
watches for pedestrians — poten-tial
customers, as he calls them —
walking by.
Across the street, six stories of
brick and polished glass tower over
his small business. D’Ambrosio
doesn’t mind the new buildings
appearing around the city — in
fact, he thinks they are beautiful
— he said he just hasn’t felt their
impact yet.
Ever since the New Street parking
garage and Gateway at Greenway
Park office building opened earlier
this year, D’Ambrosio said he hasn’t
seen a single customer come out of
them.
“There are supposed to be feet on
the street,” D’Ambrosio said. “(The
Gateway building) was supposed to
bring customers here. I like the idea
of the building — I have nothing
against it and I think it looks good.
The buildings that were there were
a mess. But did we need a building
that big? That’s a question mark.”
Locals like Jay Sigafooz, a resi-dent
of Bethlehem Township, have
gone to Joe’s Barber Shop for as
long as they can remember.
“I’m all about the originals and
the firsts — you can never forget
and always have to respect the
firsts,” Sigafooz said. “(D’Ambrosio
is) the only one who gives out bub-blegum
to his customers.”
Like all home and business own-ers
in one of Bethlehem’s historic
districts, D’Ambrosio must follow
specific standards for the appear-ance
and makeup of his building’s
facade.
According to Bethlehem Planning
and Zoning, the Historical
Architectural Review Board assess-es
exterior changes to businesses
and residences to the north of the
Lehigh River, whereas the Historic
Commission reviews such changes
in the South Side Historic District
and Mount Airy Neighborhood
District located in West Bethlehem.
Although home and business
owners answer to different review
boards, the boards are regulated by
the same sentiment: keeping the
history of properties alive through
preservation.
Alongside his neighbors, Will
See BUSINESS Page 3
Food delivery apps launch at Lehigh
By EMMA DILLON
Assistant News Editor
Good Uncle and Tapingo, new apps
designed to quickly deliver quality
food, were introduced to campus last
week. Since their launch, over 400
students and faculty members have
downloaded Tapingo and Good Uncle
has seen 20 percent of Lehigh stu-dents
download the app.
Dylan Gans, the business develop-er
for Good Uncle, said the compa-ny’s
mission is to provide tasty and
healthy fod to college campuses. To
deliver on that mission, Good Uncle’s
Michelin star-rated chefs prepare
food in the morning in the company’s
kitchens in Delaware. Then, it is
transported to Lehigh in Good Uncle
vans, where orders are heated and
customized.
Gans said Good Uncle is different
than its competitors like Uber Eats
and Grubhub because its food-pro-duction
process is designed specif-ically
for delivery. Refrigerators
inside Good Uncle vans ensure the
quality and freshness of the food,
Alexis McGowan/B&W Staff
Several food convenience apps have launched at Lehigh, giving students new ways
to get their meals. Good Uncle vans travel to different pick-up points on campus
where students receive the meals they order through the mobile app.
while ovens keep orders warm. There
are also no delivery fees.
“Delivery is the future of food, and
we believe that in five to 10 years
50 percent of restaurants are going
to be delivery only,” Gans said. “We
need to evolve with that.”
Gans said location shouldn’t be a
limiting factor to getting great food
and colleges are an ideal place for the
company to start.
Students can order meals, snacks,
drinks and groceries through the
Good Uncle app and pick them up
at one of the nine locations around
campus, including E.W. Fairchild-
See APP Page 2
See HISTORY Page 3