BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The police said it was a courtesy notice.
Others said it brought their fears to life.
Several locals addressed Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday, advocating for their friends who are experiencing homelessness and live in tents along the D&L Trail.
They said these neighbors are hesitant to speak publicly about their troubles.
No sweeps, officials say
Several tents just east of the Minsi Trail Bridge, at an area known as Charlie’s Clearing, recently were tagged with notices citing Bethlehem City Ordinance 941.02(a)(4).
The notes from Bethlehem Police Department said the tents and other items would need to be out of the area by Thursday, April 3, or they would be removed.
One tent even had a notice that’s typically used to mark abandoned vehicles, as well as a handwritten note that read: “You need to remove all this trash, leave the area, no tents permitted. Remove or it will be thrown away.”
Improved communications in the works
Police Chief Michelle Kott said the notices were related to complaints about the trash, but she found out about the vehicle notice only just before the meeting and would look into it further.
The city Health Bureau and other officials are working to improve communications with the affected people along the D&L, Kott said.
But there are no plans for any sweeps, and the notices were a case of miscommunication, officials said.
“The boilerplate template that gets posted is a common courtesy to folks that if we are mistaken, that the property is not abandoned, to either make notice with Community Connections or with the police department,” Kott said.
“Or the officers will go back to the same location a day or two after doing the posting to see if anybody’s around to see if they’re able to speak to anybody. They’ll speak to neighbors to see if a tent is still occupied or not.”
Benay Berger, director of nursing with the city Health Bureau and Community Connections program, said her work involves weekly outreach with the people in question, and sometimes even co-response with police in cases of a mental health crisis or an “acute social need.”
She said the services are voluntary.
Her team works closely with other community-based organizations in the area, including Lehigh Conference of Churches, Third Street Alliance, Bethlehem Emergency Shelter, Valley Youth House and New Bethany Ministries.
The city also is continuing discussions about opening a homeless shelter that would operate year-round, Community and Economic Development Director Laura Collins said.
Councilwoman Colleen Laird said the language of the notice could be rewritten to be clearer in specifying cases of abandoned property.
“I’m glad to know that we will figure out a way to make sure that the message is clear what is and is not going to happen in those spaces," Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm said.
"That we can avoid, inadvertently even, causing that experience for somebody.”
'Where do you expect them to go?'
Commenters said council could appoint a liaison or commission to provide clear messaging to the encampments, or assemble a cleaning committee to address the excess trash in the area.
“Seeing that kind of thing scares people,” resident Valerie Noonan said of the notices. “People are in really precarious situations.
“You see several tents tagged with that notice, you assume there’s going to be a sweep.”
“Seeing that kind of thing scares people. People are in really precarious situations. You see several tents tagged with that notice, you assume there’s going to be a sweep.”Bethlehem resident Valerie Noonan
Some argued that a lack of affordable housing, mental health challenges and financial instability are among the driving forces of homelessness.
“Displacement is not the solution,” Regina Padilla, of Allentown, said.
“Moving the encampment won’t solve the problem; it’ll just move it somewhere else without addressing the core issues at hand.”
Susan Jones of Bethlehem said, “If you’re moving these people from under the bridge, where do you expect them to go?”
'It's a mom thing'
Jennifer McDermott, a local mother of seven, has been delivering what she said is thousands of dollars worth of goods to the people in question, with bounds of supplies from the folks of Bethlehem, PA Blessing Boxes Facebook group.
“My natural instinct is to go in there and feed people,” McDermott said in an interview after the meeting Tuesday. “It’s a mom thing.”
She said there probably are more than 60 people along the trail from the Fahy Bridge to Freemansburg, but some people have reported upwards of 200.
“The thought of an encampment being swept is really the stuff of nightmares to me,” McDermott said.
“It’s funny that we can have a violent criminal that commits a crime goes to jail, they’re afforded all this by our government but yet we can’t take care of our own homeless.”Brian Anderson, of Freemansburg
Brian Anderson, of Freemansburg, said, “It’s funny that we can have a violent criminal that commits a crime goes to jail, they’re afforded all this by our government but yet we can’t take care of our own homeless.
“We can’t offer them any kind of security, heat, food. You might say, ‘OK, there are soup kitchens out there and shelters that help.’ Our shelters, right now, and soup kitchens are overworked.”
Another concern: nearby bathroom access.
Some of the city’s restroom facilities will open in the next couple of weeks; some were closed for winterization, according to Public Works Director Michael Alkhal.
Many of the city-owned recreation areas have public restrooms, he said, such as Saucon Park (1204 Williams St.), Bethlehem Skateplaza (1325 Steel Ave.), Rose Garden (West Union Boulevard and 8th Avenue) and Illick’s Mill (100 Illick’s Mill Road).
