BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Dinner and data occupied a packed room at the Bethlehem YMCA.
As basketball players thumped around on an upper floor, about four dozen Northside residents, business owners, community partners and city staff hunkered down to reflect on six years of neighborhood impact.
The Northside Alive initiative, originally known as Northside 2027 until a name change to its current one in 2021, among many proposed area improvements, calls for a total overhaul of Friendship Park on East North Street and a major two-way conversion for a stretch of Linden Street.
But it’s time to further update the plan and put together a new steering committee, officials said at the Thursday meeting, as a whole lot can change locally in half a decade.
“This is one of our middle housing neighborhoods, and we want to preserve that.”“This plan was developed in a different Bethlehem, at a time we were doing a blight study because we had so much blight and we were worried about high vacancy rates,” city Community Development Director Sara Satullo said.
“And obviously our housing market has shifted radically. This is one of our middle housing neighborhoods, and we want to preserve that.”
The Northside Alive work focuses on a mixed-income area with Maple Street to the east, Monocacy Creek and Mauch Chunk Road to the west, as well as Laurel Street to the north and Broad Street to the south.
Community development officials recently told City Council it’s time to renew the Northside’s designation as a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area.
That’s the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-approved title allowing for “greater flexibility in the use of federal Community Development Block Grant funding, allowing [Bethlehem] to target resources to support community revitalization,” according to city documents.
Northside Alive (1007x567, AR: 1.7760141093474426)
'Challenging,' 'expanding,' 'progressive' neighborhood
Generally, those in attendance at Northside Alive’s annual meeting Thursday said they hoped for safer, more walkable streets; stronger community events and groups; more neighborhood businesses; and better parks and cleaner public spaces.
They described the neighborhood’s most urgent housing needs to include affordable rental housing, maintaining existing housing quality and preventing displacement of long-term residents.
A “pulse check” of the room had folks describing the Northside Alive neighborhood as “challenging,” “connecting,” “diverse," “delicious,” “expanding" and “progressive,” among others.
Complaints generally included parking issues, overgrown yards and incomplete maintenance at some properties.
Friendship Park in Bethlehem (2457x1382, AR: 1.7778581765557164)The discussion was led by the urban planning firm, WRT, which also spearheaded the design of the previous Northside Alive plan.
The data shared was centered on work toward economic vitality, housing, community branding and neighborhood development, and green spaces over the past six years.
Highlights
Here are some highlights:
- Northside is majority working-age adults, ages 18-65, and over time that population remains stable, as is the case with the neighborhood’s children. A 2% rise in the senior population since 2019 could mean there are many people aging in their homes
- The neighborhood has become more diverse over time — just like the broader city — such is the case with the Hispanic population going from 26% in 2019 to 30% in 2024
- Northside has had a large renter population. From 2019-2025, the number of vacancies shrunk from almost 8% to less than 3%, indicating vigorous competition in the market and affordability challenges
- Median home price rose 32% in Northside over past six years
- Rents rising even faster, going up 35% from 2019 and 2025 across Bethlehem, while Northside went up 50% (prices not including utility costs)
- Significant increase in median incomes around the city, about 14% when adjusted for inflation. Northside saw an income increase of around 30%
- One-fifth of the population has lived in Northside for more than 20 years. “I think there’s a story here about household turnover and change that’s happening, but also a really stable and strong community,” WRT Project Manager Anastasia Osorio said.
- Increasing population of seniors and younger renters in the overall mix of the neighborhood
- 345 businesses within the Northside Alive boundary, employing 3,600 people (mostly professional services jobs and small neighborhood firms, retail spaces and restaurants; largest employers likely the local schools)
- The revamp of Friendship Park on East North Street is expected to be done in the spring, officials said
- Linden Street two-way project in the design phase, with potential completion spring of upcoming year
- Paving to come for the Monocacy Trail this spring. Trail-users will be able to start at Memorial Pool and go all the way down to the D&L Trail
- New community garden expected to open for use next spring at 52 E. Broad St.
- Bike Day at neighborhood schools, Holiday Bike giveaway and neighborhood bike rides — courtesy of the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation
- Community yoga brings out 30 people once a month.
'Democracy at its finest'
Woo Kim, principal with WRT, said the meeting’s turnout was “democracy and citizenry at its finest,” especially during an election week.
“You guys all took time to come here and participate in the outcome of your neighborhood — that’s so, so encouraging."“You guys all took time to come here and participate in the outcome of your neighborhood — that’s so, so encouraging,” Kim said.
Celina Daddario, Northside Alive neighborhood coordinator, said of WRT, “They’re familiar with the area, and they are ready to jump in and look at the future of our Northside.
“But that plan should be built with all of you and the community in Northside, so we’re going to be looking for feedback.”
Northside Alive offers a monthly newsletter to keep up with the latest happenings.
The next community meeting, in a virtual format, will highlight the city's master parks plan. It's set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12.
Northside Alive (1389x713, AR: 1.9481065918653577)
'Meeting people where they are'
Victoria Fields, 36, a local youth advocate and member of a number of community committees including Northside Alive, said she wants expanded food access, walkability and integrated community hubs for the area.
Fields is a native New Yorker and marketing consultant who’s lived in Northside for three years.
“The data definitely tracks, and I do believe that it’s super promising. It’s a strong-knit community."“The data definitely tracks, and I do believe that it’s super promising,” Fields told LehighValleyNews.com following the meeting Thursday. “It’s a strong-knit community.
“My capacity is always the youth — so anything that helps the youth and maintains the integrity of the neighborhood, I’m all for it.”
She said her daughter is set for early graduation from Liberty High School and Northampton Community College. She also has two boys who attend Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and a retired mother who lives in the neighborhood.
Regarding the Northside Alive initiative moving forward, Fields said it’s all about “getting the word out and meeting people where they are.”
