· Mayor
· History
· Parks & Recreation
· City Council
· Recycling
· Neighborhood
Programs
· City Services Index
· News Releases
· Health Bureau
· Police
· Library
· Sister City
· Water and Sewer
· Leaf Collection
· Event Calendar
· Contact City Hall

· BEDCO
· Properties

· Welcome
· Attractions
· Shopping
· Lodging
· Dining
· History
· Directions
· Contact Us
· Regional Links

Bethlehem's Spirit of Industry
- A message on economic development.

By Mayor Don Cunningham

The past is prologue, William Shakespeare once wrote. He wasn't speaking just then of the business world, although he knew a thing or two about business - after all, he was the most commercially successful playwright of his era.

But Shakespeare's aphorism holds an important lesson for those considering the economic future of Bethlehem. To understand the future of business in our city and why Bethlehem remains a great place to do business, we have to understand the past.

And the past teaches us that the residents of Bethlehem have always had an unabashed appreciation for the economic realities of the world. From the region's earliest settlers to the current generation, the people of the Lehigh Valley have thrived economically through a rugged spirit of industry.

The Moravian pioneers who founded Bethlehem and constructed the country's first industrial waterworks had that spirit. The thousands of workers who built the international industrial giant of Bethlehem Steel had it, too. And so did the visionary business people who, more than a quarter-century ago, foresaw the modern business park boom and prepared Bethlehem and the greater Lehigh Valley for economic diversification.

Today Bethlehem's spirit of industry remains strong. The city has successfully weathered major economic changes in the past three decades, moving from an economy based on one large corporation to a more diversified and flexible economic foundation. The city's economy is strong and stable - despite the loss of thousands of high-paying industrial manufacturing jobs in the last 30 years.

This economic transformation did not happen by chance or accident. Bethlehem's business and government leaders have long made a priority of economic development. There is a basic understanding in Bethlehem that this city's high quality of life has been, and will continue to be, based on a flourishing economy and a steady job market.

Bethlehem has always been a place where people live and work - a place where you can both support and raise a family. Bethlehem is not a bedroom community, where people choose to live but not to work. Nor is it just a tourist destination, where the economy is based on the influx of transient visitors. There's nothing wrong with either type of community. But Bethlehem is different - Bethlehem is, was, and will continue to be a place where good jobs and good neighborhoods make people want to put down roots.

Bethlehem's greatest asset is its people - their skills and talents, their work ethic, their spirit of community, the neighborhoods they have built, the quality of life they have preserved. Through the years, through vast economic and cultural changes, the people of Bethlehem have made this city a good place to live and work and have prepared it well for the economy of the 21st century.