(More Than) 5 Things to Know This Week

Happy Monday, Bethlehem!

How about these first few days of spring? I’m shivering.

1. That great 70-plus degree day we got on Friday, which gave everyone (myself included) a case of spring fever, was just a tease. Now, it looks as if we’re in for a week filled with sleet and snow. At least, the National Weather Service is saying there won’t be much in the way of accumulation.

Enjoy that high of 56 degrees today, though, because the seven day forecast I’m looking at says it will be considerably colder than that through next weekend.

Someone, bring me the head of Ed Hanna!

2. The clouds over are going to be a lot thicker than everywhere else in Bethlehem this week. Presumably, Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph J. Roy and finance chief Stacy Gober, will be hard at work considering millions of dollars in cuts to the district’s next budget.

It turns out that slashes the state education subsidy far more than they had previously imagined. Roy was quoted in published reports last week that the cuts that will have to be “deep and far-reaching.” Sounds like this will be the third consecutive year in which there will be layoffs at BASD.

We should know more details after Thursday night when the school board meets for a budget workshop, which has been moved from Sycamore Street to the , the normal spot for monthly regular board meetings. That is probably in anticipation of a large showing from teachers, many of whom could be laid off at year’s end.

3. The school board will have its regular meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at East Hills, during which they are expected to give final approval to refinance $42 million of its more than $200 million in long-term debt. This new loan is the result of the continuing fallout from the district’s past reliance on variable rate interest debt, interest rate swaps and the near-collapse of the world banking industry back in 2008.

4. In other municipal meeting news, some members of City Council will gather late this afternoon to take a guided tour of the SteelStacks redevelopment site in South Bethlehem, where ArtsQuest is developing a new arts and entertainment complex in the shadow of the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnace. is paying for the project’s infrastructure.

Also tonight, the city’s Historic Conservation District Board meets at 7 p.m. in the Among the items on the agenda is a plan to raze a building at 13 W. Morton St. to make way for a new mixed-use building with two commercial spaces and two apartments.

The Bethlehem Township Commissioners are also scheduled to meet tonight. We have no idea what’s on the agenda, since, as of this posting, none was posted on the township website. The Lehigh County Commissioners are scheduled to meet Wednesday night.

5. In happier school-related news, the 25^th annual regional final of the Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lipkin Theatre at in Bethlehem Township. The annual event is sponsored by our friends at The Express-Times and lehighvalleylive.com.

Good luck to all the participating children, especially Alexis Davis, an 8^th grader at East Hills Middle School, who is Bethlehem’s lone representative.

6. This week in road maintenance, PennDOT has scheduled pothole filling along Route 412, from Daly Avenue to Silvex Road. Expect lane restrictions and delays during daytime hours all week.

There could be some nighttime delays and lane restrictions along Easton Avenue from the city line to Willow Park Road as the Bethlehem Township Municipal Authority begins installing a new sanitary sewer line.

Route 22 will also be getting some attention from sweepers, pothole patchers and bridge inspectors all through the Bethlehem area during daytime hours all week. Expect lane restrictions and delays.

Construction at the southern end of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge continues, meaning a continued state of traffic congestion on the bridge, Third Street and Brodhead Avenue.

Have a great week!