Bethlehem Steel may have closed its Lackawanna plant 33-years ago, but the city and Albany are still groping for a way to clean and develop the site.
There was so much information provided Wednesday night about economic development in the former Steel City, at least one speaker says she needed some time to think about it all. The meeting in St. Anthony Church dealt with cleanup, economic development on the steel plant site and potential Brownfield Opportunity Areas across the street.
"Every city that I have been working in wants some kind of connectivity, not just by car," consultant Daniel Riker told the gathering.
"A lot of cars travel through here every single day. How do we take advantage of those people traveling through the city, in the city?"
Erie County wants to put a connecting bike path along Route 5, potentially connecting to a bike path along Smokes Creek to Lake Erie. The development plan for the steel plant calls for business parks off the highway. The BOA plan covers the steel plant and the First Ward all the way to the railroad corridor, potentially with major development tax breaks.
