The Bethlehem Gadfly

Items

• How would you characterize the relationship between the police and the community?
• Impact of the Atlanta shooting on us?
• Councilman Reynolds: "This has got to be a completely transparent conversation"
• Cuomo mandates community/police engagement
• Community engagement has to be based on building *relationships*
• Rogue officers part of a larger system
• If you were Chief of Police, what would you do?
• The Rose Garden Farmer's Market blossoms tomorrow -- and a work party is forming: a beautiful day to feed and weed
• Starting the conversation about a "Community Engagement initiative"
• Let's start thinking about a "Community Engagement Initiative"
• More information needed on how we identify and weed out the "bad apples"
• Ever fresh thoughts from old John
• Support for community & backyard gardening should be part of a climate action plan!
• Prior civic engagement on police/race issues
• The City reminds us of the June 17 Climate Action Plan forum
• Going down Memory Lane
• Desiderata from the Chief
• I am a Bethlehem resident . . .We are contacting you again . . . I am a resident of . . . I'm writing to address . . . Now is the time . . . Will you. . . .
• Chief DiLuzio: what you saw on tv was murder, and we are out in front in regard to the kind of training people are calling for
• "the Bethlehem PD is better than most, but . . ."
• Councilmembers Reynolds and Crampsie Smith propose creating a citywide Community Engagement Initiative within our police department
• New ideas are unpopular until they aren't
• The Mayor spinning a tale of racial harmony
  I read Bethlehem Mayor Donchez’s recent op-ed in The Morning Call with dim hopes, and I was richly rewarded. He began with a quote from a white slave owner, and continued to spin a tale of racial harmony on the South Side of Bethlehem that never, ever existed except in the imagination of white people. The truth is that white people in this country are absolutely addicted to the idea of our own superiority. This addiction is a societal illness. It narrows our vision so that we can only see the world in terms of our hopes and experiences. The first step toward addiction recovery is admitting we have a problem and accepting help. Racism is rotting this country from the inside out. It had from day one, and it will until we confront it honestly. We can’t allow our white elected officials to address this moment by telling us that George Floyd’s death while in police custody was an isolated incident, that this isn’t a “race issue.” Iy most certainly is a race issue. – Sarah M. Andrew, Bethlehem
• Council voices matter
• Rarin' to go!