An hour-long debate between challenger Grace Crampsie-Smith and incumbent Mayor J. William Reynolds was moderated by Lehigh Valley News reporters Tom Shortell and Will Oliver at the PBS 39 studio in South Bethlehem Monday, April 28.

“There are no Republicans on the ballot which gives extra weight to what happens here in a few weeks,” said moderator Tom Shortell in opening remarks.

The primary election is May 20.

J. William Reynolds, the incumbent mayor, was elected in 2021. He is a retired Allen HS teacher. He graduated magna cum laude from Moravian College in 2003. In 2007, he became the youngest city council member in Bethlehem’s history.

Grace Crampsie-Smith was appointed to city council in 2019, then later elected and has served six years. Professionally, she is an addictions counselor and coordinator of Lehigh County Community and Early Intervention Services for those with Developmental Disabilities and Mental Illness. Crampsie-Smith’s education includes a M. Ed., Lehigh University, secondary school counseling, 2005; B. A., Bloomsburg University, sociology/social welfare, 1980.

Shortell assured the audience of about 85 in the studio and the audience of the livestreamed broadcast that the candidates had not seen the questions being asked. He asked each candidate to offer an opening statement.

Mayor Reynolds went first because, Shortell told him, he had won the coin toss.

`Reynolds thanked Channel 39 for hosting the event while expressing concern that public television was under attack by the current national administration. He said that people attending want “to hear about a future and a vision” not “driven by ego and personal grievance.”

“Between City Hall and City Council, Bethlehem Area School District, our small business community, we have found ways to reject that.”

Reynolds spoke of “getting as many people in the same room as possible to come up with the same goals and to come up with a plan.”

He credited the character of the people of Bethlehem, saying they “don’t think it’s just about them. They don’t think things are finished when they are able to define success for themselves. They want to create success for others.”

He said, “ … what’s going on in so many other places is not going on here because of you.”

Grace Crampsie-Smith opened by describing her historically Democrat family’s service and her own career as a counselor and teacher. She said her family background “instilled in me a strong sense of civic duty and strong democratic values. Ever since I was young, I have wanted to serve others.”

”I have twenty years’ experience working in three different county governments in the Commonwealth. I feel I am well qualified.”

“I’m running for mayor because Bethlehem deserves a mayor who is accessible, accountable, transparent and has strong leadership skills.”

She recalled her experience as a social worker and counselor and her experience influencing judges on behalf of her clients.

She emphasized her experience working with “limited taxpayer money for those with mental illness and developmental disabilities for infants’ and toddlers’ early intervention services.

“I know the importance of fiscal accountability, and how to fight for the taxpayers.”

The moderators opened their questions with a first round where the candidates were asked separate questions, but no opportunity was allowed for rebuttals in the first round.

Question to Crampsie-Smith: When it comes to communicating with your constituents on the issues, what is your strategy? Where is that happening?

“I feel like I communicate on regular basis,” said Crampsie-Smith. “I’m out in the community often. I’ve hit 3,500 doors so far and plan to hit every door in the city. So, I’m out there meeting the people. I put some things on social media, but for me, social media is to be enjoyed and not [be] about controversial topics [like] politics.”

Question to Reynolds. The city budget has grown by about $31 million since 2021, mostly because expenses facilitated by the American Rescue Plan. Now that that money has mostly run out, what is the future for those programs and services?

While he didn’t directly answer the question, he did describe a strong foundation for the future of programs and services.

“One of our success stories,” said Reynolds, “is that Bethlehem has never had stronger financial position than we have now. We have the best bond rating of any city in Pennsylvania. We have the lowest earned income tax, and over the past four years we have paid off about a third of our debt and over the past 10 years we have paid off over $100 million dollars [of debt]. We have more money coming in than we have debt. We are completely ready for the next five or 10 years as far as our growth between our earned income tax between our property tax grow and our job creation to be able to keep on doing the most important thing we can do which is keep our promise to our employees. Our pension fund is over 90 percent funded, and if you look at our promises that we make to our firefighters, our police officers and our City Hall workers as to our five-year and 10-year financial plans, we are well positioned to maintain our position as the best financial city in the state of Pennsylvania.”

Question to Reynolds: What about human services like housing and things along those lines?

“We have been able to leverage the dollar,” said Reynolds. “The city used to do a capital borrowing every couple of years. We haven’t done one of those in six years and we are on pace not to do one for another couple of years.”

He said the city has lowered debt, lowered interest payments and invested in parks and neighborhoods.

“But we also have our partnerships with our nonprofits. [If] you take a look at our work with Community Action [Lehigh Valley], with New Bethany [Ministries], with Bethlehem Area School District, we are able to leverage these dollars together so that we are providing some services and they are providing some services.”

Question to Crampsie-Smith: In addressing affordable housing, you often cite a statute that you champion that requires developers that get tax breaks to set aside 10 percent of their units as affordable. But the law also allows developers to skirt that obligation by paying a fee. What has been the net result of that legislation either in actual affordable units or in revenue payments to the city?

“You are speaking of the tax abatement that is available to developers in some areas,” Crampsie-Smith began. “It’s [the LERTA tax abatement] a 10-year tax break for them.” She said she had amended it so that developers could chose to make every 10th unit as affordable housing or pay a fee of $25,000 (later increased to $52,000, “much to the chagrin of the current mayor”). She said the city has received $500,000 and $700.000 through these payments to use for affordable housing projects. She did not specify the projects.

Question to Reynolds: Notices on homeless encampments along the Lehigh River led some to believe a sweep was imminent. There is a safety issue for the people in those encampments and those who use the tow path for recreation. What is your administration’s policy on the camps along the Lehigh?

Reynolds said the city health department, social workers and police department meet the homeless where they are and talk to them, and provide different services as far as what housing is available.

“We are not sweeping anybody. We are not cleaning anybody out. On a daily basis, we are trying to help people. We are not in the business of moving problems; we are in the business of solving problems. There are things that we can do today to help people, but there are also long-term planning that we are able to do. Between our community connections program, the Lehigh Council of Churches, with New Bethany [Ministries] the Community Action [Committee] we are trying to help people not just find a place to sleep tonight but be able to find a stable place that they are going to be able to sleep for the next five, 10, 15 years.

“We are down there every day trying to improve their quality of life. Homelessness is now a permanent state for people. We truly believe that it is our responsibility to step up. We would like other people to step up in the Lehigh Valley so that it is not just the City of Bethlehem, the City of Allentown and the City of Easton doing this. We are doing our part, and we will continue to do our part with the coalition that we have built to help people get up and find a safer place to live.”

Question to Crampsie-Smith: You have criticized the Reynolds administration for over relying on paid consultants and studies. What studies or projects would you end if you are elected?

“We spent almost a million dollars on consultants primarily just for housing,” said Crampsie-Smith. She said she worked with New York University in a housing solutions workshop and had taken ideas to a task force she started with developers.

“We developed recommendations from that task force for free. The Lehigh Valley Regional Housing Advisory Board also came and presented recommendations to [city] council on how to use ARPA money for housing for free. I didn’t feel there was a need to hire so many consultants to see what we need to do about housing.

“Here we are years later. We have nothing. We have no shovel in the ground. We have no homeless shelter. I would have relied on the expertise of those with expertise in the field of housing. I worked 40 years with people who were homeless. I know what we need to do. It’s not an easy solution. It’s a multi-systemic approach. But we need to work with the local people that are there every day working with these folks.”

Question to Reynolds: You’ve made housing one of the cornerstones of your first term in office, but when it comes to affordable housing, there is very little to find. With three and half years in, what do you have to show for your efforts?

`“The best affordable housing strategy is keeping people in their homes,” Reynolds said. “It is much easier and [more]cost effective to keep people in their homes. Our healthy homes [program] and rehab programs have helped almost 200 families keep their homes over the past couple of years. We have worked with Community Action [Lehigh Valley] to provide first-time homebuyers classes. We have assistance programs to help with down payments. We have tenant advocates. We have also worked with New Bethany [Ministries] to help people stabilize their rental situation.

“We are working on building over 500 units using tax credits. You don’t do 30, 40, 50 million [dollar] projects overnight. And you also don’t just go to the private sector and state and federal governments and say, ‘Give us over $40 million.’ You need to be able to come up with a sophisticated plan. Criticisms of our housing isn’t [sic] criticisms of me. It’s [sic] criticisms of Community Action, of New Bethany, of Bethlehem Area School District, of City Hall, all the different city employees. We have almost 40,000 people who participate in our housing plan, so criticizing what we are doing on housing is not directed toward me. It’s directed towards all of the coalition of people within the city, and 1 that have been working on housing successfully.

The moderators then shifted to a second round of questions were rebuttals were allowed.

Question to Crampsie-Smith: In 2024 the city raised taxes 2.6 percent and the rate went up 8 percent, a total of about 50 to 60 bucks more for the average resident. And taxes held steady this year. What assurances or insight can you give us about what’s in store for next year?

“In 2024 I was the only person on city council who voted against a tax increase,” Crampsie-Smith said. “The reason was that Mayor Reynolds started his presentation by saying we were in the best financial position ever. [However], we had $35 million to spend ARPA [American Recovery Plan] money. As mayor, I would never raise taxes when we have $35 million in ARPA money. If I don’t have to raise taxes, I certainly will not. However, I will never lie and say I won’t ever, ever raise taxes because that’s just not possible. Any politician that says that, it’s just false. Right now, we are in good financial position. Like I said, I voted against that tax increase, and I will do everything in my power to not have a tax increase.”

Question to Reynolds: Will there be a tax increase next year and why or why not?

“There will not,” Reynolds said. “But I want to get back to that. We spent money, but it was almost unanimous on city council to hire four new paramedics. That reduced response time by 20 percent and it saved lives. There is a difference between onetime revenues and sustainable revenues. No responsible leader is going to look at people in their public safety department and say, ‘We have money this year, but we may not have money next year. The plan from the beginning was to spend those ARPA dollars on onetime expenditures. When you’re talking about public safety, it has to be sustainable. Going into next year, we are in the best financial position we have ever been in.”

Crampsie-Smith responded: “My confusion on this issue is this: in 2020 our budget got rid of four firefighter positions. I amended it to keep them on. I am all about public safety, but no one supported me including Mayor Reynolds. Hiring those EMS positions, which I am all for, is great, but raising taxes for one year is not going to cover the sustainable expenses of having those four positions under our employment for 20 or 30 years. And that’s the argument I got when I tried to not have those four firefighters removed from the 2020 budget.”

“The Washington equation is to say no and let someone else figure out the problem,” Reynolds said. “The councilwoman had two years to come up with a different way to pay for those paramedics, and she didn’t even offer an amendment.”

Question to Reynolds: Studies have shown that the average Bethlehem resident can’t afford rent costing much more than about $1,700 a month. And that’s well out of the price range for some. Yet hundreds of new luxury apartments are entering the market for far more than that. What would you say to residents who question the benefit of these luxury apartments in an affordable housing crisis?

“Affordable housing is a countrywide problem,” Reynolds said. “We have several problems in the City of Bethlehem as far as trying to solve it. There’s not a lot of low-hanging fruit. It’s an all-of-the-above strategy. You look at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s report of housing, we are tens of thousands of units short at every single level. So we are working on both adding units that are market rate but also adding units that are affordable and attainable. We are also working on getting units that are affordable for a teacher making $50,000 a year. Our problem in the Lehigh Valley is that we do not have enough housing.

“Some of the councilwoman’s ideas are positive ones that help. This isn’t competition about who has the best idea about housing. It’s how do we raise this issue to people across the Lehigh Valley to be able to work it like how do we add more units? But in the City of Bethlehem, we also have a unique problem. There is [sic] not a lot of places to build. We have worked to be market participants, to build affordable and attainable housing, but we also have to work with the private sector. The honest answer is if you own a piece of property and you want to build something, the government can’t say no. We are lying if we are trying to pretend that we can tell you what to build. We need to understand how all the pieces go in order to add more housing.”

Question to Crampsie-Smith: Councilwoman, how can the city address the affordable housing shortage and help create affordable units?

“One of the first things we need to do is preserve the affordable housing that exists now,” Crampsie-Smith said. “For example, two weeks ago we voted on a new development at New, Garrison and North Street which entailed demolishing single-family homes that provide 15 units of affordable rentals at this time. It was approved. I voted against it. Now that means there are going to be 15 to 30 people out on the street because those affordable units are gone, and we are going to have 75 apartment units built on that land and most likely they are not going to be affordable. I worked with those developers, I sat down with those developers, I ask them ‘Can we do affordable? Can we do more owner-occupied?” We definitely [more owner-occupied apartments] in this city. Eighty-seven percent of development in the last seven years has been rental properties only. We need more owner-occupied [units].”

Question to Crampsie-Smith: This is a primary election and both you and Mr. Reynolds are seeking the Democratic Party nomination. Many pundits say that the Democrats have lost their way and are leaning so far left that they are out of touch. How do you describe your democratic ideology? Progressive? Liberal? Blue dog? What kind of Democrat are you?

“ I’m a mixed batch when it comes to what kind of Democrat I am,” Crampsie-Smith said. “I think I’m like JFK in some ways, and FDR in other ways. Fiscally, I’m very pragmatic. I grew up poor. I’ve been poor throughout my life, so I’m very fiscally pragmatic especially when it comes to spending taxpayer money.

“Socially, I’m much more progressive. I’ve worked 40 years in serving others in addiction, mental health, developmental disabilities and counseling. I wouldn’t have done unless I cared about others. I’m progressive socially.”

Question for Reynolds: How would you describe your ideology as a Democrat?

“The party’s got to be the party that helps people [who] don’t feel like we are helping people,” Reynolds said. I’m an honest Democrat. One of the things that we have is that we have brought positivity to City Hall. We’ve brought coalition building. People get way too invested in left, right and middle and so and so forth. People want to know what your plan is to be able to help people out. Are you going to build parks? Are you going to support public safety? Are you going to make the streets safer? What you going to do to move people away from the negativity that dominates in 2025?

“That’s about getting out there and finding ways to make people believe. We don’t have residents in the City of Bethlehem. We have believers and because of that people show up and people want to be a part of success. As a party, we’ve gotten way to into arguing what our label is and away from how you help people. I like to say you can pick the solution, you can pick the process, but you can’t pick both. We need to be the party that delivers on the solutions.”

Crampsie-Smith offered a rebuttal. “I know with this campaign I’m being accused of being a ‘fake dem’ and I want to clarify that. Some within my opponent’s campaign have been saying that. I want to say I’ve been a strong Democrat all of my life. Many of my family members have been elected officials. I really take offense at being called a ‘fake dem.’ For anyone to say that I’m a f’ake dem,’ that’s very upsetting.”

“I have certainly not called you a fake Democrat,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know anyone that called anybody a fake Democrat. The Democrats that I know are thinking about how we respond to Donald Trump and how do we get things done. Not how we name call. It’s not eighth grade. That’s not what I’m about and it’s not how we created all this progress in the city.”

We end our printed coverage here. Please visit our website for complete coverage of the debate.