Mayor William Reynolds stood before a morning audience of 400-plus community leaders and businesspeople surrounded by banner flags, balloons and big screens. He exhorted unity and the American dream, calling upon past generations to shine their ghostly examples upon a dark and winding road toward the future.

Guests at ArtsQuest Steelstacks dined on blueberry parfait and spinach-feta quiche, and took home neat little boxes of swag. Municipal employees told stories of their family heritage, dreams still being fulfilled in the great Christmas City, while school kids spoke wistfully of opportunities to come, folk singer Dave Fry led a sing-along of “This Land is Your Land,” and Reynolds waved triumphantly from the stage to an awkwardly misplaced cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s classic protest anthem “Fortunate Son.”

Appearances to the contrary, this was not a campaign event, but the Lehigh Valley Chamber-sponsored State of the City address April 8, themed to coincide with the country’s 250th birthday celebration this summer.

The mayor and his staff did share plenty of news – primarily through comparison with recent history to show where the city has been and where it’s going.

Housing, jobs and infrastructure are all improved, buoyed by the efforts of previous mayors to overcome the collapse of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and neighborhoods, Reynolds said, can buck trends of increasing impersonality through his “40 in 10” initiative, which seeks to refurbish or improve every public park in the city over the next decade.

“We’re not where we were 30 years ago,” Reynolds said, citing rising property values and other indicators of improved stability. “Without working with so many people in the private sector, we would not be where we are today. The financial picture is nearly unmatched by any mid-sized city not only in Pennsylvania but across America.”

Decades ago Bethlehem was borrowing heavily to pay landfill and pension fees, piling up hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, but today it has the highest bond rating among the top 10 cities in the commonwealth and the administration is now able to do what any municipality wishes to do – invest in capital with cash.

“It’s important to look at what happened over 30 years to allow us to understand where we are now.” He said, “The story is not an easy one, and story of America is never complete.”

Director of Community and Economic Development Laura Collins told the audience the city has renewed strength, with construction permits more than quadrupling in just a year, $200 million in investments in 2025 and 10,000 new jobs since 2000. Those jobs are in management, business, the arts and sciences, service industries, transportation, health care and education, and other desirable fields.

The city issued 150 new business permits in 2025.

Deputy Director of Community Development Sarah Satullo described a challenging housing environment and what the city is doing to alleviate it. This includes hundreds of new units in Pembroke and blighted properties on the Southside getting refurbished into multiunit dwellings.

Satullo said public acceptance is key to housing expansion. “Instead of fighting new housing advocate for it… Meeting this moment will require all of us.”

Reynolds was adamant that his parks plan would improve the city and resident morale in a time of loneliness and ever-present technology. “We’re connected to each other. Our futures are tied to each other. [Parks] are for everyone, whether you’ve been here for a week or if you’ve been here for 50 years. They are a place for us to share, and a place for us to build connections.”

He announced Bernie Fritz in the Northeast, Madison Park on the Southside and Clearview Park on the Westside are the first batch, along with a master plan for Sand Island. “What we’re going to do is reach out and ask people what they are looking for within their parks. And we want them to come and we want them to see things are getting done and have pride.

“Even if it’s not your park - not the one in your neighborhood, it’s a public space... which is what we need. A big problem we have in this country is we don’t feel connected, because we don’t share things. We share the same internet provider and that’s about it. We need to bring people together and have shared experiences and it starts in city hall.

“Shared spaces, shared experiences.”