— Update: When this story went out around 5:30 a.m. today, I had not heard back from anybody in Bethlehem’s government. I have since received a note from an appointed official that a response will be prepared and received a phone call from an elected official. I will publish their comments later.
Sept. 24, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
** Editor’s note, this item will be forwarded to the city’s elected officials to be ignored again. Also I will continue to bring this to the attention of state and federal officials who will probably also ignore it.**
The City of Bethlehem has served as a cheerleader for the Bethlehem Co-Op, it administered a $2.9 million federal grant for the still unopened boondoggle at 250 E. Broad St., and it’s time for the city to be accountable.
The city should explain what it’s doing to keep tabs on the floundering organization, and whether there’s any chance of taxpayers getting back the $105,000 City Council voted to give this mess back in 2019.
Note, it is now 2025 and there is no Co-Op, just a social group and a fund-raising effort.
On Monday, I sent this email to Mayor J. William Reynolds, City Controller George Yasso, the members of City Council and a few others:
Sept. 22, 2025
The Bethlehem Co-Op has spent millions of dollars, including taxpayer dollars, and is now three years past its opening date. It received a $2.9 million federal grant that was administered by the City of Bethlehem.
Below is a link to my latest blog piece on the Bethlehem Boondoggle. Maybe it was a good idea, but it never deserved public funds and it is now a disaster.
It also received $100,000 from the State of Pennsylvania.
I have contacted state officials with questions about this boondoggle. The City of Bethlehem, as an administrator of the federal grant, should also look into this waste of taxpayers’ money.
I ask that the City find out what is happening and not help direct another dollar to this money pit.
Please contact me if I can be of any assistance.
****
Just in case you’re curious, nobody has responded as of 5 a.m. Wednesday. That’s two days, but I realize some of these people are busy thinking about big, cosmic issues.
Back in November 2019, City Council approved $105,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for what was then the Bethlehem Food Co-Op. Now, without ever opening, it has a new name, the Bethlehem Co-Op Market.
For some reason, in 2019 council members decided a small grocery store that was not open deserved a six-figure grant. Perhaps the vocal interest group behind the boondoggle swayed them.
Or perhaps Council’s decision to waste an hour talking about a pointless non-binding resolution to support “Medicare for All” was a dodge to put us all to sleep before the Co-Op vote. I was at that meeting, and it was a good example of everything that is wrong with local government, delving into nonsense while real city business had to wait.
Note, six members of that council were also members of the Co-Op. Members will receive extra breaks if and when this boondoggle ever opens, while taxpayers who subsidized this nonsense won’t.
Council’s legal adviser did tell them they could vote on the issue without conflict based on the minimal amount of potential benefit they would receive.
The composition of Council has changed since 2019, but some of them are still around. Then-council member J. William Reynolds is now mayor.
Council approved the grant 7-0 on that November night. Here is a link to that night’s agenda and meeting minutes. There are several mentions of the Co-Op, with the real action starting on page 37.
There is no better time to start looking into where the money went. If the Co-Op “goes down in flames,” as one board candidate last week conceded may happen, it may be too late.
It’s time for the City of Bethlehem to admit its mistakes, dig into the numbers and get some answers. The taxpayers deserve nothing less.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
2 thoughts on “The City of Bethlehem Owes Taxpayers an Explanation and Apology for Its Support of the Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle (Update 2)”