By Daryl Nerl of the Morning Call

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan said Thursday that he plans to hire four additional police officers in 2009, a proposal he hopes can benefit from a $1 million crime-fighting initiative proposed last week by Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham.

At his annual state of the city address, Callahan said his proposed new hires would bring the number of Bethlehem police officers to 158, an all-time high.

"There is no more important indicator for a city's livability and ability to attract more economic growth than safety," Callahan told a group of about 200 people, including Cunningham, who gathered at the Comfort Suites Hotel in south Bethlehem for the Mayor's Annual Breakfast.

"No pressure, Don," Callahan joked, after saying he planned to ask for some of the $1 million in county money the former Bethlehem mayor said he wants to dedicate to local municipalities to hire more police.

According to Callahan, Bethlehem already has been growing safer, with violent crime declining 8 percent in 2007 and overall crime dropping by 6 percent from 2006.

"We are a fiscally healthy city that is getting healthier," Callahan concluded. "We are an improved city that is continuously improving. We are a growing city that is growing greener. We are the safest city, getting safer. In short, we are the best, getting better."

Councilman Gordon Mowrer, who was among those in attendance, said he enjoyed that conclusion and the mayor's sense of optimism, though the city's total debt load remains a concern to him. The mayor's desire to hire more police prompted Mowrer to ask a broader societal question: "If we just keep adding more police and more jails, what does that do to solve our problems? Where are we going with all that?"

Callahan cited crime statistics and policing in the context of promoting the city's readiness for the Sands BethWorks slots casino that is projected to open on former Bethlehem Steel land in about 16 months.

"Just yesterday, a longtime city resident walked up to me and asked simply, "Are we ready?' It's a question I've asked myself," Callahan said. "This simple question sums up the challenge we have before us as a city government. And the answer is, yes, we are ready because we are aware of the work that needs to be done and we are prepared to meet the needs that this change will bring."

Development and rapid growth in the city was a recurring theme in Callahan's speech, which was accompanied by computer-generated visual aids.

"Bethlehem is the fastest-growing, most prosperous midsized city in Pennsylvania," Callahan said. "Over the last four years we have seen a $91 million increase in our tax base, $30 million last year alone."

As he delivered that line, a graph appeared behind him that showed the city's increasing real estate valuations since 2003 -- an accelerating and escalating upward line. "That looks like a chart from a township," said Callahan, drawing laughter from the audience.

The biggest applause line came when the mayor announced that "we will close on the south Bethlehem greenway in the weeks ahead." The closing on the purchase of roughly 1.8 acres of land, a 3.5-mile linear stretch of former railroad bed the city plans to turn into a walking trail and park, has been delayed several times since last year because of last-minute surveying and engineering.

Callahan also mentioned plans to conduct a citywide parking master plan to assess Bethlehem's increasing needs, particularly expanding needs at the south end of Main Street near the Hotel Bethlehem, the Moravian Book Shop and an expanding Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus of Moravian College.

daryl.nerl@mcall.com

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