Residents and service providers clash with city over Norfolk Southern encampment clearing; administration cites housing connections

Dozens of residents, volunteers and service providers described a chaotic, cold-day clearing of homeless encampments near Sand Island and Fahey Bridge during public comment at Bethlehem’s Dec. 8 city council meeting.

"This was a forcible relocation of many people’s lives," said Dominic Trabasi, who said he attended the clearing and thanked the city for offering some resources but warned that sweeps can be “dangerous, counterproductive, costly, and harmful” to people being relocated.

Witnesses and mutual-aid volunteers described scant help on the day of the sweep: Lee, a Bethlehem resident who said he was at the site early in the morning, said police and private security were present but few city resources were available until volunteers returned with a pickup at about 9:45 p.m. "They had no tent, they had no food, they’re starving, they’re shaking," he said, describing people moving belongings through snow and risking hypothermia.

City staff described a longer outreach effort and disputed portrayals that no services were…