Dear ArtsQuest,
We are fans of the festivals your organizations puts and the arts culture it creates for our area. However, we feel that by destroying the #8 Hammer Shop Building at Bethlehem Steel you are going against your mission statement and doing a disservice to preserving the historical heritage of the Lehigh Valley. Your mission statment is "ArtsQuest is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the arts and culture in and around the greater Lehigh Valley, PA. area." Bethlehem Steel is a large part of what has shaped the culture of the Lehigh Valley. Lots of this site has already been redeveloped by the casino and other projects. It is important to maintain what remains of the site to preserve an important part of the industrial history of our country. We think your SteelStax project is a great idea but you should not destroy part of our cultural heritage to build it. You should find some way to incorporate all or part of the original structure or locate to an empty spot on the site. We understand the costs would be higher but we think it is worth waiting to raise the extra money.