Last Town Hall Meetings on New Library: This Week

The final two Town Hall meetings on the proposed new $13 million library and the referendum to fund it will be held on Tuesday at the South Whitehall Administration Building.

The first meeting will be held at 1 p.m., the second will be held at 7 p.m.

Library board President Karl Siebert and library board Vice President Barry Cohen will give a presentation on the new library, which the board has been hoping for years to build on Grange Road in Upper Macungie.

The Nov. 5 referendum will ask voters to approve a higher tax in support of the library. The tax has not been raised for 15 years.

The referendum asks for a .2978 mill tax. If approved, residents would pay $29.78 per $100,000 of assessed property value to fund the library.

Currently residents pay .1 mill to fund the library, which serves Upper Macungie, South Whitehall and North Whitehall townships and a section of Allentown that is part of the Parkland School District. 

Here is what else is going on in and near South Whitehall Township this week:

• Multi-cultural, cross genre musical group, the Idan Raichel Project visits the Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The leader of this inspiring collective of musicians from a wide variety of cultural origins is Idan Raichel, a composer, keyboardist and producer who is now a household name in his native Israel. Check out this blog from Arts Lehigh on why this show should not be missed.

• Visit Ju-Ju Monkey in the Kmart Shopping Plaza on Tilghman Street at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday for an Adult and Me Kids Yoga Class. Register at www.ju-jumonkey.com or just drop in. Registration fee $10/class Drop in fee $15/class. Bring your 2-5 year old for a class filled with yoga fun and fitness and get some bonding time with your favorite little one.

• Join Dena Ruege of My Smart Hands for a parent workshop on ASL signing for hearing babies at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Parkland Community Library. RSVP required. Limit of 10 participants.

• Hard rocking southerners The Black Crowes bring their blues-infused rock n’ roll to the Sands Bethlehem Event Center at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $57 or four for $150.

• B104 and the Miller Keystone Blood Center celebrate Halloween on Thursday (actual Halloween—imagine that) with its annual blood drive at the Bethlehem Donor Center, 1465 Valley Center Parkway, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donors are encouraged to wear their best Halloween costume for the chance to win a $100 VISA gift card. All individuals registering to donate at the annual B104 blood drive will receive a complimentary t-shirt, and can also enter for the chance to win a mid-week overnight stay and ski for two at Bear Creek Mountain Resort.

• If all the scary movies being shown around Halloween are just a little too much for the family, go to the Parkland Community Library at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for a free screening of a not-so-scary movie for all ages. Under the licensing agreement, the library is not permitted to list titles here. Please call or come into the library for the information.