Bethlehem Council and Mayor
In 1995, Cunningham was elected to Bethlehem City Council. He successfully sought the office of Mayor in 1997 and was inaugurated in January 1998 as Bethlehem City's 9th Mayor. He was re-elected to a second term in 2001.
Cunningham was inaugurated during a particularly difficult time in Bethlehem's history. At the time, Bethlehem Steel had just closed, resulting in a 20,000 job loss and the loss of a significant portion the city's tax base. During his tenure, Cunningham guided more than $1 billion of new development and the creation of 2,500 new jobs into the city.
As Mayor, Cunningham proposed five city budgets with only one small tax increase (5½%) and developed new and innovative programs to improve public safety and the delivery of neighborhood services. He was recognized for his innovations in the delivery of local government services by both the U.S. Conference of Mayors (1999) and former Governor Tom Ridge (2001). The Democratic Leadership Council named Cunningham one of the top ten state and local "rising stars" in the Democratic Party in 2000.
In 2003, Cunningham resigned as Mayor of Bethlehem to become Secretary of the Department of General Services under Governor Ed Rendell.
Read more about this topic: Don Cunningham
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