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1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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5 HELD:
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7 Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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9 LOCATION:
10 Council Chambers
11 Scranton City Hall
12 340 North Washington Avenue
13 Scranton, Pennsylvania
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CATHENE S. NARDOZZI, RPR - OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER
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2 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:
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MR. ROBERT MCGOFF, PRESIDENT
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6 MS. JUDY GATELLI, VICE-PRESIDENT
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MS. JANET E. EVANS
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9 MS. SHERRY FANUCCI
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MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT
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12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK
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MR. NEIL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
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15 MR. PAT SCANLON, SOLICITOR
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1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited and moment of reflection
2 observed.)
3 MR. MCGOFF: Dispense with the
4 reading of the minutes. I'm sorry, roll
5 call.
6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.
7 MS. EVANS: Here.
8 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli.
9 MS. GATELLI: Here.
10 MR. COOLICAN: Ms. Fanucci.
11 MS. FANUCCI: Here.
12 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.
14 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.
15 MR. MCGOFF: Here. Now dispense
16 with the reading of the minutes. Third
17 Order.
18 MS. GARVEY: No business at this time
19 in third order.
20 MR. MCGOFF: Announcements from
21 council? Anyone?
22 MS. GATELLI: I just have one. This
23 Saturday, June 13, at Nay Aug Park there
24 will be a health fair from 9 a.m. to noon.
25 It is free to the public with over 70
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1 vendors. There will be free health
2 screenings and free giveaways and all the
3 hospitals will be represented. There will
4 be doctors on hand and educational handouts.
5 Thank you. That's all I have.
6 MS. EVANS: I, too, ask for your
7 prayers this evening for Trooper Joshua
8 Miller, who was slain in the line of duty,
9 and his family and friends, particularly,
10 Trooper Robert Lombardo who was injured at
11 the same time.
12 Also, please remember in your
13 prayers Betty Newcomb who underwent a
14 serious surgery last week. We hope that
15 Betty has a rapid and full recovery and is
16 soon back to spoiling her grandchildren.
17 The Kids Swim Free Program sponsored
18 by the Scranton Lackawanna County Taxpayers'
19 Association is up and running for it's third
20 year. Please help this very worthy cause
21 which pays for swimming for underprivileged
22 children at Nay Aug Park. Make checks
23 payable to: Kids Swim Free, and mail to 1416
24 South Webster Avenue, Scranton, PA, 18505.
25 Again, that's 1416 South Webster Avenue,
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1 18505.
2 A very knowledgeable gentleman
3 brought to my attention the historical
4 significance of the last week to our region.
5 Saturday was the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
6 I thank all our surviving veterans, their
7 families and the families of deceased
8 veterans who sacrificed so much in our
9 behalf.
10 Friday, June 5, was the 41st
11 anniversary of the assassination of Robert
12 F. Kennedy. It was in Scranton that he
13 spoke at a Friendly Son's dinner the year
14 after his brother JFK's assassination, and
15 the warm reception he received here from
16 Scranton citizens invigorated him and
17 encouraged his return to public service.
18 Finally, June 3, was the anniversary
19 of the death of Cardinal John J. O'Connor, a
20 man who deeply touched people of all
21 religious beliefs during his brief service
22 in Scranton and as Cardinal of the Diocese
23 of New York. Few of us remember that
24 Cardinal O'Connor also retired from service
25 to our country as a Rear Admiral in the US
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1 Navy. I thank Mr. Duncan for making us all
2 better aware of the significance of our
3 community through the sacrifices and
4 memories of these great soldiers and public
5 servants, and that's all.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you for mentioning
7 D-Day. As you said that, my father was in
8 the 8th Air Force and made two flights over
9 Normandy on D-Day. Was apparently in the
10 first wave of planes, went back to England,
11 refueled and went out a second time.
12 MS. EVANS: I think we all owe him a
13 huge debt of gratitude. He is a magnificent
14 man.
15 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. I think so.
16 Apparently last week I made a mistake in
17 reading something, and I will correct it
18 this evening. There is a free rabies clinic
19 on Saturday, June 13 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
20 and it's conducted at the VCA Dunmore Animal
21 Hospital, that is at 1317 Drinker Street,
22 Dunmore, PA, and it is sponsored by the
23 Scranton Animal Association. I hope that we
24 got everything correct this time. Thank
25 you.
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1 And just one last thing, it was
2 brought up last week something about the
3 possibility of the memorial that is at the
4 old North Scranton Junior High School being
5 moved. I spoke to Mr. Langan, the president
6 of Goodwill Industries, and he said if it's
7 being moved it is a surprise to him and that
8 when they bought the property that they
9 requested that -- or when they took
10 ownership of the property that they made the
11 request that the memorial stay there, so
12 they are happy to have it there and as far
13 as they know it's not going anywhere, so if
14 anyone sees Jean please let her know that's
15 it's safe and staying, and that's all.
16 Fourth order. Reverend Simmons.
17 MS. SIMMONS: Good evening, Council
18 members. I'm Reverend Catherine Simmons,
19 and I'm representing Florence-Midtown Crime
20 Watch on this most majestic of evenings. I
21 have come here this evening to talk to you
22 about your possible assistance in the
23 uniting of a war torn community. Our city
24 and it's surrounding counties have been torn
25 apart by death, abusive children, shootings
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1 in broad daylight which probably involve
2 drugs of some type, and I hope you hear me
3 clearly, racism on both sides of the
4 community.
5 I know that whenever a death occurs,
6 especially when it involves a member of the
7 police department, the rush is on to blame
8 someone, but I am here tonight to say that I
9 do not believe that some nights ago a young
10 lady named Brenda Williams had any intention
11 of being struck down in death, and I know in
12 my heart that not one of the four policemen
13 who entered the apartment that night planned
14 to take anyone's life. I believe, and I
15 strongly believe and I'm ready to do battle
16 for this, the guilt is laid at the feet of
17 the mental health community.
18 Yes, I'm sure that there are one or
19 two officers in Scranton who do not like
20 African-American, Hispanic or even bi-racial
21 population, just as there are those in my
22 community who don't like police officers of
23 any type whether they be state police or
24 city police, when a policeman comes there is
25 no respect given. The truth is told tonight
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1 that these incidents happened because of
2 lack of education for public service
3 volunteers and employees. We are surrounded
4 in this city by universities, colleges,
5 hospitals, and yet there is a true lack of
6 ability in training EMT's, police officers,
7 firemen, Crime Watch volunteers and even
8 shelter workers in dealing with persons that
9 delve deeper and deeper into the darkness of
10 depression, schizophrenia, paranoia, bipolar
11 and even pure violent anger.
12 Mr. Courtright, I'm speaking to you
13 directly right now because I know you
14 represent the police department on this
15 council. I hope that you can begin to make
16 a priority list for the upcoming year and
17 that two of the top priority items will be:
18 One, free education in the mental health
19 field for all persons dealing with mental
20 patients; number two, the end of sales of
21 handguns to persons on the street. The
22 voices of Brenda Williams and State Trooper
23 Miller are screaming from beyond the grave
24 tonight, let the death not be in vein, but
25 let some good come from just our seconds.
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1 The mayor has extended his hand to
2 my community to try and make sure that this
3 does not occur again and I am hoping that
4 you will join him. As I go to my seat, let
5 me say that my heart is full of the teaching
6 of my Lord, forgiveness and unification. It
7 is the only way the streets will finally be
8 filled and cleared of humanistic blood. I
9 am willing to walk to and kneel at any alter
10 with any police officer, any firemen, any
11 correctional officer and any crime watch
12 member, shelter worker or any member of
13 Scranton for that matter. I know what they
14 face each day.
15 Let us end the hatred and the need
16 for vengeance on this night and let the
17 healing begin here in this place. Let us
18 not stand here waiting for someone to
19 falter, but to extend our hands to each
20 other and say the time to learn has arrived.
21 The time for teaching has been long overdue.
22 Thank you.
23 MR. MCGOFF: Andy Sbaraglia.
24 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,
25 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians,
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1 we all know now what happened to the money
2 that was supposedly going to Genesis
3 Wildlife Center up there. Apparently the
4 mayor sandbagged the money and decided now
5 to use it up at Hanlon's Grove which he put
6 that tent up and destroyed the growth. Now,
7 he wants to redo the growth. I don't know
8 if we ever got the money for the tent, but
9 he watched it deteriorate and then put the
10 tent there and now he wants to rebuild it.
11 Like I said before, contracts and patronage.
12 This is how the political system works in
13 this city and more and more contracts.
14 Ok, let's go onto our KOZ's and as
15 you know there is two KOZ's now coming up,
16 one is for a nursing home, the other is for,
17 I don't know exactly, an office park,
18 whether it's a reality or not I don't know,
19 but this is what we do know, Keystone Block,
20 which I call Galdier because they were the
21 old owners of the Keystone Block, was a tax
22 paying section of the city. They weren't a
23 KOZ. I guess SLIPCO paid $2 million and
24 bought the land off of Galdier.
25 Now, SLIPCO is nonprofit, meaning
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1 how much tax are we going to get on this
2 nonprofit land forever. In other words,
3 when they bought the land they took it off
4 the tax rolls until the end of time or until
5 they decide to sell it for a profit
6 somewhere along the line. If they put up a
7 building there or a buildings or whatever
8 they're sort of planning we will not get any
9 taxes on that either. They will sit there
10 just like the University and another section
11 of the city being given away.
12 True, I don't know if anybody saw
13 signed contracts. He can tell you whatever
14 he can tell you, but there either has to be
15 signed contracts or signed letters of intent
16 with penalties before you can even go ahead
17 with this project. You can't go by hearsay.
18 You can't go by what he says. You got to go
19 by what's on paper. Somewhere along the
20 line if he has the commitment he has to have
21 a letter of understanding with somebody and
22 to sign a letter of understanding because he
23 is not going to put up a building unless he
24 got signed, obviously. When they do things
25 like that there is also penalties and tax to
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1 it.
2 Now, the nursing home. Well, my
3 brother-in-law is in one, you are right, a
4 nursing home is needed probably in this
5 city, especially in this city we're all
6 getting there and I might end up there
7 myself. In fact, my brother-in-law is in
8 one of Kelly's nursing homes as well. I
9 guess this is Kelly that owns it because the
10 one that he's -- that my brother-in-law is
11 in, Scranton Health Care Center, actually
12 it's somebody out there owns that beyond
13 because the bills come out of somewhere out
14 west, so I don't know if Kelly still owns it
15 or he is just running it, but somewhere
16 along the line the bills come from
17 out-of-state. I wish I had my sister's bill
18 here, I could see where they are coming
19 from, but it's not -- but this is a
20 corporation apparently. It's not just
21 Kelly, it's a corporation, and it's not a
22 corporation that's headquartered in
23 Scranton. It's out west. I guess he sold
24 out, and these things you got to know before
25 you give out KOZ's to whoever it is, you got
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1 to know everything about it. If it's good,
2 I can't say it's bad because, like I said
3 before, we are all going to end up there, so
4 it's nice to have a good one built and it's
5 nice to have a staff in there that's fairly
6 good, too, because I know I'm not far away
7 from it but we got to know everything that
8 goes with this because we are giving up a
9 lot.
10 Somebody has to pay mercantile tax,
11 earned income tax, real estate property tax,
12 business privilege taxes, that means the
13 rest of us got to pay for them. The state
14 is three billion dollars in debt. The
15 school board keeps raising our taxes so I
16 don't know -- why would you transfer from
17 one group to another group is what you are
18 doing. The burden of the city is being
19 moved more and more to people that can't
20 carry it and that's definitely going to sink
21 it. Nobody can take care of everything
22 that's going on in this city and it's only
23 going to get worse. I thank you.
24 MS. EVANS: Mr. Sbaraglia, just two
25 things quickly, I don't know if you are
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1 aware that the Greenridge Health Care Center
2 the current building is on KOEZ land; and
3 secondly, with regard to the tent at
4 Hanlon's Grove, I remember asking questions
5 at the time and what I was told was that the
6 city was not properly insured for that and
7 as a result the city received no insurance
8 money for that tent.
9 MR. SBARAGALIA: Thank you.
10 MR. MCGOFF: Mr. Spindler.
11 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening, Council.
12 Les Spindler, city resident and taxpayer and
13 homeowner. I, too, want to talk about the
14 KOZ's. As I stated last week, we don't need
15 any more KOZ's in this city, we need
16 businesses that can pay taxes and help us
17 get out of our distressed situation. If
18 Austin Burke continues to say that we need
19 to make this a KOZ or company's won't move
20 here. Well, yes, they will move here. If
21 Austin Burke can't do his job without making
22 KOZ's then maybe we should get somebody else
23 that could do his job. That's his job to
24 get businesses that come to this area and he
25 can't do it unless he get KOZ's for people.
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1 We can't have that anymore.
2 Mr. McGoff, last week you said the
3 site was a blighted area. It wasn't a
4 blighted area. It was Keystone Block. It
5 was a working business, there was a
6 taxpaying business, it wasn't a blighted
7 area, and you said there was a culm dump
8 there, there is no culm dump it was
9 materials to make cinder blocks out of it,
10 so I don't know what you are talking about,
11 you are totally incorrect.
12 Next thing, I want to talk about
13 Lackawanna College going up to Nay Aug Park.
14 As I stated last week, I have the deed. Nay
15 Aug Park is a free and public park forever.
16 How could a private entity go up there?
17 There is something wrong with this. It
18 seems like Chris Doherty can do whatever he
19 wants to do. The deed says it's a free park
20 and public park. Now, am I going to able to
21 use that building if they build it up there?
22 Am I going to be able to come and go when I
23 please? No answer.
24 Anyway, I wish I had the resources
25 to take this to court because I would have
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1 been there last week because Lackawanna
2 College cannot go up to that park.
3 Oh, next thing, I just found out
4 this week that two years ago this council
5 give an $85,000 loan to the Aroma Cafe and
6 I'm just wondering if that loan was paid
7 back or maybe by getting illegal votes for
8 Chris Doherty on election day maybe that's
9 how they are paying the loan back, and as I
10 stated two weeks ago -- not funny,
11 Mr. McGoff, what they did was illegal
12 bribing people to vote for Chris Doherty. A
13 judge called them and told them to stop it
14 so it would be interesting to know if they
15 paid back that loan or if that's the way
16 they paid it back getting people to vote for
17 Chris Doherty.
18 MS. GATELLI: Mr. Spindler, about
19 I'd say two months ago I checked and all for
20 the loans were current with everyone, but
21 I'll check again if you would like me to.
22 MR. SPINDLER: Thank you. Next
23 thing, Mrs. Evans, some more line painting.
24 I looked -- I think the Linden Street bridge
25 is PennDOT, but coming into the city maybe
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1 we could send them a letter. There is no
2 arrows on the bridge, the left lane is
3 supposed to be a turning lane and people are
4 constantly going straight in that lane and I
5 go over that every single day and there is
6 almost accidents there every single day.
7 There is close calls every day.
8 MS. EVANS: So you want the traffic
9 lanes painted.
10 MR. SPINDLER: Right, and on that
11 same corner on Mifflin going towards
12 Mulberry, I think that's the same situation
13 there. There is no lines, no arrows, people
14 go straight from the turning lane.
15 Oh, the next thing. Mrs. Gatelli,
16 you said last week I brought up about Chris
17 Cullen and the report about the stolen signs
18 and you said Mr. Minora would call, do you
19 know if he made that phone call?
20 MS. GATELLI: I don't know.
21 MR. SPINDLER: Okay. Well, you know
22 what, I'm not going to forget about this --
23 MS. GATELLI: We'll have Mrs. Garvey
24 ask. Would you ask Amil again to talk to
25 him again, if he talked to Attorney Cullen.
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1 MR. SPINDLER: The report is finished
2 and they have identified two people, they
3 are on the videotapes and if charges aren't
4 brought against the people soon I will come
5 here and say their names on live television,
6 and I'm sure most of the people back there,
7 I mean, everybody knows them anyone. Most
8 of the people back here knows who they are,
9 but the chief says it's not a finished
10 investigation, it is.
11 Next thing, again, my condolences to
12 the Joshua Miller family and I heard on the
13 radio today a spokesman for the state police
14 said, "A police officer on all levels have a
15 very dangerous job," and yet Chris Doherty
16 debated that DPW worker's have the most
17 dangerous job in the city. Just shows what
18 kind of mayor we have and what he thinks of
19 our police officers. He is a joke. Thank
20 you.
21 MS. EVANS: Mrs. Garvey, before I
22 forget, could we get a letter sent about the
23 information Mr. Spindler provided regarding
24 the Linden Street bridge area and the area
25 of Mifflin Avenue towards Mulberry Street
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1 that there are no lanes or turning arrows
2 painted and it's causing problems for
3 drivers? Thank you.
4 MR. MCGOFF: I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan,
5 if you would just wait a minute, I neglected
6 to mention that Attorney Pat Scanlon is
7 representing our substituting for Attorney
8 Minora this evening and as council
9 solicitor. Lee Morgan.
10 MR. MORGAN: Good evening, Council.
11 The first thing I have here is, you know, I
12 really appreciate council noting the D-Day
13 and their presentation tonight, but, you
14 know, there were a lot more battles in
15 Europe, there was Anzio Cassino, there was
16 the occupational Army flying near Japan,
17 there were the marines island hopping
18 against the Japanese Army, there was Korea,
19 but, you know, the one thing that really
20 troubles me is that we seem to have
21 forgotten the generation that never came
22 home, and there is lot of people that run
23 around with black MIA-POW flags and I just
24 think that maybe we should note that we left
25 a lot of American service personnel behind
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1 in Vietnam and never brought them home.
2 I'm really -- I'd have to say that,
3 you know, my father fought in World War II
4 and think a lot of people in my generation
5 had relatives that fought there, but I think
6 it's time for this country to account for
7 all of the people we abandoned in Vietnam
8 and never brought home, and I really don't
9 know what's happened to them, and I have
10 talked to Vietnam veterans from Vietnam that
11 were in prisoner of war camps and they know
12 absolutely without a doubt that these
13 individuals never came home, and I don't
14 know how this nation sleeps at night knowing
15 that it abandoned it's own military when
16 they were prisoners of war, and some people
17 may not appreciate me saying that, but I
18 guess that's what freedom of speech is all
19 about.
20 The other thing is I had an
21 opportunity with Ozzie Quinn and Marie to go
22 to the Scranton School Board meeting
23 yesterday and we spoke about KOZ's, and I'm
24 here to say that I hope that this council
25 will vote "no" on any KOZ's in any manner
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1 whatsoever in total. It's time for them all
2 to end. They have been a drain on the city,
3 on the city's neighborhoods, on the city's
4 tax base. If somebody has $60 million to
5 build a project then they should have the
6 money to pay the taxes. We can't shift the
7 burden to the neighborhoods, to be bluntly
8 honest, a lot of the neighborhoods are a
9 mess and we are all here screaming about
10 blight continually for years and this is one
11 of the problems we have.
12 Economic development should not be
13 done on the backs of the poor or the
14 taxpayers. They are the same group and
15 that's -- you know, I think that we also
16 need to realize that if we are going to
17 consider making modifications or amendments
18 to the recovery plan, like I started to say
19 last week, I think it's time to prepare the
20 proposal, complete and bring it back to the
21 voters and let them decide. In my opinion,
22 I read it the last time. There was no
23 recovery involved. It was just a program in
24 my opinion to loot the city and that's
25 exactly in my opinion what's taken place.
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1 I think in any Recovery Plan the
2 city needs to go back to the debt it
3 possessed at the time that Mayor Connors
4 left office and the State of Pennsylvania
5 needs to pick up all of the debt that
6 occurred after that point because the PEL
7 was involved. There has been no movement to
8 shore up this city economically. We have
9 been giving contracts to everyone and
10 anyone, the PEL, I don't know what -- to be
11 honest with you, I don't know see -- I can't
12 point to one thing that I think they've done
13 to benefit the residents of the city, the
14 PEL, not one.
15 And, I mean, I have been here for a
16 long time, and I really think that tonight
17 we make it a very firm decision that
18 economic development is going to be done
19 here by people who have money to invest and
20 want to stay here, and I think that when you
21 keep doing repetitively what's been done for
22 a very long time, and just giving people
23 lots of money and more money and then
24 shifting all of the taxes back to the
25 taxpayers is a crime. I mean, when you look
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1 at this nation and consider how it does
2 economic development, we are building car
3 plants for foreign corporations and giving
4 them billions of dollar in other states and
5 then we are wondering why we're trying to
6 bail out GM and Chrysler. I mean, you know,
7 we really have to take a hard look at what
8 we are trying to accomplish. Are we trying
9 to take Americans down into a state of
10 economic poverty forever? Because, you
11 know, we have talked --a previous speaker
12 talked about the State of Pennsylvania's
13 debt, well, just take all of the states and
14 look at their debt and look at the federal
15 government's debt and look at the impending
16 collapse of social security and Medicare and
17 a lot of other things that are the
18 underpinning of this society and it's all --
19 it's all really a crime against the worker
20 and the middle class, and what I'm saying to
21 this council is this, the students in the
22 Scranton School District deserve a quality
23 education, somebody has to pay the taxes
24 more than just the individual property
25 owners. We are going to point fingers and
25
1 call people slumlords and everything else as
2 the people with money and access to the
3 privileged, take a free ride. Thank you.
4 MR. MCGOFF: Rob Ellman.
5 MR. ELLMAN: Ron Ellman, member of
6 the Taxpayers' Association. Mr. McGoff, my
7 fine friend, get your pencil ready. Last
8 week you sung the praises of those 150 KOZ
9 houses and apartments, I want to put a
10 pencil to it just for the school tax.
11 Forget all of the police and fire protection
12 and streets and sewers, forget all of that
13 stuff they are not paying for, let's go to
14 the school tax because they are raising that
15 by 6 percent. You ready?
16 MR. MCGOFF: I'm ready.
17 MR. ELLMAN: Let's just say there is
18 100 children out of those 150 houses,
19 there's is probably 200 but let's say there
20 is 100 children. Ready? Which is --
21 somebody asked me it's 06/10th's of a child
22 in a house in case somebody wants to know.
23 The school board charges approximately
24 $10,000 a year for a child to go through the
25 school, you know, so right there we got 100
26
1 times the $10,000 there is $1 million to
2 send these 100 children to school. This is
3 just minimizing it now. Instead of 13 years
4 which their KOZ was let's just take first to
5 12 years from 1st to 12th grade, we got
6 $12 million lost that we have spent
7 $12 million on these 100 children it's gone.
8 It will never come back.
9 My son was trying to sell a car to a
10 soldier one time and it killed up like a
11 half hour and he said, you know, you got my
12 time, it's gone, I can't ever recover it.
13 That's how this money is. It's gone. We
14 are never going to recover it. You with me?
15 Right now we are a $12 million.
16 MR. MCGOFF: $12 million.
17 MR. ELLMAN: If we divide the 12
18 million to make it more even by the 150
19 houses it comes out to $80,000 a house
20 approximately. I'm just saying instead of
21 putting the -- I said each house has
22 6/10th's of a child using 100 children so if
23 we divide the 150 houses into that
24 $12 million you come out to $80,000 a house
25 to send them to 12 years of school. You
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1 ready?
2 MR. MCGOFF: Still ready.
3 MR. ELLMAN: No, let's just say for
4 an instance that if they were on the payroll
5 for 800 or 900 or $1,000 there are 150 or
6 200,000 houses there, if they went on the
7 payroll for $800 a year at 12 years they
8 would have about $10,000 paid for which
9 would be one child, so if in five or six
10 years if they go on the rolls let's just say
11 for $1,000 school tax, which would be $200
12 more than I said they'd start out with, it
13 take 400 years to makeup what they've gotten
14 free all of this time. It would take
15 400 years at $200 a year to pay it back if
16 they'd been paying the $800, you follow me?
17 Any kind of business -- whoever
18 heard of something so ridiculous as this KOZ
19 program. That's why these fools down there
20 that all took bribes a couple of years ago
21 on that school board, they should have been
22 fired instead of being allowed to put more
23 KOZ's in here. You know, if these people
24 want to build a $30 million project let's
25 see a $30 million building permit. They're
28
1 just blowing smoke in everybody's ear and
2 the taxpayers are sick and tired of it, it
3 just doesn't stop.
4 I know the people of the city much
5 rather have $12 million from sending all of
6 these kids to school than nothing, that's
7 what we've gotten, nothing. This is almost
8 400 KOZ's and we don't get nothing. One of
9 you tell me now Daron Industries helps this
10 city? Go ahead. How does Daron Industries,
11 it's an illegal plant that promotes the air,
12 the whole neighborhood is ruined and they
13 got two KOZ's how have they helped us? They
14 got over -- they got $100,000 trucks
15 avoiding the scale leaving there and running
16 over our streets, our hundred year old
17 streets made for little surreys with horses
18 and things.
19 All these KOZ's have done is give
20 Mr. Doherty a million dollar campaign fund
21 to keep going. I had a fellow come over to
22 me last week when I was eating and he
23 wanted, you know, he wasn't extremely happy
24 at my answer. He said, "It looks like I
25 wasted my money, my contribution, doesn't
29
1 it?"
2 I said, "Well, good for you, I'm
3 happy you wasted it."
4 He said, "Well, we got six months to
5 see what happens."
6 This man is going to raise all kinds
7 of hell for the next six months just like
8 doing what he wants at the Nay Aug Park.
9 Whoever heard of just giving away our
10 property.
11 MR. MCGOFF: Mr. Ellman, thank you.
12 MR. ELLMAN: Thank you.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Your time is up. Brett
14 McCloe.
15 MR. MCCLOE: Good evening. My name
16 is Brett McCloe, Scranton resident and
17 taxpayer and homeowner. I want to comment
18 on some things I heard during last week's
19 motions. Once again it seems that some in
20 this council continue to practice the art of
21 divisiveness by separating the citizens of
22 this city from their common sense.
23 First, there is no such thing as a
24 benevolent business. The very nature of
25 business is to gain as much leverage and
30
1 advantage over it's competitors as possible
2 to increase their own bottom line and to
3 ensure the survival of the company.
4 Second, businesses that come into
5 this area do so with the knowledge that
6 there is a decent system of highways that
7 connects Northeastern Pennsylvania to the
8 Bos-Wash corridor, the stretch of cities and
9 communities that start in Boston and include
10 New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
11 end in DC. A place where nearly 60 million
12 people or 18 percent of this nation's
13 population live and is only on 2 percent of
14 this nation's land of which Scranton is just
15 west of the main.
16 Third, they do so with the knowledge
17 that Scranton and the surrounding has plenty
18 of land that could be developed for cheap
19 and a work force that can be exploited for
20 even cheaper.
21 Fourth, the investment -- the large
22 investments these companies make is because
23 they just like the consumer are always
24 looking for bigger, better deal. A silent
25 compliant work force, a multi-level,
31
1 multi-occupational lower than average system
2 of wages, KOZ's and a progress at any cost
3 policy has virtually insured that Scranton
4 will remain and is a great place to start a
5 business. Holding on to after all of the
6 advantages are gone is another story. We do
7 have a history that supports this fear.
8 Beware, scare tactics that will tell you if
9 we do not accept the expansion and
10 extensions of KOZ's that they are going to
11 somewhere else and setup shop then the
12 marketing scheme that will tell you that
13 these businesses will not leave once their
14 tax advantage is up and it's time to pay the
15 piper. It bades one to ask the question,
16 why do we put so much emphasis on new
17 businesses who cannot stand on their own and
18 at the same time negligent those who have
19 served the public, paid their taxes and
20 stood the test of time even through hard
21 times.
22 It seems that since the powers that
23 be are quite comfortable with the blighting
24 of the mall at Steamtown and all of lower
25 Lackawanna Avenue because of an unfinished
32
1 bridge that cuts off 20 percent of the city
2 and now it's easier to go to the Viewmont
3 Mall than to get to Steamtown.
4 I'm not against KOZ's, but I don't
5 share the belief that these are benevolent
6 beings here to save the day. It's more akin
7 to the relationship forged in the world's
8 oldest profession.
9 Also, for people who claim to know
10 so much about the business their seems to be
11 a disconnect with reality. Any merchant can
12 tell you there is no such thing as an extra
13 thousand cans of soda or an extra thousand
14 snicker bars when you need to offset the
15 loss of sales of 5,000 cans of soda and
16 5,000 snicker bars because the people of
17 this city have to start cutting back due to
18 a sluggish economy. Of course, the response
19 will be, at least it's better than nothing.
20 It's just ashame that we keep on using
21 nothing as the standard. Then again, how
22 much will the combined KOZ's be paying in
23 taxes once their KOZ's expire? It would
24 only be logical that you would know how much
25 they are worth and how much our city will be
33
1 getting, and I would hope that somebody can
2 tell us some type of number.
3 I ask because the word long-term is
4 being thrown around as if the average sit
5 send is it not understand the concept. As a
6 matter of fact, we do had. When it comes to
7 the economy there once again there is no
8 such thing as long-term. You blink an eye
9 and 20 years will pass. Recessions and
10 depressions will come and go. In this city
11 long-term simply means you are never going
12 to live to see or enjoy the results. Thank
13 you.
14 MR. MCGOFF: David Dobrzyn.
15 MR. DOBRZYN: Good evening, city
16 council. Dave Dobson, resident of the City
17 of Scranton, member of the Taxpayers'
18 Association. First, I'd like to address
19 something about Nay Aug, and I hope you find
20 it positive. I think it's called Smallcomb
21 Pavilion at Nay Aug and it's my
22 understanding that it was renovated and I'd
23 like to represent that in cases like this
24 you should get a program, I seen it before
25 but maybe it's not aware you are just
34
1 actively looking out for these people to
2 give them some kind of recognition, a little
3 plaque or something and bring them in
4 because. I mean, whoever did that, did a
5 really nice job. The question on Nay Aug is
6 why do we always have to give around the
7 city a 99-year lease to somebody who hasn't
8 really produced anything yet. I would think
9 that like a new employee it would be better
10 if you put them on a probationary period and
11 if they don't deliver in a year or two then
12 maybe it's time to look on instead of having
13 them standing there with the 99-year
14 guarantee in their hands.
15 On 5-F, one of the things that
16 really concerns me about these KOZ's is
17 earned income tax profits. That's really
18 stretching it when a employee after we
19 extended ourselves, and they might not even
20 live in town and we have no earned income
21 tax on these properties, it's really ashame.
22 A lot of people come up here to talk tonight
23 about KOZ's and some of them are a little
24 more knowledgeable than me but, once again,
25 we should start to consider this in the
35
1 future. Time a running out and hopefully
2 the law won't be renewed and if it does get
3 renewed maybe you people should get together
4 with everyone else and put some input into
5 it because obviously too much is being
6 afforded.
7 Large tracts of land exist in south
8 and north Scranton which still could be used
9 for industrial purposes. Much of this land
10 is Brownfield. Rail service is available.
11 If runs throughout the whole valley and
12 local government, federal, state and local
13 government focus on free trade instead of
14 fair trade has diminished this over the
15 years and it's really ashame because there
16 are only so many people that can handle the
17 college education or can handle a high tech
18 job and if you look around and you start
19 seeing homeless people and you realize 30,
20 40 years ago they probably sat in a factory
21 putting a screw in the hole, well, now they
22 are jobless and homeless because there is no
23 use for them on super high tech jobs or what
24 have you and these organizations I'd like to
25 see pull together such as the Chamber of
36
1 Commerce. It's really ashame that all we
2 wind up with is office space and medical
3 facilities.
4 We have hospitals that are required
5 if you are taking a heart attack, if you
6 have been in a traffic accident, if you are
7 a gunshot victim, they have to take you in
8 and, unfortunately, these tax free satellite
9 clinics setup by a few doctors on a
10 specialty issue they don't have to do
11 anything for you and the hospital takes the
12 loss and the carrier in the hospital suffers
13 and I really would love to see some day the
14 Chamber of Commerce, commissioners, school
15 board, council and the mayor and whoever
16 else, the governor, upfeed this to your
17 local representatives, your state
18 representatives and your federal
19 representatives only paying and community
20 supporting businesses need apply.
21 And, furthermore, yes, we do ignore
22 all too often somebody that's been here for
23 30 or 40 years. They keep on paying and the
24 new guy that comes into the neighborhood
25 gets a free ride. Thank you and have a good
37
1 night.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Nancy.
3 MS. KRAKE: Good evening, Council. I
4 have a couple of announcements. First,
5 there was a public meeting for the stimulus
6 monies that are coming to Lackawanna County
7 on Friday and there was a huge amount of
8 information given at the Career Link, so if
9 anyone at all as an employer or possibly an
10 employable person, low to moderate income,
11 24 years or age or younger would like to
12 inquire about this money I suggest they call
13 the Career Link. There is a very large
14 amount of money and it needs to be spent
15 very quickly. If you can call I know Judy
16 will, the CETA programs and the JPTA
17 basically is resurrecting them which is
18 wonderful news. I know a lot of people of
19 my generation grew up using those, so that
20 was my one announcement I had.
21 I'd like to talk about the KOZ
22 properties. I think, as with a lot of
23 things, the intent of KOZ was probably not
24 wrong. They thought it would lure
25 businesses, they thought it would
38
1 communities. Unfortunately, it just hasn't
2 seem to work out quite as planned. There
3 was a lack of follow-through on businesses
4 staying in communities. As Mr. Ellman
5 pointed out, it's almost impossible to get
6 that money back and the burden falls then on
7 the taxpayers that remain.
8 There is a couple of things I think
9 maybe we want to think about since we are
10 I'm sure going to be voting in the positive
11 or the affirmative for these because it's
12 almost too tempting not to. Maybe there
13 could be a column of policies. Anyone
14 receiving the extended KOZ maybe we would
15 like to ask them to guarantee that in lieu
16 of taxes a donation. This would be a signed
17 good faith from the recipients. Maybe we
18 could establish some sort of incentive that
19 their businesses remain in our city and
20 don't just take the money, develop and run.
21 There's a lot of money in the developing
22 end. They don't need to stay here. We need
23 them to stay, they don't need to stay.
24 I think before we vote for this we
25 should be thinking these things through.
39
1 After all, we didn't have a problem raising
2 property taxes and then imposing huge fines
3 on our homeowners who couldn't afford the
4 taxes. Why can't we now take a step back
5 and say we want to put a couple of things in
6 place before you folks get all our money
7 again? I do not think that's unreasonable.
8 I also, and I'm not sure, but any
9 time any properties appear on the agenda or
10 in the backup for that matter, they should
11 be identified with a map number. Phyllis is
12 here. When you don't have a map number it's
13 almost impossible to figure out exactly
14 where these properties are, so from your
15 backup, I don't think you really know what
16 we are talking about. If you were to look
17 at the map of the city it's impossible to
18 know. It looks like, in fact, to me, which
19 I could be totally wrong and I was hoping
20 Mr. Minora was here tonight, but it look
21 like parcel one was conveyed to the grantor,
22 Keystone Block, by the deed of the
23 Redevelopment Authority and then it looks
24 like we bought it from Keystone Block, so we
25 bought something back from ourselves sort of
40
1 indirectly? I don't know. I don't know if
2 that's true or not and I don't want to
3 accuse anyone of it, but I would really like
4 to know the answer. I would hope that
5 people on council would like to know that,
6 also.
7 I'd also like to know, is anyone on
8 council attending or planning on
9 representing council I should say in the
10 meetings with the Pennsylvania Economy
11 League or the new Recovery Plan?
12 MS. EVANS: I'm not sure.
13 MS. FANUCCI: I have always done it
14 in the past but because I probably will not
15 be here I know Mrs. Evans had attended one
16 before, maybe she would want to maybe sit in
17 on them.
18 MS. KRAKE: So council hasn't been
19 contacted yet by the Pennsylvania economy
20 league?
21 MS FANUCCI: I have not.
22 MS. EVANS: No.
23 MS. KRAKE: Has it started again?
24 MS. FANUCCI: I have not.
25 MS. KRAKE: I would hope that
41
1 whoever is attending these meetings would
2 then bring back every week what goes on. I
3 think that would be the best thing. The
4 last time it was as with everything, with
5 Act 47, with KOZ's, with the Recovery Plan,
6 it's all or none, like it or leave it, and
7 that's where all of the pain begins instead
8 of the communication, transparency and input
9 from everyone we have to have the forcing of
10 everything and that's always the problem.
11 MS. GATELLI: Nancy, just for the
12 record, I do think that Mrs. Garvey
13 attended. Didn't you go to the PEL meeting?
14 MS. GARVEY: Not when they were
15 discussing the Recovery Pan.
16 MS. GATELLI: But you did attend the
17 ones --
18 MS. GARVEY: I attended one.
19 MS. KRAKE: I have one more thing, I
20 noticed, and this has been consistently true
21 every week, it's a fire hazard, the second
22 door -- the second floor door here is locked
23 and also the third floor to the balcony, and
24 I know when we requested to have it unlocked
25 they unlock and lock it again, so thank you.
42
1 MR. COURTRIGHT: Mrs. Krake, I think
2 this door is stuck. They told me it was
3 locked before and we whacked it, it opened
4 up, so maybe we'll have -- he is going out
5 know there now and he is going to check on
6 it. Not that door, the door outside,
7 correct. One time before they told us it
8 was locked and --
9 MS. FANUCCI: It was stuck.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Maybe it is locked.
11 Does somebody want to go out and check on
12 it? I'll go check on it.
13 MR. MCGOFF: I was going to say prior
14 to Mrs. Schumacher suggesting that I attend
15 the Recovery Plan meetings, if, in fact, we
16 get information when they are being held I
17 will make an attempt to, you know, if I'm
18 available since I know Mrs. Schumacher
19 suggested before that I have a lot of time
20 on my hands.
21 MS. SCHUMACHER: We retirees do.
22 Marie Schumacher, city resident, member of
23 the Taxpayers' Association. I'd like to
24 start off with just a couple of smaller
25 items, but ones I don't want to slip away.
43
1 Mrs. Gatelli, have you followed up with
2 Mr. Minora on what conditions of the Ice Box
3 agreement have not been met that would
4 require them to pay the $600,000 rental?
5 Because I read that a couple of weeks ago
6 and I have checked every one and every one
7 that I checked was fulfilled, so I would
8 really like to know and it's been dragging
9 on for weeks and weeks.
10 Next, does anybody know if the Tripp
11 Park Village runoff solution has been
12 decided on and performed or are the
13 taxpayers still at risk?
14 MS. GATELLI: No, they got a court
15 order for that several weeks ago --
16 MS. SCHUMACHER: That was --
17 MS. GATELLI: About the runoff, the
18 build up there?
19 MS. SCHUMACHER: No, no, no. The
20 initial problem, the runoff that needs to be
21 fixed?
22 MS. GATELLI: Oh, I don't know about
23 that.
24 MS. SCHUMACHER: Well, if the
25 developer doesn't do it we taxpayers are on
44
1 the hook, so I think it's --
2 MS. GATELLI: I don't imagine that
3 the developer will do it.
4 MS. SCHUMACHER: Well --
5 MS. GATELLI: I highly doubt that.
6 MS. SCHUMACHER: I'd like an answer.
7 MS. GATELLI: They don't even see the
8 man.
9 MS. SCHUMACHER: My time. I'd like a
10 report on what the city is doing. Next, the
11 Home Rule Charter. A long time ago it was
12 suggested the Home Rule Charter needed an
13 update and I have not seen anything further
14 on the Home Rule Charter.
15 MS. GATELLI: Well, no one seemed
16 interested in it.
17 MS. SCHUMACHER: I was reviewing the
18 minutes of the March 24 meeting of this year
19 and I don't know if anybody reads these
20 before you approve them sort of routinely
21 every week, but I know it was an innocent
22 error, but there are many places where --
23 that was the evening that Mr. McGovern was
24 here and a lot of what was obviously Mr.
25 McGovern speaking was attributed to
45
1 Mr. McGoff and we know that know. I mean,
2 we know that know because we are sitting
3 here, but in the future it may not be --
4 somebody may want to go back and correct
5 those minutes it it's possible to do it once
6 they have been approved.
7 MS. GATELLI: I don't.
8 MS. SCHUMACHER: On the 7-B tonight
9 who is the current finance manager. This is
10 giving some duties to the finance manager
11 and I couldn't find any finance manager even
12 on the list of employees, so I think it
13 would -- I don't know why we are giving some
14 authority to someone to a position that I
15 don't even think exists in the city, so --
16 MS. GARVEY: I believe that may be
17 Mary Lou Gorman, but I'd have to check it
18 for sure.
19 MS. SCHUMACHER: Okay, and now
20 finally and back to an appeal to please,
21 please not vote to extend the KOZ. I know
22 there is at least two votes, they made their
23 reasons clear, but last week I know Mrs.
24 Fanucci said it was just to show support,
25 Well, it's a whole lot more than support.
46
1 As people have stated tonight, it's the city
2 tax on the land and the improvements that
3 are going to be made, it's the earned income
4 tax, it's the state taxes on net profits,
5 it's the city's mercantile tax, it's the
6 city's business privilege tax, and I believe
7 maybe even the local services tax of their
8 employees so it's not just support, it's a
9 big time loss of revenue, and if they
10 produce the advertised employment of 1,000
11 people then you take the average salary for
12 this area and you are giving away just in
13 the earned income tax close to
14 three-quarters of a million dollars a year
15 for seven years, and maybe as long as ten,
16 because if not all of these buildings are
17 built they can come back and go after you
18 for ten years from the year that the
19 building was put up, so this is big time
20 loss of revenue and as others have pointed
21 out, I know it shouldn't be on your
22 shoulders what other agencies are doing, but
23 the states taking about taxes and, the
24 school board is going to be a big time
25 trouble here with the three years -- since
47
1 2004 the city has allowed to only contribute
2 to the pension fund at a rate of 4.78
3 percent and in 2012, if I may complete this?
4 Thank you. In 2012 they have to increase
5 that and that's going to be at least four
6 times what they are paying now and possibly
7 as much as eight, that's going to be a lot
8 of mils. They are going to do the CTC and
9 guess what, it all comes from the same
10 pocketbooks and the problem is you are
11 either going to be creating -- when you do
12 that you are either going to be creating
13 blight because people aren't going to be
14 able to keep up their properties or they are
15 going to be empty and maybe sit there
16 because there is lot of empty properties
17 that aren't selling and also you are going
18 to be get probably mostly of the elderly
19 people and if you build them with people
20 with more kids you are just -- I mean, a
21 balance would be nice. We need some of the
22 elderly because they don't have children, so
23 I urge you to vote "no" on KOZ extensions,
24 all of them. Thank you.
25 MR. TALIMINI: Joe Talimini. I don't
48
1 represent anybody but myself. I live in the
2 City of Scranton. We might as well say this
3 is kind of a show and tell in nursery
4 school, and there on Item B for introduction
5 and ordinance, it's certain designated
6 streets in the City of Scranton. Can
7 anybody tell me what street in the City of
8 Scranton where they need a jake brake, why
9 any truck needs to use a jake brake?
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes. There are
11 several because --
12 MR. TALIMINI: Where?
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: -- the grade
14 isn't -- the grade isn't as great as you
15 would think it would be if they were coming
16 down say Jackson Street on Keyser Avenue, if
17 they are coming down the road, I believe
18 they said parts of Main Avenue, parts of
19 Luzerne Street.
20 MR. TALIMINI: Coming up Adams Avenue
21 on North Washington Avenue, on Mulberry
22 Street, coming down Mulberry Street to
23 Wyoming, is there a need for a jake brake
24 there?
25 MR. COURTRIGHT: No. I don't know if
49
1 it's a state -- it's the one in the backup,
2 but Lieutenant Thomas from the Scranton
3 Police Department, I believe, and Patrolman
4 Tommy Dean, they went throughout the city
5 and by PennDOT's ordinance what they
6 verified they picked the ones that were not
7 to use the jake brakes.
8 MR. TALIMINI: I think it would be a
9 good idea if they opened their eyes around
10 us, we have speed limits in the city. There
11 is no need for a jake brake unless they are
12 exceeding the speed limit in this city.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, I mean, if
14 they are coming in, if they got a heavy load
15 especially on Jackson Street and they coming
16 down that big hill they use it. I mean, I
17 think we all know why they use it, they use
18 it so they save on the brakes, it just makes
19 a lot of noise.
20 MR. TALIMINI: Well, if you are
21 coming off Adams Avenue in front of a --
22 let's say, a low income project opposite a
23 senior citizen's project coming onto North
24 Washington Avenue at 60 miles an hour, hell,
25 yes you are going to need the jake brake
50
1 when you hit that curb, and that's used
2 quite continuously, but that's the only
3 place I could think of where it's used
4 continuously, and I'll agree with you.
5 There are certain streets in here, but I
6 think if they don't exceed the speed limit
7 they don't need a jake brake. You know that
8 as well as I do.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: Right. This is to
10 prevent them from using the jake brake. We
11 are going to put signage up stopping them --
12 MR. TALIMINI: -- on designated
13 streets.
14 MS. GATELLI: Yeah, there will only
15 be certain streets --
16 MR. TALIMINI: It should say no jake
17 brakes used in the City of Scranton.
18 MS. GATELLI: Jackson isn't even on
19 here.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: That's dictated by
21 PennDOT. That's where they would need jake
22 brakes. That's not for us to determine,
23 that's PennDOT that determined it.
24 MR. TALIMINI: Well, PennDOT, you
25 know, you don't have a lot of stock in
51
1 PennDOT. We are still waiting for
2 Washington Avenue would be paved.
3 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'm sorry, what did
4 you say?
5 MR. TALIMINI: I said we are still
6 waiting for Washington Avenue to be paved
7 and that's PennDOT's project.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: I know, I can't
9 answer it.
10 MR. TALIMINI: How much stock do you
11 put in PennDOT? Okay, let's get back to
12 some of these items on the agenda here. The
13 transfer of $50,000 from the Genesis
14 Wildlife Refuge to the Department of Parks
15 and Recreation capital expenditures. Why
16 the hell didn't you give the $50,000 to
17 Genesis Wildlife Center in the beginning?
18 They probably would still be here. But
19 there is no logic involved in that because
20 this was not one of the pet projects you
21 people decided on. I say you people, that
22 includes your mayor and your administration.
23 I also look at an introduction
24 authorizing the mayor and council, this is
25 Item 5-A you people are -- 8$5,000 for an
52
1 enterprise zone revolving loan fund program,
2 and we could go over a few more. Item 7-D,
3 $50,000 for Custom Kitchens, Incorporated.
4 Item 5-E -- or 7-E, $35,000 for Backyard Ale
5 House. You know, I'm want to tell you
6 something, I get e-mails from all over the
7 world and a lot of these people who formerly
8 lived in Scranton, they want to come back
9 from Europe to move to Scranton to open a
10 business with city money.
11 MS. FANUCCI: They should.
12 MR. TALIMINI: Because that's exactly
13 what this amounts to.
14 MS. FANUCCI: They should, I would
15 be thrilled.
16 MR. TALIMINI: They should except for
17 one thing, they've got more sense. They
18 know that unless they are politically
19 connected they are not going to get this.
20 MS. FANUCCI: That's ridiculous.
21 MR. TALIMINI: Oh, well, I'm sorry
22 that' --
23 MS. FANUCCI: That's a ridiculous
24 statement and very inaccurate.
25 MR. TALIMINI: It's my time --
53
1 MS. FANUCCI: Well, don't ask for an
2 answer.
3 MR. TALIMINI: You'll have your time
4 after mine is up, so shut up.
5 MR. MCGOFF: Excuse me.
6 MR. TALIMINI: I've had it. If you
7 can't keep her under control we will.
8 MR. MCGOFF: It was unnecessary.
9 MR. TALIMINI: Well, it may be
10 unnecessary, but so is she.
11 MS. FANUCCI: Shows you the kind of
12 person are and that's all we need.
13 MR. TALIMINI: Please.
14 MS. FANUCCI: You never want the
15 answers.
16 MR. TALIMINI: The KOZ's, now, are
17 you going to tell me that they signed a
18 contract in 2008 with Lackawanna Industrial
19 building company with this Mount Pleasant
20 Corporate Center? They have already signed
21 a contract for construction, if they don't
22 get their KOZ they will leave town? Who is
23 whistling Dixie here?
24 MS. FANUCCI: They are not leaving
25 here.
54
1 MR. TALIMINI: Who is whistling Dixie
2 here, the construction work has already
3 started, so if they don't get their KOZ I
4 doubt very much Austin Burke is going to
5 packed his bags and leave town. He is
6 making far too much money here.
7 Now, I would like to propose
8 something, Mr. Courtright, I mentioned this
9 to you once before, Lackawanna College
10 making their parking lot, can't they put a
11 "No Right Turn" sign there?
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: I asked for that
13 from the college. We didn't get it. I'll
14 ask again.
15 MR. TALIMINI: Yeah, please, because
16 they make those turns coming --
17 MR. COURTRIGHT: Onto Washington;
18 right?
19 MR. TALIMINI: Right.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yeah, I asked once
21 before and they haven't done it.
22 MR. TALIMINI: We will all chip in
23 and buy the sign if they want.
24 MR. COURTRIGHT: I think they got
25 the money.
55
1 MR. TALIMINI: I would also like to
2 ask to the KOZ to COZ, please.
3 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.
4 MR. TALIMINI: COC, con our citizens,
5 that's what it amounts to. Thank you very
6 much.
7 MS. HUMPHRIES: I hope we get this
8 right. My name is Phyllis Bernadette Fatima
9 Yasmine, also known as Mary. May the peace
10 of Jesus Christ be with you. The true peace
11 will come and peace will come. I want to
12 come forward that there is no signs in the
13 airport on the board that are being battered
14 and abused. Our fallen shoulders, the
15 sadness of Mrs. Williams. Our troopers, our
16 police department, our children, our
17 parents, our aunts, our uncles, our nieces,
18 our nephews, what is happening in the City
19 of Scranton, but also in the world.
20 You know, I come up here and I kind
21 of say a lot things because it's in my
22 heart. Mrs. Fanucci, you had said a week or
23 two weeks ago that people come up and they
24 have their own agenda, but if we truly
25 didn't have city council here that we could
56
1 get up and say what's on our mind whether it
2 be posttraumatic or it be financial or
3 whether it be a hole in the ground,
4 electricity, water, I want to tell you I
5 have the good, the bad and the ugly, and
6 this is the way I am because I'm truthful,
7 but I want to tell you with our fire
8 department.
9 I have been very sick and I really
10 shouldn't be here, I have bronchitis real
11 bad, and I went to the doctor in the morning
12 and the doctor wasn't there. So I went home
13 and the elevator have been broken for many,
14 many years over there, and there is a lot of
15 things that has to be addressed. With me
16 and my life and with many of the people in
17 the City of Scranton.
18 What happened is I was on the third
19 floor, my daughter didn't have a phone, and
20 I was going to the fifth floor to my floor
21 and in the process when I got out there the
22 lady says -- all of the people were there
23 and says, "Where you going?"
24 I says, "I'm going to up to the
25 fifth floor to make a telephone call."
57
1 And I didn't want to tell them where
2 I was going because some of them have told
3 me things that are really a bad situation.
4 They went and assume on what they think they
5 see, they really don't know the actions of a
6 person or their heart, but I was going to
7 call 911. She says, well, you know, I
8 didn't tell her -- she says -- I looked at
9 everybody and I said, "The elevators are
10 broke." I said, "Well what do you think
11 about that? What are you going to do when
12 an emergency --" but I was in an emergency.
13 So we used -- a beautiful woman, she
14 is like in her 80's, Gert, she let me use
15 the phone and her kindness in her heart and
16 not judgment, not listening to all of the
17 gossip that goes on, so the fire -- the two
18 attendants came, there were little girls and
19 they are like maybe 100 pounds soaking wet
20 and I'm like over 200, babies, and so I
21 looked at the two of them and I said, "Oh,
22 my God, what are you going to do?"
23 And she says -- and they looked at
24 each other, I says if we go down the steps
25 it's going to be one girl is Jack and Jill
58
1 and my name is Jill and it's going to be
2 like Jill and Jill went up the hill to fetch
3 a pail of water, Jill fell down and broke
4 her crown and Jill came tumbling after, so
5 they said, "We are going to need help."
6 So, they called -- they called for
7 help and the fire department came. They
8 came. One left for the Veteran's Hospital,
9 one left -- I don't know where the other two
10 guys did. So, you know, I'm the type of
11 person growing up I never looked at the
12 muscles of a guy or looked a man in a
13 derogatory way, but it wasn't derogatory,
14 but all of these real hunks and different
15 sizes, I was thinking is this the blessing
16 I'm getting for being 61 years old? When I
17 was suffering what I do is I joke about
18 everything, so I looked at them and I said,
19 "Do you guys lift weights?
20 And I says, "Do you exercise?"
21 I was so shocked like when I seen
22 all of the different sizes with these muscle
23 and their -- oh, my God, right? And I says
24 -- and yes, smiled, because they know me.
25 They said Phyllis, they all know my name.
59
1 You know what happened is we have going to
2 have to get one ever these electric or
3 hydraulic chairs to take her, right?
4 So I went, "Oh, my God," right. Now
5 I'm going down and I said, well, this is
6 unbelievable. Well, they got me down and
7 they got me to the hospital and I had
8 bronchitis. I was going to pay for a taxi
9 to come back out -- not a taxi, an ambulance
10 to come back because the insurances don't
11 pay for going back because I figured the
12 elevators were down and I wouldn't be able
13 to make it up all of those steps, but after
14 when they put me in the ambulance my
15 daughter did come.
16 And so we are going to have to look
17 at the good things with the bad things. I
18 love my firemen, I love my -- because I
19 called Mayor Doherty up and I told him --
20 well, I didn't speak -- he never speaks on
21 the phone, and I just tell him that I love
22 him. I forgive him for what he did, but I
23 know he is going to try to do better.
24 That's what I feel.
25 I know we got beautiful people here.
60
1 I know there is going to be a big change
2 over and everything, and like I don't agree
3 with some of the things, but you know what,
4 this is about humanity, this is about the
5 humanist. This is about love and trying to
6 pull together in the City of Scranton and to
7 keep ongoing on. God bless you and take
8 care of yourself.
9 And I want to extend again my
10 sympathy to the Williams' family because I
11 know the girl and I know the family, I grew
12 up with one of the girls.
13 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. Phyllis,
14 you have to finish.
15 MS. HUMPHRIES: You know what, it's
16 never to short to keep it long and it's
17 never long too keep it short with a word
18 that's going to hit a point to the heart.
19 MS. FRANUS: Fay Franus. I don't
20 know, Mrs. Evans, maybe you want to see if
21 you can do something about this 3011-3009
22 block on Cedar Avenue, it's a condemned
23 house or it's a vacant house, but the lot is
24 all overgrown, so I don't know if the city
25 would take care of that or not, but I would
61
1 just ask you that.
2 MS. EVANS: What's the address again?
3 MS. FRANUS: 3011-3009, it's a
4 double block, I believe it's vacant. It
5 might even be condemned, but it's really,
6 really --
7 MS. EVANS: Okay.
8 MS. FRANUS: And I would just ask
9 that you not vote for the KOZ's. I know
10 some of you have your ideas about it, but
11 the average person in the city we can't keep
12 on paying the bills. Judy, I don't know
13 where you coming from here with this, but I
14 hope you say "no" because I think you are
15 the deciding vote here, I hope. So please
16 do the right thing this time and for the
17 people, please. That's all.
18 Just one more thing about Kenny
19 McDowell, I read once where, I don't know
20 where it was from, but I believe it was a
21 legal paper that if one of the governing
22 bodies in the City, for example, or the
23 county, school board, county or city council
24 asks for an investigation of the tax office
25 that District Attorney Jarbola will have to
62
1 investigate if one of the governing bodies
2 asked for an investigation. I called the
3 county, AJ Munchak said, no, he doesn't want
4 to do it. He can't explain his reasons
5 because who knows what they are. I didn't
6 speak with the school board, I would think
7 though if they were going to do it they
8 would have done it by now, so I would ask,
9 could I ask this question, will you consider
10 asking for an investigation into the tax
11 office? All of you, just not just one
12 person. I think Mrs. Evans' asked once, but
13 there was never anybody --could I ask you
14 know each one of you would you consider
15 that? Sherry?
16 MS. FANUCCI: I would consider it.
17 Absolutely.
18 MS. FRANUS: Could I just say one
19 more thing, could you make a motion tonight
20 to do so and just so I have it on the record
21 because this is the law. I would really
22 like see an investigation of this tax
23 office. If one of the governing bodies says
24 that it has to be investigated that he has
25 to because so far he is not -- he was quick
63
1 to say -- Jarbola was quick to say about
2 Bobby Bolus when he ran that if he won he
3 couldn't serve, well, the Supreme Court said
4 that Kenny McDowell could run but he could
5 not serve, and here he is serving all
6 because District Attorney Jarbola refuses to
7 investigate, but with the help of you, the
8 five of you, maybe we would get this ball
9 rolling, if nothing else take him out of
10 office because he is doing that illegally
11 and to investigate the tax office with all
12 of the problems, so would you please put it
13 in a motion tonight and vote on this,
14 please. Mr. McGoff, would you be willing or
15 somebody to make a motion?
16 MR. MCGOFF: We'll see if somebody
17 makes a motion.
18 MS. FRANUS: I hope that you do
19 something about this tonight because it's
20 gone on too far. I mean, I read in the
21 paper where the FBI didn't want to do
22 anything. I mean, the FBI can't they, even
23 told me. The District Attorney is the only
24 one that can do it. So, please, please,
25 please, do something about this. Thank you.
64
1 MR. UNGVARSKY: Good evening, city
2 council. I'm Tom Ungvarsky, and I'm a
3 member of the Scranton and Lackawanna County
4 Taxpayers. I'd like to say a few things
5 about Lackawanna College. I understand that
6 last week they appeared before the Pinebrook
7 Neighborhood Association and they got
8 permission for the Chick Fellman baseball
9 field. Now, I don't know if we are going to
10 fall into the same trap that we fell into
11 with the South Side complex, but those
12 people have worked on that ball field for
13 years. They are promised lighting and all
14 and they never got it.
15 Also, I understand that Lackawanna
16 College is going to get the Manhattan Shirt
17 plant, is that going to be another property
18 taken off the tax rolls?
19 MS. GATELLI: There is nothing in
20 there now I don't think. It's empty.
21 MS. FANUCCI: It's empty.
22 MS. EVANS: If they take it over
23 rather than --
24 MS. UNGVARSKY: I would imagine it's
25 either paying taxes or putting a lien on it.
65
1 Also, while I'm not against Lackawanna
2 College having the Genesis Zoo Center, I
3 just don't understand how the state can many
4 up with $1 million and the city coming up
5 with funds for it in a matter of a few days
6 and they can't come up with a million
7 dollars or so for the Scranton State School
8 for the Deaf. It seems as though we have
9 money for everything else expect worthwhile
10 causes. Thank you.
11 MR. JACKOWITZ: Bill Jackowitz.
12 South Scranton resident and member of the
13 Taxpayers' Association. I, too, would like
14 to start off talking about the tax office.
15 Last week I spoke about the Single Tax Law
16 1929 being broken. It's been reported, I
17 think everyone knows the law has been
18 broken, something needs to be done about
19 this. If it's a summary offense it's a
20 summary offense. If it's a misdemeanor,
21 it's a misdemeanor. If it's a felony, it's
22 a felony. The bottom line is the law has
23 been broken and I respectfully request that
24 city council initiate some sort of action to
25 ask the district attorney to investigate
66
1 into this. If there is nothing there, fine,
2 but it's been reported over and over again
3 that the law has been broken.
4 Now, last week I was given some
5 information from Attorney Jarbola and
6 basically this is about the $12 million and
7 the $2 million, which I'm not -- I have
8 never spoken about that. You know, I don't
9 particularly agree with the fact that the
10 FBI is saying that it would be too
11 complicated to investigate. Hey, $2 million
12 or a $1 million of taxpayers' money is
13 something to me that should be investigated,
14 I'm not happy about it, but I can't do
15 anything about it, but we as citizens of
16 this city, you know, all I'm asking for is
17 that someone look into this.
18 If the law -- if the Single Tax Law
19 of 1929 -- or correction, Single Tax Law
20 1929 has been violated then we need to know
21 about that and let the cards fall where they
22 fall. That's all I'm asking for, you know,
23 again, some cooperation. I think
24 cooperation between all elected officials
25 and all elected bodies in this city and in
67
1 county and in this state you know, we need
2 to cooperate you know, city council, school
3 boards, county commissioners, mayor, state
4 representatives, state senators, governor,
5 you know, we are all Pennsylvanians. We are
6 all United State senators --or citizens,
7 excuse me. We need -- I wish I was -- no,
8 I'm glad I'm not a senator to be honest with
9 you, I probably wouldn't be very good.
10 You know, again, we were talking
11 about veterans earlier. You know, veterans,
12 all veterans, you know, they all sign a
13 blank check up to and including their lives,
14 and there is a lot of veterans who gave
15 their lives, you know, and now all I'm
16 asking for is the elected officials to, you
17 know, pitch in and chip in and do their
18 part. You know, let's make this a better
19 place, and we all talk about progressive
20 city and a better place to live and a better
21 place to play, well, let's do it. Let's do
22 it as a community not as, you know, not as
23 one group over here and one group over here
24 and one group in the middle and everybody
25 arguing and fighting with each other.
68
1 I mean, I have never backed away
2 from a good fight and I never will, but most
3 of the time fighting doesn't solve anything,
4 cooperation will go a lot longer than
5 arguing and bickering and everything else.
6 As far as Austin Burke and the
7 Chamber of Commerce, again, I have asked I
8 don't know how many times, why can't we
9 invite Austin Burke and the Chamber of
10 Commerce to a city council meeting? This is
11 important. We are talking about the
12 economy. We are talking about people's
13 livelihood in this city, and I'd like to
14 know why our wage level is so low. I would
15 like to know why our unemployment level was
16 so low mand I would like to know why KOZ's,
17 KOEZ's is going to make Scranton a better
18 place, and the person who has those answers
19 is Austin Burke and the Chamber of Commerce,
20 so I just -- I'm finding it hard to
21 understand why we just can't -- all I'm
22 asking you to do is extend an invitation.
23 If he comes he comes, if he doesn't come he
24 doesn't come, but that's all. Give him the
25 opportunity. Maybe he would want to come
69
1 here. Maybe he is bashful and shy and he
2 doesn't want to come unless he is invited,
3 so that's all I'm asking for.
4 You know, these are serious
5 questions, these are serious problems. This
6 whole country, you know the State of
7 California, they are basically going to go
8 bankrupt. You know, people are going to
9 lose their retirements. General Motors,
10 Chrysler, people are going to lose their
11 retirements. You know, that could come here
12 just as easily. The problem we have here is
13 that the economy has been so bad for so long
14 and wages have been so low for so long that
15 there is not a lot of people who get
16 retirements. You know, the only people that
17 get retirements out of here are government
18 employees for the most part. There are very
19 people who work local jobs and local
20 businesses get retirements out here and very
21 few of them get benefits. There is no
22 benefit packages.
23 These are things that need to be
24 looked into, and again, the person who needs
25 to be answering these questions is Austin
70
1 Burke, the president of the Chamber of
2 Commerce and members of the Chamber of
3 Commerce. And again, that's all I'm asking
4 for is, you know, let's -- you know, a
5 little cooperation and KOZ's I hope we vote
6 "no." They are not going to help. Thank
7 you.
8 MR. STUCKER: Hi, Courtright.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: Hi, Jim.
10 MR. STUCKER: Right off where Sammy
11 paints the statues and everything --
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: I can't hear you,
13 Jim.
14 MR. STUCKER: Where Sammy paints for
15 people to buy by the University, the old
16 University of Scranton. You go up that
17 alley, you go up that street and you turn
18 through the alley.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Okay.
20 MR. STUCKER: There's a hole in the
21 middle of the road, the middle is falling
22 down and the girl told me about it. She
23 complained about it and she is supposed to
24 call the city, I don't know what they are
25 doing. I don't if they ever came. I want
71
1 to know maybe we can get somebody up there
2 to fix it and fix that drain and that whole
3 road, it's all full of holes. All back
4 where Burt Sherman had the house. Remember
5 where Burt Sherman had the house on fire a
6 long time ago?
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yes.
8 MR. STUCKER: Well, right there up
9 that street.
10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Get the address for
11 us, Jim, okay, so we can tell them where to
12 go, all right?
13 MR. STUCKER: Yeah, right up -- it's
14 up --
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: I know you know, but
16 we need to be able to tell the DPW where to
17 go. You got to give us an address, okay?
18 MR. STUCKER: And I heard somebody
19 was telling -- there is a guy named
20 Stocki Demolition, I just talked to one of
21 his workers he told me to have it put on TV.
22 He wants to see me on TV, Stocki Demolition
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, he is seeing
24 you right now, Jim.
25 MR. STUCKER: I used to work for the
72
1 guy, so -- yeah. And I had the scooter I
2 bought on Keyser Avenue. I paid $299 cash.
3 Took it back. It's all -- the fiberglass is
4 falling apart. It's not worth it, so me and
5 my buddy Pat took it back, so I'm back with
6 my bike.
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: Keep the bike, Jim.
8 Don't get another scooter.
9 MR. STUCKER: Yeah. So I have been
10 going a lot out. Another thing too,
11 Courtright, somebody just told me you are
12 not going to be work with the tax.
13 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'm going to what?
14 MR. STUCKER: You are not going to
15 be with the taxes.
16 MR. COURTRIGHT: I'm not going to be
17 with the taxes?
18 MR. STUCKER: Yeah.
19 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, I hope I'm
20 going to be.
21 MR. STUCKER: That's what one of the
22 guys told me, the other guy. Some guy told
23 me who it was, I don't know who it was told
24 me that you are not going to be for the
25 taxes.
73
1 MR. COURTRIGHT: Well, I'm hoping,
2 Jim, we will see, November.
3 MR. STUCKER: Yeah. And I heard
4 about you, Fanucci, you are upstairs and
5 somebody downstairs told me you were
6 upstairs. The maid at the bar upstairs.
7 MS. FANUCCI: Upstairs where?
8 MR. STUCKER: In a bar.
9 MR. COURTRIGHT: What you are doing
10 in that bar?
11 MS. FANUCCI: What bar was that?
12 MS. STUCKER: She said on Thursday
13 night.
14 MS. FANUCCI: On Thursday night I
15 have my daughter. What bar was it? Did I
16 have fun?
17 MR. STUCKER: Somebody told you were
18 upstairs, some girl told me.
19 MS. FANUCCI: Oh, that was good.
20 I'm sure I had a good time.
21 MR. STUCKER: Yeah, I did, too.
22 Yeah. Oh, on Mulberry, Courtright, on
23 Mulberry, right, you got three cars wrecked
24 there. Three cars, one was a blazar, one
25 was a station wagon, one guy was from New
74
1 York, he is not from here and they had a
2 wreck there right on the bottom of Mulberry,
3 right on the bottom of Mulberry.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Mulberry, got you.
5 MR. STUCKER: We need some lines
6 there. We need lines there. They are still
7 running through the red light today.
8 MR. COURTRIGHT: I know, Jim. We
9 will see what we can get.
10 MR. STUCKER: Up there by where I
11 live at on Adams Avenue.
12 MR. COURTRIGHT: I know.
13 MR. STUCKER: Right, every time there
14 is a red light they go through it.
15 MR. COURTRIGHT: You got the police
16 department right in your building now, don't
17 you?
18 MR. STUCKER: Well, it ain't the
19 police, but the sheriffs.
20 MR. COURTRIGHT: But theres an office
21 right in your building now; right?
22 MR. STUCKER: Yeah.
23 MR. COURTRIGHT: Yeah. Ask Nelson.
24 He is in there. Right in your building they
25 put a police department in.
75
1 MR. STUCKER: I know. We need
2 somebody on Mulberry there real bad. The
3 lines are something. We need lines there.
4 MR. COURTRIGHT: Mulberry.
5 MR. STUCKER: People can't get
6 across. All right?
7 MR. COURTRIGHT: All right, Jim.
8 Thanks.
9 MS. GATELLI: Chrissy, you're in
10 trouble.
11 MR. SLEDENZSKI: What did I do now,
12 Jude?
13 MS. GATELLI: You're in trouble,
14 Chrissy. Marachak called me.
15 MR. SLEDENZSKI: Uh-oh, for what now,
16 Jude.
17 MS. GATELLI: He saw you on TV with
18 the West stuff on and he said bring all the
19 stuff back. He wants it all back.
20 MR. SLEDENZSKI: He will get it
21 back. Billy, I want to say one thing to a
22 guy from Old Forge because he wouldn't say
23 on the air, do you mind it I say something
24 on the air? Do you mind, Bill? Hey, Pat
25 Stocki, hi, Buddy. Take care. Take care,
76
1 Buddy.
2 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else? Thank you.
3 Mrs. Evans?
4 MS. EVANS: Good evening. I'm very
5 glad to be back and I apologize for my
6 absence last week for a physician's
7 appointment out of town.
8 Recently, like many of you, I was
9 interested to learn that Lackawanna College
10 intends to renovate the former Genesis
11 Wildlife Center in order to construct an
12 environmental energy center and expand it's
13 academic program at Nay Aug. The
14 1.3 million upgrade will be funded through
15 our state taxes, private donations and
16 college funds with no financial commitment
17 from city government. This appears to be a
18 fortuitous arrangements for Lackawanna
19 College and our beautiful park.
20 However, I am concerned by a
21 generous and free 99-year lease to
22 Lackawanna College while at the opposite end
23 of the same park Scranton's children are
24 charged to swim, ride a water slide and ride
25 a Ferris wheel at prices their parents
77
1 cannot afford each summer.
2 Therefore, I respectfully request
3 that Lackawanna College would consider
4 making an annual contribution in lieu of
5 taxes to the city in recognition of the
6 generous lease agreement provided by the
7 City of Scranton. Lackawanna County could
8 then be used to subsidize the cost of Nay
9 Aug swim complex and provide free swimming
10 for all the children of Scranton each
11 summer. So, Kay, I would like a letter sent
12 to Mr. Ray Angeli and the Board of
13 Lackawanna College requesting a contribution
14 in lieu of taxes as of I have just outlined.
15 Next, I wish to address the KOZ
16 extensions that are facing city council. I
17 have reservations about granting these
18 extensions. Our existing local businesses
19 have received no assistance from government
20 outside of the select loans that are issued
21 by OECD. The pizza shops, diners, small
22 clothing stores, car washes, laundromats and
23 so many others must pay business taxes on
24 their gross receipts and employees pay a
25 3.4 percent wage tax regardless of their
78
1 salaries as well as in many cases the LST of
2 $52. At the same time, unknown corporations
3 demand tax free status with no guarantee of
4 remaining in Scranton after their free ride
5 runs out. In fact, there is no way to
6 prevent a tax paying business from moving to
7 a KOZ and one Scranton business intends to
8 do just that.
9 I'm also troubled by the fact that
10 only business descriptions were provided to
11 me. I was asked and agreed to attend the
12 meeting of Chamber of Commerce
13 representatives and a few elected officials
14 to discuss this project and learn names of
15 the businesses who expressed interest in the
16 Mount Pleasant Corporate Park and that was
17 approximately two weeks ago. Then I heard
18 nothing further until I received a recent
19 message offering a meeting last night
20 providing less than 24 hours to speak to
21 each of the perspective businesses. It's
22 not good business to approve agreements when
23 complete information is not disclosed.
24 Furthermore, this legislation as
25 opened the flood gates. On tonight's
79
1 agenda, there is yet another property
2 seeking a KOZ and a third individual is
3 currently asking for the same consideration.
4 Several years ago together with my council
5 colleagues, I approved a very few KOZ and
6 KOEZ agreements in the downtown and I
7 continue to await the long-term benefits.
8 The matter of KOZ's was closed shortly
9 thereafter until now when the governor
10 decided to provide extensions as incentives
11 to corporations.
12 I very much wish to see that
13 particular prime city property developed,
14 new family sustaining jobs created, and
15 regular construction employment for our
16 trade communities, but at the same time I
17 want to know the names of the potential
18 businesses to discuss a tax revenue future
19 with each business, to learn their current
20 tax status, to examine the number of job
21 transfers versus job creations, and to have
22 a guarantee that only union labor will be
23 used for construction since the words
24 "mainly union labor" as used by Austin Burke
25 are unsatisfactory to me. None of us are
80
1 exempt from paying our taxes and we incur
2 stiff penalties if we fail to do so.
3 It seems nearly immoral to provide
4 KOZ's to wealthy corporations who remain
5 unknown and whose descriptions consist of 15
6 to 25 words because, as I mentioned earlier,
7 complete information couldn't be obtained in
8 less than 24 hours.
9 Now, Scranton is home to three
10 hospitals and the Commonwealth Medical
11 School. Our location offers more to the
12 several medical facilities looking at Mount
13 Pleasant than does any competing surrounding
14 community who offers a KOZ. Is Scranton in
15 such dire straights that we must give it KOZ
16 status despite three hospitals and a medical
17 school? I think we can and should do
18 better. Unlike the Chamber of Commerce, I
19 believe that Scranton has much to offer. I
20 don't wish Scranton's notoriety and
21 reputation to be dependent mainly on KOZ and
22 nonprofit give-aways. Those who choose to
23 come here and pay into the community just as
24 does each and every taxpayer, are those we
25 can most likely expect to stay.
81
1 In addition, if KOZ's, well, I
2 should say those extensions are granted by a
3 majority of city council tonight, I would
4 like to have Attorney Minora research the
5 imposition of an impact fee for all new
6 development in Scranton, particularly, those
7 receiving KOZ extensions, and I would ask
8 that Attorney Minora would have that
9 information for council by June 23.
10 Next, the Northeastern Pennsylvania
11 Alliance or NEPA which provides direct
12 services and programs to municipalities in
13 seven counties through Northeastern PA, is
14 asking for our assistance in an effort to
15 restore their funding in the 2009-10 state
16 budget. NEPA's services often enable a city
17 to avoid the high cost of consultants.
18 Therefore, I move to send a letter to
19 Governor Rendell, Senator Mellow and
20 Representative Smith and Murphy to request
21 the restoration of funding for NEPA in the
22 2009-2010 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
23 budget.
24 MS. GATELLI: I'll second that.
25 MR. MCGOFF: On the question? All in
82
1 favor signify by saying aye.
2 MS. EVANS: Aye.
3 MS. FANUCCI: Aye.
4 MS. GATELLI: Aye.
5 MR. COURTRIGHT: Aye.
6 MR. MCGOFF: Aye. Opposed? The
7 ayes have it and so moved.
8 MS. EVANS: Thank you. Also, I had
9 requested from Mr. Stu Renda a complete list
10 of salaries, longevity, overtime and health
11 care contributions, etcetera, for the DPW
12 and all management employees of the City of
13 Scranton. To date, I received only a
14 listing of 2008 salaries for the DPW, which
15 also includes pages of what appears to be
16 part-time high school and college age
17 employees. That really wasn't what I was
18 looking for, but now I would like to know
19 what positions in the DPW these school-aged
20 employees held in 2008. I also await the
21 health care contributions for DPW employees
22 and the salaries, health care contributions
23 and other financial provisions such as cell
24 phones and vehicles provided by the City of
25 Scranton to management.
83
1 In addition, I hope that Mr. Renda
2 is keeping pace with the information
3 requested by Rossi & Sons auditors in order
4 that the 2008 audit can be finalized prior
5 to council's September return to scheduled
6 meetings. We received another update today
7 from the auditor, and again, there are
8 numerous items that remain and must be
9 answered by OECD and the business
10 administrator. Despite Mr. Renda's
11 statements, I believe the audit is useful
12 for budget development, borrowing and
13 Recovery Plan revisions. I also hope
14 Mr. Renda would prevent any further late
15 submissions of financial audits and
16 information to the state as has occurred in
17 the past.
18 Next, I received a wonderful letter
19 from residents of Park Gardens and I want to
20 thank you for your good wishes and I will
21 take your advice and your cautions to heart.
22 Finally, I have some citzens'
23 requests. First, please provide PEL meeting
24 summaries to council for April, May and June
25 2009.
84
1 Next, in response to the
2 correspondence from the Hill Neighborhood
3 Association, I can report that the house at
4 1030 Bunker Hill Street should be demolished
5 this year according to Mr. Tom Oleski. It
6 remains private property since the city has
7 not been successful in locating it's owner.
8 Mr. Oleski further stated that several
9 procedures must be followed prior to
10 demolition and removal of garbage on the
11 property in order to guard against lawsuits
12 also has to follow procedures.
13 In addition, Mr. Oleski states that
14 since there is no housing inspector
15 designated to the Hill Section, any other
16 inspector who is free to go there can be
17 contacted by radio when a complaint arises.
18 Next, forward a citizen's request
19 regarding traffic signs on South Washington
20 Avenue to Mr. Brazil requesting and response
21 to city council and the mayor on or before
22 June 29 and attach the request to the
23 letter, please.
24 Next, a letter to the city engineer:
25 Please inspect the area of the North
85
1 Washington Avenue, Fisk Street at University
2 Drive. During heavy rainfalls water
3 collects on University Drive and also gushes
4 down North Washington Avenue and Fisk Street
5 carrying stones, mulch, and debris onto
6 residential properties and garages as well
7 as the street. The water pressure is so
8 forceful that it has broken a basement
9 window in a Fisk Street home. And, Kay, I'm
10 going to ask you to attach the copy of the