10-13-2009 Minutes

1 SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING

5 HELD:

7 Tuesday, October 13, 2009

9 LOCATION:

10 Council Chambers

11 Scranton City Hall

12 340 North Washington Avenue

13 Scranton, Pennsylvania

CATHENE S. NARDOZZI, RPR - OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER

2 CITY OF SCRANTON COUNCIL:

MR. ROBERT MCGOFF, PRESIDENT

6 MS. JUDY GATELLI, VICE-PRESIDENT

(Not present)

MS. JANET E. EVANS

9 MS. SHERRY FANUCCI

MR. WILLIAM COURTRIGHT

12 MS. KAY GARVEY, CITY CLERK

MR. NEIL COOLICAN, ASSISTANT CITY CLERK

15 MR. AMIL MINORA, SOLICITOR

1 (Pledge of Allegiance recited and

2 moment of reflection observed.)

3 MR. MCGOFF: Roll call.

4 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Evans.

5 MS. EVANS: Here.

6 MR. COOLICAN: Mrs. Gatelli. Ms.

7 Fanucci.

8 MS. FANUCCI: Here.

9 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. Courtright.

10 MR. COURTRIGHT: Here.

11 MR. COOLICAN: Mr. McGoff.

12 MR. MCGOFF: Here.

13 MR. MCGOFF: Please let the record

14 show that Mrs. Gatelli did call me and say

15 that she may not be able to make tonight's

16 meeting. She was engaged in doing flu

17 vaccines through the school district and she

18 was not sure whether she would be finished

19 in time. Dispense with the reading of the

20 minutes.

21 MS. GARVEY: Third Order. There is

22 no business at this time.

23 MR. MCGOFF: Announcements from

24 council?

25 MS. EVANS: Yes. Please remember in

1 your prayers all those who are died this

2 week, particularly Thomas Knoll and his wife

3 and family he leaves behind. His daughter,

4 Angela, is a dedicated city employee and a

5 very good friend to many of us.

6 Tomorrow evening, October 14, the

7 Interfaith Friend's Committee in cooperation

8 with Friendly's Restaurant invite you to

9 dine at Friendly's in Dunmore from 5 to

10 8 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the St.

11 Francis of Assisi Food Kitchen. As we face

12 the winter months, increasing high

13 unemployment and a harsh economy, you can

14 make a difference. By dining at Friendly's,

15 you can help to feed the hungry and needy in

16 your community.

17 Attention young people of our area

18 and the young at heart who wish to support

19 our First Responders. There will be a

20 benefit for Foundation 58 this Friday

21 October 16, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Heil's Place

22 located at 1002 Wheeler Avenue in Scranton.

23 Entertainment will be provided by Yacondo

24 Cortezo, lead singer of Lesson One, Grace's

25 Downfall, and No Where Slow. In addition,

1 50/50 raffles, Leah Sophia jewelry sales and

2 basket raffles will be held. Foundation 58

3 is a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization

4 dedicated to providing financial assistance

5 to firefighters, police officers and EMS

6 personnel who are diagnosed with cancer and

7 donations are tax deductible. It will be a

8 great time for everyone and proceeds will

9 help our First Responders who devoted their

10 lives to keeping all of us safe.

11 An Octoberfest 2009 fundraiser will

12 be conducted at the Parker House Cafe, 12

13 East Parker Street, Scranton, on October 17

14 from 7 to 10 p.m. tickets are $10.00 and are

15 available at the door. All proceeds benefit

16 the James N. Lynett speech and debate

17 invitational tournament. Celebrate

18 Octoberfest and support a great cause.

19 Saints Peter and Paul Russian

20 Orthodox Church on Washburn Street in

21 Scranton hold a delicious roast beef dinner

22 this Sunday, October 18, from noon to

23 2:00 p.m. at the Parish Hall. Tickets are

24 available at the door and takeouts will be

25 available.

1 The Women's Society of St. Joe's

2 Malachite Church will sponsor a spaghetti

3 dinner October 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the

4 church hall located at North Street and St.

5 Francis Cabrini Avenue. Tickets are $8.00

6 for adults and $4.00 for children under ten

7 and are available for parishioners and at

8 the door.

9 The Providence United Methodist

10 Church will conduct a turkey dinner and

11 bazaar on October 24 from 5 to 7 p.m.

12 Takeouts are available from 4 to 5. Tickets

13 are $9.50 for adults and $5.00 for children

14 between the ages of 5 and 12 years of age.

15 Children under five are free. Tickets are

16 available at the door. And I can tell you

17 this is one wonderful meal. It's one of my

18 very favorites in this city and it's just

19 like having a Thanksgiving dinner a month

20 early.

21 And the next day St. Stanislas

22 Polish National Catholic Cathedral will hold

23 it's preholiday homestyle turkey dinner on

24 October 25 at 12:30 p.m. in the Youth Center

25 at 530 East Elm Street. Tickets are $10 for

1 adults, $5 for children under 12, and are

2 available at the door.

3 We have two chances, you see, in the

4 same weekend to enjoy mouthwatering turkey

5 dinners at very reasonable prices and in

6 this economy isn't it good to know that we

7 can enjoy wonderful meals and parties so

8 cheaply and at the same time we can be

9 helping those who are less fortunate, and

10 that's all.

11 MR. COURTRIGHT: I just have one

12 here. Sunday and Monday for the next three

13 Sunday and Mondays Holy Cross basketball

14 will be holding their signups from 6 to 8

15 p.m., and that's for the boys and girls

16 basketball, so it's this Sunday and Monday

17 and for the next three weeks 6 to 8 p.m. at

18 the Holy Cross Hall.

19 MR. MCGOFF: Following last week's

20 meeting, Attorney Minora and I discussed the

21 Rules of Council that apply. Given the fact

22 that there was some breaches of those rules,

23 I did ask Mr. Coolican to put just a little

24 reminder of what those rules are. There is

25 nothing different than what we've practiced

1 in the past, and with that I have also asked

2 members of council if they would please

3 assist in helping abide by the Rules of

4 Council by not interrupting speakers and

5 also ask them if they would answer any

6 questions that may be made that those

7 answers would be made during our motion's

8 time. Hopefully the incidents that occurred

9 last week will not be -- would not be

10 repeated.

11 I should say that I did receive a

12 couple of phone calls from people that were

13 upset with some of the comments made by

14 speakers, especially ones that were sexual

15 in nature. They did not believe that it was

16 something that was appropriate to our

17 meeting nor to public television. So,

18 again, I would just please be aware of where

19 we are and what we are doing and hopefully

20 we can have a better business meeting. And

21 with that, citizens' participation. Joe

22 Dwyer.

23 MR. DWYER: Good evening, members of

24 council and concerned citizens of Scranton.

25 Last week I came here and I talked briefly

1 about the homeless situation, both the

2 helpless and the working poor in this

3 community. I was greeted with I was

4 argumentative and that should turn over the

5 people's names of who were in living out in

6 the tents and shelters who did not have a

7 home. That frustrates me.

8 I came here looking for some

9 compassion. I came here looking for people

10 who are elected to this community to be

11 leaders, to guide us, to show us how we

12 should be citizens of this community and yet

13 that isn't what we received. I'm here again

14 asking for the same kind of help.

15 The mayor lives in a house that was

16 condemned and blighted, what's so different

17 about him that he can rehab a house and

18 there is so many homes in this city that

19 could be used for the people who do not have

20 the means to buy a house, to pay rent for a

21 house. There is moms who are working at

22 McDonald's whose hours were cut back and

23 they have make a choice of whether to pay

24 the rent or by food for their kids. I told

25 you last year about a mom in this situation.

1 This week I met three people, two of them

2 are very much -- come from prominent

3 families in the community. Their own family

4 doesn't even know they are living in the

5 street because when they go to their house

6 they are well-groomed.

7 There is a girl who she was 17 years

8 old and she was kicked out of the house.

9 She was just an average kid doing average

10 kid things. She hooked with a guy who was

11 45 years old. We don't need that. When I

12 went and I told a prominent member in this

13 community what I wanted to rehab a house

14 for, and for a girl similar to that so she

15 wouldn't end up in prostitution or have to

16 look for a bed to lay in just so she would

17 have a roof over her head, he had the house

18 bulldozed to the ground a week later. That

19 isn't what we need. We need people to stand

20 up. We need people to say, "How can I

21 help?"

22 We need people to say, "What can I

23 do to make this situation change?"

24 I'm asking you as members of this

25 community, as leaders of this community, to

1 offer that hand, to raise people up, not to

2 keep uprooting people. Will you help?

3 Last year we were promised by the

4 mayor a list of all of the city available

5 lots that weren't being used to plant

6 gardens, to raise fruits and vegetables. We

7 never got them. We were stonewalled. I'm

8 asking you for that list so we can plant for

9 this next growing season, so we can utilize

10 that property that isn't being used, and I'm

11 asking that the mayor doesn't send his

12 henchman out to go and intimidate other

13 people who offer their lands to us, who may

14 have a lien against the property and don't

15 have the resources to pay that lien. They

16 don't want the property themselves, but the

17 city won't take it either because they need

18 ten years before they can acquire a

19 property, but the citizens don't need to be

20 threatened or intimidated not to use the

21 land for something good.

22 So it's nice to see that the

23 community itself is saying, hey, we

24 recognize that there is a problem here and

25 there isn't enough food to feed the people

1 in this community, like Macy's, like the Boy

2 Scouts, the Girl Scouts, local churches. We

3 need more activity like that. We need you

4 to stand up and say what can we do as a

5 community to feed the people who don't have

6 the food. It isn't a budget crises that

7 caused this, and this situation isn't

8 getting any better. If you listen to the

9 economist telling the story that's about to

10 happen, you know, we got commercial real

11 estate that's about to crumble. We have the

12 bond market that's about a crash. We are

13 not hearing that, but go and talk to

14 business people, talk to people who have

15 investments and they will tell you how bad

16 it is, and we are the last block.

17 Scranton usually gets the tail end

18 of the big stone and we've see that. We've

19 seen the major foreclosures on homes that

20 are coming to this community now. It would

21 have to be more, but we are going to have a

22 greater fallout now because more people are

23 being displaced from work and their hours

24 are being cut back and they don't have the

25 means to pay the bills. Can I have your

1 support? Will you give us your support, I'm

2 asking you or are you going to stay numb?

3 Can I have a response?

4 MR. MCGOFF: We will respond during

5 motions. Thank you, Mr. Dwyer.

6 MR. DWYER: Thank you.

7 MR. MCGOFF: Andy Sbaraglia.

8 MR. SBARAGLIA: Andy Sbaraglia,

9 citizen of Scranton. Fellow Scrantonians,

10 Agenda Item 5-E, that's a loan to a fitness

11 center at 5 percent, I guess it's a fitness

12 center, by the way the name is written

13 Fitness 53 I guess that would be a fitness

14 center. So there is isn't much and that, 5

15 percent.

16 So we move onto 7-C, donation of

17 land. A woman I guess from the backup

18 inherited it and I don't blame her for

19 dumping it. I'm glad the city is taking it

20 over, at least she ain't paying tax on it.

21 I hope it's just everything on the surface

22 there.

23 Okay, let's get down to real --

24 there is a dark cloud gathering over

25 Scranton financially. One is with the Sewer

1 Authority and, as you know, they could have

2 put in for any kind of a grant, that went by

3 the wayside. Now we are going to be hit

4 with huge fines that somebody has to pay.

5 They are saying up to a hundred -- I think

6 it was 120 million may cost the tax -- the

7 ratepayers of the City of Scranton and

8 Dunmore to fix the sewer system. I don't

9 know why it costs that much. I don't really

10 put much faith in the people that are

11 running the sewer system, but unfortunately

12 we have to put up with them and until they

13 can be changed, but that's one thing, the

14 sewer system.

15 Now, I got another thing with the

16 Parking Authority. I don't know if they

17 used their letter of credit and paid off

18 their loan yet, but that could come, too,

19 and now they are borrowing. Now, they come

20 up and they say, "Our pension funds are in

21 bad shape. Huge amounts of money have to be

22 paid to the pension funds."

23 And that all falls on the taxpayer.

24 We are being hit from all sides with

25 increased costs at a time when the country

1 is actually tanking. Wall Street says

2 things are great, well, they are great for

3 the banks, but the poor people, I think it's

4 9.8 percent now are out of work and they

5 expect it to be 10 percent and they are also

6 reading that, I mean, maybe two years before

7 things pick up.

8 Our electric rates are about to

9 increase 30 percent if we don't dump PPL and

10 go with somebody else. There is another

11 tragedy. We sat by and let the legislature

12 split up PPL to a generation and then the

13 selling. We already paid -- we have already

14 paid for those generation plants. We got

15 nothing for it. We were putting in for the

16 lines. I mean, we should be able to buy the

17 lines and just thump them out and be done

18 with them and hire a -- I mean, the State of

19 Pennsylvania should take care of all the

20 line, hire a crew and take care of them

21 ourselves. The way it's going now isn't the

22 best and it's not going to improve.

23 All of these things are being pushed

24 upon the taxpayers or even people -- the

25 aging, which I feel sorry for them more than

1 anybody. My sister has electric heat. She

2 was already paying $400 last year a month,

3 30 percent increase is going to be

4 skyrocket. I have to advise her to dump PPL

5 and go with some of the other people coming

6 in, and if you go out and follow the legals

7 in the paper you see four or five, six

8 people put in to sell electricity, and while

9 the chamber was arranging for low rates for

10 the big consumers of electricity, but for

11 the common people they weren't doing

12 nothing. I think there is a municipality up

13 in Dunmore that sells their own electricity.

14 I believe, of course, they have to buy it

15 from PPL then sell it to people that live up

16 there, and if Olyphant can do it maybe we

17 should look somewhere along the line of

18 joining groups, cooperative groups to buy

19 electricity from other sources and PPL to

20 help them out on their rates. I feel sorry

21 for them. I really do, for people who use

22 electric heat.

23 I'll never forget, well, the lady

24 was -- it was gas, four years ago, five

25 years ago who got her gas shut off, went to

1 electricity, started a fire and burnt down

2 the house and she died. I didn't forget

3 that and I don't like to see that happen

4 again. I really don't. I think we should

5 do whatever we can, being if you looked at

6 what the statements said they were cutting

7 back heat rebates and federal government was

8 doing this and federal government was doing

9 that. I mean, the poor people in this

10 state, in the city is going to be hit real

11 hard. Well, enough of that. Thank you.

12 MR. MCGOFF: Mike Dudek.

13 MR. DUDEK: My name is Mike Dudek,

14 608 Depot Street up here in Scranton. I

15 live down in the Plot. I'd like to begin by

16 picking up where Mr. Dwyer left off. He is

17 a member of the Pax Christie. This is an

18 organization that over the last I'd say 20

19 to 30 years has been pillared by virtually

20 every district attorney and most of the

21 county commissioners in this county because

22 this is the organization that kept bringing

23 forward extremely unbelievable abuses in the

24 Lackawanna County Prison and over the last

25 20 to 30 years Pax Christie has always been

1 correct and right on the button about it, so

2 when somebody from Pax Christie comes here

3 to speak about an issue this is a person

4 that is really worth listening to.

5 And in dealing with the homeless

6 situation, I'm going to ask council to think

7 inside the box on this one. You have a lot

8 of homeless people out there. Now, what I'm

9 thinking of a facility for a lot of homeless

10 people I think I would like something that

11 would have a lot of rooms in it, kitchen

12 facilities, lavatories, showers and maybe

13 even a meeting hall in case the organization

14 that runs it wants to meet with all of the

15 tenants that are inside. What are we doing

16 with Bishop Hannon High School, the old

17 Bishop Hannon High?

18 All that thing is doing right now is

19 collecting pigeon poop. That building has

20 everything in it that I just described and

21 that building has probably big enough to

22 encapsulate and sweep up every homeless

23 person within the boundaries of the City of

24 Scranton and then some. It would take very

25 little to renovate some of those classrooms,

1 which are small to begin with. Those are

2 your dormitories.

3 All of the other facilities that I

4 just mentioned that should be there are

5 already there. Who owns the building that

6 I'm calling Bishop Hannon? The Diocese. If

7 I'm not mistaken I think the Catholic Church

8 is committed to helping the sick and the

9 poor and the homeless.

10 I think we have a very natural fit

11 there and I think city council and the

12 members of, you know, the appropriate people

13 in the Diocese of Scranton ought to meet and

14 to discuss the possibility of using this

15 facility as a homeless shelter, whether it

16 would be run by the Diocese or run by the

17 city or Pax Christie or whomever.

18 This is a problem that adults can

19 fix. If this problem is not fixed by using

20 that school as a good temporary homeless

21 shelter, then it's only because adults are

22 not thinking properly in order to help with

23 the city problem. Thank you.

24 MR. MCGOFF: Lee Morgan.

25 MR. MORGAN: Good evening, Council.

1 The first thing I have here, it's ashame,

2 Mr. McGoff, that you can't speak tonight,

3 but I have a copy of the Home Rule Charter

4 here and the previous meeting prior to last

5 week's meeting you were talking about the

6 Single Tax Office. Now, when I was talking

7 about subpoenas I wasn't talking about the

8 Single Tax Office because they don't operate

9 under the authority of city council, but

10 there are numerous entities in the city that

11 do like the Housing Authority, the Parking

12 Authority, there is the Sewer Authority. I

13 mean, these are all things that council

14 could investigate and if you go to Section

15 312 in the Home Rule Charter you will find

16 that, okay?

17 I mean, I just -- I really found it

18 troubling two weeks ago when you tried to

19 say that council wasn't responsible for

20 where this city is. I thought that that

21 statement by yourself was very disingenuous.

22 You have the opportunity to do subpoenas and

23 find out what the situations are whether

24 it's the Parking Authority or the Sewer

25 Authority, and then when you go to Article

1 V, and you go to six, Section 502, it says:

2 "Regulate the rates for it's services by a

3 municipal-owned public utility."

4 That's the Sewer Authority. So what

5 I -- what I would like to request is -- I

6 would like to request information that

7 explains how council lost the ability to set

8 sewer rates in the city because this is the

9 Home Rule Charter and the voters in the City

10 of Scranton voted this in, so evidently who

11 overruled it I would like to see that and if

12 the agreement with American Anglican fell

13 apart and allegedly you lost that authority

14 then after that agreement ended that

15 authority should have come back to council.

16 And I agree with -- many speakers

17 have come here and said, Andy Sbaraglia has

18 spoken about this for an extremely long

19 period of time. This -- I do say though

20 that the first speaker who came here tonight

21 really had a lot to say that was very

22 important because there is a lot of homeless

23 people in this city. There is lot of

24 poverty in this city and in my opinion it

25 all comes back to council. This is an

1 election year. You know, people make

2 promises they can never fulfill.

3 There is no youth programs in the

4 city worth talking about, there is not a

5 playground program in the city worth talking

6 about. We have gang activity in the city

7 that was spoken about a decade ago and

8 nobody did anything. We have overtaxed the

9 residents. We have roving poverty that's

10 spread through far through the city we have

11 condemnations throughout the whole city and

12 we are blaming landlords. When the council

13 in my opinion has created ordinances that

14 allow inspectors to come into a property for

15 no valid reason.

16 And the other problem I think we

17 have in this city is some of our inspectors

18 have been grandfathered by Mr. Shimkus when

19 he was in office and they are not even

20 qualified to do their job. So, I mean, we

21 have got some real serious problems here and

22 then we have last week, okay, I didn't come

23 last week because my brother passed away on

24 Monday, but you know something he was a

25 Vietnam veteran and Phyllis came up here and

1 she said a couple of things about religion

2 and we always talk about how we talk about

3 how the people in the military protect us

4 and protect our rights, when did we lose the

5 ability to have freedom of speech in this

6 chamber or any other chamber? And you try

7 to go back and talk about judge's decisions,

8 the judge's decisions weren't to muzzle the

9 residents of this city, we have done that

10 for too long. Maybe we should listen to

11 them. Thank you.

12 MR. MCGOFF: Lynn Bloom.

13 MS. BLOOM: Good evening, ladies and

14 gentlemen. I'm first going to apologize in

15 case I stumble, it's been quite awhile since

16 I spoke publically. I know all of you, you

17 have no idea who I am, so I'm just going to

18 take a little bit of time --

19 THE COURT: Can you just state your

20 name?

21 MS. BLOOM: I'm sorry. Lynn Bloom,

22 B-L-O-O-M. My husband is a native of

23 Scranton. He was born and raised here and

24 left to join the service in 1977. He was

25 discharged from the United States Army

1 honorably after 13 years of service. When

2 he was discharged in 1991, I wanted to

3 relocate to Scranton to raise my children

4 here. Flat out forbid it. He did not come

5 here, he did not want to live here, he did

6 not think there was any employment

7 opportunities. He thought we would have a

8 better standard of living going to where I'm

9 from. It took me 15 years to convince a

10 native son to come back to where he was born

11 and raised. I have a nine-year-old child.

12 I made the conscious decision to raise my

13 child in this city.

14 I have been sick for six weeks. I

15 many so outraged by the behavior that goes

16 on in these chambers I came here tonight.

17 My husband asked why I'm so outraged. I

18 asked him to pick a subject. I expect more

19 decorum from my nine-year-old child than I

20 see going on in this chamber. I'm not

21 directing towards anyone personally because

22 I, unlike some of you, don't believe in

23 bringing personalities into it. When we

24 have lost the ability for common courtesy

25 and politeness in a city in council chambers

1 that is televised to the elderly, to young

2 children, to mothers, to children, there is

3 a real problem.

4 Two weeks ago there were armed men

5 and women in this chamber. For whatever

6 reason, this meeting was allowed to

7 continue, but when someone who appears to be

8 mentally challenged has the nerve or

9 confusion to address topics, which I

10 personally feel are completely inappropriate

11 for the setting, but my mother taught me the

12 good common sense that if you don't have

13 nothing nice to say you don't say anything.

14 When someone is speaking is more

15 objectionable than armed men and women that

16 I don't know from Adam, there is a problem

17 in this city.

18 I was in charge of background

19 investigations for a region of New York

20 City. I'm a retired Department of Treasury

21 employee. If you want my opinion it's not

22 going to count for much, but when you have

23 one police officer with I'm assuming at

24 least one round in the chamber and maybe a

25 couple of speed loaders in their belt and

1 about ten people carrying weapons, you have

2 crossed a line. We can argue about the

3 legalities and I will the first one to tell

4 you, you can find a law to justify just

5 about anything in this country. I will

6 never bring my nine-year-old child to watch

7 this government work because I don't know

8 who is going to be carrying a weapon in the

9 audience? How short are our memories?

10 Lubby, Texas. Kaline, a place I used to

11 live, people having dinner, shot.

12 Columbine, McDonald's, school yards, pick a

13 place.

14 Now, I heard tonight that we can't

15 do anything about it because this isn't a

16 courtroom and that's why the Feds across the

17 streets can bar weapons. Newsflash, move it

18 to a courtroom. If that is the only thing

19 that is preventing armed men and women from

20 attending council meetings, put it in a

21 temporary setting until you can find a law

22 that justify a sign that says "No Firearms

23 Allowed."

24 I would be more and happy to sit

25 down with your solicitor and pour over the

1 US Constitution, the Commonwealth and the

2 city code because I can tell you with my

3 bachelor's degree I'll find a law that makes

4 it inappropriate at a civic meeting, I'm

5 sorry I sound hostile, but I was born and

6 raised and lived my adult life around

7 weapons.

8 There is no reason in this day and

9 age that anyone that has a right to carry

10 permit in the State of Pennsylvania can

11 enter a civic meeting. You have a police

12 officer because one of the board members

13 said it was a hostile environment? That

14 police officer would be gone ten seconds.

15 That's not protection. I don't feel you

16 folks need protection, I feel we all need

17 protection, and until you do something to

18 change it, you are going to be seeing me a

19 lot because my son is being raised here and

20 I want better for him than what every one

21 here is giving him.

22 MR. MCGOFF: Les Spindler.

23 MR. SPINDLER: Good evening, council.

24 Les Spindler, Scranton resident, homeowner

25 and taxpayer. Mr. McGoff, I think this is a

1 first, but I agree with what you did last

2 week in asking for a recess during the

3 meeting. I don't think religion has any

4 place in politics, I said that for years.

5 This isn't the forum for that. I wouldn't

6 go to the Bishop to have my sidewalk fixed

7 so my sidewalks don't get flooded, so I

8 don't think people should talk about

9 religion here. Although, I might get more

10 satisfaction with my sidewalks from the

11 Bishop than I do from this city.

12 Next thing, I was driving by the Mt.

13 Pleasant Corporate Center site last week,

14 which I do everyday going to work, and for

15 the first time I looked at the sign it said,

16 "Mt. Pleasant Corporate Center," and the

17 upper right-hand corner I saw something that

18 shocked me it said -- there was a little

19 sign that said, "KOZ/KOEZ approved."

20 Did I miss something? Because I

21 know that wasn't approved by the school

22 board.

23 MS. FANUCCI: The extension wasn't

24 approved, but there is still I believe

25 remaining two years on the KOEZ or what is

1 it until --

2 MS. EVANS: 2013.

3 MR. SPINDLER: Oh, is that what it

4 is?

5 MS. FANUCCI: Yes, so there is a few

6 more years on it.

7 MR. SPINDLER: Thank you. A few

8 weeks ago, Mrs. Evans, you spoke about Mrs.

9 Aebli saying the Connell building is an

10 ongoing project. I think it was only like a

11 day or two later the Doherty newsletter

12 stated that the developer needs more money

13 now, there is nothing being done. Where

14 does he expect that money to come from? If

15 these people want to develop building in our

16 city and don't have money, they shouldn't

17 come to council for money. If they don't

18 have it themselves they shouldn't come here

19 and try to develop anything, and I hope he

20 doesn't come to council for more money

21 because this city just doesn't have anymore

22 money to give out.

23 For the last few days I had the

24 opportunity to drive up Mulberry Street.

25 Between the blocks of Taylor and Harrison on

1 Mulberry there were many, many, many

2 pavecuts made, especially between Prescott

3 and Harrison. There has to be anywhere from

4 10 to 15 pavecuts. They are not filled in

5 all of the way and it's terrible to drive on

6 the streets. I don't know if that's PennDOT

7 or the city, but I hope those streets are

8 going to be blacktopped pretty soon because

9 it's like driving on a minefield there.

10 Next thing, Mrs. Evans, quite a few

11 months ago you made a request when I said

12 something about the lines on Mifflin and

13 Mulberry and nothing has still been doing.

14 There is still people making wrong turns

15 from different lanes if we can look into

16 that again, please?

17 MS. EVANS: Yes.

18 MR. SPINDLER: Thank you. And

19 lastly, I said I was going to do this until

20 the election, we have three weeks to go

21 until the election, November 3, and we need

22 a mayor who wants to be mayor of our city

23 and only our city and not galavanting trying

24 to raise money to be governor, so I'm urging

25 everybody on November 3 to not for Chris

1 Doherty and write someone else in who wants

2 to be mayor of our city. Thank you.

3 MR. MCGOFF: Ronnie Ellman.

4 MR. ELLMAN: Ronnie Ellman, member

5 of the Taxpayers' Association. Hello,

6 council. You all ready? I find it

7 inconceivable and totally unconscionable

8 that this pathetic biased excuse of a

9 newspaper continually leaves local items out

10 that are of interest to the whole city, but

11 we don't mind printing a bunch of blatant

12 lies like our 6,000 jobs and 500 million

13 dollars that was brought here. If you don't

14 print facts then it's just a lie to me.

15 This past election if I was

16 Mr. DiBileo I would have mastered or passed

17 some filthy dirty tactics that Mr. Doherty

18 used, but I understand Mr. DiBileo is too

19 much of a gentleman to meet those tactics.

20 You know, there was a political

21 meeting last week and it should have been

22 covered. Just trying -- this newspaper

23 trying to avoid it and that's not helping.

24 You know, Andy said a couple of what during

25 the summer about everyone has a right when

1 some signs were taken and all and I

2 certainly agree with them. I got a whole

3 bunch of things here, but I'm not going to

4 get involved with getting everybody all

5 alienated today.

6 It seems to me it's past due time

7 for the city to get out of the real estate

8 business. We have just lost -- we lost in

9 the motels with everything being touched it

10 just turned sour on the city. The taxpayers

11 there is just nothing left. You just can't

12 go back. Last night I heard a discussion

13 that all of the state pension plans will be

14 coming in pretty soon and going up ten of

15 millions of dollars more in taxes. This

16 city is just so totally mismanaged. Where

17 is it going to come from?

18 Every day I read the real estate

19 notices to see how much property Lackawanna

20 College is going to take over. The

21 University, according to Mr. Phillips in

22 15 years, they shorted school board out of I

23 think he said $28 million. That's just the

24 school board. In another 15 years if

25 Lackawanna College has their way we'll be

1 shorted out their 20, 15, $20 million, it's

2 just -- where is the money going to come

3 from? A fourth of the city is not paying

4 taxes. We are losing more -- you know, we

5 are losing houses all of the time, they are

6 being -- blight, torn down, burn down.

7 People are losing them left and light. I'd

8 like see how -- where is this tax base?

9 What are we going to do about it? You know,

10 nobody has any answers.

11 I don't see why anybody would want

12 to be the mayor of this city personally, but

13 I certainly it's time we had some new fresh

14 blood in there because it's been mismanaged

15 by a phony and a fraud for years. It's

16 just -- it's just can't go on. You know, we

17 don't need more million dollars sidewalk and

18 we don't need no $1,500 a month apartments

19 downtown for students. I have talked to

20 some students, I was having my car washed

21 down at Able Brake briefly and there was

22 some boys in the parking lot that recognized

23 me from coming down here and we were

24 talking. I said, "You know, why don't you

25 move into these $1,500 a month apartments?"

1 Everybody is snickered and had --

2 they are supposed to be for students. Now

3 they don't have money to finish them. You

4 know, it just doesn't go. Just like it was

5 just said, if they don't have money for

6 their projects can them. You can't keep

7 falling back on the public in this city.

8 It's just not there. The people just don't

9 have it. Thank you.

10 MR. MCGOFF: Bill Jackowitz.

11 MR. JACKOWITZ: Good evening, City

12 Council. Bill Jackowitz, South Scranton

13 resident. The next four years Scranton will

14 have three new council members and more than

15 likely the same mayor, that is if the mayor

16 is not elected to the governor's seat. If

17 he is elected, then Scranton basically has

18 an all new city government. That would be a

19 perfect opportunity for Scranton to start

20 making changes and improve the city for all

21 of the people, not just the chosen few.

22 Remember, the mayor is not always

23 correct and neither are the council members.

24 There are some very intelligent speakers who

25 come before this council with some very good

1 ideas and are ignored. I feel that Mayor

2 Doherty made a big mistake by not attending

3 city council meetings occasionally. If

4 council would have monitored the Parking

5 Authority, Recreation Authority and Housing

6 Authority possibly they would not be in the

7 position that they are in. Some council

8 speakers have spoken before the authorities

9 and have been ignored just like they are

10 ignored at council meetings. The speakers

11 were pointing out the problems and costs,

12 but yet they were ignored by the authorities

13 and the elected officials.

14 Also, I feel that far too many votes

15 have been taken without council members

16 realizing and knowing what exactly they were

17 voting for. The City of Scranton has some

18 very serious financial problems plus this

19 there a very little to offer. The working

20 people of Scranton, the wages are just too

21 low and I am still waiting for all of these

22 high paying jobs that have been promised by

23 the Chamber of Commerce and city government.

24 In the local metro area, 5.7 percent

25 of mortgage payments are 90 days or more

1 delinquent. That figure is up 48 percent,

2 48 percent from 2008, which was just last

3 year. Homeowners have a choice, do I pay my

4 mortgage or do I pay my taxes? Pay me now

5 or pay me later?

6 Also, I would like to know has the

7 project in the 500 black of Lackawanna

8 Avenue been completed?

9 MS. FANUCCI: I don't believe it's

10 finished, Bill.

11 MR. JACKOWITZ: Okay.

12 MS. FANUCCI: They are working on it,

13 I know that there is people there today, but

14 I don't believe it's 100 percent finished

15 yet, I'm not sure.

16 MR. JACKOWITZ: Does anybody know if

17 we have any tenants for any of those

18 buildings yet?

19 MS. FANUCCI: I have no idea. We

20 could send a letter to the owners and see if

21 you want.

22 MR. JACKOWITZ: Yeah, if you could

23 find that out for me, Sherry, I would

24 appreciate it.

25 MS. FANUCCI: I definitely will.

1 MR. JACKOWITZ: With your permission,

2 Mr. McGoff, I would like to ask each council

3 member one question.

4 MR. MCGOFF: Depends on what the

5 question is?

6 MS. JACKOWITZ: The question is, if

7 the 2010 budget is short will you vote for

8 more bonds or will you vote to raise taxes

9 or neither of the two?

10 MR. MCGOFF: I will ask the members

11 if they care to respond? Mrs. Evans?

12 MS. EVANS: Before I would entertain

13 either of those possibilities I think there

14 are a great deal of cuts that could be made

15 to the budget that have not occurred in the

16 last seven to eight years and I'm not

17 speaking specifically to manpower as much as

18 I am to a leaner management team and more

19 appropriate salaries to replace the

20 monumental salary increases that have been

21 awarded.

22 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Fanucci?

23 MS. FANUCCI: I certainly would have

24 to look at the entire budget. I'm going to

25 say that I would entertain probably more of

1 a bond than I would a tax increase, but

2 hopefully that will be the case and I do

3 agree that we need to make some cuts.

4 MR. MCGOFF: Mr. Courtright?

5 MR. COURTRIGHT: I would go with the

6 other two council members just said. First

7 I would like to see what kind of cuts we

8 could make and if all the cuts are made then

9 I would deem it necessary and there was

10 still a short fall then I would look at

11 those other two options.

12 MR. MCGOFF: And I would prefer to

13 wait until the -- rather than dealing

14 hypothetically when it does occur what

15 options are available.

16 MR. JACKOWITZ: Okay. I thank all

17 three council members for answering the

18 questions and I respect you also,

19 Mr. McGoff.

20 MR. MCGOFF: Joanne Williams.

21 MS. WILLIAMS: Good evening. Joanne

22 Williams, city resident. Well, I'd first

23 like to touch on what Mike said about the

24 homeless. It's an unfortunate thing. I see

25 it under the Harrison Avenue bridge not far

1 where I live where I walk my dog. I see

2 poverty, also. I see foreclosures, but it's

3 not only a Scranton problem. That's what I

4 don't get. People come up here and make you

5 realize and think it's only -- it's not only

6 a Scranton problem, you know, unfortunately,

7 we are in hard economic times in this

8 country.

9 People wonder why I come here

10 certain times, I come here because like I

11 said before I love this city and I do

12 believe in this mayor and I believe in

13 candidates and I stand by them. Someone

14 needs to have the courage to come up here

15 and state what they believe in rather than

16 the majority sitting here does or does not.

17 You know, I don't want to -- last

18 week I heard -- I don't watch city council.

19 I don't watch myself, you know, I read the

20 newspaper, people approach me tell me this

21 was said, that was said. Mrs. Krybom had a

22 few things to say about me last week about

23 why I was not concerned about the mayor

24 running for governor. Well, if that's his

25 choice, that's his choice, you know. I feel

1 he has done a good job being mayor. You

2 know, I said it before, Mrs. Evans ran for

3 state rep and I didn't hear Mrs. Evans

4 complaining then, and let's go to

5 Mr. Spindler, my name was mentioned once

6 again, wanted to know why I attend meetings

7 during an election time. Once again I will

8 say anyone can attend these meetings. You

9 know, it's our right. And believe me,

10 Mr. Spindler --

11 MR. MCGOFF: Please, address counsel.

12 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm addressing you,

13 Mr. McGoff.

14 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.

15 MS. WILLIAMS: I didn't get any

16 political favors from Mr. Doherty -- or

17 Mayor Doherty. I know what hard economic

18 times are. I lost $20,000 from a contractor

19 this spring and I'm about to lose my home,

20 too, and Mayor Doherty hasn't come running

21 to me or any political people, and I don't

22 expect him to, so I want to make that clear,

23 too. I'm tired of that.

24 Mrs. Stulgis spoke about this person

25 about running with a record which I strongly

1 am against, okay? She brought up about him

2 having, you know, such a small thing as open

3 beer cans, traffic violation, parking

4 tickets, boy, I remember, Mrs. Fanucci, when

5 you had parking tickets they were ready to

6 put you in jail and throw the key away, you

7 know?

8 MS. FANUCCI: That's true.

9 MS. WILLIAMS: But now it's okay

10 from a police officer, it's okay to have

11 that. I am hoping that the Taxpayers' Group

12 when they interview -- when they interview

13 candidates they have the courage to ask

14 candidates, like ask you guys a few weeks

15 ago, "Do you have a record? Do you have a

16 record? Do you have a record?"

17 All of you said, "No." I hope not.

18 I don't want you sitting there you if you

19 have a record. I don't want to associate

20 with someone sitting there who has a record.

21 My last thing, too, is I had the

22 pleasure of walking through Nay Aug Park

23 yesterday and I walk up to people and talk

24 to them. Wayne County, Dunmore, Moosic,

25 Clarks Summit, they express how much they

1 enjoy the park. Positive changes since the

2 mayor took office. The man from Moosic

3 spoke of how he grew up in the Hill Section

4 and since the improvements in the city him

5 and his wife are going to be purchasing a

6 house on Colfax Avenue.

7 Another mom talked to me and also

8 stated about the handicapped swingset which

9 she is from Clarks Summit, has a neighbor

10 who has a handicapped child and I think

11 Mr. Doug Miller spearheaded that and he was

12 on Junior City Council. There are lot of

13 positive things. They also spoke about how

14 they enjoyed the beauty of the park,

15 Christmas light display. They don't

16 understand the negativity that goes on here

17 week after week after week. I didn't see

18 last week's meeting. I heard it was

19 atrocious. I'm just going to finish this,

20 give me a few minutes, if I may, Mr. McGoff.

21 MR. MCGOFF: Please quickly.

22 MS. WILLAIMS: Oh, I will quickly.

23 It's about time that the people start

24 thinking when they go to vote. You better

25 think and think hard because that person who

1 I said about this record does have one start

2 investigating, start looking into it --

3 MR. MCGOFF: Please.

4 MS. WILLIAMS: -- start doing that.

5 I'm done. Mr. McGoff, let me say this to

6 you, okay? No, I'm going to say it to you.

7 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Williams --

8 MS. WILLIAMS: No, Mr. McGoff, I'm

9 going to say this to you. You let other

10 people finish, but you don't let me finish.

11 MR. MCGOFF: I --

12 MS. WILLIAMS: You know, I don't

13 think that's fair.

14 MR. MCGOFF: I let you finish. Thank

15 you.

16 MS. WILLIAMS: No. No. You let other

17 people ramble on longer than I, but you cut

18 me off quite often, you know, and I do not

19 appreciate that, Mr. McGoff, not at all and

20 you are a Mayor Doherty person --

21 MR. MCGOFF: Please.

22 MS. WILLIAMS: And that just goes to

23 prove --

24 MR. MCGOFF: You are out of order.

25 MS. WILLIAMS: And that goes to

1 prove, you know, I'm not looking for favors

2 from anybody.

3 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you. David

4 Dobrzyn.

5 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. McGoff.

6 Real funny, isn't it? See, you let them

7 laugh at me and not bang your gavel. That's

8 the problem.

9 MR. DOBRZYN: Good evening, Council.

10 Dave Dobson, resident of the Scranton,

11 member of the Taxpayers'. On that last

12 note, anybody that appears before the

13 Taxpayers if they have a criminal record

14 will be undoubtedly exposed by their

15 political enemies, so what do they need me

16 for?

17 Now, something was mentioned here

18 about pensions and a few weeks ago we had a

19 little conference on pensions from a local

20 school board director and there was also a

21 write-up in the Times about it on pensions

22 due to the fact that they are not funded

23 from the school board by 2012 I think you

24 can expect about an average of $730.

25 One of the things that drives me

1 crazy about politicians anymore is that they

2 also seem to legislate something that's

3 going to take effect long after they're out

4 of office. The next guy gets the hit for it

5 like our electric bills. That was a Ridge

6 deal and now if the state backs out of it,

7 undoubtedly there will be some subsection of

8 the contract that says, well, if they are

9 not going to go through with it and the

10 state gets to pay the rest of the bill and

11 PPL has a right to sue, so people should

12 really be aware of that in the future and,

13 for instance, trade packs they always get

14 negotiated for the next guy's term on a

15 national basis. So, you know, I was no

16 lover of George Bush, but I will concede

17 that he got hit with an awful lot of

18 problems that the trade packs the previous

19 administration, was caused by the previous

20 administration and their unwillingness to

21 just take it on as a challenge.

22 Now, I would like to bring up the

23 subject of this homeless situation and

24 everybody should be concerned about it. I'm

25 not criticizing the homeless for this, but

1 in this country I seen on a documentary, if

2 a person is homeless for three years for

3 every three years of homelessness there is

4 $155,000 bill left behind at the hospital

5 that these people get kicked, punched, run

6 over or whatever, shot, stabbed, raped or

7 whatever, and then the hospital has a big

8 bill that they can't turn anybody away by

9 law and by their own ethics and somehow

10 $155,000 bill gets left behind and certainly

11 a homeless person doesn't have the money for

12 a top notch medical policy or something like

13 that, so that's something to consider.

14 And what I'm leading up to is we

15 really need to start to lobby. Town

16 government can do a little bit but they're

17 basically powerless, they don't have the

18 resources to deal with national issues and

19 you can thank both of the Democrats and the

20 Republicans for these trade packs. Too many

21 countries I have seen and checked into it

22 and people work at the business end of a

23 machine gun, so it's not real fair trade,

24 it's just something some corporation, a

25 bunch of Nazi scum that want to --

1 MR. MCGOFF: Please.

2 MR. DOBSON: -- want to take

3 advantage of the poor in this world and they

4 don't bring up their living standard. What

5 can you do locally here? Well, as soon as

6 we get our other business out of the way we

7 really better look into a food drive and let

8 state, federal and the representatives know

9 that this problem has to start to be dealt

10 with. It's been going on for 30 years.

11 They started to appear in 1980 and, yeah,

12 you know, the best answer to a solution to

13 socialism is a good job market. You know,

14 everybody says, oh, oh socialism. Ooh.

15 Ooh. Well, it's all -- socialism is a poor

16 substitute for a good job market and the

17 people who had work and other than a few

18 people that have illness issues and so forth

19 and a decent paycheck coming in they

20 wouldn't have to worry about this.

21 And in the future I think instead of

22 a party we should spend the OECD or OCED

23 money on, once again, trying to attract

24 industries in this area, real industries

25 that produce goods not just -- not just

1 restaurants that somehow go under two years

2 later and then you have to sue them and

3 maybe you will get your money and maybe

4 every other restaurant that they own the

5 chain is in the same shape and this one is

6 two steps behind it and you are going to get

7 pennies on the dollar for what you spent.

8 But I feel a lot of these

9 development money was intended to mitigate

10 some of the China trade packs and the NAFTA

11 trade packs and it just wasn't used for the

12 right purpose, so something to consider and

13 we really do have to try and get these

14 people a thumbs up even though --

15 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.

16 MR. DOBRZYN: We are probably getting

17 settled with people up and down the valley,

18 too.

19 MR. MCGOFF: Any other speakers?

20 MS. HUMPHRIES: I want to move

21 forward, I don't want to move backwards.

22 When all of yous were running I'm sure

23 nobody cut you off. I'm not rich. I don't

24 have a college education. I want to run for

25 city council. I felt a lot of people have

1 been clueless when they got on this seat and

2 then they learned as they went along. I am

3 for the poor, the downtrodden, the Veterans

4 our police, our fire department, our postal,

5 but most of all our Veterans and our

6 children. I don't intend to knock at doors.

7 I intend to knock at hearts.

8 Over the years what has transpired

9 with me and the documents I have not

10 under -- not really looking at the time,

11 they will be used for what I plan to do. In

12 the process of this, I ask everybody to pray

13 for me. I ask that God reigns in this place

14 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I ask and I

15 besiege all the children. The children are

16 hurting. They are hurting. The poor are

17 hurting. This national budget that the

18 number is 101 I represent the mother of the

19 101 tears. I lived in Washington

20 temporarily, my apartment was 101. One is

21 for the OD the zero represents Omega and one

22 is fr the new eve.

23 Our forefathers brought here the

24 constitution of the United States brought

25 Christianity. They took the land away from

1 American Indians and they striped it. They

2 striped them like Jesus. What I plan on

3 doing and I would like to meet with city

4 council because over the years when I told

5 them what has happened to me I was

6 misdiagnosed. I was exonerated of any

7 mental disorder other than post-traumatic

8 stress.

9 My home has been pillaged. I have

10 been attacked. Every week there is

11 violence. Now we have the bug situation.

12 Well, I will tell you the truth about the

13 bug situation, when I came I was told by --

14 I won't mention their names, brought it to

15 the office at Mulberry Tower in Trenton they

16 were embarrassed, but I was telling the

17 truth, but when I went to the hospital I

18 brought the bugs and what transpired there

19 is they says they were not normal bugs, they

20 were lavatory bugs.

21 They also put maggots in my

22 apartment, I took those out. Now, mind you,

23 I have a lot of things in my house. A lot

24 was taken away from me by illegal lawyers

25 and judges that would be revealed and they

1 will be removed from their seat I want you

2 to know right now.

3 It's a felony if you stand before

4 everybody and proclaim truth and truth in

5 the highest of God and your life, people

6 should really act upon it. I have asked

7 numerous people to come into my apartment,

8 but they treated me like a witch, an evil

9 person. Well, on October 20 I will be in

10 court. My hearing is going to be for the

11 Glory of God and to put God back in our

12 country.

13 Now, last week there was a boy that

14 came here I kind of heard he said he wanted

15 the cross and the star taken off of the

16 police and security guards. Well, I'll tell

17 him this, if that's the great way, the way I

18 heard it, I'm not too sure, I represent the

19 Cathedral, the Magnifica and St. Thomas

20 Aquinas and the Holy Catholic Church. I

21 wanted to reign of David and of Jesus and if

22 you don't believe that then you got a lot to

23 think about it.

24 Our mission is of divine forgiveness

25 and love of each other, but sometimes you

1 have to step back, step back because we do

2 have police, we do have FBI, we do have

3 homeland security and these boys to the job

4 of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

5 So I'm going to leave with this, if

6 anybody wants to speak to me, if anybody

7 wants to see my documents which I did get my

8 documents that showed I was attacked, my

9 medical, and I was told by the city council

10 get a lawyer. Well, like 97 percent of the

11 lawyers are --

12 MR. MCGOFF: It's your time, Phyllis.

13 MS. HUMPHRIES: Listen, I love yous,

14 let's move forward, not backward.

15 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.

16 MS. HUMPHRIES: That's all I ask.

17 God bless you, and, please, just like a

18 child when people come up here.

19 MR. MCGOFF: Next.

20 MS. HUMPHRIES: Treat them as your

21 children, how you treat your children, your

22 wife and your family.

23 MR. MCGOFF: Thank you.

24 MS. HUMPHRIES: And you will go so

25 far ahead. God Bless you.

1 MR. MCGOFF: Next speaker.

2 MS. HUMPHRIES: And Barry Gordon, if

3 he wants to come --

4 MR. MCGOFF: Please. There is

5 someone else that wishes to speak. Thank

6 you.

7 MS. GALLAGHER-HAHN: Good evening.

8 My name is Ann Marie Gallagher-Hahn, and I

9 live at 816 Gibbons Street. My deceased

10 son, he got killed about five years ago,

11 built the apartment that I'm living in and

12 the four townhouses in the back and that is

13 the 2100 block of South Irving Street and

14 that's deplorable. It's right across from

15 Connell's Park, which is beautiful, and just

16 perpendicular to it across the street is

17 where my son built these townhouses, it was

18 never paved.

19 In fact, Channel 16 came there a

20 couple of years ago and told them about it

21 and they -- all they did there it was graded

22 a little bit and today it's even worse.

23 Then he built right on that street for the

24 disabled people from Marywood and they live

25 there permanently. He built that home that

1 they are living on on Irving Avenue, and I

2 have gone to so many -- around election day

3 they promise you everything, Jeff Brazil I

4 saw -- oh, what's his name now, oh, Donny

5 Davis, I asked him to put my name down and

6 he said, yeah, he would tell Jeff Brazil to

7 put it down. I kept calling, Jeff Brazil

8 never even gave me the courtesy to call back

9 to say when or if the street would be paved.

10 Then Charlie -- I called there and

11 evidently I got Charlie Matthews. Well, he

12 was away, but he did have -- he did have the

13 sense to call me back and he told me he

14 said, "Well," he said, "lots of our money

15 was stolen," and he said, "But I'll do

16 everything I can if I can scrape some money

17 up for this street."

18 MS. FANUCCI: Stolen?

19 MS. GALLAGHER-HAHN: But, like I

20 said, it's 20 years like that. How long do

21 we have to wait? And then another thing my

22 grandson took it over now and his name is

23 Jessie Gallagher and he bought just last

24 year the front of where the townhouses are,

25 but that would be -- well, on Gibbons Street

1 and then the side of South Irving. He

2 wanted to build another apartment there, but

3 he certainly is not going to build it, and I

4 told him this, on a dirt street, so I don't

5 know this is my last hope is coming here.

6 MR. COURTRIGHT: Where do you live?

7 MS. GALLAGHER-HAHN: Pardon?

8 MR. COURTRIGHT: 2100 block of

9 Irving, right?

10 MS. GALLAGHER-HAHN: 2100 block of

11 South Irving.

12 MR. COURTRIGHT: Okay.

13 MS. GALLAGHER-HAHN: Thank you.

14 MR. COURTRIGHT: You're welcome.

15 MR. MCGOFF: Other speakers?

16 MR. MCCLOE: Good evening. My name

17 is Brett McCloe, Scranton resident and

18 taxpayer. First off, I want to apologize to

19 Mr. McGoff for possibly quoting him out of

20 context about two weeks ago. It was not my

21 intention because words are very important

22 and should never be taken at face value.

23 The responsibility is on the citizens to

24 take the time to decipher the words from

25 this council because it becomes a basis for

1 legislations that have been passed, are now

2 being passed, and will be passed in the

3 future. People need to trust the words that

4 are spoken from our elected officials.

5 There has been a lot of talk about

6 speakers having personal agendas. This may

7 be so, but it comes from a place of good.

8 What's wrong with not wanting the city to be

9 in such debt? What's so terrible about

10 exposing corruption and waste? Is it so bad

11 to demand fiscal responsibility? And most

12 importantly, who stands to benefit from the

13 efforts of some council speakers? Everyone.

14 This should be a personal agenda for

15 everybody.

16 Where did we go wrong as a society

17 that we still continue to rebuild and

18 fortify the same power structure that has

19 existed for more than 100 years. Restoring

20 pride, yes, they sure are. Back to the

21 1800's and early 20th century where coal

22 barons, wealth bankers, textile, iron and

23 train moguls ruled Scranton by making every

24 worker indebted to the company in one form

25 or another. Those were the grand times for

1 the very few.

2 A 100 years later, they take pride

3 in trying to repeat that grand old society.

4 There are new educational barons, new

5 construction moguls and new wealthy medical

6 institutions all of whom derive their money

7 from taxpayer dollars or their ability not

8 to have to pay those dollars.

9 There are new enforcers called NCC

10 to ensure that you owe your soul to the

11 company store. With your legislative

12 blessing and 25 percent tax increase, you

13 threw the citizens of this city against the

14 wall, pointed a NCC weapon at us and ordered

15 the people to cough it up or hand it out.

16 Simply because you haven't pulled the

17 trigger yet doesn't mean that doesn't lessen

18 the severity of the crime because not all

19 corruption is illegal and most of it can be

20 explained away as this council often does.

21 A substantial dollar amount is

22 attached to the so-called personal agendas

23 of council speakers, $200,000 here, $800,000

24 there, 25 percent of the city nontaxable

25 swept underneath hoping and praying we can

1 get on top of our $4 million gap in our city

2 budget surrounded by something no other city

3 of our size can come close to, a

4 $270,000,000 debt as our Nero watches our

5 city economically burn to the tune of

6 hundreds of millions of dollars he prepares

7 to head for Harrisburg.

8 Just because these problems are not

9 totally something that Scranton -- is unique

10 to Scranton doesn't mean we should just sit

11 on the swings at Nay Aug and forget about

12 them. One person says this is a place to do

13 city business. Well, what kind of business

14 are we running? As a city we ask for

15 success and show us debt. We yearn for

16 opportunity, you bring us opportunist. We

17 look for the future, you restore a not so

18 glorious past. As for hating election time,

19 why? This is the time when politicians

20 count their accomplishments to get into

21 office or ram legislation through to create

22 a legacy before they are thrown out.

23 I believe the word hypocrite was

24 used a week ago as a catch phrase of the day

25 to benefit those who take everything

1 including your words at face value. It

2 takes about two seconds and two brain cells

3 to look at underneath the issue hypocrisy

4 and you would find that is a matter of form

5 or substance. Mr. Pilcheski's lawsuit was

6 born out of the need to expose the substance

7 of corruption and deceit. While at the

8 opposite end there seems to be a need to

9 form a container to maintain and control

10 dissent at taxpayers' expense, I might add.

11 Never fear to practice, reinforce

12 and participate in citizenship by coming to

13 these city council meetings which is a

14 voluntary civic responsibility that is

15 sponsored by the government, protected by

16 the constitution and attended by the

17 citizenry.

18 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else?

19 MS. KRAKE: Good evening, Council,

20 and good evening to all the folks in

21 Dunmore, especially those that helped us

22 solve the Channel 61 debacle. I'm not sure

23 if everyone is aware that people were having

24 trouble finding Channel 61, well, because of

25 some people I got in touch with Comcast who

1 solved the problem very quickly. There are

2 two separate issues and the bottom line is

3 you can call their call center now and they

4 will be able to help you.

5 First I would like to address Mrs.

6 Williams. I think probably we will always

7 have difference of opinion, but that's what

8 this podium is for. Pretty much it comes

9 down to record versus residency. Since

10 Mrs. Williams is so eager to expose what she

11 wrongly feels is an issue, I would ask her

12 to embrace an investigation of the rumor of

13 a possibly residency violation. This would

14 be about another candidate since she is so

15 concerned about the subject of people

16 lawfully serving on council. There has been

17 possible violations of election law,

18 possible address incorrections, possible --

19 you know, I hate to sound like Mrs. Williams

20 so I believe I'm going to stop there. Once

21 again, she opens a Pandora's box by going

22 down the road she travels.

23 The second thing I would like to

24 tell tonight is about an article that

25 appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News on

1 October 7. A city resident who answered

2 that article has given me permission to read

3 the letter they wrote. It's addressed to

4 the author of the article, Mr. Davies. She

5 says, "I'm a resident of Scranton which

6 Chris Doherty is our mayor. I had the

7 opportunity to read your article penned by

8 you on October 7. I was wondering where you

9 got the idea that Scranton is "Now

10 financially stable and more prosperous"?

11 When Chris Doherty took office in

12 2002 we had a $2.9 million surplus. This

13 year we have a $6 million deficit. In 2002,

14 we had a long-term debt totaling

15 approximately $70 million. Today our debt

16 is approaching $300 million. In 2002, we

17 had debt payments in $3.5 million. Today

18 our debt payments are over $16 million."

19 That's 19 cents of every tax dollar

20 collected goes to pay the debt Mayor Doherty

21 created, that's 20 percent. Hold that

22 number in your minds for a moment. Then she

23 gives a laundry list: Our population

24 continues to decrease; our crime is way up;

25 our streets are deplorable; our unemployment

1 rate is the highest in the state and we have

2 more empty storefronts and "For Sale" signs

3 on homes than ever before.

4 Here is the next dollar amount or

5 net amount, "Our taxes have been increased

6 by over 27 percent. Our sewer rates have

7 increased over 103 percent. Our budgets

8 increased over 46 percent, and I don't

9 realize -- I don't think this person realize

10 that she has nailed exactly what happened

11 here. Because of our huge borrowing we have

12 20 percent of every tax dollar collected.

13 Add that to the 26 percent tax increase, you

14 now have our 46 percent budget increase in

15 the seven short years this man has been our

16 mayor. Those are the facts. This is the

17 elephant in the living room.

18 She goes onto say, "Our police

19 department, fire department and city hall

20 staffers were cut and numerous patronage

21 jobs were created in the Sewer, Housing and

22 Parking Authorities."

23 And, in fact, it's rumored our

24 Parking Authority is about to default on

25 their bond payments. The mayor is traveling

1 through the state telling everyone how

2 wonderful Scranton is doing under his watch

3 when our own city documents tell a very

4 different story.

5 I simply have one sentence left?

6 Thank you kindly. Please don't believe the

7 rhetoric Chris Doherty is telling everyone

8 about Scranton because it simply is not

9 true. If you research the city you will see

10 a very different story than the one you are

11 reading. Thank you.

12 MS. GERVASI: Good evening. My name

13 is Alyssa Gervasi. I was informed on my

14 here that Mrs. Evans already spoke on behalf

15 of Foundation 58, but I know people like

16 myself, I don't get out of work until 6:30,

17 so people miss the beginning of the meeting

18 so I'd just like to repeat and elaborate a

19 little bit on what Mrs. Evans said. And

20 again, thank you for speaking on behalf of

21 the foundation.

22 MS. EVANS: You're welcome.

23 MS. GERVASI: Foundation 58 is a

24 501-C-3 nonprofit organization established

25 in memory of Hazelton City Deputy Fire Chief

1 Gabriel Angolite, dedicated to providing

2 financial assistance to firefighters, police

3 officers, and emergency medical service

4 personnel that are diagnosed with cancer.

5 It's going to be this Friday,

6 October 16, at Heil's Place, 1002 Wheeler

7 Avenue, Scranton, PA, 18510. The time is

8 going to be 5:00 to 9:00. It's going to be

9 a $5 donation at the door and any -- if you

10 cannot come any donations you may feel free

11 to e-mail me at AMCG933@aol.com. The

12 entertainment will be Jaconda Cortozo from

13 -- who is the lead singer from Lesson One.

14 Also, Grace's downfall and no where slow.

15 They are all really great bands in the City

16 of Scranton so you are also supporting your

17 local music.

18 We have also 50/50's, basket raffles

19 and Leigh Sophia jewelry sales, which is --

20 that's my business and I'm also donating 10

21 percent of my commission back to the

22 foundation. Please everybody come out.

23 It's a really great cause and I hope to see

24 you all there. Support those who help you

25 every day. Thank you.

1 MR. ANCHERANI: Good evening. Nelson

2 Ancherani, First Amendment Rights. Since

3 September 8 I have been asking about the

4 status of the Connell building. Ms. Evans

5 said on September 29 at last week's council

6 meeting a city resident asked for an update

7 on the Connell building project. Miss

8 Aebli, OECD director responds as follows:

9 "Please be assured that the Connell building

10 is still an active ongoing project. This

11 office is in communication with Scranton

12 Connell, LP, on a regular basis."

13 I wonder if Miss Aebli knew this

14 prior to October 2 from the slimes, and if

15 she did why didn't she report it, that the

16 Connell building project halted as owner

17 seeks financing, and that was by David

18 Volchak, staff writer, published October 2,

19 2009. I guess $23 million isn't enough. A

20 state gave a $5 million grant, how much did

21 the city put into this project, anyone know?

22 And from the February 24, 2009, council

23 agenda, three pieces of legislation approved

24 2 1/2 million to the Connell building, an

25 example is Growing Greener. Thanks Anthony

1 in Scranton for that info.

2 I hate to be skeptical, but I see

3 shades of the Southern Union building and

4 also the 722,000 defaults by three

5 businesses that got OECD loans.

6 Translation, taxpayers' money.

7 And I would like to know who drafted

8 the gun legislation? Does anyone know

9 specifically who wrote that legislation?

10 Last week Mrs. Gatelli had a

11 meltdown and started chastising the council

12 audience unleashing a tirade against the

13 speakers. She referred to us as the crew

14 out there. According to her we come with

15 our agendas and highjack the meetings. At

16 least she didn't call us pathetic again. I

17 can't remember if she called us terrorists.

18 She remarked about us not going to county

19 meetings and complaining about Cordaro

20 raising county taxes 48 percent. Did she

21 forget Cordaro got voted out of office?

22 People did do something. Only in Scranton

23 do the voters vote people into office who

24 voted to raise their taxes 25 percent.

25 Example, Mr. McGoff.

1 The voters voted the other two out

2 of office who voted for that 25 percent city

3 tax increase, Ms. Fanucci and Ms. Gatelli.

4 Mrs. Gatelli even picked on me. That's

5 okay. It doesn't bother me, but what she

6 has to remember she gets paid to be here, we

7 don't.

8 Also, Mrs. Fanucci when she spoke

9 took up Mrs. Gatelli's cause and also went

10 after the council speakers. She started

11 about the speakers passing notes in the back

12 of the room, let's see, what council person

13 had a laptop in front of them and was that

14 person getting notes passed to them by

15 e-mail and from who. Anyone know who that

16 was? Let's see, what council person had

17 their Blackberry with them and was getting

18 tax messages while counciling at the

19 meeting? We know who that was. What

20 council person makes Monday trips into the

21 mayor's office for Tuesday meeting marching

22 over.

23 MS. FANUCCI: Never. Never once.

24 MR. ANCHERANI: Anyone know who that

25 is? I know who they are and so do they.

1 Anyway, who cares? I would like to remind

2 everyone to stay on the issues, be

3 observant. Ms. Williams is coming here to

4 distract from the issues. Don't fall victim

5 to the distractions. Some of the issues,

6 300 million long-term debt; 20 million in

7 raises and new hires over the last 8 years;

8 eight record city budgets; 5.5 million

9 American Anglican arbitration loss causing

10 56 percent Scranton Sewer Authority rate

11 hike; numerous Recovery Plan violations;

12 25 percent tax hike while 12 million was

13 hidden in a secret account and then two

14 million lost accounting errors. There is

15 more. Thank you.

16 MR. MCGOFF: Anyone else?

17 MS. EVANS: Good evening. At last

18 week's council meeting some speakers raised

19 serious concerns regarding the dumping of

20 waste in our rivers by the Scranton Sewer

21 Authority and the resulting hefty fines

22 placed against the Sewer Authority by the

23 Department of Environmental Protection. In

24 addition, speakers had previously expressed

25 concern that the Sewer Authority had failed

1 to apply for federal stimulus grants at a

2 time when the authority faces approximately

3 $150 million in mandated upgrades to our

4 sewer system.

5 Therefore, I would like to invite

6 Mr. Gene Barrett, executive director of the

7 Scranton Sewer Authority, to a public caucus

8 in order that he may explain these recent

9 developments to council, and more

10 importantly, to the ratepayers of Scranton

11 and Dunmore. With my colleague's agreement,

12 Kay, I would like to send a letter to

13 Mr. Barrett inviting him to attend a public

14 caucus of Scranton City Council to discuss

15 these issues as early as convenient. And,

16 Kay, perhaps we could suggest 5:45 p.m.

17 caucus time and I would like ECTV to

18 broadcast this important caucus as well.

19 I had already spoken with

20 Mr. Barrett actually and he has indicated he

21 would be happy to attend since he, like

22 myself, firmly believes that municipal

23 authorities are responsible to the

24 ratepayers and taxpayers.

25 At next week's meeting, council will

1 cast it's final vote on the 2010 CDBG, that

2 is, Community Development Block Grant

3 allocations. I submitted a list of 12

4 editions totaling $785,000 to the

5 allocations previously selected by the mayor

6 and OECD as well as a list of cuts to the

7 mayor's and OECD's selections totaling

8 $785,000 in order to provide full funding

9 for those organizations and city services I

10 believe should receive grants. I base my

11 decisions on the needs of our struggling

12 people in this troubling economy as well as

13 the taxpayers' priorities of police

14 protection and street paving.

15 Further, I noted of many

16 contradictions in the reasons provided by

17 OECD for it's refusal to fund numerous

18 organizations. Consequently, I am

19 interested to learn if my changes to the

20 allocations will be accepted or denied.

21 As one of our speakers, I think

22 Mrs. Krake, mentioned a few minutes ago,

23 about difficulty viewing Channel 19, in the

24 last week I received numerous complaints

25 from Comcast subscribers who couldn't

1 receive Channel 19 on their television sets

2 and consequently I, too, spoke to Liz

3 Sterner, senior director of government

4 affairs for Comcast about this issue.

5 Mrs. Sterner states that Comcast

6 subscribers who cannot receive Channel 19,

7 the government access channel, should call

8 Comcast at 1-800-Comcast to report the

9 problem. A service technician will be sent

10 to your home to fix the problem which can be

11 one of two things: First, at one time

12 Channel 19 was a premium channel offering,

13 for example, Homebox or Cinemax. Anyone who

14 had a basic cable at that time had a trap in

15 his home which prevented him from receiving

16 these premium channels. That trap may still

17 be in operation and the technician must

18 remove it.

19 The second problem is that the

20 television and cable need to be reprogrammed

21 by the service technician. Either way, the

22 technician will be able to correct this and

23 you will receive Channel 19 and Channel 21.

24 Most importantly, Miss Sterner

25 states there will be no charge for the

1 service technician visit. Comcast is aware

2 of the situation and is anxious to work with

3 all subscribers to correct it. Please call

4 Comcast as soon as possible.

5 Next, I learned last week that a

6 group of volunteers joined together to

7 cleanup the Washburn Street Cemetery this

8 past weekend. Family members of the

9 deceased and a generous landscaper worked

10 tirelessly to improve long deplorable

11 conditions at the cemetery that have been

12 neglected by it's owner. This group is

13 asking for additional volunteers to work at

14 the Washburn Street Cemetery during the

15 weekend of November 7 in preparation for

16 Veteran's Day.

17 I thank and admire these families

18 and the landscaper, but this shouldn't be

19 the only solution to the problem. How can

20 volunteers continue to maintain a cemetery

21 month after month, year after year? It is

22 the responsibility of the cemetery owner and

23 when he fails to live up to his

24 responsibilities the city should respond as

25 it would to any homeowner who allows his

1 property to become blighted. The owner

2 should be fined and the property should be

3 liened by the city. It certainly seems to

4 present a case of selective enforcement of

5 city ordinances.

6 And finally, I have some citizens'

7 requests for the week:

8 First, citizens report that the walk

9 light located at the corner of Lackawanna

10 and South Washington Avenue is in need of

11 repair immediately. Specifically, it's the

12 walk light between Alexander's Salon and 434

13 Lackawanna Avenue. Last Friday morning

14 another pedestrian was hit by a car in this

15 crosswalk area and citizens state that the

16 walk/don't walk light needs repaired or

17 adjustment.

18 At last week's meeting, I requested

19 a letter to Daron Northeast located in lower

20 Greenridge regarding the dust and dirt

21 pollution suffered by it's neighbors. Since

22 then, residents of the Dickson Avenue -- or,

23 excuse me, residents of Dickson Avenue have

24 reported that on October 9 at 4:15 a.m., an

25 18-wheeler vehicle backed up to the Daron

1 property. Residents were awakened by it's

2 revving engine and beeping sounds that

3 accompany the maneuvers of such large

4 vehicles.

5 In addition, residents reported a

6 strong odor of diesel fuel. Such loud

7 deliveries or collections at these unusual

8 hours violate city ordinances and health and

9 welfare of Scranton homeowners. And so

10 again, Kay, Daron is to be contacted.

11 I have received several complaints

12 from city residents regarding ECTV's

13 programming. In the last weeks, residents

14 report that religious sermons presented by

15 independent churches were broadcast. In

16 addition, an infomercial for a chiropractic

17 business, which can be seen on My Space has

18 been broadcast. Residents note that this

19 infomercial was produced by Miss Davis, the

20 station manager of ECTV. I would like

21 letters sent to the Peg Channel Oversight

22 Committee and to the executive director of

23 ECTV regarding these complaints.

24 Further, I wish to know who

25 determines programs suitable for airing and

1 what is the criteria for airing of the

2 material? Please justify the broadcasts of

3 religious sermons and a chiropractor's

4 infomercial, and I am requesting a response

5 on or about October 26, 2009.

6 In response to the complaint

7 regarding the streetlights on the Lackawanna

8 Avenue between the Steamtown Mall and the

9 Radisson, Municipal Energy Management

10 reports that the streetlights have been

11 turned off because another company, Urban

12 Electric, is currently working on a project

13 in that area.

14 A letter to Mr. Seitzinger: Please

15 provide council with a list of the abandoned

16 lots within the City of Scranton on or

17 before November 6, 2009.

18 Please contact utility companies

19 regarding pavecuts made and not filled

20 completely on Mulberry Street from Taylor

21 Avenue to Harrison Avenue; and a second

22 request to paint the traffic lanes at

23 Mifflin Avenue and Mulberry Street. If

24 this, indeed, is a state responsibility

25 please notify the appropriate state

1 department.

2 And I am aware that the police

3 conducted a successful raid on Prospect

4 Avenue last week and I am hoping that they

5 will continue such raids in that area.

6 There are a number of other drug houses in

7 that close vicinity, and that's it.

8 MS. HUMPHRIES: Excuse me, can I

9 leave you an article of --

10 MR. MCGOFF: Please, Phyllis. No.

11 MS. EVANS: I'll get it after the

12 meeting.

13 MR. MCGOFF: Mrs. Fanucci.

14 MS. FANUCCI: Yes. 5-E on our agenda

15 tonight is a loan. It is a capital needs

16 loan. It's going to be $25,000 and the loan

17 will be at 5 percent interest for the term

18 of ten years. The total project cost for

19 this, this is a downtown fitness, they have

20 two floors and they will be expending to the

21 third floor for a spa and also more fitness

22 equipment. The total project costs will be

23 $75,000 and we'll be introducing that

24 tonight on the agenda. Also, because of the

25 state requirements one full-time equivalent

1 permanent position will be required, and

2 that is all I have on that. I have a whole

3 list of what will be going in and I'm sure

4 Andy will probably want to give it to him

5 next week which will be the lockers and the

6 shower stalls and new equipment and they

7 will be using the $25,000 pretty well.

8 But, I'm not sure, this was a -- let

9 me just go back. This was a business that's

10 been downtown for awhile now. It was owned

11 by two partners. This is a sole partner now

12 who is taking over the business, so it is

13 not the same partnership as it was before so

14 that is why they were expanding the

15 business, so I will give you the low down on

16 all of that next week.

17 Also, on behalf of one of our

18 residents I'd like to send a letter, Kay, to

19 the developers of the 500 block, to

20 Rinaldis, to find out if they have a target

21 date set for completion and also to ask if

22 they have potential tenants and if so what

23 are the potential tenants and if they can

24 give us the names of those tenants. They

25 probably will not give the names until it's

1 time, but if they do have potential tenants

2 it had be nice to know.

3 Also, regarding some of the comments

4 that are made tonight with NCC. NCC did pay

5 us the money for the loans, we did get money

6 from them in the beginning. It wasn't like

7 they just decided to take over, so we did

8 receive money from people who were not

9 paying their taxes. The reason being, they

10 weren't paying their taxes. One of the

11 reasons they weren't paying their taxes is

12 because it was easy not to pay city tax.

13 Our bills were separated. You could pay

14 your county, you could pay your school

15 district, but you didn't have to pay us. At

16 that point, there was really nothing that

17 was being done.

18 So, yes, we did have someone come in

19 and decide to try to get the money for us.

20 They have been doing a pretty good job, too.

21 It wasn't an easy decision and it's not a

22 great one, but when people are not paying

23 for years and years it's a good thing to try

24 to get money back into the city regardless

25 of penalties and fees. Yes, that's

1 terrible, but no different than any of us

2 have to do with your credit cards or

3 anything else we are not paying on, it's

4 unfortunate, but it has to happen. Why?

5 Because we still need to pay the employees

6 of the city. We still need to pay and keep

7 the city running, and it's also not very

8 good to have certain people paying and other

9 people it's okay for them not to pay.

10 So, unfortunately, there are things

11 you have to do and decisions you have to

12 make, and I believe that that was a good

13 one. Why? Because we got a lot of money

14 back. Money that they were not getting. I

15 don't understand why that's such a bad

16 thing. We didn't take anybody's house. We

17 didn't do anything to that extreme right

18 now, but what we did is make people step up

19 and say, "You know what, I better pay now."

20 Also in some of the comments made

21 about lawsuits last week, which I absolutely

22 love, I'd like to send a letter and, Kay,

23 I'd like to do this as a Right-to-Know

24 request, and you can do it from me if you'd

25 like as an elected official, I'd like to

1 know how much Joanne and Joe Pilcheksi's

2 lawsuits have cost the city in the past six

3 years. I also would like that sent to the

4 county. I'd like to know how many lawsuits

5 have been filed and what it has cost the

6 taxpayers.

7 We seem to be at a major standstill

8 in this environment where people want to

9 know how much a certain city councilwoman is

10 paying to have herself defended, so let's

11 get it all out there. If we are not going

12 to have frivolous lawsuits and we are not

13 for spending taxpayers money that is not

14 prudent to a taxpayer, let's find out about

15 it, let's see how much we are actually

16 spending.

17 Also with that, Amil, I would like

18 to request that you look into some

19 legislation for me on how we can go about

20 stopping frivolous lawsuits. At the end of

21 it all, if nothing happens with these

22 lawsuits, if there are not any wonderful,

23 identified problems after all of these suits

24 are filed then what and who decides and how

25 do we go about deciding if this can be or

1 not be because in the long run it is still

2 the taxpayers' money, which means it's my

3 money and it's all your money.

4 And I know it's okay in certain

5 environments because when you are friendly

6 with people you seem to think it's okay if

7 they are doing it, but in long run it is

8 costing a lot of money, so let's find out

9 and let's talk about it and let's see if

10 then it's okay because it doesn't seem to be

11 okay on the other end, so let's find out.

12 So I'd like that for the last -- well, do it

13 to the eight years. Let's do the whole

14 eight years, the last eight years, okay?

15 And that is all I have. Thank you.

16 MR. COURTRIGHT: I will wait for Kay

17 to get done writing. We need to keep you

18 busy, Kay. I'm going to ask you to send one

19 letter. I don't remember the woman's name

20 that came about the 2100 block of South

21 Irving. Just a brief letter to Jeff Brazil

22 asking him to respond to us in writing so

23 that if we have the lady's name we can send

24 it to her. If not, then we can -- whether

25 or not they are going to pave it or not I

1 think she deserves a response.

2 The gentleman that's still in the

3 back there, I forget your name, I'm not -- I

4 don't want to go back and forth with you

5 every week about the homeless. I think you

6 have their best interests at heart and I

7 think we do, also. I know you said you

8 looked to us to show some guidance. I think

9 we are trying to show some guidance the best

10 we know how.

11 I was contacted this past week by a

12 speaker here about a woman and her children

13 that are living, I don't want to say where

14 it was, in a car, all right? And I have

15 gone their twice, I haven't been able to for

16 lack of a better word catch her because I

17 don't think some of these people want to be

18 caught and, as I said before, I don't think

19 some of them want to be helped and it's

20 difficult to help somebody that does not

21 want help. I don't think any of us up here

22 in any way mean to be disrespectful to you

23 or to any of the homeless. Have some of us

24 been disrespectful to speakers? Yes. Have

25 some speakers been disrespectful of us?

1 Yes.

2 But when it comes to down to the

3 homeless I don't think there is anyone up

4 here that is trying to be disrespectful and

5 I think you said we weren't compassionate.

6 I disagree, I think we are all compassionate

7 when it comes to the homeless, and you also

8 asked would we support any projects for the

9 needy? I think I always have and I always

10 will. I think we all know there is a

11 problem there and the problem is probably

12 growing because of the economic times that

13 we have. I don't know exactly what you

14 would like for us to do. I believe you are

15 indicating that we have homes in the city

16 that are condemned and you would like for us

17 to rehab them and put the homeless in there.

18 MR. DWYER: I would like that.

19 MR. COURTRIGHT: I don't know how you

20 would go about doing that and one of the

21 reasons I say that is because I think all of

22 us, and I have been here for six years and

23 so has been Mrs. Evans, when they condemn a

24 house it takes a real long time for us to

25 take possession of that property. Does the

1 city tear down houses? Yes. They tear down

2 houses that we do not have possession of,

3 all right? They tear them down for a host

4 of reasons, one being, you know, a safety.

5 Just because we tear a house down doesn't

6 mean the city has possession of that

7 property, and I think some people

8 misunderstand that. So for the city to take

9 over a home and rehab it and put the

10 homeless in there would take a great deal of

11 time, okay? And there is a whole bunch of

12 other issues that come with that, so I don't

13 know how viable your suggestion would be for

14 that.

15 My guess would be that you would

16 talk to the people in the Vacant Property

17 Review Board and just, Kay, can give you

18 this woman's name and see I don't know if

19 your suggestion is possible. It's possible,

20 but I don't know if it's -- if it's a good

21 suggestion and if it is and it's doable I

22 don't think anybody up here would disagree

23 with you, but this will be the last week I

24 speak on it because I don't want to go back

25 and forth with you. I truly believe, I

1 don't think you believe, but I truly believe

2 we all have the same thought as you do as

3 when it comes to the homeless. I don't

4 think any of us here want to be

5 disrespectful or unhelpful or not show

6 guidance, and I'm going to leav