City of Scranton Council Responses | March 10, 2026

Council President Tom Schuster asked the following question:

• Mr. Schuster asked if Council may have an update and timeline on when the PEL Five (5) Year Plan will be released?
  • The city anticipates a completed plan in early April.

Council Member Dr. Jessica Rothchild asked the following question:

• May Council please have the updated listing of 2026 demolitions, if available? Dr. Rothchild expressed concern regarding the status of the long-standing, condemned properties at 231-233 Harrison Avenue, 526-528 Mulberry Street (Wolf Bros. building) and 429 Prescott Avenue?
  • The City’s OECD team is in the process of developing final demolition lists for 2026. Of the properties Council has asked about at this time, 231-33 Harrison Avenue is currently considered for demolition. Council should note that demolition of this property was stopped by a court injunction last year, but follow-up is needed. Both 429 Prescott and 526 Mulberry are acknowledged as previously being condemned but not considered for demolition as of this time.

Council Vice President Patrick Flynn asked the following question:

• Mr. Flynn thanked the administration for the information regarding pave cuts under Item 3.a. in the attached 3/3 response. He asked, when someone reaches out to Scranton311 about a failing pave cut, how long from that point does our 3^rd party inspector go out? Do they notify the utilities as to when they need to have the pave cut fixed? How long does the utility actually take for a repair and are there any average repair times available?
• Mr. Flynn asked if the city and city engineer may secure a status and timeline from UGI and their respective contractors regarding the many sunken pave cuts on Electric Street in Green Ridge. He indicated that although Wyoming Avenue was leveled, this street continues to remain in very poor condition.
  • Failing pave cut reports are flagged via email or phone to the respective utility depending on severity. This is done typically within 3 days of report. Utilities have been very responsive to this method. For instances in which the utility is not responsive, the City has a formal violation letter that can be issued. This mandates a 5-day restoration deadline, or they will be fined $1000 per day.
    
    Repair timelines vary significantly based on weather, material availability, and excavation size. Restoring a pavement cut is a complex operation that often requires four or more crews for a single site.Even a temporary patch involves a heavy logistical lift.
    
    Excavating tools such as jackhammers, vac trucks, or excavators, dump trucks for hauling fill, a crew for spreading and tamping, and final compaction using a vibratory plate are all necessary to get the job done. Permanent restorations are even more labor-intensive and involve additional steps.

Councilman Mark McAndrew asked the following:

• Mr. McAndrew asked if Council may please have a status and timeline to completion for the Elm Street Bridge projectMr. McAndrew asked if Council may please have a status and timeline to completion for the Elm Street Bridge project?
  • PennDOT reports that the project is on schedule, with a completion date projected for mid-July 2026.
• Regarding the limited number of beds for women at overnight shelters for the unsheltered, Mr. McAndrew asked if the administration may advise the number of beds for women at each venue and if additional beds may be considered.
  • The City is aware of six beds reserved for women at St. Anthony’s Haven, which is a space operated solely by Catholic Social Services.
    Scranton’s Code Blue shelter at Weston Field, for which the City provides a venue that is staffed by CSS, does not restrict the number of beds reserved for women. We have provided space for as many as 19 women in a single evening and an average of 9 women each time the Code Blue shelter has opened for extreme weather conditions in the 2025-26 winter months.
• Mr. McAndrew also asked for an update on the next Unsheltered Task Force meeting and any progress by the committee.
  • The next meeting of the Unsheltered Task Force is April 29.
  • In the 112 days from Nov. 10, 2025, to March 2, 2026, the City has hosted 70 Code Blue emergency shelters at Weston Field House, operated by Catholic Social Services. On those evenings, Weston has hosted an average of 31 persons in need; 23 males on average and 9 females on average. When the City experienced deep freezing temperatures in early February, Weston Field reached its maximum capacity of 50 unhoused persons twice, with 34 men and 16 women on Feb. 5 and with 31 men and 19 women on Feb. 7.
    • By comparison, the St. Anthony’s Haven shelter which is operated nightly by CSS whether or not Code Blue exist was open 79 days from Nov. 10 to March 2, serving an average of 18 people per night, 13 of whom were male and 5 female on average.
• Regarding the ongoing project at the Yeshiva School on Hickory Street, Mr. McAndrew advised he has received many inquiries and asks for the remaining timeline and completion date.
  • Council should note that the Yeshiva School project is not a City project. The contractor provided the following update this week as a courtesy:
    • The two-story old building will be demolished in the next two weeks. Once demolished, they will start replacing sidewalks and curbs around building and finish the land scaping. Total time is estimated at 4-6 weeks.
• Mr. McAndrew asked if the administration may review and advise the policy regarding the growing number of side-by-side utility poles at the same location being erected throughout the city.
  • In Pennsylvania, side-by-side telephone poles (also called double utility poles) fall under the regulatory authority of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees pole attachments to utility poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way.

City of Scranton Council Responses – March 10, 2026 | PDF

Last modified: March 10, 2026