[donybrx]

^^ Thanks EX-I.....seems pretty much along the lines of a few other recent interviews/ accounts that I've read/ watched. .......
***************************************
Up the road a piece in Wilkes-Barre here's some promising news for Downtown: A building doubled in value in eight months..... a reason to celebrate for sure, but not to uncross those fingers quite yet....:)

Posted on Tue, Nov. 21, 2006
Official hails W-B building’s sale
Structure by new theater sells for $395,000 only eight months after being bought for $200,000.

By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – The nearly doubling in selling price of a downtown building may be an extreme example of the effect the city’s revitalization is having on property values, a chamber official said Monday.

The former American Furniture building on East Northampton Street sold for $395,000 on Nov. 9, eight months after an Allentown developer paid $200,000 for the property, according to data from the Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds office.

The new owner, Sterling Ventures LLC of Great Falls, Va., plans to lease out the property, which is located across the street from R/C Wilkes-Barre Movies 14.

“I think we’re seeing speculation,” said Michael Lombardo, acting president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry.

Other property sales have seen more moderate increases, Lombardo said.

He acknowledged that the interest is “based in reality and some confidence” created by the downtown revitalization that includes marquee projects such as the theater complex, the Barnes & Noble college bookstore and other private investments such as Club Mardi Gras and the Campus Square Billiards.

A call to Ron Coleman, who purchased the property in March with plans to create a food court and café, was not returned.

A press release from the new owner said the purchase is an investment in the future of the downtown.

Gary Pan, president and chief executive officer for Panacea Consulting, said its sister company, Sterling Ventures, will refurbish the façade and interior and lease the property as a restaurant, retail store or office space.

Panacea formerly employed 110 people in a folder service operation for the Social Security Administration at Courtright Street in Plains Township. The downtown building purchase is in line with Panacea’s philosophy of investing in the community where it does business. The company had made donations to charitable organizations and encouraged employee volunteerism, the release said.

The chamber has not dealt with Panacea or Sterling Ventures, Lombardo said.

Its focus has been talking to others about coming downtown.

“We’re at what I call the second round of talking to potential clients,” Lombardo added.

Those conversations are different from the initial ones. “It’s a less of a sell,” he said. “It’s less the upfront show why you need to be there. I think they’ve already figured this out.”

The chamber is working on “trying to finalize some leases at the theater,” he said. The timeframe to complete that is July of next year.

The numbers in the American Furniture building are high, but they need not price people out of the market. “You’ll always have extreme cases,” he said. “If someone really wants to come, we can find them space.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7237.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Well that brought a smile to my face and a warm feeling to my heart. Not the price doubling, but the fact that the downtown turn-around is for real. Way to go W-B.

[donybrx]

^ Well that brought a smile to my face and a warm feeling to my heart. Not the price doubling, but the fact that the downtown turn-around is for real. Way to go W-B.

This will really make you smile! A letter to today's NY TIMES having to do with the re-use of the wondrous Saarinen TWA Terminal at JFK suggests that the terminal be salvaged, but be removed to a smaller airport.....such as...........(drumroll, please) ITHACA!!!

Dare one hope.......

[Ex-Ithacan]

^lol, Ithaca only has 2 airlines serving it, 13 departing flights a day, and only 2 gates. Unless they put it up as a museum, might as well go to a place that can really use it. Ithaca gets mentioned in the wierdest places (and no, I did not write the letter). btw, I loved that terminal. Had no idea they're getting rid of it.

[donybrx]

13 departing flight, eh? Any arrivals? heh....spooky.....

[Ex-Ithacan]

Nope, everyone's trying to leave town before the snow starts. :runaway:

[bucks native]

Philadelphia's WHYY (NPR) on Thursday interviewed a political scientist with questions about PA's power - more? or less? - in the new Congress. The scientist noted that Scranton's congressman's seniority will place him at the head of the House committee that oversees the stock market, and that Wall Streeters may attempt to please him by signing on to the Wall Street West project.

I cannot reveal the source of this info, but there is talk presently underway about relieving East Coast airport congestion by constructing a cargo-only airport on excess acreage currently held by the Tobyhanna Depot.

[donybrx]

I cannot reveal the source of this info, but there is talk presently underway about relieving East Coast airport congestion by constructing a cargo-only airport on excess acreage currently held by the Tobyhanna Depot.

Oh be a sport...tell us...c'mon.... :)

This is an idea been kickin' around for some time...along with Hazleton's efforts to create the cargo-port at their municipal airport instead of Tobyhanna or W-B/Scranton International...........the Tobyhanna notion makes some sense, certainly as much as a Hazelton location...although both are in higher elevations subject to earlier and more frequent cold, freezing.....

On a separate note, I just got home from Philadelphia....had a chance to drop into Jefferson U. (since I stay a block or two away a the Loew's) to see the Eakins painting that is under siege by Mme. Walton. It is magnificent...no question about it. I see that pressure to keep it in Philly is building.... I'd forgotten that Ms. Walton had already raided NYC ofr one of its great treasures.....

[bucks native]

Sorry, Dony, but the news was presented to me as hype, so I assumed it was new news and a project that was underway.

My source was my recruiter for a position in Scranton having to do with the new med school, and perhaps he was trying to lure me into relocating to Scranton with talk of exciting things underway in the area.

Regardless, I'm moving there in January.

[donybrx]

Well, it seemed exciting for a minute...heh....no need to apologize, at all.

Your'e really going to Scranton in January, eh?......I applaud you....and wish you the best....

[donybrx]

Greater Wilkes-Barre: Ethanol plant slated at old Foster Wheeler facility..not everybody is happy about it....

11/22/2006
Despite opposition, businessmen to move forward with proposed ethanol plant
BY COULTER JONES
STAFF WRITER

A day after the public first heard of Northeast Ethanol and its plans to construct an ethanol facility at the Crestwood Industrial Park, residents are still demanding answers of the newly formed company. Its proposed facility could be operating on the contaminated ground formerly owned by Foster Wheeler by summer 2008.

“They’ve got a lot of questions to answer, as far as I’m concerned,” Barbara Chamberlain said after Monday’s meeting at Crestwood High School.

The proposed facility would operate 365 days per year, churning 50,000 bushels of corn per day into ethanol, using a process similar to making grain alcohol. The corn would come by train, but the ethanol — about 50 million gallons per year — would leave by truck. As much as 1.5 million gallons of ethanol would be stored on site waiting to be shipped. The plant would hire about 50 full-time employees, paying $15 to $20 per hour. Construction could cost more than $100 million, and would be funded privately, said Richard Scheller of Northeast Ethanol.

None of the four primary partners of Northeast Ethanol has built an ethanol plant or worked in the industry prior to this venture. The four businessmen, all from Northeastern Pennsylvania, formed the company within the last year. They are:

¦ Scheller presented the company’s plans at Monday’s meeting and is publicly spearheading the project. He owns and operates GeoScience Engineering.

¦ Joseph Occhipinti is an electrical engineer and partner in State Petroleum Services.

¦ Robert Lambert is a partner in State Petroleum Services.

¦ Al Magnotta owns a consulting engineering firm.

“We may not have constructed one before,” Scheller said, “but the fact of the matter is that we’re getting professional management with proven track records to do the professional operations of it.”

Northeast Ethanol has hired Iowa-based Pacesetter Management Group to operate the facility and Delta-T Corp., of Virginia, to construct the facility.

Although Scheller and his associates came to the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce more than three weeks ago for advice, the chamber has no sway in approving or rejecting the plant, nor does the chamber own the 105-acre property.

Wright Township supervisors, zoning and planning commissions, and state agencies will approve or reject the plant. No plans have been submitted to planning or zoning commissions yet.

Supervisor Dan Frascella said the process will take several months, once the paperwork is submitted. Scheller said they hope to start construction by 2007.

“We’re not pushing anything down anyone’s throat,” Frascella said. “People have concerns that they don’t want it here and we’re going to let them ask those questions.”

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies owns the property which is a Keystone Opportunity site, meaning property taxes are reduced or eliminated. Northeast Ethanol has not purchased the property from Westinghouse yet.

The Crestwood Industrial Park property is the top choice of four sites the company has considered, Scheller said.

It’s unfortunate that the residents have been burned in the past,” said John Augustine, director of economic and entrepreneurial development for the chamber. “We don’t ever want to see that happen again. I don’t blame anyone in Mountain Top for feeling nervous about a facility like this.”

cjones@citizensvoice.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Right now I'm not sure it will be a profitable venture. It takes quite a bit of energy to produce the ethanol, the break even point is many millions of gallons. Be interesting to see how this works out.

[donybrx]

let's hope that somebody did one hell of a cost/benfit analysis and some refined projections........It's a big undertaking for these four guys...none of which have been involved with ethanol prior to this....it's a huge old plant...much capacity.....and the jobs will pay $15-20/hour...a bit better than many....it'll bear watching......and I do feel that alternative energy is a good bet..this foreign oil thing ain't gonna buy us anything but heartache and troubles from here on out....

[bucks native]

There are thousands of acres of fallow fields on former dairy farms in upstate PA. This could prove to be a boon to former farm families who are just sitting on acreage and working elsewhere. It could also translate into a rise in price/acre in NEPA.

I've been following the ethanol issue for some time and the plants in the midwest are doing just fine but haven't been able to keep-up with demand. Placing a plant closer to the population centers makes good sense economically. I've wondered for some time why this hasn't yet been done in PA.

I can't speak to the opposition from locals to the site choice. What's the issue?

[donybrx]

There are thousands of acres of fallow fields on former dairy farms in upstate PA. This could prove to be a boon to former farm families who are just sitting on acreage and working elsewhere. It could also translate into a rise in price/acre in NEPA.

I've been following the ethanol issue for some time and the plants in the midwest are doing just fine but haven't been able to keep-up with demand. Placing a plant closer to the population centers makes good sense economically. I've wondered for some time why this hasn't yet been done in PA.

I can't speak to the opposition from locals to the site choice. What's the issue?


It seems that Foster Wheeler vacated the proposed ethanol plant two decades ago and left the locals with seriously if not dangerously contaminated groundwater. Efforts to trace the contamination to FW and then to get FW's compliance were typically difficult and slow. It was termed a SuperFund site.

The residents of Mountain Top are justifiably wary of potential environmental threats as a consequence of their bad experience with FW.

Here are some links to EPA information in the matter:
http://loggerhead.epa.gov/arweb/pdf/2069558.pdf
http://loggerhead.epa.gov/arweb/public/search_results.jsp?siteid=PAD003031788#

[donybrx]

Wilkes-Barre: More good news for Downtown. A small but extremely important next step in the process and progress...cleaning up the nexus block between Wilkes U. and downtown' area So. Main St. This is actually a biggie.....the block has been derelict for far too long...the resident AA and NA programs however need to re-locate and also to reject those who have no intention of getting sober...only to score drugs....


11/30/2006
W-B developer wants to clean up S. Main Street
BY DENISE ALLABAUGH
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — Developer and property owner Jim Casey hopes to attract a restaurant, a market and a college student-friendly facility in a building he owns on the third block of South Main Street, formerly occupied by the ODAAT Club.
The ODAAT Club, which stands for One Day at a Time, was a meeting place for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. The club moved from 209 S. Main St. to a new location next to the South Main Plaza, where the state liquor store “Wine and Spirits” is located. A “for rent” sign is now posted on the closed building.

“We had a difference of opinion what we needed in there,” Casey said. “Alcohol recovery meeting houses are a notorious place to get drugs, as well as getting help to get off drugs.”

Casey continues to rent to “third stage” recovered alcoholics in apartments next to the ODAAT Club. Luzerne County President Judge Michael Conahan would not allow people in treatment to go to the ODAAT Club because of the “hanging around situation,” Casey said.

“They would allow someone who is drunk or high to come in and hear the message. The meetings were open to anyone who wanted to hear the message,” Casey said. “The club degenerated to the point that the members’ concerns weren’t taken seriously and they were more accommodating to the users. I asked them to either change their philosophy or move on, so they moved on.”

A spokesman at the ODAAT Club could not be reached for comment.

Casey, whose nickname is “Mr. Fix It,” has a long history of renovating blighted properties in the city. In all, he rehabilitated about 50 eyesores, including a 100-year-old burned out shell at 92 S. Main St. He spent more than $500,000 restoring the building where First United Methodist Church opened a bookstore on the first floor and spacious loft apartments were created upstairs. He owns about 20 properties in the city.

Now, Casey’s goal is to turn around the third block of South Main Street. While there have been big developments downtown, including the $30 million theater project and Barnes and Noble, Casey said the third block has been “relatively dead” except for a bad crowd that loitered there.

“There were all kinds of vagrants, crackheads and mentally unsettled people,” Casey said. “The third block is now the cleanest and safest block in the City of Wilkes-Barre.”

Casey said he has been working with Wilkes University to spur positive development.

“We cleaned up the third block and it’s now drug-free and alcohol-free,” Casey said. “The streetwalkers keep on walking and they don’t stop on our block anymore because there’s nothing for them. They respect the fact that we are choosing to take our life back so they’re going to do their trade somewhere else.”

dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com

[donybrx]

Not good news. The Huber coal breaker...last of the coal era structures still standing in the Wyoming Valley might not get a chance to become a Museum...pity.....
It's a very dramatic structure...can be seen from I-81 as it rises to the south of Wilkes-Barre's exits and ascends the mountain toward Hazleton....

Here's a link to the article (with pics that cannot be brought to this post --at least not by such as me......sigh)

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/16128807.htm

[Ex-Ithacan]

I hope some community hero comes forward for the breaker. Hey maybe Mr. Casey will do it. (Just a wishful thought).

[donybrx]

kudos to the new DT billiard parlor....adjudged seventh best!!!!

(aw, c'mon. that's better than eighth........)

Posted on Fri, Dec. 01, 2006

Honor in the corner pocket
Magazine names the Wilkes-Barre business the seventh-best new parlor in North America.
By RON BARTIZEK
rbartizek@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – Tex Clauss is a pool player and a contractor. So it just seemed natural for him to put his carpentry skills to work in his latest venture, Campus Square Billiards, which opened in October at 53 Public Square.

The result is the seventh-best new billiards parlor in North America, according to Billiards Digest magazine. The trade paper’s 18th annual architecture and design awards appeared in its November issue.

Clauss designed the room and did most of the work himself. That took about nine months, a month longer than expected after he broke a leg while on another job. He’s still recovering, so a grand opening that had been scheduled for September probably won’t take place until spring.

By then Clauss hopes to have an operating kitchen and a liquor license, making the place an attractive stop for people on a night out.

“I’m putting the kitchen in as we speak,” he said Thursday. There’s already a distinctive counter and soft drinks on the platform, as well as tables and chairs. The bar will go toward the front of the room and patrons will be allowed to bring beer to the tables as they play.

A glance around makes it easy to see why the place was honored; 25 spotless tables are spread across the ground level of the 10,300-square-foot space, while onlookers can watch the action from an elevated platform. Dark wood molding covers pillars and modern fixtures direct light onto the playing surfaces.

It’s all meant to attract a diverse crowd, from serious players to business people taking a break from the office and families looking for a pleasant outing, Clauss said. “This is the nature of an upscale billiards room,” he said.

Clauss, who has owned two other pool halls over the years, was attracted by the city’s revival. The downtown theater, new streetlights and removal of the canopy helped him decide to spend an estimated $425,000 renovating the former drug store.

“It’s slowly growing,” he said of customer traffic, although he has held back advertising until he’s completely happy with the finished room.

Depending on business, he has put in some long days accommodating players. “I get out of here sometimes at 3:30 in the morning,” he said, not sounding concerned about the late hours.

His own playing time has suffered, though, and he hasn’t picked up a cue in two years. “I just haven’t had time for it,” he said, ruefully.

DETAILS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Campus Square Billiards

Where: 53 Public Square

Hours: 10 a.m. to closing, which can be in the wee hours depending on traffic

Cost to play: Varies from $2 per hour per player days to as much as $4 per hour after 6 p.m. Specials Monday and Tuesday, $10 per table with unlimited players and time.

Phone: 970-3216


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Bartizek, Times Leader business editor, may be reached at 970-7157.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Pretty good news I guess. I was wondering how many new pool halls were in the running. If it's only ten, then oops. ;) :D

On a more serious note, it seems that the Wilkes-Barre downtown rejuvenation is a great example of what can happen in a positive vein. I wish other small cities would take a closer look at W-B and learn something from it. Heaven knows there's a ton of places in the Northeast that could use a make-over.

Thanks dony.

[donybrx]

I hope some community hero comes forward for the breaker. Hey maybe Mr. Casey will do it. (Just a wishful thought).

I hope so, too. This being the last structure of consequence (there used to be several in Wyoming Valley).....it has the potential to become a significant tourist draw.....the area should certainly capitalize on its mining history---get something for all that grime misery......heh.

Eckley Miners' Village is an intact museum, complete with coal breaker and company houses over Hazelton way...it was used in the film "The Molly McGuire's" starring sean Connery back in the 1970's.

[donybrx]

Happy Birthday to Scranton's electric trolley---nation's first----turns 120.
While the system stopped operating a while back..some of it is again running in the form of a trolley museum..with rides to Montage Mountain....

Interesting reading for transit buffs....


12/03/2006
First electric trolley delivered passengers in elegance


The "Electric City" was born 120 years ago, when the first all-electric trolley in the country made its debut.

On November 30, 1886, passengers boarded the trolley at the Academy of Music, opposite St. Luke’s Church on Wyoming Avenue, where they had been attending a lecture by renowned British explorer Henry M. Stanley. Readers may recall that Mr. Stanley discovered the long-missing Dr. Livingston in Africa. From the lecture, the excited passengers followed the route from Wyoming Avenue up Spruce Street past the new courthouse, onto Adams Avenue, up the steepest hill on the route, and on to the Green Ridge section, where the route ended. The trip cost 5 cents.

The Green Ridge section was then considered a suburb of Scranton, and the company named itself Scranton Suburban Railway Co. Passengers rode in elegance. The Pullman cars were the finest ever built. Measuring 16 feet, they seated 13 people on either side of the aisle. The front platform was enclosed, and the cars were painted a deep maroon. Passengers entered from the rear. The mahogany interiors were lit by incandescent electric lamps, another exciting new innovation.

The Dec. 1, 1886, issue of The Scranton Republican newspaper reported on the passenger trip: “The cars at times yesterday attained a speed of twelve miles an hour, but can be made to go much faster. It looks as though Scranton has solved the rapid transit problem.”

Scranton’s was not the first electric railway in the country, but it was the first one in the world built to run solely on electric power. In those early days of electricity, it was truly a marvel. The Dec. 18, 1886, issue of the journal Electrical World featured a story on it. The company was organized with Mr. Edward B. Sturges as president and Col. George Sanderson as secretary.

The men who organized and built the Suburban gave this city a much-needed and highly-touted innovation. Construction of the road for the new Suburban line was begun on July 6, 1886, and completed in Green Ridge in November. The railway system was equipped with its electrical apparatus by the Van DePoele Electric Manufacturing Co. C.E. Flynn installed the electrical equipment. The current was generated by a 60-horsepower generator. The motor was located on the front platform in constant sight of the driver, who handled the crank, turning the current on or off and regulating the speed of the motor. Cars traveled at a rate of between 4 and 15 mph.

The railway company paid a fee of $9 per day to the electric power company, and the cars ran along this route from 7 a.m. to midnight.

A trial run was made on Nov. 29, with Mr. Van DePoele himself at the controls and Mr. Flynn in charge of the motor. The test run showed slight defects in the system, which were quickly fixed, and the following evening’s passenger run was a success.

The electric cars were a great improvement over the horse-driven trolleys. Businessmen from Providence and Dunmore wasted as much as two hours traveling by horse-drawn trolley, along roads that were often rutted and muddy. In winter, snow delayed travel or made it impossible. The fare for a trip on the horse-drawn trolley was 25 cents.

From its initial Scranton to Green Ridge run, the electric trolley spread. The railway company once operated 110 miles of track in and around Scranton, and a passenger could hop a car every 15 minutes.

Sadly, the electric trolley system declined and then ended.

On Dec. 18, 1954, George Miller operated the very last trolley ride, taking passengers home to Green Ridge along the very same route taken by the first passenger run.

Cheryl A. Kashuba is assistant to the director of the Lackawanna Historical Society and co-author of the book “Scranton.”

[donybrx]

DT Wilkes-Barre condos proposed; trendy, urban and chic? wow...never thought this concept would be run up the pole, let alone considered....sweet hayseuss.......!!!! :)


12/04/2006
Wilkes-Barre plans upscale condos in KOZ
BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — Trendy, urban and chic. Three words not often used to describe living in this city.

And, as any resident who has looked at his paycheck stub lately could attest, here’s another term not associated with life in Wilkes-Barre: tax-free.

All four terms could be applicable for a fortunate few when construction is completed on loft-style condominiums at several sites in the city.

Developers intend to transform parts of at least three sites designated as Keystone Opportunity Zones into upscale dwellings.

Just like any business in a KOZ site, residential occupants would have all of their local and state taxes abated after living in the site for 184 days.

That could be a sizable tax incentive for a high-paid professional owning an upscale condo, like the ones the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry plans to develop in the new theater complex.

The chamber plans to use 30,000 square feet on two floors to construct about 28 residential units, said Larry Newman, vice president of community and economic development, adding that the date of completion and the asking price for the units has not been determined.

Even at a conservative estimate of $100 per square foot, however, a 1,000-square-foot loft would go for more than $100,000.

An individual living in a KOZ site and making the median income for a family in Wilkes-Barre, around $36,000, would have saved about $4,800 this year in state wage taxes, local wage taxes, local property taxes and county property taxes.

The potential for hefty tax breaks could be enough to make some residents wonder why they should have to pay taxes when some wealthier people won’t.

“I understand the complaint,” said Lee Namey, northeastern region coordinator for the KOZ program.

“I understand that the criticism by some is, ‘I live in this community, and I don’t benefit from this. I live in the community, and I pay taxes, and why would this person next to me not have to?’”

Mr. Namey, though, believes everyone in the city will benefit from new residents, who will boost the economy by spending more money downtown.

“You can get people into your community that you wouldn’t be able to before,” he said. “It is worthwhile to give someone a tax break to get them in the community.”

Someone looking to purchase a loft-style condo in the city will have more options than just the theater complex in the next few years.

Daniel Siniawa and Associates plan to convert the Murray industrial complex on Pennsylvania Avenue into 62 loft condominiums by next fall.

Though a completion date hasn’t been determined, the lofts created by the Sterling project would probably be owner-occupied as well, said Alex Rogers, executive director of CityVest, the nonprofit group developing the site.

In attracting buyers, CityVest plans to market the tax benefits.

“We anticipate it will be an additional attraction to the property,” he said.

Economic development officials believe it is about “priming the pump.” When the KOZ program expires at the end of 2010, the new residents will still be living in the city — and will start paying taxes.

Contact the writer: wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com

[donybrx]

DT Wilkes-Barre condos proposed; trendy, urban and chic? wow...never thought this concept would be run up the pole, let alone considered....sweet hayseuss.......!!!! :)


12/04/2006
Wilkes-Barre plans upscale condos in KOZ
BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — Trendy, urban and chic. Three words not often used to describe living in this city.

And, as any resident who has looked at his paycheck stub lately could attest, here’s another term not associated with life in Wilkes-Barre: tax-free.

All four terms could be applicable for a fortunate few when construction is completed on loft-style condominiums at several sites in the city.

Developers intend to transform parts of at least three sites designated as Keystone Opportunity Zones into upscale dwellings.

Just like any business in a KOZ site, residential occupants would have all of their local and state taxes abated after living in the site for 184 days.

That could be a sizable tax incentive for a high-paid professional owning an upscale condo, like the ones the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry plans to develop in the new theater complex.

The chamber plans to use 30,000 square feet on two floors to construct about 28 residential units, said Larry Newman, vice president of community and economic development, adding that the date of completion and the asking price for the units has not been determined.

Even at a conservative estimate of $100 per square foot, however, a 1,000-square-foot loft would go for more than $100,000.

An individual living in a KOZ site and making the median income for a family in Wilkes-Barre, around $36,000, would have saved about $4,800 this year in state wage taxes, local wage taxes, local property taxes and county property taxes.

The potential for hefty tax breaks could be enough to make some residents wonder why they should have to pay taxes when some wealthier people won’t.

“I understand the complaint,” said Lee Namey, northeastern region coordinator for the KOZ program.

“I understand that the criticism by some is, ‘I live in this community, and I don’t benefit from this. I live in the community, and I pay taxes, and why would this person next to me not have to?’”

Mr. Namey, though, believes everyone in the city will benefit from new residents, who will boost the economy by spending more money downtown.

“You can get people into your community that you wouldn’t be able to before,” he said. “It is worthwhile to give someone a tax break to get them in the community.”

Someone looking to purchase a loft-style condo in the city will have more options than just the theater complex in the next few years.

Daniel Siniawa and Associates plan to convert the Murray industrial complex on Pennsylvania Avenue into 62 loft condominiums by next fall.

Though a completion date hasn’t been determined, the lofts created by the Sterling project would probably be owner-occupied as well, said Alex Rogers, executive director of CityVest, the nonprofit group developing the site.

In attracting buyers, CityVest plans to market the tax benefits.

“We anticipate it will be an additional attraction to the property,” he said.

Economic development officials believe it is about “priming the pump.” When the KOZ program expires at the end of 2010, the new residents will still be living in the city — and will start paying taxes.

Contact the writer: wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Once again, Wilkes-Barre seems to be a leader in urban revival for smaller northeast cities. Amazing.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^^^ Heck dony, I missed the post about the Electric Trolley. A sign next to the courthouse:

http://suprfile.com/src/1/1aklsu4/scrpa21.jpg


:tup:

[donybrx]

Once again, Wilkes-Barre seems to be a leader in urban revival for smaller northeast cities. Amazing.

well...... we shall see how it goes over the next two critical years......I'm one of many keeping fingers crossed and I think you are too, EX.......

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Got that right dony.

[donybrx]

^ and I rest assured...in that knowlededge...'deed I do :). You're a good 'un.

one other note: a falsie regarding the Huber coal breaker...it isn't under pressure from any buyer....only an overzealous real estate agent...go figger...:)
link to dramatic tale....heh

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/16166506.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[donybrx]

Dateline Scrant'un: The Sorvinos have landed...filming begins.....


12/02/2006
Film crew’s welcome hospitable, if a bit wet
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER

Montreal-born actress Laurence Leboeuf is enjoying her sojourn in Scranton, but even one who has bested Canadian winters was a little afraid of Friday’s wild weather

“Do you have tornadoes here?” asked the 20-year-old, who’s playing the title character in Paul Sorvino’s film, “The Trouble with Cali,” now being shot in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Tornadoes or not, Miss Leboeuf is impressed with what she’s seen of Scranton and its environs so far. “I love it. I think it’s really charming,” she said.

If her impressions are any indication, it would seem the region already is playing its role in the film to the hilt.

The cast and a crew of more than 100 created a whirlwind of their own at the Clay Avenue residence that’s standing in as Cali’s home, portraying a bit of quintessentially American suburbia.

The film is not set in Scranton. Other regional locations will be used as stand-ins for New York City and small-town America.

On Friday, the team’s efforts were centered on the rambling stucco-covered house in Scranton’s Hill Section. An array of equipment trucks and vans lined the block, from a fully stocked catering trailer to mobile dressing rooms.

The project, anticipated to cost about $1.5 million, received $500,000 in funding from Lackawanna County.

Presiding over it all was Mr. Sorvino himself, jumping between his own roles as actor and director. “A movie set is a frenetic place,” he said during a break.

Mr. Sorvino, who plays Cali’s father, was in the process of shooting a scene between himself and real-life daughter Mira, playing a role credited as the “balletmaster.”

“There are so many different elements,” he said, as stagehands traipsed back and forth through the kitchen carrying all manner of equipment.

Homeowners Bob and Alice Thiel stood in the wings, watching with amusement.

“It’s that Scranton hospitality,” Mr. Thiel said, when asked what prompted him to open up his home to the production. Also, he is a longtime friend both to Mr. Sorvino and the actor’s local publicist, Bill McAndrew.

The couple said they were told shooting on their property will take a week or two. Unlike some homes in the neighborhood, the Thiel house remains a single-family home, with 15 rooms for the movie crew to eye for scenes.

The movie will tell the tale of Cali Bluejones, a 15-year-old girl with dreams of escaping her dysfunctional family in favor of the glitz and glamor of the modeling industry.

Her pursuit goes awry, however, when she falls prey to promises from a hustler, played by Mr. Sorvino’s son, Michael, who entangles the youth “in his own homicidal fantasy,” according to promotional material.

The screenplay was written by another Sorvino daughter, Amanda.

Buildings at the University of Scranton will stand in for the prestigious Juilliard School, while the inside of the Scranton Cultural Center will masquerade as the foyer of a Broadway theater. Farther afield are scenes at a Factoryville horse farm, Wilkes University and Dunmore Cemetery. Ninety-five percent of the film is to be shot around Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Mr. Sorvino said all shooting should wrap up by Dec. 23. He has said he’d like to finish editing the piece by early 2007.

For Miss Leboeuf, who will turn 21 during the film shoot, those short weeks of filming loom large, a dream come true.

“I’m still in shock,” she said of the opportunity to work with the Oscar-winning Mira Sorvino, with whom she starred in the 2005 television drama “Human Trafficking,” about the black-market trade in young women.

“I’m here, doing what I love, with amazing actors I respect,” she said.

Contact the writer: rdupuis@timesshamrock.com
‘Cali’ shooting in city

WHAT: Production of Paul Sorvino’s film, “The Trouble with Cali,” is under way around Northeastern Pennsylvania.

WHERE: Crews on Friday were shooting at a Clay Avenue home in Scranton. Other area sites will be used in the shooting, which is set to wrap up by Christmas.

WHO: Mr. Sorvino, son Michael and daughter Mira are among the stars. The lead role is played by 20-year-old Canadian actress Laurence Leboeuf.

WHY: Mr. Sorvino, friends with late Scranton actor and playwright Jason Miller, sees Scranton as a believable — and inexpensive — stand-in for New York City and small-town America.

COST: Lackawanna County gave $500,000 to the production, expected to cost $1.5 million.

[donybrx]

AT Last!!!!!

12/07/2006
New clubs, eatery transforming downtown night life
BY DENISE ALLABAUGH
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — The downtown has finally come alive after years of looking like a ghost town.
New clubs Fuse in Midtown Village, Bart & Urby’s Downtown Bar & Bistro and Club Mardi Gras on South Main Street have joined Barnes and Noble joint college bookstore and the $30 million theater project in drawing foot traffic and creating a night life downtown. Police presence has increased and the streets have been illuminated with historic lights.

Business at the trendy new Bart & Urby’s Downtown Bar and Bistro at 115-119 S. Main St. has been “mind-blowing,” co-owner Brian Urbanas said on Wednesday.

When he and his cousin, Eric Bartoletti, purchased the former Empire Beauty School for $100,000 four years ago to open their business, the downtown was dead, but they knew it would come back to life. They were right. They are preparing for an official grand opening Friday, Dec. 15 to showcase their business, which features a dinner menu, a bar and entertainment.

Urbanas, 27, and Bartoletti, 33, struggled to get a loan to open the new business since they were young and did not have huge assets.

“We knew for years there were a lot of projects coming,” Urbanas said. “At that time, the buildings downtown were cheap compared to now. Now, it’s four times the amount. Four years ago, it was bad here. It was like southeast Philadelphia. It was scary. Now, there are no problems. Business is amazing. The dinner crowd has been huge.”

Urbanas witnessed a major transformation downtown as soon as the historic street lights were turned on.

“The cockroaches left. They had nowhere to hide anymore,” Urbanas said. “People are enjoying the fact that they can go downtown. There are three new bars and this is only the beginning.”

Ron Romanoski, 33, a former financial specialist on Public Square, decided to change careers and invest in the new Fuse martini club at the site of the closed Cafe Rouge in Midtown Village. Romanoski plans to open a daytime cafe next month. His club is decorated with paintings from local artist from Arts YOUniverse on South Franklin Street.

“It’s a great time to be part of the downtown. Revitalization has taken place,” Romanoski said.

Romanoski is renting his location from Humford Equities. Rob Finlay, president of Humford Equities, is pleased that an “entertainment district” has been created downtown. He is trying to attract a new upscale restaurant to Midtown Village.

Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Gerry Dessoye said since the new businesses opened, there have been fewer arrests downtown.

“We made more public drunkenness arrests before the new clubs opened,” said Dessoye. “Before the bars opened, there were derelicts hanging around with no particular purpose. Now, there’s legitimate foot traffic down there and we’re seeing less problems. I think any new business is a good thing.”

Naoto Suzuki, co-owner of the Katana Japanese restaurant in Midtown Village, said his business has improved with all the new developments. He hopes a variety of more restaurants will follow. He has been located downtown for the last 15 years.

“I want to see Italian and Chinese restaurants, so when people come downtown, they have a choice.” Suzuki said. “I want more people to come downtown.”

dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com





©The Citizens Voice 2006

[donybrx]

12/07/2006
Gaming contest turning into war
BY MICHAEL RACE
HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF


Some in Poconos asking how much growth is too much
HARRISBURG — The heated battle for Pennsylvania’s remaining slots licenses is starting to look like a casino arms race, with applicants promising to build posh “destination resorts” that will top the competition.

Advertisement


Consider the two casinos being pitched for Monroe County.

Pocono Manor Resort and Casino would have slot machines in its 750-room hotel in Tobyhanna Township, but visitors also could golf, shoot skeet, ride horses and ski nearby. Its amenities would include seven restaurants, three nightclubs, convention space, a 12-acre manmade lake and an indoor/outdoor pool.

In nearby Paradise Township, Dunmore developer Louis DeNaples is envisioning the Mount Airy Resort as not just a slots parlor and 400-room hotel, but also a place where you could take a swim, relax in a spa, shop, dine, golf and hold business gatherings.

Draw to gamblers

“In this industry, bigger is better,” said Greg Matzel, who hopes to land a coveted slots license for the Pocono Manor project.

It’s all part of the gambling industry’s never-ending quest to “build a better mousetrap,” according to Alan Woinski, editor of the Gaming Industry Daily Report. It’s a mentality he said has its roots in the booming Las Vegas region.

“Nowadays, there’s no such thing anymore as a ‘hotel casino’ in Vegas,” Mr. Woinski said. “It’s no longer just a place to go and gamble.”

To that end, Las Vegas casinos typically include upscale retailers, restaurants, nightclubs and concert halls, all meant to draw what Mr. Woinski characterizes as the “high-end gambler” who has disposable income for more than games of chance.

It works in Vegas, but Mr. Woinski is among those who openly questions whether it will work here.

“There’s a lot of risk in that,” he said of the grandiose business model.

He believes Pennsylvania’s fledgling casino industry would be better off building from a smaller scale, rather than immediately trying to compete for customers with Atlantic City and Connecticut casinos. But his opinion seems to be at odds with those hoping to run slots parlors here.

In the Lehigh Valley, one slots applicant is planning a 300-room hotel with shops, restaurants and a movie theater, while another is proposing a 250-room hotel with similar offerings.

The most modest proposal is near Gettysburg, where businessman David LeVan has proposed a slots venue that has 225 hotel rooms, a spa, restaurants and limited shopping.

Those five applicants are vying for just two slots licenses between them, and the 2004 law that legalized gambling restricts who can land those licenses. The Gambling Control Board cannot give out licenses to any two entities within 20 miles of each other.

That means Monroe County and the Lehigh Valley could each get no more than one of the licenses, leaving just three scenarios when the board awards licenses Dec. 20:


Licenses would go to one project in the Poconos and one in the Lehigh Valley.


Licenses would go to one project in the Poconos and the Gettysburg project.


Licenses would go to Gettysburg and the Lehigh Valley, shutting out the Poconos.

The competition has become so intense that applicants have been making unflattering references to each other during recent licensing hearings before the Gaming Board.

Pocono Manor officials, for instance, have openly questioned Mount Airy’s revenue projections. Mount Airy officials, in turn, voiced “grave concerns” about the traffic and wastewater plans for Mount Pocono. Developers of a casino plan in Bethlehem suggested a competing project in Allentown could pose a “conflict of interest” because its backers also own the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City.

“It sounds like desperation. It sounds like people are nervous,” said David La Torre, spokesman for the Crossroads Gaming Resort & Spa near Gettysburg, which also has been the target of some unflattering remarks from other slots applicants.

The rhetoric is likely to heat up next week, when both Crossroads and the Allentown area’s Tropicana project have hearings before the board.

DeNaples update

Mr. DeNaples will have to wait until next week to see if he has been deemed a suitable candidate for a slots license.

The Gaming Board had hoped to formally close the record on Mount Airy’s public hearing Wednesday. Instead, the board held a closed-door “executive session” to discuss the Mount Airy application with Mr. DeNaples, the third such meeting this week.

Board Chairman Tad Decker said the private meetings were to discuss items “of a confidential nature” pertaining to the Mount Airy application. The slots law allows the board to convene into executive session to consider any “confidential documents relative to personal background information provided to the board.”

Mount Airy spokesman Kevin Feeley cast the closed-door meetings as information-gathering sessions on Mr. DeNaples’ vast financial holdings, which consist of some 90 businesses with a combined value of about $2 billion.

“He has a staggering array of business interest, and it takes time to go through all that,” he said.

Mr. DeNaples’ application for a non-track slots license is unique because it is the only one that would be held by an individual, rather than a team of investors and business interests.

Contact the writer: mrace@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

^^ for the at last article :tup:

[donybrx]

Wilkes University deepens its physical connection to Central City Wilkes-Barre:
12+ story apartment tower will accommodate 400 students.....
--------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Thu, Dec. 07, 2006
Wilkes closes deal on apartment high-rise

WILKES-BARRE – Wilkes University closed an $8.1 million deal Thursday on an apartment high-rise that will serve as a residential hub for students.

The university purchased the building known as Ten East South Street from JPJR Ten E. South Tower, LP, an affiliate of Trivest Realty Group, LLC of Washington Crossing, Pa. for $8,190,000.

University Towers currently houses 200 students and about 30 non-student residents. Those who live in the building, but do not attend classes at Wilkes, will have their current leases honored, but university officials have said the plan is to phase out non-student residents.

At its peak, the university expects some 400 students to live in the 130-unit apartment complex.

The purchase generated $245,000 in transfer taxes for the city of Wilkes-Barre and the state. Wilkes is expected to spend an additional $1.7 million in health and safety renovations, repairs to the building’s elevator systems and other improvements.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2006 Times Leader and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.timesleader.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Sounds like a good investment for the school. Will this take the property off the city tax rolls? Ithaca has a ton of property not on the rolls, and it can cause some concerns, ie. fewer folks paying for more services.

[donybrx]

^^^The city will get $245K in transfer taxes, beyond that, I don't know. If memory serves, this tower was some kind of subsidized thing from the gitgo...like a church sponsored project for the elderly and not likely taxable anyway......it's a very nice looking red brick tower, however......decent design...

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ No harm, no foul I guess. Besides, the young student tenants will add some life to the area. (as opposed to us old coots dony ;) )

[donybrx]

^^^^who yew callin' a ole coot? heh....

[donybrx]

This is especially painful.......damn!


12/09/2006
Sterling tower nearly gone
BY TIM GULLA
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — Brick-by-brick demolition of the 14-story Hotel Sterling tower will soon come to an end.

Heavy equipment will be arriving within the next few weeks to make short work of a building that has so far been halved by hand, said Alex Rogers, executive director of the non-profit group CityVest, which is trying to restore the Sterling site to productive use.

While Rogers rarely talks about timelines, he said it’s likely the tower will be completely gone from Wilkes-Barre’s skyline by mid-January.

Work on the demolition began in August but has been slow. Initial plans to hoist a bucket loader to the building’s upper floors were scrapped because the flooring couldn’t support the weight of the machinery, forcing demolition crews to use a more time-consuming method — hand tools.

Plans had always called for the use of heavy, ground-based equipment to knock the building down once crews lopped off the top eight floors, though.

The Sterling’s tower, which was added to the Hotel Sterling in the 1920s, is now only seven stories high and crews should shave the building down to the sixth floor within the next 10 to 14 days, Rogers said.

CityVest is focusing its efforts on restoring the 114-year-old Hotel Sterling, returning it to commercial and residential use.

Rogers said 95 percent of the environmental work on the original hotel building and surrounding buildings is complete and architects will releasing new floor plans early in 2007.

Interior demolition on the original Hotel Sterling building is complete on five of its floors and in its basement.

“They’re now completing work on the first and second floors,” he said. “You would see this selective demolition work completed with sensitivity to preserving the building’s important features, such as the balcony on the second floor and the lobby area.”

The once-grand hotel had been carved up over the years, turned into one-room apartments, and ultimately fell into serious disrepair as its former owners filed for bankruptcy. When CityVest purchased the Sterling at a 2002 tax sale, the building had already become the largest pigeon coop in the city.

Marketing of the building will begin after the new floor plans are unveiled. CityVest plans to use the upper floors of the historic building as condominiums and wants them to be owner-ocuppied.

tgulla@citizensvoice.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

I wish the article would have included a before/after shot.

[donybrx]

I agree Ex-Ithacan. As I recall you provided us with a terrific shot of the tower in the early posts of this thread.......and East Market St.. It's gonna be kinda barren for a while. Ihope they get right to work on the conversion of the historic part of the Sterling into condos..that'll ease the pain.....

[donybrx]

Local companies ranking well among PA's 100 best places to work......

-----------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sun, Dec. 10, 2006

Best Places to Work in PA
Earning recognition
Local companies top 100 Best Places to Work list

By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@leader.net

Benco placed 28th on the list of 50 large-sized companies with more than 251 employees. Two others from Luzerne County also made the cut; Pride Mobility Products Corp. of Exeter earned 17th place and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania came in 48th. The list of medium-sized companies with 25 to 250 employees also contained two local firms. Hazleton-based Troy Manufacturing Inc., a maker of over-the-counter and personal care products, reached No.8 and Solid Cactus, a Wilkes-Barre e-commerce Web site developer, landed the 21st ranking.
Outside the walls of Benco Dental Co. word gets around about its reputation as an employer.

Sally Sidorek picked up on it.

“I heard that Benco was a great place to work,” she said.

Six months into her job as lease coordinator at the Wilkes-Barre-based company, the Dallas woman is a believer and so are the organizations that compile the list of the 100 Best Places to Work in PA.

Benco placed 28th on the list of 50 large-sized companies with more than 251 employees. Two others from Luzerne County also made the cut; Pride Mobility Products Corp. of Exeter earned 17th place and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania came in 48th.

The list of medium-sized companies with 25 to 250 employees also contained two local firms. Hazleton-based Troy Manufacturing Inc., a maker of over-the-counter and personal care products, reached No.8 and Solid Cactus, a Wilkes-Barre e-commerce Web site developer, landed the 21st ranking.

Both were new to the list. The others have been there before.

Aside from enjoying the recognition, the five companies expect to use the coveted spots to promote themselves, attract employees and further improve their workplaces.

“It definitely helps to be listed among the best places to work for recruiting purposes,” said Joselle Lencicki, senior manager of human resources for Blue Cross.

The recognition is well-earned and the health insurance company aims to keep it that way by analyzing the results of a confidential employee survey that makes up two thirds of a company’s score. The employer survey accounts for the remaining third.

“Some of the areas that get identified we leverage,” in order to maintain them, Lencicki said.

Pride studies the data and works at improving areas where it scores low, said Ann Sadusky, senior vice president human resources and administration.

“Each vice president receives the overall data and we make corrections based on the information,” Sadusky said.

At Solid Cactus, company president Scott Sanfilippo planned to meet with the managers and review the results. It was the first time the company participated in the survey.

Sanfilippo pointed out his company’s business is completely Internet-based and likely has a younger and more technologically advanced workforce than others on the list.

“I think we do above and beyond” what many of those on the list do in terms of technology, he said. But there is room for improvement in other areas.

“It would be great to be number one,” he said.

A few years ago Benco received its worst score in the category dealing with how employees feel about the company’s contributions to the community, said George Rable, vice president of culture and people.

Even though the company was a big contributor, “we were not doing a very good job communicating to the employees,” Rable said. The company created a community booster committee to spread the word to its 400 employees.

Benco, a family-owned business started in 1930, uses the best places survey to supplement the two it conducts in-house annually. The resulting policies and practices have enabled the company to make the list, added Rable.

“We have a good management team. We think we’re hiring the right people,” he said.

The employees’ input to the operations is valued and rewarded and their ideas put to work as well. Sidorek suggested adding a service schedule to the logs kept in the company’s fleet of vehicles.

A walk through the company’s office drew positive responses from Russ Grodack, tech support manager and Dwayne Taggart in receiving.

“I think it’s the people that are here more than anything,” Grodack said of why Benco made the best places list for a fourth year. The Kingston resident has been with the company six years.

“They just treat you really well,” said Taggart a 15-year employee from Hanover Township.

Pride employees expressed similar job satisfaction whether they were the ones contacting field service technicians, making sales calls to the West Coast or assembling power wheelchairs.

Between the company’s headquarters in Exeter, its Duryea production facility and sales representatives its workforce totals nearly 1,000.

Charlotte Shaefer of Pittston Township worked in the garment industry before Pride hired her four years ago. She works in the company’s field service tech customer service department.

The good impression she received when she interviewed with the company remains. “You get recognized for your good work and your benefits are outstanding,” Shaefer said.

Jane Rosentel of Forty Fort started working at Pride two years after her son told her about the company. He was working for the company at the time and said it was great place, she said.

Today she is a regional account executive handling West Coast territories.

“Everybody is very professional and helpful here. And that’s why this company is so great,” Rosentel said.

A few miles away, in an assembly room across the Susquehanna River Linda Savoroski pulled a plastic housing from a rack. She’s been with Pride for 10 years and works as a line leader for sub assembly of the company’s Jazzy model.

“The company goes out their way to help you out in any situation,” Savoroski said.

GETTING LISTED

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Best Places to Work in PA is a joint effort by the Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry and the Central Penn Business Journal. The survey of companies is conducted by ModernThink, a partner of the Harrisburg-based Best Companies Group. A participation fee ranges between $695 and $1,195, depending upon the size of the company. To be eligible for the list, companies must complete the entire assessment process. The deadline for registration for the 2007 list is May 18. For more information, visit www.bestplacestoworkinpa.com.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7237.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Good stuff dony, thanks.

[donybrx]

It is good...so much is going well for the area after so maany decades....now if they can get the crime thing resolved with a firm hand and a big push.....downtown has seen a healthy decline alreaady thanks to the presence of people and cops.......

[donybrx]

Big News. Wilkes-Barre's last coal breaker---the County intervenes---
finally some clear thinking about an icon specific to Wilkes-Barre and the region that deserves to be kept around for teaching, learning history and culture.

****************************
Posted on Tue, Dec. 12, 2006

Society supports county plan for Huber
Resolution backs effort by commissioners to preserve the historic breaker.

By RORY SWEENEY rsweeney@timesleader.com

ASHLEY – The Huber Breaker Preservation Society board of directors passed a resolution Monday afternoon “enthusiastically” supporting the efforts of the county’s board of commissioners to preserve the Huber Breaker, the last original anthracite coal breaker, according to the society’s Web site.

Offering “any and all support,” the board also recommended the commissioners, after securing the property, create an advisory board with the preservation society’s board as the advisory board’s “nucleus.”

“We wanted to clearly send a message that the organization that has been involved from the beginning is very supportive of what the county commissioners are trying to do,” said the society board Chairman Anthony J. Mussari. “All we want to do is throw whatever support we can.”

Commissioners Greg Skrepenak, Todd Vonderheid and Steve Urban have said the county, through the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority, will pay a fair price for the site. The authority has offered to exchange 6 acres it owns near the breaker with the owner, No. 1 Contracting, for the breaker.

Company president Al Roman has stated he wants 21 authority-owned acres near the breaker, and an option to pay $60,000 for 3 additional acres, all of which are part of a 60-acre plot the authority has tagged for development into a business park.

The authority, which is planning on using that property as collateral for a state loan to buy utilities for the park, has said it can’t part with such a large portion of the collateral.

Mussari, whose father was a breaker boy, said the 68-year-old breaker needs to be preserved because it’s “as symbolic to the area as, say, the Eiffel Tower in Paris” and would allow the area “to have something that nobody in the country has.”

He said he realizes the preservation society will not have the influence it had before governmental funds poured in, but that the society wouldn’t be able to raise the funds on its own.

“Once this becomes the property of the county, they can make things happen,” he said. “Anything short of that, and it’s not going to be saved.”

[Ex-Ithacan]

Hip-hip-hooray. Thanks for the good news dony.

[donybrx]

My pleasure EX.....truly...if I had the bucks I'd save it me self......(let's see...where's last night lotto tix....? So many buildings. so few dollars.....heh.)

[donybrx]

Drugs, Gangs Violent Crime---all alien to the Wyoming Valley not long ago...just big city problems.

Well, folks in Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and environs aren't in denial...more credit to them for that and for taking inistiative to beat it...is it enough? Time will tell. I sure hope so..

This is a national issue too.....a massive awakening is in order as is a dedicated plan of attack....

Posted on Tue, Dec. 12, 2006

OUR OPINION
Major drug bust opening salvo in war on gangs

GANGBANGERS” IN THE Wyoming Valley?

“Crips,” “Bloods” and other gangs in Hazleton?

As disturbing -- as sickening – as that sounds, it’s the awful truth: Northeastern Pennsylvania has a gang problem.

In Thursday’s “Operation Smackdown,” leaders of two drug rings operated by alleged members of the notorious New York City “Bloods” gang were charged by law enforcement agencies.

Police said that the Scranton-based gangs, which reportedly sold 3,000 bags of heroin a week, operated in Luzerne County and five Luzerne County residents are among those facing charges.

This is not an isolated incident. Two weeks ago, Hazleton Mayor Louis J. Barletta told a Times Leader reporter that as many as five gangs are operating in his city, including the “Bloods,” “Crips,” “Dominicans Don’t Play” and “MS13.”

“These gangs are active here and they are preying on Hispanic children in our city” Barletta said. “We are at a crossroads. If we don’t do something about it now, in five years it will be too late.”

It may already be too late a little to our east. In August, the Associated Press reported a drastic increase in gang activity in the Poconos’ gated communities. Authorities there believe the gangs consider the communities a haven where they can operate freely, the AP reported.

Let’s not let that happen here.

Drugs know no boundaries, and all children, not just Hispanics -- and all adults -- are in danger when gangs infiltrate.

Gangs are here and they are not going away.

We must face up to this fact and devote the resources in terms of money, personnel and law-enforcement units to stop the “gangbanging” before it spreads any further.

“Operation Smackdown” seems like a good beginning in the war on gangs. Let’s keep it going.

[Ex-Ithacan]

A scourge no doubt. Even little "enlightened" Ithaca has a gang problem - drugs, fights (stabbings and shootings), and neighborhood terrorizing. I think the lure of relatively easy money in a safer environment for their drug trade has prompted a movement from the big cities to the smaller burgs (even kind of rural). Until people quit using drugs, I don't see a way to get rid of the gangbangers.

[Snakeyes]

12/12/2006
ERA One Source Realty plans commercial office
BY DAVID FALCHEK
STAFF WRITER


One of the area’s largest residential real estate firms plans to spin off and expand its commercial division in Scranton.



ERA One Source Realty in South Abington Township plans to open a commercial division at 1301 Mullberry St., site of Vincent’s dress shop, said broker/owner Sunita Arora. She plans to buy the building in late February and open the 10- to 20-person office in the summer.

Ms. Arora’s firm joins an increasingly crowded group as several firms diversify into commercial real estate or focus on it completely.

Earlier this year, Hinerfeld Real Estate, long Lackawanna County’s dominant commercial firm, jettisoned its meager residential division to handle commercial work exclusively.

Last month, George Semian, owner of Semian & Gress Real Estate in Scranton, launched a commercial division with two agents pursuing certification.

Activity in Scranton, including the expansion of the University of Scranton, downtown revitalization and the proposed medical school, convinced Ms. Arora to locate in the city.

“The city is coming back to life and there is a lot going on,” she said. “Northeastern Pennsylvania is attracting savvy investors that would not have looked here three years ago.”

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2185&dept_id=581839&newsid=17579236

[donybrx]

Good to see ya Snakeyes especailly with good news to post......

[Snakeyes]

Good to see ya Snakeyes especailly with good news to post......


Thanks...what doy ou think of the RED BARONS new name?

[donybrx]

^^^^gee, how original, huh? Not so hot.......no local personality in the name "Yankees"; it's probably better for marketing and making dollars......which goes against the fun in minor league baseball, since the majors are so completely about money.....

So, I don't care for it....how about you Snake? .......And others?

[donybrx]

Sensationally fast $ start for Scranton's proposed Medical School: another $25.......this from Blue cross. $75 M price tag is nearly in place!


12/14/2006
Proposed medical school gets booster shot
BY CHRIS BIRK
STAFF WRITER


The proposed Medical College of Northeastern Pennsylvania got another financial shot in the arm — and one step closer to fruition — on Wednesday.

Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania committed $25 million to the fledgling Scranton school as part of an expansive, $175 million investment into local health care.

Culled from the regional insurer’s surplus funds, the donation represents the second major chunk of funding secured by the school in the last three months. It also means stakeholders can account for more than three-fourths of the estimated $75 million needed to construct the institution.

“What we’re trying to do is give to this community, because we believe in it,” said Denise Cesare, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross. “We saw the timing was right. It was just a natural, logical, beautiful fit.”

Billed as a catalyst for medical and economic revival in the region, the creation of a school has been championed by a team of local business and medical leaders and elected officials for the last two years. The state in October dedicated $35 million to the project, representing the largest economic development grant of Gov. Ed Rendell’s term.

The independent, regional school is expected to serve 360 students and have an annual operating budget of $25 million. Officials hope to enroll students in August 2009 and are already searching for a founding dean, a position they look to fill by February.

“The first $60 million came easier than I ever thought it would,” said Robert Wright, M.D., chairman of the Medical Education Development Consortium. “It’s an amazing time right now. This whole effort is transformational.”

Consortium officials estimate a “bare-bones” medical school will require $75 to $85 million in start-up funding. A search for new funding sources, both private and public, is running concurrently with the search for a founding dean.

In terms of location, the consortium has an option on the Howard Johnson property at Franklin Avenue and Mulberry Street, and the old Holiday Manor property across the street may also wind up in the mix. The footprint is expected to house the 180,000-square-foot facility and transform the northern entrance into the city.

“You don’t anticipate the possibilities. Additional sources of funds are numerous,” said Wright, adding that a Connecticut firm was hired to help conduct the funding search.

Meanwhile, the insurer’s outlay of $175 million will not affect current premiums, said Cesare.

Instead, she claims the investment will “have a positive impact on lowering the rise of health-care premiums in the future” because of more efficient and cost-effective medical care.

The insurance provider covers about 600,000 people in 13 counties in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

“This is an historic event,” Cesare said.

cbirk@timesshamrock.com

[donybrx]

Arena for sale? can't imagine it.......
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luzerne County insider says Big Win Ventures, owner of the W-B/Scranton Pioneers, interested
Wachovia Arena up for sale?


By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Someone may be interested in buying the Wachovia Arena.

“I’ve just recently been informed that there may be a possible offer coming to purchase the arena,” said Bill Jones, a member of the Luzerne County Convention Center Authority that oversees the operation of the arena.

Jones said he is “open to discussion of any proposals” and will consider what’s best for the arena and the area as a whole. He said he can’t identify the potential buyer because he hasn’t received anything in writing.

A well-placed county insider has identified the interested buyer as Big Win Ventures, owner of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers arenafootball2 team.

Pioneers General Manager and team President Dave Berryman, a minority stakeholder in Big Win, didn’t confirm or deny the report.

“Big Win is always looking for opportunities in the localized marketplace,” he said. “As far as specifics about Wachovia Arena, I couldn’t say at this time.”

Big Win was among those interested in a shared management agreement with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, who were in search of a new Major League Baseball affiliate after the Philadelphia Phillies announced their departure earlier this year. The New York Yankees are the Barons’ new parent club, while California-based Mandalay Entertainment has taken over management of the Triple-A franchise.

Big Win has owned the franchise since November 2004. The Pioneers will begin their sixth af2 season on March 31.

Kevin Blaum, convention center authority chairman, said Friday that he knew nothing of any offers but would be “extremely skeptical” of any that come in.

“My initial reaction is that it’s an extraordinary public asset that should never be in private hands because we operate it in the best interest of the people of Northeastern PA,” Blaum said, noting the variety of entertainment that appeals to diverse interests, including families.

“While we always try to maximize our dollars, we are sensitive to the community,” Blaum said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Then it can be resold or dismantled for scrap.”

If the arena ended up in private hands, the county could benefit from the deal. The arena collects 80 percent of the revenue received from the county hotel tax, which has amounted to more than $10.5 million since the tax went into effect in May 1996.

If the county did not have to fund the arena, that money could be used for other recreational or tourism needs.

Blaum has said that the arena’s hotel tax funding stream must remain intact because it’s legally earmarked to pay off the arena construction bond.

Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said commissioners have no control over the arena, other than appointing the board members who serve. But he hopes the authority will consider any offers with an open mind and thorough public discussion because the arena is a fixed asset surrounded by thriving businesses that he thinks are here to stay, regardless of arena ownership.

Arenas are privately owned throughout the country, he said.

“Blaum is acting like they’re going to put the arena on a space ship and fly it away. It’s a fixed asset that’s not going anywhere. I’m sure anyone who would make a sizable investment in the arena would want to promote it and ensure it’s successful,” Urban said.

Times Leader sports editor Joe Petrucci contributed to this report.

[donybrx]

Quiet week, yet:

-----Wilkes-Barre's Wachovia Arena.....nope. Not for sale;
-
------Montage Mountain is now (ugh) Sno Mountain, thanks to (not so) slick Philadelphia investors who bought it...... Problem is.... Montage or Sno...there isn't any real stuff...too warm.....but, then again, not every city has its own ski resort within its borders.....even if the skiiing isn't great right now.....


12/17/2006
Mountain of changes under way
BY JAMES HAGGERTY
STAFF WRITER


Denis Carlson hopes a new look, new attractions, improved ski conditions and better marketing sweep Sno Mountain to financial success.

“When we looked at this place, what gave us the confidence to turn it around was that it was either outdated or it was done wrong,” said Mr. Carlson, president of Sno Mountain, a Philadelphia-based investment group that acquired the former Montage ski complex from Lackawanna County for $5.1 million on Nov. 6.

Sno Mountain was scheduled to open Friday, but unseasonably mild weather prevented snow making to hit that goal. The facility had 185 of its 193 new snowmaking guns in place Thursday, hopes to resume snowmaking Wednesday and open as soon as weather permits, Mr. Carlson said. Only 23 snowmaking guns were operable when the group acquired the property, Mr. Carlson said.

“They had no snow, so they had no people here,” he said.

The investment group has committed to about $20 million in improvements, including installation of a water park next summer. Engineering work on that addition is under way.

Analysts said the early steps look positive for Sno Mountain.

“If these guys have the right kind of background or have the right types of experience, they might be able to make a go where the county couldn’t,” said Bill Haralsen, a recreation and tourism consultant from Richardson, Texas, who did the feasibility study on the development of the Camelbeach water park at the Camelback ski resort in Tannersville. “Cities and counties really have a difficult time running properties like that. ... I think there’s a pretty good chance they’ll be able to pull it off.”

Major marketing changes are under way to turn Sno Mountain away from Montage’s financial difficulties. Montage lost about $700,000 last winter and $335,000 the season before.

“We’re putting about $450,000 into marketing,” Mr. Carlson said. “As we increase revenues, we’ll increase marketing.”

Sno Mountain has about 20 billboards posted along Interstate 81 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike and in the Allentown area, is advertising on radio and television and its Web site draws about 120,000 hits a day, Mr. Carlson said.

It has contracted with a Philadelphia-area bus company for more tours, is offering special rates to school districts for student skiing and has special four-hour lift tickets allowing people to ski in any period between the expanded hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Montage opened at noon.

Early marketing efforts are bringing results.

Montage only sold about 375 season passes last season, but Sno Mountain already has sold about 800.

“Why would you want to buy a season pass when the mountain doesn’t open until noon?” Mr. Carlson wondered.

Other skiing changes this season include a new terrain park with a half-pipe for snowboarding, a conveyor belt for snow tubers and youngsters too small for ski lifts, establishment of a ski school, new snow groomers and plow trucks, an overhauled ski shop, an expanded ski and snowboard rental area including an outdoor tent and all new equipment.

“The equipment that the county had for people was about 20 years old,” Mr. Carlson said.

In addition, the lodge has been renovated, including new kitchens and an overhaul of the bar and cafe area with expanded seating in both. A new day-care facility is in place and the medical center has been restored.

Although the preliminary steps look positive for Sno Mountain, ski areas require a lot of up-front investment in maintenance, upkeep and improvements before they begin turning the corner, said James Chung, president of Reach Advisors, a consulting firm in Belmont, Mass., that serves the recreation and resort industry.

“It’s hard to make it just off the lift ticket operations on their own,” Mr. Chung said. “They are going to have to be smart with capital allocations, marketing and customer service. If they can’t hit on those three, they are not the last owners of this place. They just have to be very business focused.”

Fixed expenses, such as maintenance and snow making, are the biggest financial burdens for ski areas to shoulder, Mr. Chung added.

“It costs a lot to run a quality ski area,” he said. “Once they cover the fixed costs, it’s all gravy.”

Mr. Carlson said Sno Mountain has some advantages at the start of operations.

The investors have about $8 million in equity in the complex, he said, adding, “We have very little debt on the facility at this point.”

Also, Sno Mountain will operate the restaurant, bar and vending area on its own, making healthy profits on services that were subcontracted when the county operated Montage, Mr. Carlson said.

“None of that revenue went into the mountain,” he said.

Spokesmen for other regional ski areas said Sno Mountain’s initial efforts address Montage’s deficiencies and are a positive for the regional ski industry.

“I think most of those improvements are a necessity,” said Gregg Confer, general manager at Elk Mountain near Union Dale. “You’ve got to have snow to make it a success in this business.”

Craig Low, spokesman for Camelback, said the investment at Sno Mountain helps the region’s reputation as a ski destination.

“It’s nice to see ski areas developing and growing. Any growth in our sport is good for everybody,” he said. “It’s better that we have a wide selection of ski resorts in the region.”

Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com

[donybrx]

Interesting.....the new faces of NEPA business.....especially women and immgrants........Indian immigrants:


12/17/2006
New faces of business: Immigrants, women
BY DAVID FALCHEK
STAFF WRITER


The face of business in Northeastern Pennsylvania is changing, said two business brokers who sell area enterprise
More business buyers than before are immigrants or women, they say.

Sy Sebastianelli a Jessup-based business broker, said 70 percent of his inquiries are from nonnative born buyers. Jerry Thier, a business broker with PMJ Productions in South Abington, said 20 percent of those who buy businesses he lists are immigrants.

“Owning your business is the American way to be successful,” explained Mr. Thier. His listings on the Internet attracted queries from Europe.

Some buyers are Hispanic but most, the brokers say, are of Indian background. In the nation of 1 billion people, mom-and-pop businesses make up the bulk of the economy, garnering $19 of every $20 spent, by some estimates.

“The new American entrepreneur is coming from other countries — places like India,” Mr. Sebastianelli said.

In his 13 years in the business, Mr. Thier also noticed more women buying businesses.

Nationally, 44 percent of small businesses are owned by women. Mr. Thier said he knew the region was catching up with national figures when he started to broker women-to-women transactions. He estimates that 30 percent of his buyers are female.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Not surprising really. Seems that the old USA is still the land of opportunity. A good idea (and business plan), some seed money, long hours, hard work, and the gumption to stick-it-out, usually spells success. Good luck to those risk takers.

[Snakeyes]

^^^^gee, how original, huh? Not so hot.......no local personality in the name "Yankees"; it's probably better for marketing and making dollars......which goes against the fun in minor league baseball, since the majors are so completely about money.....

So, I don't care for it....how about you Snake? .......And others?



Not that big of a fan...like to see more emphasis on the S/WB rather than the Yankees....

[donybrx]

^ Not surprising really. Seems that the old USA is still the land of opportunity. A good idea (and business plan), some seed money, long hours, hard work, and the gumption to stick-it-out, usually spells success. Good luck to those risk takers.

Emphasis on the gumption! Good to 'see' ya EX.......

merry, happy, safe & sound.....a good '07 all around.....zounds...:)

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ right back at ya dony. :tup:

[donybrx]

" He Ate Life With a Shovel"--Brooke Palance Wilding.

Fitting send-off for Hazleton's own Jack Palance:

Family, friends say farewell
Monday, 18 December 2006
By JENNY PASCHALL
Special to the Standard-Speaker
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – For a kid from the coal mines of Pennsylvania, it was quite a send off. On an unusually cold and rainy afternoon in Beverly Hills, about 350 people gathered at All Saints Episcopal Church to say a final farewell to Jack Palance.

As the congregation filed in, Andrij Kytasty played traditional Ukrainian music. The Hollywood connection became apparent immediately when the Rev. Gabriel Ferrer began speaking. As he welcomed the guests, the resemblance to his father, actor Jose Ferrer, was obvious.
The first speaker was Palance’s daughter, Brooke Palance Wilding (daughter-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor), who remembered her magical childhood spent traveling in England, Italy and Germany.
She spoke fondly of her father, thanking him for introducing her to the world of theatre, ballet and literature.
“He ate life with a shovel,” she said. “My father was seemingly fearless. He wanted to experience everything and gave unconditional love.”
She ended touchingly by whispering, “Thank you Daddy for everything. We’ll draw strength from your passion for life.”
Wilding was followed by the Hon. Rudi Gresham, Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington. He explained that Palance was an extraordinary man who had been through some very tough times. Following his horrific injuries as a result of a flying accident in World War II, he was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and as Palance himself would say, a new face. When President George W. Bush asked to meet him, Gresham said he didn’t know who was more excited, Palance or the president.
He concluded by showing a photo of Palance on one of his last visits to a veterans’ hospital.
The irrepressible 85-year-old actor was doing pushups to entertain and inspire his audience of severely injured veterans.
Mykola Tochystkyi, consul general of Ukraine, offered the condolences of the people of Ukraine and their premier,Victor Yushchenko.
Next to speak was Gunnar Keel, who was a close friend of Palance’s late son, Cody. Keel, son of actor Howard Keel, spoke touchingly of his loving relationship with the Palance clan. There was sad laughter when he remarked that for the first time, Cody arrived somewhere before his father, and doubtless was waiting to show him around.
Actor Stacy Keach remarked that Palance was the best bad guy in film history.
He described introducing himself to Palance while on location in Spain.
“As the conversation progressed, I became aware of Jack’s enormous intelligence. He was so culturally well-informed, and I’m certain that this was a side of Jack’s character that many people were blind to, primarily because of the roles he played in movies,” Keach siad.
“In spite of this, Jack’s performances as Jack the Ripper and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde remain in my memory as two of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. They were classics in their own right.”
Keach was followed by fellow actor and family friend Edward James Olmos, who appeared in numerous movies and TV series, including “Miami Vice,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “The West Wing.”
He spoke of Palance’s deep love of the Mexican community and also remembered how much Jack valued silence. Describing one day sitting in his trailer he said, “He gave me the highest honor – I shared more silence with him than anyone else. I once sat there for eight hours. Finally he said, ‘I like the piano.’ I took a deep breath and said, ‘So do I.’
“Then we sat for another four hours. He loved me because of that!”
Olmos also paid a touching tribute to Elaine Palance by reading a moving poem Palance wrote in October 19999, declaring his deep love for her.
The somber mood was lifted when Palance’s grandchildren, Tarquin Wilding and Lilly Spottiswoode, came to the podium.
After Tarquin described his grandfather as “one of the most amazing men to have ever lived,” Lilly explained that they wanted to make their grandfather smile so they sang a hilarious duet of ‘The Bum Song,’” which was clearly a family favorite and consisted mainly of the line “Hallelujah, I’m a bum.”
They provided a poignant moment of real joy and laughter.
Then Palance’s co-star in “City Slickers,” Billy Crystal, paid his tribute.
He remembered the night Palance won a Golden Globe as best supporting actor for his role as Curly, but Crystal was not so lucky – he was passed over when the awards were announced.
Palance consoled him by saying, “They’re dopes,” he said. Crystal pointed out that Palance had won. “Well, not all of them are dopes,” he responded.
According to Crystal, “Jack was the last of a breed.”
Finally, Palance’s daughter, Holly, thanked everyone for their tributes, certain he would have been delighted and moved.
She imagined asking him if he liked it and his response would likely be, “No Holly, I didn’t like it – I loved it!”
She also acknowledged the tremendous devotion of Elaine Palance, whom she referred to as her father’s “spitfire partner in life and love who made all of his days red-letter days.”
She ended by saying “Thank you, Daddy for teaching me to treat coal miners and kings the same.”
Long-time family friend and soloist Marsha Graham then sang a heartfelt rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
Residents of Hazleton were represented by Pasco Schiavo, Kevin Salaway and John Madden.
The crowd then left for a cocktail reception at Trader Vic’s, Palance’s favorite restaurant.



London-born writer Jenny Paschall and her partner, Drums native Ron Lyon, worked on several projects with a Palance connection, including 2003’s “Would You Believe It,” a Discovery Channel show based on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” Lyon produced that program, which was hosted by Palance.

[donybrx]

Possible office park for Downton Scranton on former coal colliery site:


12/19/2006
$1M granted for city office park
BY DAVID FALCHEK
STAFF WRITER


Feds helping turn ‘sow’s ear into silk purse’ in West Side

A bid to bring white-collar jobs to a former colliery site received a million-dollar boost from the federal government Monday.

The Economic Development Administration contributed $1 million for the Mount Pleasant Corporate Center, a Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Co. project that calls for a 23-acre office park near downtown Scranton.

“This mine wasteland is at the entrance of our city,” said Austin Burke, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. “We are going to turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse.”

The office park will be situated between Linden Street and the McDade Expressway. Developers envision up to three glass and concrete office buildings rising from the current slag heaps. The park could accommodate about 1,000 employees.

However, the site will be expensive to develop — more than $4.5 million to clear and level, build roads and extend utilities. A sizable chunk of that is $1.1 million to widen and improve West Linden Street and Providence Road, said chamber vice president Andrew Skrip.

Keystone Block & Supply Co., currently at the site, will move after selling the property to SLIBCO, which expects to begin work in March.

Once the sites are ready, lots will be sold to private developers or companies who want to build on them. The majority of the site is in a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which extends several state and local tax exemptions to the developers through 2010.

The transformation of the former Mount Pleasant and Diamond Coal breaker site is as symbolic as it is economic, another step toward distancing the region from its anthracite past and moving toward a white-collar, technology economy.

“Companies always ask where they can go, and this will give us a place to put them,” Mayor Chris Doherty said. “Once we have it, we can go out and sell it.”

SLIBCO, the Chamber’s development arm, already has some money in the bank. The state has contributed $2 million in grants and $2 million in low-interest loans.

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, was on hand for Monday’s grant announcement.

“You put your money on the winner,” he said. “In my district, no one’s been winning as much as Scranton has.”

EDA has contributed to city projects in the past, including the Scranton Enterprise Center and the renovation of the former Globe Store.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Sounds like a good project (providing the sites are filled with reliable companies which pay a living wage), but I wonder about any environmental issues. I know a couple of old industrial sites in ithaca are still up in the air development-wise because of hazardous material. Who pays for the clean-up, which can get mighty costly.

[donybrx]

Sounds like a good project (providing the sites are filled with reliable companies which pay a living wage), but I wonder about any environmental issues. I know a couple of old industrial sites in ithaca are still up in the air development-wise because of hazardous material. Who pays for the clean-up, which can get mighty costly.

As you know, so much of NePA is dotted with the toxic legacy of the anthracite boom times that it's anyone's guess what is clean, what is not, what can be cleaned and what cannot; yet, the river no longer turns bright orange in the summer from acid mine runoff/ oxidation as it did a generation ago...so there's always hope.

Another matter is the probablity that some of the 'dirty' facts will be obscured in order to lessen the clean-uo expense to business and/or state & municipalites; a great deal of local befouled sites have been reclaimed thru an outfit called the Earth Conservancy..and successfully marketed for new usages....yet some claim that these sites are not without fester in spots....

It is difficult stuff...repairing the damage of the past....that much can be said.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ So true. I guess we're paying for out fathers' and grand fathers' sins so to speak. At least we don't have to worry about black lung as they did.

[donybrx]

Wilkes-Barre: 80 more condos?...and a Museum......and a cultural center, lacrosse field, etc. at Kirby Park!

This time in Kingston on the riverfront directly opposite Central City Wilkes-Barre. These units would have wonderful views of the river and skyline.....

12/20/2006
Study: Condos will help pay for proposed museum
BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — Eighty new condos along the Susquehanna River levee in Kingston could help pay for an $8 million proposal to build an Iroqouis Confederation museum, according to study findings presented Tuesday to Luzerne County officials.

Wilkes University rowing coach Gerald Reisinger formed the nonprofit group “Southern Door” to collect private donations for the proposed Indian museum and lacrosse field on 4.7 acres by the Market Street Bridge. The county paid the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson to conduct a $60,000 feasibility study of the proposal, county spokeswoman Kathy Bozinski said.

Jim Bell of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson reviewed the study Tuesday with members of the county Flood Protection Authority. The study recommends demolishing a 43,000-square-foot building, which was once site of the former Reilly Classic Motorcars Museum.

A museum and restaurant would consist of 20,000 square feet. The cultural center would be at the foot of the Market Street Bridge.

A lacrosse field would be at the foot of the levee, in front of the museum. Spectator seating would be accommodated on the foot of the levee.

Building and running the museum could be subsidized by selling 80 condos or renting 80 apartments along the levee, from the museum to Davis Street.

County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said the county is trying to get grants for the proposal. Charles Reilly owns the land, Urban said.

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com

[bucks native]

Sounds like a good project (providing the sites are filled with reliable companies which pay a living wage), but I wonder about any environmental issues. I know a couple of old industrial sites in ithaca are still up in the air development-wise because of hazardous material. Who pays for the clean-up, which can get mighty costly.

Pa. will get U.S. funds to clean up old mines

By Kimberly Hefling
Associated Press
December 21, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation yesterday that gives billions of dollars to coal-producing states like Pennsylvania to clean up hazardous abandoned mines and pay for retired miners' health care.

Pennsylvania stands to get nearly $1.4 billion over 18 years.

Bush's signature ends a long fight that has pitted coal-producing states against each other over the best use of funds collected for the nation's coal mine reclamation program.

Coal-producing states will receive an estimated $6.3 billion for abandoned mine cleanup and another $1.6 billion to pay for health care for retired miners who worked for coal companies that no longer exist, according to the federal Office of Surface Mining. The money will be distributed from 2007 to 2025.

The legislation, part of a sweeping tax bill, renews the abandoned mines land reclamation program created in 1977.

Particularly in eastern coalfields, toxins from abandoned mines pollute streams. Unstable land from abandoned mines has been blamed for fatal accidents by ATV riders and hikers - 24 Pennsylvania deaths were reported last year on abandoned mine land. Mines can catch fire and burn for years.

The program is based on a mandatory per-ton fee that coal companies pay into a fund.

Since the program's creation, much of the nation's mining has shifted from states in the east to those in the west.

The legislation signed yesterday lowers the fees paid into the program and modifies the formula so that historic coal mining states with the more serious problems get more funds.

[donybrx]

^^^^^ Never enough and none to soon, eh?

Perhaps good timing should it affect the office park plan for DT Scranton three posts back up there ^^^^..........

[bucks native]

What's up with the Scanton - NYC train?

I was on the phone with a Scranton realtor this morning and asked her whether there was speculation underway downtown as a result of the med school. She said, "not yet, but there's a lot of speculation because of the train." She said that folks from NY and NJ are using equity in their homes there to buy up properties in Scranton, usually two, one for appreciation and the other to move into when the train is online. She moved on to another matter and I neglected to ask her when the train was expected to be in operation.

Anyone know?

[donybrx]

I dunno for sure, but I'd put my dollars on the med school well before train service......surely some of you folks in Scranton have some real insights? From what I hear, there are still complicted negotiations to be satisfied among PA, NJ state & local authorities regarding rights-of-way in particular. But I am no authority, rest assured, in this matter.............jeez, real estate speculaion in Scranton based on train transit...never thought I'd see those words in writing......

[donybrx]

Murray Complex proposal in Wilkes-Barre. Condos/ retail getting possible leverage:

12/19/2006
Tax plan may boost city project
BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — A Tax Increment Financing plan would provide $2.2 million for a $20.7 million project to develop the former Murray Complex in the city, officials said Monday at the Luzerne County commissioners’ meeting.

The commissioners and the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board will vote Thursday on the TIF plan, officials said. The city also has to approve the plan in which the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority borrows $2.2 million for improvements, such as resurfacing Ross Street and converting buildings into 55 condominiums.

The redevelopment project also would add 49,000 square feet in new commercial space. A fitness center and two or three new restaurants are planned on the 12.5-acre site owned by developer Daniel Siniawa Associates of Dickson City.

Under the TIF plan, tax money that comes from higher property values would pay off the $2.2 million loan. It would be in effect for 15 years beginning in August 2008.

The project is counting on another $2.6 million from the state to fund the project, according to TIF paperwork. The developer also expects to fund the project by selling 55 condo units for a total of $9.5 million.

County Commissioner Stephen Urban said he wants to learn more about the TIF plan, noting he already supported a county decision to provide a $1 million low-interest loan for the project.

“I don’t know how long we can continue to give away tax dollars,” Urban said.

Commissioner Todd Vonderheid, who didn’t attend Monday’s meeting, said the TIF plan isn’t costly because any increases in property tax revenue wouldn’t exist without the redevelopment project.

“The math is simple,” Vonderheid said. “We have a developer with great credentials who has already spent $1 million. He needs a little bit of help.”

The TIF plan would not prevent the city and school district from collecting revenue from other taxes, such as transfer taxes on real estate, the business privilege tax, the mercantile tax and the emergency service tax.

The county doesn’t get money from those taxes, Urban said.

The city is projected to get $1.4 million in revenue from the other taxes over 15 years, and the school district would get almost $400,000, according to a project analysis based on a series of assumptions.

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Seems like good news for W-B just keeps rolling in. I think the city (the NE PA in general) is on the cusp of a big time turn-around.

@ bucks native - thanks for the info on the old mines. As I said, good news for the whole NE PA area.

[bucks native]

Found this, note date:

Efforts continue on NYC rail link
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER
08/20/2006

To the public eye, it may seem that progress on bringing passenger train service back to Scranton is just idling in the station.

Not so, says a local official working on the project.

“There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes, and it seems to be going well,” said Larry Malski, chief operating officer of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

Take, for example, Mr. Malski’s own organization. In May, the railroad authorities in Lackawanna and Monroe counties merged to form a new, regional agency that will oversee matters related to the Pennsylvania portion of the Scranton-Hoboken line.

“That’s been a plus to the feds,” Mr. Malski said Wednesday.

After all, the federal government is expected to pay about half the estimated $300 to $350 million capital cost, based on local estimates, with the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey expected to split the rest. New Jersey Transit spokesman Joe Dee said Friday that the number could be as high as $550 million.

While no hard and fast date has been set, the most recent estimate for a completion date has been 2010 — at the earliest.

The biggest physical barrier is the so-called Lackawanna Cutoff, a 28-mile, rail-less right-of-way in New Jersey. The rail authority owns about 60 miles of track from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap, where the tracks end. There begins the 28-mile gap to Port Morris, N.J., where New Jersey Transit’s 45-mile line from Hoboken ends. The total trip from Scranton to Hoboken would be 133 miles.

In the coming weeks, rail authority officials are expected to hold a conference call with NJT, operator of a sprawling, statewide rail and bus system which would be the likely operator of the Hoboken-Scranton service. Other participants could include PennDOT and representatives from Warren, Sussex and Morris counties in New Jersey.

Mr. Malski said the parley could bring progress on creation of a bi-state funding agreement for long-term operation of the service, another key step federal officials will want to see before giving the green light for funding to be released and work to begin. The rail authority also hopes NJT will take a closer look at high-speed rail technology for the line.

Mr. Dee said a draft environmental assessment for the project, submitted to the Federal Transit Administration on June 1, is under FTA review.

Closer to home, meanwhile, progress on creation of an intermodal bus and train station in Scranton also will give the line another gold star in the government’s book, officials say.

Contact the writer: rdupuis@timesshamrock.com

And this, at NJTransit website (note that Wilkes Barre is not on the line - bummer!):

http://www.njtransit.com/images/an_cp_proposed_lackawanna_cutoff.gif

[donybrx]

Found this, note date:

Efforts continue on NYC rail link
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER
08/20/2006

To the public eye, it may seem that progress on bringing passenger train service back to Scranton is just idling in the station.

Not so, says a local official working on the project.

“There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes, and it seems to be going well,” said Larry Malski, chief operating officer of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

Take, for example, Mr. Malski’s own organization. In May, the railroad authorities in Lackawanna and Monroe counties merged to form a new, regional agency that will oversee matters related to the Pennsylvania portion of the Scranton-Hoboken line.

“That’s been a plus to the feds,” Mr. Malski said Wednesday.

After all, the federal government is expected to pay about half the estimated $300 to $350 million capital cost, based on local estimates, with the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey expected to split the rest. New Jersey Transit spokesman Joe Dee said Friday that the number could be as high as $550 million.

While no hard and fast date has been set, the most recent estimate for a completion date has been 2010 — at the earliest.

The biggest physical barrier is the so-called Lackawanna Cutoff, a 28-mile, rail-less right-of-way in New Jersey. The rail authority owns about 60 miles of track from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap, where the tracks end. There begins the 28-mile gap to Port Morris, N.J., where New Jersey Transit’s 45-mile line from Hoboken ends. The total trip from Scranton to Hoboken would be 133 miles.

In the coming weeks, rail authority officials are expected to hold a conference call with NJT, operator of a sprawling, statewide rail and bus system which would be the likely operator of the Hoboken-Scranton service. Other participants could include PennDOT and representatives from Warren, Sussex and Morris counties in New Jersey.

Mr. Malski said the parley could bring progress on creation of a bi-state funding agreement for long-term operation of the service, another key step federal officials will want to see before giving the green light for funding to be released and work to begin. The rail authority also hopes NJT will take a closer look at high-speed rail technology for the line.

Mr. Dee said a draft environmental assessment for the project, submitted to the Federal Transit Administration on June 1, is under FTA review.



And this, at NJTransit website (note that Wilkes Barre is not on the line - bummer!):

Oh, Wilkes-Barre will include its bad self....the trackage is there, waiting for some revisions and upgrades and voila!.....there should also be included a trolley line for the Nanticoke- Wilkes-Barre- Pittston-Scranton corridor for sure!

I recall reading the Aug. article that you post above......it seems that the most rail activity has been in terms of freight as noted in a separate thread I started (here in NE section, somewhere below).

I wonder whether the momentum for freight rail shipping might not speed up the passenger end of the matter somehow....Why not? I ask you....

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Everything old is new again. Good news, especially for train buffs.

[Snakeyes]

Might I recommend doing a search on "lackawanna cut off forum" in google to get all types of info on the train.


No offense but realters have been hyping train service for years , so I have heard. This is not to say the train won't finally come sometime early in the next decade.


happy holidays!

[donybrx]

Might I recommend doing a search on "lackawanna cut off forum" in google to get all types of info on the train.


No offense but realters have been hyping train service for years , so I have heard. This is not to say the train won't finally come sometime early in the next decade.


happy holidays!

Realtors hyping? :uhh: Do fish swim?

Seriously, trains will be back in some fashion but I think that even 2010 as stated in the newspaper account is wishful thinking. With the growth of businss in suburban New Jersey, there could be a new commutation pattern emerging...from north central Jersey to Pocono Mountains and Scranton.

[donybrx]

It's official. Green light for Murray complex. Shovels to 'hit the ground' next spring.
Downtown blighted area to realize:

The Murray Complex Strategic Plan - Wilkes-Barre, PA - Program planning for a 16-acre, 13 building, 480,000 SF site - historic renovation and new construction
---55 condos
---retail
---dining
---entertainment........

(Wish we'd get some renderings of these projects!)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Fri, Dec. 22, 2006

W-B Area signs on to Murray Complex plan
Board OKs a tax increment financing plan for condos, shops and restaurants at site.

By JANINE UNGVARSKY Times Leader Correspondent

WILKES-BARRE – Voicing praise for the developers, the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board voted unanimously to approve the district’s participation in a tax increment financing plan to fund renovations to the Murray Complex.

Wilkes-Barre attorney Frank Hoegen, speaking for the Siniawa family – the Scranton-based developer of the $22 million project in the century-old warehouse space – said the condominiums, shops and restaurants would serve as a catalyst for further development.

“The Siniawas are going to borrow $15 million and pledge their properties as collateral. They are taking a huge personal risk to take a blighted area in downtown Wilkes-Barre and turn it into a showcase,” Hoegen said.

According to the resolution passed Thursday, the school district will join with Luzerne County and the city of Wilkes-Barre to develop a tax increment financing plan to fund $2.2 million of the debt for the project’s first phase. That phase calls for 55 condominium units and businesses that will generate an estimated $313,000 in taxes beyond the $20,000 the 480,000-square-foot site now nets the district.

“That increase will be created by virtue of the improvement to the property,” Hoegen said, “and the difference will be channeled to the (Luzerne County) Redevelopment Authority to pay the debt service on the loan.”

He said the district will continue to receive the $20,000 in taxes it currently receives, as well as mercantile, transfer and income taxes generated by the property. At the end of the 15-year term of the financing plan, the additional tax revenue will be split between the city, the county and the school district at a rate yet to be agreed upon, according to the resolution.

Luzerne County Commissioners approved participation in the plan earlier Thursday. Hoegen said the city is expected to decide soon whether to join in.

Project architect Alexander J. Belavitz said the plan is to “have the shovel in the ground” to start the project by late spring or early summer.

In other business, the board approved a bid for $76,000 from low bidder G.C. Wall to repair two crumbling chimneys at Meyers High School.

[bucks native]

It's official. Green light for Murray complex. Shovels to 'hit the ground' next spring.
Downtown blighted area to realize:

The Murray Complex Strategic Plan - Wilkes-Barre, PA - Program planning for a 16-acre, 13 building, 480,000 SF site - historic renovation and new construction
---55 condos
---retail
---dining
---entertainment........

(Wish we'd get some renderings of these projects!)


Go here, look under projects: http://www.facilitydesignltd.com/

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ great site bucks, thanks. I had no idea Pittston is looking at redeveloping its waterfront. Very cool. The city certainly needs it.

[donybrx]

Go here, look under projects: http://www.facilitydesignltd.com/

Thanks BucksNative...what a juicy website! This firm has a ton of projects...from buildings to large sacel planning, e.g.the South Valley
project....sorely needed for poor Nanticoke & environs.

I'm impressed with the program for W-B's intermodal tranportation hub and the Murray complex looks like a winner as well.....big job. It should be a terrific anchor for the SE edge of Central City.

I see that they are doing Scranton's NJC RR depot and 6th Avenue project.

Well, I asked for renderings and you delivered! I had a ball poking around their site at the various proposals......

[bucks native]

You're welcome, guys. Just doin' my civic duty, no?

Looks like 2007 should keep us busy.

Happy New Year to us all.

[donybrx]

****SEASON"S GRRRRRRREETINGS ! ****

[I]******Merry Christmas !!!![******/I]

[Ex-Ithacan]

Merry Christmas guys, hope you have a good one.

[donybrx]

Lookin' for work?

Anyone?


12/26/2006
Proposed medical school begins search for dean
BY CHRIS BIRK
STAFF WRITER


A momentous first for the region also brings the promise of a rare opportunity — provided you’re a rock star of a physician with impeccable credentials.


Advertisement


The proposed Medical College of Northeastern Pennsylvania would be the first allopathic, or M.D.-granting, school built in the U.S. since 1982. It would also give one stellar doctor the chance to build and shape a medical school from scratch for the first time in more than two decades.

The exhaustive, cross-country search for a founding dean is well under way, and stakeholders behind the medical school hope to make a decision in February. Navigating through a relatively small pool of possibilities, thanks to a host of stringent criteria, those leading the search are looking for a dynamic leader with an interest in trailblazing.

The winner gets a mountain of hard work.

“It probably needs somebody who has enough experience that we have confidence in them, but has not become hidebound by the traditional approaches to medical education,” said Robert Wright, M.D., chairman of the Medical Education Development Consortium, the local group of politicians, physicians and others who led the charge for school. “We’re going to be trying new things. The person that we hire has to have characteristics of the entrepreneurial type.”

Envisioned as independent and regional, the Scranton medical school is expected to serve 360 students and have an annual operating budget of $25 million. The movement already has $60 million in place from the state and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, representing more than half the $75 million to $85 million officials estimated would be needed to build a “bare-bones” school.

A hunt for new funding sources, private and public, is running concurrently with the search for a founding dean.

Behind the dean search is John K. Thornburgh, vice president of the executive-search firm Witt-Kieffer and son of former Gov. Dick Thornburgh. The national firm specializes in finding top executives in the fields of health care and education.

Armed with a long list of prerequisites and qualifications, Thornburgh is scouring medical schools and other institutions for interested and qualified candidates. Prospects must have an M.D. degree and an exemplary track record of fundraising, education and clinical care.

They also need to be prepared for a major shift from the norm. Unlike other more established or university-affiliated medical schools, the Medical College of Northeastern Pennsylvania will not have gobs of money and an entrenched infrastructure.

“A lot of the people who are in medical education today in big schools are very comfortable with the infrastructure of large organizations and big staffs. They may be uncomfortable in this environment,” said Thornburgh.

The college has been pitched as an economic boon that would stimulate spending of $46 million a year and help to create 550 high-paying jobs in the region by 2015. By 2025, the school is expected to generate a $54 million economic impact and 900 local jobs.

Business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit are also key attributes, said Thornburgh.

“Certainly within medical education, you have to stay within boundaries. But there is a real chance to do everything, including building a new culture,” said Thornburgh. “You don’t have to live by some other institution’s ground rules.”

Necessary qualifications

A 13-page position specification outlines the criteria and the scope of the opportunity awaiting the school’s founding dean.

Among the laundry list of necessities identified by the search firm are four leadership opportunities:

n Recruiting a leadership team

n Building partnerships in the community as the champion of the school

n Developing and leading a long-term funding plan

n Building a culture of excellence.

“The founding dean will have the unique opportunity to build an institutional culture ‘from the ground up,’” the document reads in part. “This will provide the chance to build an appropriate sense of camaraderie, collegiality and genuine goodwill in an organization whose members will be dedicated to the interests of community medicine.”

It’s difficult to pinpoint how many people might meet the qualifications from the ranks of current school deans, associate deans or department chairs, which is where the consortium’s search committee is focusing.

But, so far, officials are emboldened by the response.

Thornburgh declined to offer specifics or a count of those who have expressed interest. Wright said he believed the number was around 35.

“We have had a very encouraging response, both in terms of numbers, but more importantly, in terms of the type of people who check a lot of the boxes that we’re looking for,” said Thornburgh. “We will be very careful in making sure there’s going to be a good fit personally between the candidate and in many cases their family and the Northeastern Pennsylvania region.”

Interviews are tentatively scheduled for next month.

cbirk@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Well, I was gonna apply, but I heard Dr. Vinnie Boombots has the inside track.

[donybrx]

^^^Aw, be a sport, EXXy... GO FOR IT...Your chance be to be a Scrantonian!

[donybrx]

More about reclaiming coal lands, the demand for it and the mucho acreage at stake.....Luzerne County alone has 211 sites involving 10,000+ acres....


12/24/2006
Mine-scarred land well-positioned
BY DAVID FALCHEK
STAFF WRITER


Today’s culm banks and strip mines could be the sites of tomorrow’s industrial parks or entertainment venues.

Local economic developers hope new federal legislation will hasten the reclamation of mine-scarred land and unlock the economic potential of thousands of dismal acres in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Some of the region’s most cherished economic assets, Wachovia Arena, Hanover Industrial Estates, the Valley View Industrial Park, all sit on formerly mine-scarred lands that have been cleaned up and brought back into use.

Recent federal legislation changes the formula for distributing mine-reclamation funds collected through a per-ton coal surcharge. Historic mining states such as Pennsylvania, with older and deeper scars, will receive more money to clean up their sites. Pennsylvania could end up receiving about $10 million more dollars a year, adding to the current average of $25 million.

“These resources are critical to our economy,” said Larry Newman, a vice president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry. “The majority of our most appropriate potential sites for development and growth are former mine lands. Reclaiming them has a huge potential return for anthracite counties.”

In many cases, scarred, abandoned mine lands and collieries are sleeping economic giants and well-positioned for economic development. Many valley communities sprang up around collieries. Much of the region’s abandoned mine lands are near the population centers they once supported. Major roads and utilities are usually nearby.

Mine reclamation typically involves grading and leveling, which can be a massive undertaking for former strip mine land with pits more than 100 feet deep. A stream channel is then created and the area seeded.

The average cost of reclaiming mine land is $8,000 to $10,000 per acre, said Robert E. Hughes, abandoned mine land program manager for the Luzerne Conservation District. But some areas that require a lot of earth moving and replanting could cost upward of $40,000 per acre, with sites needing environmental work costing even more.

Luzerne County has 211 sites encompassing 10,466 acres. Lackawanna County has about half as much mine scarred land — about 5,481 acres.

“In Lehigh Valley they start with a corn field to develop,” said Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce president Austin Burke. “In Northeastern Pennsylvania, we have a massive amount of work to do just to get our land to a place where it’s ready for development.”

There’s also a cost of doing nothing. Black mountains of culm, expanses of strip pits, and rusting, decaying collieries could stop people or businesses from moving into an area.

Communities stuck with the anthracite legacy miss out on tax dollars from more productive uses of the land. The pits, shafts and massive buildings are dangerous. The gloomy remains take a psychological toll on residents.

The unavailability of land forces development to sprawl into green space, resulting in forests being clearing or farmlands eliminated.

The state receives between $22 million and $25 million a year for reclamation, more than half of which ends up in the anthracite region, Mr. Hughes said. The new federal law could increase that amount to $37 million a year, which can then be leveraged with state money and federal environmental grants.

“We are going to receive a nice shot in the arm,” he said.

In Archbald, the federal government recently awarded a $2.3 million contract to reclaim several hundred acres for the second phase of Valley View Business Park, which will encompass a total of 1,700 aces when completed.

Several major reclamation sites in the Luzerne County are now thriving business parks and commercial centers, including Highland Park and Hanover Industrial Estates. A private developer is working on Whitney Point Industrial Park outside Nanticoke.

There is much, much more. Mr. Burke estimates there could be 2,000 acres of mine land along Route 6 between Scranton and Mayfield that would be suitable for development. In Luzerne County, the former Glen Alden Coal Co. lands, about 16,000 acres, have barely begun to be reclaimed.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

That sounds like a lot of money, but with the amount of land (not just in NE PA) which needs work, it may take a while. Still any extra helps, and can make a difference in a small town trying to rebound.

[Ex-Ithacan]

I was wondering again if Vasiliy has left SSP for good. He hasn't posted for over 2 months. I hope he's OK.

[donybrx]

Yeah Vasiliy....you okay? Hope you'll 'drop by' to say howdy to this motley crew.....:)

[donybrx]

EeeeeTeeeeee.......Come....Hoooome........:)

But seriously, a familiar problem faced by many older cities

12/28/2006
Scranton hoping to get those who left to return

BY DAVID FALCHEK
STAFF WRITER

Rediscover Scranton aims at professionals
The Rediscover Scranton project will market the region to the thousands who were raised or educated in the area but moved elsewhere: primarily executives, professionals and those in the creative industry.
Here’s a look at some components of the plan:

Rediscover Scranton. A 30-minute DVD featuring interviews and images about the region’s economy and quality of life.
Launching a Web site. The Web Site www.rediscoverscranton.com offers updates on what’s happening in the area and allows people to sign up or enlist their friends.
Presence on blogs and cyber-communities. A version of the material will be included in online communities such as MySpace, www.myspace.com/rediscoverscranton, and Facebook.
Reaching reunions and events. Marketing materials will be available to local colleges and other groups hosting reunions.

Pitch presents city attractions to rediscover

Over the last generation, Scranton’s most valuable export has been youth and talent.

Local officials hope to stem the tide by marketing the city to legions who left the area through a new program called “Rediscover Scranton.”

About 200 people gathered at the Lackawanna Trolley Museum on Wednesday night to hear the pitch developed by the Scranton Plan, the marketing arm of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce.

Organizers are asking local residents to submit contact information of friends and relatives with connections to the area. They would be e-mailed good news updates about the city and in some cases, organizers hope, may move their families or business to the area.

“We have the product, and now we have the people,” said PNC Bank President Peter Danchak “You are the sales people that will make this effort a success.”

One of those sales people would be Julianne Kalasinski, a 24-year-old Abington Heights High School graduate who worked in Philadelphia after earning a degree from Villanova University. She returned to take a job in marketing and public relations for nonprofit United Neighborhood Centers.

Many of her Abington classmates are in tony Philadelphia suburbs and are surprised to hear how well she, and Scranton, are doing. “They don’t know that there are challenging jobs in the area — you have to look harder for them,” she said.

Even people who left a few years ago may not know about recent developments, noted The Times-Tribune Publisher George Lynett, who cited the new airport, the proposed medical school, the Yankees Triple-A team, Mount Airy Lodge and the University of Scranton student center.

“And a quality of life we all take for granted,” Mr. Lynett, a Scranton Plan co-chairman, said.

Rediscover Scranton has 2,000 contacts in its database and hopes to double it within a few months as it works with local people and shares information with local colleges and universities.

Youth flight is nothing new to Northeastern Pennsylvania. The exodus of the young began soon after World War II. As the local economy reeled from the demise of the anthracite mining industry, the rest of the United States boomed. With little local opportunity, sons and daughters left Northeastern Pennsylvania, a drain that hasn’t stopped.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

Sounds like they want you back dony. Come on, give it a look. :D

[bucks native]

Won't happen with its wage tax - almost as high as Philadelphia's. I've been advised to locate in Dunmore or Clark's Summit/Green.

I can't find the source of this famous quote, but it does hold true: "If you want to get rid of something, tax it."

[donybrx]

^^^ Ay prospect that a more favorable rent in Scranton city (as opposed to more expensive bedroom areas) would offset the city tax burden?

[donybrx]

2006...... Lots of developing business for Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming Valley and Luzerne County...very positive stuff, including the noted 140 condos pledged for DT Wilkes-Barre to be complemented by possible 80 more across the river in Kingston (and niche Indian Museum), as well as units proposed for N. Main St. near King's College & the conversion to condos od much of the genetti hotel on East Market St.

Overall, a wonderful year...with more to come!

...............Posted on Sun, Dec. 31, 2006 ................

Expansions, additions and companies hit the mark
HEALTH CARE IS HOT

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center broke ground for a 136,000-square-foot critical-care building that will increase the hospital’s space by 45 percent. An expanded emergency department will occupy the first floor, and the second floor will be dedicated to larger operating rooms.

Geisinger officials hope improvements to emergency services will result in a designation as a trauma center. Community Medical Center in Scranton is the only hospital in Northeastern Pennsylvania holding that status.

Construction is expected to take two years.

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital announced a three-year, $100 million upgrade of services and facilities that will nearly triple the emergency care department and expand the cancer treatment, cardiac, surgery and other medical and related services during the next three years. The project will add 160,000 square feet of space on three floors.

Substantial gifts from John and CeCe McCarthy and Charles and Mary Parente will help fund the construction of the new critical-care pavilion and cancer center.

Community Medical Center and Moses Taylor Hospital said in December they would form the Northeast Pennsylvania Healthcare System, largely aided by $50 million Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania designated for the union. Blue Cross also committed $40 million to the General Hospital project.

Nurses were the beneficiaries of heightened competition between Geisinger and Wyoming Valley Health Care System, operator of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. In January Geisinger Wyoming Valley nurses ratified an agreement that contained salary increases ranging from 5 percent to 12 percent, 10 months before the existing contract was set to expire.

Geisinger and the Service Employees International Union District 1199P began meeting after nurses in the Wyoming Valley Health Care System approved a five-year contract in October 2005. That contract gave nurses at General a 22 percent salary increase over the life of their contract.

Not all the 2006 news was positive. In June, HealthNow closed its facility in the Twin Stacks Center in Dallas, putting 163 people out of work. HealthNow blamed the closing on the loss of a contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

HealthNow had moved to Dallas in October 2005, signing a three-year lease. The firm had been located in the Kanjorski Center in Nanticoke, and had processed Medicare claims since September 2000.

BIG BUSINESS

BREWING

The self-proclaimed “Supermarket to the World,” Archer Daniels Midland Co., announced in April that it had chosen the Humboldt North Industrial Park outside of Hazleton as the site for a $95 million, state-of-the-art cocoa processing plant that will employ more than 200 people. The Decatur, Ill.-based company expects to begin operations at the 500,000-square-foot plant in mid-2007.

Cardinal Glass Industries began operations at its 176,000-square-foot plant in the Crestwood Industrial Park. The Eden Prairie, Minn. company invested $20 million in the facility that produces glass for window and door manufacturers.

The plant is expected to employ 130 workers when running at full capacity.

Bedding giant Sealy Corp. said it will hire 107 people at an average annual salary of $33,000 for its new factory in the Crestwood Industrial Park. The Archdale, N.C., company is investing $30 million into the factory on Elmwood Road.

The company broke ground in April and expects the 210,000-square-foot facility to be operating in the first quarter of 2007.

Pepsico said it will invest more than $30 million into doubling its Gatorade operation in the Crestwood Industrial Park. The food-and-beverage giant plans to build a 500,000-square-foot distribution center across the street from its Oakhill Road manufacturing plant and hire about 100 more workers.

The Mountain Top plant has been making and bottling Gatorade since the 1980s. It employs 240 people.

Coca-Cola North America has plans for a plant on 65 acres in the Humboldt North Industrial Park. The land was purchased from HDP Asset Co. Two, Humboldt North Land LLC and PH Investors LLC for $6.5 million.

A Coca-Cola spokesman said the plant will produce non-carbonated beverages. The company’s strategy calls for plant expansion to meet demand need in the Northeast region beyond 2010,

Men’s Wearhouse stores began hiring for a leased 300,000-square-foot distribution center that is expected to open in February in the CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park.

The base staff will number slightly more than 200 and increase with temporary workers during the peak wedding season. The center will be a full-production facility with dry cleaning, laundry and packaging operations on site

REAL ESTATE SPIKES

Downtown and out of town, action picked up in the commercial real estate market.

The former Premium Brands property at Wilkes-Barre Boulevard and Coal Street sold in February for $1.3 million. “We had three buyers for this property at the same time,” said John Cognetti, president of Scranton-based Hinerfeld Realty Co. “I think it’s a sign that indicates the industrial/commercial market in the Wyoming Valley and the whole region is very strong right now.”

Equilibrium Equities Inc., a Conshohocken-based company, broke ground in August on a 240,000-square-foot building in the Humboldt Industrial Park East. An Equilibrium official said it was the firm’s first new speculative development project in the market. The company also owns property in the Mid-Valley Industrial Park and the Key Market Distribution Center, both in Lackawanna County.

The former American Furniture building on East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, sold for $395,000 on Nov. 9, eight months after an Allentown developer paid $200,000 for the property.

The new owner, Sterling Ventures LLC of Great Falls, Va., plans to lease out the property, which is located across the street from Wilkes-Barre Movies 14.

Condominiums became the buzzword in residential housing, with several development projects announced or in various states of completion.

In downtown Wilkes-Barre, 50 residential units will be built inside the Sterling hotel building at West Market and North River streets; the theater project at South Main and East Northampton streets has up to 28 loft-type units earmarked for the second and third floors; 60 condominiums are proposed in the former Murray Complex at Ross Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue.

Murray Complex developer Daniel Siniawa also is building an eight-story, 108-unit townhouse project on the Pittston riverfront.

In the Back Mountain, high-end condos at Dakota Woods in Dallas Township and in Marina Pointe at Harveys Lake sold for $300,000 or more.

FAMILY VALUES

Good news wasn’t confined to big business – several local family-owned firms distinguished themselves in 2006.

Bill Williams, who oversees the operations of Jack Williams Tire Co., Inc., with a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Moosic, 24 stores and 352 employees, was named Tire Dealer of the Year by Modern Tire Dealer, the industry’s leading publication.

The 62-year-old Larksville resident was chosen from among 25,000 eligible independent tire dealers in North America. He donated an $8,500 cash award that comes with the honor to the Bill and Sandi Williams Family Charity Fund.

Earl Berger, patriarch of Hazleton area Berger Family Dealerships Inc., was recognized as a finalist for the 2006 TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award. He was one of two dealers from Pennsylvania and among the 66 nationwide who were nominated.

Berger, 63, got his start when he bought the dealership where he started selling used cars in 1967. He’s transformed Wright Motors on Route 93 into a string of showrooms bearing his family name and expanded the menu to eight franchises.

Campus Square Billiards, which opened in October at 53 Public Square, was named the seventh-best new billiards parlor in North America, according to Billiards Digest magazine. The trade paper’s 18th annual architecture and design awards appeared in its November issue.

HERE ‘N’ THERE

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport had an up-and-down year. A stylish but frequently delayed passenger terminal finally opened in May, capping an $80 million expansion project. But only two months earlier, Hooters Air ceased flying, five months into a contract set to run through September. The charter airline had begun flying to Florida destinations in October 2005 with the help of $325,000 in federal, county and airport funds.

The passenger count suffered through much of the year; for the first six months, boardings dropped 7.4 percent to 103,048 compared to 111,234 from January through June 2005. Traffic recovered later in the year, and by November the year-to-date falloff was halved to 3.7 percent.

In January, the airport’s managing board signed a five-year lease with LPV Enterprises Inc. of Scranton, a company owned by Leo Vergnetti, the airport’s restaurant and bar operator since 1979. Airport director Barry Centini said no other vendors were considered. The airport asked Luzerne and Lackawanna counties to contribute $1.2 million to build out the concession area for Vergnetti, who was responsible for finishing the space.

Unemployment rates fluctuated around the 5 percent level all year, from a low of 4.6 percent in January, up to 5.5 percent in May and back to 4.7 percent in October. The service sector provided more than 80 percent of the jobs and showed modest growth.

Developer Robert K. Mericle and his family donated land and construction worth $2 million to build a simulated miniature village in Pittston Township where children will be able to spend a day as working adults in order to understand the challenges of stretching a paycheck or meeting a company’s bottom line.

Mericle is donating about 3 acres off Oak Street near Convention Hall and constructing the facility, including the interior walls, at his own expense for this Junior Achievement-run program.

Lamar Advertising in February unveiled its first digital display billboard on the Cross-Valley Expressway in Pringle. The billboard, which can carry six advertisers’ messages in rotation, uses light-emitting diode technology, or LED, a semiconductor device. Lamar’s regional office sends artwork to the corporate headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., which forwards it electronically to the designated billboard.

Community Energy, developer of the wind farm operating on Bald Mountain in Bear Creek Township, was acquired in May by IBERDROLA of Spain, the world’s leading wind energy company. President Brent Alderfer said the sale would give Wayne-based Community Energy buying power and financing for growth.

Jeff Dreier, co-owner of Dreier Auto Sales in Shavertown, took the reins as president of the Pennsylvania Independent Automobile Dealers Association. The association turned 50 last year and has 1,800 members, making it the nation’s fourth largest.

Five regional firms were included on the 2006 list of 100 Best Places to Work in PA. Among the 50 honored companies with more than 251 employees, Pride Mobility Products Corp. of Exeter earned 17th place, Benco Dental Co. of Wilkes-Barre was 28th, and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania came in 48th. Hazleton-based Troy Manufacturing Inc., a maker of over-the-counter and personal care products, reached No.8 and Solid Cactus, a Wilkes-Barre e-commerce Web site developer, landed the 21st ranking in the 25-250 employer category.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor’s note: There was a lot of positive local business news to report in 2006, starting with two major hospital additions. Several national firms announced plans to begin operations or to expand, and established businesses were honored for their outstanding performance. Here are a few samples.

[Ex-Ithacan]

So much positive news and projects for W-B, it's been a special year. Congrats.

[donybrx]

The actor Paul Sorvino is actively looking at Scranton & area to site film studio....we shall see......shant we?

01/02/2007
Sorvino considering Taylor for film-making facility
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER

TAYLOR — Picture it: A former coal town reborn as Tinseltown east.

The scenario is not quite as far-fetched as it might sound. Actor and producer Paul Sorvino, who’s looking to build a $12 million to $15 million film production facility in Lacka-wanna County, joined local officials for a tour of the former colliery property here last week, part of efforts to find a site for the project.

“Certainly no decision was made,” Mayor Richard Bowen said. “Let’s put it this way: We’re on the right path to be considered.”

County commissioners A.J. Munchak and Robert C. Cordaro said the Taylor site is only one of several Mr. Sorvino is considering for his facility, though Mr. Cordaro said it’s too early to talk about the other locations.

The studios would be privately financed, using tax abatements and land secured much like an industrial development project.

Mr. Sorvino has been in talks with the governor’s office, along with county and municipal officials, regarding land acquisition and aid for the project. He also has been in talks with private investors, Mr. Cordaro said.

The actor’s plan is to build a complex of six sound stages, with room to add up to six more as business expands. The stages, roughly 100 feet wide by 100 feet long and 60 feet tall, would be big enough to construct houses or small buildings inside, and would be complemented by dubbing labs and other facilities necessary to complete a production. It also could include a live-action theater.

Mr. Sorvino will soon wrap up filming on “The Trouble with Cali,” a movie he’s producing in Northeastern Pennsylvania with $500,000 in funding from county government.

If Mr. Sorvino finishes editing it early this year, as planned, he’d like to begin work on the studio project as early as the spring, a timetable he previously called “ambitious, but possible.”

Whatever the outcome of those plans, his tour of the colliery was welcomed by borough officials. They’re eager to redevelop the site — about 150 acres — with new houses, businesses and a scenic walking trail, once the property is cleaned and a creek channel restoration and culvert project are completed. All that could take six to 10 years, the mayor said, and inquiries from a high-profile person like Mr. Sorvino should be a boon.

“All of this is good for the borough,” Mr. Bowen said.

“It’s going to be another downtown for Taylor,” he added. “The borough has been crying out for more retail space for many years.”

Contact the writer: rdupuis@timesshamrock.com

[Ex-Ithacan]

OK dony, once you move back to the Scranton area (post #993), if things don't work out in your field of endeavor, you can always fall back on the acting thing with Paul and the boys. :D