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The ventriloquist
— There’s been a lot of hand-wringing and “what-next?”-ing coming from city hall following Scranton’s second and most recent failure to tax people who can’t vote in its elections (“commuters,” to...
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Not all the way to the top
— Scranton City Hall’s elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top. Sometimes the metaphors just write themselves. —
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They check in …
— The General Assembly has packed up and headed home in a typical and unwarranted self-congratulatory cloud of dust. Among its many recent “accomplishments” was the re-jiggering of the state’s...
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An oar short
— Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright’s proposed city budget includes a hefty 19-percent increase in the city’s property tax rate and a tripling of the current annual $52 local services tax. Both measures...
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The “you-wish” list
— This story rather tidily sums up Scranton’s ongoing financial quandary, I think. The unions apparently believe money is printed by elves at the North Pole. The mayor, meanwhile, seems unwilling to...
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Criminal activity
— Scranton’s cop shop wants to use an existing network of remote cameras to monitor criminal activity. I can think of the first place to start. —
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Dunked
— Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright and others have hailed the police union’s “concessions” in its renegotiated contract with the city. Certainly, the new agreement contains changes that will benefit the...
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The triple-dip
— And the dips just keep coming. With Scranton groaning under the financial weight of expensive union contracts, grossly underfunded pension plans and other bad money decisions, it’s been reported...
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Self-defense?
— The obstinate obliviousness of Scranton’s municipal unions — particularly the police and firefighters’ — would be funny if the stakes weren’t so high. As Scranton hurtles headlong toward insolvency,...
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Onward and downward
— It’s no secret that Scranton’s municipal unions are, in fact, the power that runs the city, even if it’s over the edge of a financial cliff and into fiscal oblivion. They want to remind everyone...
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In the bag
— Despite the fact that the city he nominally leads is circling the financial drain, Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright signed a letter to state officials last month stating that the city would guarantee...
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Chairmen of the Bored
— The state auditor-general’s investigative conclusions regarding Scranton’s double-pension scandal are not pretty. —
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Just like home!
— Granted, one is a small city nestled in Pennsylvania’s coal country, and the other a nation that long ago gave humankind the concept of democracy and some of history’s greatest thinkers. But the...
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The endless marathon
— The Steamtown Marathon runs today. Meanwhile, the city’s bankruptcy marathon started years ago and shows no sign of reaching the finish anytime soon. —
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Here comes Scrant’a Claus!
— Scranton’s annual Santa Claus Parade rolls through town today, with floats, balloons and the Big Man himself. Here’s a display that I think would make a fine addition to the proceedings. —
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The dumpster fire
— Scranton is set receive an enormous and desperately needed cash infusion from the pending sale of its sewer authority to a private company, Pennsylvania American Water. Past is often prologue,...
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