Residents, business owners bring mural concerns to Wilkes-Barre City Council

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2 days ago

Jun. 13—WILKES-BARRE — City council heard public comments on Thursday night regarding a controversial mural at 93 Blackman Street, which has caused a stir amongst some residents and business owners in the city's Rolling Mill Hill section.
The mural depicts scenes and imagery from the "Terminator" film franchise, including a famous scene from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." In the film and the mural, the villainous T-1000 wears a uniform that is reminiscent of a typical police uniform.
Linda Joseph, president of the Rolling Mill Hill Residents' Association, spoke about the positive progress that has been made in that section of Wilkes-Barre and offered an alternative mural concept that would have found her approval.
"The paintings — or, as many say, graffiti — recently put on the building at Blackman and Arch streets, definitely isn't what we, as homeowners, want to be the impression of our neighborhood of Rolling Mill Hill," Joseph said. "Personally, I would have loved to have seen a mural there that enhanced the look of the neighborhood and told a story that would show the pride of the area, not just Rolling Mill Hill, but so much history that our city represents."
Joseph gave council members a copy of the City of Pittston's stricter mural ordinance policy in the hopes that something similar could be enacted in Wilkes-Barre.
Laura Mudlock, funeral director and owner of Mamary-Durkin Funeral Home, offered many of the thoughts she previously gave to the Times Leader, and appealed to a spiritual drive to improve the neighborhood's image.
"Let's do something that's going to edify our neighborhood, and not be violent, and not promote violence amongst our children," Mudlock said.
The artists were not represented at Thursday's meeting. However, council Chairman Tony Brooks said he received an email from the artists and suggested that a dialogue be set up between them and the Rolling Mill Hill residents.
Near the end of the council meeting, former Wilkes-Barre Police Chief and Councilman Bill Barrett called for an ordinance to be drafted based on the Pittston ordinance.
"I'm personally offended by what I see there also, especially that drawing of the police officer with the bullet holes," Barrett said, referring to the depiction of the T-1000 character in the mural. He continued: "If we can do something with that ordinance and have something drafted up that we can possibly use, that would be great."
Additional items
Council authorized the following agenda items:
—Authorized Mayor Brown — who was absent from Thursday's meeting — to take any and all necessary actions related to retaining a finance package not to exceed $600,000, under the terms available to fund the emergency repairs recommended to restore the integrity of the line and avoid any necessity of repeated repairs at the 60" culvert located in an area off of Conyngham Avenue.
—Authorized the administration to take any and all necessary actions related to entering a five-year lease/purchase agreement with Community Leasing Partners for a total of $384,815 with an annual payment of $89,231.76 for five new police vehicles. An additional five vehicles will be purchased through the LSA Grant.
—Authorized the proper city officials to take any and all necessary actions related to the following purchases from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Cooperative Purchasing Program; 14 Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55 from Baycom for a purchase price of $52,402; and 14 Havis DS-PAN-432 Docking Stations (installed) from 10-8 Emergency Vehicle Service for a purchase price of $16,553.04,
—Authorized the proper city officials to purchase ArcGIS Velocity program to utilize real-time data integration to enhance public health preparedness and emergency management and to purchase Velocity, an automated program to integrate GPS data for public health advisories and communications in the amount of $52,530 from Environmental Systems Research Institute. The purchase will be funded by a Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant.
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