‘Unlock the future:' Cognetti touts achievements in optimistic State of the City Address

Yahoo

25-03-2025

SCRANTON — Touting considerable investments in infrastructure, parks, public safety, internal operations and more, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti celebrated Tuesday her administration's progress while casting a momentum-driven vision for Scranton's future in her latest State of the City Address.
The state of the city is 'promising,' Cognetti said shortly before addressing a crowded auditorium of local officials, business leaders and other stakeholders gathered at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
Cognetti's unsurprisingly bullish and buoyant address comes as the incumbent Democrat seeks reelection to another four-year term. Her remarks Tuesday were often retrospective — a look back at progress made during her eventful first five years in office.
In many ways it was a story of numbers: $23 million in stormwater infrastructure investments, $26-plus million invested in parks, 4,500 street signs upgraded, 72 hazardous structures razed and so on.
'Working together as an efficient city government will unlock the future that we all see: a thriving, growing city that is a destination for families and residents and students,' Cognetti said.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti discusses the city's achievements and future plans for Scranton during her State of the City Address at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An Oregon native, Cognetti ran as an outsider candidate and won a 2019 special election to fill the unexpired term of corrupt former Mayor Bill Courtright. She took office in 2020 and, by January 2022, had helped see the city through the end stages of its 30-year stay in Pennsylvania's Act 47 program for financially distressed municipalities — a titanic accomplishment stemming from decades of work by multiple administrations and city councils.
In the intervening time, Cognetti's administration weathered pandemic-prompted challenges and Cognetti herself sailed to reelection, comfortably winning a full four-year term in 2021.
Several achievements the mayor touted Tuesday reflect the city's much-improved financial position. Scranton, for example, achieved an investment-grade bond rating since exiting Act 47, improved creditworthiness that makes it cheaper to borrow money. It also hasn't taken a tax anticipation note since 2022, meaning the city hasn't had to borrow and accrue interest on that borrowing to cover early year expenses pending the receipt of property tax revenues.
Those admittedly esoteric accomplishments complement more visible signs of progress, including ongoing, planned or completed park and playground improvements and the substantial rehabilitation of Scranton's historic 1888 City Hall.
On those fronts and more broadly, Cognetti was quick to credit the contributions of past administrations, including those of former mayors Chris Doherty and Wayne Evans, and the city's strong partnerships both inside and outside of local government. The biggest power a mayor has is the power to convene, she said.
Stressing the importance of advocacy and collaboration, Cognetti pointed to the successful opposition campaign local officials at different levels of government organized in 2023 and 2024 to curtail rate increases sought by Pennsylvania American Water. Similar opposition is currently brewing against proposed natural gas rate hikes sought by UGI.
She also called for ongoing collaboration on housing, hunger-prevention, youth initiatives, the arts and similar issues, and on projects with the broad potential to improve life and bolster economic conditions in Northeast Pennsylvania, including the long-sought restoration of passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City. Current and former officials at virtually all levels of government have endorsed that project, most recently Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr.
'So we're advocating at the local level, advocating at the federal level, making sure that we're alongside cities like ours to push for the little stuff and the big stuff, because it all matters,' Cognetti said. 'City limits are not the whole scope of our work, right? This is all of us, all as a county, all as a region. We don't try to create artificial barriers.'
Cognetti faces several very real barriers she'll have to clear in pursuit of another term, including a Democratic primary challenge from former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan. A pair of Republican candidates, newcomers Trish Beynon and Lynn Labrosky, seek the GOP nomination for mayor in the coming primary. And former Scranton Sewer Authority Executive Director Gene Barrett has forecasted plans to run for mayor as an independent candidate.
But Cognetti made clear Tuesday her vision for the future extends beyond the political battles yet to come.
'It truly is an honor to be able to address you all and to do this work alongside you,' she told the friendly crowd in closing. 'We really love our work, as hard as it can be sometimes, so (we're) looking forward to these next days and weeks and months and years with you all to make sure we keep making lots of progress.'