Tony Brooks - Wilkes-Barre City Councilman

I remember it well.

40 years ago, Wilkes-Barre City Council got serious about "cruising the square." Do you remember this and do you know anyone ticketed or jailed for it? _ Sue

Congratulations Captain!

Today, Wilkes-Barre City Mayor George C. Brown had the honor of promoting Lt. Jamie Sheridan to Captain of Patrol. Congratulations Captain Sheridan!

Pictured (L-R) Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce, Wilkes-Barre City Police Department Chief Mike Boyle, Captain Jamie Sheridan, and Mayor George C. Brown.

City leaders are doing their best. Most of them genuinely care about their communities and want to do right by their residents.

But they've gotten bad advice for decades from the sprawl industrial complex that has been pushing its extraction agenda on all of us. The same story repeated a million times over and no one even questions it anymore: growth is good, cost is king, and anyone who talks about beauty or character or human connection is being soft and unserious.

So leaders listened. They trusted the experts. And in doing so they ignored their own human nature and instinct.

This capitalistic push to make every civic decision about cost has led us to build cities that aren't even worth living in. And of course nobody cares. Why would they?

Look at your town. The parts people still love? The old parts. The ones built with care, with craft, with pride and purpose. The parts built when someone asked "can I be proud of this?" instead of "what's the cheapest way to do this?"

The new parts? Built with cost in mind. Strip malls, vinyl subdivisions, drive-throughs, parking lots. Built without care and incapable of generating it.

We get out what we put in.

Emotional investment always precedes financial investment. People invest in places they love. They abandon places they don't. It's not complicated, it's just human nature, the same human nature we've been told to ignore in favor of a spreadsheet.

Start making decisions based on what will make people proud. The economics will follow.

They always do.

*This is the work I do with communities across the country. If your town is ready for an honest conversation about its civic health, find me at revitalizeordie.com

Riverfront Parks Committee | Wilkes-Barre Riverfront Conservation The Riverfront Parks Committee is a volunteer-driven nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Kirby Park Natural Area and Nesbitt Park while connecting the community to the Susquehanna River through educational programs, recreation and special events.

We are proud to announce that Ptlm. Derenick and K-9 Ryan have been awarded a K-9 Trauma Kit through Protection4Paws!

Protection4Paws is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing lifesaving equipment to working K9s nationwide through the generosity of donors, sponsors, and fundraising efforts.

Thank you to the organization and everyone who supported the cause.

Mayor George C. Brown and the City of Wilkes-Barre are happy to announce as the opening act for the fourth annual FREE Summer Concert on Public Square, this Friday, August 14th at 7 PM. will take the stage at 8 PM.

We obsess over home improvement shows.

We love watching a place get transformed. Something deep inside finds it immensely satisfying to see things improve.

But all the whirlpool bath tubs, shiplap walls, and open concept kitchens don’t mean much in a rundown town.

We can’t lift up a community one kitchen renovation at a time.

Everything worth caring about in our towns was allowed to fall apart. Then it was replaced with vinyl and asphalt and steel and glass that nobody can love. No one is capable of feeling pride about a strip mall. It was designed without care, quality, or concern. It cannot produce the emotions that were absent when it was built.

We get out what we put in.

But here’s the lesson worth sitting with. What if we thought as much about our collective home as we do about our personal one? The home we share with the rest of our town. The one that shapes our kids’ futures. The one that determines whether anyone can retain or attract talent. The one that decides if the graduating class stays or leaves.

If we spent half the energy on the home we share outside our four walls that we spend on the movie room inside them, we could lift everybody up at once.

The rising tide lifts all boats. The kitchen renovation lifts only yours.

On this Wednesday's walk learn about the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Learn about the 165 mile D&L Trail and the history of the Corridor that connects Wilkes-Barre with Bristol, new developments to the D&L Trail in Luzerne County, and the trail’s eventual terminus in Wilkes-Barre. Walk Leader: Alice Wanamaker, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. This Wednesday, August 12th at 6 pm. Meet at the Y at Northampton and South Franklin.