Laurel Run seeks game cash

LAUREL RUN – Mayor Daniel Gildea will be meeting state Department of Community and Economic Development officials today in an effort to bring gaming grants to the borough.

Since the program to provide local governments with money from casinos’ slots revenues was introduced, neither Laurel Run nor Bear Creek Township has received gaming revenue grants, even though they are contiguous to Plains Township, where the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Down casino is located.

Laurel Run has requested $848,000 in various grants, most of which would be spent on developing the Giant’s Despair location as a park, and integrating it into a trail running between the Ashley Planes and the Seven Tubs park.

Representatives of state Sen. Raphael Musto organized the meeting, council noted.

The borough officials hope some of the revenue can be dedicated to installation of a series of live cameras up the mountain road, but even if the grant is not forthcoming, community-sourced donations have been given that will meet the costs of the first two stages, borough code enforcement officer John Mosley said.

The new system will be harder to break than the old one, which has already allowed the borough to prosecute those dumping along the Giant’s Despair route.

Mosley said the first two stages will cost about $5,000, with the bulk of the wiring work to be done by volunteers. The overall project, which is expected to have more than 20 cameras from the parking lot at the base of the hill, up through Sanderson Street and eventually up as far as the finish line on the road near the top of the hill, should cost around $22,000.

In other business, council gave a second reading to the 2010 budget of $196,000.

Gildea noted that for the ninth year all tax rates are unchanged, but some figures may need to be reviewed before rates are confirmed at the December meeting

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