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By MARK GUYDISH; Times Leader Staff Writer
Saturday, March 22, 1997     Page: 3A

HAZLETON — Council has started kicking up a lot of dirt about dirty
streets.
   
In separate actions Friday, council members Jake Ripa III and Bill Lockwood
sent stinging memos to Mayor Michael Marsicano accusing the mayor of wasting
money while leaving streets filthy and unswept as the Easter holiday
approaches.
    In his memo, Lockwood asked Marsicano to “explain the sense in having
street workers manually sweep streets.”
   
Workers have been pushing brooms for weeks, while two mechanical sweepers
sit broken and idle in the city garage.
   
Marsicano has publicly said it would cost about $16,000 to repair the
sweepers. The mayor has blamed council members for the dirty streets,
insisting they did not provide money for a new sweeper he wanted to buy.
   
Council has rejected Marsicano’s argument.
   
“We gave the mayor three mechanics he asked for and we passed his budget
basically intact,” Ripa said, adding, “If he knew the sweepers were broken and
needed money, he should have come to council to seek the money.
   
“He makes it into a crisis situation so he can fix blame on council,” Ripa
said.
   
Lockwood said Marsicano spent money hiring contractors and renting
equipment for snow removal this year despite light snowfall, money that could
have been used to repair the sweepers.
   
Lockwood and Ripa both angrily denounced Marsicano’s decision to send city
workers out with brooms in the early morning cold.
   
“It’s fiscally irresponsible to have highway workers manually sweeping
streets,” Ripa said.
   
Marsicano has told council he is considering contracting a company to sweep
all the streets in a one-time deal. Marsicano estimated the cost at a little
under $10,000.
   
Council President Phil Andras said that with repairs to the city sweepers
estimated at $16,000, Marsicano’s idea borders on the absurd.
   
“You don’t have to read between the lines. Should we spend $10,000 to bring
people in to sweep streets or take that money and repair what we need to
repair?” Andras said.
   
Ripa said he wrote his memo after his wife drove him to work Friday. Ripa
said he was appalled at the amount of dirt, stones and debris on the city
streets so close to Easter, when many people visit family and friends in the
city.
   
“How is this going to look to someone coming into the community?” Ripa
asked.