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New Pittston manager candid about mistake that led him here
New Pittston City manager Joe Moskovitz outside City Hall on Broad Street.
Photo by Jack Smiles
Right up front, new Pittston City manager Joe Moskovitz is candid about the DUI arrest which cost him a $100,000 a year job as city manager of Hopatcong, New Jersey. Talking in his office at City Hall on Friday, he said, “It’s not the defining issue of my life. I made a mistake. It was costly to my career. Mayor and council have given me a chance to resurrect my career. I’m a competent administrator. This could be redemption for me and a bargain for the city.”
A bargain because the city is paying Moskovitz less than half what he made in New Jersey.
For that the city gets a manager with master’s degree in public administration, a wealth of experience and a resume of success. For 10 years he worked for the city of Scranton, his hometown where he once played tackle for the Central High football team. He was the enterprise zone planner under Mayor Wenzel when the Steamtown National Park and the $100,000 Steamtown Mall were developed.
He was on the original Lackawanna Heritage Valley steering committee, which is now a Lackawanna County authority (LHVA.) The authority is the managing entity of the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, a National and State Heritage Area that includes such things as the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, Steamtown National Historic Site, Electric City Trolley Museum, the PA Anthracite Heritage Museum and Scranton Iron Furnaces Site and the Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour.
Moskovitz was the project manager for the National Institute for Environmental Renewal (NIER) which studied ways to mitigate the impact of coal mining scars and the impact of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers on the Chesapeake Bay.
Moskovitz was the manager of Dallas Borough for eight years before he was recruited for the job in New Jersey.
Moskovitz has a bachelor’s degree in history and believes paying attention to local history can help revitalize old coal towns like Pittston. “Despite the ravages of fires and demolition there are still a significant number of substantial buildings in Pittston for its size, churches, bank buildings,” Moskovitz said. “The last thing we want to do is lose any more significant buildings. We’ve got to be proactive. Maybe there aren’t buildings here that could be the Kirby, but there are structures that could be cultural centers.”
Moskovitz believes the churches that close as the Scranton Diocese merges parishes could become assets to the city, if the city and the diocese could form a partnership to rescue the churches while remaining sensitive to how they are sold and used.
Moskovitz comes to the city in the middle of its massive sewer project. “This is a city on a hill that runs into one of the major rivers in the East. We have to respect that. The project is expensive and disruptive and when it’s over there won’t be anything to show for it, like if you built a downtown mall. But it’s something we have to do. You can’t develop the riverfront and the downtown when it smells like a sewage plant.”
Moskovitz said he, the mayor and council have a similar vision for the city and that while there is a lot of focus on the downtown, they haven’t forgotten about the neighborhoods. In fact downtown development and residential development like the Sinawa condo project will help the older, lower income neighborhoods. “If we are able to improve the riverfront, link it to the downtown, get people to invest in the downtown, attract more affluent residents we can ease the tax burden on the neighborhoods and the families that have been here for generations. A rising tide lifts all boats. We can’t raise taxes. We can’t eliminate services. We have to make the pie larger.”
Moskovitz estimates he has secured tens of millions of dollars in grants and likens grants to law suits.
“Anyone can file a law suit,,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean you win. Anyone can submit a grant.”
He also has an analogy for winning a grant. “It’s like getting elected. Being in office has nothing to do with campaigning. The work doesn’t end with the grant, it begins with the grant.”
Moskovitz, who is not married, lives in Scranton. He said he would consider moving to Pittston. “If I have a home in this position, I’ll have a home in the city.”
While Moskovitz has so far gotten along with everyone at city hall, he does clash with some of them, especially city clerk Ron Mortimer.
“He’s a Yankee fan,” said Mortimer a life-long Yankee hater.