Brown predicts ‘a turnaround year’ for Wilkes-Barre

WILKES-BARRE — Even with the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade moved to September, the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association Friday heard optimistic reports from Mayor George Brown and Larry Newman, executive director of the Diamond City partnership.

Mayor Brown discussed several projects he expects to be completed in 2021 and he accepted praise from association members for the handling of the recent snowstorm. And the mayor agreed with the performance of his DPW staff, vowing to meet with them and thank them in person for their devoted service to the city.

“This will be a turnaround year for the City of Wilkes-Barre,” Brown said. “We’re going to come back strong. We all know that 2020 was terrible in many ways — COVID-19, the roof on City Hall blew off and our elevator went down. But I am feeling very upbeat about 2021.”

Brown then gave updates on several projects in the city that he expects will be completed this year:

• The new hotel complex at River and West Market streets where the Hotel Sterling sat. The mayor said the building adjacent to the site that is being converted into a 30 high-end apartments will also be completed by the end of June.

• The new hotel to be built at Northampton and South Main streets.

• The former train station at East Market and Wilkes-Barre Boulevard to be completed. Mayor Brown said the building’s exterior will be preserved and the interior will house office space. The mayor said he met with developer George Albert who said the project is moving forward.

“Mr. Albert also has agreed to give a sizable piece of the property for the establishment of a Planters Peanuts Museum,” Brown said. “If people want to donate artifacts that they have, they will be placed on display in the museum.”

• A new elevator will be built to replace the current one that has been in need of repairs for years. He said the new elevator will be built at the rear of City Hall and he assured the association members that it will not detract from the historical appearance of the building.

“The old elevator is over 100 years old,” Brown said. “We couldn’t even get many of the parts needed to repair it.”

Mayor Brown also expressed hope that the St. Patrick’s Parade —moved to Sept. 19 —will step off, clearing the way for more downtown events, such as the annual Christmas Parade.

“Parades are good for the city,” Brown said. “Families come out and we see a lot of smiles on people’s faces.”

Brown also discussed dual stream recycling, which would require residents to sort their recyclable materials, and he also talked about wanting to make the city the entrepreneur capital of the world.

“We are traveling in the right direction,” Brown said. “We have a lot of positives.. I’m not saying there won’t be any negatives, but I am confident we will move forward.”

Brown tempered the optimism by not ignoring the virus in the room. He said the world is still in the midst of a pandemic, but he feels there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Newman added his optimism to the discussion.

”This year we will see the lights come back on at the Kirby Center,” Newman said. “Downtown workers will return to the office buildings to patronize downtown business, which by the way, we had several new businesses open recently.”

“We welcome all of those new businesses to downtown,” Newman said. “This shows real optimism by making an investment in our downtown. I want to thank them all for showing confidence in our city.”