First Posted: 5/16/2013
Pittston City Fire Fighter Michael Chernouskas was promoted to the rank of Captain during a swearing-in ceremony that kicked off the May 15 council meeting.
The 39-year-old life-long city resident is one of the city’s seven full-time firefighters and the younger brother of current city council member Joe Chernouskas.
He has served as a full time Pittston City fire fighter for the past 12 years.
In other matters, Parsonage Street resident Julie Kresge complained that the combination of overcrowded parking and speeding tractor trailers are creating hazardous driving conditions on Parsonage Street.
City Administrator Joseph Moskovitz was quick to acknowledge that parking issues on that street have been raised in the past and that the city is looking into options to address the problems.
Pittston Police Chief Robert Powers pointed out that, although some cars may park poorly, if they are parked legally, there is nothing the city can do.
Former Pittston Mayor and current Redevelopment Authority member Mike Lombardo, cousin of the current City Council member of the same name, was in attendance at the meeting and went into further detail with regard to the city’s options.
The city is looking into possibly converting vacant properties into municipal parking lots. He included Parsonage with Mill, Butler and Clifton Streets as being a few of those with significant parking complications.
Chief Powers hopes stepped-up patrols in the coming weeks will help to limit speeding issues but any traffic restrictions would be determined by PennDOT as Parsonage Street is a state road.
City residents Lynn Getz and Anne Intili were on hand to compliment city officials on the restoration of the city’s downtown but shared their concerns that the city’s neighborhoods might be deteriorating.
In response to their questions, officials confirmed that there is not currently a crime watch active in Pittston, but the topic of forming one has recently been addressed.
Finally, council member Lombardo closed the meeting by acknowledging that contributions from the Pittston Tomato Festival Committee and the Leadership Wilkes-Barre Project Group went a long way toward helping the city procure a mobile bandshell.
The two groups’ financial contributions combined to finance roughly half the $12,000 price tag. Members of Leadership Wilkes-Barre Project Group also helped with some of the work that went into restoring the band shell.
The next Pittston City Council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19.