Scranton City Council Targets Parking Garages, Meters

The beleaguered Scranton Parking Authority may have its five parking garages under outside management as soon as today, Scranton City Council announced Thursday.

Meanwhile, council also introduced a proposed ordinance Thursday to terminate on Oct. 8 the city’s parking-meter cooperation agreement with SPA, under which SPA receives 10 percent of meter revenues.

Both actions – one dealing with parking garages and the other dealing with meters – would remove all control of SPA’s two revenue streams from the SPA’s board, which is appointed by Mayor Chris Doherty, according to council President Janet Evans and council solicitor Boyd Hughes.

Regarding outside management, the SPA’s new court-appointed receiver, former Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo, is expected to hire a firm called Central Parking, Mr. Hughes said during council’s meeting. He said Central Parking is the second-largest parking management company in the nation.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-council-targets-parking-garages-meters-1.1369583

Reading Fire Department Gets Grant Of Nearly $1 Million

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The Reading Fire Department has won a grant of nearly $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer announced Thursday at his third-in-three-days public meeting about reopening the 2012 budget.

The office of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called him late in the afternoon to announce the city had been approved for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant of $999,781, Spencer told about 50 people at the Historical Society of Berks County, 940 Centre Ave.

He said he was told it was by far the largest of 10 grants totaling $1.56 million awarded to fire departments in the state. Casey is a Scranton Democrat.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=360291