I got the message. No more e-mails. That chick that mailed that letter to the editors at the Voice is the mayor’s sister-in-law. It’s funny that she didn’t mention that tiny fact when she composed her ode to the almighty dump truck. The mindset of the mayor’s supporters seems to be that hoodwinking the general public is somehow acceptable so that the mayor’s remaining supporters can to continue to benefit from his oligarchic regime. Remember, the mayor did say that deception was part of his re-election strategy. The campaign seems to be geared toward snow-jobbing the folks that aren’t too swift to behold. It’s proof that he covets power more than he “loves Wilkes-Barre” as he so often professes to do. His approach to politics is more or less: do whatever it takes! Whether it be bald-faced lies, obfuscation, defaming his critics, or having relatives pose as John Q. Public, his “all’s fair in love and war” approach to politicking exposes the fact that if he should be re-elected to a third term, Wilkes-Barre has no future.

He continues his distressing habit of alienating the people that could actually turn Wilkes-Barre’s fortunes around, while shamelessly attempting to convince the less informed and less talented folks that dump trucks and excessive curbside pick-ups are the important issues in a city known as a total joke statewide. It’s disturbing to watch his re-election strategy play out. He honestly believes that a majority of the residents of this city are that completely stupid. His strategy is an insult to every resident of this city, but obviously some of the residents are too dim-witted to even realize that his “I’m the garbage king” media blitz assumes that they are stupid enough to fall for it.

I drove away from Pottsville yesterday somewhat saddened, because I want to see Scott, Peace, Gage and now Taylor on a more frequent basis. Pottsville isn’t very far away, but it bothers me that I can’t drop by the house every other day and rough-house with the boy and such. I honestly wish that they lived in Wilkes-Barre, but as is so often the case-our kids have to move away from us if they want to earn a lucrative living and that fact sucks. It does. It totally sucks. And it has been a fact of life for Wilkes-Barre natives for way too long. It’s a given for most of the born-and-raised types in this city. Have a few kids, raise them to the best of your ability and one day they will forced to move away from you. If Wilkes-Barre is ever going to flourish, that trend has to be reversed. There’s no debating that, it has to be reversed.

My son-in-law is as intelligent and as talented a person that you could ever hope for to marry one’s daughter. He is a rising star in his company and has had his choice of locales in the past. He could have opted to manage a store in Wilkes-Barre or Scranton, but he chose to live in another area where despite the fact that the store he manages is in a former coal town, that former coal town has much more to offer than this rapidly failing former coal town. I was praying that he would choose to live here, but career wise, it would have been a step backwards. Currently, Wilkes-Barre is a step backwards in many respects and that has to change real soon or else.

Scott and Peace bought a $120,000 ranch home in Pottsville. Why is it that they didn’t choose to purchase a ranch on East Chestnut Street right here in Wilkes-Barre? Because their future as a young family looks brighter elsewhere and it pains both wifey and me that we can’t swing by their house only minutes away and whisk Gage away for a fun romp through our vibrant downtown. Do I have to move to Pottsville, or is Wilkes-Barre going to become a place where young families will consider setting up shop and being happy and productive and vibrant residents of a happening city? If there is any hope at all that the amazing grandchildren will ever reside locally and hang out with Pop-Pop on the square, the folks in Wilkes-Barre have to vote for change on May 20th. Otherwise, I’ll be damned if I’m going to stay here and watch any further destruction come to the city that I always wished to reside in as a boy.

Wilkes-Barre was always near and dear to my heart during those chaotic and unsettling years that made me what I am (whatever that is), but the current condition of the city does not resemble the city that I always considered home even though I had never actually resided in the city during the earlier stages of my life. The only reason that I didn’t live here from the get-go was the fact that my step-dad and my dad before him could not earn enough money to justify living here. That was forty years ago and nothing has changed since. A young family with a father figure that had enormous earning potential could not stay here. At this point, a vote for the status quo is a vote for further reverse-gentrification in a city that is a border line basket case. If redundant curbside pick-ups are the measure of an effective and visionary leader, my association with Wilkes-Barre will come to an abrupt end.

What we face in the coming primary is a career politician who puts his needs above those of the city. His hapless minions, his coalition of the less than best and brightest that the area has to offer speak of pyramids despite the fact that the city is home to world’s largest man-maid, bottomless money pit. I closely looked-over copies of the mayor’s petitions this morning. His supporters who carried these petitions didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing and I’m shocked that no one challenged his petitions that were filed with Luzerne County Voter Services. The rampant scribbling over abbreviations that dominate the petitions is proof that 1.) The mayor’s supporters carrying the petitions didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing (no surprise there) and 2.) Unethical alterations of an election petition and cheating is apparently acceptable to the mayor and his conjoined supporters. Who carried those petitions?

The mayor did. His wife did. His brother did. Three high-ranking city employees did and get this: the sister-in-law of a competing Democratic mayoral candidate did. Yepper, you got that right. Breaking news! Use the process of elimination on exactly which candidate entered the race only to siphon votes from Tom Leighton’s election bid. Is this failed administration and the lackeys that support it totally incompetent or what? They couldn’t even garner a few signatures on election petitions without having to instruct someone to do some scribbled damage control afterwards. If someone had rightfully challenged those petitions, Wilkes-Barre’s liberation might already be at hand. Call Kevin Jordan and ask him if scribbling over “W-B” with “Wilkes-Barre” invalidates that petition signature.

I love riding my bike and the hills that are Pottsville don’t particularly excite me, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to continue to enjoy the mostly flat streets of Wilkes-Barre in a city that has gone completely flat, almost flat-lining at the hands of a group of mostly incompetent double and triple dippers. If the majority of city residents vote for mediocrity, incompetence and self-serving obfuscation-I’m gone. If that actually comes to pass, I suspect that I won’t be the only person looking to abandon Mayor McScribble’s failed personal toy formerly known as Wilkes-Barre.

I’ll post some pics from Pottsville on my new web site for those of you that stupidly decide to remain here and continue to suffer under a totalitarian regime that paves small streets that don‘t need to be paved during an election year.

We returned to this city yesterday and bounced down what little that remains of Coal Street only to find our trail of a street was cordoned off and freshly paved. What passes as good news in most communities only served to further aggravate us upon our return to McFailureville.

Hey, thanks for the glut of congratulatory e-mails. They were most appreciated. It was pointed out to me a while back that Wilkes-Barre has been able to watch Gage Andrew grow up while visiting this silly web site. That never even occurred to me beforehand. Whether you like it or not, expect to watch Taylor Kate grow up on the site also. I’m hoping that Gage Andrew and Taylor Kate will become Public Square regulars following closely behind their Pop-Pop eager to spend some money on them and re-visit the days when Pop-Pop’s grandparents led him around that once vibrant downtown and always, always to the Planter’s Peanuts store, which was always his favorite.

I told ya’ before, I used to love feeding those pigeons freshly roasted peanuts on Public Square. Now I fire pellets at them. Yeah, I know about the city ordinance about BB guns! Wouldn’t it be a good sign for this city if Gage Andrew and Taylor Kate grew to love feeding the city’s pigeons on Public Square as their Pop-Pop had done before them so many years before?

It amazes me that while the city has so obviously and completely gone to the dogs during the past seven years that I would be wishing for the day when the city would return to the days of feeding those disgusting pigeons.

If May 20th goes down as it should, I’ll teach Gage Andrew how to lure the pigeons in close and then scare the hell out of them and cause them to fly away. And Taylor Kate will probably be annoyed by how juvenile her silly Pop-Pop and her brother can be at times.

I hope.

TLFM

It is definitely tune time! I am happy with the results of the past two days and it’s time to kick back, enjoy way too many beers and rumble the neighbor’s foundation a bit looser. Copper dudes, please ignore the loud music complaints tonight. I’m in a really, really good mood.

I’ve got two more words for y’all: CHEAP TRICK!