Scranton plans to seek over $7.7 million in federal and state funds for Police Department technology and equipment, a new emergency services training center, and streetscape, brownfield and schoolyard improvements.
Scranton City Council on Tuesday voted 5-0 — with President Tom Schuster, Patrick Flynn, Mark McAndrew, Sean McAndrew and Jessica Rothchild all in favor — to introduce five separate resolutions from the administration of Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti to authorize the city to apply for federal funding, as follows:
• $3 million for the Pittston Avenue Instrastructure Streetscape Project, in an 11-block stretch from River to Fig streets in South Side.
This project calls for rebuilding sidewalks and curbs, improving stormwater drainage with rain gardens and installing crosswalks and disabled-accessible ramps. These improvements would increase pedestrian safety and enhance connectivity for residents, students and visitors, and provide better access to public transportation, jobs, schools and recreational spaces; and in an area of South Side that has a 26% poverty rate and 34% minority population, according to the resolution. It would be the latest of several streetscape improvements underway or in planning stages in the city.
Google Street View of Pittston Avenue in South Scranton. (IMAGE COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
Google Street View of Pittston Avenue in South Scranton. (IMAGE COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
Show Caption
1 of 2
Google Street View of Pittston Avenue in South Scranton. (IMAGE COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
• $2,343,750 for the construction of an emergency operations and training center on property currently owned by the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County at 3201 Rockwell Ave.
The city has committed capital funds to hire an engineer and project manager to develop a master plan for a mixed-use training facility near the CTC. The total project cost is $3,125,000, of which the city would provide 25%, or $781,250. The project would accomplish several strategic goals for the city of Scranton and emergency service providers in the county and beyond, the resolution says.
The site is well outside of any flood zone and could be secured and operational during events that would require activation of an emergency operation center. The facility would benefit multiple stakeholders in career development and the missions of the CTC and city.
The Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County in Scranton on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO
• $1 million for the purchase, installation and implementation of technology and equipment to modernize and expand the Police Department’s real-time crime center, as well as engineering and design services.
The technology and equipment would include monitoring systems, high-definition surveillance cameras, data management and analytics platforms and related infrastructure.
“These upgrades will allow law enforcement personnel to monitor incidents as they occur, deploy resources more efficiently, enhance investigative capabilities and strengthen coordination across public safety agencies,” according to the resolution. It also says current monitoring capabilities, equipment and infrastructure are outdated and limits in data sharing, video surveillance and analytics “restrict the city’s ability to prevent crime proactively and respond effectively to emergencies,” and while the city “continues to face increasing public safety demands due to urban density, special events, traffic activity and evolving crime trends.”
In December, a divided council approved the Cognetti administration’s plan to have the city purchase for $1.88 million the Fidelity Bank branch at 334-336 N. Washington Ave. for use as an annex to City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave. Fidelity will vacate the branch soon as part of the bank’s renovation of the Scranton Electric Building at 507 Linden St. into a bank headquarters.
The city intends to use 334-336 N. Washington Ave. for functions that require frequent transactions with the public, such as permits and code enforcement, as well as for a Police Department real-time crime center.
The Fidelity Bank Branch in the 300 block of North Washington Avenue in downtown Scranton that the city is buying for an annex to City Hall next door, seen here on March 4, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll watches multiple live street camera feeds from the department’s monitoring center, keeping an eye activity across the city during the St. Patrick’s Day parade. (GERI GIBBONS/STAFF PHOTO)
• $529,879 for the Pine Brook Brownfield Cleanup and Site Preparation Project.
The city is partnering with United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania to develop a 2-acre site into a 41-unit apartment community. Several deteriorated industrial buildings from the 1940s-50s would be demolished to make way for new housing.
“The project will add much-needed quality, attainable rental units … while addressing a blighted eyesore” at a gateway intersection of Pine Brook just outside of the downtown. UNC also has $880,806 in state funds for the project. UNC leads a long-term revitalization plan underway in Pine Brook, a neighborhood known for industry, businesses, tight housing and diversity.
A five-year UNC revitalization plan for Pine Brook issued in April 2021 is similar to UNC’s revitalization of part of South Scranton several years ago. The Pine Brook plan has an overall goal of creating a stronger, more attractive neighborhood with buy-in from residents and businesses.
As part of the revitalization plan, UNC last year embarked on plans to transform a blighted gateway of the Pine Brook neighborhood with a $22.5 million project to build 41 units of multifamily affordable housing on a 2-acre site on Capouse Avenue at Olive Street. This project calls for demolishing structures at a junkyard at 601 Capouse Ave. and constructing a pair of three-story buildings, parking lots, walkways and landscaping on the property.
A rendering of two buildings containing 41 housing units proposed by United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania for 601 Capouse Ave. in the Pine Brook section in Scranton. UNC will seek a variance for the project from the Scranton Zoning Board on Feb. 5, 2025. (IMAGE FROM UNC ZONING APPLICATION FILED WITH SCRANTON)
601 Capouse Avenue in Scranton is seen near the intersection of Capouse Avenue and Olive Street Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Show Caption
1 of 2
A rendering of two buildings containing 41 housing units proposed by United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania for 601 Capouse Ave. in the Pine Brook section in Scranton. UNC will seek a variance for the project from the Scranton Zoning Board on Feb. 5, 2025. (IMAGE FROM UNC ZONING APPLICATION FILED WITH SCRANTON)
• $500,000 for a schoolyard upgrade at the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Side.
The project will convert an aging, all-asphalt area in the rear of the school along Hampton Street into a high-quality recreational community asset with green stormwater improvements, shade trees, playground, basketball courts and outdoor learning space.
Designed by students and neighbors, the schoolyard would be open to the public after school hours, “providing outdoor recreation for the hundreds of families within a 10-minute walk of the school.”
A collaboration of the city, the Scranton School District, the Trust for Public Land and Valley in Motion, the Willard schoolyard project is similar to one completed last year at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, 2200 Prospect Ave., in South Scranton, and another one in the works at the John G. Whittier Elementary School, 700 Orchard St., also in South Side, expected to be completed this fall.
The Hampton Street rear of the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Scranton on July 8, 2025, where a schoolyard improvement project would convert the all-asphalt space into a green space with a playground, trees and other improvements for students and the community. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Frances Willard students listen at an event to announce a collaboration between the City of Scranton, the Scranton School District, Valley in Motion, and Trust for Public Land to build a new playground at Frances Willard Elementary School in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRNG/STAFF PHOTO)
The front of the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Scranton on July 8, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The Hampton Street rear of the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Scranton on July 8, 2025, where a schoolyard improvement project would convert the all-asphalt space into a green space with a playground, trees and other improvements for students and the community. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The Hampton Street rear of the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Scranton on July 8, 2025, where a schoolyard improvement project would convert the all-asphalt space into a green space with a playground, trees and other improvements for students and the community. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Show Caption
1 of 5
The Hampton Street rear of the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Scranton on July 8, 2025, where a schoolyard improvement project would convert the all-asphalt space into a green space with a playground, trees and other improvements for students and the community. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Those five resolutions likely would come back before council at its next meeting for votes on adoptions.
Meanwhile, council on Tuesday also unanimously adopted a resolution, which had been introduced last week, to apply for a $402,220 state grant from the PennDOT Green Light Go Program for upgrades to the intersection of Providence Road and Albright Avenue, which is near the V-Spot Bar and the Glider Diner.
This project would improve traffic signals and flow and pedestrian safety, by replacing outdated signals, poles, mast arms and controller, adding pedestrian signals and upgrading curb ramps and markings. “These improvements will increase visibility, enhance accessibility, and create a safer intersection for motorists, pedestrians and residents in the surrounding neighborhood,” the resolution says.
Google Street View of the intersection of Providence Road and Albright Avenue in Scranton. (IMAGE COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)