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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; The crumbling stone wall along Laurel Run creek will get much needed repairs quickly, Mayor George Brown said Tuesday.
				Standing near the wall on Mineral Street in the Parsons neighborhood with other officials, Brown said funding is available and a Request for Proposal has been issued to contractors to work on two sections of the infrastructure project built nearly 90 years ago.
				The immediate focus will be on a 120-foot section, including where the wall collapsed into the creek bed and a 100-foot section farther downstream.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to fix this the right way,&rdquo; Brown promised.
				Bids are expected by the middle of May and from there it will be presented to City Council for approval so the work can begin.
				There&rsquo;s a sense of urgency to complete the repairs along the creek with a history of rising fast and flooding during heavy rains.
				The creek posed little threat Tuesday as it stayed well within the channel walls. City Councilman Bill Barrett whose District D includes Parsons pointed out areas where stamped concrete wall sections were installed.
				&ldquo;That was simply because this little mild stream turned into a raging river in a matter of a day or so,&rdquo; Barrett said. Sections of the wall were washed away and water draining off the hills to the east gushed over the nearby Scott Street bridge and flooded the neighborhood, he said.
				Longtime resident John Magda recalled the flooding in 1996 and again in 2006. Magda, 77, said he&rsquo;s lived in the neighborhood for 54 years and has seen the wall deteriorate from flooding and lack of maintenance.
				&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s very, very good news for the creek,&rdquo; Magda said welcoming the repairs.
				The cost of the repair is still to be determined pending the bids, but Brown said the money will come from a completed flood protection project.
				&ldquo;The funding&rsquo;s coming from moneys left over from the bond issue that was put together in the prior administration for the Solomon Creek Flood Restoration Project,&rdquo; Brown said. A little more than $1 million remained and will be shared between the repairs and a new elevator for City Hall.
				State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, credited Brown and his administration for their sound financial management. Pashinski also lobbied for another funding source, able to tackle the problems mayors across the country face.
				The <a href="https://www.nibcoalition.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Infrastructure Bank </a>has been used by presidents throughout the nation&rsquo;s history from George Washington to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Pashinski said.
				&ldquo;This is not taxpayer money. It&rsquo;s individualized investment backed by federal treasury notes,&rdquo; Pashinski said.
				&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll replace the whole darn thing if you had the National Infrastructure Bank,&rdquo; Pashinski said of installing a whole new wall.

Laurel Run wall in Wilkes-Barre next on list for repair