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The Benco Dental Clinic in Nanticoke helps those insured or uninsured obtain dental exams from Luzerne County Community College students

What’s Up, NEPA?/Senior News

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; This is for Mayor Tony George.</p><p>I need to say something before things get too out of control.</p><p>But that horse may have already left the barn.</p><p>Mayor Tony, what are you doing? It&#8217;s just more than a month since you&#8217;ve taken office and you&#8217;re already upsetting people. What happened to all that &#8220;change for the better?&#8221;</p><p>You said you were going to be open and transparent but you won&#8217;t even attend city council meetings. Why not?</p><p>Tony George the council member welcomed public input &#8212; even if it was critical. You were never afraid to answer to your critics.</p><p>You got elected because people saw something in you. They saw a man not afraid to speak the truth. A man who would bring honesty to the table &#8212; always.</p><p>You campaigned on &#8220;law and order.&#8221; You said you would be approachable. You made us think you would be different. You can still be all that.</p><p>So before we go too far Mayor Tony, let&#8217;s see some of that bravado we got used to when you were on council.</p><p>What is it with today&#8217;s politicians that seems to prevent them from being real people? ( See 2016 presidential race.) They don&#8217;t seem to want to try to be statesmen. The minute they get into office, they become, well, part of this system that continues to churn out elected officials who would rather torque off everybody rather than work together &#8212; for the common good. It&#8217;s always one&#8217;s political party first and not the people.</p><p>I don&#8217;t know who&#8217;s advising Tony George, but it&#8217;s time Mayor Tony listened to his inner self &#8212; the voice that got him elected in the first place.</p><p>Tony is driving a city car &#8212; I&#8217;m told it was formerly used as an undercover police vehicle. Who&#8217;s paying for the gas in that car? Is Tony using it all the time? Is he driving it to and from work?</p><p>To his credit, Mayor Tony called me back when I put in a request to answer these questions. He said the car is a 1999 Crown Victoria held together with duct tape. He mainly used it during a recent snowstorm and drives it back and forth to work and during the work day. The city is paying for the gas used in the vehicle.</p><p>Tony said he doesn&#8217;t use the car after work.</p><p>But is this what we&#8217;re to expect from you, Tony? Is this the &#8220;change&#8221; you spoke of during your campaign. Have the voters and residents of the city been duped?</p><p>And what about these new hires? Haven&#8217;t you said the city is in financial distress? Didn&#8217;t you say you may have to raise taxes and/or lay off workers &#8212; specifically fire fighters? And one new hire doesn&#8217;t even live in the city?</p><p>Then you hire an assistant city attorney. The public &#8212; a few members at least &#8212; objected to that appointment and, because of all the fallout, the candidate withdrew his name from consideration.</p><p>The Tony George I know &#8212; or thought I knew &#8212; would have stood by his decision. He would have defended his candidate and made sure the attorney was welcomed into City Hall.</p><p>There continues to be rumblings about future hires. We keep hearing former members of the Tom McGroarty era will come back to city government. Mayor Tony stood before the public and stated on the record he would not do that. Yet the rumors persist.</p><p>Mayor Tony said he&#8217;s considering hiring a solicitor who has expertise in dealing with code enforcement issues. That department&#8217;s director, Frank Kratz, is retiring, the mayor said, and the assistant director will take over the department.</p><p>Again, who are we to believe? Is it reasonable to expect the worst?</p><p>It shouldn&#8217;t be that way. Mayor Tony, you need to lead. You need to show us you are who you campaigned to be and that you will be open and transparent and, well, fair. You need to assure us you will always have the best interests of the city, not political allies, at the forefront.</p><p>It&#8217;s still too early to pass judgment, but too many signs are raising our collective eyebrows.</p><p>I believe Mayor Tony will become the mayor we all thought he would be. He told me he doesn&#8217;t think the mayor should attend council meetings. He said his department heads will be there to answer questions from the council and the public.</p><p>Tony said his office door is always open and he will meet with anyone who has questions or issues they can&#8217;t get resolved.</p><p>He said he will be transparent. He said all questions will be answered and there won&#8217;t be any delays.</p><p>Despite some questionable moves so far, Mayor Tony still deserves time to settle in and implement his game plan. And to keep his word.</p><p>What kind of gas mileage do you get on a 1999 Crown Victoria anyway?</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-8.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL010515MayorTony-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Shortly after taking the oath of office in January, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George greeted his supporters in the Wilkes-Barre council chambers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL010515MayorTony-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Shortly after taking the oath of office in January, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George greeted his supporters in the Wilkes-Barre council chambers. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

In Focus: Is Mayor Tony George living up to his campaign promises? The people need to know