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Holy Redeemer announces new Honor Society members

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Brendan Scott Gibbons and Westyn Layne Hinchey united in marriage

<p>It has become a perennial question in this space, but remains valid.</p><p>Is the state, and the county, making the best use of the &#8220;Local Share Account&#8221; grants created with money from gambling revenue at the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Plains Township?</p><p>The annual lament here relates to the process for dishing out what is typically $10 million to $12 million each year in Luzerne County. Municipalities can apply for grant money, with the Commonwealth Financing Authority in Harrisburg picking the &#8220;winners.&#8221;</p><p>The system leads to dribs and drabs of money oozing irregularly into purchases and projects often with very limited and local impact. Grants announced Wednesday were no exception.</p><p>Luzerne County got a pretty hefty cut: a bit more than $11 million. But it was minced among 58 projects, greatly diluting the impact. The biggest winner got less than 10 percent of the total: Wilkes-Barre nabbed $1 million to further plans for new corporate headquarters for the Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance Companies.</p><p>Nearly half the grants &#8212; 26 &#8212; were less than 1 percent of the total awarded, ranging from $104,385 to the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority for county courthouse interior restoration to $20,000 for VFW building rehab in Wyoming Borough.</p><p>The litany of laments is the same each year. Should this money go toward helping private companies thrive? Should it be spent on things like police cruisers and road repairs that one would expect to be covered by regular taxes? Does it even provide enough money for most of the projects funded to actually be completed?</p><p>The big question is also always the same: Would the money have a bigger impact if it were awarded in bigger amounts?</p><p>Could the Hotel Sterling have been preserved and restored?</p><p>Could the lost Huber Breaker have morphed into the historic museum once envisioned?</p><p>Would money spent renovating Moon Lake Park have generated more revenue by drawing more people?</p><p>Would a sufficient chunk of this year&#8217;s amount save the distinctive yet threatened Irem Temple in downtown Wilkes-Barre?</p><p>Would it have been better spent on flood mitigation to prevent another calamity such as the deluge of Superstorm Sandy?</p><p>Perhaps it could be used to eliminate the perpetual problems of acid mine water drainage in our area, to reclaim land scarred by strip mining decades ago, or to further separate storm and sanitary sewer lines. The cleaner the land and water, the easier it is to lure people to our turf.</p><p>Other than questioning the occasional (but not-insubstantial) use of the money to help private businesses, few would criticize the causes it <em>does</em> go toward: road repairs, streetscapes, parks and playgrounds, police cruisers and equipment.</p><p>But divvying the money into so many pots serves many a bit while helping most very little.</p><p>There is a fear that as long as we think this small, Luzerne County can never become more than it already is.</p><style>
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Our view: Could gambling grant money be put to better use?