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Five Republicans apply for Luzerne County Council seat

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A name change seemed appropriate, given everything else that&#8217;s happening at the Luzerne County Transportation Authority.</p><p>The former Murray Complex will be transformed into the new home for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, its executive director Norm Gavlick said Thursday, announcing the rebranding and providing a project update.</p><p>NEPTA will consolidate its operations in Kingston and Forty Fort on the largely vacant 12-acre property along South Pennsylvania Avenue that was purchased two weeks ago for approximately $1.5 million and the state will locate a compressed natural gas filling station to open to the public on site.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to be building a state-of-the-art transportation center right here in the city of Wilkes-Barre, the capital of Luzerne County,&#8221; Gavlick told approximately 50 people who attended the morning news conference held under a tent in a parking lot next to a vacant industrial building.</p><p>&#8220;So we felt we wanted to be able to do something to be able to convey that significance. So we felt rebranding LCTA into NEPTA, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, would help convey the level, scope and importance of this project to the region,&#8221; Gavlick said.</p><p>The change included a new website as well. It&#8217;s <a href="https://www.gonepta.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GoNEPTA.org</a>. Gavlick pointed out LCTA still remains the official name that&#8217;s listed on its charter. NEPTA will be its business name and it&#8217;s been filed with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State, he said.</p><p>The project, estimated to cost between $22 million and $27 million, will be mostly funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. A $190,000 Federal Transportation Administration grant and approximately $43,000 in matching funds from Wilkes-Barre went toward the acquisition of the site taken by eminent domain from Siniawa 16 LP.</p><p>It&#8217;s taken four years to get to this point and completion is still some time away, Gavlick said. &#8220;It could conceivably not happen until the spring,&#8221; he said of the start of demolition. The time span from groundbreaking to ribbon cutting is estimated at 18 months.</p><p>But it was centuries that Tony Brooks spanned when he tied the site&#8217;s past to its future.</p><p>&#8220;You know me, I&#8217;ll give you a history lesson. So I want to make this come full circle, &#8221; said Brooks, a Wilkes-Barre city councilman whose District B includes the site that at one time was where the Hazard Wire Rope company had its factory.</p><p>The company opened in 1848 and by the 1880s was manufacturing millions of feet of wire rope used worldwide to carry the electric current for public transit systems.</p><p>&#8220;In 1882 we built all the wire rope to make the Chicago transportation system go. So now we&#8217;ve come full circle,&#8221; Brooks said. &#8220;And in the 1950s wire rope had 525 employees. So for our $42,000 and change investment to get 167 employees I think is a win-win for all of us.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes-Barre City Administrator Rick Gazenski recalled waiting for a Wilkes-Barre Transit bus as a kid at Loomis and Jones streets near his home.</p><p>&#8220;And all I had visions of with that bus was these antennas that were hooked to, I guess, electrical wires,&#8221; Gazenski said. He welcomed the new facility and the economic impact it will have on the city and region.</p><p>&#8220;As far as I am concerned right now this will be the Port Authority of Northeastern Pennsylvania,&#8221; Gazenski said.</p><p>In the past there&#8217;s been talk about merging the LCTA and COLTS, the County of Lackawanna Transit System into a regional agency.</p><p>Luzerne County Manage C. David Pedri said LCTA&#8217;s board, Gavlick and its employees have taken on challenges and delivered results with expanded routes into industrial parks and night service.</p><p>&#8220;We are attracting national businesses to come here to Luzerne County and why are we doing that? Because people like the LCTA board and Norm Gavlick are saying, &#8216;Why not here,&#8217; &#8221; Pedri said.</p><p>Gavlick encouraged the public and municipalities to fill up with CNG when the station opens. &#8220;A portion of those proceeds will make their way back to Luzerne County,&#8221; he said. The station operator, Trillium, pays a percentage to the state that then sends a percentage back to public transit in the county, he explained.</p><p>The possible relocation of some county offices at the new facility could also pay dividends, Gavlick noted.</p><p>&#8220;So number one, we can save them money and, number two, the money that they&#8217;re paying us is going right back to support public transit in Luzerne County,&#8221; Gavlick said.</p><p>Ted Wampole, executive director of Visit Luzerne County, acknowledged that he and his staff have discussed a possible move from their offices on Public Square.</p><p>The final decision rests with the county and NEPTA, Wampole said.</p><p>&#8220;But I think it&#8217;s a conversation and discussion that&#8217;s worth having to be part of a state-of-the-art facility and make it easier for people to come in and visit us and grab some information so they can find out about all there is in Luzerne County,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lorri Vandermark of NEPTA makes remarks at the Thursday morning news conference to announce it acquired the Murray Complex in Wilkes-Barre, while executive director Norm Gavlick looks on. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Lorri Vandermark of NEPTA makes remarks at the Thursday morning news conference to announce it acquired the Murray Complex in Wilkes-Barre, while executive director Norm Gavlick looks on. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Various NEPTA vehicles were on hand at the news conference announcing NEPTA&#8217;s move to the former Murray Complex in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Various NEPTA vehicles were on hand at the news conference announcing NEPTA&#8217;s move to the former Murray Complex in Wilkes-Barre. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Longtime NEPTA employee Kevin McGee addresses the audience during the news conference announcing NEPTA&#8217;s new location. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Longtime NEPTA employee Kevin McGee addresses the audience during the news conference announcing NEPTA&#8217;s new location. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The proposed new NEPTA center on the site of the former Murray complex in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta4.jpg</photo4><caption4>The proposed new NEPTA center on the site of the former Murray complex in Wilkes-Barre. </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Members of the NEPTA board and employees clap at the news conference announcing the new site for NEPTA in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL080219lcta5.jpg</photo5><caption5>Members of the NEPTA board and employees clap at the news conference announcing the new site for NEPTA in Wilkes-Barre. </caption5><photoCredit5></photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_DCDA6040-4ED6-4C71-B3B0-BE0981A5A3D3_ne20198110374899-1.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">LCTA Executive Director Norm Gavlick talks about the agency&#8217;s name change Thursday morning. It will now be known as NEPTA &#8212; the Northeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_DCDA6040-4ED6-4C71-B3B0-BE0981A5A3D3_ne20198110374899-1.jpeg</photo6><caption6>LCTA Executive Director Norm Gavlick talks about the agency&#8217;s name change Thursday morning. It will now be known as NEPTA &#8212; the Northeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. </caption6><photoCredit6>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit6></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

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A new era in local transit as LCTA becomes NEPTA