Mayor
PENNSYLVANIA
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
(570) 208-4158- phone
(570 208-4101- fax
07/22/2011
CITY OF WILKES-BARRE CONDUCTS "KNOCK AND TALK" INSPECTIONS IN SOUTH WILKES-BARRE
WILKES-BARRE - Earlier this morning, the City of Wilkes-Barre launched a coordinated "knock and talk" operation on several properties on South River and South Franklin Streets. Code enforcement officers, health inspectors, members of the Wilkes-Barre Police Department VIPER unit, and other city officials joined Mayor Leighton for the surprise inspections. The city responded to these alleged nuisance properties based on resident complaints as well as information gathered by other city departments including the police department and code enforcement. The complaints on the properties ranged in severity from frequent police calls, building and health issues, or failure to abide by rental regulations established by the city.
The "knock and talk" inspections yielded no arrests but four properties were posted closed for building code and health violations. The specific addresses and the violations will be released in the monthly code citations report issued by the city. City officials also spoke with several neighbors of these properties on their porches and in their living rooms to listen to their perspectives on the conditions of the neighborhood and gather new information about other issues nearby. The overall response was extremely positive.
This is a standard operating procedure of the City of Wilkes-Barre over the last seven years and similar coordinated inspections will be carried out citywide at times to be determined later. Residents are strongly encouraged to keep reporting problems in their neighborhoods to the Wilkes-Barre City Code Enforcement Office [570-208-4139], the Mayor's Office [570-208-4140], City Hall Office of Community Support [570-208-4167], or the Wilkes-Barre Police Department [570-826-8114].
"A thriving community is a safe community," said Mayor Thomas M. Leighton, "We will continue to eradicate nuisances from the neighborhoods as soon as possible and successes like today are an initial step to put owners and tenants on notice that we will respond forcefully to issues that threaten the integrity of our neighborhoods."