Tony Brooks - Wilkes-Barre City Councilman

09/15/2026

You know what kills anxiety?

Doing something.

Not thinking about doing something. Not planning to do something. Not meeting about doing something.

Actually doing it.

The same is true for your community. The towns that are stuck are stuck because everyone is waiting for someone else to go first. Waiting for permission. Waiting for the perfect plan. Waiting for the right moment.

The right moment is now. The perfect plan is starting. The permission you need is your own.

Go first. Someone has to.

09/14/2026

The cure for apathy isn't a plan.

It's not a meeting. It's not a study. It's not a comprehensive strategy.

It's action.

Small, visible, tangible action. Pull the weeds. Paint the building. Plant the flowers. Fix the broken window. Clean the sidewalk.

Every time someone takes action in a community, something shifts. Not just in the place itself, but in the people watching. They see that progress is possible. They see that someone gives a damn. And slowly, they start to give a damn too.

Action is contagious. Apathy is too. Choose wisely.

09/14/2026

Wilkes-Barre's Downtown Residents’ Association will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, September 14 at 7:00 pm. Hosted by Shelia Saidman and Steven Kafrissen at 24 South River Street, Wilkes-Barre.

The guest speaker will be Michael Boyle, chief of the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department. Followed by a Community Health Assessment discussion led by Justin Beaupre, Ed.D, MHA, Associate Professor of Graduate Healthcare Administration at King's College. City Councilman Tony Brooks will also attend to hear neighborhood issues and concerns.

Please bring a covered dish, snacks and/or drinks to share.

DRA meets the second Monday of the month September through May with a neighborhood picnic in June and a holiday party in December. Meetings are held in various private homes, businesses, churches or community spaces.

09/13/2026

"Reading & Northern Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. had stated he would increase freight service and introduce excursions that connect Wilkes-Barre to excursions it already operates between Pittston and Jim Thorpe."

After evaluating three proposals, a citizen committee is recommending the sale of Luzerne County’s rail line to Reading and Northern Railroad, according to documents.

09/12/2026

09/12/2026

This morning, Mayor George C. Brown had the honor of swearing in two new Wilkes-Barre City Police Department Officers, Liam Stone and Ryan Fisher. Congratulations Officer Stone and Officer Fisher.

The ceremony began with a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims and survivors of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks.

Pictured (L-R) are Captain Jamie Sheridan, Chief Mike Boyle, Officer Ryan Fisher, Officer Liam Stone, and Mayor George C. Brown.

09/12/2026

Blight can't be erased overnight, but decline can be halted in an instant.

The moment we begin to maintain, we are fending off the forces of chaos and disorder. In getting incrementally better, we are still getting better. We shift a trajectory and trajectories dictate where we are headed.

It may start with pulling weeds and picking up trash, it may lead to planting flowers and applying paint. It's hard to say where the process may take your town, but it is guaranteed to be somewhere better.

The process of improving never fails to bring about positive change. Yes, some citizens are always optimistic, some are civic-minded. Likely all of you reading this can see beyond the decline and realize tomorrow holds potential. But you are not the norm. You are the weirdos in town, the preservationists, the urbanists, the building huggers. Most others don't know how to look at chaos and envision order.

But when things start to improve, when people become proud of their surroundings and see that progress is possible, something changes. The potential that only you weirdos could imagine becomes realistic to the rest. Progress stops seeming unobtainable and can become expected.

09/12/2026

09/11/2026

From wild parties with loud music and illegally posted signs to flooded streets and turning trees into monstrosities, Wilkes-Barre council members and city residents addressed a wide spectrum of quality-of-life issues this week.

09/11/2026

When people talk trash on their hometown, they are trying to distance their own self-image from the image of their town.

They don't want to be associated with a blighted town. They don't want to feel the shame of the substandard surroundings. It makes perfect sense and we shouldn't blame them for it.

But understand that people feel low civic self-esteem for good reason. Appearances have declined, progress seems impossible, all the plans and silver bullet fixes haven't changed a damn thing. Every new subdivision, every Dollar General, every strip mall, every road expansion, all of these sprawl mongering, heartless, lifeless projects only serve to make our communities worse.

Hope is scarce and most of us have never lived in a place that has improved in our lifetimes.