At a Bradford City Council meeting marked by the resignation of the city’s police chief, council heard from a few members of the public who had inquiries about other matters.
During the public comment, Lou Costa of the Owls Pride Community Center at 21 Kennedy St. asked about using the alley by 21 Kennedy St. He noted that with COVID-19 he is already utilizing local parks for mentorship programs.
Costa talked a little about the center, which sees 50 to 100 youths weekly. The organization has partnerships with the Army and the local Office of Economic and Community Development, and they are looking to work with the fire and police departments, too.
High Street resident resident Pat Girard approached council with parking issues on the street.
She explained that everyone is supposed to park off High Street for a four-hour period on Thursdays, but no one had been issuing violators tickets the past couple of months. This is “disheartening” to people who are still moving their cars, she explained.
After Girard previously talked to city officials about it, tickets were issued last week. However, she asked if they could forgive those tickets and instead put flyers in motorists’ windows warning them that the city was going to resume ticketing violators.
Mayor James McDonald agreed “if cars aren’t moving, they should get tickets,” but he was not sure if there was a way to forgive tickets that were already written.
Also related to High Street, resident Gordon Howell wondered if there are any plans to tear down four or five abandoned houses there.
Shane Oschman, deputy director of the OECD, said 52 High St. is slated for demolition. He noted there are other properties on the street, such as 54 High St., that are on the list to be demolished, but there is no timeframe set for their demolition.
Three properties about to be bid for demolition are 52 High St., 9 Harris Court and 62 Hobson Place, according to Oschman.
Council also voted on whether or not to approve the sale of several tax parcels from the McKean County Tax Claim Repository. Six sales were approved and two were declined.
Approved sales were 78 Jefferson St. to Mary T. Charles; 11 Pike St. to Sara James; a Poplin Avenue property to Steven Austin and Celinda Austin Strick; 230 High St. to Robert A. and Caroline C. Gobbi; 41 Cornen St. to Peter F. and Martha C. Palumbo; and 29 Linwood Ave. to William Hodgdon.
The sales must be approved by the other two local taxing bodies — Bradford Area School District and McKean County Commissioners — before they can be finalized.
The sales of 10 Pike St. and 16 Fairbanks Ave. were declined because the properties were deemed beyond the scope of renovations.
The next council meeting is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 25.
