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A city council veteran, who has taken a hiatus from local politics for a while, is running for one of three vacant council seats in the November 2 general election.
Bill Hall of 1212 Monroe Place, who served 12 years on the board (2004-2016), is on the ballot. Hall is retired and drives for Uber part-time.
In an interview, Hall said his motivation for running was the same as before: protecting hard-earned taxpayer dollars and improving the quality of life in the city.
While on the board, Hall served as chairman and chairman of the finance committee, positions that are critical in deciding where to spend taxpayers’ money.
If elected, he said, his number one priority will be his efforts to ensure that the US bailout funds received by the city are spent in a way that reduces and / or stabilizes property taxes in the years to come. to come.
“I find it difficult to keep up with the city’s finances, in particular the funds of the American rescue plan”, he said. “This sum of money equals an entire annual budget.”
“I realize that it cannot be used to pay off debts or pensions” he said. “I think we need to explore how this can help city taxpayers though. “
“It shouldn’t be spent on creating new departments and bureaucracies within city government or wasted on consulting firms that seem to want to study everything under the sun but never accomplish anything,” he said.
This largesse exceeds anything the city has received in natural gas impact fees, he said.
As a fiscal conservative and a member of the Libertarian Party, Hall said the city needs council members who have experience with the city’s budget issues.
When asked for some ideas on how best to spend the rescue funds, Hall said clearing up the city’s dark streets would be a start.
Some city blocks are “Dark pools of nothingness”, he said. He would suggest adding more street lights or fixing those that are broken or turned off.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize that the city has its lights”, he said.
Hall said another idea was the sidewalk replacement. Much of what is repaired is in areas targeted to receive block community development grants, or in low to moderate income areas of the city.
Some of these sidewalk projects cost homeowners several thousand dollars a piece.
“For those who have already paid their property taxes, I would like the city to ask for subsidies for the replacement or repair of sidewalks. he said.
Hall’s independent sequence extends to masks and vaccines.
He promised never to support mandatory masking requirements.
“I will not support mandatory vaccine requirements imposed on American citizens and businesses at any level of government,” he said.
He added that he would continue to loudly denounce any attempt to impose vaccination passports everywhere.
“These grossly invasive mandates threaten our most basic and sacred rights as human beings and elected officials at all levels of government must remember that we, the people, are not the property of the government and that our taxes are not their fictitious money. “
Speaking about his time on the board, Hall cited his involvement in many quality of life improvements.
Some of these included projects such as adding affordable housing, senior housing, expanding downtown businesses, and improving transportation.
Some of the projects he was involved in included the transformation of the former Brodart warehouse on the 1600 block of Memorial Avenue into Memorial Homes, a 40-unit apartment complex with and with a view to continuing to use gasoline charges to improve surrounding neighborhoods.
He also supported efforts to secure Grove Street Commons, a senior housing complex in the East End.
Hall said he was a member of the council and helped facilitate with the former mayors the introduction of the downtown cinema and Kohl’s department store.
He said he had helped the area meet its parking needs by supporting the Church Street Bridge and the Trade and Transit Center II.
Also mindful of business, as a city councilor, he worked with the developers who built Pine Square, Liberty Arena and supported the conversion of a fleet of River Valley Transit buses to natural gas.
Hall has previously tried unsuccessfully to be mayor and lost in the primary to former mayor Gabriel J. Campana in 2015. During his campaign, Hall said he learned from locals that the heart of the city may be. – to be downtown, but that the pulse was its quarters. .
As a resident of Monroe Place, Hall supports the efforts of small business at the Pajama Factory on Rose Street and the arts and entertainment communities that occupy the facility.
During his tenure, he said, Hall often took the lead in budget sessions to ensure that what was passed made sense to the functioning of the city and the tax base.
During Hall’s previous tenure on council, the city was in the process of rebuilding its industrial and commercial areas. Among his accomplishments, he worked with other board members and administration on the resurfacing of Reach Road and the creation of a larger institutional area in and around the UPMC Williamsport campus.
“Voters get three votes for the city council”, he said. “I would be honored if they accepted any of these votes for me. “
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