City landlord Virgil Argenta was repeatedly gaveled into silence.
Local activist Walter Griffith engaged in a shouting match with Mayor Tom Leighton.
And a crew of Boy Scouts attending Thursday night's city council session for a civics lesson got quite an education.
The issue that packed chambers to overflowing was fire house closures: Heights residents took Leighton to task for shutting their station on East Northampton Street and Denise Carey, who lives on that street, presented council with petitions containing more than 1,200 signatures, demanding the facility be re-opened.
"The closing of East Station was wrong, and it was reckless," Carey said. "You put about 3,000 children, elderly and disabled people at what we believe is a serious risk."p The city closed East Station on Oct. 20 after water from the building's leaking roof began flowing out of electrical equipment on the first floor, posing a fire hazard for firefighters who work and live there.
Thursday night, Wilkes-Barre Fire Fighters union President Tom Makar, who is also an assistant fire chief with the city, told the crowd that he agreed the station should be closed because of that risk, as well as for a second floor that has been closed because of the leaky roof for years and cramped and ill-constructed living quarters on the first floor.
The debate now is whether the city will merely fix the roof, estimated at about $11,000, fix the whole building, estimated at about $85,000, or tear the fire house down and build a new one.
The city closed Northeast Station about three months ago and has already decided not to fix it in the face of similarly daunting costs. Instead, Wilkes-Barre has budgeted $350,000 in 2005 for the building of a new station in the Hollenback Park area, to replace both the North and Northeast stations.
While several Heights residents argued that their station should be fixed and opened immediately, Leighton said (as he has in the past) that he would not throw band-aids on buildings or opt for quick fixes, but would instead look for real long-term solutions.
And fire chief Jacob Lisman went to great lengths to assure the crowd that response times to the Heights are still quick and that no Heights resident lives more than 1.3 miles from a station.
Argenta read a 10-minute speech (attached to 300 petition signatures) that attacked the city for closing the Northeast section, accused Lisman of lacking the qualifications to be chief and claimed it was improper for Makar to work as both assistant chief and union president.
His time before council done, Argenta interrupted a few times from the audience and was gaveled into silence.
Kadluboski, who is currently feuding with the city over his towing contract, came into chambers in dark sunglasses and a baseball cap with "FBI" emblazoned on it and started snapping pictures of each council member.
Later, he was granted two minutes to speak on the fire station issue but quickly digressed to council pay and benefits. When Council Chairwoman Kathy Kane tried to steer him back on track (after demanding he take off the hat and glasses), Kadluboski said, "Don't let your viciousness come out in the meeting," and when police Captain Tom Unvarsky was asked to escort him out, he said, "Keep your hands off me, you're violating my rights" and continued shouting about pensions before finally leaving with Unvarsky.
Griffith spoke on the firehouses as well, and then engaged in some shouting with Leighton, with whom he often tangles.
By the end, most audience members, shocked by all the antagonism, actually applauded Leighton and council on two occasions.
It was agreed that a Heights community group will be formed to discuss the fire station situation further.
