WILKES-BARRE ---You may wonder where the cash-strapped city of Wilkes-Barre found the $419,000 dollars to demolish Hotel Sterling.
Action 16 Investigative Reporter Dave Bohman discovered most of the cost of demolition came from a grant that was given to help the city preserve the building.
Hazleton Mayor Joe Yanuzzi wanted applied for the grant money to start a city-wide surveillance system, like the one Wilkes-Barre uses, according to a 2010 gaming funds grant proposal.
Hazleton also asked for money to upgrade Broad Street light poles but the proposal was rejected. Yet the state granted $290,000 to Wilkes-Barre to secure Hotel Sterling until an investor could step forward to renovate the building.
Click here all our Newswatch 16 stories on the Hotel Sterling.