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Luzerne County Sees Casino Money Put To Use

Millions of dollars in gaming money is going toward repair and cleanup projects in our area. Some projects are almost finished but others haven’t yet brok...

Millions of dollars in gaming money is going toward repair and cleanup projects in our area. Some projects are almost finished but others haven't yet broken ground.

Newswtach 16 found construction crews drilling away at the Pittston Memorial Library off Broad Street. They're building a new community room, a reading room for kids and even a playground outside.  The expansion is partly funded by a half-million dollars in casino money.

"It's wonderful, because it would have been another year, at least, to raise the money. So that's one-third of the cost of the whole building,” said Anne Hogya of the Pittston Memorial Library.

The project should double the library's size, something people who use the library say they look forward to.

"Very excited, more space for people to be at,” said Steven Molinaro of Pittston.

"I hope the library does get bigger. I mean I’d like to see a lot more of what I was looking for over there,” said Linda of Pittston.

Crews expect to finish this project in June.

People in Plymouth Township are still waiting for construction to start on a new Coal Street bridge.  Flash flooding washed out the bridge over Coal Creek in July 2011. Since then, the township has received $275,000  in casino money to replace the bridge.

“We'd all like to see it fixed, because that's a temporary bridge,” said Gary Neupauear  of Plymouth Twp.

In Nanticoke, the city was given more than $400,000 to improve its sewer lines and streetscapes.  The city says those projects will start in the next couple of weeks.

"It's going to align some streets we hope and it's going to beautify and make it a much nicer downtown,” said Andrew Gegaris, Nanticoke City Manager.

The city expects the sewer line upgrades to be completed by the end of the summer and the streetscaping sometime next year.

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