Replace Jeff Cusat with Donald Mason as Hazleton mayor in 2024. Mason4Mayor

The following are just some of the polcies that my administration will be working on if you elect me as your next mayor as we must work together as a community to increase our quality-of-life, ensure that our resident and visitors feel safe, increase infrastructure, revitalize our business district to attract visitors and increase sales within our businesses, and decrease crime.

MY ADMINISTRATION WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING AREAS & MORE. 

1). WORKING WITH THE PEOPLE: My administration will provide updates to residents about how as a government we are working on your major concerns. This includes the actions taken, the status of those actions, the resourcse being used towards resolving those concerns, and what we need from you to help progress towards an acceptable resolution. This is key. This is how a team works. This is communication. This is how government should work - for you the people!

2). BIPARTISAN  GOVERNMENT: Create an atmosphere of Bipartisan unity. All proposed changes to city government, either fiscally or operationally will be discussedd with city council members to generate the best ideas and to impliment the best strategies to ensure that our community is best served. This is the only way to ensure complete transparency. At no time will you discover that I have transferred money from a pension fund to another city account without discussing it with council members.

3). REVIEW AND IMPROVEENT OF ORDINANCES: To work with city council members in conducting a comprehensive review of all codes and amend them accordingly to what makes the most sense. Codes will be reviewed and updated to ensure that they are uniform in all areas. As such, this ensures that the city council is fully knowledgeable of our city ordinances since they are the legislative body and responsible for Hazleton's varied ordinances. 

4). REVITALIZE DOWNTOWN: To revitilize our business districts in order to increase the flow of commerce, which increases our taxable revenues which can be used to reduce the city's debt, maintain parks and playgrounds, increase jobs, and other areas that can be positively impacted.

5). RESOURCES: To provide readily accessable resources for veterans and those in crisis. Whether this be mental health or other life stressors you should have access to the resources that you need. 

6). INCLUSIVITY: To create an environment of inclusivity that embraces all cultures, people, & creeds at all times with the same level of equality & respect that any of us would expect from another human being; especially your government and its' leaders.

In the military we wear a uniform; that uniform is a badge of honor. Children look at us like we are super hero's, some teenagers see us while in uniform and think to themselves that someday they want to be one of us, most adults look at us and realize that they remain free because of the people in uniform, and those in need both in the United States and in other countries, look to us in times of need. In short, to wear the uniform is special because it is a badge of honor. As such, I honored every day I was fortunate enough to wear my uniform and as such to act any other than with integrity, ethics, and morals would have disgraced myself, my brothers and sisters in arms, my unit, my command, the military, and all of you. Given this mindset, I demand that all whom I lead also maintain these standards and to ensure this I hold everyone accountable to include myslef; therefore, ACCOUNTABILITY IS A MUST AND TRANSPARENCY ENSURES ACCOUNTABILITY. 

MAYOR CUSAT: A LACK OF TRANSPARENCY & INTEGRITY. In a 2018 interview Mayor Cusat made several claims which included a reduction in crime by 44%, but from the crime statistics I found this is not true. To be more clear, crime statistics can vary according to whether the population increases or decreases. But there are many more variables that can impact crime rates to include: community involvement, economy, employment opportunities and stability, change in ages of that population, policing shortages or increases, methods of policing, and much more. But a general rule of measurement is that if the population regardless of of an increase or decrease in a communities population if policing has not changed then it is expected that neither will crime. THE FOLLOWING IS WHAT I FOUND: 

YEAR   Population     Violent Crime Murder  Rape  Robbery   Assualt  Property  Burglary  Larceny    

 2016       24,954                  376.1           4           32.4     182            157.7        1456          505.6      841.3

 2017       24,882                  370.7           4.1         28.5     105.9        232.2       1238.3       334         778

 2018       24,812                  474.9           NR        44.6     105.5        324.7        929.5        292.2      491.1

Total Change (3Yrs):        +98.8             0        +12.2     -76.5         +167        -525.5       -213.4    -350.2

The above numbers represent reports per 1,000 residents and are not indicative of the actual number of crimes that occured but instead per a larger subset. These crime statistics reflect a decrease in Hazleton's population showing for the most part an increase in violent crimes and a decrease in property type crimes. If added together in a lump sum the per capita numbers show a reduction of 888.6 from a 2016 sum total of 3,552.1 to a revised total of 2662,5 in 2018. 

Mayor Cusat stated in his 2019 interview that there was a 44% reduction of crime; however the numbers infer that a 44% decrease would equate to 1,562.44 and not 888.6, which is only 25%. Further, the crimes that impact us most, especially since Hazleton has been labled as a "dangerous city", show an increase of almost 100% in violent crimes and a 28% increase in Rapes. Further, the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), which compares crimes to other regions and the Commonwealth of PA indicates that Hazleton City is in fact more heavily impacted by crimes (+25% Violent, +12% Property) .

                      Hazeton      Scranton - Wilkes    Pennsylvania

Violent               25                      16.6                         19.1

Property            29.6                   25.4                        26.2

By all apearances Mayor Cusat has not been as forthcomming as he should be when officially reporting statistics that are favorable during an election year, when in fact what is being reported appears false; and this leads to his claims of running a "Transparent" office.

TRANSPARENCY OF MAYOR CUSAT: There are published reports that bring into question that Cusat is not transparent and acts in a deceptive manner as mayor. As reported by the Times Leader in a 23 OCT 2016 article, Cusat transferred $500,000 of pension monies to another account to avoid having to take a loan out for the city. Cusat stated this was legal but he had in fact not discussed this with City Council members. In fact, in this case transparency by Cusat was in question when Council Member Sosar stated the following  “That may be true and I’m not questioning that it might make sense,” said Sosar. “But, you didn’t bring this to council; once again, we are lacking transparency.” 

INTEGRITY OF MAYOR CUSAT: Where Cusats' transfer of monies from a pension fund may have been legal it did in fact lack transparency, and this goes to the core question as to whether Cusat can be trusted as your mayor; in other words what is Cusat's level of integrity.

Whereas Cusat claimed a 44% decrease in crime in 2019 which appears to be untruthful, he also in that very same interview claimed that the number one compliant of Hazleton residents was that 51% were upset about the noise, more specifically the music; and he planned to work aggresively with the chief of police. However, the last tangibel change to the ordinance that was designed to combat nuisance iccues such as loud music was passed in 2013 and no ammedment appears to have been passed to date. As this was in 2013 and the noise compiant of 51% was reported in 2019 by Cusat himself, it is reasonable to assume that these 2019 complainst were about music before or after the 10PM - 7AM ordinance. As such, if Cusat was already mayor for 4 years and since his interview has been mayor for more than 2 years, he has not addressed the concerns of that 51% of Hazleton's populus. 

SUMMARY: From the few examples provided above as it relates to transparency, integrity, and the ability to actually follow through with his campaign promises, Cusat appears to have failed in all these areas and cannot be trusted to lead the city of hazleton in the future.    

Quality-of-Life is essential and under my administration all Hazletonians will enjoy an increased quality-of-life that addresses excessive speeding, loud music, and any other issues impacting how we feel safe; and this will be at all times of the day, not just 10PM to 7AM. But Quality-of-life can only get better when the city's leader, the mayor, takes a proactive approach an actually does something, instead of making empty promises over his past 2 terms in office.

MY POLICY ON POLICING is that the Hazleton City Police department has a leader, a chief of police, and my policy is to let that leader do his job with minimal input from my office. As mayor and a former law enforcement officer with two decades of experience in law enforcement, I do have an understanding of what policing entails but to tell the chief of police how to do his job would be inappropriate. However, with my experience in policing I have a better understanding of law enforcement than the averarge politician and therefore I can understand the needs of the police department. That stated, as the city's top leader the welfare of Hazletonians is of my upmost concern, and as such it is my intent to work closely with all department heads to include the chief of police to ensure that all concerns of our citizens, to include quality-of-life, are properly protected through efficient and effective policies. 

My administration plans to embrace all members from all walks of life. As with the term "transparent" meaning "clear" or having the ability to "see through", every member of this community must be seen clearly and embraced accordingly. At no time will someone be treated differently because of their race, language barrier, creed, color of their skin, or the life choice they make; and they will be afforded the same advantages and opportunities that every Hazletonian deserves.