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Some recent discussion has attempted to claim that our newspaper is negligent in our coverage of the condition of the City Hall building at 245 W. Fourth St.
The truth of the matter is the Williamsport Sun-Gazette has, in its hundreds of articles about local government in the past five years, published dozens of articles that address the condemnation of the City Hall building -- dozens of articles that have reported many of the details our detractors insist we have not reported.
We've reported about the condition of the building, with our own staff sinking their fingers into badly deteriorated drywall from years of the city's neglect. We've reported on the role compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act plays in likely costs of renovating the building, on the mechanics of the city as one entity "renting" space from other entities directly connected to the city government, about the city's financial standing and where federal and state spending go and on many more aspects of this situation.
We've aired the viewpoints of the mayor and people within the city government and outside of the city government who are skeptical that the property is worth renovating. We've aired the viewpoints of people inside and outside of our city government who believe "saving City Hall" should be a priority. That coverage includes, most recently, an article in our July 17 edition, as well as articles in our Feb. 22, 2025 edition and our Oct. 26, 2023 edition, just for some of the examples where our reporting went into greater detail about the arguments in favor of preservation.
We are proud that our reporting has respected the variety of opinions and perspectives on the issue and we are proud that our reporting has treated all sides of the issue fairly -- even when some people have sought to absurdly insist that adopting their own biases is what unbiased reporting somehow would look like.
We will continue to report on local government fairly, without choosing sides or arguments, in our news coverage. We will report fairly even when one side is unfair in how they misrepresent our hard work -- because the voters of Williamsport and Lycoming County deserve fair, accurate reporting on what their governments are doing.