City officials are concerned about the deteriorated condition of a retaining wall in the 400 block of Mercer Street. They fear that the condition of the wall might eventually force the closing of the inbound lane of the busy roadway.

This wall is in the same part of the city as the Cleveland Street wall that collapsed last April while in the center of a dispute over who was responsible for repairs - adjacent property owners or the city.

The Cleveland Street residents in question said city workers' past repairs to that wall and painting of railing indicated acknowledgment by the city that the city is the owner; city solicitor Jim Coulter provided a legal opinion that wall replacement is the responsibility of the property owners.

It apparently will take courts to finally decide the Cleveland Street ownership and responsibility questions. One issue is whether the city can claim no responsibility for a facility built for it by a federal entity; the city, not specific individuals, was targeted by the federal money used for the work. The wall was built under the Works Progress Administration, which was launched during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

How the Mercer Street wall issue will play out remains to be seen. However, the city council has said that if adjacent property owners don't make the needed repairs quickly, the city might have to make the repairs, then try to recoup the cost of the work from the property owners.

According to the council, if that is unsuccessful, the city would consider filing a lien against the adjacent properties.

Although the city has remained steadfast that the responsibility for Cleveland Street wall repairs lies with the property owners, and now says that the same holds true for the Mercer Street wall, officials have found justification - the income level of Cleveland Street residents - for using federal grant money to replace the Cleveland Street structure. But there has been no indication to date that the same repair scenario could be invoked for Mercer Street.

The Mercer Street Wall is the latest testimony to Butler's crumbling infrastructure and current and past city officials' inattentiveness to evolving problems. The Mercer Street wall's problems didn't make themselves visible overnight.

And, while the council has been quick to note the purported responsibility of adjacent property owners in regard to the Mercer Street wall problem, council members have chosen not to emphasize the fact that a water problem that is a serious factor in the roadway's deterioration in that area needs attention also.

Unfortunately, the broader picture isn't being acknowledged- far too long a standard operating procedure for this city's government.

Amid the dispute over the Cleveland Street wall, the council made no commitment to make badly needed repairs to the street surface once the wall is rebuilt - despite the fact that the street's condition portrays Butler as a city still hopelessly locked in the Great Depression.

It's time for the city government to start being as aggressive in facing up to the city's problems and responsibilities - those for which it has the indisputable responsibility - as it is in telling its property owners what they have to do and by when they have to do it.

An immediate threat of liens - rather than positive, open-minded discussion with everyone involved, to try to achieve understanding and good will - isn't a good way to initiate an effort at which a quick, successful conclusion is being sought.