LeHigh Valley/Allentown...The Good and The Bad (Philadelphia, Bethlehem: transplants, 2009)

[Miss C.J.]

Currently my husband and I live in Bellingham, WA and for a variety of reasons we want to move back east. The LeHigh Valley/Allentown area is looking pretty attractive to us right now.

So what do you love about living here and what do you not love so much? This thread is not meant to turn into a "bashing" thread, but simply looking for honest opinions and things that you believe a newcomer to the valley would benefit from knowing.

For example, in Bellingham one of the things that drives me crazy, is the lenght of traffic lights in some areas. You can be sitting at a red light for a solid 5 minutes before it changes to green. Not only is this tedious and time consuming, not to mention wasteful of gas, but it can be dangerous as people tend to take crazy chances in running red lights.

One of the things I do love is the freshness and availability of produce in grocery stores.

So what are your pet peeves and loves?

[toobusytoday]

Ahh, how do I love thee, Lehigh Valley

I like the friendliness of my small town, Coopersburg. I like how I live less the 10 minutes from grocery stores and less then 15 from the Promenade Shops, the library where I work and the Kohl's and Target in Quakertown. I love our schools and how as a parent, I've been welcome to participate. I've had two kids graduate from Southern Lehigh High School, one that teaches in the system and my youngest who is now in HS. Small schools worked well for us. There's a great farmers market on Saturday's in the Summer and we recently joined a Lehigh Valley Food Co-op to get some locally made organic products. The grocery stores are getting MUCH better about getting some interesting ethnic and organic food, especially Wegmans and Fresh Market. When my kids were younger they were involved in sports and scouts. I also love the beauty of the area. The rolling hills are beautiful and unless they are snow covered, fun to drive on.

Driving is easy around here too. We lived in a much busier area before and traffic here just doesn't compare. I'm not sure about the lights being timed because I don't go through the city's often enough to pay attention!

Things I don't like- the new developments eating up our farmland and I think new residents that brought their city driving tendencies and some strange habits like not putting their carts away in the grocery store. I also don't like how the winters seem to be getting longer. They should end in March at the latest.

[mattjd]

There is not much to dislike about the LV. Great schools, cheap housing, jobs, highways, close to jersey, nyc, philly, etc. There is a bit of a surge in crime recently. Also, there has been an influx in illegals recently, which has brought with it some nasty gangs, like MS-13, in Allentown. The city is a dump and few people move here to live in that sad, pathetic place. One thing you might have a problem with is that people here are very local in their thinking. PA is a very rural state for the most part and very conservative...even the Democrats are pro gun, anti gay marriage, and pro life. this isn't the place for wild-eyed liberals from the west coast. I doubt you'd enjoy it here if you're looking for that type of lifestyle. This has been an issue with people from NJ and NYC moving here. There is a lot of animosity from real PA residents towards the transplants. Your best bet is to lie and say you're from Ohio. You will fit right in and will be welcomed here. There is a very midwestern mindset amongst a lot of the people. If they think you're from jersey or nyc you will be an outcast and shunned. I'm not exaggerating either. Nobody will play with your kids, nobody will talk to you, people will give you dirty looks, and, at best, mumble a "hello" then quickly move on. I hope I'm not scaring you away from a decent area, but this is a common issue. You can read about it on the boards, not just in the Lehigh Valley, but also in NEPA, Lancaster, York, etc. Now, if you move to Philly and their burbs, they are usually more accepting towards transplants. I hope I helped. Good luck.

[toobusytoday]

Geez, I'm not sure that did help Matt!

I'm not sure how conservative we really are - This whole area went for Obama in the election, with isolated exceptions. I have had absolutely no problem making friends. Some areas are probably more unwelcoming then others, but I haven't felt so welcomed as I have here and I've lived in four other states and three other counties here in PA.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Geez, I'm not sure that did help Matt!

I'm not sure how conservative we really are - This whole area went for Obama in the election, with isolated exceptions. I have had absolutely no problem making friends. Some areas are probably more unwelcoming then others, but I haven't felt so welcomed as I have here and I've lived in four other states and three other counties here in PA.

Well, I kind of meant the state as a whole. I think PA is pretty socially conservative, don't you? It was rated the no.1 pro-life state for 2009. We have a lot of hunters and we're a pretty decent state for gun rights. I certainly cant see gay marriage even being an issue in PA for years to come. I mean, if I'm wrong please let me know. I'm just going by what I see. I certainly wouldn't put PA Democrats in the same boat with Jersey or NYC Democrats...or even the West Coast Demorats in CA, Oregon, and Washington.

Maybe I exaggerated and sounded a bit absolute about the transplant thing. Clearly not EVERYONE is going to have problems. Perhaps it's only 30% or less, I don't know. But, those who have experienced problems have been vocal about it, even in the LV and NEPA forums and the OP usually gets a dozen or more people that say they've experienced similar things. I've also seen these things happen with my own eyes here. I wasn't trying to bash the LV, but just give some info about what some other people have experienced. Heck, I love it here, but it's not ALL roses and rt.22 isn't paved in gold. Sure, financially the situation is way better than jersey and NYC with taxes, housing costs, schools, etc. but their is a fair amount of nastiness towards outsiders. Maybe you've just seen past all that and only look at the good in people!

[Flatulence]

I moved to Easton several years ago, from NY and found all my neighbors to be quite welcoming. I've become very good friends with them all. I have found the same type of relationships with business people and most folks in general. I always feel in life people generally treat me the way I do them, in this case, very nice

[Miss C.J.]

Originally Posted by mattjd

There is not much to dislike about the LV. Great schools, cheap housing, jobs, highways, close to jersey, nyc, philly, etc. There is a bit of a surge in crime recently. Also, there has been an influx in illegals recently, which has brought with it some nasty gangs, like MS-13, in Allentown. The city is a dump and few people move here to live in that sad, pathetic place. One thing you might have a problem with is that people here are very local in their thinking. PA is a very rural state for the most part and very conservative...even the Democrats are pro gun, anti gay marriage, and pro life. this isn't the place for wild-eyed liberals from the west coast. I doubt you'd enjoy it here if you're looking for that type of lifestyle. This has been an issue with people from NJ and NYC moving here. There is a lot of animosity from real PA residents towards the transplants. Your best bet is to lie and say you're from Ohio. You will fit right in and will be welcomed here. There is a very midwestern mindset amongst a lot of the people. If they think you're from jersey or nyc you will be an outcast and shunned. I'm not exaggerating either. Nobody will play with your kids, nobody will talk to you, people will give you dirty looks, and, at best, mumble a "hello" then quickly move on. I hope I'm not scaring you away from a decent area, but this is a common issue. You can read about it on the boards, not just in the Lehigh Valley, but also in NEPA, Lancaster, York, etc. Now, if you move to Philly and their burbs, they are usually more accepting towards transplants. I hope I helped. Good luck.

Thanks for your input Matt, I sure appreciate it! Can you give me a clue as to what areas of town to avoid as far as the gangs are concerned?

I couldn't help but smile when I read your comment about "wild-eyed liberals from the west coast". I guess I should fit right in because I'm certainly not one of them! I'm definitely anti-gay marriage and pro-life. Now, that being said, I'm also Catholic and as such do my best to love everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, etc. I have a number of gay friends whom I love dearly and they are among some of the nicest, sweetest and most compassionate people I have ever met. So what can I do? Very easy, I can love them and pray for them as I would do for anyone else Hate never solves anything, not to mention that it does not come from a good place. No don't get me wrong, I'm hardly a saint and I don't love *everyone* perfectly, but I try.

[toobusytoday]

The gangs are in the city's, not the towns, at least not here. I've heard that they are a problem in the North East section of the state too, outside of the city's. Pick a city, any city...Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Philadelphia, NYC, etc and you will probably find gangs. That doesn't mean that there aren't nice sections of the city or that we should avoid them. I drove into Allentown Friday and into Bethlehem on Saturday.

I don't really like calling people liberals or conservatives or putting them in boxes. I am a registered Democrat but tend to vote the person, not the party. I teach Sunday School and work at a library. My daughter went to a Christian College and all of us think a person's sexual orientation is their own business. I've never owned a gun and would not keep one in my house. I prefer to judge people on their sense of humor and their kindness. Those are the two qualities I hope newcomers bring with them - you'll need 'em!

[KristyLiz]

Originally Posted by mattjd

There is a lot of animosity from real PA residents towards the transplants. Your best bet is to lie and say you're from Ohio. You will fit right in and will be welcomed here. There is a very midwestern mindset amongst a lot of the people. If they think you're from jersey or nyc you will be an outcast and shunned. I'm not exaggerating either. Nobody will play with your kids, nobody will talk to you, people will give you dirty looks, and, at best, mumble a "hello" then quickly move on. I hope I'm not scaring you away from a decent area, but this is a common issue. You can read about it on the boards, not just in the Lehigh Valley, but also in NEPA, Lancaster, York, etc. Now, if you move to Philly and their burbs, they are usually more accepting towards transplants. I hope I helped. Good luck.

I don't know WHAT you're talking about! I moved to Lower Macungie a year and a half ago and find this area very welcoming (I hail from Long Island!).

In fact, I've lived in 3 different areas of PA (Philly burbs being one of them) and can honestly say that it was easiest to make friends here. Because so many of us are transplants, we are more interested in making friends and meeting people.

[KristyLiz]

Originally Posted by Miss C.J.

I couldn't help but smile when I read your comment about "wild-eyed liberals from the west coast". I guess I should fit right in because I'm certainly not one of them! I'm definitely anti-gay marriage and pro-life.

I will tell you that your views on these issues are not the majority in this area. I used to live in Northeast PA, and up there your views would be more widely accepted.