Two more stores in Steamtown Mall closing (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: townhomes, bankruptcy)

[johnqpublic]

Have you read the plan?? I have a buck that says no..

Originally Posted by RestonRunner86

Urban sprawl killed Scranton---pure and simple. Your idiots at the helm had no clue about what "smart growth" was until it was too late. You can't "undo" Montage Mountain and Dickson City, nor can you have a vibrant Downtown competing with them both. Even now your city council president and her puppets voted against participating in a comprehensive multi-municipal long-range urban plan.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by Summering

Scrantons placement is just perfect so I hope it can become a vital town again. It will take a vision of faith, and a way to make it work.......Like a Market Commons in Greenville, NC or Myrtle Beach.

That is like comparing New York City to Sandwich New Hampshire..

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Have you read the plan?? I have a buck that says no..

I'll double down on that bet......

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Have you read the plan?? I have a buck that says no..

Originally Posted by weluvpa

I'll double down on that bet......

Has Janet Evans?

[weluvpa]

If the plan is going to cost us money, which it will, there is no reason to get involved AT ALL until the corp tax structure in this city is changed.

It will all be for not if the taxes stay the same and we have to spend money to redo our zoning in order to accommodate a plan that will do NOTHING FOR US in the current tax situation that the city is in.

WHY CAN'T YOU GET IT, NOTHING IS GOING TO WORK UNTIL THE TAX STRUCTURE IS CHANGED. You can hope and pray and jump up and down for new shops that open and close all day long and in the long run it matters to no one and only ends up hurting the business owners if they try and open anything within the city of Scranton.

I

[johnqpublic]

Weluva,
That has been my position on the total failure of PEL and DCED, the very first thing they should have done in the citys recovery plan was to totally revamp ALL the tax structure for the city. It would have been a logical first step.. But then again, PEL and DCED has NO interest in solving a municipalities distressed status because the would then not have a purpose to exist.. PEL is tied to Rendells old law firm.. PEL in itself is a bunch of bureaucratic bulls%$t

[johnqpublic]

P.S. Yes, I did read the plan!!

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by RestonRunner86

comprehensive multi-municipal long-range urban plan.

For the 8 millionth time, the SAPA is just a way for the Abingtons to push off "undesirable" development into Scranton and other valley towns and away from their Stepford subdivisions. I don't know how anyone in Scranton can think its a good idea to waste tax dollars on this debacle.

[blip]

Originally Posted by go phillies

For the 8 millionth time, please get it through your skull...the SAPA is just a way for the Abingtons to push off "undesirable" development into Scranton and other valley towns and out of their Stepford subdivisions. I don't know how anyone in Scranton can think its a good idea to waste tax dollars on this debacle.

I read a draft, and it seemed like a good plan overall.. I didn't think there was a cost to adopting it, it's just a suggested framework for future zoning, much of which makes perfect sense like restoring some density in the valley and slowing sprawl. And apparently adopting it opens up the doors to state funding.

The "undesirables" will probably move here as opposed to the Abingtons anyway. A regional plan just makes it more likely there will be some "desirables" left.

It's been over a year since I read it, so I'll admit the specifics are a bit hazy. But I live here, pay city taxes, and think the city should participate in a regional plan, even if there are costs.

[weluvpa]

The undesirables are business not individuals. Where would we get the funding for the costs of revamping our zoning and having the new zoning books designed and printed? Scranton is $350,000,000 in long term debt with an annual debt service payment of $16,000,000.

The plan is nothing and will accomplish nothing as long as Scranton Corp taxes stay the same...

My god people its a pretty simple idea to grasp, at least for those that have owned there own business, the corp taxes are oppressive and basically the reason that Moosic and Dickson City are doing so well.

Why would anyone ever want to open a business in a dead, ghost-town downtown atmosphere and pay HIGH corp taxes when they can open 3 or 4 miles away in a tax friendly municipality and still draw on the Scranton residents as well as the surrounding metro-plex of people?

Its funny that everyone has these grand plans for the downtown and every single one of you are looking past the BOTTOM LINE and into the clouds. Then you say "your nothing but doomers" when we talk about the city being a dump, tax nightmare and over all a dead entity. The bottom line is the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IN BUSINESS and it is what they watch, budget by and pay their employees with.

Ever wonder why the city is the way it is? Was it unicorns and fairy's that magically ruined the city? If it wasn't then why in the hell do you think that they can save it?

The city is doomed, the debt is so high that they can NEVER LOWER TAXES, so now we have spent ourselves in to the corner with no way out. No business will come because of the taxes and now we can't lower the taxes because the revenue(what little is left) is desperately needed to just stay on life support financially here in the city.

At this point there is nothing that can be done and the SAPA plan is just a unneeded expense that we will incur in order to protect the Abingtons from sprawl.

You don't really think that people up there care one bit about the city of Scranton do you? They want to push anything and everything they can down here so they don't have to deal with it up there. There have been a few major clean-ups in the Abingtons and they are done with it and want the companies down here in the valley and not in their back yards and that is it in a nutshell.