Five reasons why i hate Scranton (Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton: crime rates, purchasing, movies)

[lilyflower7]

Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native

Must be something in the air today. I agree with this.^^^

It always appears that Scranton Univ. keeps a very beautiful and well maintained campus, why wouldn't you want them to keep expanding by buying properties?

Although they may not pay what residents think they should in taxes, don't they provide revenue for the city in other areas? Doesn't Scranton have a wage tax?
The bigger the school = more employees = more taxes. Not to mention all of the money the school, the students, and employees spend in the city. I can't see how people could complain about this.

In some cases, it's pure jealousy. The U is probably the hardest local school to get accepted to, it's also an expensive school where the graduates typically go on to do very well for themselves (myself included ). I'm sure there's some resentment among people who wanted to go there and couldn't so let's make those rich snobs and out-of-staters pay because they're obviously rich.

I grew up in the Scranton area and The U, Marywood and the Med school really are the best things Scranton has going for it. Also, I'm betting the people employed at these institutions much prefer working there and receiving benefits than say working up at Wal-Mart on Rt. 6. They add buildings, they add jobs. Sure, a lot of the jobs added might require degrees (but a professor is going to pay way more in taxes than someone working at the craphole subway that used to be on Mulberry) but they also need janitors. Most schools tend to allow their employees and their dependents to go to school for free - a pretty major benefit in a crappy economy (and one that adds up significantly)

[bloominscranton]

Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native

Should all non-profits in Scranton pay taxes, or do you think just the Univ. of Scranton?

I clearly stated all! Yes, the med school is up and running and it also is taking over the Northeast Intermidate property, so if I was to stay and let my son go to middle school, he would be shipped to either South or West. By hey, the Med school is antother savior.

As far as jealousy, that is thrown around a lot here. Everytime it is, I laugh. Envy and jealousy is not the only factors people have to dislike something. Sorry I am not jealous, I was a student at the Nelson A. Rockfellar School of Public Policy and was accepted to Marywoods Master program. I was never interested in attending the U for school.

[bloominscranton]

Originally Posted by lilyflower7

In some cases, it's pure jealousy. The U is probably the hardest local school to get accepted to, it's also an expensive school where the graduates typically go on to do very well for themselves (myself included ). I'm sure there's some resentment among people who wanted to go there and couldn't so let's make those rich snobs and out-of-staters pay because they're obviously rich.

I grew up in the Scranton area and The U, Marywood and the Med school really are the best things Scranton has going for it. Also, I'm betting the people employed at these institutions much prefer working there and receiving benefits than say working up at Wal-Mart on Rt. 6. They add buildings, they add jobs. Sure, a lot of the jobs added might require degrees (but a professor is going to pay way more in taxes than someone working at the craphole subway that used to be on Mulberry) but they also need janitors. Most schools tend to allow their employees and their dependents to go to school for free - a pretty major benefit in a crappy economy (and one that adds up significantly)

Yes the Med school is fantastic, just ask all the students that are now going to be scattered all over the city from North. Not next year, but the year my son would be entering. Really a professor will pay more, a large majority do not live in the city. BTW, bragging never looks good.

[lilyflower7]

Originally Posted by bloominscranton

Yes the Med school is fantastic, just ask all the students that are now going to be scattered all over the city from North. Not next year, but the year my son would be entering. Really a professor will pay more, a large majority do not live in the city. BTW, bragging never looks good.

Interesting how you reply to everything but I wrote BUT my calling you out for ridiculous claims that students somehow cause fires and theft by their mere presence.

Yes, professors DO live in the city as well as the surrounding area and get this - they pay taxes and spend their income in the city which results in more revenue. I also love how again you chose to ignore the non-professor jobs with great benefits that these schools create for local citizens. (And really, a job that provides free tuition somewhere IS a great job. I personally would LOVE that benefit.) Even the med school you seem to hate so much has created admin jobs, facility type positions, payroll jobs etc that didn't exist in Scranton five years ago. Anything that creates jobs that pay more than retail and aren't in a call center is a good thing for not just Scranton but the entire northeast.

I can't speak to the middle school situation but being bussed somewhere is far from a hardship. Almost every district in Northeast PA has students as young as elementary school being bussed since most of the school districts are very large in area. A hardship is forcing kids to go school across town and not providing school buses.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by lilyflower7

I can't speak to the middle school situation but being bussed somewhere is far from a hardship. Almost every district in Northeast PA has students as young as elementary school being bussed since most of the school districts are very large in area. A hardship is forcing kids to go school across town and not providing school buses.

I don't know...one thing I like about Scranton is smaller neighborhood schools, but they seem to be chipping away at that little by little. In my kids' school that covers just our immediate neighborhood, there's a familiarity, and people know most of the other parents, teachers, principal, that you don't get in the suburban/rural mega schools where kids ride a bus for 20 minutes to get to school.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by bloominscranton

Yes the Med school is fantastic, just ask all the students that are now going to be scattered all over the city from North. Not next year, but the year my son would be entering.

I don't think that will happen for a while. They'll have to build a new middle school first. There is no way there is enough room to fit all of Northeast Intermediate's students into South and West.

Although this does tick me off when the school district gives away one of its buildings for a song, and then we get a bill for building a new school. This sounds like what they did with Central all over again. Another excuse for lots of crony construction contracts, and the requisite kickbacks.

SSD should think about taking North Scranton Intermediate back and making that back into a middle school....its a beautiful building, and apparently Goodwill is never going to do anything with it.

[lilyflower7]

Wait, so the supposed evil busing didn't even happen yet?

Regarding the smaller schools vs. new schools: SSD wanted a new fancy high school because the suburban districts had them. That's the main reason that school was built, not any reason about Central being inadequate or whatever. I do think LJC should've had to pay more for the building but if they didn't buy it, it'd probably be sitting there empty languishing away. Outside of the school areas, there's not a great demand for large real estate parcels in the city. (Downtown Scranton alone proves that.). Think of it, who would've bought the building/land Central was on if LJC didn't? The evil land-grabbing U? Some other non-profit? It's not like Scranton is overrun with developers chomping at the bit. You can't build a giant new office building in an area where there's no demand for it from businesses. (Okay, technically you can but it's a dumb business decision.)

I do generally think smaller schools are great but they're way more expensive to run in the longer term than the larger ones. It's really hard to share services like art/music/guidance/etc among smaller schools if they're not very close geographically. (It can be done - but it's hard.) Plus, fixed costs such as heat, light, etc, tend to be higher.

[Mr Yuk]

Actually I think the school district would still be using Central if it wasn't handed off to LJC....these things seem scripted....the school district says that a building is inadequate, it gets handed off to connected cronies for a song, then they have to build a new building, which mean construction contracts for connected cronies, and kickbacks. This appears to be the script for handing off Northeast Intermediate to the med school....and the sheeple buy the BS.

[lilyflower7]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Actually I think the school district would still be using Central if it wasn't handed off to LJC....these things seem scripted....the school district says that a building is inadequate, it gets handed off to connected cronies for a song, then they have to build a new building, which mean construction contracts for connected cronies, and kickbacks. This appears to be the script for handing off Northeast Intermediate to the med school....and the sheeple buy the BS.

Didn't they start building the new high school BEFORE they handed the building off? I'm going by memory here so I may be wrong. I remember Scranton High was a LONG time in the making/planning stages and it was primarily because they claimed how decrepit Central and Tech were.

It's always seemed to me that there's a lot of one district deciding to do something and all the other nearby districts following suit. One of the suburban districts builds a new school and all the nearby districts do the same. I remember in the 90s how one district decided to implement uniforms and suddenly every school district had them.

[sp2007]

One reason I hate Scranton is how they've been treating Michael Scott. That poor man is just trying to run a paper business in town and is a life-long resident. Now he has to relocate because of how the town has been treating him. And now its Deangelo Vickers? What a disgrace Scranton, clean up your act!



***If you didn't get it, that was a joke.