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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 02-13-2012, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Berwick, Penna.
16,214 posts, read 11,243,600 times
Reputation: 20827

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Quote:
Originally Posted by son of a coal miner View Post

I am speaking about most of the areas of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. The poconos are nice, as are some of the suburban sprawl around Scranton and the back mountain. But even those nice areas are strangled by horrible county government.
We took a huge step toward getting rid of that embarrassment last year, but change takes time.


Whether we admit it or not, the Wyoming Yalley of 1970 was extremely provincial, and in ways that are like nowhere else in the USA. Agnes was the first step in a long, slow, but generally progressive transformation.


"Trick-or-treating in a Bar" (see my posts on "that" thread) and "Polka Joyland" are about as far away from preesnt-day urban culture as you can get. And that sort of thing attracts its own reactionary following. Add in a long history of bizarre criminality and sensational trials, and it's no wonder the area has problems with its reputation.


That is life in the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys -- warts and all. A region's character is even harder to modify than an individual's. But there are areas nearby which offer "more and better" and the long-term trends have been acting in our favor for quite a few years now. We can't (and don't have to) paper over the gritty side.

 
Old 02-13-2012, 01:12 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 22 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,869 posts, read 32,134,743 times
Reputation: 67731
I suffer from no delusions, nor do my friends. We are involved in productive groups and organizations that seek to improve and edify the quality of life of the area that we call home.

Historical groups, art groups, preservation societies, neighborhood watch groups,inclusinarry organizations such as those supporting the rights of Gay people here in the Valley, and places of worship. We enjoy a variety of upscale themed parties through out the year. We are well educated and involved in the education of our children. We are welcoming to outsiders and inclusive by nature. My friends here are Democrats, Republicans, independents,Catholics, Lutherans, Unitarians, Unity Church members, Jews, Methodists and others. We are White, Black and Asian. Gay and Straight.

We see a future for Wilkes-Barre and all of NEPA, and yet we treasure and seek to preserve it's illustrious and rich past.

We are pro-growth, pro-city, and in general against apathy and negativity. I have honestly met some of the nicest most visionary and progressive people here in NEPA!

It is a spendid place to live!
 
Old 02-13-2012, 01:51 PM
 
Location: Drama Central
4,083 posts, read 9,053,434 times
Reputation: 1893
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12 View Post
I suffer from no delusions, nor do my friends. We are involved in productive groups and organizations that seek to improve and edify the quality of life of the area that we call home.

Historical groups, art groups, preservation societies, neighborhood watch groups,inclusinarry organizations such as those supporting the rights of Gay people here in the Valley, and places of worship. We enjoy a variety of upscale themed parties through out the year. We are well educated and involved in the education of our children. We are welcoming to outsiders and inclusive by nature. My friends here are Democrats, Republicans, independents,Catholics, Lutherans, Unitarians, Unity Church members, Jews, Methodists and others. We are White, Black and Asian. Gay and Straight.

We see a future for Wilkes-Barre and all of NEPA, and yet we treasure and seek to preserve it's illustrious and rich past.

We are pro-growth, pro-city, and in general against apathy and negativity. I have honestly met some of the nicest most visionary and progressive people here in NEPA!

It is a spendid place to live!


Yep Scranton is full of people that think they are like you think you are and they have been electing the same idiots over and over again to see the "progressive, pro-growth, pro-city...BLAH BLAH BLAH

Every single one is blinded by the delusional ideas of this utopian society existing here in NEPA and they back, vote and support the tiniest group of people based on the BS they fed them through the local paper and FOR WHAT?

$350,000,000 in long term debt and a city that cannot pay its debts and is hovering on bankruptcy to suit the desires of a few delusional idiots that think this is Little Manhattan.....

The UNREALISTIC PERCEPTION of what you think you do to can change this region to fit your ideals so that YOUR NEW HOME is what you want it to be......Plain and simply delusional...

Its hysterical to be honest, someone moves here for two years at best and feels that because they want to and get involved they can change centuries of culture and traits to suit their desires.

Remember you moved here because you supposedly loved it, IF YOU LOVE IT THEN WHY TRY TO CHANGE IT? If your move was so great and house is perfect why are you moving already?

This whole thread is cry for attention, bored?
 
Old 02-13-2012, 02:31 PM
 
12 posts, read 17,119 times
Reputation: 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by weluvpa View Post

Remember you moved here because you supposedly loved it, IF YOU LOVE IT THEN WHY TRY TO CHANGE IT? If your move was so great and house is perfect why are you moving already?

This whole thread is cry for attention, bored?
 
Old 02-13-2012, 03:11 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 22 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,869 posts, read 32,134,743 times
Reputation: 67731
Quote:
Originally Posted by PoconoPete View Post
my list is not as "intellectually stimulating" as yours, but I

donate my time & skills to Habitat for Humanity,
donate food & money to homeless shelters,
hire "down on their luck" types now and again to do labor jobs around my house and business.,
Funny thing is, I don't notice many Gay, Alternative, Liberal-Arts Degreed or Afternoon-Tea Types volunteering around the places I provide DIRECT ASSISTANCE to..

But then again, what I do and where I do it - does not shine very well in glossy air-brushed brochures.
I do volunteer work also, through my church mainly. I think it's admirable that you donate your skills to Habitat for Humanity. It's one of my favorite organizations!

My son went to Slidel Louisiana, a couple of years after hurricane Katrina, along with my husband and others from our church back in Stony Brook NY.
I didn't go because my daughter at the dime was deemed to young to participate. They did some clean up and construction with Habitat for Humanity.

Yo may think I am an afternoon Tea type whatever that might be, but actually, I am not at all afraid to get my hands dirty in the service of others. As I said, I would have gone, but since the work was a little dangerous, my daughter would not have been able to participate. (their rules not mine)

If you send me a link to Habitat in the Valley, I know that our whole family would love to donate our time and skills. My daughter and I can paint,( and no not pictures, but that too) my husband knows roofing, siding and plastering. My son does anything.

We would be happy to volunteer with you!

Keep up the good work!
 
Old 02-13-2012, 03:25 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 22 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,869 posts, read 32,134,743 times
Reputation: 67731
Oh and I'm not trying to change anything about the area. But, to give an analogy - you build a house. Nice. But you just can't let it sit there. It needs maintenance and upkeep, right?

Perhaps the home was built, for argument's sake, in the 1920s. You may need to up grade the electric, in the 1960s to support larger refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, dryers, and air conditioners.

Then you may need to replace windows because you are losing heat. Now in the 2000s, everyone has a computer. The home will need to be upgraded to support the internet, and perhaps multiple TVs, a microwave oven and other appliances and devices.

No need to tear the whole house down! Perhaps the house has an ice porch, with an actual ice box in it. My friends does. Since she does not need ice deliveries, she has re- purposed the space as a computer room. But, she kept the ice box! Nice bit of history. Nice conversation piece.

Think of that house as The Valley or NEPA. People such as myself, do not want to turn it into Disney World or NYC or LA - we just want to maintain and support it, and help it to continue to thrive and to be a viable and attractive place to live for our children and our children's children.

Is that a bad thing?
 
Old 02-13-2012, 05:23 PM
 
Location: Drama Central
4,083 posts, read 9,053,434 times
Reputation: 1893
Even thinking that this area would be a good place for your children or their kids is INSANE. My son is going to college(out of the area) and he isn't going to come back here as long as I'm alive unless its to bury his mother and I.

I will not allow my son to throw opportunity away by coming backed to this shathole.

You will learn sooner or later that what little good you tried to do was for not.

At some point it becomes more cost effective to bulldoze the home and start over. You'll never get out what you put in to it.
 
Old 02-13-2012, 07:41 PM
 
23 posts, read 56,384 times
Reputation: 34
Both my grandparent were coal miners in the region.
Ms. Sheena is way off on her Utopia thinking!

You do not come into an town and say" People you have to do this you have to do that to change!" I assure you any town will be glad to see you leave. The old South is no different as is most towns. Maybe you would do better in Crazifornia were Progressive thinking is embraced!

If you do not like how it is now your almighty presence and words will not change what Generational Mentality exists here just because your a newcomer and want to be involved. Point blank your an outsider-you will not be heard by the Political Corruption that has deeper routes than any coal vane in the state. I repeat- Your and Outside- you always will be one.

It maybe hard to understand coming from an area where live embraced diversity - but this area is very very old school. Those of us who sound negative understand the system well. We have lived here as our parents and grandparents. We see, hear and have experienced the corruption, the countless promises, let downs, betrayals and deceit that is ongoing. It drains you, it breaks you down and yes you become what we have become. Why do you think many of us do not want our children to live here?

Give yourself another few years to understand. Between myself,mother and grandparents-we have over 100 years of life experience of the region.

Last edited by toobusytoday; 02-14-2012 at 01:51 PM.. Reason: edited comment about orphaned post and took out the "honey"
 
Old 02-13-2012, 07:56 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 22 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,869 posts, read 32,134,743 times
Reputation: 67731
Actually, Victorian Lady, I kind of like the Retro Vibe of the area. There is a certain old time feeling here that is very relaxing, enjoyable and soothing.

I don't want to change everything. I have been visiting the area and spending time here for the past five years. It is not without it's flaws. But neither was the area that I left!

No place is perfect. But I do love this little corner of the earth that is called NEPA. And no, my husband myself, my teenaged children and the many people who have followed us here, or plan to follow us here, none of us are psychotic , delusional or users of psychedelic drugs. We are not tripping.

We love Wilkes-Barre.
 
Old 02-13-2012, 11:58 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,603 posts, read 77,247,404 times
Reputation: 19066
Quote:
Originally Posted by weluvpa View Post
My son is going to college(out of the area) and he isn't going to come back here as long as I'm alive unless its to bury his mother and I. I will not allow my son to throw opportunity away by coming backed to this shathole.
Perhaps I'm just misguided, but how will encouraging all of our best and brightest to continue to flee the area result in its revival? Even while attending high school in Luzerne County I had several educators urge me to leave the area because there would be no opportunity for me in NEPA once I obtained my degree.

People complain about the lack of high-paying employment opportunities available in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Simultaneously the area is severely under-educated. High-paying employers aren't going to move to an area where the prevailing skills/credentials of the workforce aren't going to be commensurate with the opportunities they'll be offering. Even at King's nearly every employer invited to come to our campus to interview had limited or no local presence, meaning that the college, which is heralded as being such an asset to Wilkes-Barre, was actually detrimentally impacting it by educating local youths and then funneling them to skilled opportunities in NYC, NJ, SEPA, NoVA, DC, MD, etc., fleecing the region of its best and brightest in the process. Most of our local universities suck up high school seniors who are generally, at worst, "indifferent" about our area, and in four short years they spit them out into other areas.

Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Booz Allen Hamilton, BAE Systems, PwC, Deloitte, Citigroup, SAIC, and other major high-paying employers aren't going to descend upon a region where many of its own residents place little or no value in education. Just look at how much disdain our sub-forum's Scrantonians hurl at the University of Scranton as an indicator of how higher education is maligned here.

Pittsburgh is pretty much the "big brother" of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Our city has embraced higher education and, as such, nearly 40% of our adults are college-educated. With that increase in the proportion of our workforce possessing a degree has come a boom in high-paying employment opportunities that has led to us having one of the few modestly-appreciating housing markets in the country despite the national housing recession. Google helped to convert an old biscuit factory into loft-styled office space and will soon be expanding across the street into a new mixed-use project. They will be employing hundreds here when that complex is fully functional. In addition, the city embracing (not despising) Carnegie Mellon University has led to numerous small business enterprises forming. I just landed a job with PNC, one of the nation's leading banks, which also happens to be building a new 40-story headquarters here. We also have thousands of high-paying career opportunities available via American Eagle Outfitters' Corporate HQ, Rue21's Corporate HQ, Westinghouse, U.S. Steel, UPMC, Bank of NY Mellon, Federated Investors, Alcoa, Heinz, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, First Niagara Bank, Dick's Sporting Goods Corporate HQ, FedEx Ground's Corporate HQ, Bayer's Corporate HQ, and many others. Instead of sitting around and bitching about the demise of the steel industry Pittsburghers reinvented themselves through innovation and higher education, and now we're thriving as a result. Whenever I visit Scranton/Wilkes-Barre it's like people are still hoping "King Coal" will make a comeback; the culm dumps everywhere are hideous! Other than higher education, government, and health care there aren't many other family-sustaining career opportunities to be had in the metro area.

People encouraging their children/students to "get the hell out of NEPA before it's too late" are doing NOTHING to make things better for the region. I left because I wanted to date freely and, like beckycat, the chronic negativity and people blaming everyone but themselves for their lives not turning out well was just overwhelmingly depressing. I will only return to help my sister care for my parents as they age (although I'm hoping they'll eventually consider moving out here instead since they don't particularly like the area either). I'm glad sheena has found so many forward-thinking and bright people in Wilkes-Barre who are hellbent on improving the region. As for me I met too many Les Spindlers and Joe Pilcheskys for my liking to let the occasional sheena overpower their chronic hatred for everything and anything about the area. Maybe I just hung around in the "wrong circles", but I didn't get a very intellectually-enriched vibe from where I grew up. I love the POTENTIAL the area has, but when I left in 2009 I didn't really foresee that coming to fruition for quite some time yet.
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