W-B Mayor planning to raise property taxes 31% (Plymouth, Larksville: school districts, live in)

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

I've said that for a long time. I remeber Paul's old posts comparing Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and he painted Scranton residents as crotchety negative complainers and Wilkes-Barre residents as more positive. I had pointed out that I think its just that there's more apathy in Wilkes-Barre. I think W-B city may also have more out of town transient residents that don't have any real connection to the city, therefore aren't all that concerned with its future.

I think both cities are neck and neck in all categories.

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

And yes there is a Sign Bureau. I've seen them outside my office putting up new street/parking signs after roadwork maybe 1-2 years ago. They had an official city truck with Wilkes-Barre City Sign Bureau painted on the side. And parking enforcement? One of the things that has killed downtown Scranton and Wilkes-Barre is paying to park and having to feed meters or risk parking tickets. That drives away employers and shoppers. You don't have to pay to park in Wilkes-Barre Twp or Dickson City, hence the booming business in those towns. Imagine if the 2 cities could be raking in all the tax money that Dickson City and W-B Twp makes from all those businesses? Maybe there wouldn't be so much strain on city residents, and I'm sure all that tax money from stores and restaurants would make whatever the city makes from parking meters look like chump change.

So, City Hall is lying to me about a department they have a truck for? Maybe it's part of the DPW. I've been in PLENTY of booming cities where one must pay for parking. When something is at a premium, you pay for it. I don't have a problem with it and I don't know why anyone else would either. If paying $1 or $2 for parking keeps people away from spending money, I find that...well completely silly really.

[Chefkey]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

I live in the city. The NUMBER ONE problem in this city is apathy among it's residents. There is a small contigent of us that do care and are working our butts off to improve the city but as evidenced by ChefKey's post, so many Wilkes Barreans live by "not my job" mentality. I'm fascinated by the "Sign Bureau". I called City Hall and they have no clue what I am referring to. I don't see anything wrong with parking enforcement either. Parking is always a premium in a city and if you don't follow the rules - ie pay for your time in the spot - you should be fined.

I'll agree with you that apathy is rampant in this area but me getting pissed off because I BELIEVE the Mayor is ripping us off is not part of it. Any one who has come here on a regular basis knows I have usually been one of the positive ones trying to write helpful posts.

I BELIEVED the Mayor was doing a great job up until about one year ago when it became apparent to me that things really were not getting better but worse. Crime is up, drug use is up, blight is up, wasted money like the Sterling is up, lost funding for the train station which sits like a major eyesore. Turning a blind to eye to assault like what happened to Sheena and Warren. He is sitting on his hands, resting on his laurels and now he wants the rest of us to pony up? Complete Malarkey as Biden would say.

I come on here and rant because I am one of the few that actually does care. I am just not seeing the improvement in the City I expected for the money already spent and now he wants more? It's just a bunch of Irish Stuff.

[new-era]

Welcome to crappy NEPA probably the most corupt area for politics especially for an area the size of Nepa! People say its so cheap to live in nepa and thats complete bs considering most of the job market there is awful ! Its not gonna get better.

[2nd trick op]

Originally Posted by new-era

Welcome to crappy NEPA probably the most corrupt area for politics especially for an area the size of Nepa! People say its so cheap to live in nepa and that's complete bs considering most of the job market there is awful ! Its not gonna get better.

It will get better when the corrupt political machine, like the Soviet Union, collapses under its own dead weight, hopefully taking the economically-ignorant children who elected it with it. The ideal solution would be to dissolve the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Nanticoke, let the surrounding townships assume responsibility, and cover the handfull of true essentials, like police protection, with a professionalized regional police system, similar to the Poconos and parts of Berks and Lehigh Counties. The rest can either be privatized or dry up.

The hacks can take a long walk off a short pier. And the hard-core urban riffraff who support them can either shape up or ship out.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by Chefkey

I'll agree with you that apathy is rampant in this area but me getting pissed off because I BELIEVE the Mayor is ripping us off is not part of it. Any one who has come here on a regular basis knows I have usually been one of the positive ones trying to write helpful posts.

I BELIEVED the Mayor was doing a great job up until about one year ago when it became apparent to me that things really were not getting better but worse. Crime is up, drug use is up, blight is up, wasted money like the Sterling is up, lost funding for the train station which sits like a major eyesore. Turning a blind to eye to assault like what happened to Sheena and Warren. He is sitting on his hands, resting on his laurels and now he wants the rest of us to pony up? Complete Malarkey as Biden would say.

I come on here and rant because I am one of the few that actually does care. I am just not seeing the improvement in the City I expected for the money already spent and now he wants more? It's just a bunch of Irish Stuff.

As a person who is very proud of her Irish heritage, thanks for the dig.

I don't know all sides of Sheena and Warren's story. We only heard their side and I don't know everything that happened. IMO, blaming Leighton for what happened to Sheena and Warren (or others in the city) instead of the police dept is a bunch of malarkey.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

It will get better when the corrupt political machine, like the Soviet Union, collapses under its own dead weight, hopefully taking the economically-ignorant children who elected it with it. The ideal solution would be to dissolve the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Nanticoke, let the surrounding townships assume responsibility, and cover the handfull of true essentials, like police protection, with a professionalized regional police system, similar to the Poconos and parts of Berks and Lehigh Counties. The rest can either be privatized or dry up.

The hacks can take a long walk off a short pier. And the hard-core urban riffraff who support them can either shape up or ship out.

Yes, because the privatized juvie center worked so well. Look at what is happened to Berks and Lehigh County's crime rates. Look at how the Poconos has become a magnet for criminals. Yes, let's follow their leads.

[new-era]

Its just a very anti progressive area always decades behind the times a few mobsters own most of the area its corrupt the job markets awful taxes in lackawanna and luzerne county going up and for what? Companies wont touch the area its just a mess.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

The Parking Enforcement nazis should also be among the first to go.

If you did that you could cut almost a quarter of million from the police and firefighter budget.

/sarcasm

City firefighters will receive stipend once reserved for cops - News - Citizens Voice

WILKES-BARRE - Five civilians enforce parking in the city at an annual cost of about $215,000, but the expenses hardly end there.


City police ceded parking-enforcement duty to civilians years ago in exchange for $1,500 yearly stipends that cover lost court pay and will total $135,000 in 2011.


And starting next year, city firefighters also will receive $108,000 in total stipends to honor a contractual agreement that stipulates they receive the same pay increases as city police officers.

Having said that these budget issues aren't going away anytime soon. The public sector unions across the entire country all got huge increases back in the early part of the last decade and now it;s time to pay the bill. This is a huge issue at the local and state level in just about every state.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

The ideal solution would be to dissolve the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Nanticoke, let the surrounding townships assume responsibility, and cover the handfull of true essentials, like police protection, with a professionalized regional police system, similar to the Poconos and parts of Berks and Lehigh Counties. The rest can either be privatized or dry up.

Actually the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police are disbanding at the end of 2012 because one of the townships got sick of paying 75 percent of the bill.

Regionalization is not a popular issue in NEPA. A lot of the municipalities would not appreciate having to foot the bill for a city that couldn't stay within its budget when they've been able to balance theirs.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Actually the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police are disbanding at the end of 2012 because one of the townships got sick of paying 75 percent of the bill.

Regionalization is not a popular issue in NEPA. A lot of the municipalities would not appreciate having to foot the bill for a city that couldn't stay within its budget when they've been able to balance theirs.

Regionalization is not popular in this area because there's too many "big fish in little ponds" that don't want to give up their fiefdoms. All these Barney Fife police chiefs of all the little boroughs and townships don't want to lose their power and possibly be demoted in a regionalized police force. PA needs to consolidate police, fire, and school districts on a county-wide basis as they do in Maryland. It would cut out a lot of unnecessary administration and school board members who are only in it to make money for themselves and their cronies.