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I am planning to move to Scranton, PA before next summer to be closer to family. I would like to find out where is the best place to go.
Here is what I would like to have in an area and hopefully someone can give me an idea of where to go.
1. I would like to be in an area that is walker-friendly. Meaning somewhere safe to walk to places like the grocery store, restaurants, shops, deli's, etc. Also, the shorter the distance we have to walk, obviously the better. We have a two year old and she gets tired easily.
2. Family friendly. I have heard some good things about Greenridge but is it close enough to anything we can walk to? I have not heard that many good things about the Hill section (which happens to be within walking distance to a lot of places).
3. Decent architecture or at least somewhat asthetically pleasing as far as the homes, street maintenance, etc.
4. Culture nearby? Restaurants, shops, etc.
I know that it is a far stretch to be able to find that "perfect" spot but it's worth asking. Certain people tend to know secrets about their city that others don't know. So, if you're one of those people and there happens to be a good spot you can tell me about....please let me know. I'd really appreciate it
Here's a vote for West Side/Hyde Park. Walkable to downtown Scranton via Linden St or Lackawanna Ave, but also has its own business district on Main Ave with restaurants (Italian, Mexican, Chinese, pizza parlors, bakeries, delis, texas wieners, etc etc) Schools from elementary to intermediate to high school within walking distance, as well as a Catholic grade school. Churches of about any denomination within walking distance, pharmacies, convenience stores, small neighborhood grocery stores, banks, cleaners, bars all in walking distance. Contrary to popular belief that Scranton is a big geriatric ward, the population in West Side seems to be a lot of young families. I grew up in a town "up da line" from Scranton in the mid-valley, and I can say this is the most active place I've lived for trick-or-treating...tons of kids, and the schools are excellent. West Side schools on the whole are better than the schools in other parts of town, not to say that other parts of town do not have good schools.
The architecture in West Side may not be quite the same as the mansions of Green Ridge and the Upper Hill section, but there are some parts with some very nice older homes....check out Oram Street and Schlager Street and the other blocks in that area.
West Side is definitely more walkable than Green Ridge, North Scranton, South Side, etc. West Side has the largest business district in the city outside of downtown Scranton.
Finding the sought-after "mixed-use zoned pedestrian-friendly neighborhood" in Scranton, PA will be rather tough. Green Ridge is indeed a very nice neighborhood of the city with a lot of tree-lined street, sidewalks, and grand old homes, but there aren't many businesses within walking distance besides a few churches, the Green Ridge Club, a bank or two, a pub or two, and perhaps if you want to consider the Green Ridge Shopping Center with its Giant Supermarket to be "walkable."
The Hill receives mixed reviews, depending on what block one lives on. Some people find The Hill to be an awesome walkable neighborhood while others live alongside drug trafficking. Earlier this year I helped a couple from the suburbs in their relocation to the 900-block of Prescott Avenue, and when I saw the man again about a month ago he was thrilled with his decision. He enjoys walking to nearby Mansour's Cafe and Market to relax, and across the street an older building is being rehabilitated by the same man, Paul Mansour, to house a few new shops and upper-floor apartments or condos. About 1/4 mile away along James Avenue in the Petersburg section of the "Upper Hill" lies "The Lofts at the Mill," an old silk mill that has been converted into a mixed-use complex with some offices and dozens of lofts that have become quite popular amongst the young professional crowd. The University of Scranton announced earlier this year that next year they'll be enhancing their streetscape by giving nearly all of Mulberry Street a major makeover with Victorian-era street lighting, new sidewalks, benches, trees, patterned brick crosswalks, etc. By and large much of the Hill Section is cleaning up its act, but we still have the case of "one block nice, two blocks seedy, three blocks nice, one block seedy, etc." This can best be seen along North Webster Avenue. The lower blocks are dominated by student housing, much of which is rather unkempt-looking with sagging front porches and peeling paint. The upper blocks are dominated by upper-class historic mansions. The intersection of Prescott & Mulberry is quite seedy-looking, but just a few blocks away the intersection of Prescott & Ash is where some redevelopment has been occurring as of late. Hopefully as the University of Scranton continues to build more dormitories more college students will move onto campus and surrender their seedy-looking homes to people who will fix them up and move back in again. If you haven't visited Scranton in quite some time, you'll be pleased to see that the old dilapidated white mansion on the corner of Mulberry & Jefferson is being restored by a gay couple from NYC into some sort of bed & breakfast and/or conference center called "The Colonnade."
East Mountain is largely residential; nothing is really within easy walking distance from here besides a church or two. South Side is very densely populated and has some sketchier areas. The extreme parts of South Scranton, a neighborhood known as Minooka, remain tranquil, but once again there really isn't anything "walkable" about it. South Side itself is just starting to get its act together after years of neglect. A lot of blighted homes are being torn down for urban green space, and a dog park is even on the agenda, along with a new branch library. A lot of South Side, especially near "The Flats" (the area near the South Side Shopping Center) still looks like Beirut though, so be cautioned that there are better places in the city to consider.
West Scranton is probably going to be the closest you'll find to what you're looking for if the Hill Section proves to be too forboding for your family. The main neighborhood here is called Hyde Park, and it has its own downtown business district along North Main Avenue (since it was originally an independent town before Scranton annexed it many decades ago). The main drag itself is quite ugly (a new streetscape system here with period lighting, benches, new sidewalks, trees, etc. would do WONDERS for its image), but there are quite a few great mom-and-pop establishments within just a few blocks along this roadway. The neighborhood is grid-shaped with a lot of the north/south arteries being alternating one-ways. For the most part, the homes in Hyde Park also seem to be very well-kept, and the people seem to be friendly. Members ConorsDad, Go Phillies, NYRangers2008, and I believe a few others live in Hyde Park, so feel free to consult them for more information about schools and whatnot. When and if the massive Sixth Avenue Redevelopment Project ever gets off the ground I'd steer you towards moving to the small neighborhood between North Main Avenue and Center City, but as of right now that area is still a bit undesirable and is very difficult to navigate as a pedestrian, essentially isolating Hyde Park from Downtown unless you have a vehicle or balls of steel.
Member WeLuvPA lives in Lower Green Ridge, which is a flood-prone neighborhood near the Green Ridge Shopping Center and Lacakwanna River (just below the railroad trestle that delineates it from its Upper Green Ridge neighbor). Besides the shopping center and Cosgrove's Pub, there's really not much worth walking to from here. There are rumors that the old Scranton Lace Building in Lower Green Ridge will be redeveloped for some sort of artists' colony, which will likely cause property values in LGR to spike, but as with most projects in Scranton, this probably won't come to fruition for another 5-10 years after it has been announced due to all of the red tape involved.
Avoid Pine Brook at all costs. This neighborhood is the barrier between Green Ridge and Center City, more or less, but it is also very seedy, run-down, and generally undesirable. If and when the downtown ever makes a TRUE comeback, I can see Pine Brook become gentrified so people can live within walking distance of downtown, but until that time Pine Brook remains one of the city's tougher neighborhoods.
I'm currently a college student who is likewise planning to move to a walkable neighborhood in Scranton in the upcoming years to raise my family, so you're in good company. I don't think people in Scranton realize just how many people are getting fed up with the never-ending congestion and headaches of living in the suburbs and want to move back to a downtown atmosphere again, as you and I are only two of at least several others I've spoken with who want to live in a walkable neighborhood in Scranton. The downtown finally has a good book store (Anthology), so all it truly needs is a good grocery store or market of some sort, and there's no reason why people wouldn't consider moving downtown. There is plenty of parking, dozens of restaurants and bars, night clubs, the mall, the cultural center, the library, the movie theater, the colleges, pharmacies, boutiques, banks, churches, offices, etc. Scranton is truly "missing the boat" in terms of attracting at least ONE residential mixed-use project to its downtown in a REASONABLE price range for the middle-class to afford. I think the city has more good going for it than bad, but if I can't find anything downtown in the upcoming years, I'll have to move to another neighborhood instead, which would be disappointing.
The main drag itself is quite ugly (a new streetscape system here with period lighting, benches, new sidewalks, trees, etc. would do WONDERS for its image).
I have heard rumors that something like this may be in the works for Main Ave in West Side. I have heard that councilman Bill Courtright, a West Sider, has been pushing for such a project. I really do hope it happens. I'm tired of hearing about South Side, North Scranton, and Mulberry Street improvement projects from the city government, while West Side is forgotten.
I have heard rumors that something like this may be in the works for Main Ave in West Side. I have heard that councilman Bill Courtright, a West Sider, has been pushing for such a project. I really do hope it happens. I'm tired of hearing about South Side, North Scranton, and Mulberry Street improvement projects from the city government, while West Side is forgotten.
Agreed. I LOVED walking along North Main Avenue during my photo tour and seeing all of the family-owned businesses (some of which I've continued to patronize), but I was aghast to see cracked sidewalks (liability hazards), a depressing lack of greenery, and litter because there were no rubbish bins in sight. A little streetscape enhancements can go a LONG way! More than anything else some new new shade trees and benches (perhaps even some planters) would encourage people to linger longer to do their shopping/dining.
I should also warn you ahead of time though before others start attacking me for being a "stupid little boy" that while Scranton's property taxes are in-line with or even lower than many of its suburbs, it has a wage tax of 3.4% (2.4% from the city and 1.0% for the school district), which is amongst the highest in the nation. One of the biggest hurdles to attracting new residents to Scranton has been the wage tax, as several (I LOVE PA and New2PA come to mind) decided to look into the Dunmore area instead of the city limits for this very same reason. I personally will hopefully be making enough money ($40,000 or so) as a CPA to afford the wage tax and will gladly pay it to live in a friendly, walkable neighborhood (which most of our suburbs do NOT have), but this might be a deal-breaker for you to consider. Then again, when you consider the fact that home prices in Scranton tend to be lower than its suburbs as well, you might come near to breaking even.
Some other negatives about the city are that many there have the attitude of "The city sucked yesterday. The city sucks today. Therefore, the city will most certainly suck tomorrow." I've noticed that while other cities' residents overwhelmingly have faith in their futures, that same civic pride seems to be lost upon many Scrantonians (some of whom don't realize just how nice their city is in relation to so many others). As member WeLuvPA will surely point out, the city's portion of the property tax bills will be rising by roughly 94% or so over the next several years to help finance long-term debts run up by the current spend-happy Mayor Doherty Administration. It won't be easy for those on fixed-incomes to stomach by any means of the imagination, and while I feel sorry for them, I can't say overall that this should be a huge deterrent in your decision, as this will likely just bring Scranton's property taxes "in-line" with the rest of the region, whether people there want to admit that or not. There is a lot of political turmoil in the city in which a lot of residents seem to be growing discontent with city council and the mayor (we'll see how this pans out on Tuesday, as both Mr. McGoff and Mr. Courtright are up for re-election and are being challenged by frontrunners Mr. Piccolino and Mr. Rogan; if either of these two men ousts McGoff, then the long-abhorred "Doherty Three" will be kaput).
All in all though I think Scranton's bright sides SHOULD outshine its ugly sides. It might be hard from all of the fighting you'll see erupting on this forum about the city to discern that, but even those who attack me, for example, are only doing so because they likewise love the city.
Honestly, I don't see how people can be so optimistic about this area, when the roads are among some of the WORST I've even driven on. Albeit that isn't always the fault of being in disrepair, the city really needs to step up and get after the utility companies who dig up the roads and then patch and fill the holes they make a couple times, then leave the city to repave over the sinkholes that're left.
As for somewhere for the OP should move to, I also suggest West Scranton(I'm probably biased though, since I've lived here my whole life). I live in the area near Gerrity's on Main in West Side, but I used to live down by Paroby's Auto Sales on Rundle Street as a kid.
While there really isn't much other than Gerrity's and CVS right around by where I live, you also have Price Rite(an offshoot of ShopRite), Rite Aid and numerous small restaurants(Brownie's Pizza, Roberto's) also within walking distance.
If you travel up to the Hyde Park section of West Side, you have the Keystone Diner, Vincenzo's, Taco Bandido(which moved from the Hill Section by the university) and a Brazilian restaurant whose name slips my mind right now. Up on Jackson Street in Hyde Park, you have a neighborhood grocery store(the last time I was up that way they were still open, but I think they were struggling then)whose name ALSO eludes me right now.
So, yeah, there is ALOT of stuff within walking distance of West Side and Hyde Park(which I've always considered as just another part of West Side), as compared to other sections of the city.
Best of luck in whatever section of the city you decide on moving to OP. And ScrantonWilkesBarre, may I just say that I view the university as a blight on this city, they own half of the Hill Section and keep buying MORE of it, most of which is TAX FREE property and to get the typical payment in lieu of taxes from them is like pulling teeth.
So, if 'da U' moved out of the Hill Section, I might actually smile, since maybe then the properties would go to company or person not looking for tax breaks.
If the University of Scranton moved out of the city, then how on Earth could we bring high-paying employers here? We need to attract and RETAIN our young college graduates in the city limits, not shun them. There's a reason why so many in the city live below the poverty level; educational attainment rates are abysmally low. What high-tech, family-sustaining employer would willingly invest in a city that didn't have a skilled workforce? It would make much more financial sense for them to move their operations somewhere where the talent pool already existed as opposed to investing millions in training the existing workforce in another area. As long as the majority of Scranton residents continue to view our institutions of higher learning as blights instead of blessings, we'll continue to have problems in attracting better quality career opportunities than Wal-Mart or Burger King. I don't know about you, but I don't plan on earning my Master's Degree and earning a salary of $15,000. How about you?
There is a direct corellation between educational attainment and the level of median household incomes in a community. Those cities where a higher percentage of residents hold at least a Bachelor's Degree tend to have much, much higher incomes than those (like Scranton) where finding someone who went to college is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I have to rush off now to my Macroeconomics class, but later on this afternoon I'll post some comparisons of Scranton's 2000 Census statistics to those in comparably-sized cities where a higher percentage of the population has a post-high school education. The differences in median household incomes will astonish you.
Much of this whining about poverty in the city of Scranton would come to a screeching halt if people simply saw value in education.
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