Scranton What If? (Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Penn: section 8, crime, new house)

[SWBFAN]

Scranton What if

[SteelCityRising]

I don't really understand the point of this effort. If the point is to make people think about ways to make Scranton better, well, then that's sort of futile and pointless by now since people have been talking about how to "save" Scranton for decades. I can draw dozens of pretty "before" and "after" renderings, too, but what's the point? Is the owner of the parking lot on the 300-block of Penn Avenue suddenly going to see this, think "Cool!", and fork over millions to make it a reality? There are a select few millionaires in Greater Scranton with enough resources to bring these visions to fruition, and most of these people are greedy to the point where they don't care if a prime lot Downtown is utilized for a (lucrative) surface parking lot vs. art galleries and bistros that would enhance the pedestrian experience or whether 50 acres in South Abington Twp. is pristine woodland (not lucrative) vs. subdivided into 100 half-acre lots (ka-ching!).

I don't trust those with power in Greater Scranton to use that power in the most efficient manner possible to benefit society. I view them just further empowering themselves. When I lived in NEPA I saw firsthand that $$$ talks.

[odessa3]

Like with everything else, we can all come up with great ideas and visions, but there will never be the $$$ to carry them out.

[coal cracker]

In any situation like this, i.e. condition of a city, quality of life, local politics, etc.- one has to look at the big picture, and know the history behind it. My family has lived in the NEPA anthracite region since early 1900's. Both my grandfathers were miners who had black lung. The family is relatively large and growing up I had 18 aunts and uncles, and 38 first cousins. All were born/raised here except one. Living here this long our family has seen a lot of trends come and go over time.

My grandmother got OUT of Wilkes-Barre back in the 1930's. She was having health problems and the MD recommended they move out of the city. Need I say more ?

When all the coal mines closed in the 1950's, the area went into a depression. It never really recovered. At one time we were the Saudi Arabia of coal energy, but oil replaced coal, and took away most of the jobs.

Industrial activity moved in during the 1950-60's but this area was always paid less than other metro areas in the USA, the corporations took advantage of the cheap labor.

You can't "fix" a city. Not in NEPA, not anywhere. Once it gets beyond a certain point in size, and a certain percentage of welfare and section 8 and unemployment/crime, it's time to throw in the towel and GTH out of there. If you want to have a decent quality of life in NEPA, you have to go into heavy debt and buy a home in the suburbs, period. That means a minimum $150,000 or more home, and $2000 or higher yearly property taxes, along with expensive heating, electric, water, sewer, phone services.

To pay for all this requires a job making at least $25/hour i.e. $50K a year. Problem is, there are no jobs or companies hiring at that rate locally, or very few. So someone making less is forced to live in the city where it's cheaper.

Problem is the cities are rife with crime, and the schools are terrible, and the homes are generally closer together and not as nice. Many are old remodeled coal company homes nearly 100 years old.

So there you have it. NEPA is a great living standard in the suburbs, and a prison planet in the cities.

Having lived here half a century, I would not live in Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, or Scranton, if you gave me a new house for free there. Those towns are hellholes.

The sad part is, the suburbs are now getting worse by the year as well. Too many people moving here, for the wrong reasons, bringing a different mindset.

I can see in the future eventually, the entire NEPA area would be one to be avoided, it is becoming overcrowded and there's too much crime and traffic- and too few jobs.

....and that's all I have to say about that...

[SWBFAN]

Here is the firm behind the effort. Note the "plan" for the iron furnaces.


DxDempsey Architecture / Projects /

[Cpt.Trips]

Another waste of time..........

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Cpt.Trips

Another waste of time..........

For once we agree.

With all due respect Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has led the state in terms of unemployment now for nearly four years, and there's no sign of that improving anytime soon. I know many of my friends who stayed in "da valley" after graduating are underemployed, which makes me think that while the UNemployment rate may consistently be ~9.0%, the UNDERemployment rate is likely closer to 20% in the metro area.

Scranton doesn't need more of a hollow aesthetic veneer via spending millions of tax dollars to turn a parking lot into an art gallery or a vegan coffeehouse. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre needs more FAMILY-SUSTAINING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (not more "McJobs" like the ones that keep coming to Center Point). King's College, for example, ENCOURAGES its business graduates to leave the region upon graduation, as they only actively invite and work with ONE accounting firm (ParenteBeard) with a local presence while most graduates move to NJ, NYC, NoVA, MD, etc. for jobs with "The Big Four"---none of which have a local presence because college graduates are NOT staying in the region waiting around for employers to come to THEM.

[SWBFAN]

SteelCity and others, if you have issues feel free not to comment and move on.

[Cpt.Trips]

Originally Posted by SWBFAN

SteelCity and others, if you have issues feel free not to comment and move on.

Feel free to skip the post and move on.......

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by SWBFAN

SteelCity and others, if you have issues feel free not to comment and move on.

Feel free to elaborate upon where these magical millions of dollars are going to come from.