After 9/11 the Federal government began to encourage the nation's major financial firms that had their primary operations in and around New York City to consider establishing satellite or "back-up" operations within 120 miles of the Big Apple yet still on separate utility grids. This put Northeastern Pennsylvania at the front and forefront, since the cost of operations in NJ is so much more expensive and unattractive to business relocations as a result. With the very real possibility of another terrorist attack in Manhattan or another major power failure like they had I believe back in 2002 or 2003 that crippled the city (as well as my own personal belief that a major hurricane is long overdue to hit NYC), the government wants to ensure that the nation's financial operations can continue to run smoothly and unimpeded in the event of such disasters, hence the need for back-up operations further out into the fringe areas like our own.
NEPA was a prime candidate except that we didn't have the major fiber-optics lines that many of these high-tech firms needed to make the satellite operations viable, but new lines will soon be built through NJ and as far west as Easton and East Stroudsburg. Just north of East Stroudsburg (I believe in Middle Smithfield Township), a major new business park is under development that will be marketed towards utilizing this new fiber-optic line to entice these firms here via the Wall Street West initiative. The Lehigh Valley is also poised to benefits greatly as well due to the line into the Easton area.
The lack of this technology in the immediate Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro hasn't necessarily eschewed it yet though. In Downtown Scranton alone four new firms have committed themselves to come, including Seccas, SRA International, Merrill Lynch, and one other yet-to-be-named firm. Granted
combined we might see 50-60 people working at all of these firms, but the jobs should pay in the $40,000+ range, as they are white-collar-oriented positions, which are direly needed in our region to help curb the fleecing of our young college graduates to other metropolitan areas via the "Brain Drain." If these businesses prove themselves to be viable here in Scranton, then it makes it more likely in the future years that other businesses will take the success of these other businesses into consideration as well while pondering whether or not to come here.
I myself am hoping PricewaterhouseCoopers considers opening up a firm somewhere between here and East Stroudsburg, as accounting positions might be tight by the time I graduate in 2009.
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