Relocated Midwesterns in Wilkes Barre? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: middle-class, best town, transplants)

[mule]

I'm considering a job in Wilkes Barre, but not very encouraged by what I've read so far about crime and general economy. Will anyone who has relocated to Wilkes Barre, especially from the midwest, share their experience as transplants in Wilkes Barre area? What are people like? How easily did you adjust to the new location? What differences did you find that you weren't expecting? What do you miss most about the midwest?

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by mule

I'm considering a job in Wilkes Barre, but not very encouraged by what I've read so far about crime and general economy. Will anyone who has relocated to Wilkes Barre, especially from the midwest, share their experience as transplants in Wilkes Barre area? What are people like? How easily did you adjust to the new location? What differences did you find that you weren't expecting? What do you miss most about the midwest?

There are a lot of transplants in Wilkes-Barre, but they mostly come from Harlem, the Bronx, and inner-city Philadelphia. Avoid Wilkes-Barre city. It's become a drug-infested den of shootings and muggings. Very high crime. If you're looking for city living, Scranton is a much better option (20 miles north of W-B). If you want to stay closer to Wilkes-Barre, I would look at nearby towns like Forty Fort, Swoyersville, Wyoming, etc.

[bamboosmom]

You will probably feel out of place there. I have been around alot of folks from the Midwest down here in Florida and they really don't seem to get along with the Northeasterners.

[geos]

How about Kingston? I've heard good things about that town.

[WasPA]

Kingston is right across the river from Wilkes-Barre. Wilkes-Barre is ringed by several contiguous communties which, if ever blended into one city would make it a rather sizeable city---back in 1950 it would have been well over 200,000 easily with W-B 'proper' at 90,000. Today Wilkes-Barre is half that, about 43,000, similar in size to Harrisburg which also lost half it population.

Kingston historically was a very well kept borough of about 20,000 comprised of middle and upper middle incomers; some of them migrated out to the surrounding suburbs after the floods of Hurricane Agnes in 1972 but Kingston remains a seemingly stable place, as does historic, adjacent Forty Fort, Wyoming etc.

Kingston is also home to noteworthy private school in Wyoming Seminary, a school dating back well into the 19th century...some buildings to match...a beautiful campus......

Kingston is very convenient to downtown Wilkes-Barre as well as the Cross Valley expressway with access to Wilkes-Barre Twnship's Wyoming Valley Mall, the arena (Penquins hockey!) and I-81 for north to Scranton and south to Hazelton and beyond.

[paintballer1708]

I find a lot of people from Pennsylvania living here in Ohio myself included. Esp. SW and NE Ohio around Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron/Cleveland. Wilkes Barre was the city that everyone back home in Pittsburgh would always talk about. Each state has that city that everyone looks down on, and unfortunately most back in Pittsburgh thought of it as Wilkes Barre.

For instance Michigan=Detroit.

[WasPA]

Wilkes-Barre deserves much more support and credit. It is having a rebirth of some consequence; it has a remarkable past, is still the largest employment center for northeastern PA; has survived a post-Hurricane Agnes (extreme flooding) 'gutting' of people and downtown retail (to the Wyoming Valley Mall, etc.) from which most cities would not recover.

Downtown is shifting nicely, apart from having two established colleges right there; new 14 screen cineplex/retail/ residential loft complex; condos being made out of the historic Sterling Hotel; condos coming from the old Genetti hotel; new facilities for both colleges whch are expanding to the downtown fringes; a magnificent performing arts center in the FM Kirby Center; a thriving little theater community, ballet, arts bank coming soon, a new Barnes & Noble college bookstore downtown, new clubs, billiards emporium, a beautiful riverfront portal with performance area is slated tobegin construction, as is a museum of the Susquehanna . There's more, but I'm late....I will try to post a link to a copy of a wonderful interactive map of downton and its projects. it's a must see........its' within the Diamond City Partnership website:
http://www.diamondcitypartnership.com/

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by geos

How about Kingston? I've heard good things about that town.

Kingston is the "hub" community of a larger ring of inner suburbs of Wilkes-Barre called the "West Side", aptly named for its location on the West bank of the Susquehanna River. Other communities in the "West Side" include Forty Fort, Luzerne, Courtdale, Pringle, Swoyersville, Edwardsville, Larksville, and Plymouth, all of which comprise the Wyoming Valley West School District.

Kingston, overall, is a tranquil place to call home, and its location just across the Market Street and Pierce Street Bridges from Downtown Wilkes-Barre can't be beat for convenience; there's actually a high concentration of professors from King's College and Wilkes University downtown who regularly walk back and forth to work from their Kingston homes via the bridges, as well as some office workers downtown who cross the bridges to head to several popular delis in Kingston on their lunch hours. As far as crime is concerned, Kingston and Plymouth both have drug problems, but otherwise, violent crime and personal theft is on the minimal side.

In 1972, the remnants of Hurricane Agnes stalled out over Northeastern Pennsylvania, leading to a major flood on the Susquehanna River. I believe only six homes in the entire community of Kingston escaped some sort of flooding damage, and parts of Larksville, Edwardsville, and Plymouth were also hard-hit. In Forty Fort, the force of the rushing waters actually unearthed dozens of corpses from the Forty Fort Cemetery and deposited the remains throughout the West Side! The bodies, unable to be identified at the time, are now buried high and dry in a mass grave at Mount Olivet Cemetery in the Back Mountain. This flood also started to spell the demise of Wilkes-Barre's economy, as much of the city's residents fled after the flood to newer subdivisions on higher terrain outside of the city (Including my own post-flood neighborhood). Since 1972, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have constructed a massive levee system along the Susquehanna River that should protect the Wilkes-Barre/West Side area for a crest on the river of up to 41 feet, but the flooding in June, in which a flood crest of 39 feet was forecast, prompted the evacuation of 200,000 people in Wilkes-Barre and the West Side "just in case."

Kingston has tree-lined streets, sidewalks, and a blend of historic homes along James, Butler, Charles, and surrounding streets, an upscale neighborhood known as "Green Acres", a few mid-range apartment complexes, and various middle-class neighborhoods. The town is also becoming increasingly-diverse, fueled largely by its proximity to downtown, with a large Jewish population, along with increasing percentages of Asian-Americans and Arab-Americans. Kingston is home to Wyoming Seminary, an outstanding private school that even attracts students from abroad. The Wyoming Valley West School District is an "average" school district; your children will receive a decent education, but not nearly as outstanding as they would in the "posh" districts such as Abington Heights, Crestwood, or Dallas. Kingston is also home to various houses of worship, an upscale shopping center known as "United Penn Plaza", a new high-tech fire station, a large police presence, and various neighborhood conveniences such as bars, restaurants, delis, bagel shops, barber shops, salons, convenience stores, etc. Housing prices here are quite affordable, ranging from under $100,000 for an older, traditional-styled two-story home that needs minor cosmetic updating to $500,000 for some of the more extravagant homes in Green Acres and the historic district along Charles, Butler, and James Streets, with the median selling price probably being in the low-$100k range.

(CONTINUED)

[ScranBarre]

Edwardsville, a smaller town just to the south of Kingston via Route 11, was traditionally the "shopping hub" of the West Side, with the West Side Mall, Narrows Shopping Center, Gateway Shopping Center, etc. lining busy Wyoming Avenue. Harmed by competition from the explosion of commercial growth along I-81 in Wilkes-Barre Township's Highland Park and Arena Hub neighborhoods, much of Edwardsville dried up in the 1990s. However, there's been a recent renaissance in this area; a new Lowe's Home Improvement Store, the second in the Wilkes-Barre Area, will be opening around the new year in the town, employing 175 and generating foot traffic that should generate a rebirth in the surrounding shopping centers, which now sit largely vacant. The Gateway Cinemas recently closed, citing stiff competition from the new downtown theaters in Wilkes-Barre's "Entertainment District", but I predict you may see them reopen at some point by 2010 as the surrounding retail areas bounce back. The town of Edwardsville itself is rather ugly and unattractive, with a traditional "Main Street" lined with dive bars and a housing stock that is decaying, but I see potential for rebirth in the upcoming years as Lowe's basically becomes the "savior" of town.

Plymouth, the furthest south along Route 11, is a nondescript old mining town, similar in character to Nanticoke and Pittston, but with a much smaller population than both. The school district's high school is located here---A multi-story glass behemoth amid a town of low-rise buildings. The town gained fame as being PA's "furniture capital" back in its heyday, but the downtown is now largely-abandoned, with an honest "rundown" appearance dominating every corner of the borough. Much of the town's housing stock is outdated and deteriorating, as many of the town's residents are too poverty-stricken to keep their homes as well-maintained as their counterparts in the more affluent, white-collar towns in the district, such as Forty Fort and Kingston. Plymouth has a major drug problem, and it's just always depressing to drive through town and think about how far downhill it has gone since its heyday of the 1950s. While Edwardsville may soon see a rebirth thanks to Lowe's, I don't see any "catalyst" moving in to save Plymouth anytime soon; it's basically a dying town with a population of about a third of what it was at its peak.

Larksville, which is wedged between Plymouth and Edwardsville, is a small residential town that is rather nondescript in nature. While both Plymouth and Edwardsville are among the poorest towns in the county, Larksville has several larger upper-middle-class housing developments that seem to be out of place. Perhaps on the plus side, this town escaped much of the flooding woes experienced by the rest of the West Side back in 1972 due to its slightly higher elevation.

(CONTINUED)

[ScranBarre]

Further north of Kingston, you have the town of Forty Fort, which is an upper-middle-class town of tree-lined streets, sidewalks, and well-kept older homes. Like Kingston, there is a large concentration here of professionals (professors, engineers, architects, bank executives, etc.), and the town has a negligible crime rate as a result. Forty Fort is actually well-deserving of my pick as "Best Town on the West Side" because housing prices are still attainable, and the Cross Valley Freeway's exit leads you right into town for a convenient eight-minute commute to the Wyoming Valley Mall area or Downtown Wilkes-Barre. There are basic conveniences in town along Wyoming Avenue, such as banks, funeral homes, and churches, but most of the town's residents head just over the town border via Route 11 to the north in Wyoming for shopping at the Midway Shopping Center and surrounding stores (Bon-Ton, Burger King, CVS, Price Chopper, UPS Store, McDonald's, gas stations, etc.) Forty Fort is a very safe, walkable town, and the town's massive levee has a paved trail along its top with seating areas and historic markers about the West Side for wonderful opportunities for running, jogging, power-walking, etc. Home prices here are among the steepest in the West Side, generally hovering in the mid-$100k range, but the price, in my opinion, is well worth it.

Finally, rounding out the West Side are the three tiny towns of Luzerne, Courtdale, and Pringle, with a combined population of 5,000 or so. All three towns are primarily residential; Luzerne is home to a few conveniences at the Luzerne Shopping Center, as well as having a traditional Main Street with a few hometown stores, including a health foods store and Hops & Barley's Pub & Restaurant (among my favorite local haunts!) All three towns have an older housing stock, but it seems to be, for the most part, more well-kept than the homes in Plymouth and Edwardsville.

Overall, my top three picks for relocation to the West Side would be the following:

1.) Forty Fort
2.) Kingston
3.) Luzerne


Please ask as many questions as you'd like!