Political/Off-Topic sticky chat thread (Scranton, Nixon: moving, bill, office)

[NYRangers 2008]

I like you're post and agree with you, but sometimes it's interesting when you and Dan banter back and forth. It's real and sometimes even insightful to see two different points of view.

[to570717]

kind of like watching kangaroos box

[CHS89]

But even I'll admit, after the first two times, it gets old. It's the same two opposite viewpoints.

[lookin'for"home"]

QUOTE=to570717;3126310]Freedom of speech and C and S is generally misunderstood by people all over the place. My big questions is that for all those financial afficianados out there in NEPA, why are they supporting a tax and spend democrate at a time like this. Free market capitalism is the surest way to economic prosperity.

Today for instance, Carlyle Capitol **** the bed for 16.6 billion. The Dollar is down to 1:1.56 I love the idea of our first woman pres or our first African American Pres. But I also care about making money and lots of it. It wont happen if they win. You think your taxes are bad in Scranton, just wait![/quote]
__________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
Well, it's true- separation is definitely a confused issue- throughout the US.
I say- let's just separate idiocy from presidency and start there.

We've been going to h*$% in a handbasket since the Republicans have been in charge and blew what the democrats left us with so, I don't think that logic holds water like it used to. That said, I definitely don't like Hillary's politicsand keeping most of us hostage to what she thinks is affordable with
her mandated insurance. How does she know what's affordable? McCain with his hot head answering the red phone and willing to be in Iraq for years yet is
pretty frightening if we consider what this wasteful war has accomplished.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Ed don't worry about it. ScrantonND is just another clueless college kid. At least Paul has the intelligence and understanding to see that the city is in a huge financial mess. We might not agree on alot but I give him credit for at least seeing whats going on here. This other kid is a joke. He has moved away to further his degree(he still watches council so he didn't go far) and thats probably the farthiest and first time he has ventured outside his little world. I doubt that he had a original thought of his own yet, apathy is a killer and if you choose to put your head in the sand like your parents did then don't blame anyone when you pull it out and there is nothing left.

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, I may be guilty of the rose-colored glasses, but I am NOT guilty of drinking the "Kool-Aid." I just think that city government and the city's overall health can indeed be independent of one another. I can rattle of cities with lackluster mayors and councils that have managed to round the corner DESPITE inept leadership at the helm, and I can name some cities that have continued to decline DESPITE having some visionary, optimistic mayor and councils. Government isn't the answer to every problem. We're always going to agree to disagree on certain issues. I KNOW that Mayor Doherty is about as responsible with a checkbook as a kid in a candy store, but I don't think that warrants telling people to NOT move to the city as a result. I'll be moving to the city even if Janet Evans is elected as mayor in 2009, despite my hollow threats to move to Wilkes-Barre instead. Why? As several others have pointed out, there are many MORE benefits of living in the city than negatives. You have those close, tight-knit neighborhoods that I'd love to raise my family in. You have beautiful older homes. You have a (somewhat) rebounding downtown. You have sidewalks, curbs, street lights, and all of the other basic infrastructural necessities that these new-growth suburbs in the area, including my own, lack. You have annual parades, festivals, block parties, car shows, etc. You are convenient to everything, and my future neighborhood of the Lower Hill is within walking distance of downtown. I just can't envision raising my children in a better environment in the future---3.4% wage tax and idiotic elected officials or not.

Dan, I think what strikes a nerve with some people (including myself) is that you equate the follies of your government to be a DIRECT REFLECTION upon "the city." The latter is 72,494 or so. The former is the mayor and five council members. I certainly think that the 72,494 non-cronies are more than capable of making their city a nice place to live WITHOUT the other six screwing it up for them. We all know that the mayor is unpopular. We all know that the council is unpopular. We all know that the city has hundreds of millions in long-term idebtedness, a 3.4% city wage tax, and rising property taxes (that are still in-line with the rest of the region, by the way). What I can't understand is why you DWELL on these issues so much? I'm unhappy living in Pittston Township, a rapidly growing suburb where we don't have adequate police protection, don't have curbside recycling, have increasing issues with traffic congestion and water runoff, etc. Do I rant and rave about how "bad" Pittston Township is incessantly? No. Why? I follow the philosophy of "one man's trash is another man's treasure." A lot of Scrantonians are moving down here en masse to our developments because we have no residential property taxes and free garbage collection. At the same token I'd gladly trade that for living in a TRUE working-class neighborhood again, as I did for the first half of my life. A lot of folks out here on "Wisteria Lane" are out-of-touch with reality; it takes more than an Audi or perfectly-aligned lawn to make me respect someone, but that's all that you need out here to fit in.

For all of its faults Scranton truly is NOT a bad city. If you want to gripe about potholes, then try driving along North River Street in Wilkes-Barre sometime. If you want to gripe about taxes, then go onto the NJ forum and claim that $2,000 annually is too much to be paying for a 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath home on a 50' x 150' lot that is appraised at $120,000 or so. You'll be laughed out of that forum so quickly you won't know what hit you. If you want to gripe about a deserted downtown, then try to avoid the tumbleweed flowing freely through rotting and decaying Downtown Pittston some weekday evening. If you want to gripe about political cronyism, then look no further than the Pittston Area School Board. If you want to gripe about crime, then go to Reading, Allentown, York, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Williamsport, Newark, Camden, etc., etc. and then eat crow. There's ALWAYS an area that has it "worse off" than Scranton, and your incredible ability to ignore that to make Scranton's problems sound as if they're the worst in the nation never ceases to amaze me.

I can't understand it at all. The ONLY way Scranton will be revitalized is if you manage to attract middle-class families back into the city from the 'burbs in order to replenish its tax base and ease the burden on existing property owners. The ONLY way Scranton can attract such a demographic is if they feel they have valid reasons to come. The ONLY way they'll come is if the naysayers and doomers shut the hell up and have some CIVIC PRIDE for a change. I may not like living in the 'burbs, but I love NEPA, and I routinely defend its integrity when it comes under attack. Have some pride in your hometown, Dan.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by CHS89

But even I'll admit, after the first two times, it gets old. It's the same two opposite viewpoints.

I concur as well. Dan and I are the two biggest problems on this sub-forum, but if you ban the two of us, then where will y'all turn to for your "B"-rated entertainment? Usually he drones on and on about how much the city sucks because of the mayor, and usually I drone on and on about how awesome the city is even though I don't even live there yet. Dan craps on my parade, I flip out, others jump in, Yac closes the thread, and then we all go on our merry ways until history repeats itself two days later in a new thread. We're both obvious annoyances, and I think he realizes that people don't like hearing "Scranton sucks" over and over as much as I realize others don't like hearing "rah-rah Electric City" over and over. I lurk around many of the other forums on here as well, and I think our sub-forum is unique in having the two most polarizing members.

What's the solution? There is none. Ban Dan, and then there will be outrage about limiting free speech, and others (even myself) would stop posting out of protest. As much as Dan gets on my nerves, as a taxpayer he has a RIGHT to complain. I just wish he'd realize that broadcasting every little problem plaguing the city over and over is doing NOTHING to help attract new taxpayers and only serves to make him look as malcontented as Fay Franus when she derived PLEASURE from making Judy cry last year. Ban me, the most visible member on this forum, and inevitably someone on the "About the Forum" section or somewhere will post a "What Happened to SWB?" thread, which will eventually turn into an all-out bickerfest as my loyalists and detractors dish it out to one another with "if you ban him then I go too" or "good riddance to that annoying long-winded sleaze bag" while I just watch from the sidelines in amazement before Yac or someone closes it for being "off-topic." It's unfortunate that he and I are such polar opposites on EVERYTHING, but such is life. I'm a short-fused Scorpio who fights people head-on, and I'm guessing Dan is likewise the stubborn and hot-headed type. We'd probably both make good attorneys.

[CHS89]

Originally Posted by SWB

What's the solution? There is none. Ban Dan, and then there will be outrage about limiting free speech, and others (even myself) would stop posting out of protest.
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Ban me, the most visible member on this forum, and inevitably someone on the "About the Forum" section or somewhere will post a "What Happened to SWB?" thread, which will eventually turn into an all-out bickerfest as my loyalists and detractors dish it out to one another with "if you ban him then I go too" or "good riddance to that annoying long-winded sleaze bag" while I just watch from the sidelines in amazement before Yac or someone closes it for being "off-topic."

This is among the most arrogant post you've ever constructed here, if you honestly believe for one second that any of that would happen. No one attatches their self worth to the postings of a messageboard in quite the way that you do...

[NYRangers 2008]

I'll agree with that. If you're the best and most visible poster on here, it doesn't give you any more self worth than anybody else on here. This is only an internet forum, nothing more.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by to570717

kind of like watching kangaroos box

Here ya go!
Kangaroos

[NYRangers 2008]

Now that's entertainment Dan!!!!