Political/Off-Topic sticky chat thread

[weluvpa]

[CHS89]

This is a ridiculous question as phrased. The three of you hate Doherty. We get it.

For the purposes of the poll, is there an opponent, or is this just going to be a another silly little slam-fest?

[FightinPhils]

Its not a slam fest. Just curious to see how people might vote....thats all. To me it doesn't matter who the opponent is.....just to get rid of an incumbent when he's as bad as Doherty is fine by me.

[SteelCityRising]

Oops. I'm sorry. I clicked on "last page" of the thread, saw the poll, and voted "No" before scrolling back to the second-to-last page and specifically seeing that MrKrabs had intended for this poll to be for Scrantonians exclusively.

I must say that I disagree with the priorities of Mayor Doherty, but he does have some good ideas and seems to have a big heart, albeit a small brain to accompany it. I find it disgraceful that the police officers and firefighters---the very same people who put their lives on the line daily to protect you and your families in the Electric City---have not received a cost-of-living adjustment in six or seven years under his tenure because he's been too busy giving money away to failing upscale niche retailers that cater to the suburbanites and to give unnucessary raises to his administrative friends.

On the other hand I agree in principle with some of his ideas, even though many have been poorly executed. First of all, his bold urban forestry initiative for SouthSide is a solid idea. When coupled with the demolition of dozens of blighted buildings, the new dog park (albeit overpriced), and the potential upcoming branch library, SouthSide is truly going to become a beautiful neighborhood again in which to raise a family, whereas right now when I drive between Minooka and Downtown I grimace and grip the steering wheel for dear life. The problem is that he can't continue neglecting OTHER neighborhoods in favor of concentrating 100% of his energies on only one. We saw this happen with the Hill Section. In the 1990s it was a crime-infested slum. It was successfully revitalized, but now it's at risk of descending into oblivion again as it is largely ignored in favor of SouthSide. For those of you in West Side, I'd be VERY worried that the continued gentrification now of SouthSide will simply push the undesirable elements into YOUR neighborhood (hopefully next-door to Fay Franus in Bellevue just for comic relief, but I digress).

I also agree with his vision for an upper-middle-class downtown surrounded by working-class neighborhoods. This is how just about EVERY other city of Scranton's size is revitalizing its core. Downtowns tend to only attract young urban professionals, empty-nesters, and bachelors/bachelorettes as residents, as well as the occasional suburbanite or two that has become disiullusioned with driving to their township's "downtown" that consists of fast-food places and wants a change of scenery (such as yours truly). If downtown can successfully attract perhaps 1,000-3,000 new residents, you'll see enough private investment occurring downtown in terms of independent business owners launching themselves to cater to the increased foot traffic that the city can stop playing "sugar daddy grant giver." Scranton's downtown already had enough "bones" in places to attract new residents; if Doherty wanted to throw away money on ANYTHING it should have been to lure in developers of loft housing, studios, apartments, etc. as the units currently being built are nearly immediately gobbled up. Once people are living downtown through simple economics they will DEMAND new services and conveniences within walking distance to meet their needs, at which point prospective entrepreneurs match those desires and capture the untapped market, earning a nice profit. The only business I could see as being essential to make downtown living attractive would be a grocery store of some sort, as Redner's isn't very accessible at all. People like me move downtown because we want to be able to hang out with friends until 2 AM at the clubs and bars without having to worry about driving home afterwards. We would like to be able to walk to work, walk to restaurants or diners on our lunch breaks, walk to church on Sunday mornings, etc. With the exception of the aforementioned grocery store, there would be NOTHING holding me back from investing myself in a loft in downtown, and I've heard the SAME THING from OTHERS as well to prove that I'm not a raving lunatic.

Build a healthy, thriving, "hip" downtown, and the surrounding neighborhoods will revitalize themselves on auto-pilot as some suburban families or even newer transplants from NY/NJ wish to live near to these conveniences of what they perceive to be an "up-and-coming" city while also enjoying have a yard, off-street parking, etc. Revitalize Downtown Scranton and its adjacent neighborhoods (Lower Hill, Pinebrook, Upper South Side, Hyde Park), and you'll have a large chunk of the city restored. Green Ridge has always been a very sought-after part of town on its own. Lower Green Ridge will be a desirable neighborhood to call home once it is protected from flooding; I myself would LOVE to live in a neighborhood like Dan's with an annual block party, people actually KNOWING their neighbors, etc. North Scranton should be able to hold its own ground given its proximity to Dickson City and I-81. Minooka doesn't need many, if any, improvements. East Mountain is solid once its water runoff woes are addressed. By and large the most troubled parts of the city lie within a short walk of downtown, which is why I don't understand why so many Scrantonians seemingly WANT to see their downtown fail when encouraging its growth will most certainly bring new vitality to adjacent neighborhoods?

Finally, I'm disappointed that Mayor Doherty reneged on his promise to reduce the wage tax. As we've seen even just on this forum, prospective newcomers choose Dunmore, Clarks Summit, Pittston, etc. over Scranton simply due to the outrageous 3.4% city wage tax, of which 2.4% is from the city and 1.0% is for the school district. If I were mayor I'd try everything in my power from reducing administrative salaries across the board to enacting new taxes that would more FAIRLY share the burden of city services between both residents and suburbanites who utilize them in order to eliminate the city's 2.4% portion of the wage tax. With average property taxes as well, there would then no longer be a reason to tell people that Scranton is "overtaxed," and more people would consider moving into the city, boosting its tax base, restoring homes, improving the aesthetic appeal of neighborhoods, boosting property values, and overall generating enough new revenues to reduce other taxes, pay off debts, etc.

Whenever the final tally comes in just deduct my vote. Sorry!