What Does Scranton Need to Undergo a Renaissance? (Wilkes-Barre, Hanover: real estate, city hall)
Northeastern PennsylvaniaScranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Excellent suggestions, Kettlepot, and quite a few have worked in other cities. Stepping stones do succeed.
Smaller cities have seen a turn-around with beautification alone, and even NYC appeared to like the introduction of hanging flowers. I remember the efforts of several cities in the 90s, all of whom looked at renaissance planning. Some worked; some failed, but all learned a great deal about improving the fiscal and social fabric of their city.
Community involvement, even on a small scale, is the way to start! And a positive attitude to a positive outcome is first and foremost a requirement. And patience is an attribute required as turning a city around isn't a one day, and one year venture, but a ten, twenty year commitment.
I participated in Providence's (RI) renaissance in the 90s, and it was an effort that involved many small groups within the community, and included representation from the museum, library, university, banks, and local businesses. While Providence is not on many people's radar, some of the improvements have re-infused both pride and purpose into the City, and rewards--more services, more jobs, and more money.
Excellent suggestions, Kettlepot, and quite a few have worked in other cities. Stepping stones do succeed.
Smaller cities have seen a turn-around with beautification alone, and even NYC appeared to like the introduction of hanging flowers. I remember the efforts of several cities in the 90s, all of whom looked at renaissance planning. Some worked; some failed, but all learned a great deal about improving the fiscal and social fabric of their city.
Community involvement, even on a small scale, is the way to start! And a positive attitude to a positive outcome is first and foremost a requirement. And patience is an attribute required as turning a city around isn't a one day, and one year venture, but a ten, twenty year commitment.
I participated in Providence's (RI) renaissance in the 90s, and it was an effort that involved many small groups within the community, and included representation from the museum, library, university, banks, and local businesses. While Providence is not on many people's radar, some of the improvements have re-infused both pride and purpose into the City, and rewards--more services, more jobs, and more money.
I agree with you 100% the whole attitute towards this has to be positive,you
have stated good points, the community,merchants must be involved,yes in NYC they also recently started putting more trees in alot of the areas.
What does Scranton need to undergo a renaissance? That's easy: an enema. Get rid of every politician and political appointment in city government...every last one, from Chris Doherty to Janet Evans and everywhere in between...and start over with a city run by people who are not politically connected. Although that would have to mean a change in mindset by the apathetic voters in this town who either vote based on ethnicity, or who will do them a political favor, or who don't even bother to vote at all.
We always have paths around politicians. The choice is ours, not theirs, even if we voted them in as a bloc.
Rhode Island has a reputation for corruption, and certainly the former Mayor of Providence fared poorly in terms of his engagement in politics as usual. Nonetheless, community members, not necessarily leaders, worked to turn the City around--and they have and continue to do so.
Waiting for some magic bullet to get fired into the air, and eliminate politicians will never happen until folks take control of their city from outside the government system and even from within.
How we started: a Friday breakfast meeting! One Friday led to many Thursdays, and many Thursdays lead to a strong enough group of community representives to start to make a serious change in the City's Downtown.
There have been a lot of wonderful ideas tossed around here, and I hope to see many more as well! I especially like the "historic district" idea. If prior city leaders had any foresight they would have considered making the entirety of Downtown Scranton an officially-designated "historic district" in the 1980s before the mass destruction of Lackawanna Avenue's old brick facades for the soon-to-be white elephant Steamtown Mall. Too many people look merely at the dollar signs when deciding between tearing down a building to start fresh or renovating the existing building at a higher expense, but in the long run cities with more interesting historic architecture tend to have greater overall success in recovery. (Just look at Jim Thorpe as an example of this on a smaller scale). Other historic districts could include Green Ridge, parts of the Hill Section, and perhaps even parts of Hyde Park.
Another thing I'd like to see would be streetscape improvements along North Main Avenue and South Main Avenue through West Side. There are a lot of wonderful close-knit mom-and-pop businesses along that "main drag," but it is ugly as all hell. It is in dire need in many sections of new sidewalks, greenery, benches, Victorian-era street lights, etc. If Main Avenue were more "friendly" towards pedestrians, then you'd likely see many more folks from the adjacent Hyde Park, Tripps Park, and Bellevue neighborhoods sauntering around on warmer evenings to grab a bite at Faccia Luna and do some browsing at nearby shops. In its current state this "gateway" to West Side isn't very attractive. Some "Welcome to West Side" banners adorning those street lights might be a nice touch as well, and they would be free if they were sponsored by neighborhood businesses. Above-ground utilities should be moved underground. I always thought Hyde Park was one of the nicer neighborhoods overall in Scranton, but it's main drag leaves much to be desired in terms of esthetics.
It might also be neat to promote ethnically- or culturally-distinct neighborhoods via brochures/pamphlets with maps of points of interest for folks who want to immerse themselves in the growing Hispanic culture of South Side, the historic Jewish atmosphere of the Upper Hill, or what I'm projecting will be a "Gayborhood" in the Lower Hill in about 10 more years. I'm not sure which city neighborhood is the most Irish---Minooka, West Side, or Green Ridge---but it would be neat to see that heritage promoted as well.
Something that Pittston has that I think would be wildly-successful in Scranton is an annual community-wide church tour so folks from throughout the region can descend upon the city for "open houses" at various historic houses of worship throughout the Electric City. This could be a boon for churches to attract new parishioners and to raise money for themselves as well through corresponding bake sales, ziti dinners, ice cream socials, etc.
I'm also going to have to continue to side with the VAST MAJORITY and support rail service to not only New York City/Northern NJ, but also Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley. The future of the BosWash Corridor (to which we will eventually be absorbed into) is high-speed passenger rail. If nothing else it would be of benefit to our local residents to be able to enjoy day-trips to Broadway or Center City Philly without having to board a Jo-Jo's or Martz bus or battle traffic on the Lincoln Tunnel or the Schuylkill Expressway. This would reciprocate as well with folks from the cities coming to Scranton to get a taste of "small town life."
I'm also going to have to continue to side with the VAST MAJORITY and support rail service to not only New York City/Northern NJ, but also Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley. The future of the BosWash Corridor (to which we will eventually be absorbed into) is high-speed passenger rail. If nothing else it would be of benefit to our local residents to be able to enjoy day-trips to Broadway or Center City Philly without having to board a Jo-Jo's or Martz bus or battle traffic on the Lincoln Tunnel or the Schuylkill Expressway. This would reciprocate as well with folks from the cities coming to Scranton to get a taste of "small town life."
SWB- The days of cheap gasoline have come to an end and the sooner the country realizes that, the better. SWB, I suppose you read the NY Times article referenced in another thread about the "fun" commute to NYC from the Poconos. I wonder what all of those people who use their cars to commute will do when gasoline reaches the price people pay in Europe? I read the other day that gas is almost $9.00 a gallon in England. The $2.86 Yikes thread will morph into the $4.00 Yikes thread by the end of 2008!
Trains appear to be the most cost-efficient way to move large numbers of people. It would be nice to have those super-fast Bullet trains they have in Europe and Japan, but at this point anything would be an improvement!
What makes you think that the people in this area want to be linked to NYC? This is not CT which has been a arm of the NYC area forever. If we wanted Stamford we would move there, we don't have the waterfront or anything close to these cities so should we be forced to grow into them? What is wrong with this area that everyone seems to think that a train to NJ or NYC will solve the problems? Ask the life long residents how they feel about the trains in CT. Its funny when everyone moves to commute they seem to only interview those that have moved and no one wants to take into consideration the residents that live in the area already. I don't care what anyone says the train will be a bad idea for Scranton. Its not a feasable commute from here by a "local" train and I'm pretty sure that we are not going to get a express.
Scrantonluna I agree with the historic district and that is something that I have been saying ever since they blew up Lackawanna ave. The only street that would fit into that would be 300 Penn. They have pretty much bulldozed everything else. The corner of Franklin and Lackawanna where Quints used to be is slated to taken down for parking for Penn furniture so there goes more then one of our historic buildings that are left in the downtown. We have no historic districts so to say left in the city that they haven't ruined. Why fix the old when you can get the city to tear it down for free and build new.
Dan whether you like it or not Northeastern Pennsylvania is destined to soon become annexed as the outermost exurb of New York City/Northern New Jersey. Just look at how rapidly the nearby Lehigh Valley was devoured to the point where it now has 800,000+ residents, a median home sales price of over $270,000, and horrific traffic congestion on Route 22 and I-78. Monroe County is just starting to see similar sprawl-related problems occurring, and those will eventually spill over not only into Pike County but also right on up I-380 and Route 115 into the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area as well. I don't see any point in "fighting against the city" any longer when it is already on our doorstep. As I said in the past large-scale developments have been rejected in the Bear Creek area, and one large-scale development is still being staved off in Mountain Top. North Pocono is forecasted to see rapid growth in the coming years also (hence the need for the new high school, much to the chagrin of residents who don't want to look at the trends). We can either embrace the newcomers and hope to capitalize upon them to reinvest in our area or we can continue to sit and b*tch about them and blame them for all of our local societal ills. I'll pick the first option; you can have the latter.
Dan whether you like it or not Northeastern Pennsylvania is destined to soon become annexed as the outermost exurb of New York City/Northern New Jersey. Just look at how rapidly the nearby Lehigh Valley was devoured to the point where it now has 800,000+ residents, a median home sales price of over $270,000, and horrific traffic congestion on Route 22 and I-78. Monroe County is just starting to see similar sprawl-related problems occurring, and those will eventually spill over not only into Pike County but also right on up I-380 and Route 115 into the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area as well. I don't see any point in "fighting against the city" any longer when it is already on our doorstep. As I said in the past large-scale developments have been rejected in the Bear Creek area, and one large-scale development is still being staved off in Mountain Top. North Pocono is forecasted to see rapid growth in the coming years also (hence the need for the new high school, much to the chagrin of residents who don't want to look at the trends). We can either embrace the newcomers and hope to capitalize upon them to reinvest in our area or we can continue to sit and b*tch about them and blame them for all of our local societal ills. I'll pick the first option; you can have the latter.
You mean to tell me that Monroe County has not been annexed by NJ? My Bad!
You mean to tell me that Monroe County has not been annexed by NJ? My Bad!
Not yet. Pike County, which sits just north of Monroe County and roughly 25 minutes from Scranton is now officially considered part of the New York City metropolitan area, and it is also now part of the NYC media market, having been redirected from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market. Monroe County will likely be annexed into both the NYC metropolitan area and its media market as well by 2015-2020 or so. I actually think I'll live to see a day when all developable land between NYC and Philadelphia is consumed and a new "New York City/Philadelphia CSA" is formed, which will be BY FAR the largest metropolitan area in the nation. Such a region would include the Lehigh Valley, all of NJ, parts of CT, Downstate NY and Long Island, and Pike and Monroe Counties in PA.
Not yet. Pike County, which sits just north of Monroe County and roughly 25 minutes from Scranton is now officially considered part of the New York City metropolitan area, and it is also now part of the NYC media market, having been redirected from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market. Monroe County will likely be annexed into both the NYC metropolitan area and its media market as well by 2015-2020 or so. I actually think I'll live to see a day when all developable land between NYC and Philadelphia is consumed and a new "New York City/Philadelphia CSA" is formed, which will be BY FAR the largest metropolitan area in the nation. Such a region would include the Lehigh Valley, all of NJ, parts of CT, Downstate NY and Long Island, and Pike and Monroe Counties in PA.
I tend to forget about Pike County. I have a lot of friends from the P.O. who have homes in Milford tho'.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I especially like the "historic district" idea. If prior city leaders had any foresight they would have considered making the entirety of Downtown Scranton an officially-designated "historic district" in the 1980s before the mass destruction of Lackawanna Avenue's old brick facades for the soon-to-be white elephant Steamtown Mall. Too many people look merely at the dollar signs when deciding between tearing down a building to start fresh or renovating the existing building at a higher expense, but in the long run cities with more interesting historic architecture tend to have greater overall success in recovery. (Just look at Jim Thorpe as an example of this on a smaller scale). Other historic districts could include Green Ridge, parts of the Hill Section, and perhaps even parts of Hyde Park. 
