Renaissance at 500 (Scranton, Dunmore: university, tax, living in)

[skijmpr]

To chime in on the wage tax: In general I think it is unreasonable, especially for a place like Scranton as it exists today. However, I would view it differently if there were an abundancy of quality skilled jobs downtown, as well as other goods and services that most people come to expect from any "nice" city.

One thing downtown sorely lacks is a supermarket. Just to give an example, companies like Whole Foods have been building downtown-styled stores in other cities, where the store basically sits on a city block and might have housing or office space above it. Parking is usually in an underground garage beneath the structure. Things like this, if built downtown, would be a huge encouragement for people to move back into the city. Unfortunately I'd guess it's more likely to end up on Montage Mountain with the other mess of sprawl structures that feed off the same, already overcrowded, road. Or along Rt. 6 somewhere, where there is already a Wegmans...

[scrantonluna]

You're not going to get a supermarket downtown until you have people living there.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

You're not going to get a supermarket downtown until you have people living there.

I'll gladly move downtown before a supermarket exists.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I'll gladly move downtown before a supermarket exists.

You have Redners which is really close to the downtown on Linden Street. It's where West Side meets downtown.

[The Commish]

Originally Posted by skijmpr

To chime in on the wage tax: In general I think it is unreasonable, especially for a place like Scranton as it exists today. However, I would view it differently if there were an abundancy of quality skilled jobs downtown, as well as other goods and services that most people come to expect from any "nice" city.

So, your solution to the problem of the lack of quality services is to take away the revenue that would help pay for those services? That's not sound policy, in my view. Reduced wage tax or not, cities clearly need to find creative ways to draw revenue into the city, a point made by recently elected Newark Mayor Cory Booker in a fascinating talk with David Remnick of the New Yorker. Whether we can make up for the lost revenue in other ways is certainly a good question to ask.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by The Commish

The wage tax controversy is "silly" because cities are more expensive places to live, period. If anyone wants to live in a city, then higher taxes will come as no surprise. People know they have to pay to enjoy the advantages of living in the city. Paul, you're definitely correct in how many people choose the 'burbs instead of the city because it's cheaper to live there. .

Cities are not more expensive to live in overall.....look at home prices in Scranton compared to the suburbs......real estate prices are much LOWER in the city....that's one thing that attracted to me to live in Scranton. Plus, the gas that is saved by not having to drive to the ends of the earth for everything.

People move to the suburbs over the city not because its cheaper, but because they want to live in sprawly subdivisions with cookie-cutter houses...plus, they may not want to admit it, but many of them avoid the city because <gasp!> they may have to live near people of other races! I grew up in the "suburbs" around here and there is definitely a racist sentiment there.

[loveinbloom]

Ummm...I am looking to buy a home ( when we get out of our lease) my husband is now not even considering Scranton, when we can buy in Dumore, with less of a tax burden. Will the 3.4% break us...no way, but when he retires (again) in ten years the cumulative 3.4% we would have spent just to live in Scranton will add up nicely by having invested it instead of spending it just to live in "Scranton" proper.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by loveinbloom

Ummm...I am looking to buy a home ( when we get out of our lease) my husband is now not even considering Scranton, when we can buy in Dumore, with less of a tax burden. Will the 3.4% break us...no way, but when he retires (again) in ten years the cumulative 3.4% we would have spent just to live in Scranton will add up nicely by having invested it instead of spending it just to live in "Scranton" proper.

Dunmore has a lot of financial problems as well. They have the highest borough property taxes in the area....they've been to court to petition the courts to allow them to raise the property tax above the limit allowed by law. I also rented in Dunmore for 2 years, and did not enjoy living there.....a lot of people there with the view that anyone who is not a born and raised Dunmorean is a carpetbagger (even though I grew up only about 7 miles away).

Also, you're just looking at the wage tax, you need to consider the property taxes and also real estate prices. Scranton has lower property taxes and home prices than Dunmore.

So instead of investing that 3.4%, you should stay in Scranton invest the money that you'll save by buying a house in Scranton rather than paying the inflated real estate prices and property taxes in the suburbs.

[FightinPhils]

Here's another lousy thing about Dunmore....their DPW......I remember their garbage collection being lousy, they usually will not take anything besides regular household garbage bags, as you can see in this article from today's paper, they're throwing a fit about people leaving large items out for pickup. I have never had that problem in Scranton. The garbage pickup here has been excellent, they'll take pretty much anything you leave out for them, and our garbage collection fee of $178/year is lower than most other towns around here.
The Times-Tribune - Dunmore getting fed up with big-ticket garbage

[CHS89]

Originally Posted by MrKrabs

The garbage pickup here has been excellent, they'll take pretty much anything you leave out for them, and our garbage collection fee of $178/year is lower than most other towns around here.

No one ever mentions this tidbit as a sort of balance to the wage tax. Interesting. Scranton does not charge a per bag fee, require stickers, limit the number of bags allowed at one time, or refuse to pick something up like other towns, but damn the man we've been paying a 3.4% wage tax (2.4% to the city, 1% to the school district) since many of us started working. One would think that in all that time, people might have learned to cope with it instead of trying to play the hardship card. I know I have. Would I like to see it lower? Who wouldn't. But good lord, get used to it already.