Scranton...help the neighborhoods!!! (Mifflin: crime, new house, buy)

[versaron]

I don't know if its me or not but just in my short time being a resident here in west side there has been a lot of revitalization of the downtown scranton area.
What is with the lack of sidewalks here? My block literally has paved aspahalt sidewalks with those parking concrete things you see in the front of parking spaces used as curbs. And if you dare to venture off those fancy paved sidewalks to the concrete ones good luck not twising a ankle and knee cause they suck. This city needs to divide it's whatever budget spending going n and focus on it's non-center city areas.
I also see all these condemmed homes off the streets to on the list to be kncked down but no action!
Another thing, whats with all the vacant land where houses once sat owned by the city growing jungles on them. Is it that expensive to cut the grass? The city should offer the property to its adjacent neighbors so it could add value to their homes and the property could be kept up.. It's not like anybody is onna come up and buy them up because little or if any of them have at least a 100' of road frontage to them so it could never be built on.
And lastly, this city trash collector....
on garbage collection day every week like clock work on my block on cabrini ave. looks like a street in downtown manhattan on 9/11/01
my trash cans are tossed around and roll half way down the block. I really try to keep up and keep the ball rolling with cleaning up but their pathetic. Is this just my block or anyone else experience my joy evry friday morning? where do you complain to anyways?
well that's whats buggin me bout' Scranton

[scrantonluna]

Start a neighborhood association.

[weluvpa]

Welcome to Scranton..........

[ScranBarre]

Try living in the suburbs. We don't have police patrols due to budget cuts whereas I just saw on the news that your very own West Scranton neighborhood now has police foot beat patrols. We don't have shoulders, let alone sidewalks, along most roadways due to massive urban sprawl, so be happy even to have those ugly asphalt sidewalks with the weeds growing out of them. We don't have curbside recycling. You do. We don't have front porches, neighborhood associations, block parties, churches (let alone church picnics), etc. You do. We don't have a paid fire department, meaning that if a fire breaks out we have to wait for volunteers to rush to the station and then to our homes. You have a professional force. We don't have a public swimming pool. You have several. We don't have shade trees. You do.

Scrantonians may whine about the high taxes they pay in relation to the poor services they net in return, but you are all truly SPOILED! Do you know how many suburbanites would move into the city in a heartbeat if they possessed half the intellect that my peers and I who are headed into the city do?

[Joe Batters]

And just wait for the homies to start hanging out on your corner, Versa!

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by versaron

What is with the lack of sidewalks here? My block literally has paved aspahalt sidewalks with those parking concrete things you see in the front of parking spaces used as curbs. And if you dare to venture off those fancy paved sidewalks to the concrete ones good luck not twising a ankle and knee cause they suck. This city needs to divide it's whatever budget spending going n and focus on it's non-center city areas.

I live in West Side, and there is definitely not a lack of sidewalks anywhere in my neighborhood....everyone has them, and I would say most are in decent shape....I just hate the old slate sidewalks, they're a pain when pushing a baby stroller, with how uneven they are. Anyways, sidewalks are not the city's responsibility, they're the property owner's responsibility.

Originally Posted by versaron

Another thing, whats with all the vacant land where houses once sat owned by the city growing jungles on them. Is it that expensive to cut the grass? The city should offer the property to its adjacent neighbors so it could add value to their homes and the property could be kept up.. It's not like anybody is onna come up and buy them up because little or if any of them have at least a 100' of road frontage to them so it could never be built on.

I agree...more should be done to maintain abandoned properties. They need to crack down on absentee landlords. But I disagree that these lots cannot be built on. People don't have to have an extra-wide new-subdivision lot to plop a McMansion on. I've seen regular city lots in my neighborhood with new houses built on them. If 50 foot wide lots were OK in past years, why not now? Especially when this country's excessive greed and consumption is catching up with us in the form of high gas prices and a poor economy, and we will need to see a shift back to a less-extravagant lifestyle and living in established cities rather than wasteful sprawl into rural areas. If my house is fine on a 50' lot, so should anyone else's.

Originally Posted by versaron

And lastly, this city trash collector....
on garbage collection day every week like clock work on my block on cabrini ave. looks like a street in downtown manhattan on 9/11/01
my trash cans are tossed around and roll half way down the block. I really try to keep up and keep the ball rolling with cleaning up but their pathetic. Is this just my block or anyone else experience my joy evry friday morning? where do you complain to anyways?
well that's whats buggin me bout' Scranton

I have no complaints about the trash collection. We have better trash collection in Scranton than most surrounding towns, and at a lower price. They take almost any junk you leave out for them....furniture, etc. In other towns, you will pay more, and they will only take regular garbage bags of household garbage. So what if you're cans are knocked over and rolling around, do you think these guys have the time to place your cans nice and neatly somewhere will they cannot possibly tip over or blow in the wind? You might sing a different tune if you had to pick up people's heavy, smelly garbage for a living 8+ hours per day. For what I get for my money with our trash collection, I can deal with some tipped over cans.

[blip]

Originally Posted by versaron

I don't know if its me or not but just in my short time being a resident here in west side there has been a lot of revitalization of the downtown scranton area.
What is with the lack of sidewalks here? My block literally has paved aspahalt sidewalks with those parking concrete things you see in the front of parking spaces used as curbs. And if you dare to venture off those fancy paved sidewalks to the concrete ones good luck not twising a ankle and knee cause they suck. This city needs to divide it's whatever budget spending going n and focus on it's non-center city areas.
I also see all these condemmed homes off the streets to on the list to be kncked down but no action!
Another thing, whats with all the vacant land where houses once sat owned by the city growing jungles on them. Is it that expensive to cut the grass? The city should offer the property to its adjacent neighbors so it could add value to their homes and the property could be kept up.. It's not like anybody is onna come up and buy them up because little or if any of them have at least a 100' of road frontage to them so it could never be built on.
And lastly, this city trash collector....
on garbage collection day every week like clock work on my block on cabrini ave. looks like a street in downtown manhattan on 9/11/01
my trash cans are tossed around and roll half way down the block. I really try to keep up and keep the ball rolling with cleaning up but their pathetic. Is this just my block or anyone else experience my joy evry friday morning? where do you complain to anyways?
well that's whats buggin me bout' Scranton

Welcome to West Side! Just moved here a few months ago myself.

Try pushing a stroller on some of these sidewalks, yikes. Also, while I think you have a good idea for offering the properties to adjacent neighbors (for a reasonable price), I wouldn't say nobody's going to build with <100' of street frontage-- it's not Montana.

2 questions for all:

Are sidewalks legally the responsibility of the city, or of the owner of the property that faces them?

And, anyone know of a list of neighborhood associations?

A third bonus question, what's up with Jay's Commons? It was supposed to be done months ago, and there's very little activity there. I want my Manning's!

Thanks

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by blip

2 questions for all:

Are sidewalks legally the responsibility of the city, or of the owner of the property that faces them?

And, anyone know of a list of neighborhood associations?

A third bonus question, what's up with Jay's Commons? It was supposed to be done months ago, and there's very little activity there. I want my Manning's!

Thanks

Sidewalks are the property owner's responsibility. There are neighborhood associations in Scranton, but I'm not sure if I've heard of one in West Side, although there is a crime watch group in West Side. Not sure how to contact them, though.

I've been thinking the same thing about Jay's Commons....how long can it take to build a small strip mall?

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

I've been thinking the same thing about Jay's Commons....how long can it take to build a small strip mall?

Years, .......its Scranton after all.

[blip]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Years, .......its Scranton after all.

I hope Manning's doesn't pull out after missing the droves of summer ice cream eaters.

Looks like the Dunkin Donuts did-- they'd been mentioned as a tenant in an earlier news report, but not now. (And, apparently they're opening a DD at Mifflin & Mulberry.)

Wouldn't mind if the Medicine Shoppe pulled out, as I don't get that place.