Scranton really does suck (section 8, house, landscaping)

[NYRangers 2008]

Paul, I don't hunt, don't attend high school football games and don't frequent neighborhood bars. That's not me. I don't have that "Scranton mentality". I'm not from here, so I better get out soon before it starts to affect me. I was never a malcontent about anyplace else I lived, except for here. I see Scranton for what it is. I too wish it would become a hip, happening city like you would like to see it also. It's just not going to happen. I wish I could live in a New York City prototype city, because I like the atmosphere of NYC. But that's not what Scranton is becoming. It's becoming something far worse. I really don't want to be around when it comes to full fruition.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by Stephanie P

Sounds like it's time to bring in the Border Patrol. My ex-husband is a supervisor in the B.P., but he works in North Dakota.
Thank your politicians for allowing this to happen. They like to look the other way while thousands of illegal aliens cross the border. What gets me so mad is there are so many people without medical insurance, and are denied Medicaid. Yet, the hospitals can get emergency Medicaid approval for all the illegals that go there. Please explain that to me.
Sorry, just wanted to put my 2 cents in.

Stephanie, don't get me started about the illegal immigration problem. Our mayor and the current administration thinks it's all right that they come here and set up shop and they don't get punished for breaking our laws. Don't worry about it, they're here, there's nothing we can do about it, is their mantra. They say it makes the city more diverse. BULL!!! I don't think any of them are living near him in his mansion in Green Ridge. He might employ them as his gardener or pool boy, that's about how close he would get to an illegal.

[blip]

Saying Scranton sucks is like making fun of a retarded kid. Not difficult, not helpful, not courageous, not original.

Yawn.

[scrantonluna]

Originally Posted by blip

Saying Scranton sucks is like making fun of a retarded kid. Not difficult, not helpful, not courageous, not original.

Yawn.

Blunt, but probably accurate.

[scrantonluna]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

Sadly, I'm realizing that I, too, will be joining that list. What is there in Scranton to retain educated 20-somethings interested in launching their careers, raising their families, and having urban amenities available at their fingertips? Very little. I've been here in State College for the past couple of days, and whenever I come out here I'm always so happy. Yesterday I saw a lesbian couple holding hands. If that same couple were to be walking down Main Street in Shenandoah, then I shudder to think what might happen to them. There's every ethnic-oriented restaurant imaginable here. There are independent films here. There is a very strong emphasis placed upon the arts. Diversity is embraced here instead of being feared and admonished as it is in Greater Scranton. I've seen license plates from roughly a dozen different states. People WALK to amenities instead of doing as they do in our area---tear down trees for ugly suburban housing developments and then driving to them in their inefficient SUVs.

I'm tired of waiting for Scranton to evolve into that "hip" city that I've been promised it would become for so many years. Scranton is just as SNL described it: "full of malcontents with no ambition." I've been on the web site for Rediscover Scranton, and they highlight testimonials from the same half-dozen or so Scranton expatriates who returned to the region to raise their families after leaving to pursue professional pursuits. According to Dan half of them are political crony families anyways. My family has no political connections. My leftist ideologies are unwelcome here in an area where the first day of deer season is a "holiday" and where high school football stadiums attract as many spectators on Friday nights as a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins game. after which every corner bar from "Nannicoke up da Eynon" is teeming with people plopping down $15 per night for alcohol while complaining about how much they are "suffering" due to the current economic downturn we are facing.

Scranton will probably never be what I want it to be---a thriving, cosmopolitan, diverse city with a "hip" downtown surrounded by stable middle-class neighborhoods. Minneapolis has that allure to me. It won't hurt me to see what a REAL city is like---not one whose biggest asset is its proximity to OTHER cities!

Paul, it's easier to live with if you are honest about it. Scranton has been a working class city, just like it's residents, for a very, very long time. The best we can all hope for is a 'balance,' with a little something for everyone. You're looking for a hip downtown, when Scranton is more like a guy in coveralls who just got his first ipod. And it's not even a real ipod, it's a knock-off. I don't ever want to see Scranton lose it's 'grit,' but that doesn't mean it has to be downright nasty either.

I've said it many times here, the biggest draw for me to Scranton is it's location. When you're in Scranton, you're only a couple hours from NYC, Philadelphia, NJ, the beach, etc., but you still get to live in a decently stable and safe city. It allows you to sample life on your schedule. We have all four seasons here, and you can live anywhere from a downtown apartment to a log cabin in the most secluded woods, and still not be far at all from civilization. Many times in the past I have shopped at Lowes or Wegmans, gone hiking for hours at Merli-Sarnoski park, and enjoyed a frozen hot chocolate at Northern Light, all easily in the same day. If you have varied interests, it truly is a place to be.

Is Scranton perfect? Far from it. But it is what you make of it. Some want to make it their ultimate disappointment, others make it their home. Guess which is more inviting?

[AmeriKenArtist]

I don't know the history of Scranton-Wilkes Barre, but it seems very depressed now. Kind of like an urban sprawl, with no real dynamic center. My daughter lives there and I was taken on a tour a few years ago. I did not get a pleasant impression of the overall area. Again, I don't know the history enough to appreciate it.

There are many towns in PA that are vibrant and have culture and interesting downtowns. Where I am now is amazing for me, and believe me, I've been around! I have a treasure trove of interesting people and places to visit- all within 2 or 3 miles.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are the only cities in Pennsylvania that are attractive to me. I often go there for the museums. Ultimately, New York City is my vacation spot. I am thankful that I live so close to her.

[Go Ne]

You people, astound me.
You complain and complain and complain, whine and whine and whine "Scranton Sucks help us from our blight!"
Well here's an idea, get off the computer and make your voice heard in public, or try to make your city better on your own! Honestly all I see here is complaints, but no initiatives on how to make things better, and to be honest, its pathetic! But when Paul wants to make things better, all you can do is scream at him Scranton sucks and try to shove it down his throat that things will never be better, but if you all try you can make things better. Organize a group to donate books to the children of the south side. Plant some trees and flowers in the older areas to make them more desirable. Petition the city government to invest in urban development and city parks and try to get them to develop the Lackawanna River any small thin to improve the city will have a chain reaction until it grows into a very big thing.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

You people, astound me.
You complain and complain and complain, whine and whine and whine "Scranton Sucks help us from our blight!"
Well here's an idea, get off the computer and make your voice heard in public, or try to make your city better on your own! Honestly all I see here is complaints, but no initiatives on how to make things better, and to be honest, its pathetic! But when Paul wants to make things better, all you can do is scream at him Scranton sucks and try to shove it down his throat that things will never be better, but if you all try you can make things better. Organize a group to donate books to the children of the south side. Plant some trees and flowers in the older areas to make them more desirable. Petition the city government to invest in urban development and city parks and try to get them to develop the Lackawanna River any small thin to improve the city will have a chain reaction until it grows into a very big thing.

You're preaching to a city replete with armchair quarterbacks, hence why I seek to take my entrepreneurial expertise elsewhere. Nobody in this area really has a "can do" approach. Everyone has the Dan Hubbard approach of throwing the hands in the air, saying "things are hopeless; we're sinking like the Titanic" and then wallowing around in their own self-deprecation. Whenever Scranton receives very unflattering national recognition, such as recent events with Saturday Night Live and Forbes Magazine, online newspaper articles are flooded with hordes of city residents who berate the city with just one or two select cheerleaders defending her integrity. I'm tired of fighting an uphill battle. Let the Legion of Doom, Doherty Deceit, and all of the other losers in the city continue to destroy the city from the inside out by making the city's image seem so unattractive that it will be impossible to attract new residents to bolster the tax base. If they don't appreciate all of the assets they have surrounding them, then the hell with them. I can't live my life beside such lower-class people who do nothing but say "my life sucks, and it's all the government's fault." You know what? I haven't been happy in life in quite some time, but I do NOT blame others for my own shortcomings. Heaven forbid Scrantonians learn a thing or two about personal responsibility instead of always "passing the buck." Instead of whining about the same clogged storm drain for weeks on end at city council meetings to no avail, why not pitch in yourselves and unclog them? We do that here in the suburbs---are you just lazier in the city or what?

[johnqpublic]

Hang on there Scran, Dan stood up and tried to do things for his community, all he got was a world of retaliation from the Doherty machine...you know not of what you speak...you are not from here , you haven't a clue... My family has generations here, and it has been the same political families taking turns at raping the citizens for several generations.....you wear rose colored glasses..the only true part of your rant is this...." You know what? I haven't been happy in life in quite some time, but I do NOT blame others for my own shortcomings. Heaven forbid Scrantonians learn a thing or two about personal responsibility instead of always "passing the buck." the majority dont vote!!!!!

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Originally Posted by blip

Saying Scranton sucks is like making fun of a retarded kid. Not difficult, not helpful, not courageous, not original.

Yawn.

Well, I can see most of the posters points. But what I do not understand is: if someone doesn't not like where they live, why don't they find a place where they would be happy. That is what I did, made an effort for a better area, better people and definitely a better school district. Complaining about it - would have been a slow poision.