GreenBeing (Scranton, York, Moosic: condo, buy, construction)

[Jungle George]

Originally Posted by Jungle George

Looks like I used to....


YouTube - Suffer The Children

Ooops...wrong video of mine...


YouTube - Rock & Roll Man

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by CHS89

And you're probably more than a little off base on all of it. You said it yourself upthread. WE'RE IN A RECESSION!!! Do you honestly think those of us that have jobs and/or nothing better to do with our Thursday afternoons have massive amounts of disposable income that they're going to **** away at a mall, any mall, these days?

Well we're still not "officially" in a recession if you ask our enlightened Republican executive leadership in Washington, but with the DJIA now hovering around 7,500 points and expected to tank much further, unemployment on a sharp increase, and consumer confidence at a near-record low, I don't see how one can possibly argue otherwise. So GDP hasn't been in decline for multiple quarters. All of the other symptoms of a recession are upon us, so I'll use that as a better barometric indicator than what some think-tank tells us.

You hit the nail right on the head though. Probably 75% of the businesses in Downtown Scranton rely upon people spending their discretionary income, and now that most Americans have very little of that naturally you'll see very few people shopping downtown. I myself haven't been spending much at all. Most of my friends and I here at King's still don't have job offers in the financial field, and I have a feeling I'll be joining the many co-workers of mine at Lowe's who are working there with degrees. Contrary to what Dan says because he hates me, my friends and I aren't having a difficult time securing firm white-collar employment because we are "duds," but rather the economy is just in SHAMBLES!

I'm watching ABC News right now, and Citigroup's stock alone just dropped 49% over the past two days. That number is 26% for BoA, 27% for JP Morgan, and Lord only knows how much for Lowe's and Home Depot. General Motors is trading right around $2.50/share right now, a record low. Of course Wal-Mart is BOOMING right now because it is a retailer that caters to the lower-middle-class and those who don't care about their corrupt foreign labor practices if they can cut corners to balance their family budget, and with the lower-middle-class expanding in our nation right now Wal-Mart may just become more powerful than the U.S. Government itself!

People are scared to spend money right now. Hell, I'm uncertain as to whether or not the company I'm planning on buying a new car from in 2009 will even be around in 2010 for me to get my purchase serviced! With all of these "big boys" gritting their teeth, obviously the mom-and-pops of Downtown Scranton are going to be hit just as hard, if not harder. Now they're talking about massive deflation, a number of retailers that will be going out of business if they falter during this last quarter of 2008, and the potential for a full-blown depression if things don't improve next year.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

You hit the nail right on the head though. Probably 75% of the businesses in Downtown Scranton rely upon people spending their discretionary income, and now that most Americans have very little of that naturally you'll see very few people shopping downtown. I myself haven't been spending much at all. Most of my friends and I here at King's still don't have job offers in the financial field, and I have a feeling I'll be joining the many co-workers of mine at Lowe's who are working there with degrees.


Contrary to what Dan says because he hates me, my friends and I aren't having a difficult time securing firm white-collar employment because we are "duds," but rather the economy is just in SHAMBLES! .

Whoa Easy big fella.......I don't want to hear anything about a recession from you and the voice of reason ok.....Scranton was a ghost town last year, the year before that and well the last 50 before that. This is nothing new and while I understand your needs to deflect the "I told you so" from me there is nothing new or wrong in Scranton that wasn't there long before this so called recession. I prefer financial reality check.

The "recession" is just the current patsy to blame Scrantons wowes on. Lets not move away from the fact that Scranton is a ghost town on any day of the week after 5pm, any season of the year.....5pm on Saturday in July, sunny and clear skies with DJIA of 13,000....GHOST TOWN.

Paul I don't hate you...If I hated you, you would know it. You and I have our disagreements and our little fights but I don't hate you. I'm not the hateful type..I might be a brutally honest and in your face type of guy but I don't hate people.

Would it make you feel better if I bought you a cup of coffee....Now no Starbucks or Northern Lights because we are in a recession you know.

Paul just so you know.....You and your friends would have had a hard time with jobs anyway, recession or not in the area, that is nothing new and I have been warning you about that for well over a year now.....Its not the economy as much as its the region and the lack of good jobs, regardless of your education level. Again I need to insert the "I told you so" here.

[SteelCityRising]

Well, just to satisfy you're "told ya so" urge, my friends who were to interview with Merrill Lynch for their new Scranton office were told again last week last-minute that there would be no interviews that day. The first day was understandable; that was that freak unpredicted snow storm before Halloween that had I-84 and I-80 closed. To cancel again after rescheduling gives me a VERY uneasy feeling though. My one friend was all dressed up in a suit, excited about this opportunity, only to be told AGAIN that it would have to be rescheduled. At this point I think it's safe to say that Merrill Lynch won't be coming to Downtown Scranton.

[weluvpa]

I think I told you that a few months back....Looks good for Da Mayor in the Times though didn't it.

See what I'm saying, nothing but facades for the last 8 years, facades and empty promises.

[CHS89]

The point being, there are any number of reasons that the downtown areas, and many other shopping areas in and around Scranton for that matter, are "ghost towns" as you so exaggeratingly put it. You call it grasping as straws, I call it you focusing the blame on one man.

You say it all the time, Scranton is not NYC. You want throngs of people in the downtown at all hours of the day with fewer empty storefronts, maybe you might want to consider a move two and a half hours east. Good luck finding a family member to give you their house, though. You might even find family sustaining employment. Failing that, get used to the reality of the downtown Scranton that was far more "ghost towny" long before you moved back to the area.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by CHS89

The point being, there are any number of reasons that the downtown areas, and many other shopping areas in and around Scranton for that matter, are "ghost towns" as you so exaggeratingly put it. You call it grasping as straws, I call it you focusing the blame on one man.

You say it all the time, Scranton is not NYC. You want throngs of people in the downtown at all hours of the day with fewer empty storefronts, maybe you might want to consider a move two and a half hours east. Good luck finding a family member to give you their house, though. You might even find family sustaining employment. Failing that, get used to the reality of the downtown Scranton that was far more "ghost towny" long before you moved back to the area.

Wow your a funny guy Paul........Scranton long before I moved back to the area in what 1978? Grasping...Downtown is a ghost town and it always has been for as long as you or I remember it...Since I have been in the area for what 12 years less then you if that....

I don't care if there are throngs of people, I don't care if its NYC. What I do care about is a city gov't and its followers spending my tax dollars to try and change this city into something that it will never be.

I actually never placed the blame on one man in this thread did I? The reality is that Scranton is just as much as a ghost town under Doherty as it was under Connors if not more. Downtown seemed to have more day to day foot traffic under Connors but that was probably the Globe Store.....

Why didn't The Globe get a bail out from the city?

[LusOnlyVoice]

Originally Posted by DE_NePA

Ummm...confessing you use the drying cycle in a "green discussion" would be faux pas, at best

I'm not trying to be rude here but if you are going to try and go green the use of a dishwasher in and of itself is a "faux pas" ... you run the water to rinse the dishes ... so you can place them into a machine that will now use even more water to wash those same dishes ... not to mention the electricity that you use to heat the rinse water and now run the dishwasher ... so that's a lot of wasted time and resources to wash your dishes.

I just wash my dishes with my own two hands ... Only takes a few minutes of my time each night and actually ... we use it as somewhat of a bonding time ... wash ... dry and put away together ... it's a good time to talk about things.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by CHS89

The point being, there are any number of reasons that the downtown areas, and many other shopping areas in and around Scranton for that matter, are "ghost towns" as you so exaggeratingly put it. You call it grasping as straws, I call it you focusing the blame on one man.

You say it all the time, Scranton is not NYC. You want throngs of people in the downtown at all hours of the day with fewer empty storefronts, maybe you might want to consider a move two and a half hours east. Good luck finding a family member to give you their house, though. You might even find family sustaining employment. Failing that, get used to the reality of the downtown Scranton that was far more "ghost towny" long before you moved back to the area.

Are you referring to myself or Dan? I really do not care what Scranton is or what it will become. Certain people think it's something it's not and think it will be something else in the future. It will be what it always has been, a ghost town and most people are cool with that. Doherty has created a fantasy land with the downtown and Nay Aug and hasn't really addressed the real problems of the city.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by NYRangers 2008

Are you referring to myself or Dan? I really do not care what Scranton is or what it will become. Certain people think it's something it's not and think it will be something else in the future. It will be what it always has been, a ghost town and most people are cool with that. Doherty has created a fantasy land with the downtown and Nay Aug and hasn't really addressed the real problems of the city.

I agree. Its time to just let Scranton be Scranton. Its not Manhattan, and I don't want it to be. NYC is only 2 hours away if I want to visit there. Scranton is what it is....they should focus on lowering taxes, keeping the neighborhoods safe and liveable.....if that happens, more people will stay/move to Scranton, and that will attract business those people will need/demand. Doherty and his "if you build it, they will come" crap is obviously not working. But he doesn't care if its not working, all he wants are the photo ops from all these expensive projects. If he wanted more than a photo op, would he let these projects rot from lack of maintenance, as he does now? Go check out the Nay Aug playground...only a few years after his big photo op, the place is a dump. And its too bad, because it was a nice playground. But these things get built, and are left to rot....