Passing through Wilkes-Barre

[ScranBarre]

I most definitely agree with you there. The area between Public Square and the King's College campus is vastly underutilized. Plans for the Irem Temple should be finalized, whether it be one of the three solid proposals I've heard---artists' colony, science museum, Susquehanna heritage museum. I personally prefer the latter, as one of the portals in the levee wall sits directly across the street from the Irem Temple, affording visitors the opportunity to experience the museum and then cross River Street to enjoy the new riverfront park. Speaking of River Street, more has to be done to "calm" the traffic there. Driving along River Street trying to get out of town around 4 PM is like taking your life in your hands, much less being a pedestrian. Traffic becomes snarled, tempers flare, and people disregard crosswalks. I myself have nearly been hit on several occasions trying to cross the intersection of North River & West Union (next to King's McGowan Building) by people making right-hand-turns-on-red from Union onto River WITHOUT first watching for pedestrians entering the crosswalk. I envision one lane of traffic in each direction of River Street with a center median landscaped with trees (dense foliage has been proven to slow down traffic in urban settings).

The North Main corridor between King's and Public Square is downright disgusting, bland, and boring. Besides "The Mines" there's really nothing of use in that stretch (although the new gateway project will be nice). Downtown has no fast-food restaurants. Several years ago both Wendy's and McDonald's failed, but now I feel as if foot traffic has rebounded to the point of permitting ONE franchise to make a go of it downtown. South Main, East Northampton, and Public Square are all becoming vibrant again, but what about North Main? I'd LOVE to see the building that once housed NoNo's (formerly Martini) rejuvenated with additional stories to house a Dave & Buster's!

[W-B proud]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I most definitely agree with you there. The area between Public Square and the King's College campus is vastly underutilized. Plans for the Irem Temple should be finalized, whether it be one of the three solid proposals I've heard---artists' colony, science museum, Susquehanna heritage museum. I personally prefer the latter, as one of the portals in the levee wall sits directly across the street from the Irem Temple, affording visitors the opportunity to experience the museum and then cross River Street to enjoy the new riverfront park. Speaking of River Street, more has to be done to "calm" the traffic there. Driving along River Street trying to get out of town around 4 PM is like taking your life in your hands, much less being a pedestrian. Traffic becomes snarled, tempers flare, and people disregard crosswalks. I myself have nearly been hit on several occasions trying to cross the intersection of North River & West Union (next to King's McGowan Building) by people making right-hand-turns-on-red from Union onto River WITHOUT first watching for pedestrians entering the crosswalk. I envision one lane of traffic in each direction of River Street with a center median landscaped with trees (dense foliage has been proven to slow down traffic in urban settings).

The North Main corridor between King's and Public Square is downright disgusting, bland, and boring. Besides "The Mines" there's really nothing of use in that stretch (although the new gateway project will be nice). Downtown has no fast-food restaurants. Several years ago both Wendy's and McDonald's failed, but now I feel as if foot traffic has rebounded to the point of permitting ONE franchise to make a go of it downtown. South Main, East Northampton, and Public Square are all becoming vibrant again, but what about North Main? I'd LOVE to see the building that once housed NoNo's (formerly Martini) rejuvenated with additional stories to house a Dave & Buster's!

Yah, the few blocks between North st and the square definately need more buisnessess. The problem is that there isn't alot of storefronts in that area, besides the building that houses Musical Energi, and 570 Tattoo's and that is already filled with tenants. It's mostly dorms and buildings. I always thought that Gonda's should build a large deck in the back parking lot and have "live music" back there, like an outdoor Tink's. Down closer to the square, Blue Cross and the parkade across the street almost take up that entire block, and there are no storefronts in that block. I don't no what the deal is with that Nono's building, everyone that has ever had a restaraunt there has failed. I think because it is small, and it has no windows has alot to do with it. They should tear it down, and put something better there in it's place. maybe a Dave and Buster's like you said. That would do very well with the college crowd.