How is Kingston? (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Berwick: apartments, renting, lawyers)

[geos]

My last home buying trip to the Scranton area was not very successful. One house I liked on Laurel St. in W-B was taken and the other was a mess. South Scranton didn't work out either. I didn't realize it was so hilly! So I'm planning another expedition next week. I see some interesting houses in Kingston so I'd appreciate some feedback on the town. From my understanding it's a step up from W-B in terms of crime. Crime/safety and taxes are the only issues I'm really concerned with, not schools or jobs. Thanks.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by geos

My last home buying trip to the Scranton area was not very successful. One house I liked on Laurel St. in W-B was taken and the other was a mess. South Scranton didn't work out either. I didn't realize it was so hilly! So I'm planning another expedition next week. I see some interesting houses in Kingston so I'd appreciate some feedback on the town. From my understanding it's a step up from W-B in terms of crime. Crime/safety and taxes are the only issues I'm really concerned with, not schools or jobs. Thanks.

Kingston is a community of about 14,000 directly across the Susquehanna River from Downtown Wilkes-Barre. Generally speaking the nicest neighborhoods are those east of Wyoming Avenue (U.S. Route 11). The town is home to a large number of middle-aged college-educated professionals without children; a large number of my faculty here at King's College reside here, for example. The town is not very diverse, but there is a large concentration of Jewish families here as well as a relatively-large LGBT community in relation to the rest of NEPA (it's not uncommon for me to see openly-gay/lesbian couples shopping at my workplace). Kingston is mostly flat and has a lot of tree-lined streets with medium-sized older homes in the mid-$100k to low-$200k range, mostly on standard city lots (40' x 100' or so).

Crime-wise Kingston, as with most other towns in the region, has a drug problem, but the only unnerving neighborhoods are those directly adjacent to the Edwardsville town line. The town has a good mix of businesses---delis, bakeries, laundromats, medical practices, law firms, restaurants, florists, barbers, etc. They have a good number of GREAT places to eat as a matter of fact---Bake House, Theo's Metro, Kazimi, Dagwood's, Pierce Street Deli, Goldstein's Deli, etc. There's a Lowe's Home Improvement and a Price Chopper Supermarket just over the town line in Edwardsville. Kirby Park is on the Kingston side of the river (but is still oddly enough within Wilkes-Barre city limits).

I did a photo tour of Kingston if you want to search for it.

[geos]

Thank you great NEPA sage.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by geos

Thank you great NEPA sage.

Former (current?) member Lehigh Valley Native live(d) in Kingston, so maybe he could be along also to help.

[UkieGene]

I live in Kingston near the Wyoming Sem. As ScranBarre said, stay away from the areas close to Edwardsville. Anything East of Wyoming Ave is good. 2 or 3 blocks West of Wyoming Ave, north of Market is also good. Once you get to Schuyler Ave, you're really getting close to Edwardsville. If you look on West Side of Wyoming Ave, stay away from any streets that go to Edwardsville. The trash from there walk to Rt 11 to catch the bus. If you have any questions, email me, I'd be glad to help.

[returningtonepa???]

kingston varies--have been renting there---there can be poor neighbors even in what appears to be a nice neighborhood---go there at night and you can tell what kind of local traffic hangs there---changed my mind fast when i went to see a home EAST of wyoming ave---near rutter--next door neighbors were obviously very popular and seemed to be holding brief conferences with ever changing cars in their driveway--saw this a lot around here---(in both counties)

how come visitors can notice business being conducted from certain areas and the cops can"t?

[W-B proud]

Anything east of Market and Pierce are nice, clean, well kept neighborhood's. Once you cross over Wyoming Ave towards Edwardsville it gets a little sketchy, but this is only a small slice of Kingston. Most of the borough is very nice though. Also check out Forty-Fort right next door to Kingston.

[ScranBarre]

I wonder if Edwardsville's borough leaders care that their community has the worst reputation in the entire region? With the recent closure of Vic-Mar's multiple people are blaming this on the seedy "elements" that haunt Main Street in Edwardsville after dark. Can anything be done to save this town?

[ScranBarre]

I'm actually surprised to hear of this "iffiness" in the neighborhood near Rutter Avenue. I go running about once per week along the entire stretch of Rutter Avenue, and even though I know that there was a drug bust last year or the year before at a duplex just up the block from Tommy's Pizza Corner the remainder of this long drag always seems well-maintained, peaceful, and quiet. I especially like the newer Dorranceton Townhomes; they're the type of place I'd love to live in someday myself. At least four of my college faculty members reside directly along Rutter Avenue or within two blocks off of it. I do oddly enough notice quite a few out-of-state plates though in this neighborhood, which could be innocent enough (new professionals looking for that sort of neighborhood, newcomers renting apartments in homes there, people moving back, etc.), but it could also be dubious (people establishing drug operations in Kingston now that Wilkes-Barre is becoming much more aggressive at targeting crime).

I maintain that the only Kingston neighborhoods I would NOT consider would be those adjacent to Edwardsville.

[drsmiley06]

I'm from nepa, grew up in white haven/mountaintop area and now reside in the Berwick area. For some reason or another I see people wanting to go to kingston to live and I've always wondered why. I've been to kingston plenty of times, very nice town, but noticed that there are many doctors and lawyers that live and work there. I'm not sure what the attraction is to kingston. Usually when someone asks me what are the nice places to live in nepa I'll say mountaintop/white haven area, back mountain, kingston area, but I never just say kingston and that's it.