How do you want to see Scranton move forward? (Wilkes-Barre: home, college)

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by The Commish

Whatever we do, it can't look like Manhattan, Seattle, Portland, etc or any other models of successful urban development. I would complain anonymously on online message boards to no end if any of that happened.

Brilliance!

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by The Commish

I see Scranton with a low wage tax, low mercantile tax, zero spending priorities beyond keeping itself in a distressed city status (albeit one without nice storefronts, parks, redeveloped buildings for commercial and residential use, medical colleges, etc). Whatever we do, it can't look like Manhattan, Seattle, Portland, etc or any other models of successful urban development. I would complain anonymously on online message boards to no end if any of that happened. If we're feeling profligate, then once every 35 years or so we should throw a dollar at a park in the neighborhoods.

[Mr Yuk]

Metroplex is stretching it a bit don't you think? The Dallas-Fort Worth area is called "the metroplex." We are nowhere near the size of Dallas-Fort Worth.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Metroplex is stretching it a bit don't you think? The Dallas-Fort Worth area is called "the metroplex." We are nowhere near the size of Dallas-Fort Worth.

I was hoping people would start to think of us as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre instead of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if they thought of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex and remembered that the LARGER city comes first!

[mbs7]

Originally Posted by blip

These threads get a little redundant, so I'll mostly just say that I'm down with all of ScranBarre's points above. Only things I'd add:

- To his point about the commercial corridors I'd add connecting the dots between these corridors and downtown. Most of them are close to downtown but have big barriers (bridges, bad sidewalks, empty lots, dead university blocks) blocking them off, which help disrupt commerce and break up the city fabric.

- More focus on historic preservation, whether it's commercial buildings downtown or residential buildings around town. Pursue state, federal, and private grants for buildings and/or districts. Also, preserve the streetscape via zoning-- ripping down street-facing buildings and replacing them with strip malls set 100 ft back just encourages the emptying out of a neighborhood. This town has some good architecture and could be steered towards a bit more charm with just a little effort.

- If remotely possible, wrest control of courthouse square from the county so that the city can rebuild it as more of an urban public square and not an inhospitable collection of ugly monuments. Use it for events, e.g. the christmas lights display, farmers markets, music on first fridays in summer, etc.

All good points. Re the last one, my mom lives in downtown Scranton and she is sick about the changes made at courthouse square. She used to love to sit under the shade trees there. Obviously, this is no longer an option. And I would add, the movement now is toward creating more green space in urban areas, not ripping up existing green space--this is yet another instance of Scranton appearing to be stuck in a time warp.

[SteelCityRising]

I have yet to speak with ONE person who likes the "revamped" Courthouse Square. I keep hearing people ask "when will it be finished?" It's HIDEOUS! Urban green space is to be treasured, not destroyed! What lack of vision and a waste of tax dollars!

[PITTSTON2SARASOTA]

You should see how they cut the few trees we have, down here. Appalling...the palms they prefer look like Q-Tips and in our hot climate the government figures who needs shade?

[blip]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I was hoping people would start to think of us as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre instead of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if they thought of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex and remembered that the LARGER city comes first!

S/WB makes more sense, but it's still such a cumbersome and ugly name. Scranton is an ugly name in itself, and Wilkes-Barre is even worse-- put them together and.. barf.

We should either call it greater Scranton or the Wyoming Valley.

[Magritte25]

I don't think either name is particularly ugly. Better than City of Industry, Sturgis, Chevy Chase, Blue Ball, Intercourse, Walla Walla, Albuquerque, Spasticville, Satan's Kingdom, Festus, Beaverlick and Flushing.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

I don't think either name is particularly ugly. Better than City of Industry, Sturgis, Chevy Chase, Blue Ball, Intercourse, Walla Walla, Albuquerque, Spasticville, Satan's Kingdom, Festus, Beaverlick and Flushing.

or Cut and Shoot, TX.....Hell, MI....or even Shickshinny or Mehoopany for that matter.