Pittston Mayor Resigns. (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Dickson City: school, marketplace, moving)

[Magritte25]

Boscov's is still at the Steamtown Mall. In your opinion (generally) why do you feel that the Steamtown Mall is failing? What are the reasons for it?

KOP which is a much, much bigger mall serving a much, much more populous area thrives, I would think the same would hold true for a mall of Steamtown's size in the area that it serves.

[PITTSTON2SARASOTA]

The old stores were more in town and I think 5 stories(six levels) each,across the street from each other, I have not been to Scranton for a long time. When my mom passed I stayed around Pittston. Where is KOP mall at? Is the Viewmont mall (rt.6) still called that?(DUMB question). I think malls need to go back to that small town/main street format to be succesdsful. But with Steamtown at the mall ...somebody seems to be dropping the marketing ball somewhere. Is Steamtown as large as the Wyoming Valley Mall? Sorry, lots of questions.

[Magritte25]

KOP = King of Prussia. Not dumb...I had to ask when I first heard the acronym as well.

I think the Viewmont Mall is still around?

I think it's as large square footage wise, but there is something missing there. I don't know what it is. I just like the WV Mall better.

[PITTSTON2SARASOTA]

I still love the Wyoming Valley Mall....much larger than Sarasotas mall. I actually have driven by the KOP....never would have made the connection though....thanx...

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I can't think of a pedestrian mall type of area anywhere in the region, * * * similar to what you see in Downtown Ithaca, New York.

Pedestrian malls in downtown areas were a craze back in the 1970's - wish there were more references on Pedestrian mall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia but basically it only worked in college towns (Ithaca, Charlottesville, Burlington VT, Iowa City, Boulder) with enough of a captive pedestian audience to create a vibe. It doesn't work in, say, Cumberland MD, which is about equal in population to Ithaca but has a very different dynamic.

[PITTSTON2SARASOTA]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Pedestrian malls in downtown areas were a craze back in the 1970's - wish there were more references on Pedestrian mall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia but basically it only worked in college towns (Ithaca, Charlottesville, Burlington VT, Iowa City, Boulder) with enough of a captive pedestian audience to create a vibe. It doesn't work in, say, Cumberland MD, which is about equal in population to Ithaca but has a very different dynamic.

Definetly depends on the city...but it worked in Philadelphia, but as you say that was in the 70's. But I think if thought out, the concept is still viable today, in some cities.

[ScranBarre]

The thing is though that as much as people say "Scranton will never be as nice as Ithaca," it could rival it.

Ithaca Area:
Cornell University: 13,846 Students
Ithaca College: 6,031 Students
TOTAL: 19,877 Students

Scranton Area:
University of Scranton: 4,132 Students
Marywood University: 2,071 Students
Keystone College: 1,708 Students
Lackawanna College: 1,326 Students
PSU/Worthington: 1,294 Students
Baptist Bible College: 1,072 Students
Johnson College: 378 Students
Commonwealth Medical College: 60 Students
TOTAL: 12,041 Students

That's a spread of less than 8,000 students, and let's not forget that there is greater potential for our eight schools to grow more quickly each year overall than for those two schools in Ithaca to grow quickly. We have over 12,000 college students within a quick drive of Downtown Scranton, and yet our downtown is an armpit compared to Downtown Ithaca. Why?

[Magritte25]

Why can't Wilkes Barre and Scranton both be college towns? There are over 15 between the two cities!

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

Why can't Wilkes Barre and Scranton both be college towns? There are over 15 between the two cities!

Probably because so many of the local residents I've interacted with over the years at my sales job resent college kids for taking the track they didn't take in life, think college-educated individuals with loftier career aspirations than they have are "threats", think that coffeehouses, book stores, night clubs, art galleries, lofts, etc. are a "waste of money", think that the dying manufacturing industry will make a promising comeback to save the region, etc., etc. I was truly taken aback by Mr. Bob Bolus, former candidate for Scranton mayor, who honestly said he didn't like the medical college because it was devouring more tax-paying properties in the city. Only an IDIOT would think that a new medical school in our area would be a "bad" thing. There's too much resistance to change and progress in our area for it to ever reach its fullest potential. The "class envy" factor in this area is EXTREME, and this is coming from someone who, while upper-middle-class by Scranton's standards, will be impoverished by NoVA's standards!

[Magritte25]

One can hope. Isn't Wilkes planning a law school very soon? And Miseri, aren't they opening a medical school as well??

I hope that our generation is the one who brings the area to what it can be. I can't remember who, but someone here said that we have all the amenities of New England without the high prices. It's so true. If we could just build on that, we'd all be better off!