I love living near downtown Wilkes-Barre (Scranton, Mexico: school, legally, gangs)

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by go phillies

I'm glad you're happy living there, and hey, I have to work there so for the good of the area, I hope Wilkes-Barre is able to clean up and drive out the trash. I'm not rooting for the city to fail or anything, just giving my observations.

But I have to disagree with you....you honestly think that Mountain Top and Dallas have as big of a problem with drug dealers as Wilkes-Barre? I highly doubt it.....they go where the cheap housing and public housing is. Big city drug dealers and gang members are not going to live in some high-dollar subdivision in the Back Mountain....they're going to go to Sherman Hills or some crummy apartment house in South W-B where they'll blend in a little better.

Yes, I do think they have as big of a problem because of two reasons. (1) there are a ton of people in those areas who use drugs and (2) higher level dealers live in those areas.

[greentown]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Also, I'm sure I'll be branded a racist for bring up the obvious, but as far as minority populations go, W-B has a bigger black population than Scranton. And most (not all, but most) of them in Wilkes-Barre are inner-city ghetto thug types....with the baggy pants with the underwear showing, the flat-brimmed sideways hats, talking in ebonics, etc. Mostly here for public assistance and/or the drug trade. These are not Bill Cosby type black people. How often do you see a black man in a suit carrying a briefcase in Wilkes-Barre? But I don't have to walk half of a block downtown without running into a "gangsta rap" type. But professional black people are common in places like NYC, DC, Philly, LA, etc. Its sad, because the people who don't get out of this area much think that the minorities that have moved to the area are a representation of minorities as a whole.....and its not true. Blacks, like whites, have their good people and bad people....but unfortunately it seems most of the ones who move here are an embarrasment to their race.
Scranton is attracting minorities too, but it seems to be more hispanics than blacks in Scranton. The hispanics tend to come here to work and provide for their families, rather than to get on welfare and sell drugs.

It may not be politically correct, but its true nonetheless.

I'm surprised you haven't been called a racist yet, but I'm sure it's coming! I can certainly agree with your comments regarding Wilkes Barre (and Scranton, to a lesser extent) and it's black population. However, I do think alot of the "ghetto" types tend to settle in the cities, as the few black families we have living in our rural area tend to be more of the working class/educated types. We also have plenty of white kids that move here from the city and try to act "gansta", and from what my daughter tells me, those are the kids that are the trouble makers and can't seem to fit in. Much of the problem seem to be the environment in which these kids are raised, rather then whether they are black or white.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by nyjets20

I have to agree that saying the drug problems in the dallas and mountain top areas are equivalent to that in Wilkes-Barre are very false. High school kids occasionally smoking weed cannot be compared to people shooting up heroin and smoking crack. Plus the level of drug trafficing is nowhere near equal. Kingston is closer to Wilkes-Barre but, still not as bad.

It's not false. There are drug dealers in the areas that you can't believe there are. Don't fool yourself into thinking only the poor deal drugs and/or use them.

[ScranBarre]

In defense of Magritte25 while I personally disagree with her that the drug issues are "as bad" in the Back Mountain and Mountain Top as they are in Wilkes-Barre, I can most certainly vouch for the fact that MANY crimes committed in both of those tonier suburban enclaves are NOT reported in the police blotter, hence giving people there a false sense of security. If I were in EnyaGirl's shoes, for example, as a resident of Dallas, I'd still ALWAYS keep my car doors locked with valuables out of plain sight, keep my doors locked overnight and when I wasn't home, etc. You'd be surprised how many homes are burglarized out in the 'burbs during the daytime when inner-city lowlives know that everyone is working/at school so there will be very few witnesses, if any, to be concerned about. A home in my subdivision was burglarized before our family moved in, and my wallet was pickpocketed at my own high school, and we lived in a relatively stable and upper-middle-class area (by NEPA's standards anyways). I'd feel MUCH safer walking around Dallas at night (except maybe for being gored by deer antlers or something) than I would if I were walking around the trashy neighborhood just immediately east of my old college campus in Wilkes-Barre (that is in dire need of gentrification).

Nevertheless people have to stop acting as if The Abingtons, Back Mountain, and Mountain Top are "immune" to crime simply because they are home mostly to well-educated whites. I believe there was a major drug bust at Abington Heights High School not many years back, Hugo Selenski hacked up several people and buried them in his Back Mountain yard, a Back Mountain gay porn producer was nearly decapitated and then had his home set ablaze, etc., etc. There IS crime in these areas. I personally feel as if there is some sort of collusion between those local law enforcement agencies and the real estate industry to keep housing prices in all three areas over-inflated by keeping everything "hush" whenever something bad happens. With over 35,000 people there HAS to be occasional crime in the Back Mountain.

[go phillies]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

Yes, I do think they have as big of a problem because of two reasons. (1) there are a ton of people in those areas who use drugs and (2) higher level dealers live in those areas.

Oh I don't doubt that there are a lot of users in those areas (and a lot of those users are probably well-off white collar people, even many "important" people in the community), but for the most part, the dealers tend to be in the cities. Actually, I think the opposite of what you said is true...I think the high-level dealers tend to be in the cities, and low-level dealers sell for them in the suburbs and more affluent areas. Even many of the dealers in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton are probably low-level dealers overall, getting their drugs from the bigger dealers and gangs in the bigger cities.

[EnyaGirl]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

It's been refreshing down here, actually, to be immersed amongst so many different minorities and see very little cultural clashing (beyond some of the well-to-do whites calling Herndon "Herndondez" due to its very high Hispanic population). I was grocery shopping yesterday in the town of Herndon and my cashier was bilingual, saying "Como estas?" to the Hispanic woman in front of me and the Hispanic man behind me but speaking English to me. There are a TON of bilingual people down here, even many Caucasians have a working knowledge of Spanish. I don't understand why so many in NEPA were "afraid" of hearing a different language being spoken in public when so far down here I've overheard Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Mandarin all in the course of about two weeks. It's nice to live in an area with a high proportion of minorities in the middle-class whereas you ARE sadly correct that most minorities in Wilkes-Barre are lower-class types.

Well for me, since the ability to read, write and SPEAK English is one of the eligibility requirements for becoming a United States citizen, when I hear people saying "como estas" I tend to assume they are not US citizens, and I'm willing to bet that more often than not, I'm right about that assumption. THAT scares me.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by EnyaGirl

Well for me, since the ability to read, write and SPEAK English is one of the eligibility requirements for becoming a United States citizen, when I hear people saying "como estas" I tend to assume they are not US citizens, and I'm willing to bet that more often than not, I'm right about that assumption. THAT scares me.

It doesn't really bother me as much, but then again I'm biased because I've enjoyed learning Spanish. I have a more difficult time understanding the Indian-Americans down here working at Target than the Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans working at the grocery stores.

[EnyaGirl]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

It doesn't really bother me as much, but then again I'm biased because I've enjoyed learning Spanish. I have a more difficult time understanding the Indian-Americans down here working at Target than the Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans working at the grocery stores.

Don't get me wrong, Paul. I studied Spanish for 7 years in school and am actually close to fluent in the language, but I believe that if one is a citizen of this country (and not above the age of 50 and living here for 20 years, as the USCIS allows) then the language they should be speaking is English. I would expect to hear Spanish in Spain and in Mexico, etc. but when I see young kids speaking it HERE because they're not even being taught English by their illegal parents, it just turns my stomach. Anyway, I'm glad this area isn't as "diverse" as your new area apparently is if diversity means illegals (which it most likely does!)

[InfectedMushroom]

I like speaking Spanish actually, it's a lot easier overall than English. Basic English should be learned by people who want to live here though. The children who have to go to school should be learning it for sure and we are getting more ESL classes in this area.

[returningtonepa???]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

Sadly I must concur with you. Here in DC there is a VERY impressive African-American middle-class and upper-middle-class population whereas I can agree with you that I don't think I ever saw an African-American male walking around Public Square with a briefcase in a suit. Back in NEPA I hate to say it but if I was walking around Wilkes-Barre alone after dark en route to campus from my commuter parking lot I'd feel very uncomfortable if I saw a group of young African-American males walking my way. Why, pray tell? They comprise perhaps 5% of the region's population but seem to commit 1/3 of the crimes. You're by no means a "racist" for pointing that out. You are indeed correct that while places like Downstate NY, SW CT, NJ, etc. are attracting all of the educated middle-class people---whites and minorities alike---from the bigger cities, for some reason or other NEPA seems to be attracting mostly the trashy types who prey upon our government assistance programs (that our hard-earned tax dollars pay for) and those moving here for the drug trade. Will the implementation of the commuter rail line linking Scranton to NYC import more of this "element" or turn Scranton into a "hip" white-collar satellite city, not unlike White Plains, Stamford, or Princeton? Only time will tell.

It's been refreshing down here, actually, to be immersed amongst so many different minorities and see very little cultural clashing (beyond some of the well-to-do whites calling Herndon "Herndondez" due to its very high Hispanic population). I was grocery shopping yesterday in the town of Herndon and my cashier was bilingual, saying "Como estas?" to the Hispanic woman in front of me and the Hispanic man behind me but speaking English to me. There are a TON of bilingual people down here, even many Caucasians have a working knowledge of Spanish. I don't understand why so many in NEPA were "afraid" of hearing a different language being spoken in public when so far down here I've overheard Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Mandarin all in the course of about two weeks. It's nice to live in an area with a high proportion of minorities in the middle-class whereas you ARE sadly correct that most minorities in Wilkes-Barre are lower-class types.

hi scran barre--lots of luck in your new job-----welcome to the real world outside of nepa----adjusting to life back here was hard cause i was used to an area like the one you are in