I love living near downtown Wilkes-Barre (Scranton, Franklin: condo, neighborhood, movie theater)

[Magritte25]

Had an awesome time with the kids this weekend, was able to go for walks/bike rides, go to the library and a bit of shopping.

[InfectedMushroom]

But weren't you beaten, robbed at gunpoint and hogtied behind Boscov's? Oh wait that's just what most people here think happens... =/

hehehe

[Magritte25]

LOL Mushroom. That is exactly why I posted this! I've been reading too many negative things about WB lately.

[W-B proud]

Originally Posted by InfectedMushroom

But weren't you beaten, robbed at gunpoint and hogtied behind Boscov's? Oh wait that's just what most people here think happens... =/

hehehe

You can blame WNEP for a large part of that. They only ever show W-B in a negative light, unlike Scranton who gets the "red carpet treatment" for every gala, event, dinner, walk/run at Nay Aug blah, blah, blah. We don't get any positive news coverage in Wilkes-Barre despite making serious positive strides in the last few years. The news cameras only shine thier lights on W-B whenever there is a stabbing or shooting. One thing that really burned me up about WNEP was a few months ago when they did the story on how The Quiznos downtown closed up shop!!! They made it sound so bleak. They where saying "how can W-B ever recover if they can't even support a Quiznos?! The sky is falling!!!. What they didn't tell you is that before that one Quiznos shut down, about 15 new buisnesses have opened up shop that year alone in downtown W-b and all of them seem to be doing just fine. They also forgot to mention the $250 million dollars worth of construction going on right now in downtown, they didn't mention all the new restaraunts, and clubs, the condo projects, they also didn't mention that there is a "Subway" across the street, and Januzzi's 20 feat away that both offer cheaper subs. Perhaps the longer established competition with cheaper subs had something to do with Quizno's demise. You think!! They also forgot to mention that the same family that owned the downtown W-B location, also owned an Edwardsville location in a very busy shopping center, and they also closed that location. No! WNEP made it sound like doomsday for Wilkes-Barre's barely breathing renassiance! I personally believe that WNEP has some kind of deal going with Scranton to make that city look great, while at the same time bashing W-B so that Scranton looks much better and more desirable to regional visitors. I know that sounds crazy, but I swear it's true! How else can you explain it?

[W-B proud]

Ok now that I got that little rant out of my system I'll tell you that I also love living about two blocks from downtown, but in Northend, not the Heights like Magritte. I often walk my dogs downtown,or over to Kirby Park, I take my two year old daughter downtown alot especially to the farmers market in the summer, she plays in the fountain on The Square, we walk to the movie theater, to Boscov's. When The Riverfront Project finally opens in June we will definatey be down there alot. Wilkes Barre has a great downtown, unfortunatley not many people will visit W-B because of it's bad reputation. I've been living here my entire life and I have yet to be mugged, stabbed or shot. Imagine that!! And I don't even own a bulletproof vest! It's reputation is much worse then the reality. Yes, we have crime, and homicides, and drugs ect., but these horrible events are almost exclusive to dirtbags that live that lifestyle, they give the city it's bad reputaion, and like I said earlier...we get NO help from the local media, and 9 times out of ten these shootings ect are commited by outsiders. I feel very safe in my neighborhood. I live in a very diverse neighborhood in W-B. Black, Latino, Indian, White all live side by side in harmony. Most of the people that live on my block migrated here from somewhere else...Newark, NYC, Philly, Mexico ect. I've made friends with alot of migrants, and they all work and hold jobs, but it only takes a few bad apples to really give the natives a very bad impression of everybody that moves here from somewhere else. It's really not fair to the good people that have come here for a better way of life, and do work and pay taxes ect. My next door neighbor, who we have become very close friends with, are a black family that moved here from Newark. They are very good people. The husband is an ex-Marine. They go to Bethel A & M church every Sunday. He is a very hardworking guy, and even when he isn't at his job, he is doing housework, or helping the neighbors with plumbing issues ect. they have a daughter that is the same age as my oldest daughter, and they are best friends, my daughter sleeps over there, and vice versa. We have cookouts together on the weekends. We just took thier daughter to Knoebels with us this past weekend. Despite all this, they are still looked down on, because the rest of the "thugs" that end up moving here and shooting up the town. Alot of the elderly that are left in Wilkes-Barre just view all of them as dangerous trouble-makers. Wilkes-Barre does have issues, but so does every other city too. Wilkes-Barre NEEDS to do a face saving campaign desperately. At least try to rid itself of it's bad reputation. So many positive things are going on lately, but knowbody is really aware of it and that's a shame!

[Magritte25]

Ugh. I can so relate WB Proud. We have neighbors that are a mixed couple. The husband is black, the wife is white. They have two children. The younger one is the same age as my older one. They both have great jobs, have a beautiful home, their kids go to a local private school, etc. He even volunteers to help out the local mini sports leagues. But just because they are a mixed couple they get treated not so nice by some. Well, by some people .... not all thankfully.

Why can't WBRE try to counteract WNEP's damage and start doing positive stories on WB? I really like living here. So much that we've changed our minds to move down to Lehigh Valley.

[wbnurseguy]

I talk to people at work and they are always like "God I would never go to downtown w-b, I might get shot". When i mention the great new riverfront park they say "why did they waste money on that, people will get mugged and raped on it, where's the parking for it, it's not gonna work" I have never seen so much negativity for one area even when it's improving. I am not from here and when i moved here I saw a very sad declining city, but now it seems more alive and more energetic. As I always say negative energy feeds a negative atmosphere, be proud of w-b, it's getting better.

[ScranBarre]

As someone who lived equidistant to both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre for the first 22.5 years of my life I can safely say that there is unfavor favoritism given by the local media towards Scranton as opposed to Wilkes-Barre. This is most noticeable with WNEP simply because they, by far, are the most popular media outlet in the region. At times I wonder if Mayor Doherty has someone at WNEP in his back pocket (as has been alleged by weluvpa about the Times-Tribune). WNEP will indeed cover every dog fashion show and kids having lemonade stands as possible in the Electric City while reporting every bit of graffiti that strikes Wilkes-Barre.

I can safely say that even though it had 30,000 fewer residents, Wilkes-Barre always had the more "ghetto trash" image to my fellow suburbanites who frequented Scranton much more often for nightlife, dining, shopping, etc. as a result. Scranton isn't quite so "angelic" either in that regard. Have we all forgotten the elderly man who died when his throat was slit in broad daylight at random as he walked down a busy downtown street? What about me recanting the last unpleasant experience I had after dark at the Marquee Cinema in which I had to practically shove loitering teenaged gangsta-wannabe thugs to the ground in other to safely get my friend and I out of the building (hence why even West Scrantonians drive right past Marquee to head to Cinemark).

Both cities have a lot of potential, but, in my eyes, Wilkes-Barre has ALWAYS had the superior downtown layout---a compact area bounded by two college campuses at opposite ends, a river to the west, and a wide boulevard to the east. People in Scranton don't even know where their OWN downtown begins or ends and always feud over the "proper" boundaries! As people continue to move into cities from the suburbs in the coming years as gas prices surge back up (they're back up around $2.50/gallon here in NoVA already), Wilkes-Barre is MUCH better-poised to capitalize upon that than Scranton.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by wbnurseguy

I talk to people at work and they are always like "God I would never go to downtown w-b, I might get shot". When i mention the great new riverfront park they say "why did they waste money on that, people will get mugged and raped on it, where's the parking for it, it's not gonna work" I have never seen so much negativity for one area even when it's improving. I am not from here and when i moved here I saw a very sad declining city, but now it seems more alive and more energetic. As I always say negative energy feeds a negative atmosphere, be proud of w-b, it's getting better.

I couldn't agree more. You totally hit the nail on the head. I, too, as a lifelong resident of Wilkes-Barre, am sick to death of the negative and erroneous comments made by people who don't even live here. Or work here.

[Gerania]

I recently spent a few days in Wilkes-Barre (wasn't mugged) because my niece from Portland, OR was visiting my Mother who lives in the Heights section. One day we were supposed to visit Ricketts Glen but she was jet lagged and rain threatened. We ended up visiting the Historical Society and doing the self guided walking tour. It was a nice afternoon.

Magritte, the mostly round building by the WMCA, rear Franklin Street, is the Luzerne County Medial Society.