Quote:
Originally Posted by serge11
I’ve lived in the area my Whole life and never wanted to live anywhere else.
I fear seeing urban sprawl come to it.
I’ve enjoyed quaint close net small town city life.
It makes me sad to see people treat it like a business opportunity
Please understand I have taken into consideration the people who sold out. Or had to.
I’m sure that some of you will pass me off as immature and living in a dream or uneducated. But I think there’s something wrong with some of the young peoples attitudes of just wanting to make money as fast as they can.
Just thought Id voice my opinion because I have one.
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Serge, I totally sympathize with you! I currently live in Pittston Township, Luzerne County, a microchasm of soccer moms, BMWs, poodles, traffic congestion, and vinyl-sided McMansions in hidden housing developments, (and among the fastest-growing municipalities in Luzerne County, I'm afraid to say!
) The dream for my children is not one of scores of downed trees for superhighways and strip malls either; I want my offspring to be able to live in a town where they can
walk to school, to playgrounds, to a ballfield for little league practice, to their friends' homes, to the ice cream parlor, etc. Growing up here on "Wisteria Lane" was a living HELL; I couldn't go anywhere unless my parents would drive me, and even then it was a chore because they were often so tired from working their lengthy shifts (to upkeep that "better" suburban lifestyle may I add) that they didn't want to drop me off anywhere to socialize with my "in-town" friends. I couldn't even safely walk to a playground, which was only a half-mile away, because it entailed risking my life on the narrow shoulder of a high-speed, four-lane highway!
I see what urban sprawl is doing to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and I don't like it one bit. While our population declined by tens of thousands since the year 1970, our overall land usage grew by nearly 20%, making us one of the WORST sprawled areas of the country (when you consider that
all of it was unnecessary due to the negative population numbers!) "Quail Hill" is destroying a hillside visible from our current housing development, and "Horizon Estates" has cluttered a busy commuter corridor with the bland rears of its beige vinyl-sided townhomes, where trees once stood. Montage Mountain is now nearly scalped, and has become a "commuter playground" of sorts. The Back Mountain, Mountain Top, and The Abingtons are nothing but mile after mile of housing developments, fast-food places, and strip malls, all of which are very car-oriented and increase our dependency upon foreign oil (Something we "leftists" abhor!)
When I talk about "making money in real estate", I'm not talking about tearing down trees left and right. I'm actually talking about buying up blighted homes in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Pittston, renovating them into true showplaces, and then selling them at a higher price to a young family for a handsome profit (That will allow me to invest in ANOTHER home, and so forth). In a sense, what I want to do is to "correct" our area's urban sprawl issues by giving new residents in-town alternatives to those ugly developments on our hillsides everywhere. I want people to be able to have those granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, etc., that new constructions boast but in a location that's not so "wasteful." It's sad for me to come across people like RobRose and a few others who asked about Mountain Top, The Abingtons, etc. without even giving one of our small, walkable towns a chance. (No offense to any of you, I just think you can have a comparable suburban lifestyle in some of our quaint small towns at a fraction of the price!) West Pittston is a beautiful riverside mecca of Victorian architecture with no crime and very affordable housing prices, yet the population here continues to plummet as well due to people still yearning for those ugly developments outside of town to "better their children's environments." Let me let you in on a little secret: The suburbs breed children like me---DULLARDS! Do you want your children to look at Census statistics for fun? Do you want your children to play video games all day because they can't safely walk anywhere to play ball due to the lack of sidewalks and sprawled-outness of the 'burbs? I was so much happier before the age of 8, when I still lived "in-town" near my friends; why can't you parents see that your lust for development-living is really only feeding your OWN selfish desires to "keep up with the Jones's?"
I want nothing more than to see our region's beautiful cities be restored once again to their former grandeur. Why so many others still drool over McMansion-Villes is beyond me!
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