What Can Be Done to Save Scranton? (Wilkes-Barre, Johnstown: houses, buy)

[scrantonluna]

Paul, I don't agree with a 1% county OR city tax, but I do think that the
proposed redistribution of the Johnstown tax is far overdue. I also think
that property taxes should resume on any buildings of a religious purpose
abandoned longer than one fiscal year, barring repair or restoration, and
that any property located further that 500 ft from a 'building of learning'
should be subject to city taxes no matter who owns them.

[scrantonluna]

[sausages]

you sound like a man that would really enjoy europe. I think you would find Amsterdam, Paris, Munich so interesting for its culture and art. I really think that would help you fulfill that need you seem to have for the arts,culture,architecture etc.

I do not think you are going to find that here very much.. I like this area like you do especially the countryside but it is lacking in some of those things.

I do not know you but always read your threads and I really do think you would find what you need if you travelled. If you can ever put some money aside you should take a trip across europe. You sound like someone that would really enjoy the Blue Mosque in Istanbul or a trip down the canals of Amsterdam. You can travel by train across europe for a very fair rate and also stay at student hostels.

I am making this comment based on many of the threads you have wrote and think the above would help.
I wish Scranton could grow and become a beautiful place but I do not think that is going to happen over night at least not unless we get a huge inection of funds or some major corporations open their head offices here. We need to give some good tax incentives to businessess to get them to move here and create jobs.

Just my two cents.

Good luck.

[scrantonluna]

Sausages, the problem is that Paul, and others like him, all do the same
thing. They want more and more from their place of residence, but
instead of digging in and helping to change things little by little, they
storm off in the hopes that they will find themselves elsewhere. If more
Pauls stayed and worked to make NEPA a better place, it would be.
But this is not easy work, and results are not seen overnight;
sometimes never.

By leaving he has nearly guaranteed that Scranton will never meet
his own desires.

[sausages]

Unless Paul is Jesus Christ himself, ( I dont mean any disrepect by that). I don't see Scranton changing much in our life time, and maybe he just has to see the rest of the world in order for him to calm down and enjoy what is around him. I do not know how young he is but it seems to me he needs to spread his wings and I dont mean to Kentucky or what ever state he is in - I mean spread his wings and travel. As much an all as I enjoy the odd trip into Scraton, if that was all I had to live for I guess I too would be wanting to jump of a cliff if I was in my 20's. (not saying he is or anything).

Yes, I do see some changes in Scranton but the world is a big place and travel can be a great form of education and it can maybe help him find what he is looking for.

Also we can learn alot by seeing how other cities thrive or not and bring that experience to the table. I sometimes think we are stuck in a rut here and need someone with a clear and smart head on them to bring us up to par with other cities...

Paul might be that one if he ever thought of going into politics... He is passionate about what he thinks and that is refreshing what from I normally see.

l

[sausages]

What we need to be doing is concentrating on our natural resourses, the beauty of Pennsylvania, restoring our parks, restoring our beautiful old historic homes, creating a more friendly Scranton with more lighting, more outside seating in Scranton and what about giving tax incentives to new businessess to get started. Our parks are so beautiful, in fact any road trip in Pa. is a treat at this time of the year. People love to come to this state just to see its beauty. Instead we are tearing down forests and opening up thousands of acres for exploration. Our ponds are being drained at a terrible rate which is detrimental to some farmers. Grants should be available to rebuild our dams and I think some are available but no one wants to bother.

When you think of it most people here are either Italian, Irish or Polish, great food, good wine/beer and great sausages, sure what more could anyone want in terms of a inexpensive holiday. We have what we need to need, we need to utilize what we have to get more money into this state.

Tourism if promoted correctly can bring millions of dollars to Pennsylvania and Scranton.

o.k I am finished.

[scrantonluna]

If the old NJ freight station is utilized correctly, it should really be geared
for the river front project and provide dining options as well as canoe rentals,
a water sports retailer, etc. Why not, the end of Lackawanna is dead now
that Quints is gone and has left a huge hole in the fabric of the area.

[theenigmaoflife]

The few times I have been to Scranton coupled with ads here, there and so I have read it seems another problem Scranton has is lacking public ambition! Granted we depend on our local governments coupled with state and federal programs to boost and promote our states and cities but who now a days trusts any government!? I myself have learned living here in Reading that public awareness, ambition and action quite often can do so much more then our everfloundering governments and councils.

I do realize currently the economy as a whole is a HUGE problem for loftier end projects but just remember even small steps (ie projects) do help and sometimes 20 small public/community projects compared to one lofty project by far outweigh the project grandiose!

[The-Electric-City]

Well I have answered this sort of question before, but I might as well go for it again, so here goes:

First of all, the attitude in the city HAS TO CHANGE! That is vital to the city's future. How could a city thrive and make progress if its residents don't support the improvements or are not enthusiastic about their city? It can't. The residents of Scranton MUST and I repeat MUST be able to look at the city and see its potential and want to help move it forward. I am doing my part. I love this city and I see its potential and that is what inspired me to create my Scranton guide website, My Scranton - Your guide to Scranton PA. I have more ideas in mind that I will be working over the next few years to do my part to help improve Scranton.

Second, something has to be done with the streetscape downtown. I hate walking in the Franklin Avenue, Linden Street areas because of the uneven, broke, cracked, and FAKE sidewalks. They are unsafe and unsightly. I hate having to avoid getting tangled in the weeds growing through the sidewalks in that area. Alos, the same goes for parts of Lackawanna Avenue. Now that they have renovated the 500 block, it is time to spruce up the 400 block's sidewalks. A couple of weeks ago, as I was doing one of my photo tours, I tripped and fell over a loose brick! Wondering how many other people have done the same thing, I took a look at the sidewalk and noticed that nearly every brick is out of line and not secure. That is a serious safety concern! As for lower Mulberry Street, that area is making a comeback. I like it. The new Dunkin Donuts and Mulberry Place are doing a part in sprucing up that part of downtown.

Third, as I believe was mentioned earlier, TOURISM. We have a unique history in our city and with so many historic and beautiful buildings just in the immediate downtown area, we need to encourage tourism. The Historical Society gives guided downtown walking tours, which I have attended. These are nice but are not frequent, and I believe cost a small fee. A WONDERFUL IDEA would be to designate a historical district. An online service could be created which would allow someone interested in these areas to print out their own educational pamphlets and a map. Then they could guide themselves learning as they go. This idea would be relatively inexpensive and beneficial. We do not need to create some HUGE EXPENSIVE campaign with TV commercials and billboards, we could do something small, like this. That is pretty much why I am still spending about an hour per day working on my website. The cost is so little (a cheap hosting plan) but the idea is big. Right now, my site is not a huge success, but every day I am noticing more traffic and I do plan to keep working on it and making it better.

I will continue to do my part, as small as it may be, in making Scranton a better city. I really hope that in the years to come, the attitude in the city will change, and people will start to do their parts, because if they do, the city will change for the better.

[to570717]

Continue to expand the Universities. LC, UofS and Marywood should continue to expand without any issue. Let Commonwealth grow and give them what they need. If you can bring in as many educated upwardly mobile younger people into NEPA, while creating a cultural base though th arts the colleges will promote you will begin to see some substantial demographic changes.

The State then needs to recognize that corporate incentives are vital to bring in regional offices. If there are 1000+ graduates being pumped out of the area per year and can be offered 50K to start by tech firms looking for inside sales and finance, medical device and healthcare industry firms as well you will begin to see some changes.

When a company does due diligence reports on areas to determine the viability of an office or HQ they look at a lot of things beyond location or proximity. They want to see a labor force that can be replenished every 2 years, low overhead, ability to pay 50k and keep everyone happy, and get top talent to come in and grow revenues and be Willing to stay a bit. Some of that is there in Scranton, some is not. It starts with the schools