Hello everyone! I know I promised you all a great new photo tour of Stroudsburg, but I began to feel concerned for my own safety after a little while and decided to head back into my car after snapping just 19 photos and headed back to do a photo tour of Moscow instead. Sorry! I started off ambitious---not even a major traffic tie-up on I-80 near Tannersville could curb my enthusiasm. However, several incidents back-to-back within five minutes of each other made me feel
uncomfortable, and I decided it would be in the best interest of my own personal safety if I left town.
The town's main drag had at least a half-dozen chain-smoking derelicts hanging out and about, two of whom ran up to me and begged, in NY accents, "Yo buddy, got a buck for bus fare?" After declining both I just felt as if their eyes were still staring daggers into the back of my head in disgust. After quickly reaching the end of Main Street where it intersects at another busy intersection near a poorly-placed KFC, I had to wait nearly five minutes to cross the congested artery. I then headed back up to the rear of Main Street along a street called "Sarah Street." That road started off looking promising, with a neat little grille hidden away from the maddening crowd, but that soon turned sour as I saw another building down the road that had its windows shattered onto the sidewalk and then observed what I recognized to be gang-related graffiti on the next building.
I began to cross Sarah Street en route back to Main Street when I was nearly hit by a large SUV driven by a woman on a cell phone who didn't bother to signal when she made a turn onto the street (probably another New Yorker). I snapped a few more photos of Main Street before being hit up for money a THIRD time! It was at this point I thought to myself "I want nothing to do with a dump like this," and I promptly went back to my car and high-tailed it out of town (only to get caught up in another backlog on I-80 westbound).
What the hell has happened to Downtown Stroudsburg in the few years since I was last there? Today I observed the remnants of several arson fires, vagrants and beggars, gang-related graffiti, inconsiderate drivers, and shady-looking characters just loitering around. All this for a town of just 6,000?
I felt safer doing my Wilkes-Barre photo tour than I felt walking around Stroudsburg! I actually thought I was going to cry when I got back into my car because I never wanted to believe the horror stories others had told me in the past about Stroudsburg being "Little NYC." Yep...it's true!
I was never so turned-off to a town in my life as I was with Stroudsburg, and I REFUSE to make a second return trip there for another photo tour. I've heard that East Stroudsburg is much better than Stroudsburg due to the presence of the university there, so perhaps I could have checked out that town instead.
What is wrong with you people in Monroe County? How could you allow your "hub" city to be overtaken by the lowlives like that? I had a terrible experience today, and it's enough to make me say "If
that is what happens when the New Yorkers take over, then please stay out of Scranton!"
After visiting Lewisburg and Jim Thorpe, Stroudsburg was like visiting The Bronx! YIKES!
Nevertheless, here are the 19 photos I was able to snap before I fled town out of fear of the vagrants and shady characters. The town looked as if it used to be so much cleaner and much more vibrant too---what a bloody shame. If you want me to return for a better photo tour, then tell your bums to keep to themselves and to get the hell away from me!
At least the bums who hit me up in both Pittston and Wilkes-Barre are friendly.
What must it be like to wander around this street alone at night?
The site of one of the town's many recent arsons.
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Stroudsburg Photo Tour (First and Last Attempt)
Glad you didn't get hurt while you were there. It's a shame that things are going down hill in that town. What a shame.
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