Pennsylvania economy (loans, how much, homes)

[Alaskapat528]

Just curious how the economy is going there in NEPA. Do you see any increase in jobs and new businesses starting up?

[mathjak107]

out of every major downturn comes a lot of new businesses..

as jobs are scarce more and more have to rely on developing their own creative ideas and so a flood of new business normally come out of most recessions.

having said that , this time its all based on whether the banks will loan to start ups... for now there isnt much to fuel the nepa economy...


nepa is really only geared for tourisium.. there is no infrastructure to support large business.. thats why wall street west failed.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

In order to survive in PA, you have to have either a good job (which in most cases, means travel), or a good pension. That is why, I think that Sterling Business Park never took off.....which is unfortunate. I think Tourism is suffering and not doing the business they were doing in past years. I sure hope things turn around for everyone's benefit.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

out of every major downturn comes a lot of new businesses..

as jobs are scarce more and more have to rely on developing their own creative ideas and so a flood of new business normally come out of most recessions.

having said that , this time its all based on whether the banks will loan to start ups... for now there isnt much to fuel the nepa economy...

nepa is really only geared for tourisium.. there is no infrastructure to support large business.. thats why wall street west failed.

Yes and unfortunately the banks are making it tougher for people and businesses to get loans. I'm hearing that a few States are picking up jobs but in all honesty, not sure how much of that I believe. My homestate, Ohio, is in pretty bad shape also.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by BLUEDIAMOND64

In order to survive in PA, you have to have either a good job (which in most cases, means travel), or a good pension. That is why, I think that Sterling Business Park never took off.....which is unfortunate. I think Tourism is suffering and not doing the business they were doing in past years. I sure hope things turn around for everyone's benefit.

I think tourism is going to get hit hard all over. I know it was down some last year here in AK. and predicted for the same this year. I like the NEPA area; have travelled through it 4 times now.

[mathjak107]

nepa has infrastructure problems that just are not condusive to larger companies opening here.

no public transportation
not enough sewage capacity or large scale treatment plants.
not enough electrical generation capacity for industry
not enough business support services, sending an employee 20 miles to office max or staples is crazy.

not enough business's to support a large company moving in, how long do you think it would take a handful of eateries to serve hundreds of workers...


while other business will eventually arise no companies want to move here and wait for things to be built or open up.

the weather in the winter

grandma goes out for a drive on these single lane roads and 1/2 your work staff can be late

more then 1/2 nepa is designated forever wild and it makes it tough for industry to meet all the enviornmental issues

total lack of large scale buildings available without a company starting from scratch, a move to nepa isnt 90 days but could be years as you build a building from scratch

[Alaskapat528]

mathjak107, I sure never knew that. Sounds like some tough living there with not much of a future for the economy to really pick up. Not being critical of NEPA but I don't see how things could pick up there.

[mathjak107]

its pretty much just tourisum and farming. i dont think most people realized what it takes to support decent size companies... when wall street west first came alive it sounded like a great idea. but as the large firms looked at the infrastructure in nepa the plan unraveled pretty fast.

[Alaskapat528]

That's really too bad; tourism and farming don't even begin to offer enough jobs or even jobs that pay a decent wage. I'm assuming residents of NEPA have to commute elsewhere to work. Do you see any possible fixes for all the problems?

[psu_mri]

I'd say most of my neighbors still commute to the NYC area. They moved but kept their current jobs. I think the population growth outpaced the support available. It'll take a while for a decent employment base to catch up to the amout of job seekers. If retirees keep moving out here, I'd say more health care facilities would fly well. They'd go over better than corporate or manufacturing complexes.