Johnstown will be a hub for hipsters and better bars and clubs in 10 yrs (Pittsburgh: 2010, violent crime)

[villanova]

Forget Portland, OR. Jtown will never be close to Portland, ME. Plus it's near Pitts which is another downer.

[SewickleyPA]

Originally Posted by villanova

Forget Portland, OR. Jtown will never be close to Portland, ME. Plus it's near Pitts which is another downer.

Pitt will be fine on its own, its revitalizing itself in a big way at this very moment. I can't speak for Johnstown though.

[PeterRabbit]

Other rust belt cities would be fortunate to be doing as well as Pittsburgh. I read that our deaths here will no longer outnumber the births and newcomers. We'll see.

Towns around here similar to Johnstown that were dependent on manufacturing/steel... one mayor said it will be at least 30 years before his town will return to the glory it once was.

Jtown has a big negative about it -- Murtha.

[mrkool]

[quote=meltinjohn;5301469]
I think many of the old people contaminating the place with their soiled minds need to die off quote]

Your statement is proof that sometimes it's the YOUNG people who contaminate a place, have soiled minds, and need to die off.
Don't take that the wrong way, pal.

[loose cannon]

Originally Posted by meltinjohn

I notice in areas like that, people drink the cheapest beer. I like cheap beer also dont get me wrong, but I also know a good beer which some of these people dont.
I can go from Genesee and MHL to Full Sail IPA and others like Sprecker Pub Ale or Lagunitas varieties.

I say bring back National Bohemiam!

[mcorrales]

I posted earlier to this thread. I am a transplant from SoCal. Home of Disneyland, the Angels, LA, Melrose Avenue, Beverly Hills, etc. I moved here because I lived in Cherry Tree in the 1970's and loved it. I returned to California when my father was ill and never made it back until recently. I love it here. You folks do not appreciate what you DO have. My DIL's family just visited last week, also from SoCal. They are already planning on moving here within the next two years. The winters are doable, the fall is amazing, the spring is breathtaking and summers are mild. The people are warm, giving and welcoming. My granddaughter is biracial, no problems here with racist, etc Murtha can go to --77. The schools are superior. Here we have land, a large home that we could not have bought a carport for in SoCal. There is no traffic, 5 cars coming down our main street here is considered the evening rush hour. I call my bank and they know who I am and my account. The librarian knows me and what I like to read and puts aside books for me. People wave at you coming down the street. We know and like our neighbors. People are accomodating. When we moved in, we did not have a riding mower, without saying a word, the neighbor showed up one morning and did the entire property. I have not found one person who speaks just Spanish!!!! The western part of this country has turned into another Mexico. No, I am not racist, my grandkids are hispanic, their grandparents on the other side did it legally and speak english. But it got old seeing them with 14 people in a one bedroom place so that they could send money home to Mexico. They have no respect for their surroundings (as their home country shows), trash is discarded, oil changes done on their cars and the oil dumped into the sewer to make its way to our oceans. Not learning and teaching their children in English so the schools have to, taking time away from the other children. Hospitals overflowing with uninsured illegals. Many medical centers forced to close as they lose money treating them. I could go on and on, but I love PA and will never leave again.

[rachaelb]

I just was in the town and I happen to agree that there is a lot of potential here. Who would be open to getting together and putting together a plan for the town so we could work on revitalizing it?

I mean Asheville used to be more depressed in terms of its industry(still doesn't have any, but at least there is lots of tourism there). Couldn't we write a grant to make it one of those Main Street USA towns? I agree with the posters above who mention its assets: nice people, affordable liviing, beautiful surroundings, supposedly great schools (don't know personally) and close to other cities that it would be a nice drive for people looking to come check out a "cute" Pennsylvania town and check out art/crafts, etc.

Maybe Johnstown just needs a little "lift" and a new direction from people who think like this.

[bittermusicsnob]

i'm very proud of the strides that johnstown has made in the past decade...we now have a planning committee with people across the spectrum of jtown's population, all of which truely care for the city. there are some amazing artists and musicians doing great things like opening galleries, recording studios, and live music venues through out the city. i've lived in asheville and also still visit there regularly and it has always struck me how similar the towns are and i really think that that is something that we can achieve. and anyone who thinks that johnstown is conservative is completly insane...we are definitly a liberal democrat type of place that i really feel will take off in the next few years

[bittermusicsnob]

one more thing....the bars and clubs(i guess there really aren't any good clubs here yet, unless you count 709) are getting soo much better than they were even five years ago. The fact that i can get a sierra nevada celebration ale at a bar in portage(for only two bucks!!) is mindblowing

[jkbatca]

Originally Posted by mcorrales

I posted earlier to this thread. I am a transplant from SoCal. Home of Disneyland, the Angels, LA, Melrose Avenue, Beverly Hills, etc. I moved here because I lived in Cherry Tree in the 1970's and loved it. I returned to California when my father was ill and never made it back until recently. I love it here. You folks do not appreciate what you DO have. My DIL's family just visited last week, also from SoCal. They are already planning on moving here within the next two years. The winters are doable, the fall is amazing, the spring is breathtaking and summers are mild. The people are warm, giving and welcoming. My granddaughter is biracial, no problems here with racist, etc Murtha can go to --77. The schools are superior. Here we have land, a large home that we could not have bought a carport for in SoCal. There is no traffic, 5 cars coming down our main street here is considered the evening rush hour. I call my bank and they know who I am and my account. The librarian knows me and what I like to read and puts aside books for me. People wave at you coming down the street. We know and like our neighbors. People are accomodating. When we moved in, we did not have a riding mower, without saying a word, the neighbor showed up one morning and did the entire property. I have not found one person who speaks just Spanish!!!! The western part of this country has turned into another Mexico. No, I am not racist, my grandkids are hispanic, their grandparents on the other side did it legally and speak english. But it got old seeing them with 14 people in a one bedroom place so that they could send money home to Mexico. They have no respect for their surroundings (as their home country shows), trash is discarded, oil changes done on their cars and the oil dumped into the sewer to make its way to our oceans. Not learning and teaching their children in English so the schools have to, taking time away from the other children. Hospitals overflowing with uninsured illegals. Many medical centers forced to close as they lose money treating them. I could go on and on, but I love PA and will never leave again.

LOL, the irony of this for me is great, because I did the opposite. I was born and raised in Johnstown, lived there for 26 years and then moved to Southern California (near the coast), and been here for 23 years! Have parents, old friends, and misc. family all over PA / MD, and been back there recently. Until I left, I never wanted to leave Johnstown, but I did move and now I will not want to move back. Here's my perception of what has to happen to make Johnstown "come back".

1) Better roads to and from Pittsburgh to get to JTown faster. 22 is a mess (especially in the winter) and refuse to go on it. Turnpike + 219 is OK, but it seems to take "forever" to get to/from larger hubs from JTown. Because of this, JTown will always feel "out of the way" and not attract visitors / more permanent people. After drving in other parts of the country, it seems like it takes "forever" to get to any major metropolitan areas such as Pittsburgh or Washington DC. That's my perception. For some, that's a plus, but for others, it's not.

2) Most of JTown consists of older people. Only UPJ (where I graduated from) has any density of young people. I agree that the whole UPJ area should be expanded greatly from it's current satellite role and the surrounding area should take advantage of this population more. Try to develop more businesses to keep those graduates there...

3) The whole JTown area has tons of outdoors. What I suggest should have been done when the economy was stronger, but the JTown area could have been developed for major mountain bike, water sport, other outdoor sport mecca(s). Heck, the Youghiogheny River is one of the most premiere whitewater rivers around. Also, develop more motorized recreational areas, such as dirt bikes and ATV OHV areas. Blue Knob could be a mountain bike mecca as well as skiing if it wanted to (I think it once was), heck I known people who would travel all the way from eastern MD to go to Blue Knob for skiing! Why doesn't this translate to more JTown traffic?!?!?!

4) I would have to respectfully disagree with others and say Johnstown did not have the best weather for myself. Yes, four seasons is great, but Johnstown's winter doesn't get cold enough often enough to build any decent snowpack for winter activities. It usually just gets grey and dreary there for long stretches of time. May be different now due to global warming, but that's how I remember it...

5) Hate to say this, and this is my opinion, but JTown has to clean up all those unused old steel mill buildings and clean up some of the rivers with all the legacy acid mine drainage.

Of course, once you get the young crowd there, the beer will get them to stay (it would work for me!).

Johnstown always felt "too out of the way" to be connected to other places, such as Pittsburgh or the east coast (DC). I just drove from JTown to Washington DC, and it "seemed" longer than driving from LA to San Francisco. JTown has that "small town" feel, and if that's what you want, then it's great. But it's not going to grow unless more younger people move in, and you need to give them a good reason to.

This is all my opinion, from my perspective, and your milage may vary.

Side note: Not going to touch what the parent poster said about CA, but you should have seen the looks I got and disbelief when I told people in CA I never seen a person of Hispanic decent in Johnstown during the 60's through the 80's. I'm sure that has changed by now!