Harrisburg area getting more diverse (Philadelphia, Reading: cul-de-sac, section 8, apartment complexes)

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by BackToTheCityMouse

I don't think that all non-caucasian new-comers to Pennsylvania should be automatically counted as 'liberals'.

Pennsylvania is still largely rural, in terms of geography, so there is no reason for there to be any kind of ban on gun ownership here. I've posted this before, but it's worth repeating: if you live in an area with no police closer than 30 minutes to an hour away, you have to be self-reliant.

No one is going to forced to have an abortion here, either. I have no idea why increasing diversity would be associated with that

The reason that gay couples can make it legal in a place like Iowa is because, IMO, people in Iowa are intelligent. They have a more efficient sense of community. If someone pays taxes and is a good citizen, some demographic characteristic should not prevent that person from having all the rights of citizenship. It's sad to be constantly reminded how much energy PA residents spend on assigning people to demographic groups and then figuring how people in other groups are not as cool as they think their group is. PA = the middle school cafeteria state.

The suggestion that they are liberal had nothing to do with their race, but where they are coming from...DC, Baltimore, NJ, NYC, etc.

How can you say that having gay marriage in Iowa makes Iowans intelligent? They didn't vote for it. Some activist judge decided he knew better than the people and HE made it law. If it were put to vote by the people there is no way it would be approved. That's how it always goes though. Even people in CA voted it down. In Mass. the legislature approved it, yet refuses to allow it to be put on the ballot for the people to vote on because they know it will lose. But, we still live in a democracy, right?

[sr1234]

Originally Posted by BackToTheCityMouse

I don't think that all non-caucasian new-comers to Pennsylvania should be automatically counted as 'liberals'.

Pennsylvania is still largely rural, in terms of geography, so there is no reason for there to be any kind of ban on gun ownership here. I've posted this before, but it's worth repeating: if you live in an area with no police closer than 30 minutes to an hour away, you have to be self-reliant.

No one is going to forced to have an abortion here, either. I have no idea why increasing diversity would be associated with that

The reason that gay couples can make it legal in a place like Iowa is because, IMO, people in Iowa are intelligent. They have a more efficient sense of community. If someone pays taxes and is a good citizen, some demographic characteristic should not prevent that person from having all the rights of citizenship. It's sad to be constantly reminded how much energy PA residents spend on assigning people to demographic groups and then figuring how people in other groups are not as cool as they think their group is. PA = the middle school cafeteria state.

Maine, VT, NH, Mass, Cali...they didn't vote for gay marriage. It isn't a population's intelligence that is pushing for gay marriage. It is a few liberals who want to shove their beliefs in our faces. The minority pushing their lack of morals on the rest of us.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by sr1234

Maine, VT, NH, Mass, Cali...they didn't vote for gay marriage. It isn't a population's intelligence that is pushing for gay marriage. It is a few liberals who want to shove their beliefs in our faces. The minority pushing their lack of morals on the rest of us.

LOL. You sound like you'd love living in a theocracy. Unfortunately for you, the United States -- Pennsylvania included -- isn't one of those.

Not trying to turn this into a debate on gay marriage, but these comments about out-of-staters turning PA into some hellhole is alarmist and asinine.

I strongly welcome some diversity to a state that is frighteningly homogeneous in some parts -- and this comes from a PA native, not some Manhattan elitist. God forbid you take in some non-Anglo-Saxon culture. I know, I know -- that's just letting the "liberals" win, though.

Get off your high horse, folks. Pennsylvania was HARDLY some utopia before there was a greater trend of foreigners/out-of-staters settling in the Eastern/South Central parts, and -- like danwxman -- I strongly believe they help to make it better.

We have always lived will and continue to live in a free and highly mobile country where people are free to make a home wherever they'd like, but for some reason some people never paid attention in civics class.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by Duderino

We have always lived will and continue to live in a free and highly mobile country where people are free to make a home wherever they'd like, but for some reason some people never paid attention in civics class.

So, buy a home in west philadelphia, criticize Obama, and tell me how free you feel. Show much how tolerant the left can be.

[HoneyBeeMel]

Hey everyone!

I am thinking about attending Widener Law School in Harrisburg. I visited the campus once, and was very disappointed with it's location, but I think this is mostly because I didn't have a chance to go into the city of Harrisburg. I am from Philadelphia, and I know that I will not be a happy camper in a city any less diverse and large than Philly, BUT for the sake of law school, I am willing to compromise on this for 3 years. I am planning to take a trip to Harrisburg soon, and I want to explore the city and what it has to offer. I am 23 years old, very fun-loving and outgoing. I like to dance, try new and different kinds of food, shop, meet new people, explore, go out and just have a good time, and I will be looking to see if Harrisburg can offer these things to me. I am preparing myself for the fact that Harrisburg will not likely be as diverse and large as Philly, but hopefully it won't be too much of a let down also.

Anyway, with that said, what do you suggest I see and visit while I'm in the city? What are some of the hottest spots in harrisburg and most worth the visit? What are your favorite areas of the city?

Any information will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[ki0eh]

My daughter's kindergarten class in Hershey is about 1/3 non-white. From what I can see their parents aren't gang bangers, but are MD's/PhD's or maybe about to be. Interesting how starkly these folks seem non-represented in local government.

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by HoneyBeeMel

Hey everyone!

I am thinking about attending Widener Law School in Harrisburg. I visited the campus once, and was very disappointed with it's location, but I think this is mostly because I didn't have a chance to go into the city of Harrisburg. I am from Philadelphia, and I know that I will not be a happy camper in a city any less diverse and large than Philly, BUT for the sake of law school, I am willing to compromise on this for 3 years. I am planning to take a trip to Harrisburg soon, and I want to explore the city and what it has to offer. I am 23 years old, very fun-loving and outgoing. I like to dance, try new and different kinds of food, shop, meet new people, explore, go out and just have a good time, and I will be looking to see if Harrisburg can offer these things to me. I am preparing myself for the fact that Harrisburg will not likely be as diverse and large as Philly, but hopefully it won't be too much of a let down also.

Anyway, with that said, what do you suggest I see and visit while I'm in the city? What are some of the hottest spots in harrisburg and most worth the visit? What are your favorite areas of the city?

Any information will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hey, I'm 23 and live in Midtown Harrisburg (above downtown between Forster and Maclay). Yes, Widener Law is in a really boring spot...no idea why they didn't place it downtown. But that doesn't mean you can't live in the city. As a matter of fact, I know a Widener Law student who lives a few blocks from me and also organized several neighborhood cleanups (visit About Us - Harrisburg Clean Streets Project). He was able to get several other volunteers from the school.

While you are here you should definetely check out 2nd street in downtown. It's a strip full of restaurants, bars, night clubs and shops. There is quite a diverse array of restaurants ranging from upscale to your typical pizza place and Latin to Irish. Also downtown is the Whitaker Center which has a museum and IMAX theater. Riverfront Park and City Island are both beautiful, you should take a stroll through both. Just walk all over downtown (it's very walkable) and you should get a good feel. My hood, Midtown, is within walking distance to downtown and has some great little restaurants and an independent cinema.

If you are looking for Center City Philadelphia this is not going to be it. But you have to take it for what it is... A small city with a pretty good amount of amenities, decent nightlife, culture and restaurants.

[Lucario]

[quote=danwxman;8729184]

I know because I live here and I work in the high-tech sector. The fact is, the natives around here do not have the kind of skills needed to fill the jobs...hence we are importing a large number of Asians and Indians in this area.

Let's be real here. It's not that the natives don't have the skills. It's that they are not taught anything by the inadequate schools. I know for a fact that many of the Asian and Indian H1Bs don't have skills either. They are taught these skills when they get here. You could easily take 50-100 kids from every high school each year and teach them the exact same thing, and guess what? No need for H1Bs. I know that many of them are incompetent and can't even perform the jobs for which they are hired.

[BackToTheCityMouse]

From the news stories I've read and seen, it appears that there is a huge need for people with what were considered non-professional techie skills back in the day. Jobs like (mainframe) computer operations, any kind of engineering techs, doing installations and repairs -- these were all decent jobs for intelligent folks who went to tech school instead of college.

The young dude from Dell who replaced my hard drive was a transplant from my home county in New Jersey. There was no way he and his wife (both work, both are techie but not professional) could afford to ever buy a home there on both their incomes, he said. Here, no problem. It was awesome hearing him speak. Both his accent and the wonderousness of him not saying 'oh, your hard drive needs replaced."

I've never had any experience with the school system in the Harrisburg area. From what I knew about high school in Juniata County, there were these two opposite poles: one for college-bound future professionals and the other for everyone else. If you weren't the child of a professional, it made no difference whether you had the abilities to be a techie or not. Students were literally told they should be grateful to God and patiently accept the role in life they had been assigned. The goal was to keep horizons low for the students from working class families, and raise them with a mortal fear of driving into the Harrisburg area for tech school ('it's safer to be a missionary in Rwanda then to shop at Harrisburg Mall' ). That way, there would be a steady supply of new workers for the meat packing and cabinetry plants...who still had all their fingers on both hands.

This was not the America I learned about in civics class

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by mattjd

Think I'm crazy? Look at Allentown and Reading. It's happening in Lancaster and York too. I don't even recognize PA anymore. Of course, if anyone thinks this is going to end in anything but a positive way then they are just a racist, bigot, warmonger, homophobe, right?

Last weekend I rode up 222 into Lancaster for the first time in 20 years and it was an eye opener to say the least. Diversity is encouraged and applauded but what I saw was future disaster. The neighborhood I rode up through(I guess South Lancaster) wasn't diverse at all it was heavily minority(hispanic/black) and even less diverse along economic lines,appeared very very poor from my standpoint. It looked like they moved a part of the Bronx to a small pristine town, the last place on earth you would expected such a thing.Especially coming up from Amish Country, surreal.

The Philadelphia suburban counties Chester,Montgomery,Bucks and to a lesser extent Delaware saw the eventual pitfalls of cities and wont build anything closely resembling a city. They along with Berks + Lancaster Counties have basically built themselves up to be ghettoproof, poverty + crime had to jump over that suburban area to get into the aging small towns but it did and Reading,allentown,Lancaster,York are in the beginning stages of a bad act.Once it sets in and entrenches its over.Thats just how it works in this country, the poor are deposited into contained areas and trouble soon follows.