Stroudsburg (East Stroudsburg, Monroe, Penn: crime, unemployment, buy)

[ChristinaMichele]

Hey guys. I'm looking to move to PA next Summer with my husband and our 4 small children. My bff lives in East Stroudsburg but says it's very quiet and to go shopping she has to drive one hour to get to the shopping centers. I don't know what part she lives in exactly. I was wondering if anyone can tell me a little about Stroudsburg and which areas are good for a family. How are the schools, the crime, and the jobs, etc? Thanks so much!

[jtab4994]

Stroudsburg is a nice little town. There are good & bad sections. If I were you I'd look up in the area behind the courthouse and on up the hill. Personally I don't recommend "gated communities" because I consider the deed covenants restrictive and I don't like paying association dues on top of taxes, but to each his own. I'm pretty familiar with Stroudsburg because although we don't live there, we attend St. Luke's RC church there.

Stroudsburg is finishing off a giant addition to their high school. The new gymnasium is too die for, and could fit an entire regular elementary school inside it. They are laying off a lot of teachers and some parent groups have formed to stop the closure of smaller community elementary schools.

Crime is crime, same as anywhere. If you can afford to live in a decent area you reduce the chance of being touched by it.

Jobs are another story. From what i read in the Pocono Record, June was Monroe County's worst month for unemployment ever. Ever. So if you are coming out next year things can only be better. Right? (I hope so because my teenage son could not get a job this summer)

We live in Shawnee and have lived here since 1993. Our kids have gone to Notre Dame Schools in East Stroudsburg since pre-school and we now have a senior and a freshman. If you want a small school with traditional values and a great, diverse, academically oriented peer group for your kids, I can heartily recommend Notre Dame.

For shopping you have the Stroud Mall, with Bon Ton, Sears, and JC Penney and other typical mall stores. It's small compared to Rockaway Mall in NJ and the Lehigh Valley malls which are about an hour away, as your friend says.

[fisheye]

As far as shopping; we have a much larger selection than we did fifty years ago. This isn't the big city; but you can pretty much buy whatever you need.

Our area is changing very fast. Right now there are proposals for three big, new, water parks. One alone is supposed to have 1200 rooms and 300,000 square feet of indoor water park. If all three of these plans get accepted and construction starts there will be a rash of commercial investment besides the three parks. That could change our gloomy job prospects.

I presume that your reason for moving to the Stroudsburg area is not employment?

Anyway; good luck and as you find out more ask us for further advice.