Future scranton, wyoming valley (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: real estate, foreclosure, crime)

[boney89]

How you guys see future of that area? Lehigh valley doing very well and change going good direction. Why wv can,t going same path?

[ASRGUY]

Scranton-Wbarre? I see it doing poorly. Wilkes Barre is already a rough area crime wise and Scranton is getting worse. You just never hear any big corporations relocating to Nepa or any major developments. Biggest employer still Tobyhanna Army Depot and it's future is i question when a BRAC comes in 2021 or so.

Most college kids I know leave and head elsewhere for jobs in Philly, DC, NJ etc. Lehigh Valley is really growing and it's proximity to Philly is a huge reason. SWB is just run poorly seems like nothing changes in fact the Scranton downtown is vacant looking. IMHO Lehigh Valley will far surpass Nepa.

[auntieannie68]

Originally Posted by ASRGUY

Scranton-Wbarre? I see it doing poorly. Wilkes Barre is already a rough area crime wise and Scranton is getting worse. You just never hear any big corporations relocating to Nepa or any major developments. Biggest employer still Tobyhanna Army Depot and it's future is i question when a BRAC comes in 2021 or so.

Most college kids I know leave and head elsewhere for jobs in Philly, DC, NJ etc. Lehigh Valley is really growing and it's proximity to Philly is a huge reason. SWB is just run poorly seems like nothing changes in fact the Scranton downtown is vacant looking. IMHO Lehigh Valley will far surpass Nepa.

good response!poor management,greed,nepotism ,etc taking their toll and it is notdue to the influx of other cultures as locals want one to believe!

[ASRGUY]

Aunt spot on you nailed it and will never change.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by auntieannie68

....,etc taking their toll and it is notdue to the influx of other cultures as locals want one to believe!

This area has a lot of problems and the type of people moving here is most certainly one of them. Any thoughts otherwise are simply naive.

There is a black woman that moved in next to my Grandmother. Very nice woman that moved here from NYC to get her kids out that environment. Clearly intelligent and educated but not a lot of money, she does have a decent job though. Her kids are probably two of the most well mannered kids I've met in my entire life, both will go places in life. If people like herself were moving into this area that would be fantastic.

Unfortunately the people moving in here are more like the one guy that moved in next to my cousin, walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic with his ass hanging out when he should be at work somewhere. When I say ass hanging out I mean his entire ass....

[ASRGUY]

To be fair I believe Coalman is correct. Since there is no industry or jobs, the influx of people really regardless of race are sometimes less than desirable. You do see an uptick in beatings, robberies and drugs with some small minority groups in Scranton and often those people are living here but are from Philly and ny per the paper.

[JohnZ963]

Unless some kind of high-speed rail line to north Jersey/NYC is built, the area will never take off due to a lack of decent paying jobs in commuting range.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by JohnZ963

Unless some kind of high-speed rail line to north Jersey/NYC is built, the area will never take off due to a lack of decent paying jobs in commuting range.

Someone may choose to live here because of the low housing prices and cost of living. You can buy a really nice house here for $250K that might cost you a million plus near NYC... Sitting on a train for 3 or 4 hours a day is pretty steep price to pay for that.

[JimiNEPA]

Unfortunately NEPA, specifically the Wilkes Barre/Scranton areas will never ever change. The region is stuck 50 to 60 years behind the times and it's the way that the powers that be want it and it's a shame, because it doesn't have to be this way. People from outside this region still think we mine coal here, and that's the problem. The closed minded (and there are many) in this area still want to perpetuate this stereotype. The question that I have been asking forever and never got an answer to is why is it this way? This area should be teeming with high tech, white collar jobs. Look at the facts. NEPA has major highways running right through it, I-81, I-380, I-84, I-80 and the Northeast extension of the turnpike. The area has a brand new airport terminal capable of all sorts of air traffic. I would think that the location of being this close to major metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia and New York City would also appeal to any major corporation to relocate here, but alas, has never happened.
I do happen to get to visit Pittsburgh quite often and what I see there is astounding to me. This city is no longer a steel town and hasn't been for a very long time, but, the forward thinking people there literally turned that whole area around from the brink of disaster and now, it's ideal. New industry is moving in constantly bringing with it new and higher paying jobs. And when I look at Pittsburgh and then at NEPA, I think to myself why can't this happen here? They have a the same type airport, interstate highways that we do here and yet, NEPA is stuck in the mud. Unfortunately nothing here will change until you get some progressive forward thinking people in power, but I don't ever see that happening.
My advice to anyone who has the opportunity to move here would be don't. If you care about your children's futures and your own, stay away, there's nothing here.
I apologize in advance to anyone that may be offended by this post, but it is what it is.

[coal cracker]

Originally Posted by boney89

How you guys see future of that area? Lehigh valley doing very well and change going good direction. Why wv can,t going same path?

Define "good direction" ?? hellish daily traffic on overcrowded roads in the Allentown/Reading and Lehigh Valley makes the area undesirable for most looking for a calm, pleasant place to live.
Having said that, Wyoming Valley and the surrounding area fell victim to being marketed to the big metro areas of NY, NJ, Philly as a "getaway". the problem is, criminals, drug dealers, etc. also read those ads.
so now Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazleton has a nice bustling heroin and meth drug problem, with all the robberies, burglaries, etc. that go along with that lifestyle. all brought here from the cities.
the main problem with ALL these communities, is they are squeezed like a sponge by the banks, realtors, builders for quick real estate profits on McMansion developments...this over-stresses the relatively modest roads, utilities, infrastructure, schools, public services of the area. then a relatively large number of these homes go into foreclosure within 10 years or less- and the backlog is growing monthly.
they are using the area as a lifeboat for people fleeing the big cities...and sinking the lifeboat in the process from overloading. the area is not what is used to be ! lately the taxes are getting out of hand, putting many elderly out of their lifetime homes.
the smarter, more rural townships are now passing building moratoriums, and banning or limiting "planned communities". the damage these builders do to a community lasts forever, long after they pocketed their fat profits and ran away. then they go buy themselves a 200 acre farm in upstate New York to get away from what they themselves built.