Future NE Penn. residents looking for personal opinions and experiences! (Pittsburgh: school, university)

[Rogue0888]

Originally Posted by fisheye

My problem with negativity is it does not improve anything. Why would anybody wish for the worst? Even people that hate our area do not gain from preaching hate - they make selling their house and getting out even harder. Sometimes I feel like we have posters that have a vested interest in talking potential residents into other areas.
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Could not agree more with this statement more. I've read more than one post that felt like it was so bad they were trying to hide a secret from potential residents. Just as anything to good to be true probably isn't, anything to negative to be true probably isn't. The truth is probably in the middle.

[jtab4994]

I have to laugh at certain posters who rant and rage for years and years about how they can't wait for someone to buy their house so they can get out of here, then they tell people not to move here. Of course the negativity is often so over the top that most reasonable people would consider that the poster might be some sort of crank.

[chuck172]

I can't wait for the day when I move from Sussex county Nj to Wayne county pa.
People in Pa. look you in the eye, say "hello" are respectful and friendly. I never even met my neighbors after living here in Sussex county for 35 years.

[ASRGUY]

Sorry folks some of this negative is rooted in facts. Fact is this is an economically depressed area and Scranton in particular has been run by corrupt politicians. I would not advise people to relocate here in it's current state and I stand by my statement it isn't getting better and I see little in ways or future improvements. You will see Lehigh Valley, Lancaster and Hburg all out perform and outgrow Nepa. I would say 2 positives are cheap housing and relatively low crime. That's all.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by ASRGUY

Sorry folks some of this negative is rooted in facts. Fact is this is an economically depressed area and Scranton in particular has been run by corrupt politicians. I would not advise people to relocate here in it's current state and I stand by my statement it isn't getting better and I see little in ways or future improvements. You will see Lehigh Valley, Lancaster and Hburg all out perform and outgrow Nepa. I would say 2 positives are cheap housing and relatively low crime. That's all.

Personally I have fought for more trucking/warehouse jobs in Monroe. While not the easiest job or safest; they do pay the bills. Unfortunately our political climate seems to favor recreational jobs that, in general, do not pay the bills. Of course there are always some that pay better than others. But it takes time and it takes people to get involved in the process.

Many were excited about Wall Street West; that never materialized.

The Fogelsville area, west of Allentown, has many warehouses. But, if I recall correctly; they were hit by the 2008 economic downturn.

I still feel that the key to prosperity in my County would be major lane expansion of Route 80 and the Delaware River Bridge - but it has to start four miles into NJ where their six lanes end. It also has to totally remodel the Viaduct Bridge that would cost a fortune simply to demolish. That bridge restricts Route I-80. PennDOT is currently planning lane expansion of 80; but their planners look like they are on drugs. I cannot fathom planners in their right mind coming to the decisions they have made.

[mrsfixit99]

Originally Posted by fisheye

Many were excited about Wall Street West; that never materialized.

One of the reasons Wall Street West never materialized was because of the pathetic state of high speed internet in Monroe county.

We have 2 choices- last century 1-3 Mbps DSL from Verizon, and only available in certain areas, or slow, very overpriced cable internet from the monopoly known as Blue Ridge Cable.

Look at the stats. Areas that have FIOS, Google Fiber, muni gigabit and the like experience an uptick in economic growth.

Until something is done about the lack of fast, reliable, affordable, modern broadband something like Wall Street West will never, ever materialize here.

And these are just the kind of industries we *want* to attract here. They bring higher paying jobs that generally have less impact on the environment than water parks and resorts.

[mrsfixit99]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

I have to laugh at certain posters who rant and rage for years and years about how they can't wait for someone to buy their house so they can get out of here, then they tell people not to move here. Of course the negativity is often so over the top that most reasonable people would consider that the poster might be some sort of crank.

I am honest in my assessment of the area and it's problems. Just because your experiences may be more positive than mine does not make me a crank.

I am just trying to stop somebody from making the same mistake I did in moving here.

I have nothing to gain either way. My house in unsellable. I couldn't get rid of it if I wanted to, so I'm stuck keeping it, and going bankrupt from the outrageous taxes, or just walking away.

Maybe you are well off, but I am not in a financial position to just walk away from a fully paid off house.

If you are- bully for you. But don't criticize other people whose experiences with this area may be nothing short of awful.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by mrsfixit99

One of the reasons Wall Street West never materialized was because of the pathetic state of high speed internet in Monroe county.

Wall Street West or any other financial business would put in their own T1 lines. They wouldn't sign up for the "FiOS Mega Gamer Package" or whatever it's called.


For residential use, we have the $52.95 (plus tax) deal from Blue Ridge Cable. Whatever the nominal speed is (15 Mbps?), it's fast enough that my two sons who are home from college for the summer aren't complaining when they both play League of Legends.

[mrsfixit99]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

Wall Street West or any other financial business would put in their own T1 lines. They wouldn't sign up for the "FiOS Mega Gamer Package" or whatever it's called.


For residential use, we have the $52.95 (plus tax) deal from Blue Ridge Cable. Whatever the nominal speed is (15 Mbps?), it's fast enough that my two sons who are home from college for the summer aren't complaining when they both play League of Legends.

Well, let's just say for the sake of argument that Wall Street West would bring some high paying jobs with it.

And let's just speculate that maybe some of those workers would be living in the area. And let's say that they might need to work from home- you know- tele-commuting?

You think they're going to have T1 lines at home?

And I have that same 15/2 cable package.

Why don't you get back to me about how adequate it is next time you have to upload a 10 gigabyte file to the Cloud at 2Mbps... :-[

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by mrsfixit99

Well, let's just say for the sake of argument that Wall Street West would bring some high paying jobs with it.

And let's just speculate that maybe some of those workers would be living in the area. And let's say that they might need to work from home- you know- tele-commuting?

You think they're going to have T1 lines at home?

And I have that same 15/2 cable package.

Why don't you get back to me about how adequate it is next time you have to upload a 10 gigabyte file to the Cloud at 2Mbps... :-[

Oh, Mrs Fixit. I know you'll top me with another tale of woe, but here goes. I work in IT myself, and on snowy days -- you know it snows in the Poconos -- I connect to work via RDC with my rinky-dink Blue Ridge soup can-and-string setup, and voila! I can work pretty much like I would if I was sitting at my actual desk in New Jersey.


And I upload all my files to the Cloud overnight, so the upload speed only becomes an issue when I've spent a heavy night clubbing with Paris and Kim, and have taken waaay too many selfies.