Coming Home (Allentown, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre: middle-class, vacation home, neighborhood)

[Jeep1947]

Hi everyone,
My parents on both sides were from the Wilkes Barre /Plains area.
This Summer, one of my Maternal Cousins , whom I reconnected with on FaceBook paid me a visit..we had a great time
So I figured why not try to see what is going on in the area. ..

sadly the news on this site is sparse like Gerania said.
I know the area is economically depressed, but.. are all you residents depressed too?

Sad.. It seems like whenever it started to take off with some fluid and engaging conversations.. the conversations seem to be stifled..

just saying.. Do any of you people have an inkling why?

[Chester Burnett]

Yo Jeep! The NEPA board is one of the slowest on City Data that I've come across. I've lived in several states and have usually found pretty robust forum communities on the site as a whole.

It's true there are some economically depressed areas, but in my time here, I've found a pretty middle-class vibe. There are some people with fairly expensive vacation homes in the ski and lake areas. The economy everywhere has been pretty crazy lately but the rural areas of PA have been generally depressed since the 70s with the decline of the steel industry and mining.

I haven't spent time in Wilkes-Barre (it doesn't have a great rep) but Allentown is pretty cool, along with Bethlehem and there are pockets throughout the Poconos that are very livable. It depends a lot on your own preferences and lifestyle. I wouldn't use this forum as a measure of the area though. Come visit the area and see what you think.

[Gerania]

That's an old Jeep.

I haven't lived there in decades, but I know that my high school friend Joe is really depressed about his, my old neighborhood. He's surrounded by trashy Dominicans who probably moved there from NYC.

Years ago our moderator was very enthusiastic about her job. This made me laugh: https://www.city-data.com/forum/lehi...ts-stands.html. She didn't delete hot dog posts or close her thread.

[PAhippo]

probably because not that many people on the board live there.

[Jeep1947]

Originally Posted by Chester Burnett

Yo Jeep! The NEPA board is one of the slowest on City Data that I've come across. I've lived in several states and have usually found pretty robust forum communities on the site as a whole.

It's true there are some economically depressed areas, but in my time here, I've found a pretty middle-class vibe. There are some people with fairly expensive vacation homes in the ski and lake areas. The economy everywhere has been pretty crazy lately but the rural areas of PA have been generally depressed since the 70s with the decline of the steel industry and mining.

I haven't spent time in Wilkes-Barre (it doesn't have a great rep) but Allentown is pretty cool, along with Bethlehem and there are pockets throughout the Poconos that are very livable. It depends a lot on your own preferences and lifestyle. I wouldn't use this forum as a measure of the area though. Com the area and see what you think.

Chester, thank you for your input..
actually, I make a yearly road trip to the Wilkes-Barre area..to visit my family’s graveyard plot in the area.
Things have indeed changed..but not necessarily for the worst ..
I still get that giddy feeling I had as a child riding through the Lehigh Valley tunnel ..my Dad beeping his horn in the tunnel…knowing we were more than 1/2 to our destination.

[Jeep1947]

Originally Posted by Gerania

That's an old Jeep.

I haven't lived there in decades, but I know that my high school friend Joe is really depressed about his, my old neighborhood. He's surrounded by trashy Dominicans who probably moved there from NYC.

Years ago our moderator was very enthusiastic about her job. This made me laugh: https://www.city-data.com/forum/lehi...ts-stands.html. She didn't delete hot dog posts or close her thread.

Thrashy Dominicans?
wow that’s not the old Gerania I remembered…
just proves what Thomas Wolfe once wrote;

‘you can’t go home again’

[Jeep1947]

Chester Burnett , I was a member of the Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and New Jersey City Data sites.. l visited or lived in all those places.. my house in PR has been hit 3 times by the **** Hurricanes .but I can’t give it up.
I currently live in New Jersey ..

[charmed hour]

Originally Posted by Jeep1947

Thrashy Dominicans?
wow that’s not the old Gerania I remembered…
just proves what Thomas Wolfe once wrote;

‘you can’t go home again’

I’m a little taken back by that comment too. I grew up in the Bronx with many Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and various other Latino groups. Ain’t nothing like some of the “trash” people I’ve encountered out here. Sorry, not sorry.

[DavidWebb]

Originally Posted by Gerania

He's surrounded by trashy Dominicans who probably moved there from NYC.

Unfortunately, EVERY race has its troublemakers....no one is an exception from the others....you have just as much one as the other depending on where you go....

[Chester Burnett]

I haven't noticed any heavy-handed moderation here. I assume the sparseness here is due to a lack of awareness of City Data among the local population combined with the popularity of Facebook and apps like Next Door.