Luzerne County: Pa's emerging Latin America? (Scranton, Harrisburg: crime, neighborhoods, high school)

[W-B proud]

New census data shows that Luzerne County's hispanic population has tripled!! since 2000. And Luzerne County now host the fastest growing hispanic population in the state of Pa. The hispanic population in all of NEPA exploded in 2007 spurred by a 20.5% increase in Luzerne County, and followed by other counties surrounding Luzerne, including: Lackawanna County (12.5%), Schuylkill County (10.5%), Carbon County (10.5%), and Pike County (10.4%)... as reported by Wilkes-Barre's, Times Leader... So, NEPA, what are your feelings on this issue? Is this good growth for our region or bad growth? I personally think it's great! (so far). My city, Wilkes-Barre, is starting to reverse the trend of many decades of "mass exodus" out of the city, due to the newly arriving Latino population. They are moving in, and reviving neighborhood's that have been in decline for a very long time. I think starting this year the population of our cities will begin to grow once again, because of this trend, and I welcome it!! As long as there isn't a crime wave that follows them here, I say welcome all!

[FightinPhils]

It sounds like a lot when they say "tripled," but the reality is that the Hispanic population was almost non-existent to begin with, so tripling it still does not mean we are being "overrun" with Hispanics. Even now, every single town in this area is more than 90% white (this includes Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton)....this area is still very lily-white compared to most places.

I agree...if they're hard working good people, then welcome. But there are way too many ignorant people in this area who do not like the Hispanics and always spout off their hysteria about "illegals." The reality is that an overwhelming majority of Hispanics in this area are legal...in fact, most are Puerto Ricans, who are born American citizens. They're human beings just like you and me.

[scrantonluna]

It can be a good thing if it's handled in the right way. The feds needs to step in and make sure they are all naturalized, code enforcement needs to be ramped up, and there has to be both community outreach and local govt. spending in areas of dense population. If you bring them into the loop and they get a sense of community and pride, they will become part of the local fabric; alienate them and all you will see is crime (both hate and property) and poverty. Even under the best conditions, this is a time of massive change, and we have to expect a few ripples in the water. Once things settle out, I hope to see increased tax revenues, growing neighborhoods, and a younger population to bolster the local economy.

[SteelCityRising]

I work in Edwardsville, and not a day goes by where I'm not assisting a customer who speaks a different language. The growing diversity in this area never ceases to amaze me, and I must say that it's quite refreshing. I helped two Hispanic women who spoke broken English yesterday and sold them an air conditioner. Earlier that evening I overheard two separate customers speaking Russian and German. Then there's also the "Heynabonics" language I hear from my fellow co-workers and blue-collar customers on a constant basis. "I went troo da door!"

[scrantonluna]

Oh god, can you imagine these people learning broken english from people who have already broken it? Heyna-spanics?

[scrantonluna]

Yous can use your axsess card at'a the ac-a-me

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

Oh god, can you imagine these people learning broken english from people who have already broken it? Heyna-spanics?

Awesome! "Heynaspanics?" Rep points for you!

[timbolv]

Be careful and tread lightly here. this could be a sticky subject. A moderator closed a thread on another board because apperently they were talking about crimes and racial statistics and some statements were taken out of context that could be misconstrued as racial. Of course if one read the whole thread and pieced it all together instead of reading one post you can clearly see it was nothing racial.

[ckhthankgod]

Wasn't there a recent incident that involved a "Hispanic" guy being beat up by a few high school kids in Shenandoah? I wonder how that might have changed things with the people in that community?

Also, for some strange reason, it always seemed like it would not be a good idea for me to stop in any town between Harrisburg and Scranton/Wilkes Barre at night on I-81. Am I just paranoid or should I have some concern?

[littlebunnie69]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

oh god, can you imagine these people learning broken english from people who have already broken it? Heyna-spanics?

lol