Gun Battle at Wal-Mart in Stroudsburg (York, Edwardsville: middle-class, lease, houses)

[NEPA-x-pat]

I got my undergraduate degree at ESU (then ESSC). It was a sleepy little college town at one time. There was the occasional purse snatching, dash and run kind of thing. After graduating I went back for homecoming events and noticed that the towns got facelifts, looked like NYC money coming into the sleepy little towns, and I worried back in the mid 80's that with the NYC money came big city problems. I guess that is true. How sad. What a double edged sword that represents.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I mean, I work at Lowe's, and other than frequent car accidents on account of the high number of elderly drivers we attract we rarely have to call the police. I doubt Target, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Wegman's, Gander Mountain, or most other "box" stores do either. Is Wal-Mart just a magnet for the scum of the earth anymore?

I think its because Wal-Mart is open 24 hours. I know Wegmans is also open 24 hours, but the Wal-Mart in Dickson City is not a dangerous place either. I think its a combination of the facts that the Wal-Mart is open 24 hours and its in Stroudsburg, which seems to be a cess pool of crime anymore. It seems there's a lot of NY/NJ ghetto influence in that area, along with places like Mt. Pocono and Tobyhanna.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

I think its because Wal-Mart is open 24 hours. I know Wegmans is also open 24 hours, but the Wal-Mart in Dickson City is not a dangerous place either. I think its a combination of the facts that the Wal-Mart is open 24 hours and its in Stroudsburg, which seems to be a cess pool of crime anymore. It seems there's a lot of NY/NJ ghetto influence in that area, along with places like Mt. Pocono and Tobyhanna.

It's the accessibility to NJ and NY. That's the reason why there is a ghetto presence in Stroudsburg. It's the first town you come across when you enter the PA border. We should just hope and pray it's not creeping northwest to our area as we speak, citing the reason rise in violent crime here in the last few weeks.

[scrantonluna]

I wouldn't call the Dickson City walmart 'safe.' Why they allow people to congregate outside at night is beyond me. Working two jobs, if I have to go to walmart, it's usually late. I can't count how many times I've seen people that were intoxicated, high, or just large groups carrying on in general. I don't go without my 38 anymore, and I go to wegmans if I can help it.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Originally Posted by Summering

When we first moved to Stroudsburg,(1995) this was not the case. Our daughter use to jog in downtown Stroudsburg.
This problem came after that timeperiod. She wouldn't be jogging there now.
The mess in Stroudsburg came with the influx of "inner" city thugs........
After 2001.......
Patrols need to step up, be present, and around at all times.
These thugs wouldn't set foot in a place like Rockaway or Denville, NJ.

Summering, good point. This would not be tolerated in Bergen County either. It goes back to what people are willing to accept to some degree. I believe that everyone has to be active and concerned about where they live. If these thugs think they can go anywhere and create a presence to harass people, then they will continue to come. Absolutely, right on, would never set foot in Rockaway, Denville or even Parsippany for that matter. Perhaps, it is No tolerance, good post!

[heavyjay]

I'm glad to know PA is not into "victim disarmament."

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

I wouldn't call the Dickson City walmart 'safe.' Why they allow people to congregate outside at night is beyond me. Working two jobs, if I have to go to walmart, it's usually late. I can't count how many times I've seen people that were intoxicated, high, or just large groups carrying on in general. I don't go without my 38 anymore, and I go to wegmans if I can help it.

It's not exactly a ghetto, but as you point out, at night it can get a little scary. I blame the managers for not addressing the situation and letting people hang out there. Isn't that called loitering?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by NYRangers 2008

It's not exactly a ghetto, but as you point out, at night it can get a little scary. I blame the managers for not addressing the situation and letting people hang out there. Isn't that called loitering?

Sometimes it is out of management's hands. I work at the Lowe's store in Edwardsville (Wilkes-Barre's Lower West Side), and we often have foul-mouthed punk teenagers doing tricks off of our cart corrals, harassing customers, etc. The other day one of my managers asked them politely to disperse, and he was met with profanity. Lowe's only leases the property from the company that owns the West Side Mall, so law enforcement is out of our hands. I do believe Wal-Mart owns most (if not all) of their stores though. The one they're building in Pittston Township I believe is going to be leased from the Pittston Crossings center.

[Chefkey]

I remember taking a trip for work to New York and we got lost in Newark and it looked bad. I think maybe Stroudsburg is starting to become in this way. I tried to pass a traffic jam on 80 once by going through Stroudsburg and was stunned by how bad the town looked. Forget about living in a shell and just live carefully anywhere you go. I have been in truly bad areas like Asbury Park, NJ or Cherry Hill, NJ or Girard Ave in Philly and these areas make Stroudsburg look tame.

Still, it is a shame to hear about Stroudsburg but I don't believe the Valley will be seeing this because of better infrastructure in the city government here. Either way, we all just need to suck it up and realize the problem of hoods is not going to go away.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

I wouldn't call the Dickson City walmart 'safe.' Why they allow people to congregate outside at night is beyond me. Working two jobs, if I have to go to walmart, it's usually late. I can't count how many times I've seen people that were intoxicated, high, or just large groups carrying on in general. I don't go without my 38 anymore, and I go to wegmans if I can help it.

Unfortunately, at that hour of the night, intoxicated people will be out and about....other than the few people who have work at those hours, usually the only people out are druggies and people out drinking. Just because drunk people were at the Dickson City Wal-Mart doesn't mean there are gang-bangers hanging out there.