Scranton Hill Section? (Wilkes-Barre, Taylor, Dickson City: ski resort, apartment, renting)

[china2396]

Im looking to move my family up to Scranton.We went looking the other day at a house on monroe ave ,st ? near the moses hospital.Is this considered the hill section?And if so is this a decent area area to raise a young family?We have a 5 year old son who will start kindergarten in sept.Is the elementary in this area decent?And where would you shop for groceries etc.How far would the ride to decent shopping be from this area.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[heathernichole]

I'm interested to see replies to this also. I'm moving to the Scranton area from Virginia in a few months, and I have a 5 yr old daughter myself.

[SteelCityRising]

That would indeed be the Hill Section, but I can think of many other parts of the city more ideal to raise a young child than that immediate area. That is more specifically the "Lower Hill Section," and that part of the neighborhood is mostly inhabited by college students who seek off-campus housing (think occasional loud parties), child-less professional couples who sought proximity to downtown,
and a growing LGBT population (or at least from my knowledge of LGBT acquaintances who now live there). I don't think "young families" when I think of the Lower Hill neighborhood. I think with the continued expansion of the University of Scranton, the continued resurgence of the adjacent downtown, and the opening of the new medical college that the Lower Hill is poised for a mini-boom of sorts, but it won't be with families---it will be with NY/NJ landlords buying up older homes and renting them out to college faculty, grad students, and young professionals who work downtown.

There is a very large presence of folks on this forum from West Scranton (specifically the Hyde Park neighborhood), and I think that is an area more well-suited towards raising a young family. I know Go Phillies has a son about your age (or a bit older) and lives in that area, so hopefully he will be along soon to help. WatsonWest, blip, loveinbloom, NY Rangers 2008, and several others also live in West Scranton and should be along soon to help. I did my photo tour of Hyde Park when the neighborhood elementary schools were having some sort of "Fun Day," and it was nice to see the children outside enjoying themselves while parents volunteered to help direct traffic and supervise. What you'll notice about Scranton is that it's a medium-sized city with a small-town flair. The population is 72,500 (originally 145,000), but it feels more like 7,250. There are still neighborhood associations, block parties, annual festivals, etc. People keep an eye on neighbors' homes when they vacation and bring baked goods over to brighten the spirits of elderly shut-ins. They'll give you the shirt off of their backs if need be. For as much as 99.9% of the people in Scranton do nothing but say "Our city sucks" (the very vocal negativity here is OVERWHELMING, to say the least), there are many more reasons to find the Electric City to be a preferable place to live as opposed to a diminished one.

If you have your heart set on that home on Monroe Avenue I don't wish to dissuade you, but as I said the Lower Hill never really struck me as a "family-friendly" area in the same sense that Hyde Park did. Another concern of mine would be the potential for the relatively "shady" Pine Brook neighborhood's ailments to spread eastwards into the Lower Hill, but I think the medical college will help to serve as a "buffer zone" to prevent that from occurring. West Scranton also has its own high school, which is much more intimate than the "mega-school" they call Scranton High. I haven't made up my mind yet as to where I'll be at the end of 2009, let alone when I'll be raising a family, but if it's Scranton I'm going to enjoy the single life renting a half-duplex or apartment in the Lower Hill section so I can be close to the hustle and bustle of the core of the city and eventually purchase a modest single-family detached dwelling in Hyde Park in which to raise my family.

Shopping? Beyond the limited options downtown (which does include a two-story indoor shopping mall, by the way), you have Dickson City, which sits about ten-minutes away from most parts of the city. That is where you'll find all of your big-box stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.) and most of your chain restaurants. Just south of Scranton is Montage Mountain, where you'll find upscale outlet stores, a movie theater, a minor-league baseball stadium (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees), a ski resort, a water park (opening in Summer 2009), and restaurants. If you like nightlife, then Downtown Scranton offers the best options with a plethora of bars, night clubs, and pubs within the city's core. Further south in Luzerne County you'll find Mohegan Sun Casino (including Ruth's Chris, Wolfgang Puck, Brookstone, and other stores/restaurants), the Wachovia Arena with minor-league hockey (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins), the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre International Airport, and more shopping/dining options.

[Mr Yuk]

The Hill is hit or miss.....it looks like Beverly Hills in some blocks, and Camden, NJ in others.... the area around Moses Taylor always looked pretty good to me, although I think the noise from ambulances at all hours of the night would get old after a while....

[weluvpa]

You couldn't pay me to live on Monroe ave in any block. Look further up the hill or west side......

[NYRangers 2008]

Yes, stay away from that area of the city. If you have to move anywhere in the city, go to Green Ridge or West Side.

[kvysmom]

The psots here are pretty right on about the hill section. I used to live there a long time ago, and the area you are talking about isn't the most desirable area of the hill section. Generally the 100 - 600 blocks of any avenue in the hill (except the avenues higher up near CMC, like Arthur Ave, Some of Colfax and Wheeler) are populated by University students and really don't have a family feel about them.

If you want to live in the hill, generally blocks starting at 700 and up are the more family like areas. But you could literally walk one block and feel like you are in another world (good or bad).

So if you really want a family neighborhood, a better bet would be Greenridge, West side, or North Scranton. But keep in mine there are nice areas in each neighborhood and not so nice areas. My advice is to look around a lot. Drive by a prospective home at different times of the day and night to see what is going on, take a walk around the neighborhood too.

Best wishes in your search!

[scoyne]

That is the Lower Hill Section ,the was nice but the U of Scranton and the Medical college are very close and they want to tear those houses down and build their schools sI wouldnt buy a home there.I would buy a home from the 500 block to the 1000 block between Clay avenue and Arthur avenue but if you want a great home for a price between 75,000-250,000 dollars I would buy one from Prescott avenue

[toobusytoday]

Please note that this thread was started in January of 2009.

[BATIKA]

how is the section by roselynn st and linden st at the hill section