Clarks Summit

[SteelCityRising]

For what it's worth, "To570717," I don't hate people in the Abingtons. I just quite honestly feel as if half of the people up there have been brought up in an era of materialism, and they quite honestly don't know any better. I've met some great people from up there, but I've also met more people who wouldn't give you the time of day unless they stood to benefit from it financially somehow. I pity any fool who feels as if they have to have a 4,500 square-foot home on a cul-de-sac and a Jaguar in the driveway in order to feel as if they've accomplished anything in life. 30, 40, or 50 years later they'll be pushing up daisies, and all of those beacons of "success" will be worthless. Why not instead use your wealth to leave behind a legacy of altruism, much like Andrew Carnegie did for Pittsburgh?

My physically-ailing pastor lives by the slogan of "Live everyday for others," and I've been very touched by this, as have many in our congregation. Life is too short to spend it foolishly outdoing one another---whatever happened to wanting to make other people happy? When I see all of these rich dum-dums moving to the Abingtons in droves to tear down a half-acre of trees to erect an ostentatious McMansion on a cul-de-sac, I just shake my head in disgust. Perhaps the well-established Abington residents of your era are great, wholesome, awesome people, but the wave who have moved there in the past decade largely would sell their own mothers to Satan if it netted them a job promotion or keys to a bigger Land Rover. Just look at the now-embattled owner of Mansions & Estates International as a shining beacon of what the "new wave" of Abington residents is becoming.

[I LOVE PA!]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Also revealing is the fact that Abington, along with Prep (which is mostly Abington area students), are two school with the biggest drug problems in the area. Lots of rich kids with money to burn and little parental involvement in their lives.

Like I said, I don't like snobby materialistic people. Which is why I would never live in the Abingtons, regardless of my income.

Your facts are wrong on Prep, from my orientation book quoting facts from the 2005-2006 class, there were 108 students from Clarks Summit, there were 226 from Scranton, and the rest came from 82, (YES - 82!!) other towns within an 8 county radius. The school has about 800 students. My daughter has made some wonderful friends, she does not know one looser on drugs, however her large crowd of friends from her former public school are drinking and smoking pot on an almost daily basis.
To insinuate that these type of kids from rich families have little parental involvement in their lives is way off base.
I know someone who moved to Clarks Summit from Lake Ariel and she says it's not what everyone says it is. There are a lot of down to earth, average people who would give you the shirt off their back.

[cjseliga]

I was born and raised in Scranton, I lived on N. Merrifield in the Keyser Valley (West Side) for my first 10 years. I went to Lincoln-Jackson for Kindergarden and St. Pat's for grades 1st through 5th. My family was middle class, my mom was a stay at home parent until my little sister started going to 1st grade, then we became latchkey kids.

We then moved to Clarks Summit when I was ten and I lived there until I was twenty-three. We were middle class, lived in a small older home built in the late 60s or early 70s on Haven Lane near the Abington Heights North Campus, now the high school. I went to OLP in Clarks Green for grades 6th through 8th. I would have loved to gone to Prep for high school but my parents couldn't afford it because my older sister was starting to attend the University of Scranton for Physical Therapy.

I think out of the 58 to 60 kids that I graduated from OLP with, 5 or 6 of us went to Abington Heights High School and the rest went to Prep. When I attended Abington in the early 90's, there were very little superficial people at the school. There might have been one or two people in my entire class of 220 that had a Beamer, and of course the small group of "wanna-be Prepies". The people I went to school with and their parents and families were very nice and down to earth people, many were middle class with two parents working and saving just to live a simple life in the Abingtons, they didn't drive any fancy cars or have any fancy toys. Of course there are houses and mansions all over the Abingtons with very wealthy people living in them.

I had friends that ran the gamut, from people that grew up on farms in Newton-Ransom, (A lot of people forget that N-R is a part of the Abington School District and while it does have some newer developments, it's still mostly farm land) to people that had swimming pools inside of their houses, and one of these pools was almost olympic sized (no kidding), and those people were always very nice to me and never put my down or laughed at my small, old house I lived in.

I think you really have to live in a place to get to know it. I wouldn't say the Abingtons is 50/50 when it comes to compassionate vs. narcissistic, I would say it's more 70/30 compassionate vs. narcissistic and probably 85 or 90% compassionate when it comes to people living in just, Clarks Summit. You have to remember that Clarks Summit Borough is only 1.6 square miles in area (pretty tiny) and most of the houses in the borough itself are fairly old, most of the new developments and McMansions are in South Abington Twp.

I would say Clarks Summit was a great place to live and grow up, but so was my first 10 years in Scranton. I will always consider myself a Scrantonian first and a Pennsylvanian second, no matter where I live in the US or in the World, it will always be a part of who I am, like they say, "Once a West Sider, always a West Sider!"

Of course there are down sides to where ever you live, for the Abington's that would probably include: the taxes, which are probably some of the highest in the area (although the wage tax is only 1%), the teacher strikes (which usually happen every four years when their contract is up), I remember the January of my Junior year we were off for 3 straight weeks and had to go to June 30th to make up all the days (but on the bright side we didn't have finals that year!), the traffic sucks, they really need a bypass, and have been talking about one for over 20 years, but since the Abingtons is so built up, the only place to put it, is on stilts over the railroad tracks, which I can't even imagine what that would cost.

There are some ways around the traffic depending on where you are going or coming from, like taking the Morgan Highway or going up Abington Road once you get off of the Interstate/Turnpike or taking some of the side streets. The commercial area is definetly built up but that's mosty in South Ab and Chinchilla, I think only the Pizza Hut is in Clarks Summit.

The Abington Heights School District is a good one, even though I only went to High School there. I did quite well in school, finished 20th out of 220 in my class, took almost all Honors courses, especially in the Sciences and Math, I didn't take any AP courses though, but I think I probably could have done just as well if I went West Side or Honesdale or Riverside because of the student/person I was/am. Of course there were the "wrong crowds" at Abington, like there are in every school, I was more into the "nerd/studious/national honor society group", my little sister on the hand was more into the partying and drinking and smoking and getting some B's and mostly C's, everyone's different.

Overall I think the Abingtons, especially Clarks Summit proper, is great palce to live and raise a family, and trust me there are really nice people living there.

[metome]

Originally Posted by to570717

I was born and rasied there. Floral PArk. Best Schools in the area. about 10 minutes from the hospitals in Scranton. There is a CMC med center if you need stiched ect. Great dentists, peditrcians (generally doctors want their private practices close to home) Glen Oak Country club, Scranton Country Club. Summit Hills Public Course. Rt. 6/11 kind of sucks dur to traffic. There are a bunch of chain restuarnts there. Close proxcimity to 81 and PA turnpike.

The Summit offers excellent neighborhood for raising a family. Where i lived there was a ton of kids my age. we lived a 2 minuet walk to South Campus which is now called clarks summit elementary. There are woods for playing in, bike paths made way back in the day that still exist.

All the talk about Abington being elitist is silly. Good people, families, older folks. I would not consider living in NEPA if i wasnt in the Summit or by ELK mountain. (Lake Idlewild)

Good bars and restuarants. Wellingtons, Jim Dandys, Armetta's, Dino and Francesco's, State Street, Patsels. These are all good eateries. With excepption to Armettas and Dinos and PAtsels they are good bars also. All within 5 minuets.

I can't say enough great things about Clarks Summit. I love it. Since I moved I realized how great a place it really is I will definitly move back there when it is time to settle down. Clarks Summit= best place in NEPA

Did you say you attended Abington Height H.S. I believe it !!!!!

[to570717]

I guess your referring to my poor showing of grammer on this post. I type fast and usually do not proof read.

A few typos are not indicative to being uneducated. I also assume you are saying that by going to Abington my education is sub-par. Not so much.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by to570717

I guess your referring to my poor showing of grammer on this post. I type fast and usually do not proof read.

A few typos are not indicative to being uneducated. I also assume you are saying that by going to Abington my education is sub-par. Not so much.

I concur. I technically only have a high school education, yet my grasp of the English language is probably much better than some with Master's Degrees. You can't always judge someone's intellect based upon their level of education.

[to570717]

I have a post graduate education, but when I type fast and there is not an automatic spell check underlining all the mispelled words i just hit post. I should do a little edit before I submit.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by to570717

I have a post graduate education, but when I type fast and there is not an automatic spell check underlining all the mispelled words i just hit post. I should do a little edit before I submit.

Not necessarily. I look for content in replies, not typos or grammatical errors. Nobody's perfect after all.

[NEpennstater]

I have to say, if I were to recommend one place in the Nepa region to live it would be Dunmore. "The Reservation" has the best of all worlds, great neighborhoods, friendly people, proximity to every amenity the area, lots of children and an intimate close school community, without the tax burden of Scranton. If I move back to the area, in the future there is no doubt this is where my family would reside. As far as go phillies suggestion that drugs are only a problem in Abington and Prep...you have got a lot to learn. Unfortunately, they have taken root in all communities, cultures and socio-economic factions in the area. The only good thing is that our area does not struggle with the violence that most other cities do. Stop being so naive, kid.