Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've never been in the center of Stroudsburg, but now I feel as if I've spent an afternoon there. Fantastic photos, just gorgeous! I'm going to refer them to a friend who is looking at this area. .
The Main Street is very well-kept with some nice sidewalk cafes, mom-and-pop shops, etc., but if you're looking for "charm" that radiates outward to more than just the main drag, then I'd advise you to check into Honesdale, Jim Thorpe, or Lewisburg anyday over Stroudsburg, where I was panhandled by two rather aggressive drifter/bum types and where there seems to be a weekly stabbing, shooting, arson, etc. of some sort. East Stroudsburg was also very nice, and the people there were very kind to me when I visited for my tour, but I've heard nothing but awful things about it from the rest of the forum.
I am so tired of the same story over and over again. I know there are bad things that have happened there, as I am quite sure things happen in Scranton. Enough already!!! Here's my advice...stay out of Stroudsburg. Unless and until you have lived in the area, how about doing more research before you condemn a place in totality.
Hello, I'm new to this site, I actually found it by searching for Wilksbarre, PA. I'm trying to find out any info on my family (Father) who was born in Wilksbarre, Pa in 1904. He passed away in 1949. His name was George Anthony Douglas. I don't know his Dad's first name but his Mom's was Rose. He had one older brother named John Joseph Douglas married to (Ann) who had two daughters & moved to new York City. One sister (Ann) who died in her 20's. He had to quit school in the 3rd grade to work in the coal mines. & I beleive his Dad died of Black Lung disease. He told my Mom (now deceased) that the Court House burned down with all the town & birth records. I know a long time has passed, but does anyonw have any ideas for me to search?? I so appreciate it. Thanks & God Bless Laura Roseanne
I am so tired of the same story over and over again. I know there are bad things that have happened there, as I am quite sure things happen in Scranton. Enough already!!! Here's my advice...stay out of Stroudsburg. Unless and until you have lived in the area, how about doing more research before you condemn a place in totality.
"Research?" How many times do we all have to tell you about our negative experiences with this community:
-My boyfriend observed a group of people at the table across from us at Perkins a few years ago. He later told me he observed one of them had a gun, and they were heckling us for being a couple.
-When I went to Stroudsburg for my photo tour, the following all occurred:
a.) I was panhandled by TWO bums seeking "bus fare to the city." That alone was a HUGE turn-off, as I'm never panhandled up here in Scranton.
b.) I observed gang-related graffiti and broken glass just a block away from the Sara Street Grille, which admittedly looked like a nice place.
c.) I was nearly run-down by a woman from New York in an SUV on a cell phone who came careening around a corner onto Sara Street without signalling.
d.) I saw the site of several ARSONS in the community.
e.) My drive in and out of town was accompanied by aggressive drivers, especially on I-80.
-WNEP has reported in recent weeks about an elderly man who was stabbed five times in a botched robbery attempt, which occurred just 24 hours before ANOTHER man was bludgeoned in another botched robbery attempt. Just yesterday I saw there were burglaries on the campus of East Stroudsburg University. A man from Stroud Township was recently charged with child rape. There was an article in this morning's Pocono Record about how the nearby Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department had a record August---1,590 calls and 128 criminal arrests. There was also a headline about a 17-year-old male in Eldred Township, also in Southern Monroe County, who was beaten by two thugs whlie trying to defend his sister and home from a botched robbery.
-Others on the forum have recanted horror stories as well with Greater Stroudsburg, including one who said her own brother was beaten in broad daylight in another botched robbery attempt.
Any way you slice it, IzzyMare, Stroudsburg, a community of just 6,000 residents, should NOT be having these sorts of violent acts. You can stick your head in the sand all you want and continue to discredit me at every juncture, but the only people you're doing a disservice to are the kazillions of NYC/NJ transplants who are considering moving to Stroudsburg thinking they are "escaping the crime" only to move to MORE of it! Monroe County has a MUCH higher crime rate than Lackawanna County, even though it has about 50,000 fewer residents. Figure that one out if you're going to tell people I don't know what I'm talking about.
I have yet to hear a response from you or any of the other pro-Stroudsburg people as to why it is "acceptable" for a community of 6,000 to have such horrid crime issues. You don't even hear about any of this stuff happening in Scranton, with a population of 70,000!
I am so tired of the same story over and over again. I know there are bad things that have happened there, as I am quite sure things happen in Scranton. Enough already!!! Here's my advice...stay out of Stroudsburg. Unless and until you have lived in the area, how about doing more research before you condemn a place in totality.
I agree with you 500% - Stroudsburg is a great area , the main people who put it down don't even live around here. Yes - things happen in Scranton and all over P.A. It's people like that . that are giving Stroudsburg a bad name.
It's not my intention to offend anyone, and I apologize for doing so. I'm just tiring of consulting WNEP, WBRE, WYOU, Pocono Record, etc. all the time and seeing quotes from recent transplants regretting their moves to Greater Stroudsburg based upon the crime issues, likely because they were deceived into thinking it was a wholesome, family-friendly area by greedy real estate developers, brokers, and others with a vested financial interest in the growth of the immediate area. I know there are plenty of nice areas to reside in NEAR Stroudsburg (Pleasant Valley, Canadensis, Cresco, Mountainhome, Pike County, Portland, etc.), but overall I'm just not impressed in any way, shape, or form by Stroudsburg, and I refuse to sit by and allow OTHERS to move there only to likewise regret their decisions, as those who are interviewed do. There's a reason why more and more of the property transfers in Luzerne/Lackawanna Counties are going to people from Monroe County; they're trying to "escape the city."
SWB, I guess I'll get my head out of sand long enough to just ask you once again...If Scranton is so fantastic, why is it that the population keeps decreasing. Here the homes are cheaper and it's so much better in Scranton, but people still keep leaving. What is the deal with that? I will say to you one final time, and then I won't bother conversing with you anymore...YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. You come to an area, get panhandled, etc. I just don't get how you could come to a place on a rare occassion and these things happen to you. I have been in Stroudsburg many times and have never, ever been panhandled. From the list of things that happened to you on your trip, it almost sounds to me like you make your mind up before even setting foot in the area. How could you tell that the people who were driving on Sarah Street or on Route 80 actually lived in Stroudsburg, or could they just have been passing thru like you???!!! Why the heck do you keep coming back here? By the way, I just came from a football game where Stroudsburg played, and amazingly there were no fights, no thugs, no panhandlers, no guns that I know of. And just so you know, I have a very dear friend who was a victim of a heinous crime in Scranton a few years ago, so I'm not fond of the place you call home.
SWB, I guess I'll get my head out of sand long enough to just ask you once again...If Scranton is so fantastic, why is it that the population keeps decreasing. Here the homes are cheaper and it's so much better in Scranton, but people still keep leaving. What is the deal with that? I will say to you one final time, and then I won't bother conversing with you anymore...YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. You come to an area, get panhandled, etc. I just don't get how you could come to a place on a rare occassion and these things happen to you. I have been in Stroudsburg many times and have never, ever been panhandled. From the list of things that happened to you on your trip, it almost sounds to me like you make your mind up before even setting foot in the area. How could you tell that the people who were driving on Sarah Street or on Route 80 actually lived in Stroudsburg, or could they just have been passing thru like you???!!! Why the heck do you keep coming back here? By the way, I just came from a football game where Stroudsburg played, and amazingly there were no fights, no thugs, no panhandlers, no guns that I know of. And just so you know, I have a very dear friend who was a victim of a heinous crime in Scranton a few years ago, so I'm not fond of the place you call home.
You can continue to discredit my REAL claims to others as much as you'd like, and I'll continue to stand by my negative experiences. I don't feel welcomed in Stroudsburg, so you can bet your heiney I won't be back. My tourist dollars will be better spent elsewhere in towns that would appreciate them, like Lewisburg, Jim Thorpe, Honesdale, or yes, even Scranton.
By the way, a LOT of desirable towns in our area are shedding their populations, including Clarks Summit, Nuangola, West Pittston, and Dallas, among others. I don't think people moving out of a community necessarily means it's a bad place to live---in many cases the population is very elderly and is dying off and/or the younger residents seek larger lot sizes in the suburbs. Besides, as we've seen in Greater Stroudsburg in terms of a rising crime rate and worsening traffic congestion, rapid population growth isn't always a good thing.
Ahhhhhh.... Izzy and SWB..........MY two very most favorite people here.
You know what you are BOTH right.
I told a few stories too, and others just don't want to hear it.
I don't lie either. I taught my girls to never lie, to be forthright........So why would I make up a story?It is not in my character, and never will be. Although I was told how totally wrong I was in one case also.
We read the newspapers........and sadly both towns have issues.
One day I read about a gang in Stroudsburg, and the next one in Scranton...and so on and so forth.
People who say this didn't happen, or that didn't happen must have been out of town and didn't by the newspaper that day. For it is written in black and white most of the time, most of the occurances.
I am betting ( but, I don't have a total number on this) that Stroudsburg just might, ( and I say might) have a bit more crime. This being our closer prox...to the border, of NJ and NY.
I was in Stroudsburg on beautiful days seeing beautiful scenes and people.
But, SWB was not........his day did not go well.
I so love, love to go to the Willowtree with my visiting friends and family.......I still feel safe to do that. ( Not at night, as in many area)
What we need to argue about is a better police force. Where I grew up in NJ there was no crime in that town, nor is there today. It is not allowed in any form. No hanging around, no clowning around that town. I told someone who wanted a hang out in that town.......it just wasn't gonna happen there.
WE all need a better type of police force. Maybe they should visit successful towns, and learn from them.
Our towns need to be safer........and they are not feeling so, so, safe.
I applaud both of you for loving your town and area so much that you will defend it..........If only we could get the REAL defenders to hipe it up, fix it up, and stop dragging their feet. Come on Police Forces get tough!!
The Main Street is very well-kept with some nice sidewalk cafes, mom-and-pop shops, etc., but if you're looking for "charm" that radiates outward to more than just the main drag, then I'd advise you to check into Honesdale, Jim Thorpe, or Lewisburg anyday over Stroudsburg, where I was panhandled by two rather aggressive drifter/bum types and where there seems to be a weekly stabbing, shooting, arson, etc. of some sort. East Stroudsburg was also very nice, and the people there were very kind to me when I visited for my tour, but I've heard nothing but awful things about it from the rest of the forum.
thanks ScrantonWilkesB. I referred this thread to my friend after which he said he is going to write off Stroudsburg as a possible place to live because apparently your experience confirmed what he's seen there himself. Thanks again!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Laura Roseanne
You don't even hear about any of this stuff happening in Scranton, with a population of 70,000!
