Good/bad neighborhoods in W-B? (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: middle-class, low crime, houses)

[geos]

Can someone give me a rundown on the good vs. bad neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre? Yes, I did a search but can't find anything too specific except I know to stay away from Academy St. I am NOT spending another winter in this frozen hell hole Oneonta, NY and am looking for a reasonably priced house somewhere in NEPA. Job & schools are not issues. Easton would be my preference since it's the closest to NYC (my childhood hood) but prices are so cheap in W-B I'm tempted but I don't want to end up in a war zone where they use white people for target practice (esp. gay white people tho I generally don't wear a dress in public except on festive occasions).

[SteelCityRising]

First of all, you may have more luck if one of our faithful PA moderators (coartist88/toobusytoday/Tone509/Yac) relocates your thread into the NEPA sub-forum, where you'll find a LOT of opinions about Wilkes-Barre.

In the interim I'll say that the safest neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre are those north of Route 309 (Cross-Valley Expressway). These would include Parsons and Miners Mills. Both neighborhoods are rather ugly (a lot of little white houses with few trees and a lot of utility lines running all over), but the people in the neighborhoods are mostly older and/or blue-collar and are very down-to-earth. George Avenue in Parsons has a mini "downtown" area of sorts anchored by Schiel's Shur-Save Supermarket, a branch library, barber shop, florist, and other neighborhood conveniences. Miners Mills is very close to Mohegan Sun Casino (but crime hasn't seeped into the neighborhood, contrary to what casino opponents had feared would happen).

As far as being LGBT is concerned, while people here won't roll out the welcome mat for you, most people have the mindset of "as long as you don't tick me off too much I'll let you live in peace," and I wouldn't have it any other way! Bishop Martino of the Diocese of Scranton has gathered much media publicity as of late for chastising Misericordia University (a Roman Catholic-oriented college) for permitting an openly-gay author to speak on campus. He has also ordered the college to shut down its Diversity Institute, but the college is refusing to do so (and is being backed up by other local Catholic colleges like Marywood, King's, and the University of Scranton). Surprisingly enough 90% of the hundreds of Internet comments I could find related to this were OUTRAGED over the bishop's actions. I wouldn't call the locals "gay-friendly," but they certainly don't like to see their LGBT neighbors outwardly discriminated against, ESPECIALLY by a bishop who has been overstepping some boundaries as of late.

I find the worst thing about being gay in NEPA is the lack of fellow young gay males for me to befriend/date. I'm ROUTINELY aggressively hit upon by middle-aged married "community pillars," and I ROUTINELY have to shove them off. Most 18-26-year-old gay males in our area high-tail it out after high school graduation to other parts of the BosWash Corridor, never to return. There IS a sizable LGBT community overall though, and I'd probably have to say that Wilkes-Barre and its adjacent inner suburb of Kingston are the two gay "epicenters" of NEPA as I know MORE LGBT individuals from these two communities than any other place in the region. Wilkes-Barre is home to the NEPA Rainbow Alliance and an annual PrideFest in Kirby Park. A realistic guess for me as to how many in Wilkes-Barre/Kingston are in the LGBT community would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8%, which is VERY HIGH, especially for the region as a whole, which is probably more like 5%.

Getting back to living conditions, the neighborhood immediately adjacent to Wilkes University (NORTH of Academy Street) is a solid historic district with a good reputation. I've always heard bad things about The Heights, but I know of a few people who live there who have nothing but good things to say about that neighborhood as well.

Places I would avoid?

PARTS of South Wilkes-Barre (Academy Street, Blackman Street, Hazle Street, Sambourne Street).

The neighborhood near King's College (Meyers Court, Beaumont Street, first few blocks of North Main Street past campus, East North Street, Bennett Street, East Jackson Street).

PARTS of The Heights (namely adjacent to the housing projects near Coal Street).

Otherwise most of the rest of the city is lower-middle-class to middle-class. Housing prices are dirt cheap, but then again most homes in the city need UPDATING (i.e. think of many homes not having been renovated in 30+ years). The immediate downtown area is BOOMING now---the next couple of weeks we will see a Blue Chip Gourmet franchise and a new gift shop open, in addition to the new theater, Barnes & Noble, Starbuck's, night clubs, ethnic restaurants, etc.

[W-B proud]

I'd check out East End (nice neighborhood/old irish neighborhood) I grew up in this neighborhood. Parsons, Brookside, Miners Mills are good. Northend (where I currently live) is o.k. I live on North Main where there is more foot traffic, sometimes more crime, but generally it's a decent working class neighborhood. Heights is hit and miss the lower Heights (closer to downtown) is worse then upper Heights. Like ScranBarre said the areas closer to the housing projects are the worst. Avoid South Wilkes-Barre. There are good streets in S W-b, but if you are not from the area, I wouldn't gamble, because South W-B is home to some of the cities worse, poorer areas, and have had the most violent crime, and drug issues. Alot of South W-B is poor, with subpar housing. waht are you looking for? A single house? Downtown type area? College area?

[geos]

A gold mine of information as usual. Thanks.

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

First of all, you may have more luck if one of our faithful PA moderators (coartist88/toobusytoday/Tone509/Yac) relocates your thread into the NEPA sub-forum, where you'll find a LOT of opinions about Wilkes-Barre. [abbreviated]

[W-B proud]

As a general rule of thumb (in my opinion) anything North of Public Square in good for the most part. The downtown Historic District would be my pick if I was single, young professional ect. If I was a family guy with kids I'd pick Parsons, Brookside, East End, Northend, Miners Mills. Anyway welcome in advance!

[geos]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

I'd check out East End (nice neighborhood/old irish neighborhood) I grew up in this neighborhood. Parsons, Brookside, Miners Mills are good. Northend (where I currently live) is o.k. I live on North Main where there is more foot traffic, sometimes more crime, but generally it's a decent working class neighborhood. Heights is hit and miss the lower Heights (closer to downtown) is worse then upper Heights. Like ScranBarre said the areas closer to the housing projects are the worst. Avoid South Wilkes-Barre. There are good streets in S W-b, but if you are not from the area, I wouldn't gamble, because South W-B is home to some of the cities worse, poorer areas, and have had the most violent crime, and drug issues. Alot of South W-B is poor, with subpar housing. waht are you looking for? A single house? Downtown type area? College area?

Safe area, quiet, a garden where I could putter around with a vege garden and lounge around without having to ingest diesel fumes, a view would be a bonus, yet not too far (as in 1-5 miles) from civilized amenities like parks, tennis, shopping. Is that asking too much?

[W-B proud]

Check out W-B Twp./Georgetown. Good close knit neighborhoods, very low crime. Very close to all shopping amenities. Check out Kingston also across the river from Wilkes-Barre. Good, clean neighborhoods, very close to Kirby Park and Nesbitt Park (Kirby is W-B's largest Park) tennis courts, biking/running paths, riverfront recreation, and close to Gateway shopping center and West Side Mall. In the city itself, upper Heights has the best views of downtown, East End is also good and very close to shopping district.