Re: (erielack) ex Lackawanna Scranton station bought

[Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com]

Jim,

I don't disagree.  I think Scranton has a lot of potential.  I just feel
that some of the great opportunities--I just keep thinking about
Steamtown--are being needlessly squandered by bureaucrats.  I realize that
there's no such thing as Utopia, and maybe I'm totally misinformed, but I
think Steamtown has been grossly mismanaged and I don't get a warm and
fuzzy feeling that the Scranton machine is trying to do much to try and
change that.  Granted its the federal government.  I just pine at the
thought that the one person who could have made Steamtown a true
success--Amos Hawkins--retired on the day that Steamtown became an Historic
Site.  His successors, in my opinion, have been less than illustrious.

Chuck



                                                                                                                                  
                      "Jim Guthrie"                                                                                               
                      <jguthrie_@_pipeline.                                                                                         
                      com>                To:     <Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com>                                                      
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                                          Subject:                                                                                
                      10/13/2005 02:24 PM         Re: (erielack) ex Lackawanna Scranton station bought                            
                      Please respond to                                                                                           
                      "Jim Guthrie"                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                  



Chuck write:

> The problem with Scranton boils down to politics, in my opinion.  I don't
> know if the right word to use here is "corrupt", but there are a few
> influential businessmen in and around Scranton that seem to be able to
> tweak the political process in their favor, and the public be damned.  As

Well, that's something of a longtime tradition in Scranton, in good times
and bad alike.

> much as I detest NIMBYs, I can empathize with them because most of these
> rich clowns (the businessmen) think they are the next best thing to God.

Well, NIMBY's are people who have their life savings invested in their home

rather than something that generates wealth and jobs. It clouds vision and
prevents the civic good. In the long run, it not only means more jobs go
abroad, but also stops progress in ways that in the long run, diminishes
everyone's wealth. .

But there are plenty of places that are corrupt that have done a pretty
good
job of keeping things up and making improvements.

> The Mall at Steamtown is a classic example.  And Steamtown itself is
> another classic example.  Granted, the idea of Steamtown in concept was
> great; in practice it has been more or less a failure...in my
> opinion...and
> I'm very sad to say that.  The good news is that Steamtown doesn't have
to
> justify itself.  The bad news is that should it ever be put in that
> position, it will be in deep trouble.  It all goes back to Rep. McDade
who
> helped establish the National Historic Site, and he was only a creature
of
> Scranton politics.  Unfortunately, many American cities are run in more
or
> less the same fashion.

Local Congressional representation has always seemed to be aimed at
shooting
the region in the foot.  I often think that federal pork projects tend to
distort the local economy so much that it clouds clear thinking. Whether it

was McDade or Francis Walter with the handlebar, the region has been
ill-served by its representatives in Congress.

On the other hand, I believe one has to consider that unlike most
geographic
areas victimized by a rapacious extractive industry, northeast Pennsylvania

is about the only one I can think of that has really tried to keep its
population rather than become a ghost town, like some of the dried-up oil
patches or Colorado Silver mining areas. And that we see so much and
benefit
so greatly from the wealth extracted from the anthracite district -- from
NJT's infrastructure to gems like Nicholson Viaduct and the track-emtied
Cut-Off  -- that at least there are reminders of an important legacy.

Cheers,
Jim



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