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OT: Poorest town in each state...in PA, it's

I would enjoy comparing the poorest towns pre-NAFTA and post-NAFTA. I'd bet in most cases the hollowing out of middle class manufacturing jobs enhanced their decline.

I can speak pretty specifically for the Somerset area. At one time Coleman Trailers was a very large employer in the area. They built Coleman Trailers and made their sleeping bags. Not sure when but probably late 90's they moved the sleeping bag operation to Mexico and then in 2011 laid off 300 employees when they quit building the Trailers there.
Another was the Walmart that was built out by 219. Sure it added jobs to Walmart but was also a large reason that the JCPenny, Newberry's and other clothing shops in uptown Somerset went out of business.
Uptown Somerset is a dilapidated shell of what it was in the 80's and 70's.
Anything new that comes in seems to get squeezed into that area by 219.
I blame a lot of the current blight in Somerset on the County Commissioner's and their lack of foresight and their inability to clean up the turnpike exchange area.
I think they sell as much Heroin and Meth in the Parking Lot of that Turkey Hill as they do gasoline.:rolleyes:
 
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I'm willing to bet that there are 20 or 30 towns in PA that are worse than Johnstown
I'm sure there are more than a few in Schuylkill County. I've seen comments about Mount Carmel and yeah, it's not great there. But to compile this list a tour of towns in the Skook is a requirement. Check out Mahanoy City and if you are brave, places like Girardville and OMG, Gilberton. These are places that are Mount Carmel on steroids bad. It's really not even close. But they are smaller towns so I guess don't even merit consideration for most.
 
I'm sure there are more than a few in Schuylkill County. I've seen comments about Mount Carmel and yeah, it's not great there. But to compile this list a tour of towns in the Skook is a requirement. Check out Mahanoy City and if you are brave, places like Girardville and OMG, Gilberton. These are places that are Mount Carmel on steroids bad. It's really not even close. But they are smaller towns so I guess don't even merit consideration for most.
Sad state of affairs really. The lower anthracite region was in poor shape 20 years ago when I was in high school, but you still had the old timers hanging on and keeping properties in decent shape. When the greatest generation started dying off most of their properties have been left abandoned.

Shenandoah and Mahanoy City are approaching 30% vacancy rates. That number doesn’t even include all those burned out and knocked down buildings and vacant lots. A big issue in the area is blighted buildings just falling down. You drive around and see walls and roofs buckling on nearly every block. Even many of the occupied structures don’t appear as if they will last another 20-30 years. Large swaths of these towns will simply fall down over the next few decades.
 
I don't get Johnstown - Every time I bottle of booze in PA Johnstown get's money right? Isn't that why they still have the Johnstown Flood Tax at State Stores in PA? That was one helluva flood. I bet if PA actually gave them the money the STILL collect from that tax they would be in much better shape. It's been in place since 1936 for God's sake.
The bill for recovery SHOULD have been sent to Henry Frick and his cronies, not to the taxpayers- who had nothing to do with causing the disaster.
 
As someone from Johnstown, I can say it's a highly stratified place. Downtown Johnstown, the actual city itself, I'm assuming is the only area those statistics counted for, and yes it's extremely poor. The outer neighborhoods, however, including places like Westmont (where I'm from) and Richland are actually pretty nice. The poverty rate drops to about 3% and the median household income is slightly higher than the state average. All the business has moved out of downtown and is now in Richland. So I'm gonna say that accolade is not entirely fair as it's only accounting for the "worst" part of the city.
 
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Thanks...sad. East Cleveland is a rough place. Lots of race issues and was the center of the race riots. It actually isn't far from the Cleveland Clinic, winter home of the symphony and University Hospitals (Case University) and little Italy. Drop out rate and drugs are off the charts.

The city also put in place a very punitive program for people that buy and rent homes. They give you a notice and 30 days. After 30 days, they charge $1000/day. Good luck finding a roofer in January. And, renters often hide the notices. I've got a friend who had to rebuild a $10k porch and the home owner accepted then threw away the certified letter. He was charged with $400,000 and six months in jail (only knew of the fine when a lien was placed on the home and he tried to sell it). So people are letting banks foreclose on $30k properties that require tens of thousands in repairs. That results in rows of abandoned homes that get taken over by druggies and the homeless.

Dropout rate is just under 40%.

Its quite a problem.
My daughter went to Case....a great school but several blocks from the war zone. She never had any issues minus one when she jogged through a local park and had a pack of thugs run along side of her talking shit.
At one time she wanted to waitress in the Little Italy section I told her no and after doing so was told that's the safest place in Cleveland and that the people there take care of their own.

I couldn't wait for her to graduate.
 
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My daughter went to Case....a great school but several blocks from the war zone. She never had any issues minus one when she jogged through a local park and had a pack of thugs run along side of her talking shit.
At one time she wanted to waitress in the Little Italy section I told her no and after doing so was told that's the safest place in Cleveland and that the people there take care of their own.

I couldn't wait for her to graduate.
One of my sisters went to Trinity in Washington DC- I know my parents felt the same way. She was robbed once- right outside the gate to the campus.
 
My daughter went to Case....a great school but several blocks from the war zone. She never had any issues minus one when she jogged through a local park and had a pack of thugs run along side of her talking shit.
At one time she wanted to waitress in the Little Italy section I told her no and after doing so was told that's the safest place in Cleveland and that the people there take care of their own.

I couldn't wait for her to graduate.

I lived in Cleveland Heights for a bit. I was driving through Little Italy on one occasion when I saw a group of older white men chasing a black teenager on a bike. One of the guys yelled something about the bike so I assumed the black kid swiped it. I got to the top of the hill on Little Italy and I saw a cop. I told the cop that black kid is about to get killed. He calmly told me that it wasn't his jurisdiction. Street justice.
 
When people hear I am originally from Johnstown and they react with "oh I once went to Johnstown for...", my response is simply "I'm sorry". That sums it up.

I saw an older cousin die from OD and I had career ambitions in fields which would not be remotely possible in that area so there was never a chance of me staying. I would say 90% of classmates stayed and went to UPJ, CCACC, etc and repeated the cycle. They' are still great people there but it was not for me.
 
Your ignorance , bashing and calling out a town and its occupants as a shit hole and worse defines what is wrong with MAGA . Lived in New Jersey for 47 years . I take this so called shit hole any day. Merry Christmas . We are , the ignorant .
 
If there is not a relatively large core manufacturing plant and few a smaller facilities, then no small town (in PA, NY, etc...) is going to survive. Those manufacturing plants are what provided hundreds and thousands of quality paying jobs. You need those jobs then to have all the supporting facilities (hospitals, retail, construction, etc...) which then multiply on themselves. When the manufacturing leaves, there is no money to keep the support business in place and the collapse starts. Started in the 70s/80's, accelerated in the 90's, and then kept going in the 2000's. As the older generation that worked in these towns and retired died off, so did the money they spent from social security and their retirement and these towns start really collapsing. Issue is that the manufacturing is nearly impossible to bring back to these areas. the manufacturing is going to the places where the population is increasing in the South and West.
 
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If there is not a relatively large core manufacturing plant and few a smaller facilities, then no small town (in PA, NY, etc...) is going to survive. Those manufacturing plants are what provided hundreds and thousands of quality paying jobs. You need those jobs then to have all the supporting facilities (hospitals, retail, construction, etc...) which then multiply on themselves. When the manufacturing leaves, there is no money to keep the support business in place and the collapse starts. Started in the 70s/80's, accelerated in the 90's, and then kept going in the 2000's. As the older generation that worked in these towns and retired died off, so did the money they spent from social security and their retirement and these towns start really collapsing. Issue is that the manufacturing is nearly impossible to bring back to these areas. the manufacturing is going to the places where the population is increasing in the South and West.

Sadly this is true. Couple that with politicians who shouldn't be anywhere near a checkbook and you have a recipe for disaster.
 
I know exactly where the house you are talking about is. I grew up in Altoona near the hospital and just up from Stroehmann Bakery. We would walk to the Cathedral on 14th avenue which I believe is the street that you mentioned. That part of Altoona is pretty run down now. The house I grew up in burned down and is now a parking lot for the Hospital. The street I grew up on is not nearly as nice as it once was and truthfully it wasn't all that great back then.

Like any other town, there are parts of Altoona that are pretty bad and there are parts that are pretty nice. Most of the growth in the area is in Logan Township which completely surrounds the city. It seems that there are new business coming into the former downtown area that the Malls killed back in the 80's. Hopefully that lasts.

Yes you are correct. I looked it up on Google Maps. There were one or two houses beside her old house that have been knocked down for a municipal
parking lot. My mom is 90 and she said that she wished they tore her house down too, that its hard to look at it in that condition. Used to eat at Tom and Joes and Texas Hot Dogs. Lots of good times in Altoona, and Huntingdon, where my dad was from as well.
 
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Not sure why someone would bash and trash a town and its occupants based on an article in some paper. I guess we know how the words shit hole came about . Those good MAGA folks . Every city and town has there problems , including yours. Not all of us live in the city proper but we still call Johnstown our home. Ride around the outskirts of Johnstown and you will fined many homes , properties and businesses as clean , nice and probably pare or better than your home town. And those that have family here and lived here , why would you want to trash your birth place and your families . Instead of calling your home a shit hole , see if in some way you can help bringing back what Johnstown was and in some cases still is , a great town to live and raise a family . Sorry for your ignorance . God Bless
 
I'm sure there are more than a few in Schuylkill County. I've seen comments about Mount Carmel and yeah, it's not great there. But to compile this list a tour of towns in the Skook is a requirement. Check out Mahanoy City and if you are brave, places like Girardville and OMG, Gilberton. These are places that are Mount Carmel on steroids bad. It's really not even close. But they are smaller towns so I guess don't even merit consideration for most.


Agreed, Skook towns have to be considered. Every hamlet along RT 209 between Pottsville and Jim Thorpe would qualify.
 
My brother who never left and is a coal miner continues the family tradition. He said the gas guys brought Jobs, HIV and Drugs with them. Horrible drug problems. Young people with STD’s and strung out on heroin and meth. With no jobs.
Sounds like a limitless future for that town.

BTW, is the Green Lantern a local watering hole?
 
Sounds like a limitless future for that town.

BTW, is the Green Lantern a local watering hole?
The Green Lantern, At the intersection of pa 144 and 120 on the west end of Renovo. Years ago on a fishing trip we were rained out, monsoon like rains, so we went to the lantern. The one guy put a $50 on the bar and said we are staying until it’s gone. So it’s about 4 pm and there are 4 of us. I figure we’d be back to camp by 8 or 9. Not only did we eat ,we ended up being kicked out of the bar around 2 or 3 am. We tipped the waitress, got our change and back to camp at like around 2:30 am. If I remember correctly drafts were $.50 and burgers & fries like $2.50/$3.00. I was designated driver that night. Thank you for the great service Connie.
 
I'm trying to decide which name I like better, Crucible or Bobtown. Both are awesome. Pennsylvania kicks ass for creatively named small towns.

Pithole, PA is one of my faves. Who knows, there actually may be a $hithole, PA in some seldom seen part of the commonwealth.
 
As a native of Johnstown, and back here at the moment taking care of my 88 yr old mother who recently fell and hurt her back, it's certainly nothing like the town I grew up in. Most of our fathers growing up worked for Bethlehem or US Steel, and made a good living, most mothers were housewives that knew how to really cook. Bethlehem was much bigger here than US Steel and basically owned the town and all the nearby water rights and kept other businessess out. Bethlehem left the town a mess with their decrepid mills and environmental pollution. There are still parts of Johnstown that have incredible huge old homes with wonderful architecture and you can get an idea of the wealth that was once here. The crime that you hear about now is almost all drug related and was brought in to this city, much like Williamsport and Reading. Most of it comes from Philadelphia, they can get on a waiting list there for susidized housing and wait for months or years, or move to a Johnstown or Altoona and get it much quicker if not right away. The wives are kid producing machines and the guys deal drugs, and yea, local kids become addicts and I've had numerous friends lose their kids to heroin or similar. There aren't guys here standing on corners selling drugs, there isn't a part of this city I wouldn't walk through after dark. Basically when there's a shooting around it's dealer to dealer stuff and the over doses usually seem to be in the 25-35 range. Anyway, that's what Ive seen, and it does suck

This is happening in several smaller PA towns, especially in the western part of the state in towns that have cheap, available housing stock.
 
I’m very thankful to live in a nice place now, even though I have somebody in my neighborhood that still lets his dog go #2 in my yard and not clean it up...

I grew up just outside the York city limits, but played youth sports in the city with York Boys Club. The mind is a funny thing. I’ve had dozens of dreams over the years about trekking from downtown York toward our old apartment, and often in those dreams York is bigger and thriving more than it probably ever was. If I felt it were feasible, I would love to go back and be part of an effort that would make the town something special.

My parents grew up down at the SW end of Rte 209. I agree about the towns up the coal valleys. Yikes.
 
I did not. Feeding a family at popeyes is expensive. More expensive in the long run than buying proper food.

A head of iceberg is about 2 dollars. A three piece popeyes meal is nine.

It isnt cost... it is work and effort. This fast food is the only option schtick is a myth.

Ldn

Yeah, let's give everyone a bunch of carbs! That'll fix 'em!
 
I know exactly where the house you are talking about is. I grew up in Altoona near the hospital and just up from Stroehmann Bakery. We would walk to the Cathedral on 14th avenue which I believe is the street that you mentioned. That part of Altoona is pretty run down now. The house I grew up in burned down and is now a parking lot for the Hospital. The street I grew up on is not nearly as nice as it once was and truthfully it wasn't all that great back then.

Like any other town, there are parts of Altoona that are pretty bad and there are parts that are pretty nice. Most of the growth in the area is in Logan Township which completely surrounds the city. It seems that there are new business coming into the former downtown area that the Malls killed back in the 80's. Hopefully that lasts.
My friend rents a row home on 314 walnut Ave.Its very clean and well taking care of,plus it's cheap $450 a month.
 
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