Thank God enough SENSIBLE people with an IQ above their shoe size got out and voted for Mayor Doherty, rather than listening to that blowhard insurance salesman Dibileo spread lies and whine about "problems" without offering up any solutions. If Dibileo had been elected and we went back to pandering to the thieves in the unions, I would have put my house on the market and gotten out of Scranton quick. Who wants to go back to the Jimmy Connors days when the roads had more craters than the moon, the downtown looked like a warzone, and the whole city was basically crumbling...not to mention the were being raped (and still are thanks to the past incompetent administrations) by the unions and all of the workers comp fakers who have been taking us to the cleaners. Thankfully we have a mayor who stands up these lazy ingrates annd we will continue to have him for 4 more years!
ok doobee, I hope your taxes get raised thru the roof and your car loses its rim in a huge crater pothole caused by the DOherty admin. Talk about a ghost town, downtown scranton will be one in 10 yrs because DO gave out KOZ like it was candy!!!!!!! The unions only want a fair break, not the world, like his over-paid admin is getting now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KOZ is a state program -- not a City program...and Southern Union wouldn't be building its NATIONAL, corporate headquarters in Scranton but for the tax benefits that the program offers...nor would Vaxserve be downtown, nor would investors be looking at the Connell Bldg, St Peters Square, or look to put thier operations in the Scranton Enterprise Center -- and in a few years virtually all of the businesses occupying these developments will be paying the full tax liability to all taxing authorities -- the same taxes that any business in downtown Scranton has to pay.
Lost on too many short sighted, ill informed City residents is the $ that Southern Union employees (and others) will be spending in the downtown and in the region as a whole...and the perception and the reputation the City gains and earns by such an enormous amount PRIVATE investment. Are property values going down since Chris Doherty took office -- no -- they are stable or rising and that's the market telling a story of the City's future prospects...not the Times or the electeds.
The hole from which the City has had to claw its way out was deep -- but thanks to capable and informed leadership by Mayor Doherty and others -- the future is looking brighter every day. The nay sayers and the perpetual critics were silenced by an informed and forward looking majority in this primary election -- so this mature democracy still works...thank goodness.
And the critics seem to be only that -- mud-slingers, self-absorbed, envious, acrimonious and cynical -- but none of these attributes can be a productive part of the solutions the city (its leadership, its business community, its citizens and its non-profits) -- must craft to overcome a legacy of economic malaise and fiscal mismanagement.
Chris Doherty's success story is only beginning -- he deserved a 2nd term and the voters of Scranton have given it to him -- It is appropriate to applaud the opposition for having the courage to get into the ring to advance the convictions that moved them to it -- but the better candidate won the day and the office.
Potholes? If you've noticed, Doherty was the only mayor to start PAVING streets. The only time that Connors (Dibileo's idol and fellow union worshipper) paved streets was a few blocks here and there when he was up for reelection.
What answers did Dibileo provide for Scranton's problems? None. Sounds like Bob Cordaro....he bitched and moaned about all of the problems, promised a tax cut...and it turns out that he didn't know his butt from a hole in the ground and raised taxes 50%. Doherty was the first mayor in my lifetime to turn Scranton around from going down in flames. I really do not want to go back to when the taxpayers of this city were nothing but the city employees' unions' b%&ches.
You people who don't like Doherty must be disgruntled city union members who have a workers comp claim in for your hangnail you got while sleeping on the job.
Your boy Dibileo and the rest of council voted to approve those KOZ's you're complaining about. I have no problem with the KOZ program if it stays with its purpose...to bring in jobs. The KOZ's I have a major problem with are the residential KOZ's. Those freeloaders at the "Village at Tripp Park" need to be run out of town. People around here don't have all the money in the world, we have a high tax burden, and these wine-and-cheesers are living up there tax-free in their McMansions.
The thing I find absurd is that Jay Saunders, city clerk who is paid by the TAXPAYERS of Scranton, is living up there in the freeloader estate of Tripp Park. I can't believe nobody has brought that up in the media or the council meetings.
The Tripp Park development is the best thing going on for this city. In 5 more years all those homes will be paying taxes, probably double or triple the taxes you currently pay for your Pine Brook estate. These are family people who are investing in this city, family people who will also pay the wage tax. Look, before this development there was nothing there but an empty coal feild! Soon you will have hundreds of households paying taxes. Jelousy will get you nowhere.
quote: Originally posted by: Vernon Wormer "The Tripp Park development is the best thing going on for this city. In 5 more years all those homes will be paying taxes, probably double or triple the taxes you currently pay for your Pine Brook estate. These are family people who are investing in this city, family people who will also pay the wage tax. Look, before this development there was nothing there but an empty coal feild! Soon you will have hundreds of households paying taxes. Jelousy will get you nowhere."
The best thing going for the city? What makes you say that? I think you should stick to the script and get with the Doherty program. The Doobee agenda says that the U of S (the so-called Harvard of the NE) is the best thing going for Scranton!
The rest of the citizens in this city are "family people" as much as tripp park people, and they too "invest" in the city in many ways. I don't know what you're getting at by calling tripp park freeloaders "family people."
What is your point? My point is that it is unfair. Plain and simple. If those citizens can afford to pay taxes in 5 years when their political dole runs out then they are able to pay taxes now, and they could have paid taxes during the last 5 years. Why the hell shouldn't they? I have an idea. Call me crazy but instead of luring "family people" into the city (although this should be encouraged), isnt it a better idea to stop pushing people out with high taxes and incest politics?
Before my house was built the land upon which it stands was undeveloped (not unlike the "empty coal fields"). Can I get a tax break? No. If you live in West Side all you get is the police walking through it making sure I don't have any junk cars on it.
It's not jealousy, it's disgust. There is a difference. That is a piss poor thing for you to suggest. If something is unfair you ought to stand up--as opposed to being a coward-- and challange it. You want inequality and then you bitch and complain when the people that you stepped on stand up to you.
The best thing going for the city? What makes you say that? I think you should stick to the script and get with the Doherty program. The Doobee agenda says that the U of S (the so-called Harvard of the NE) is the best thing going for Scranton!
The rest of the citizens in this city are "family people" as much as tripp park people, and they too "invest" in the city in many ways. I don't know what you're getting at by calling tripp park freeloaders "family people."
What is your point? My point is that it is unfair. Plain and simple. If those citizens can afford to pay taxes in 5 years when their political dole runs out then they are able to pay taxes now, and they could have paid taxes during the last 5 years. Why the hell shouldn't they? I have an idea. Call me crazy but instead of luring "family people" into the city (although this should be encouraged), isnt it a better idea to stop pushing people out with high taxes and incest politics?
Before my house was built the land upon which it stands was undeveloped (not unlike the "empty coal fields"). Can I get a tax break? No. If you live in West Side all you get is the police walking through it making sure I don't have any junk cars on it.
It's not jealousy, it's disgust. There is a difference. That is a piss poor thing for you to suggest. If something is unfair you ought to stand up--as opposed to being a coward-- and challange it. You want inequality and then you bitch and complain when the people that you stepped on stand up to you.
It's not really unfair, everyone has equal opportunity to obtain a lot in the Tripps Park KOZ. If it was not for the KOZ these people would not have invested in the city, they would have joined the thousands of other families that fled to the 1%'s town, at least now there will be something gained. Also the city has collected big dollars from all the permit fees, transfer taxes, and the residents first 184 day of residency.
Ok, so you're disgusted, but I don't think you should direct that disgust at families investing in this city. If you ever took a ride thru you would see many signs supporting Gary!
Why do you suggest that I want inequality? I don't get it.
The Tripp Park freeloaders will all be bailing out after 2010. "The best thing going???" Its welfare for the well-off, nothing less. A city with a 3.4% wage tax does not need to be giving away welfare to people who can afford their personality-less McMansions. There are old people in this town living on nothing but a social security check who are subsidizing these freeloading SUV/minivan driving lemmings. No equity in that at all. And for Mr. Saunders, remember when the city started making city employees move into the city or they were fired? Well what is the difference if a city employee lives in Freeloader Estates or he just lives in another town like Dunmore or Dickson City. AT least if a city employee lived outside the city, the taxpayers wouldn't be subsidizing them as in Freeloader Saunders' case.
"families investing in this city?" Exactly how are they investing anything? When they moved in, my tax burden went up. Nobody who can afford a $165,000 house needs any welfare.
You just don't get it. If it was not for the KOZ they would be building elsewhere, and that would be no investment for the city. Your taxes did not increase because of the KOZ, if anything the devepment brought dollars into the city coffers thru transfer taxes, permit fees, taxes from ther residents first 184 days. It's really a simple concept, giving people an incentive to build and live in this city. You don't like it because you are jealous.
quote: Originally posted by: Vernon Wormer "You just don't get it. If it was not for the KOZ they would be building elsewhere, and that would be no investment for the city. Your taxes did not increase because of the KOZ, if anything the devepment brought dollars into the city coffers thru transfer taxes, permit fees, taxes from ther residents first 184 days. It's really a simple concept, giving people an incentive to build and live in this city. You don't like it because you are jealous."
Simple concept: Instead of "luring" people in, stop straining the already burdened citizens and prevent them from leaving. The KOZ for residential homes says this: Not only does well connected businesses operate for free, but those who are a part of the network get to reside in the city for free too.
Yeah, i agree. It's jealousy. I think everybody wishes they could get something for nothing.
"Simple concept: Instead of "luring" people in, stop straining the already burdened citizens and prevent them from leaving. The KOZ for residential homes says this: Not only does well connected businesses operate for free, but those who are a part of the network get to reside in the city for free too. "
"Yeah, i agree. It's jealousy. I think everybody wishes they could get something for nothing. "
Wow, lure people in and lower taxes. Gee wiz, why did'nt anybody else ever think of that? You are so smart.
Guess what, you don't have to be well connected to build in the KOZ.
quote: Originally posted by: Vernon Wormer "You just don't get it. If it was not for the KOZ they would be building elsewhere, and that would be no investment for the city. Your taxes did not increase because of the KOZ, if anything the devepment brought dollars into the city coffers thru transfer taxes, permit fees, taxes from ther residents first 184 days. It's really a simple concept, giving people an incentive to build and live in this city. You don't like it because you are jealous."
No....its not because I'm "jealous." Its the simple fact that I work, I pay my taxes, pull my share of the load, and there are people who are not. There are people losing their homes in this city because they live on a limited income and cannot afford skyrocketing taxes. Why should people who have stuck by this city for years get the shaft while some johnny-come-lately carpetbagger freeloaders get a free ride? Trust me, the transfer taxes and permit fees will not cover their share of the tax burden for 10 years. I am subsidizing their garbage pickup, road maintenance, fire and police protection, and their children's education for 10 years. Wait until 2010 and watch the freeloaders bail out.
quote: Originally posted by: conorsdad "No....its not because I'm "jealous." Its the simple fact that I work, I pay my taxes, pull my share of the load, and there are people who are not. There are people losing their homes in this city because they live on a limited income and cannot afford skyrocketing taxes. Why should people who have stuck by this city for years get the shaft while some johnny-come-lately carpetbagger freeloaders get a free ride? Trust me, the transfer taxes and permit fees will not cover their share of the tax burden for 10 years. I am subsidizing their garbage pickup, road maintenance, fire and police protection, and their children's education for 10 years. Wait until 2010 and watch the freeloaders bail out."
You are not subsidizing their garbage pick up, they are required to pay the garbage fee.
You are not subsidizing their road maitenance, sinse the roads have yet to be turned over to the city, a private contractor has been plowing the snow.
And as for the fire and police, the land was alway there, and was probably a bigger burden for the fire and police prior to the development. Also there have been no fires, and the new homes are up to the latest fire and safety codes. Get your facts staight before you bash people that are investing in this city rather then a 1%'r town. In five more years these people will be the reason the city can give you a raise for your city job. I share some of your resentment, (I built on East Mt) but you have to look at the big picture.
I never suggested luring people in dip****. I suggested that the city ought to go out its way and give people a reason to stay, as opposed keeping the taxes high and watching people flee this god-for-saken town.
Of course you don't HAVE to be well connected to get a KOZ. There are a few tokens in which the city administrators can point to and say "look, we're not giving all of the KOZs to our friends."
quote: Originally posted by: Vernon Wormer " ;but you have to look at the big picture."
Big picture: Break the taxpayer's back NOW so the Bourgeios can live to break the back of another working man in the future. It's an investment that is not worth making for the tax payers. Don't steal off us and then tell us you're doing us a favor.
quote: Originally posted by: AntisystemicMovements " Big picture: Break the taxpayer's back NOW so the Bourgeios can live to break the back of another working man in the future. It's an investment that is not worth making for the tax payers. Don't steal off us and then tell us you're doing us a favor. "
I say it's a good investment, you and many others disagree. Only time will tell if it is a good or bad investment. However what's done is done and soon enough these people will be paying! Move on!
Thank God enough SENSIBLE people with an IQ above their shoe size got out and voted for Mayor Doherty, rather than listening to that blowhard insurance salesman Dibileo spread lies and whine about "problems" without offering up any solutions. If Dibileo had been elected and we went back to pandering to the thieves in the unions, I would have put my house on the market and gotten out of Scranton quick. Who wants to go back to the Jimmy Connors days when the roads had more craters than the moon, the downtown looked like a warzone, and the whole city was basically crumbling...not to mention the were being raped (and still are thanks to the past incompetent administrations) by the unions and all of the workers comp fakers who have been taking us to the cleaners. Thankfully we have a mayor who stands up these lazy ingrates annd we will continue to have him for 4 more years!
