In today’s Fishwrap Editorial (WHICH I NO LONGER BUY BUT READ FOR FREE ON LINE—but not for long since we will pay for that when they go to one daily paper) Pat (THE MAYORS BYTCH) makes written love to the University of Scranton by calling them the economic engine of the downtown. Well Pat here is something for you to chew on. Give me the figure of exactly how much the University of Scranton has taken from the taxrolls by de-taxing property through purchase? Don’t know? You will by November guarantee it whether you write about it or not.
Do you know what else those crafty Jesuits do? When they buy property they go and have the assessed value decreased. For example parcel # 157 0902 059 used to be assessed at 13,000. When they bought it they had it reduced to 2950.00. At this time they are still paying taxes on it because they have not done anything with that land. So is that the type of economic impact you are talking about Pat? I
nstead of paying 1965.07 in taxes they pay 445.92 in taxes? The Million Dollar Corporation with the 100 Million Dollar endowment fund is screwing the taxpayers of 1500.00 bucks? Guess the rich are rich for a reason.
Another interesting side note in reducing the assessed value is that when asked they can understate the loss in tax revenue by understating the tax value of the property. They think of everything don’t they? Something really strange is that for all these assessment decreases there is no record of any public hearing being held. Hmmmmm. Don’t worry Pat we have it all dug up already you and your crack staff will be picking at our crumbs a few weeks from now. Our researcher is so far ahead of you its sick. By the way we are talking about 100’s of millions in lost tax revenue over the last 40 years.
Milo Ferlicker wrote: I Pat (THE MAYORS BYTCH) makes written love to the University of Scranton by calling them the economic engine of the downtown.
This is a common argument, but it is an argument that is way overstated for political reasons. It is an argument that tries to illuminate the U of S in a way that mystifies arguments that say the U of S is exploiting this community for everything it has to offer (land, labour and capital!). No doubt the out of town (and native) children of the yuppie class provide the economic base for their children to spike consumerism in the downtown (cloths, odds and ends). The children also provide cheap, abundant labor supply. If you talk to any of the children of the bourgeois most of them will admit that their parents don't give them spending money, and expect them to work for the peanuts they need to drink (and do drugs).
Other than that, the U of S isn't much of a stimulation really. Sure, around graduation time hotels and restaurants make money, but that's the most of it. THIS IS WHY U of S wants the raddison, to house parents at an expensive price like UPENN. I must admit that the children do not bog down police resources as much as one would think (if it were the case I would no doubt say so!). U of S has a security force that acts like police and they even aid Scranton police (the U of S security do write tickets, and they brake up beer parties!). U of S security’s mission is to keep the trouble that the children of Bourgeois cause out of the paper in protection of the Jesuit tradition of "social justice, and equality."
The U of S isn't much economic stimulis really?...hotel rooms at graduation?
ASK any large or small business which serves as a supplier or vendor to the U of S -- providers of products/services which include but are not limited to -- architectural and engineering services, building materials and construction labor for current or new facilities; food, paper, marketing or advertising materials, electric power, books, natural gas, security or any other product or service to the University -- ASK them if they agree...
I expect some small businesses in the region would be out of business but for U of S patronage...
And lets not forget the salaries the U of S pays to every single employee they have...salaries that pay mortgages held by local banks or that pay for clothes, electronics, etc to keep the Steamtown Mall stores in the black at Christmas -- and which pay taxes to the City, to Scranton School District, to the County (so Bob Cordaro and can spend it to satisfy his political cronies with no public consent or scrutiny) and to the state and the feds so they can turn some of that money around to community and economic development infrastructure to improve qualify of life in this region.
We haven't even talked about the intellectual capital they produce in our kids for the tuition paid...but that's another story.
If your going to level criticism on this site...at least let it be informed criticism.
How does any of what you said BENEFIT *Scranton* as a city? What makes the U of S worth putting up with? What does the U of S do for Scranton that compensates for not paying any taxes? I will admit that the U of S stimulates the economy to a small degree but my point is that politicians (and many others) overstate the case.
Of course the U of S spends money and consumes (much the same way that it spent money to consume a public asset). But did you know that it buys much of its supplies/services from out of state and out of the region. [Many of the area businesses U of S does business with are a part of the Denaples-industrial complex] For instance, those wooden railings (worth tens of thousands) in the Wienburg are from California and IIRC those people traveled here and installed it. There are plenty of examples like the wooden railings. My point is that the U of S doesn't support enough SCRANTON business to justify what the U of S does to this town in terms of tax evasion and corruption. To the taxpaying citizen, for most of which cannot afford to send their child there, the U of S is not an asset but a burden.
I must agree with you, the U of S pays people to work. Let's have a round of applause; at least the U of S is paying their employees! But lets NOT thank the U of S for all the taxes that wage labor earns and is forced by law to pay; U of S doesn't deserve that credit.
You must also realize that many of the employees are NOT from Scranton, even many of the custodians. The U of S publishes a pamphlet every year or so that has all the employees’ names and addresses in it. Look at it sometime. A great deal of the Professors and high-level admin live in fortified enclaves in the areas surrounding Scranton. Aside from the ridiculous privilege to work in Scranton tax (which probably wouldn’t even be a necessity if U of S paid its share in taxes), what does Scranton get besides traffic on Mullberry? Also, you have yet to convince me that the money the employees spend in Scranton (if any) produces an "economic engine" that is going to cause Scranton to "take off" like GB in the so-call industrial revolution..
You must also realize that the intellectual capital moves back to NJ and NY during the summer and after graduation. There is NO future for them (or us) here. The very few Scranton natives that graduate from the U of S and stay only reproduce the structures of inequality and incest politics. And I strongly feel that a U of S education is NOT worth 20,000+ a year.
Overall the U of S is not as big of a stimulus to the downtown as purported by politicians and those who think it is the Harvard of the NE. It is CERTINLY NO “ECONOMIC ENGINE”! People who say things like this are just using empty rhetoric and overstaing the case. Your argument that the U of S is such an economic stimulus that it justifies much of the corruption and tax evasion is VERY weak. To reiterate, I agree that students support local bars, beer stores, restaurants and consumerism (Wal-Mart for supplies and the mall for the Christmas gifts) but they also flood the labor market and provide cheap, flexible labor for local employers and they compete with natives and drive down their wages. In other words, lets look at what the U of S gives to Scranton (and who it gives it to), but let us also look closely at what it takes away (and who it takes it away from)
