They have lived in Hazleton their entire lives, but enough is enough. Hazleton used to be a very nice place to live. Now it has nothing but dope, crime, and welfare. The in-laws got back from an out of town visit over the weekend. It seems that somebody stole their Webber gas grill that was in the back yard. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Adios PA.

If ya' needed a reason, well, I guess someone stealing your grill is just as good, or better, than most. Kind of up there with robbin' a trailer home. I just don't get some people. But, then, I like dogs better than most people....

The dope, welfare and crime culture has extended to many smaller Pennsylvania cities. Reading, Lancaster and Wilkes-Barre are just a few examples I had experience with before I left for Arizona 14 years ago.

I remember Philadelphia being a fun city in the mid '60's before LBJ's "Great Society" scheme took shape.

The dope/crime go hand in hand. It also leads to a lot of murders, besides theft.

A lot of small towns have been hit with this, first the drugs, then soon the crime.

We are losing the war on drugs.

Where will you run to when there's no place left to go?

I worked for my life and home.....I will (and have) do what is needed to preserve my livlihood.

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:
Where will you run to when there's no place left to go?
I worked for my life and home.....I will (and have) do what is needed to preserve my livlihood.

My in-laws' parents passed away a few years ago and their kids are all grown and live elsewhere. They have no family in the area and no ties left. One of their kids has a vacation condo in FL that my in-laws will be relocating to. They even have childhood friends who moved years ago close to the condo.

Hazleton is not just a “drugs/crime” issue, (I lived there briefly) - there has been an unprecedented demographic shift in that town in just 20 years.

Anywhere you start a bus line turns into a shithole...

Coincidence?

Dan is right, there is a creeping of crime, drugs, etc. into eastern PA. Logically it came from Philadelphia. Likely too there is a problem in and around Pittsburg. I have seen it developing in York in recent years.

I live in a smaller town, fertile as it were, to such an situation developing. Thinking small town, theoretically, what would happen if a quiet, unseen force started “pushing back” against this crime element? A reputation perhaps, that this wasn’t the place to be? Easier pickings elsewhere? If the push back were to able to stay completely dark maybe some might think it was rivals fighting each other?

How about people on the streets. Light to dark corners. Make the enviornment uncomfortable.

Just thinking....

Lancaster was a quiet, prosperous, lovely little town when I moved to this neck of the woods forty years ago. Gangs, dope, welfare have ruined it, and there are parts of the town I will avoid driving through, day or night. Same story with Reading, which is actually more violent than Philly. Lancaster's sister city, York, is yet another case. I could go on.

If what we are seeing is the future of America, it's grim. Ugly. And unless Trump can stop Paul Ryan and other open-borders RINO sellouts to big $$$, the story of these once-lovely towns will be the story of America.

My theory is that these pieces of trash purposely move to these small towns just for the fact that there's not many places to work, so there's no other option but to lay around, commit crimes, and get government assistance.

That's definitely how it is in some Jersey Shore towns. People will move there knowing there's really nowhere to work in the off season (9 months) and just live in the mandatory public house each town must have, get knocked up, and get paid for it by the government all while living at the sea shore.