Our Opinion: Pennsylvania takes center stage in 2016 presidential drama; seek facts amid the frenzy

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Luzerne County to push for voluntary payments from tax exempts

<p>Hazleton is the best local small city to start a business, according to a new ranking, but there&#8217;s scant reason to celebrate: It ranked 827th of 1,268 municipalities reviewed nationwide. Scranton couldn&#8217;t break the top 1,000 and Wilkes-Barre tanked at 1,157th.</p><p>It was an assessment Joseph Boylan of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry did not entirely dispute.</p><p>&#8220;There is no doubt our local business development system is flawed,&#8221; Boylan wrote in a statement responding to the rankings by the website <a href="http://www.wallethub.com" target="_blank">wallethub.com</a>.</p><p>&#8220;In fact, in a recent study conducted by our Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber Government Affairs Committee, local businesses rated the business climate in NEPA lower than the Commonwealth as a whole (2.76 out of 5 compared to 2.86 out of 5),&#8221; Boylan, the chamber&#8217;s vice-president of economic development, added.</p><p>WalletHub released the report &#8220;<a href="https://wallethub.com/edu/best-small-cities-to-start-a-business/20180/" target="_blank">2016&#8217;s Best &amp; Worst Small Cities to Start a Business</a>&#8221; as a precursor to National Small Business Week, set for May 1-7.</p><p>Their study used 15 statistics grouped into three categories: Business environment, including things like average revenue per business and growth in number of small businesses; access to resources including financing and employees; and business costs such as office space affordability and cost of living.</p><p>The best small city for starting a small business: Holland, Mich., population about 33,000, which sells itself with the catch line &#8220;&#8230; where you don&#8217;t need a passport!&#8221; And yes, it has a Tulip Time flower festival &#8212; May 7-14 this year, if you want to make the trip, though be warned: Google maps pegs the driving distance from Wilkes-Barre at an ominous 666 miles.</p><p>Holland did only fair-to-good in the business environment rank, coming in 354th. North Chicago, Ill., got the top rank in that category; and no, it&#8217;s not the section of the Windy City closest to Canada. It&#8217;s a separate incorporated suburb of about 32,500 people.</p><p>But Holland scored particularly high in the other two categories: 35th in access to resources and 64th in business costs.</p><p>By comparison, Hazleton &#8212; with the best overall ranking in the area &#8212; scored 1,000th in business environment, 624th in resources and 530th in business costs.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre actually did better than Hazleton in business environment, ranking 844th, but did poorly in resources at 888th and business costs at 839th.</p><p>Rather than critique the ratings, Boylan used them to tout the Wednesday launch of Wilkes-Barre Connect, &#8220;A system that ensures businesses have access to the tools they need.&#8221;</p><p>The Chamber is acting as administrator of the program that offers services such as technical assistance, training, access to capital, networking opportunities and mentoring.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Is area unfriendly to small business startups?