Workers Worried About Jobs

Abraham Azain 
January 10, 1997 
Abraham J. Azain Of Lee Park Towers, Hanover Township, Died Friday At The 
Wilkes-barre General Hospital.

Sunday, January 12, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





Expand concept of `community' to give our area big-city clout &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There is something about the start of a new year, especially as we draw
close to the start of a new century -- to say nothing of the start of a new
millennium -- that invites dreams of what could beA favorite for some people
of the Wyoming Valley during the century that is drawing to a close, can be
summed up in the word "consolidation." What that means to those who have
advocated it at various times over the last 90 years is the consolidation of
the many -- too many -- local governments of this greater community into one
truly great community. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Most of the cities, boroughs, townships and villages that exist,
cheek-to-jowl, in the Wyoming Valley were initially mining camps -- coal towns
that sprang up around the mines and breakers of the anthracite industry. They
got their start with the "company houses" built by the mine operators to house
immigrants recruited in Europe and at the East Coast docks of the United
States, to work in their mines. At one point, as the taxpayer for Hanover
Township, the Glen Alden Coal Company was virtually a municipality unto
itself. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 As the industry prospered, the miners and all of the supporting retail,
food, recreation, health care and transportation enterprises sprang up and
prospered, too. The mining camps became municipalities of various sizes and
character. Some featured a predominance of one or more of the ethnic groups
that immigrated to the region. But that same prosperity eventually saw a
growth of intermarriages, a blurring of that diversity and a growing sense of
belonging to a greater community. Or so it seemed to those who dealt with the
total community rather than with its individual municipal parts. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Oh, there was the rivalry in athletics between the likes of Luzerne and
Larksville, or Plymouth and Kingston that seemed at the time to have become
part of the marrow of the inhabitants. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Yet -- and this is both the most telling and hopeful of our shared
experiences -- those divisions disappeared in the early 1960s when, under an
extraordinarily rare burst of courage and wisdom, the state government
mandated the consolidation of the more than 5,000 school districts in
Pennsylvania into 501. Given the economics of education, some say that even
fewer districts are justified. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 What caused the school consolidation was cost versus tax resources. Too few
of the taxpayers in those thousands of school districts could afford to
maintain what they had, let alone create a modern school system. Only by
joining forces could there be any hope of keeping pace with the growing demand
for more and better education. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In a very real sense, that has been and remains one of the major arguments
throughout this century in favor of municipal consolidation. All of these
communities share the same need for the same basic and uniform community
services, whether it is for telephones and other communication systems,
electricity and other energy supplies, traffic control systems and the whole
range of law. The list sometimes seems endless. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Similarly, they all need and should have the same uniform level of
professional police, fire, ambulance and other public protection services, and
all the rest of the full range of municipal services that are typical of
modern metropolitan government. It isn't just the improvement in the quality
of services that is warranted but that it should be afforded every taxpayer in
the greater community. Adoption of 911 is just a beginning. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Moreover, the kind of consolidation that should be considered at the
minimum level -- the 30 cities, boroughs, and townships that stretch from
Exeter and Duryea up-river, through Pittston, West Pittston, Wyoming, and West
Wyoming, to Nanticoke, West Nanticoke and Plymouth Township down-river;
Kingston Township on the west side, and Plains, Wilkes-Barre and Hanover
Townships on the east side -- would create a city of more than 195,000 people. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 To also involve those ring-suburbs such as the Back Mountain and
Mountaintop areas whose residents thrive on the Valley but contribute nothing
to its upkeep -- would raise the total close to 250,000 people. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The result would be to create in fact what already exists in effect --
Pennsylvania's third largest city. Its political clout and its attractiveness
to outside industries for support and investment, would be enormously
increased. Consolidation is the single most effective step this greater
community can take toward generating more jobs and prosperity than it has ever
experienced before. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It is possible. It can be done. It would be collectively cheaper than what
today's hodgepodge of patch towns costs. The rule holds that such a union
would be greater than the sum of its parts. That future is for the taking. Is
it to be this year, this century, that this dream finally comes to life? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's up to you. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Tom Bigler is professor of communications at Wilkes University and a Times
Leader columnist. His column appears on Sunday and Wednesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Expand Concept Of `community' To Give Our Area Big-city Clout 
There Is Something About The Start Of A New Year, Especially As We Draw Close 
To The Start Of A New Century -- To Say Nothing Of The Start Of A New 
Millennium -- That Invites Dreams Of What Could Be.

Expand Concept Of `community' To Give Our Area Big-city Clout There Is Something About The Start Of A New Year, Especially As We Draw Close To The Start Of A New Century -- To Say Nothing Of The Start Of A New Millennium -- That Invites Dreams Of What Could Be.