Talk:Scranton, Pennsylvania

Possible Factual Errors
There are no "trolleys" in San Francisco, there are cable cars. Blondlieut 01:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Baptist Bible College is actually in Clarks Summit, PA, not Scranton, PA.
 * This depends on how technical you want to be as to what qualifies as "Scranton" and what qualifies as "Scranton area". If we want to remove Baptist Bible College from this list we must also remove Keystone College (in La Plume) and Penn State Worthington (in Dunmore). Kail Ceannai 02:56, 20 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Trolley trips are now available for touring the city, similar to San Francisco.

Item is duplication, anyway. I've deleted for that reason.

trezjr 20:52, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Photos Featured
That is not the city seal. That is the sign on top of the Scranton Electric Building. If you want to get nit picky, Baptist Bible College is in Clarks Green, not Clarks Summit.
 * Agree with the seal idea, would be nice if some one could find a good image of the seal. I also am not sure if the image of the flag is the flag either. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 04:28, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Cleaning up non-neutral POV
I stumbled upon this reference in the history section, under the 1985-present segment: "Despite a culture of political corruption, the city maintains a small-town atmosphere in friendly neighborhoods." This statement is a loaded statement, and has no references. While I, a resident, do agree with the statement on personal grounds, I feel it needs to be reworded and backed up by direct citations. I have deleted it for the moment. Michael Lipik 14:09, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Disputed Article Status
I have inserted the template for disputed article at the top of the article. I did this because the factual accuracy of the article is not determinable due to a lack of citations and references. There have been several non-NPOV (see WP:NPOV) statements made, as well (see "Cleaning up non-neutral POV"). Please do not remove this status from the article until it has attained sufficient accuracy, and citations have been provided for assertions made in the article. Michael Lipik 14:25, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

It seems several Northeast PA locations are getting these political inserts. See recent deletion for Nanticoke, PA.

trezjr 20:56, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Miscellaneous Discussion
Did anyone notice how this article has a page in other languages? How big of a database do they have? M2K e  00:46, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Nay Aug Park zoo
The park does have a zoo that has been restored and is now operational again

Concerning Restoration
Nay Aug Park opened its swimming pools back up a year or two ago. Also, there is a great art community in Scranton. The AFA Gallery, the Test Pattern, and the Everheart Museum all hold various events by groups such as the MPWA -- Mulberry Poets and Writers Association. I didn't want to put this as a direct edit to the page because I didn't want to seem like I was simply advertizing. Are these relevant to the article?

Pot holes vandalism
What's with the vandalism and this "pot hole" obsession? There's pot holes in the entire state of Pennslvania. So what. Scranton has mine subsidence, so what; it doesn't make it famous.

This and the political barbs are a waste of time. Go away. trezjr 01:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Have you ever driven anywhere else in Pennsylvania or are you just making the assumption that there are many pot holes everywhere else in the state? I've traveled through most of this state and I can assure you that the pot holes and road conditions in general are far worse in Scranton than anywhere else I've been. Just because it's a negative aspect of the city does not mean we should omit any mention of the pot holes. It isn't the only town that had mine problems. In most towns however, they actually fill pot holes before they get large enough to bend front axles of cars when hit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.241.69.94 (talk) 21:01, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

No, but we should omit it because "you travelling through most of the state" and you "assuring" me is original research and not verified by a reputable source.129.139.1.68 (talk) 19:45, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Citation required...
A citation is required for this item...


 * Thomas Tiedemann, Notable Award Winning Explorer, Researched and documented thoughts on the existence of a "Universal Galaxy" Former University of Scranton Student.

...or it will be removed within 48 hours.

No record of this name or the fact that it is "notable".

trezjr 02:10, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Greenwood
Is there a Greenwood near Scranton? Respond at my page please. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 04:32, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

--69.242.100.237 (talk) 07:22, 14 August 2008 (UTC)No, Greenwood is in Moosic.

Lack of Citation
There are no sources cited for this article. Unless there are reputable sources cited, then everything in the Scranton page could merely be hearsay.

"Office" References
I'm correcting a bunch of poor spelling and general errors in a recent contrinbution to the "Office" section. Can anyone verify these? I'm a native of Scranton but I never have watched the show. Mrendo 15:44, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I watch the show frequently and the refs are all correct as far as I recall (although I don't know episode names). There are actually more refs to the area than this - Cooper's Seafood and neigboring communities are mentioned often, the character Dwight called in to Rock 107 repeatedly asking if he were the 107th caller, the character Kevin plays in a band called "Scrantonicity", a TV showed the weather forecast and it was a real Scranton-Wilkes-Barre weatherman (I think it was Josh Hodell of WBRE-TV). The question becomes what level of detail is encyclopedic? I like the history section of this article, it is nice and concise. If the Knox Mine Disaster merits only two sentences, does the Office deserve six? And does the NY Times crossword puzzle belong in at all? Perhaps it is time to spin off a "Scranton Pennsylvania in popular culture article" and trim this section way back. Wikipedia is not a collection of trivia and fan cruft. Ruhrfisch 16:00, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
 * While I was editing those "Office" trivia parts of the article, I was wondering the same thing about whether or not they really belong in the article. Fictional references to real things generally aren't encyclopedic, but the reality is that time and time again, someone will want to make his mark on this article after watching an episode of the Office.  Your idea of "Scranton Pennsylvania in popular culture article" sounds good.  Are there precedents about this kind of spin-off already, to make sure we do this consistently? Mrendo 16:25, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The only article I found to use as a model was Portland, Oregon in popular culture. I looked at New York City and Cleveland, Ohio (which is featured) and neither has this kind of subarticle listed that I saw. Ruhrfisch 18:16, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

My favourite sentence
Incorporated as a paid service in 1901, the Scranton Fire Department services the city 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hey everyone, Scranton's got a fire department that actually gives 24/7 service! No more calling the fire department and hearing, "Sorry, we're closed right now. Please try to reschedule your fire between 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday to Friday. State and federal holidays excepted."

Boy, you other cities must be so jealous... 172.132.26.54 (talk) 20:45, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Welcome to Wikipedia. Article talk pages are not for you to make snide comments. They are for discussions on how to improve the article. I suppose it's possible that you're unfamiliar with the notion that some towns do not have fire departments with paid staff that are on duty 24 hours a day. This is what the sentence refers to, that is, unlike smaller towns Scranton does not rely on an on-call volunteer fire service. Nevertheless, if you have a suggestion for how this sentence could be improved, please let us know. Tomdobb (talk) 22:17, 24 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Ahem. It's not unreasonable to assume the snide comment was, in fact, a light-hearted suggestion that the sentence needs to be changed. It's a little mind-boggling that this has to be spelled out, but assuming a city/town/borough has gone to the trouble of organizing a fire department -- whether volunteer or paid -- in the event of a fire, one would expect 24/7 service, no? Which means it would only be appropriate to note the hours of service if (for some deranged reason) 24/7 service was unavailable.  So...


 * The Scranton Fire Department was incorporated as a paid service in 1901.


 * ...is all that needs to be said.


 * 172.130.63.59 (talk) 00:01, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, if that's how you feel, then why not be bold? Tomdobb (talk) 02:24, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Map Requested
I removed the "reqmapin|Pennsylvania" tag from this page because the map listed is adequate for a city of this size. Max Density (talk) 18:12, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Highest Irish population claim
I have removed the claim that according to the reported ancestry data in the 2000 Census that Scranton had the largest Irish population of a city its size. It was not sourced by a link and I had reason to believe it was inaccurate. Quincy, Massachusetts is a larger city and is 34.1% Irish according to the reported ancestry in the 2000 Census (table QT-P13), and indeed Norfolk County, Massachusetts has a greater % reported Irish ancestry(31.3%) and population (560K) than Scranton(30.3%). Its possible there are additional examples but regardless the claim was incorrect. PantsB (talk)
 * I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. Quincy has approximately 15,000 more residents than Scranton. Would they really be considered cities of the same size? Tomdobb (talk) 17:00, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, then the claim seems rather silly if we're going to get that fine. The city with a population between 60K and 80K with the highest reported Irish ancestry doesn't seem very noteworthy PantsB (talk)  —Preceding undated comment was added at 19:06, 23 September 2008 (UTC).

SNL reference
A lot of people have put the Saturday Night Live quote in only to have it removed by one editor

Regardless of whether or not you believe the quote is worth keeping or whether it was belongs in this article, here are the facts:

1. The quote happened. 2. The quote was related to Scranton (a send up of the city) and was seen by a large audience thus is notable 3. Several independant editors have thought the fact relevant to the topic at hand and have added it back in to the article.

I have cited a reference and written the section in a neutral tone. Noone is saying that the city is actually like that suggested in the send-up. What is being said is that it was satirised on National TV and how it was satirised. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.49.186.18 (talk) 07:42, 13 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah, you're right, you did represent it in a neutral tone: all you did was quote the skit. Its not relevant: it certainly doesn't need its own section. ccwaters (talk) 13:37, 13 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't see what at all makes it notable. Just because something mentions Scranton doesn't mean it merits an inclusion in this article. This isn't even the first time Scranton has been mentioned on SNL and as it's written now it receives undue weight. It's given its own section and there is more written about it than "The Office" a show that is set in Scranton, frequently mentions Scranton, has filmed in Scranton, has had a convention in Scranton etc. Until there's a consensus to include this information, it just doesn't belong in the article. Tomdobb (talk) 15:39, 13 October 2008 (UTC)


 * As someone who has reverted this, I will point out that "Joe Biden" gets his name mentioned in the article and that's it. Biden has spoken in several speeches and in the VP debate on his youth in and ties to Scranton. As long as that is not in the article (and I am not sure it should be), then I fail to see how a parody of that should be in. If anything I can see a sentence that was something like "In the 2008 Presidential election campaign, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden made numerous references to his ties to Scranton (perhaps adding the fact that his family moved to Delaware for economic reasons when he was 10 or so). This was parodied on SNL on ...(date) - perhaps include a brief quote and certainly both parts would need refs." Ruhrfisch  &gt;&lt;&gt; &deg; &deg; 16:34, 13 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Bam! Major reference of SNL skit in article about Scranton in political journal The New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=c6002a89-67ff-4faf-bb5b-4809c85f13ab. Senorbad (talk) 19:16, 13 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, but it is one or two sentences in a much bigger essay. I do not dispute the SNL skit took place. I saw it and thought it was funny, but I think if it is to be mentioned here at all, for NPOV reasons it needs to be placed in context (Joe Biden and his connection there). Another yardstick to compare this to is the Knox Mine Disaster, which essentially ended coal mining in the whole valley in 1959. It gets two sentences in this article. Why should this get that many? Ruhrfisch &gt;&lt;&gt; &deg; &deg; 20:58, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, I only wrote one sentence explaining the SNL reference before getting reverted, and secondly, perhaps the answer is to beef up the Knox Mine section, not delete the SNL reference. If you want to do a quick search, a lot of PA-area newspapers covered the Scranton references in that one SNL skit as its own separate story. Senator Bob Casey even publicly took offense to it. Senorbad (talk) 23:25, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

My thoughts are that it should most definetly not get more play than the Know Mine Disaster. Dincher (talk) 21:45, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Interstate 81 and Luna Park, Scranton
As it passes through Scranton, Interstate 81 goes over the grounds once occupied by Luna Park - in fact, the old subway station entrance and portions of the Shoot-the-Chutes ride remain today - is there a plausible way of incorporating the information into this article? B.Wind (talk) 19:11, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Organized crime section
I just removed a section on Organized crime which was full of Biography of Living Persons violations and was mostly unreferenced. It is unacceptable to link politicians to crime figures without references to reliable sources. Ruhrfisch &gt;&lt;&gt; &deg; &deg; 03:40, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

The Office
This article is fundamentally flawed. It should be predominantly focused on the television show "The Office". Please rewrite the article accordingly. 74.192.194.74 (talk) 07:31, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
 * No, this article is about the city. "The Office" has its own article.— Michael J 23:12, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Electric City nickname
There is what appears to be a discrepancy on the origin of Scranton's nickname.

Both in the section headed "Industrial foundation established: iron, coal and railroads (1846–1899)" and in the picture caption, it is claimed that the city's nickname is due to having the first electric streetcars in the US. In the header text, however, a different source for the name appears: "Scranton became known as the Electric City when electric lights were introduced at Dickson Locomotive Works in 1880." Hopefully, someone who knows more than I do about Scranton's history can clarify this question.

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Reverts of "historical fiction"
There seems to be something of an edit war going on. Somebody keeps removing only the ref to "Children as young as eight or nine worked 14-hour days separating slate from coal in the breakers.[4]" with the ref being to the book "Mine Seed" which looks like a respectable work. Certainly the sentence isn't saying anything new. If you think the sentence is wrong, please come up with a source that says this is not true. Removing the current ref only would confuse people. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 04:44, 15 February 2016 (UTC)


 * copied from my talk page:

Mine Seed

A novel based on historical fact. I agree that we can't pass it off as WP:RS. You were right. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 04:37, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

OK, I'll revert my revert at Scranton, Pennsylvania, but can you find a proper reference for this - it doesn't seem to be a "controversial fact." Smallbones(smalltalk) 04:49, 15 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Here are a few of the problems I see. First, the kneejerk reversion without even looking at the source implies that this is something taken so much for granted that little critical thought is given it, and that generally doesn't end well.


 * Next, it is, frankly, not always an accurate portrayal. The mines ranged from big, wealthy operations to shirt-tale outfits where the owners shared the physical risk with their employees, or had not so long before.  The big guys were often the better, safer ones to work for. As George Orwell famously observed about landlords:

"It goes against the grain to say this, but, cherished theory notwithstanding, the worst slum landlord is not, unfortunately, the stereotyped caricature of left-wing propaganda — a bloated capitalist, a scandalous bishop — but in all probability some poor old woman whose life savings are invested in the same slum she herself inhabits."


 * Looking at some of the other statements, the same applies. Breaker boys were, in a strange way, among the aristos of semi-skilled labor, and the high accident rate often reflected undercounting of the workforce. The pay rate throughout the anthracite district was not, by any means, all low, and, as a general rule it was some of the established firms that paid high.  What a native American viewed as chicken feed was attractive enough to Europeans to justify a transatlantic journey...and, as uncomfortable as they were thinking about it, this had pulled in the old labor force as well, first the farms, then from Wales, then Ireland.


 * I agree this source reflects a widely-held POV; that's the other thing that is wrong with it. Anmccaff (talk) 05:45, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

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Disputed entry: Robert J. Hanlon
Disputed entry: IMO Scranton must be proud that one of its ordinary citizens was immortalized on par with Occam's razor. His name reaches way beyond Scranton; in fact known globally in many books, hence he must be listed among notable citizens. Staszek Lem (talk) 21:58, 3 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Robert J. Hanlon, the namesake of Hanlon's razor


 * Just as the many members of Fleetwood Mac are not all notable simply by their membership in that notable group, simply being mentioned as the originator of a notable idea does not make an individual notable. See WP:INHERIT. If a showing can be made of meeting WP:ANYBIO or WP:NPROF for the guy, best practice would be to write the bio first. John from Idegon (talk) 22:03, 3 October 2018 (UTC)
 * You are confusing WP:N for standalone articles with criteria of inclusion into an article. Best example to illustrate you the difference: a mayor of a small village surely to be mentioned in the article about this village, but quite surely we never write a standalone article about the mayor.  So yes, the members of Fleetwood Mac are notable in their hometowns. Staszek Lem (talk) 01:29, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * No, I'm not. We just had a discussion over at the school project about this.  Yes, content in articles can be limited to notable subjects only. This applies especially to embedded lists. John from Idegon (talk) 01:39, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes you are. this article is not about school, so school project consensus is irrelevant, not say that the discussion does not conclude what you say. can be limited to notable - show me the guideline. Staszek Lem (talk) 16:35, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * WP:LISTBIO. Also, you provided no sources for his tie to the community. I understand your frustration, I believe. It's annoying to me also that anybody that carried a football or laid down a mixtape can have a bio, but for people who actually think, you gotta jump through hoops to get one. However, that's a side issue here. Honestly, I doubt you can make an argument that will sway me, so it may be time to request a WP:3O. If the third opinion agrees with you, I'll concede consensus as long as you source the tie to the community. John from Idegon (talk) 17:13, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I perused WP:LISTBIO and WP:SOURCELIST, and honestly fail to see where the say that listed persons must be "blue links" (or "blue-linkable"). I do not really care about this Hanlon guy, but I'd like to clarify the issue, because it is generic. Please cite the  the sentence you have in mind. Staszek Lem (talk) 21:15, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * BTW, LISTBIO has a dubious clause the entries must have the same importance to the subject as would be required for the entry to be included in the text. By this clause "Joel Wachs (born 1939) — Los Angeles City Council member" has zero importance to the subject of  Scranton, Pennsylvania. Similarly, Polish singe Czeslaw Niemen was born in a small village in Belarus which he gave a shit about, but he is listed there, and so on. I have an idea on the improvement of LISTBIO and going to make a suggestion in its talk page. If you are interested, I may ping you when I do this. Staszek Lem (talk) 21:15, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Population
I'm confused how 6,760,089 was chosen as the population count for the city and county seat section. That accounts for about half of Pennsylvania's population, but only 200,000 people actually live in Lackawanna County. What's going on? LittleCuteSuit (talk) 02:51, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Scrantons Welsh heritage
It was being discussed on Twitter that there is no mention of the Welsh heritage of Scranton on the Wikipedia page (unlike the Irish). Despite a fairly significant contribution. So I thought I'd add a couple of lines. They were promptly deleted. Any reason why? It was only factual information added. Thanks Dunadan9 (talk) 22:27, 15 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I removed most of your edit again. Personal genealogy websites are not reliable sources.  You also added content which was not supported by the source cited. Magnolia677 (talk) 08:29, 16 April 2023 (UTC)

Businesses Located in Scranton
Can someone please add a section on the businesses HQ’d in or shipping from Scranton. Annyaka (talk) 03:55, 27 September 2023 (UTC)