Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate, Scranton, PA

On your July editorial. For several years I have put forward the thought of school consolidation in Lackawanna County. I have spoken at your annual regional report about it a few years back and have put it forward in print in other areas. Basically, Wake County, North Carolina has one school district. They have all kinds of schools for different types of students. The kids are bussed. Wake County made the commitment to education 30 years ago and the results are the famed Research Triangle and a great place to live.

Lackawanna County has nine school districts. Why should a child in Carbondale not have the same opportunity to a great education as a child in the Abingtons? Talk about a real economic revitalization tool! People choose where to live primarily based on the available education opportunities and affordability. Think about what would happen throughout the county if, no matter where you lived, you know your child would have an equal opportunity for a great education. Property values could stabilize or rise in certain areas. Tax burdens would be shared across the county. There are too many advantages to mention. Of course now, in Wake County, they are working on economic integration in the schools, another issue.

Of course, change comes with more change. The commonwealth would have to get involved, as well as unions, politicians, and so forth. You can get a headache thinking about it. But what about the children, their future, their world? Is it worth the effort? Absolutely.

Thanks.

John T. Cognetti, president, Hinerfeld Realty

- Letter to the Editor of Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal

When you drive past a formerly dilapidated old neighborhood that’s suddenly undergoing an extreme makeover (like Scranton’s Hill section and more prominently in Monroe and Pike counties) you should rejoice — right? Not so fast.

A process called “gentrification” may be occurring and it’s an issue that has given some realtors and human service agencies cause for concern.

Under the banner of “affordable housing,” the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors (PMAR) and other partners will probe the issue at a summit this month. The problem, according to Cheryl Ann Houseman, PMAR’s government affairs director, can be summed up by performing some simple math. The median home price in Monroe County (without property taxes, home-owner’s insurance and mortgage insurance) is $220,000. The average wage in Monroe County is $29,000 per year, which breaks down to roughly $2,416 per month — not enough for a monthly mortgage payment that will exceed $1,300 monthly — not if a family wants to eat.

The problem in the Poconos is that higher wage workers from the New York metro area have priced lower-income people out of the market.

John Cognetti, president of Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate in Scranton says he has heard that many of those priced-out folks are moving into Lackawanna County — where affordable housing issues are just now appearing on the radar.

Mike Hanley, executive director of United Neighborhood Centers (UNC) of Northeastern Pennsylvania says gentrification has occurred in Scranton’s Hill section. He says he has personal knowledge of working class people who cannot afford a home in formerly affordable Scranton neighborhoods.

People are now being segregated, not by race, but by income.

Public policy has taken note.

Cognetti says, “Gentrification is a growing issue. It’s an interesting phenomenon. The government is pushing for integration of all income levels. Housing projects are being phased out with an emphasis on getting people into neighborhoods and creating a mix of affordable housing.”

Locally, PMAR has begun discussions in the Poconos about employer-assisted housing and other programs to get lower-income people into houses.

In Scranton, Catholic Social Services, UNC and even Scranton Tomorrow are examining ways to create affordable housing and, as UNC’s Hanley says, “Control gentrification so as not to push mid- and low-income families out of neighborhoods.”

Cognetti mentions another public policy approach — made necessary by income stratification — just now taking hold in places like Raleigh, N.C. , San Francisco and Seattle. The approach is termed, “economic integration.”

According to the Century Foundation (which publishes “issue briefs to help explain and call attention to public policy ideas worthy of discussion and debate”), “There is a new way on school integration — a program to boost the academic achievement of students and also increase interracial understanding without using race per se. Roughly 40 school districts in the United States are trying a new approach — socioeconomic or income-based school integration — and the early results are very promising . . . socioeconomic integration provides a more powerful way of promoting academic achievement . . .”

Parties concerned with affordable housing in northeast Pennsylvania obviously want to address gentrification and economic stratification before such school integration policies are necessary. Look for more on this issue in upcoming editions of the Business Journal.

-Elizabeth Zygmunt, Editor

- Courtesy of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Business Journal