It's really not so much that the place went out of business way too soon. It's not that so much optimism has once again been seemingly flushed down the toilet of failure. And it's not anything connected to a sense of personal loss, since I never set foot in the place. No, it's none of those things.It's the plywood.
A window once aglow with life and prosperity is now boarded up with a sheet of inexpensive plywood. A sheet? We should call it a shroud of plywood. Shrouds of which Scranton has seen far too many of over the decades.
Don't kid yourself. While Scranton might be hiking along the comeback trail, it's barely learned to put one foot in front of the other in relation to completing any sort of journey. Me? Yeah, I believe in Scranton, although Wilkes-Barre has become the "I Believe..." city. The plywood shroud is not an unknown in Wilkes-Barre, either.
Particularly disturbing is the reappearance of plywood at damned near the exact moment when the rebirth of Scranton, the rebirth of all NE PA, is about to begin in earnest. Yes, I know, we've
been re-birthing around here for likely thirty years. This time, though, it's genuine. The mid-wife, if you will, is TCMC, the new med school, the one whose first class made proud headlines over the weekend.My voice is not alone crying in any wilderness. Heck, I'm not even a sole advocate wandering around by Mayor Doherty's tree house in Nay Aug. What I am is one of a minimum of tens and tens of thousands who know that TCMC's going from idea to reality in the relative blink of an eye is the messianic occurrence long awaited to bring us back. And it will.
Then, no sooner does TCMC's first class arrive than plywood returns.
The plywood shroud has made a comeback in downtown Scranton, where not all that long ago there was probably more plywood than glass. Its reappearance is a dark and grim reminder. More shameful than that, it's demoralizing.
The Scranton Parking Authority owns the building. The Scranton Parking Authority needs to get rid of that plywood immediately. Please, replace it today.
