Yes because these are high school and junior high kids -
And sports aren’t that important
Jesus
Taking the bus from Shenango to Center for wpial track playoffs was bad enough
OT: WPIAL HS Sports are a mess
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And sports aren’t that important
Jesus
Taking the bus from Shenango to Center for wpial track playoffs was bad enough
Yeah, the DC area is so expensive, that southern part of PA along with the Eastern panhandle of WV. I talked to a guy in Martinsburg (WV) and his family home which they bought like in the 80's for $90K now he could sell for $450K.
In some of these rural areas, small schools and long bus rides are unavoidable. But Riverview (Oakmont) could easily be part of Plum. Hell Oakmont CC is technically in Plum. Springdale, and Deer Lakes would not require long bus rides. Clairton and TJ or West Mifflin? Cornell is right there with Moon. Sto Rox and Montour. Avonworth with NA. Aliquippa and Hopewell. Hell, I believe you can actually see Wash High from Trinity HS. Etc...etc....etc....
Amtrak has always owned the line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, which made upgrades easier. The line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh is owned by Norfolk Southern, who is aggressively difficult to work with for passenger rail. The topography for the western portion is also significantly more challenging. The relatively flat line out east means you can run fully electrified trains with overhead lines at 100+ mph.
Post pandemic, we’ve learned how to do business and remain productive without going into the home office. Times have changed.
Well that's why I edited my post to say it was a chicken or egg conundrum. I think if you build it, it could create demand.
Was there a big demand for Harrisburg area residents to commute into Philly for work prior to the Amtrak line upgrade? Regardless the level of initial demand, I am sure the upgrading of the line to a high speed one helped drive greater demand. If you do it in Western PA, business might be attracted to the region if you can locate certain operations in lower taxed, less developed counties and municipalities yet still have easy access to the amenities Pittsburgh can offer (like an international airport).
Merging schools common in the ’60s
In early August, three weeks before classes were to begin, a small group of parents attended a Monessen School Board meeting. Two mothers, contending the district provided limited educational and
Amtrak is headquarted in............................................Philadelphia.
You can actually take a commuter rail line from Martinsburg to Union Station in DC on weekdays. Takes about two hours. I’m not totally sure if that survived the pandemic, though.
I have better idea riverview can join Penn hills- why send them to plum ?
And now you are seeing why consolidation isn’t happening.
same reason folks move to those areas .
They are under the mistaken belief the teachers in those schools are better
it’s also why people go to trinity instead of wash high .
It’s all the same stuff - because conventional wisdom is incredibly difficult for people to realize is wrong
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People from a major city commuting and working in the state Capitol isn’t surprising
A high quality line from pittsburgh to Philly would also be terrific which could tie into the line to DC
those ideas make plenty of sense
I’m suggesting there is limited need for pittsburgh to Altoona or the like
They are high school kids, not junior high kids. The JH kids can play some local team, who cares. 1-2 long trips per year are fine. Nobody will die, I promise. We bussed 3 hours for a game when I was in HS and our team made a whole day of it. Was one of the most memorable times I had in HS.
Actually, BVA will likely merge with Monessen, soon. BV and Yough would be a huge district and pretty spread out.
I think you'll see more co-ops if schools don't want to merge. That probably makes a lot of sense. It's becoming a popular option in rural areas. Get to keep your other sports separate. I think it makes sense. They've even gone so far as to alternate where the home games are played. Those arrangements seem to be working.
I don’t disagree but large meeting as still taking place in person .
Particularly in major cities with folks traveling in for them (DC, Boston , etc )
Not really. Bedford County has become a bedroom community for the DC area, believe it or not. I know several people that travel it daily. I think they're nuts but the pay versus cost of living make it attractive, i guess.
That’s not how sports work, boss
Your idea is stupid for the reason I detailed
Can you write a note to my boss? We've actually lost some good people because we won't allow people to work at home.
Why? There is some rule that junior high kids have to play the same teams? Change it then. Easy peezy.
The topography in the mountains is always going to be a significant challenge. No question that there need to be significant upgrades, but those have been decades in the making and the cost is…extreme (but IMO still worth doing - think about how much we spend on highways).
What I think would be an easier and also very useful project would be to upgrade the quality and frequency of service between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The topography isn’t as extreme, and would present similar economic opportunities if you could get between two cities of pretty decent size in less than two hours.
I work with someone who moved to the Erie area because he only has to work in his office in Pgh occasionally. Work from home changed a lot. I doubt those Bedford people are commuting every day. If you were offered a great job in DC paying significantly more than what you are making now but had to go into the office 2-4 times per month, I think many of us would take it and just get a hotel room.
This is like the 800th time this has came up on here, so I'll post the same things that I always do.
1) Drive down 837 and look on either side of the Clairton Bridge. Little Clairton on one side, little South Allegheny on the other. Both as stand-alone school districts. Come on. And there are so many similar examples.
2) Not Allegheny County, but here's a map of the Westmoreland school districts.
Like, why do Monessen and Jeannette get to be their own districts? And I get that it's what both sides want, blah blah. Just saying it's silly.
1) Drive down 837 and look on either side of the Clairton Bridge. Little Clairton on one side, little South Allegheny on the other. Both as stand-alone school districts. Come on. And there are so many similar examples.
2) Not Allegheny County, but here's a map of the Westmoreland school districts.
Like, why do Monessen and Jeannette get to be their own districts? And I get that it's what both sides want, blah blah. Just saying it's silly.
The point being that it seems easy, but you are proposing that everyone else change what they’re doing because we have a 6A football problem in WPIAL. I’m sure it can be done though but there will be tons of resistance.
I agree. And there’s always a need to go into the home office. All I’m saying is that feasibility studies might not show that mass transit expansion is profitable because the commuter pool is significantly smaller than it was.
The entire western half of the state has a 6A problem. There's 10 teams west of State College + Williamsport.
The other solution would be for the WPIAL to do what the Erie and Altoona districts have done and just have their 6A teams "play down" in smaller classifications. If Lebo wins the WPIAL 5A championship, then send the 5A team they beat to the 5A state playoffs
Are there not major teaching shortages in PA? So a school like McKeesport is losing population... okay, you're now combined with East Allegheny, Duquesne (currently ceding from West Mifflin), and South Allegheny.
West Mifflin overbuilt their new high school... okay, you're merged with Steel Valley.
Brentwood's taxes are way too high... okay, you're with Baldwin. Keystone Oaks, you guys can go to Lebo or Char Valley.
West Mifflin overbuilt their new high school... okay, you're merged with Steel Valley.
Brentwood's taxes are way too high... okay, you're with Baldwin. Keystone Oaks, you guys can go to Lebo or Char Valley.
Jeannette is the perfect example. Should be PennTrafford or Hempfield.This is like the 800th time this has came up on here, so I'll post the same things that I always do.
1) Drive down 837 and look on either side of the Clairton Bridge. Little Clairton on one side, little South Allegheny on the other. Both as stand-alone school districts. Come on. And there are so many similar examples.
2) Not Allegheny County, but here's a map of the Westmoreland school districts.
Like, why do Monessen and Jeannette get to be their own districts? And I get that it's what both sides want, blah blah. Just saying it's silly.
I think high speed methods of public mass transit from Pittsburgh to Philly and Pittsburgh to DC (and Pittsburgh to Cleveland as another person mentioned) would be ideal. But if those projects aren't happening, I think starting smaller such as Pittsburgh to Altoona or Latrobe would still be beneficial to the region. It is more akin to what the eastern part of the state has shown successfully works, so it should be easier to convince politicians and economic planning commissions and the like that it is feasible.
Someone mentioned the topography, but Latrobe is before the first mountain so you have less of the topography problem if you the make Latrobe-Pittsburgh an accelerated corridor. Admittedly, the train tracks have quite a crazy layout (including Horseshoe Curve) around Altoona, so perhaps upgraded speed to Altoona is too much.
Where ya been? More big schools in the east and more small schools in the west. Been that way for a long time. The PIAA evens it out as much as possible in the State playoffs by giving certain districts more schools in classifications with higher numbers.
What did you say that I didn’t acknowledge in the OP? The only difference now is that we are down to only 5 6A schools in this two year cycle. What’s it going to be in 2024, 3 teams?
Whoever wins that 5 team juggernaut is gonna get a real cool trophy for their trophy case. How exciting.
I was just thinking state level. Pa. is a weird state geographically. Pittsburgh in the west, Philly in the east. Alabama in the middle. You are correct though that as far as the WPIAL goes 6A is a sparse field.
The issue, too, is that the eastern part of the state is just more populated (which brings us full circle). Latrobe and Greensburg combined have just north of 20,000 total population, and while both have people living outside of the city limits, it’s not like there are extensive strings of suburbs. The Johnstown MSA and the Altoona MSA each have about 125,000 people. There’s definitely some “build it and they’ll come” involved, but the numbers are just way different than out east.
Meanwhile, the Harrisburg-Carlisle MSA and the Lancaster MSA each have 500,000+ people, and are both located along the upgraded Amtrak line. If anything, I think there would be a tremendous amount of value in seriously exploring a Harrisburg-York-Baltimore rapid transit line, since the York MSA also has 450,000 people. They’re already planning on restoring Amtrak service to Reading, and they’ve gotta explore the same for the Lehigh Valley.
Are you doing identity politics again, which of course you never do. I am saying "Plum" because most of the Riverview kids are closer to Plum HS.
Absolutely. Hempfield for sure. But it is not always the "white" districts that balk. Schools like Jeannette, Leechburg, Clairton do not want to lose their identity.
Yes, it will be 3. CM was only 6 boys away from 5A and CC only 10 away. Though maybe Norwin moves up (11 away from 6A) or PR (28 away).
I, personally, would think it would be hilarious if Lebo, NA, and SV were the only 6A teams.
Leechburg is like 98% white. You have made some decent points, but lost me on that one.
You make a lot of good points, but Avonworth is gaining in size. They were A not all that long ago, but will probably be a solid 4A school in sports in the near future.
guys, you dont merge school districts because some of the football conferences arent even..
