Thursday, February 5, 2015

Unfulfilled Promise

Our friends at the Scranton Times~Tribune report Marywood University is slapping a "for sale" sign on the old Scranton State School for the Deaf.

The Marywood purchased the property a few years ago.  Other than some landscaping and lighting, Marywood, my alma mater, didn't do a darned thing with it.

I wandered about the property, and took these pictures in September of 2013.

The buildings are old.  They're filled with lead paint, asbestos, and other horrible things.  It will cost a fortune to get them up to today's standards.  I get that.

Still, it makes me sad to see Marywood give up on a gem.  It's a spectacular property, filled with promise and possibilities.  Please, Marywood.  Start small.  Fix one building.  Do another in a few years.  And then another.  I'm sure there are programs on the main campus that need more room.  The land and buildings are too good to sell.

According to our newspaper friends, there's a chance Marywood will keep the SSD property.  I hope that someone in the university community has the vision to see the what can be done here.