Just in case you missed it President Biden this evening gave a long speech promoting his 2 bills at the SNHS in Scranton. He went on at great lengths to tell how much his family connections to Scranton mean to him.

Now we know that his team knows that Steamtown exists. Next step is to educate them as to what's needed to get it out of the doldrums.

Anyone volunteering for that task??

Ross Rowland

Ross, we're thinking in the same vein.

Methinks SNHS hid the really derelict engines.

The three trolleys were Philadelphia PRT 8534, P&W 401 and Wilmington 120. Yup, at the reception there was a Wilmington trolley.

Phil Mulligan

"Next step is to educate them as to what's needed to get it out of the doldrums."

Among other things, the creation of another federal agency dedicated to the preservation of industrial history,

An odd backdrop for a politician with public antipathy to fossil fuels.

To bad he couldn't meet one of his biggest fans.

Online pictures show -- and the NY Times article confirms -- that the President spoke at the Electric City Trolley Museum, not SNHS.

Chris, that is apparently how it was supposed to appear. ECTM is on the campus of SNHS.

The decorations were adroitly placed to conceal any reference to SNHS and the only rail vehicles visible were trolleys. PRT car 8534 and P&W 401 were visible at the beginning, and after his speech, the President went to a reception area featuring Wilmington single-truck car 120. A WILMINGTON TROLLEY!!! It happened to be in the bay next to the reception area. We knew that when we put it there years ago, right?

In attendance were President Biden, US Sen. Bob Casey (D-Scranton), US Cong. Matt Cartwright (D-Lackawanna) and Scranton Mayor, Paige Cognetti. Also there were Stephen Gardner and Bill Flynn from Amtrak. (remember that NY-Scranton train?)

Phil Mulligan

"The decorations were adroitly placed to conceal any reference to SNHS"

Really? Why was that?

I know (and still maintain) I wrote that the ECTM is the crown jewel of Scranton-and perhaps the only thing of value (I was reminded off-line that although small, the Everhart Museum is interesting)

The NPS is part of the Department of the Interior and so, Steamtown reports to the President. The employees there work for the President.

However, you are telling us that Steamtown was purposefully "concealed".

I'm sorry co614, but this is a bigger snub of the place than not going to bat for it in eight years as VP.

I really wish people would learn to see through panem et circenses. Honestly folks, politicians are just more craven, opportunistic and ruthless than you. Stop treating them like they sit astride a throne made of anything other than porcelain. They are not visionaries or clairvoyants. They are accomplished at one thing-picking everybody pockets of nickels and then rewarding friends with hedge clipper sized scissors for ribbon cuttings and silver shovels for ground breakings. Sure the local TV station will cover these events, but they don't cover the subsequent underwhelming performances.

[Space reserved here for PCM to concoct some bizarre and juvenile conspiracy based upon the use of Juvenal's most famous quote from Satire X].

Also adjacent to the ECTM is the Steamtown Mall built at a cost of $90M, once promoted by POLITICIANS as the project that would save Scranton-significant enough to level almost all of Lackawanna Avenue with politicians pressing a ceremonial lever like in old movies. It was also supposed to be a symbiote of Steamtown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llGSGtN_h0M

This will be thirty years ago next year, hard to believe. Nobody saw the rise of ecommerce back then, but it was manifestly stupid to think that Scranton would be saved by a downtown mall with entry and parking issues, when the Viewmont Mall on Route 6 was an easy trip up I-81 and the Wyoming Valley Mall a little further South on the same road. Hence 23 yeas later it was sold at bankruptcy for a little more than a nickel on the dollar.

https://www.timesleader.com/news/375195/375195


I believe I told you before that a couple years ago I had the occasion to briefly meet a former PA Congressman and when he inquired of my vocation and then advocation, he said "oh, Joe McDade's baby, right". Decades after it was a done deal, and years after the Congressman left office, he was still carrying water for the late Bruce Vento.

Although I subscribe to the recently deceased Angelo Codevilla's idea that there is a "ruling class" that has more in common than different, some things retain partisan antipathy-McDade got a little to creative.

And now correspondent Michael Kelso has some thoughts about this concealment:

Go ahead Michael Kelso.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDTU0Q_07Pk

It is illegal to campaign on federal property.

SNHS is federal property; ECTMA is not.

The President went to Scranton to campaign for the bills be wants to see pass in Congress; ergo, he could not legally deliver his speech on SNHS (federal) property.

I watched the coverage of the event from start to finish on CNN and there were a number of extended shots of the CNN reporter ( Katlin Collins) standing some distance in front of UP Big Boy 4012 as she gave the warm up for the president's speech that followed.

Equally significant is that President Biden went to great lengths to express his love for Scranton and how important the community remains in his heart.

Perhaps there's a way to connect the dots here???

Let's give it some serious thought.

Hope springs eternal.. Ross Rowland

ECTMA is not federal property, as per the above quote.

He was not " campaigning" but rather promoting pending legislation that if it becomes law will effect every American.

You can be for or against the two bills that are under consideration but there's no denying that if passed they will have a major impact for years to come.

Hope springs eternal. Ross Rowland

I like (very much) the open-mindedness of Ross's thought of raising Mr. Biden's attention to funding Steamtown. We might expect nothing in return, but hope is always some to which we should turn. Steamtown's budget might be doubled; a huge amount to you and me, but it wouldn't amount to a drop in the national budget. Compare it to the cost of touch and go practice flights for the military each month. Compare it to the cost of flying to Florida to play golf over the weekend. Compare it to bales of cash thrown addiction projects and tobacco subsidies.
So how to address it? Write to your Congressperson and explain what you think needs to be done at Steamtown to benefit both it's national mission and what it would offer the President's hometown of Scranton.
Just a thought on something that can be done other than beating a dead horse, which I don't like either. I like horses and steam locomotives.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty, in a federal facility or using federal property.

This is the best thing I have read in a while! Gave me a great laugh. Having personally placed some of those "hedge clipper sized scissors" in the hands of local politicians I can attest to your statement.

Hatch Act guidelines for your reference: https://osc.gov/Documents/Outreach%20and%20Training/Handouts/A%20Guide%20to%20the%20Hatch%20Act%20for%20Federal%20Employees.pdf

The rest of this should probably go in the other Steamtown thread. The Dept. of the Interior, of which the NPS is an operating unit, gets its money from the budget that congress approves. In broad terms, if you (collectively, maybe as a grass roots campaign) want to have a snowball’s chance in hades in changing anything, come up with an initial, workable, well thought out plan (including alternatives). Present your initial case with a brief outline to members of congress that might be sympathetic and see if you get anywhere. You have to give them something to consider. If all you do is complain or demand, then you’ll be very lucky to even receive a “thank you for contacting the Office of So-and-So” letter. The only way you might be heard is to do their thinking for them.

I was raised outside of Boston and went to school in New Jersey, but I was born in New Zealand. My son-in-law was born in Michigan and raised in New Jersey. One of my granddaughters was born in the San Diego Naval Hospital and raised primarily in Northern Virginia. My daughter-in-law was born in Ireland (I won't say which one) and raised in New Jersey. My older daughter was born in Oklahoma and raised in both New Jersey and Massachusetts. My father was born in Scotland, emigrated to New Zealand, then emigrated again to Massachusetts.

Question 1 - Where can we all claim to be from?
Question 2 - What is your point?

GME