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10%? You're clearly not well-familiar with the city.
"Most" is more accurate, if the crime ridden declining areas are included with the areas that look like outright bombed-out warzones. For instance, although most of North and Southwest Phiilly may be at arguably different levels of decline and decay, they are equally dangerous. Especially for those that look out-of-place there or who otherwise make good targets. The only truly good parts of the city left are center city, very select parts of south philly, parts of roxborough and east falls, and the wealthy outer limits of the city. The northeast is functionally gone as a desirebale place, even though crime may not yet be at the level it is in North Philly, it's certainly headed there and is already there for much of it. Most of Philly will be a cesspool to those who have a concept of the quality of life that is available to them in other places. Those that have the money to never leave center city or the main line, essentailly have to put blinders on to justify living near what surrounds them.
More than "very select parts" of South Philly are good these days. Grad Hospital and Bella Vista/Queen Village are in great shape. Much of far South Philly remains a solid, working- to middle-class white ethnic neighborhood. You can add Manayunk to (most) of Roxborough (parts of East Falls is correct) along with Chestnut Hill, West Mt. Airy, and parts of East Mt. Airy. Fairmount, Northern Liberties, and Fishtown are quite hot--hot enough that parts of Strawberry Mansion and Kensington are "disappearing" from the map. Most of University City/Clark Park (now all the way up to 50th street or so along Baltimore Avenue) is clean and vibrant. The Far Northeast (Somerton, Bustleton, and to a slightly lesser extent, Fox Chase) may not be exciting, but it's still solid and family-friendly, even if the schools aren't so good.
So no, you don't have to stay inside Center city or the Main Line (which, by the way, is only one of numerous strings of suburban affluence) and "put blinders on" to have an excellent quality of life. Parts of the city are certainly rough around the edges, and we have a way's to go before they fully clean up, but the important thing is that Philly (1) currently has a number of great neighborhoods for people to call home, and (2) is only heading on a continually upward trend.
10%? You're clearly not well-familiar with the city.
"Most" is more accurate, if the crime ridden declining areas are included with the areas that look like outright bombed-out warzones. For instance, although most of North and Southwest Phiilly may be at arguably different levels of decline and decay, they are equally dangerous. Especially for those that look out-of-place there or who otherwise make good targets. The only truly good parts of the city left are center city, very select parts of south philly, parts of roxborough and east falls, and the wealthy outer limits of the city. The northeast is functionally gone as a desirebale place, even though crime may not yet be at the level it is in North Philly, it's certainly headed there and is already there for much of it. Most of Philly will be a cesspool to those who have a concept of the quality of life that is available to them in other places. Those that have the money to never leave center city or the main line, essentailly have to put blinders on to justify living near what surrounds them.
WHAT?!?!?! haha. The only area of Northwest Philadelphia that is dangerous is East Germantown. You are telling me that miles and miles of Northwest Philadelphia like Manayunk, Roxborough, East Falls, West Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill are dangerous?!?! You my friend have no clue. Even the areas of Germantown closer to East Falls and the Wissahickon are not dangerous. The middle class African American neighborhoods that border the suburbs like Stenton, the Oak Lanes, etc are not bad either. Hell, even Olney is not that bad.
The majority of the Northeast is bad?! WHat?!!!!!! It may not be desirable but everything north of Cottman Ave is in good shape and not dangerous what so ever. Even some areas south of Cottman Like Tacony and Mayfair are not bad either.
There are only a select few safe areas in South Philadelphia?! The only actually dangerous area is Point Breeze.... which is currently seeing gentrification and redevelopment. Most of south Philadelphia is in good shape or getting better. You are also forgetting other nice or improving areas of the city like University City and neighborhoods surrounding it. The neighborhoods in West Philadelphia bordering city ave Like Wynnefield and Overbrook Park... the areas in Lower North Philadelphia bordering Center City like Fairmount, Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, FIshtown, etc.
These are the most ridiculous remarks I have ever heard. I really don't think YOU have any knowledge of the city outside of Center City. Pot calling the kettle black.. that's all that is happening here.
I wouldn't call most of Philly dangerous. Maybe 35% of it. You are forgetting that aside from the nice areas in the core, there are also Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia. Also, the areas on the borders of the city like Wynnfield or Oak Lane for instance are middle class african american areas and are often mistaken for being ghetto and dangerous... they are not. Not all of Southwest Philadelphia is dangerous either... it is mainly just Kingsessing. The areas closer to the airport really aren't that bad.
The northeast is not nice. It's crime ridden and dangerous except for a very small sliver left at its upper limits. I know because I live there and have lived here my entire life. I know what it was, what it is, and where it's going. I track the crime maps (very important and telling) and I walk or drive the many neighborhoods regularly. By no reasonsbale standard is the northeast nice, nor does it offer a semblance of quality of life. Besides chestnut hill in the northwest, which is very small, the northwest is not nice. Oak lane is not nice by my standards. If its nice the standards of others, then that's fine. But I know it well, and to me it's ghetto enough. Everything is relative to what we know, no?
By no reasonsbale standard is the northeast nice, nor does it offer a semblance of quality of life.
This is overkill. There is nothing objectively bad about most of the Far Northeast (which makes up way more than just a "sliver" of the city). Twins and cul-de-sacs aren't personally my idea of a good time, but Fox Chase/Bustleton/Somerton do blend in fairly seamlessly with Rockledge, Abington, Lower Moreland, and Lower Southampton. It's not Gladwyne, but it's not Fallujah either.
The northeast is not nice. It's crime ridden and dangerous except for a very small sliver left at its upper limits. I know because I live there and have lived here my entire life. I know what it was, what it is, and where it's going. I track the crime maps (very important and telling) and I walk or drive the many neighborhoods regularly. By no reasonsbale standard is the northeast nice, nor does it offer a semblance of quality of life. Besides chestnut hill in the northwest, which is very small, the northwest is not nice. Oak lane is not nice by my standards. If its nice the standards of others, then that's fine. But I know it well, and to me it's ghetto enough. Everything is relative to what we know, no?
Ok. You no longer have any validity with me. The Northwest is not nice besides Chestnut Hill?? The Northeast is not nice besides a small sliver towards the North? Oak Lane is not nice??
HAHAHAHAHA. Please do us a favor and move to New Jersey with the rest of the people from the Northeast who think THE WHOLE CITY is doomed because Frankford and Oxford Circle went downhill.
WHAT?!?!?! haha. The only area of Northwest Philadelphia that is dangerous is East Germantown. You are telling me that miles and miles of Northwest Philadelphia like Manayunk, Roxborough, East Falls, West Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill are dangerous?!?! You my friend have no clue. Even the areas of Germantown closer to East Falls and the Wissahickon are not dangerous. The middle class African American neighborhoods that border the suburbs like Stenton, the Oak Lanes, etc are not bad either. Hell, even Olney is not that bad.
The majority of the Northeast is bad?! WHat?!!!!!! It may not be desirable but everything north of Cottman Ave is in good shape and not dangerous what so ever. Even some areas south of Cottman Like Tacony and Mayfair are not bad either.
There are only a select few safe areas in South Philadelphia?! The only actually dangerous area is Point Breeze.... which is currently seeing gentrification and redevelopment. Most of south Philadelphia is in good shape or getting better. You are also forgetting other nice or improving areas of the city like University City and neighborhoods surrounding it. The neighborhoods in West Philadelphia bordering city ave Like Wynnefield and Overbrook Park... the areas in Lower North Philadelphia bordering Center City like Fairmount, Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, FIshtown, etc.
These are the most ridiculous remarks I have ever heard. I really don't think YOU have any knowledge of the city outside of Center City. Pot calling the kettle black.. that's all that is happening here.
If you really believe this then you have a distorted view of what "good" is. I gave you Roxborough (and by extension Manayunk), East Falls, and I didn't mention Chestnut Hill because in my opinion it's almost too small to mention in contrast with the bad parts of Philadelphia proper, and beyond that most even middle class people can't afford to live there - at least in the neighborhoods that you would drive through and deem desireable. So, bringing them up as a point of argument isn't legitimate. I have already conceded these areas that are relatively small compared to to sea of ghetto that characterizes most of the rest of the city. So, yes, there are other neighborhoods besides the mainline that are desireable (I am familiar of all of them), parts of Chestnut Hill being one of them, but these are largely upper-middle and upper class neighborhoods that the average family won't be able to touch. I was focusing on average living in Philadelphia for the average family, not the family with money enough to insulate themselves. You can insulate yourself in Detroit given enough money. That doesn't mean that Detroit, or Philly, shouldn't be characterized, overall, as run-down or bad to live in if most of its available middle to middle-lower class living space is crime ridden and declining.
If you think that Olney and Oak Lane aren't bad, then take a snapshot of a crime map for the area and post it here. Prove it. I was robbed at gunpoint in Olney. To state that these areas aren't bad, relative to what most people think good is, is ridiculous and illustrates how you are the one without perspective on the city. Not me. I know the city well, and I know what is outside of it. You lack perspective on the historical northeast. Again, you don't have a propelry aligned compass that tells you waht is "good" and "bad". Your idea of good seems to equate to "not the worst of the worst". This is not normal.
Ok. You no longer have any validity with me. The Northwest is not nice besides Chestnut Hill?? The Northeast is not nice besides a small sliver towards the North? Oak Lane is not nice??
HAHAHAHAHA. Please do us a favor and move to New Jersey with the rest of the people from the Northeast who think THE WHOLE CITY is doomed because Frankford and Oxford Circle went downhill.
Your comments are ridiculous at best.
I don't require credibilty with you. I could care less what you think, but I will say that a race to mediocrity will never make this city a good place to live except for it's sheltered apologists. Everyone else will look in and shake their heads in bewilderment.
This is overkill. There is nothing objectively bad about most of the Far Northeast (which makes up way more than just a "sliver" of the city). Twins and cul-de-sacs aren't personally my idea of a good time, but Fox Chase/Bustleton/Somerton do blend in fairly seamlessly with Rockledge, Abington, Lower Moreland, and Lower Southampton. It's not Gladwyne, but it's not Fallujah either.
I grew up in Fox Chase and still live close. Bustleton, Fox Chase, and Summerton do make up a "sliver" in ratio to the land area of the rest of the city. They don't blend seamlessly with Lower Moreland and Lower Southampton. The association is ridiculous. Completely incomparable. I'm okay with agreeing to disagree. To all of those, with families, who think that it's a good quality of life in Oak Lane, Olney, Lawncrest/Lawndale (RIP), Fox Chase (talk to me in a decade), Bustleton, Torresdale, Mayfair, Tacony, Somerton, etc.. More power to you. I'm okay with that.
Damnn dude, is Philadelphia seriously that atrocious?
I was under the impression that Philadelphia's becoming more or less a larger scaled vision of what Boston is now.
First of all, the nice areas of Philadelphia are larger than all of Boston... and that is not including all the gentrifying and developing areas of Philadelphia.
Don't listen to him. He used to live in the Northeast... a section of the city that is notorious for being racist. Around 2000, a boat load of whites starting moving out of Northeast Philadelphia to New Jersey because "black people are moving in"
Ever since then, it seems that the only people bashing Philadelphia are those from the Northeast section of the city or those who moved to south New Jersey 20 years ago and still view the city as the same as it was 20 years ago because they never venture into the city and don't see the improvements going on ... but for us who actually live in the city... we see the changes happening... and oh are they glorious
Most people who moved out of the city 20 years ago however, have no credibility on modern day Philadelphia and are completely biased because "their precious white enclave neighborhoods went downhill"... when infact only a few neighborhoods went downhill and that is because all the white people moved out when a few black people started moving in.
These people will see safe, stable, middle class african american neighborhoods like Wynnefield, Overbrook Park, Oak Lane, etc... and call it dangerous just because there are black people there.
With that said, Philadelphia is in a good position currently and is finally moving away from the old racist, segregated ways... it is starting to grow after several decades of decline... it is starting to clean up block by block day by day. Redevelopment and gentrifying is spreading throughout the city and Philadelphia's brightest days are ahead of it.
I grew up in Fox Chase and still live close. Bustleton, Fox Chase, and Summerton do make up a "sliver" in ratio to the land area of the rest of the city. They don't blend seamlessly with Lower Moreland and Lower Southampton. The association is ridiculous. Compeltely incomparable. I'm okay with agreeing to disagree. To all of those, with families, who think that it's a good quality of life in Oak Lane, Olney, Lawncrest/Lawndale (RIP), Fox Chase (talk to me in a decade), Bustelon, Torresdale, Mayfair, Tacony, Somerton, etc.. More power to you. I'm okay with that.
Don't tell me the edges of those neighborhoods don't blend in with surrounding Montgomery/Bucks Counties. Pine Valley especially, which is almost identical with bordering Abington/Lower Moreland.
Half of my family lived in the Northeast at one point or another, so part of me understands where you're coming from, but this bitter white ethnic attitude of "my part of the city's declining so the rest of it must be going down the pisser as well" is extremely short-sighted. The urban core is definitely revitalizing as some outer neighborhoods are declining, but the balance is definitely positive as a whole.
Quote:
Originally Posted by valentro
Damnn dude, is Philadelphia seriously that atrocious?
I was under the impression that Philadelphia's becoming more or less a larger scaled vision of what Boston is now.
If these statements are accurate, I'm going with Minneapolis on this comparison. Wow.
Philadelphia is definitely on the upswing overall (see above).
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