Phoenix Closing Gap on Philly in City Population Once Again (beach, transportation)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by AZLiam

There's no reason to resort to make sweeping generalizations about a population of people that chooses to live in a particular city and it's quite juvenile for you to feel you need to "go there".

My husband's cousin and his husband moved to Phoenix (Cave Creek) three years ago from the DC area (he's a native). They love it there and didn't realize what a craphole they were living in until they got out of there.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by AZLiam

Frankly, I'm simply tired of the non-residents of cities thinking they know more about said cities than the people who live there while tossing around faulty assumptions and I'm also pretty tired of talking about it in general. I know this has been going on since I've been a poster here in 2007; however, it still doesn't make it any less irritating. I'm done, so please move along now.

Yeah, welcome to the internet.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by AZLiam

Simply visiting a city/metro once or even a handful of times does not qualify someone to be an expert on that city/metro. If you do not live there, you do not know all about it and therefore should not be qualified to throw around faulty assumptions as present them as "factual".

How many times do you have to visit somewhere before you're an expert? How many times have you visited Philly?

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by jbcmh81

How many times do you have to visit somewhere before you're an expert? How many times have you visited Philly?

I don't know, you tell me? There seems to be a lot of "experts" here on CD. I have limited experience with Philadelphia and from what I saw and experienced of the city, I liked; however, I do not pretend to know the city and certainly do not talk trash about it nor do I present its residents in a negative light...I leave that up to the ones who are willing to do that to themselves.

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

I visited Philly back this past Fall 2014.... drove thru west philly to get to downtown...the majority of which looked like crap...why u salty tho? I'm tellin the truth. Philly is ugly.

All of Philly is ugly? Haha. There are plenty of beautiful areas of West Philly. I think Philadelphian's are well aware of the rough areas in West and North Philly. Here's a very nice section of West Philly:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ph...f514d88c3e58c1

And it's not like all of Phoenix is puppies and unicorns either:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4059...6iLWJL4LvA!2e0

[Rico Valencia]

Originally Posted by botticelli

your ability to drive at cheap oil price is due to massive subsidy to the oil industry, did you know that?

Will you love to drive as much if gas price is $8 a gallon?

I personally would love gas to go up to $4 or $5 dollars a gallon again; there was a lot less traffic and it kept the riffraff off the road. Cars get a lot better gas mileage today then they did even five years ago so $5 a gallon is really no big deal. By the time gas is $8 a gallon cars will be getting even better gas mileage and a significant percentage will be electric so it's really a moot point

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by AZLiam

I don't know, you tell me? There seems to be a lot of "experts" here on CD. I have limited experience with Philadelphia and from what I saw and experienced of the city, I liked; however, I do not pretend to know the city and certainly do not talk trash about it nor do I present its residents in a negative light...I leave that up to the ones who are willing to do that to themselves.

When looking at the big picture I think you need to understand that a city with a larger population doesn't automatically mean it's on par or better than a city with a smaller population. "population ≠ automatically better"

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

When looking at the big picture I think you need to understand that a city with a larger population doesn't automatically mean it's on par or better than a city with a smaller population. "population ≠ automatically better"

Your statement is totally out of context and I do not "need to understand" anything. I've never said such a thing so please take your assumptions elsewhere. Geez, what is wrong with some of you posters?

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by botticelli

Considering Philly still has fewer people than it did in 1995, I wouldn't call it "booming".

I would like to see Phoenix lose half of it's economy through de-industrialization, while simultaneously fighting increasing suburbanization. Afterwards dealing with poverty, drugs and the crack epidemic, crime, blight and decay from 100-300 year old infrastructure, etc.

Philadelphia has gone through a lot, and has honestly fared pretty well, especially when compared to other cities that were consider it's pier cities at the time: Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Baltimore. Even though Philadelphia city population declined from 1950 to about 2007, it's metro has never declined in population.

A lot of the newer suburban southern cities (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix) grew during de-industrializaiton and suburbanization and grew with suburban builds to favor the trends at the time. They have also not dealt with a decline period (which due to the declining oil prices, Houston may go through now.) Now however, it is becoming quite clear that the millennial population is overwhelmingly preferring urban areas and Philly is growing again. Again, I know people have different preferences, and I can see why some would prefer Phoenix, but the pendulum is definitely swinging back in Philly's favor.

You know Boston, Manhattan and Chicago aren't back to their peak populations either right? You also realize that from it's population low of 1,418,000 in 1999, Philadelphia has gained an estimated 135,000 people to a total of 1,553,165 as of 2013.
https://www.google.com/search?q=phil...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Saying Philadelphia is not booming actually shows how little you know of the city. Not only is the population growing by 10's of thousands a year, but jobs are coming to the city, crime is down to the lowest it's been in 60 years and counting, there are a ton of new developments happening including a Supertall skyscraper taller than anything in the country outside of NYC and Chicago, etc.

Read here:
Philadelphia

Philadelphia is gaining tons of new restaurants:
70 new restaurants on the way

New Bars:
Best new bars in Philly 2014

New shopping:
The Ten Hottest Retail Openings Coming To Philadelphia This Fall | Uwishunu - Philadelphia Blog About Things to Do, Events, Restaurants, Food, Nightlife and More

New parks:
Foundations partnering to enable railroad viaduct park
Dilworth Park — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com
Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com
Sister Cities Park — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com
Schuylkill River Trail — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com

Buildings completed since 2013 over 10 floors
Evo at Cira Centre South - apartments/retail - 33 floors - 430 feet
2116 Chestnut - apartments/retail - 34 floors - 379 feet
Temple University Morgan Hall - dormitory/retail - 27 floors - 312 feet
Philadelphia Family Court Building - government/office/courts - 15 floors - 265 feet
3737 Market - office - 13 floors - 221 feet
Wanamaker Plaza - apartments/retail - 14 floors - 214 feet
Chestnut Square - apartments/retail - 19 floors - 212 feet
Drexel University LeBow College of Business - academic - 14 floors - 210 feet
1900 Arch - apartments/office/retail - 14 floors
2040 Market - apartments/retail - 13 floors
Goldtex - apartments/retail - 11 floors
Temple University Science, Education & Research Center - academic/research - 10 floors

Under Construction over 10 floors
Comcast Innovation and Technology Center - offices/Four Seasons Hotel/retail - 59 floors - 1,121 feet
FMC Tower at Cira Centre South - offices/apartments/retail - 49 floors - 730 feet
SLS International - SLS hotel/condos/retail - 47 floors - 590 feet
W & Element by Westin - two hotels/retail - 52 floors - 582 feet
500 Walnut - condos/retail - 26 floors - 380 feet
700 Schuylkill - office/research - 23 floors - 375 feet
1601 Vine - apartments/retail - 32 floors - 370 feet
1919 Market - apartments/office/retail - 29 floors - 337 feet
3601 Market - apartments/retail - 28 floors - 320 feet
Penn Medicine South Tower - medical/healthcare/office/academic - 19 floors - 302 feet
1900 Chestnut - apartments/retail - 26 floors - 295 feet
Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care - medical/research/healthcare - 14 floors - 292 feet
East Market Tower I - apartments/200,000 sq feet of retail - 21 floors - 281 feet
The Summit at Drexel University - dormitory/retail - 25 floors - 279 feet
3737 Chestnut - apartments/office/retail - 25 floors - 278 feet
One Riverside - condos - 22 floors - 260 feet
One Water Street - apartments - 16 floors
Museum Towers II - apartments - 16 floors
AQ Rittenhouse - apartments/retail - 12 floors
Dalian on the Park - apartments/commercial/retail - 10 floors
Study at University City - hotel/retail - 10 floors

Yeah, Philly isn't booming though. This is all A LOT more exciting than your next suburban style housing development. Philadelphia is certainly a very exciting place to be currently.

[Rico Valencia]

Public transportation(subway, light rail) is cool and comes in handy when one is going to a sporting event or is doing some barhopping but other than that it's very unappealing. I'd rather be in my own private space listening to XM radio, Pandora or an audiobook and enjoy the freedom to go where I want, when I want. Relying on public transportation exposes one to nasty viruses, sketchy people and criminals, no thank you. Living as an adult depending on mass transit is no way to go through life, even if you live in Manhattan or San Francisco.

The Phoenix lifestyle is so much more appealing than the Philly lifestyle. In Phoenix you can enjoy a nice large house with a backyard where you can have a pool, barbecue grill, a vegetable garden and some citrus trees. You can be self-sufficient and entertain your friends and family but if you live in Philly you're more than likely dependent on public transportation and live in a high-rise apartment packed in like sardines.