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All Facts, News, Opinions, Pictures or anything else relating to the city of Chester PA can be posted on this thread. I plan on writing a book about chester and having grown up there and currently living outside in Wallingford, I would like to hear of how people think of it, now that it has been struggling.
its a terrible city and an embarrassment to delaware county. Most of the county doesnt want to be associated with it. its ashame it had to turn out the way it did, personally i dont think there is really any hope for chester. It had such a bright past, and a dim future. Living in media, you hear about a lot of white people who are doing pretty well for themselves today that grew up in chester, and look back on it and how it has changed so much. Now that a lot of delco is a newer younger crowd ie garnet valley, chadds ford, parts of aston, or far away from chester like radnor and haverford, all people think of when chester is mentioned is ghetto, no one really remembers its past aside from those who grew up there.
its a terrible city and an embarrassment to delaware county. Most of the county doesnt want to be associated with it. its ashame it had to turn out the way it did, personally i dont think there is really any hope for chester. It had such a bright past, and a dim future. Living in media, you hear about a lot of white people who are doing pretty well for themselves today that grew up in chester, and look back on it and how it has changed so much. Now that a lot of delco is a newer younger crowd ie garnet valley, chadds ford, parts of aston, or far away from chester like radnor and haverford, all people think of when chester is mentioned is ghetto, no one really remembers its past aside from those who grew up there.
I hate to admit it, but cpomp is right. I don't think there's any hope for Chester. No one wants to be tied to it. People outside look at it, rightly or wrongly, as a city that just doesn't care.
It's tough to look at the city and think of any positives. Many of the people living there today are surrounded by on going violence. It's tough to swallow when I drive back and see how much worse it has really gotten. I passed two prostitutes beneath the bridge on Flower St. The stadium is very nice along with the race track but I think new small businesses could benefit the city in the long run. Anything that can promote jobs that don't involve selling drugs.
I can only hope that one day Chester will become a thriving city. I have confidence in it, but it will take time.
I don't think Chester, PA is the only embarrassing thing about delaware county. I know Radnor, Media, and the Wallingford-Swarthmore areas are elegant, but the Ridley township and Darby township areas are not great.
I live in Wallingford, right near Chester Park. Now that our SPCA will (soon) be a no-kill and no longer be taking in strays, I CAN'T IMAGINE what the stray population of dogs is going to be from that city. What a nightmare!
ridley and darby arent that great your right, but they are a far cry from chester. I have a feeling that the whole section of delaware county(southeaster section) will continue to go downhill, while the western and northern half of the county will continue to prosper. The demographics are very interesting in delaware county.
Soulsurv: that could also unfortunately increase dog fighting and puppy mills that often get busted in bad areas such as chester.
its a terrible city and an embarrassment to delaware county. Most of the county doesnt want to be associated with it. its ashame it had to turn out the way it did, personally i dont think there is really any hope for chester. It had such a bright past, and a dim future. Living in media, you hear about a lot of white people who are doing pretty well for themselves today that grew up in chester, and look back on it and how it has changed so much. Now that a lot of delco is a newer younger crowd ie garnet valley, chadds ford, parts of aston, or far away from chester like radnor and haverford, all people think of when chester is mentioned is ghetto, no one really remembers its past aside from those who grew up there.
ugh it's attitudes like this one that make me dislike the philly suburbs. it's just such a weird fake place. people in chester are obviously in really dire straits and the crime is awful... and you're concerned because you feel they are embarrassing you?
please. get over it. it's so weird how all the different suburbs, monto, delco, burlco, etc always fight over which is better and what. it's all the same people. good spots and bad spots in all. chester is not an embarrassment to delco.
In fact I think it's going to be pretty funny 50 years from now when Chester is thriving and places like Springfield, Aston, Marple Newtown etc are all slums.
Why will this happen? Because Chester has many great positives that these other places could never ever have. The crime and desperation of chester as it is today makes all these things easily forgotten. But they are there and things can only get so bad in chester and i think chester is about as bad as it can possibly get right now. eventually land will become so undervalued that developers will buy it up and areas will begin to gentrify and that will spread throughout chester. what are these positives that chester has that Aston, Bromall, Newton Square, etc could only dream about?
Chester is on the WATERFRONT!
Today the waterfront is covered with abandoned industrial buildings... but as gentrification spread through Chester this will become prime real estate. Chester has a resource in this water front that other towns in delaware county could only dream about.
Chester has an excellent UNIVERSITY!
Widener is a well respected university and continues to see strong enrollment and growth despite being located in the middle of what is currently a hellhole. gentrification doesn't just spring out of no where. it needs to be spurred by something. Widener will be that catalyst. It's already happening as the area around Widener is continuing to improve.
Chester has a DENSE URBAN CITY GRID!
This city grid doesn't do much for chester right now. But as gentrification sets in it will lead the gentrified areas to be dense and walkable. As more money comes into chester the many corner stores and former business will return as they will now have customers and the fear of crime will be lower.
Chester has excellent REGIONAL RAIL SERVICE!
Once that grid fill in the ability to commute to philly in under half an hour by train will be a great bonus... a bonus other delaware county suburbs have... but many don't!
So trash Chester if you want. But it won't stay down forever. There is nothing naturally great about most places in delaware county... places like swarthmore, media, etc being the exception. they are just nice places and nothing but current property values are keeping them that way. as the housing stock continues to age what are you going to be left with? a bunch of places with old dumpy houses spread out all over the place with poor amenities.
Chester on the other hand has a lot of things about it that are naturally very positive. It's just losing all the industry hit chester REALLY hard. The positives of chester will not be ignored forever however, and it will eventually rebound. I mean in many ways it's already beginning. Widener is continuing to grow and projects like PPL park can only have a positive impact. Chester will be back, you heard it here first!
ugh it's attitudes like this one that make me dislike the philly suburbs. it's just such a weird fake place. people in chester are obviously in really dire straits and the crime is awful... and you're concerned because you feel they are embarrassing you?
please. get over it. it's so weird how all the different suburbs, monto, delco, burlco, etc always fight over which is better and what. it's all the same people. good spots and bad spots in all. chester is not an embarrassment to delco.
In fact I think it's going to be pretty funny 50 years from now when Chester is thriving and places like Springfield, Aston, Marple Newtown etc are all slums.
Why will this happen? Because Chester has many great positives that these other places could never ever have. The crime and desperation of chester as it is today makes all these things easily forgotten. But they are there and things can only get so bad in chester and i think chester is about as bad as it can possibly get right now. eventually land will become so undervalued that developers will buy it up and areas will begin to gentrify and that will spread throughout chester. what are these positives that chester has that Aston, Bromall, Newton Square, etc could only dream about?
Chester is on the WATERFRONT!
Today the waterfront is covered with abandoned industrial buildings... but as gentrification spread through Chester this will become prime real estate. Chester has a resource in this water front that other towns in delaware county could only dream about.
Chester has an excellent UNIVERSITY!
Widener is a well respected university and continues to see strong enrollment and growth despite being located in the middle of what is currently a hellhole. gentrification doesn't just spring out of no where. it needs to be spurred by something. Widener will be that catalyst. It's already happening as the area around Widener is continuing to improve.
Chester has a DENSE URBAN CITY GRID!
This city grid doesn't do much for chester right now. But as gentrification sets in it will lead the gentrified areas to be dense and walkable. As more money comes into chester the many corner stores and former business will return as they will now have customers and the fear of crime will be lower.
Chester has excellent REGIONAL RAIL SERVICE!
Once that grid fill in the ability to commute to philly in under half an hour by train will be a great bonus... a bonus other delaware county suburbs have... but many don't!
So trash Chester if you want. But it won't stay down forever. There is nothing naturally great about most places in delaware county... places like swarthmore, media, etc being the exception. they are just nice places and nothing but current property values are keeping them that way. as the housing stock continues to age what are you going to be left with? a bunch of places with old dumpy houses spread out all over the place with poor amenities.
Chester on the other hand has a lot of things about it that are naturally very positive. It's just losing all the industry hit chester REALLY hard. The positives of chester will not be ignored forever however, and it will eventually rebound. I mean in many ways it's already beginning. Widener is continuing to grow and projects like PPL park can only have a positive impact. Chester will be back, you heard it here first!
camden too! haha
Your really mixing up your opinions here. First of all, it is very upsetting to see the way chester is today and for it could actually. My family came from chester before it went down hill, so why in the world would i want chester to suffer. I was stating my honest opinion, it is an embarrassment. There are unfortunately good people who are stuck there, but there are also many who dont care and cause crime terrorizing the city and its residents. And for the fact that would sit there and make a claim that aston marple and springfield would be ghettos, where in the world is that coming from. The difference between those towns and chester are that they are more affluent neighborhoods with people who take pride in their home ownership and the town they live in. How many people are proud to live in chester today? Chester has a lon long long way to go, and 50 years from now, i still think it will be a complete mess, maybe a slightly revitalized waterfront area, but as far as it being a desirable city for families to move to, i dont know if that will ever happen, and since you were talking about other parts of delco going downhill in the future, i think you should be worried about darby, ridley, chichester, etc, not aston, springfield, and marple. Newtown square is a different town then marple, and for you to say newtown square would be a ghetto, is like saying gladwyne would be a ghetto in 50 years.
@Phillies2011- I agree that the University and waterfront are big advantages that Chester has. I don't think it is a bold statement to say Chester can be improved in the next 50 years. I could easily see why people wouldn't think that given the situation now. I don't think it's an embarrassment to delaware county, it's just a county I'm not sure why people are so stuck up on pride in a county. Delaware county has Radnor which makes it great, and it starts going worse the further south you go.
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