i m intending to live in philadelphia (York, Washington: rent, crime)

[sahara_male]

Hello all,
Hope everybody is well,
I am arabic man from Morocco,Casablanca city ,to those who don't now the location of Morocco ,it is a country in north Africa,just meditranean sea separate us from Spain/Europe.
I want to know how is life in this, city of philadelphia,and how is the people behaviour of the foreign arabic people, how much approximatively can coast a rent of a simple small single house,and work and study there,everything you can tell me about there please .
thank you very much for your help.
regards to you all

[mder68]

Philly is an old industrial city in the Northeastern part of America. It is historic; has good universities; some good high schools and excellent hospitals.

The summers can be hot and humid while the winters can be cold. Three of last four winters saw the Delaware River freeze.

People are tough but friendly. There is no anti-arabic sentiment yet but if they keep cutting off heads and blowing things up, there might be.

Most Americans are open and friendly. This is a big country and we do not have the hatreds of people from older countries. Religion is you r choice.

Housing is expensive as is living. Taxes are high to support a large governmental presence. City is controlled politically by Americans of African descent.

[aesop]

The definitive place to learn more about Philly ----> PhillyBlog.com (the forums are full of Philadelphians discussing the city!)

Philadelphia is one of the greatest and most underrated cities in America. And I disagree with the poster above...Housing is not expensive. It's not even in the Ballpark of Washington, New York, and Boston (3 cities most comparable to philly) although that is changing rapidly and prices are increasing incredibly fast and will probably soon be in that DC price range.

One of Philadelphia's greatest assets is it's vibrant downtown. Philly is home to many large business HQ (more than san fran, boston, and other cities in it's tier) and also has the third largest downtown residential population in the US behind only New York and Chicago.

PhillySkyline.com <--- that page features many pictures of different neighborhoods and the like.


Philadelphia is an ethnically diverse city, but it is mostly Blacks (43.2%) and Whites (42.5%)...there are however many pockets of other ethnicities, Koreans in Olney, Chinese in Chinatown, Hispanics in Hunting Park, etc. I'm not sure how many Arabs there are in the city however.

The main problem with Philly, other than it's corrupt politicians, is the incredible social and economic status differences from neighborhood to neighborhood. In many parts of Center City and it's adjacent neighborhoods you might aswell be in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Fran, etc.......but you're always a short subway ride from some of the most dangerous areas in the entire united states. There are many areas of North Philly and Camden, NJ (which is right across the river) that can resemble 3rd-world war zones with streets where gun violence is the norm, gangs run the streets, and crime is astronomical!

Philadelphia is a city of Neighborhoods. Make sure you move into the right one for you.

Good Luck, and enjoy Philadelphia!

[tishababy]

most the citizen of philly really see a good aspect of the city. I just move here a couple a months ago and still don't see what everybody else see here. in a 3/4 part of the city you will see alot of garbage in the streets. rent is a little expense for what little this city has to offer. If you see the tv news all you'll heard is gunshots and people being kill all the time. IS like news reporter are repeating the news over and over again. My opinion that the you search another city to live.

[heatam]

I lived in Philly for 32 years (was born there), and moved away from it for many reasons. Too much crime and violence. Public schools are not good (and I am in the education field). Many neighborhoods are a disgrace. A very gray city. Sure, if you like lots of culture, it is fun to visit downtown...but for me, that part doesn't weigh against the negatives. And we are not that much of a friendly town. Having went to school in the northeast, south philly, worked in west philly and north philly...I have met a great amount of people, and the word friendly does not cross my mind.

[loose cannon]

Im in between. I have been to Philly many times in my life. Some friends live there. I'd had great times carousing and going to concerts. Otherwise there is a lot of bs you dont have to put up with. As far as friendly I would say it's selective. People can be great towards you but if they decide not to like you then you have no shot. People are very reactionary. Ask the players of the sports teams. One day you're a hero and the next day they want to run you out of town. Donovan Mcnabb is starting to experience this. And the way these blowhards have treated Bobby Abreu is disgraceful.

[MoonlightMadness]

I lived in Philly all my life (40 years) and in one of the better(?) neighborhoods (Manayunk/Roxborough area). People are right about the crime. I'm surrounded by drug dealers and their junkie customers and the police are in total denial about what's going on. Maybe when the neighborhood looks like North or West Philly and we have turf wars/drive-by shootings, the police will react. By then it's too late. And for the taxes and other high costs you have to pay to live here, it's not worth it. Also, good luck finding a decent-paying job in the city; they don't exist. I'm looking to move out. I just need to talk my hubby into it.

[enviroman]

I grew up in Philly (or at least the burbs in Delaware County) and I need to echo the sentiments of the other posters.

The crime in West and North Philly is insane. I am a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, which is seated firmly in West Philadelphia. I think we had at least 2 students shot in my 4 years there. Many, many students were robbed, at least a few at knife or gun point.

However, putting crime aside, Philadelphia is a pretty neat city. Its universities are great (Penn, Haverford, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, St. Joe's, and Villanova are top private schools, and Temple is a pretty decent public). It has two fantastic magnet high schools (Masterman and Central) and a plethora of top-ranked private high schools. Its public high schools aren't the best, however...

To be honest, I'm not sure what the view toward Arabs is in Philadelphia. It's a pretty diverse place. Most people are fairly tolerant, I guess. However, you have to realize the US isn't a breeding ground for Arab support. Many Americans tend to be close-minded and very patriotic, both of which can be bad news for an Arab.

[ApartmentNomad]

This is an old message, but I am going to chime in anyway.

Philadelphia's Arab community is not very large or visible. Nevertheless, as others have pointed out, Philadelphia is racially and ethnically mixed, especially in and around center city. Also, I believe Muslims are more commonly accepted than they might be otherwise because they have gotetn used to seeing African-American Muslims in the area, many of whom are much more visible about their faith than immigrant Muslims (e.g., women in full hijab, men in pants that do not fall beneath the ankles). And whether you are a Muslim or not, I think it benefits you as an Arab to be in an area that is not anti-Muslim, since people will tend to assume that Arabs are Muslims. Still, it's not perfect, and I have seen a couple incidents of anti-Muslim hostility (one mis-directed at a Sikh). Also, during the first Gulf War, I heard of a couple incidents of people who were perceived as being Arabs were harassed. (Ironically, in both cases they weren't Arabs: one was from Sri Lanka and one was an Israeli!)