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View Poll Results: Next Neighborhood(s)
Templetown 2 5.71%
Point Breeze 8 22.86%
Gray's Ferry 0 0%
Pennsport 6 17.14%
Delaware Riverfront (Frankford to Washington Ave) 4 11.43%
East Mount Airy 6 17.14%
South Kensington 7 20.00%
Brewerytown 10 28.57%
OTHER 10 28.57%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 35. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-29-2019, 08:26 AM
 
Location: East Aurora, NY
744 posts, read 767,487 times
Reputation: 880

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
As promised, here's my data point:

Survey: Philly Has 3 of “10 Hottest Affordable Neighborhoods” in the Nation | Philadelphia Magazine

Note which neighborhood placed No. 2 nationwide.
Thanks! Very interesting. I guess I wasn't imagining things. EMA really is a great place to live. The discussion in the article mirrors a lot of my own reasons for leaving the "hip" neighborhoods to move out here. Proximity to Germantown Ave (both the Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill stretch) is a great asset for EMA.


OyCrumbler's suggestion of turning the CHE/CHW lines into rapid transit is my dream. I won't be holding my breath though.
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Old 01-29-2019, 08:54 AM
 
Location: In the heights
36,917 posts, read 38,864,790 times
Reputation: 20949
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJNEOA View Post
You're right, but the driver needs to be economic growth. Something Philly (city-proper) struggles with for obvious reasons. The bones are there, so logically, it should happen. This announcement shows it's going in the right direction, but what other businesses would locate there? I know I would not move there unless there was some real gravity, simply because it's so isolated.
One way to start would be to move public white collar jobs there to kickstart things. Municipal, certainly, but also try to get state and federal jobs moved there. This provides a baseline commitment of tenants for this new complex and a need for a number of ancillary jobs and industries in the area.

This is really one of the best incidental transit hubs in the US. If the North Broad RR station platforms were moved northwest a block and that entire triangular parcel bounded by that moved North Broad RR platform, the North Philadelphia RR platform, and North Philadephia BSL were created into a well-connected complex with those surface lots in the area densely built up, then this would make for a great anchor for North Philadelphia jobs and businesses.
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Old 01-29-2019, 11:45 AM
 
Location: The City of Brotherly Love
1,296 posts, read 1,215,895 times
Reputation: 3494
Quote:
Originally Posted by KansastoSouthphilly View Post
Thanks! Very interesting. I guess I wasn't imagining things. EMA really is a great place to live. The discussion in the article mirrors a lot of my own reasons for leaving the "hip" neighborhoods to move out here. Proximity to Germantown Ave (both the Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill stretch) is a great asset for EMA.


OyCrumbler's suggestion of turning the CHE/CHW lines into rapid transit is my dream. I won't be holding my breath though.
The city, state, and SEPTA should seriously consider integrating the CHE into the Broad Street Line. A flying junction already exists at Erie, so all that would be required is a tunnel under Germantown Avenue with stops at Hunting Park Avenue, Nicetown (at Nicetown Park), and Wayne Junction. Fishers could also be reactivated in the process. I'm tired of hearing about a lack of funding, as the city could easily float municipal bonds to raise cash for new subway construction. The city could also sell off some of its assets that have become valuable, such as municipal-owned parking lots and tax-delinquent properties, to raise the cash necessary for a federal and state match towards transit expansion.

I'd rather have the CHE as a subway over the CHW, as the CHE passes through relatively denser areas; nevertheless, the CHW could be sped up if SEPTA were to build the Swampoodle Connection between the CHW and Manayunk/Norristown Lines, eliminating the need for the CHW to cross the Northeast Corridor at Lehigh Interlocking. Since we'd be losing pairs, the CHW and Trenton Lines could become a new pair, and the Fox Chase Line could either run to Bryn Mawr or the airport, further bolstering service along one of those two lines.
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Old 01-29-2019, 01:00 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
273 posts, read 313,274 times
Reputation: 749
Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler View Post
What can likely make East Mt. Airy and several other neighborhoods into "hot" neighborhoods is if Regional Rail operated more like rapid transit...
I’ve seen numerous articles, blog entries, forum posts, and the like about this topic—converting parts of regional rail lines into rapid transit facilities. One intriguing concept that I saw in a report created by a student group at Penn (link here - turn to page 10) is this CityRail plan. The idea is that for each Regional Rail route (R3, for example), there would be an accompanying CityRail route (CR3) covering from Center City up through roughly Zone 2.

In this scheme, R trains would be strictly for suburban commuters, bypassing all stations within the CityRail zone, except for the major stations in Center City (30th, Suburban, Jefferson). CR trains would run on 10-15 minute intervals within the CityRail zone—nearly matching the same level of service provided by the subways. And the CityRail fare structure would be harmonized with subways, busses, and trolleys, reducing the cost and allowing for transfers.

But as PhilliesPhan2013 suggested, it seems to me that the Chestnut Hill line(s), could be completely connected into the Broad Street Line as subways rather than continuing to operate as Regional Rail. I don’t claim to understand SEPA transit politics, but is it reasonable to think that these lines being solely within the city would make the transition to rapid transit less complicated? Then again, do the people of Chestnut Hill see the reduced service and increased cost of Regional Rail service a reasonable compromise for the insulation this provides them against the other city neighborhoods along the way?

Circling back to the topic of “next neighborhoods”, I think rapid transit access is a key element of the formula. Perhaps I’m coloring my perception of the situation with my own desires because I’m in the center of the “city intender” demographic myself. My wife and I love living in Media, but it’s just far enough from the amenities, institutions, and transportation connectivity of Center City to discourage spur-of-the-moment excursions and make casual trips a nuisance. At the end of an evening out in Center City, we can seemingly fly to 69th Street at-will and in a flash, yet the time spent in Upper Darby waiting for the trolley, waiting for traffic lights, and stopping at every other residential street in Drexel Hill and Springfield seems like a soul-sucking eternity. (The R3 isn’t much more convenient.) And so we’ve been casually looking at our options for being closer to Center City, most of which are close to either the MFL or BSL.

If a city neighborhood is a half-hour or more from Center City and accessible only by infrequent regional rail or a long/disjointed bus ride, I don’t see what makes that neighborhood more attractive than an inner-ring suburb which lacks the city’s wage tax (unless, for example, you’re a city employee who wants to live in a quiet neighborhood but are bound to live within the city limits—if that requirement exists).

I realize that expansion of rapid transit costs billions and billions, but then again look at the trillions (my wild guess) of dollars in increased property values, economic activity from construction, etc. that it creates. Wherever economic projections would seem to justify rapid transit expansion, it seems to me money very well spent.
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Old 01-29-2019, 07:58 PM
 
4 posts, read 2,741 times
Reputation: 10
I'm so ready to come home so this has been helpful. Now I wish I'd never left about bought in Point Breeze before I left. I'd rather get into a neighborhood before it gets gentrified completely.
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Old 01-30-2019, 07:28 AM
 
5,546 posts, read 6,832,953 times
Reputation: 3826
Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler View Post
One way to start would be to move public white collar jobs there to kickstart things. Municipal, certainly, but also try to get state and federal jobs moved there. This provides a baseline commitment of tenants for this new complex and a need for a number of ancillary jobs and industries in the area.

This is really one of the best incidental transit hubs in the US. If the North Broad RR station platforms were moved northwest a block and that entire triangular parcel bounded by that moved North Broad RR platform, the North Philadelphia RR platform, and North Philadephia BSL were created into a well-connected complex with those surface lots in the area densely built up, then this would make for a great anchor for North Philadelphia jobs and businesses.
Not disagreeing with the concept, but I'd be surprised if anything resembling this would happen in reality. This city's government is not capable of doing anything remotely close to this level of strategy. Besides, it would be better to lure new business here into the city, increasing the demand for other CBDs, rather than shuffling. Sure, the shuffle would mean new, lower cost rents for many businesses/agencies/departments, but I'm not sure it makes the city any richer.

I guess my point is that the only way a second CBD comes into demand is if the first CBD is bursting at the seams with job growth, and I just don't see it.
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Old 03-14-2019, 02:02 AM
 
802 posts, read 798,662 times
Reputation: 722
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan2013 View Post
The city, state, and SEPTA should seriously consider integrating the CHE into the Broad Street Line. A flying junction already exists at Erie, so all that would be required is a tunnel under Germantown Avenue with stops at Hunting Park Avenue, Nicetown (at Nicetown Park), and Wayne Junction. Fishers could also be reactivated in the process. I'm tired of hearing about a lack of funding, as the city could easily float municipal bonds to raise cash for new subway construction. The city could also sell off some of its assets that have become valuable, such as municipal-owned parking lots and tax-delinquent properties, to raise the cash necessary for a federal and state match towards transit expansion.

I'd rather have the CHE as a subway over the CHW, as the CHE passes through relatively denser areas; nevertheless, the CHW could be sped up if SEPTA were to build the Swampoodle Connection between the CHW and Manayunk/Norristown Lines, eliminating the need for the CHW to cross the Northeast Corridor at Lehigh Interlocking. Since we'd be losing pairs, the CHW and Trenton Lines could become a new pair, and the Fox Chase Line could either run to Bryn Mawr or the airport, further bolstering service along one of those two lines.

I believe both the Chestnut Hill East and West lines need to be integrated into the subway system. The only thing is that I'd rather see it as it's own line than using the Broad Street line. I'd run the new Chestnut Hill subway along the ROW along 9th St through the North Phila station, but it would be underground until after North Phila, then there would be stations even on sites that don't have them.

New Station in underline

New Location in italic

CHW: Chestnut Hill West, Highland, St Martins, Allen Ln, Carpenter Ln, Upsal St, Tulpehocken St, Chelten Ave, Queen Ln, Roberts Ave, Hunting Park Ave, North Phila

CHE: Chestnut Hill East, Gravers, Wyndmoor, Cresheim Valley (formerly Mount Airy), Mount Airy Ave-Sedgewick, Vernon Rd-Stenton, Upsal St, Washington Ln, Haines St, Chelten Ave, Penn St, Wister St, Logan St, Wayne Junction, Wissahickon Ave, Hunting Park Ave, North Phila
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Old 03-14-2019, 03:20 AM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
13,957 posts, read 8,825,433 times
Reputation: 10265
Quote:
Originally Posted by briantroutman View Post
Circling back to the topic of “next neighborhoods”, I think rapid transit access is a key element of the formula. Perhaps I’m coloring my perception of the situation with my own desires because I’m in the center of the “city intender” demographic myself. My wife and I love living in Media, but it’s just far enough from the amenities, institutions, and transportation connectivity of Center City to discourage spur-of-the-moment excursions and make casual trips a nuisance. At the end of an evening out in Center City, we can seemingly fly to 69th Street at-will and in a flash, yet the time spent in Upper Darby waiting for the trolley, waiting for traffic lights, and stopping at every other residential street in Drexel Hill and Springfield seems like a soul-sucking eternity. (The R3 isn’t much more convenient.) And so we’ve been casually looking at our options for being closer to Center City, most of which are close to either the MFL or BSL.
Please invite me to your housewarming when you take up residence in Cobbs Creek.

(I had tagged that neighborhood as one of the "Hot Neighborhoods of 2020" in response to a real estate agent's query two years ago. My prediction's definitely premature, but at the same time, the Wave is crossing 52d Street as I type this.)
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