Has Philadelphia turned around?

[nabwong]

Boston is a lot safer than Philly....A LOT... and a million times cleaner. But Boston is a pretty "closed" community, not as connected as Philly to other big cities.

Each city has its pros and cons. Philly is a lot more affordable.

[Margel]

Originally Posted by ContantlyWandering

Honestly, in terms of "turning a corner," it really depends which areas you're talking about when you say "Philadelphia." If you're discussing Center City, then yes, absolutely. The downtown core has really taken a sharp turn in the right direction over the past several years. The rest of the city...well, certain parts, yes...certain parts, no.

Although Philly does have quite a few nice spots within city limits, (some of South Philly, Chestnut Hill, Roxborough, Manayunk, Art Museum, Fairmount, East Falls, parts of Fishtown, some of University City, ALL of Center City, Mt. Airy, Old City [which is awesome], etc.)....and the park system is pretty amazing (Fairmount/Kelly Drive, Wissahickon, etc.), unfortunately I have to say that there is a lot more bad than good on a macro-level. After living here for awhile, I tend to disagree with the marketing misnomer "America's Next Great City." I would instead say, "Formerly America's Great City, circa 1800, with areas of improvement since 2000." But I think that might be a bit wordy for a billboard.

Many sections are still really dangerous (hence the nickname "Killadelphia") - you only have to live here and watch the news or read the newspaper to know how dangerous and gang-infested some neighborhoods are (while on a job interview at Temple, the administrator giving me a guided tour of the campus explained quite calmly why students should never, ever, under any circumstances wander the neighborhoods surrounding campus after dark alone - she also mentioned that many employees felt compelled to have a concealed weapons permit because of how unsafe some of the areas surrounding the school are). The thing about some of the city that is especially unfortunate is how the city is laid out - it's a patchwork of good/bad and safe/unsafe areas that change with little to no warning from block to block - you generally have to go through very unsafe areas in order to get to the nicer ones. Not in Center City, of course - pretty much all of that is nice...I'm talking outside the downtown core.

In terms of aesthetics, the city is pretty ugly, too. Center City and the skyline are very nice (especially when viewed from Fairmount Park/Boathouse Row) and a few of the nicer areas listed above are very nice, but the vast majority of Philadelphia is a large network of crumbling streets, old and dilapidated rowhouses, abandoned factories, and graffiti. Certain sections are being gentrified (in a good way) and improvements are happening, but it's a very slow process. Especially in West Philly, NE Philly, North Philly, and Fishtown (a few sections are great and a few are still horrid).

Depending on what you like to do when escaping the city, the area around Philly is fairly nice - lots of rolling hills/fields and nice smaller towns (along with some really crappy ones - I'm looking at you, Coatesville, aka Arsontown) - but you're just far enough away from any mountains (around 90 minutes to the Poconos) and the ocean (around an hour to 90 minutes depending on traffic to Atlantic City) for it to be an annoyingly long trip. The Delaware River front is fairly nice, but it is effectively cut off from the city by I-95 - one of the more idiotic civic planning decisions in recent history in any major city.

I find the people here to be pretty nice overall - despite their bad image (throwing snowballs at Santa Claus and all that crap) - but many definitely do have an inferiority complex when it comes to their city. And I suppose that it's warranted - Philly has A LOT to do to be able to lay claim to being on par with New York, Boston, D.C., or even Baltimore. However, this inferiority has led to the creation of the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia which in and of itself gets Philly one step closer to first-class status.

PS - In one area, the hype is warranted - the cheesesteaks are amazing.

I grew up in South Philly and moved to NE Philly as an adult. Your description of Philadelphia is absolutley accurate. If you have the money and can live in the better parts of Philadelphia, then yes, Philly has its draw, but if you are part of an average working family, there are pockets of places affordable and safe. If you have kids, parochial schools are the only way to go since the public school systen is horrendous. I ended up leaving Philly more because I wanted warmer climate, but I left feeling like I was leaving a crumbling city behind. me...at least the parts of the city that I knew I could afford to live in on a teacher's salary. lol.

[blackcoral]

What about libraries / Are they still closing some branches ? I am a librarian who wants to move to Philly but I assume I cannot find a job ! Is any other city close to Philly where the library system is in a better shape ?