East Coast cities vs. Suburban Sprawl (Phoenix, Scottsdale: schools, income, quality of life)

[uconn99]

Philadelphia is a dump of city. New York is a real city. Philadelphia is old. Who cares if it has high rises if they are old, abandoned and ugly. There is absoutely nothing to do in Philadelphia and the nightlife and bar scene is better in the valley than the city of Philadelphia. I went to the best Philly had to offer and it paled in comparison to old town Scottsdale. Everyone in Philly wants to take the train to NYC because Philly's downtown is awful. Trust me, I will take some of the chain restaurants we have over the ghetto crack houses and shanty crime ridden holes you call restaurants in your city. The food is terrible there aside from the cheesesteaks. The bars are tiny. The women are pasty and fat. Philadelphia's downtown looks a lot smaller than San Franscisco, Seattle and Boston so it's hard to believe it has the third largest downtown. I can tell you for a fact that it doesn't look bigger than those cities and no one outside of Philadelphia would believe your downtown appears larger than SF, Boston and Seattle. And our suburbs are not like your suburbs. Our suburbs actually offer nice restaurants, shopping and recreational activities. And you can have the Liberty Bell, I'll take the Phoenician spa and resort. Our suburbs have companies. Your suburbs are nothing but tracks of houses with gas stations in between. You rely upon your downtown for everything. In cities like LA and Phoenix, we have a downtown but our suburbs are self containing as well.

After reading this post, I have to believe this person has never been to Philly.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by rainrock

O.K.. Good then, we seem to be making progress here. Your argument has gone from downtown Miami,Houston and Dallas are bigger than Philadelphia's, to Chicagos downtown is bigger than Philadelphias which I dont disagree with as the business district is 3x the size of Philadelphias.

Now the Brookings Institute seems to have different parameters to what constitutes downtown residential and they say at least as of 2000 census that Boston and Philly have more populated downtowns than Chicago. I think thats a very debatable topic and I'm skeptical of the low downtown Chicago statistics myself.

Isn't this the Phoenix thread? How does the size of a city's downtown in another area relate to Phoenix? Originally wasn't this a comparison of Phoenix and Philly?

[scottie]

Originally Posted by rainrock

O.K.. Good then, we seem to be making progress here. Your argument has gone from downtown Miami,Houston and Dallas are bigger than Philadelphia's

I should have explained myself better earlier in this topic (notice how I am not calling it an argument because I dont think it is one). When you meant downtown, I was thinking more along the lines of skyline and Miami does have a larger skyline than Philadelphia

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by scottie

When you meant downtown, I was thinking more along the lines of skyline and Miami does have a larger skyline than Philadelphia

Skylines tend to be a very subjective matter, after the goliaths like NYC and Chicago it basically comes down to personal opinion more than anything else. I am not overwrought with excitement about Miami's skyline but to each his own I suppose. If you believe Miami has a bigger skyline than Philadlephia then that is certainly your perogative.

I on th eotherhand happen to think Philadelphia has a more formidable skyline than Miami. Admittedly I'm no virtuoso on skylines but I individualistcally prefer Philadlephias bustling density to Miami's elongated string of semi vacant condos. Hey but thats just me.

[irwin]

It comes down to this:

Philly is business; Miami is play.

After living in Phoenix for far too long, I can tell you that "play" gets old if you have an ounce of ambition or drive. Anyway, you can always visit "play" places and it makes them that more enjoyable.

[vegaspilgrim]

"Play" is a multi-billion dollar industry. Just ask Las Vegas.

[Patrick754]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

"Play" is a multi-billion dollar industry. Just ask Las Vegas.

Of course, but some people need the stereotypical "business" climate of suits, taxi's and lunches in cafe's with exposed brick walls in order to feel like part of the scene.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by Patrick754

Of course, but some people need the stereotypical "business" climate of suits, taxi's and lunches in cafe's with exposed brick walls in order to feel like part of the scene.

I catch your drift there.

I may be a Wash DC native; but, I never really felt at home there----and, I am not just referring to the foul weather either.

Give me a funky old car with character that runs well; jeans and T shirts and I am good to go

[scottie]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Skylines tend to be a very subjective matter, after the goliaths like NYC and Chicago it basically comes down to personal opinion more than anything else. I am not overwrought with excitement about Miami's skyline but to each his own I suppose. If you believe Miami has a bigger skyline than Philadlephia then that is certainly your perogative.

First off, that is a horrible picture of Miami's skyline.
Check out this - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Miamiskyline20080113.png (broken link)
or maybe this - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...11_cropped.jpg
Second, its not my perogative, its a fact - Miami, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read the 4th paragraph down

[ScottsdaleAZ5254]

I work on the North side of the US Bank Tower; 23rd Floor. Hence, I have a birdseye view of the construction on Central Park East. Having watched the building of 44 Monroe just below my office this past year, comparitively, I have been amazed and the speed of construction on this project. With this project, and cityscape breaking ground among numerous other approved projects, including the light-rail system, Its exciting to witness the unbeleivable transformation that the Downtown area is currently experiencing. Phoenix is a very large city, yet an extremely new city when compared to other metro areas on the east coast. Having lived out east, and visited almost every major city on the east coast, I chuckle at how defensive "easterners" become against Phoenix, in particular Philadelphia. While this 200 plus year old city has much history and culture, and of course a decent skyline, they have had a centuries head start to create their "urban center", well before Phoenix surpased them in population! I can honeslty say, that of the majority of major US cities that I have visited; after Detroit, Philadelphia is the most filfty, run down, depressing metropolis I have ever visited. Despite rumors of a recession, our Economy is Booming, their Economy and poplation is on the decline. Living in Scottsdale, its also hard to beleive that everyone in the Pheonix area makes $30,000/yr! I certainly don't, and I don't think the tens of thousands of my neigbors that drive their exotic cars home from work to their million dollar homes do either. While Phoenix is fueled by over a hundred thousand small businesses, much large industry has increasingly started to migrate to the valley of the sun because of our phenominal growth, our business-friendly environment; and of course, the fact that it is sunny 300 days a year! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Arizona has the most georgeous women in the country...hands down, that hasn't hurt the population growth either! However, in the end, Philadelphia does have a more defining skyline than Phoenix...for the time being, in fact I think they are third after New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, and San Francisco!