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I get it, but agree to disagree on some points. I do agree that Philadelphia has come a long way but still has a lot of untapped potential.
One item I will debate is that rundown and bland do not go hand in hand (IMO). Yes, Philadelphia as a whole is rougher than Boston and DC, not much more than NYC, unless New York is only Manhattan (which it's not).
But bland, Philadelphia is not. I actually find Philadelphia to have the most character and unique charm, maybe even more than New York. DC by far wins the bland award if we are comparing the big Northeast cities.
Granted the few times I did explore Philadelphia were:
1. A very very cold November Sunday day that I flew up from Orlando at 7am, explored the city and left at 8pm.
2. One day in the summer of 2019 but it was raining.
3. One day in the summer of 2020. (May) but in the heart of COVID righhht after the start of George Floyd protests. Also cloudy and boarded up.
I mean, maybe my visits to Philadelphia have literally just ALL been terrible timing. Because it seems that way. Funny enough too, when I went to ACY, Wildwood and Cape May.. rained the whole three days in the summer of 2018 that I went. Every day around it was good weather.
Someone literally does not want me to see Philadelphia and metro Philly when it is nice out.
Again I technically live in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (I think?) so I need to explore more on good weather weekends. idk why i dont.
Lastly, the amount of large projects under constructions or in the works right now is astonishing. I haven't seen this level of development in Philadelphia since before the recession, or maybe ever (in my lifetime), so even with all its problems, the city is moving along. Same with Chicago. Neither should be the obvious choices.
I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, but the way I see it is this: even with all of Philadelphia's successes over the past decade, and even though I'd agree that a city like Baltimore is a more obvious choice, Philadelphia could see even more of a staggering economic windfall if not for a relatively high crime rate. Like a Boston-level boom, for sure.
I still have faith that the current bout with crime will subside (it was on the right track circa 2017, but like many cities, there are a number of wrenches were thrown in its gears over the past couple years on the crime front). But it's going to take a lot of multi-faceted work to bring it back to sanity (a more effective DA would be a great start; I'm all for progressive policing measures, but obviously something isn't working if crime begins to go in the wrong direction). I think that's true for many, if not most, major cities right now.
Just my $0.02.
Quote:
Originally Posted by masssachoicetts
Again I technically live in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (I think?) so I need to explore more on good weather weekends. idk why i dont.
Definitely give the city another shot later this spring when COVID will likely be much more under control and the weather more consistently pleasant. Springtime in Philly is truly magnificent; one of the biggest things I miss about the Mid-Atlantic.
Philadelphia and Baltimore are easy answers here. Just based on the part of the country they are located in.
Yeah, but its poor people on poor people crime. I can walk around Center City in Philly without worrying about getting mugged. Walking through the homeless people lair under the convention center is pretty nasty but I've done that by mistake and not had any issue. Baltimore Inner Harbor is the same. It is a separate police district where everyone pays extra for more policing.
My life experience with cities is if you're not in a gang, buying drugs, or buying hookers, your odds of violent crime are near zero. Property crime is a totally different story. I'm not going to leave any visible valuable in my car in most cities. I wouldn't leave a bicycle unattended without a really beefy lock. My leafy suburban town has Mall Hell that replaced the downtown shopping area in the 1970s. My town has a fairly high crime rate due to the property crime at the Mall and the big box stores. Generally shoplifting and breaking into cars. I don't lock my doors or my garage. I have no property crime issue at all despite a fairly high crime rate for the town.
I picked Atlanta since I'm familiar with it, and I feel like the two things holding it back from reaching its full potential are the traffic/lack of transportation options and the crime. Maybe it is already fairly prosperous despite those issues and not as blighted compared to Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, Memphis, etc. hence why cities like those are better choices for this particular poll.
Baltimore. Its geography is its biggest advantage as was discussed in another thread. If they ever got the crime under control it would prosper big-time.
No, it is not. It's a hinderance. If going by that logic, Newark, NJ would prosper far more than Baltimore. Its location already makes it a much better city than Baltimore.
Philadelphia and Baltimore are easy answers here. Just based on the part of the country they are located in.
They're in the part of the country that people are moving out of.
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