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Philly metro, for me please. I'm from neither Philly nor Chicago, but I'd love to move to Philly before I think of moving to Chicago. Perhaps it's just a personal preference.
Rainrock keeps bringing up cencus designations for metro areas....who the heck cares man? Give it up already. You rehash the same 5000 miles Philly metro/ vs 10,000 mile xyz metro...
Fact is, Philly metro by itself offers more than enough to keep all sorts of people happy...and if that weren't enough, it is in the middle of the damn NYC-DC corridor, perhaps the world's biggest urban megaregion in terms of population, wealth, intellecutual creation, etc etc etc.
As a metro, Philly metro has nothing to be apologetic about. It has more universities than any other metro, including perhaps Boston metro...and just like Boston, many of these universities are top notch. Penn, Princeton, Drexel, Temple, Curtis Institute, PAFA, Jefferson, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, etc.
Philly metro has several suburbs that are rated among the best places to live year in and year out: Nether Providence, Swarthmore, Media, Moorestown, Doylestown, Wayne, Ardmore, Villanova, Blue Bell, Lambertville, New Hope, Bryn Mawr, Newtown Square, West Goshen, etc etc...
SEPTA serves 280 active stations in its system, and Philly metro is also served by NJT's River Line as well as DRPA's PATCO Speed Line and their own systems. So Philly's rail system is no slouch compared to Chicago's...heck, Philly also has its own EL and it is easy to use and quite popular.
And like I said, if you're ever bored with all the options in Philly metro itself, all it takes is an hour+ train ride to be in Midtown Manhattan, an hour or so to be at the Jersey and Delaware shore, less than 2 hours to be in the middle of mountains and some ski resorts or in D.C. What more could one want?!
Of course, not everyone sees it this way. And on this forum especially, it seems everything boils down to the comparisons of cities themselves (even though this is about the metro area) and how many people there are in each city and how many tall buildings there are, etc... there is more to life than just that, and I for one am kinda glad that Philly is still a "hidden gem" and relatively cheap to live in for its location... perhaps it's a rough-cut gem and doesn't sparkle as clearly as other places, but it's a gem all the same.
Rainrock keeps bringing up cencus designations for metro areas....who the heck cares man? Give it up already. You rehash the same 5000 miles Philly metro/ vs 10,000 mile xyz metro...
I was merely responding to a previous poster who was bragging about Chicagos suburbs singularly being the 4th largest metro in the country. I candidly pointed out that Chciagos suburbs span 100 miles whereas thru an egregious glitch in the system Philadlephias metro ends 15 miles due east of Philly.
I was merely responding to a previous poster who was bragging about Chicagos suburbs singularly being the 4th largest metro in the country. I candidly pointed out that Chciagos suburbs span 100 miles whereas thru an egregious glitch in the system Philadlephias metro ends 15 miles due east of Philly.
If you want to do something constructive, complain about it to the Census bureau instead of kvetching about it on a message board. This is just tired, unproductive whining, and it's quite tiresome.
I wouldn't be surprised if places such as Reading or Allentown become a part of the CSA in the future, but it seems that Philadelphians have the advantage of having closer-in commutes compared to other East Coast metros. I don't see anything wrong with that. I know there is probably some commuting between Reading or Allentown to Philly, but really, do you want these places to become cookie-cutter exurban bedroom communities?
You can the entirety of eastern PA to Philly's "count", and it wouldn't change my mind. Chicago, easily.
Philly's advantages would probably involve higher ed (although Chi is quite solid there, too), history ( along with Boston), and a nice location between NYC and DC, on Amtrak's NE Corridor trains.
Chicago would win just about everything else.
Lake Michigan is one thousand times better than the Delaware River ( and Camden, NJ (blech) on the other side..
Outside of Center City and parts of the NE, Philly has some of the most hideous-looking neighborhoods in the US. Unfortunately, this does make for a bad impression.
You can the entirety of eastern PA to Philly's "count", and it wouldn't change my mind. Chicago, easily.
Philly's advantages would probably involve higher ed (although Chi is quite solid there, too), history ( along with Boston), and a nice location between NYC and DC, on Amtrak's NE Corridor trains.
Chicago would win just about everything else.
Lake Michigan is one thousand times better than the Delaware River ( and Camden, NJ (blech) on the other side..
Outside of Center City and parts of the NE, Philly has some of the most hideous-looking neighborhoods in the US. Unfortunately, this does make for a bad impression.
If you're comparing metros then the Philly metro has the advantage of being on or close to the beaches of Atlantic Ocean, several of which are nationally known. So a comparison between Lake Michigan and Delaware River isn't quite the same.
Not to mention that Philly doesn't have just the Delaware River, and that in fact currently its recreational river is Schuylkill River, which has a long jogging trail and park along it and which also hosts the largest regatta annually--Boathouse Row is not only historic but quite picturesque.
And let's not forget the third "river" of Philadelphia, the Wissahickon Creek, and the Park surrounding it. You may have never been there or seen pictures of that area so it's easy to forget that Philadelphia city itself has three rivers and the park along Wissahickon Creek would make it seem like you're not in a major city but out in woods somewhere, perhaps Walden Pond or something.
Lastly, if you believe that Philadelphia is hideous outside of Center City and Northeast, you have perhaps not seen or aren't familiar with other great neighborhoods of Philadelphia with some amazing architecture--certainly no vinyl siding or anything. I'm talking about places like Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, Manayunk, and East Falls.
I'm sure there are other great neighborhoods too, but I'm not from Philly, and yet I know that there are atleast all those neighorhoods...Chestnut Hill is among the priciest areas anywhere in America, I'd imagine.
Just do your eyes a favor...click on this link of a photo tour by a local of East Falls neighborhood...tell me if you think that's ugly:
If you're comparing metros then the Philly metro has the advantage of being on or close to the beaches of Atlantic Ocean, several of which are nationally known. So a comparison between Lake Michigan and Delaware River isn't quite the same.
Not to mention that Philly doesn't have just the Delaware River, and that in fact currently its recreational river is Schuylkill River, which has a long jogging trail and park along it and which also hosts the largest regatta annually--Boathouse Row is not only historic but quite picturesque.
And let's not forget the third "river" of Philadelphia, the Wissahickon Creek, and the Park surrounding it. You may have never been there or seen pictures of that area so it's easy to forget that Philadelphia city itself has three rivers and the park along Wissahickon Creek would make it seem like you're not in a major city but out in woods somewhere, perhaps Walden Pond or something.
Lastly, if you believe that Philadelphia is hideous outside of Center City and Northeast, you have perhaps not seen or aren't familiar with other great neighborhoods of Philadelphia with some amazing architecture--certainly no vinyl siding or anything. I'm talking about places like Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, Manayunk, and East Falls.
I'm sure there are other great neighborhoods too, but I'm not from Philly, and yet I know that there are atleast all those neighorhoods...Chestnut Hill is among the priciest areas anywhere in America, I'd imagine.
Just do your eyes a favor...click on this link of a photo tour by a local of East Falls neighborhood...tell me if you think that's ugly:
If you're comparing metros then the Philly metro has the advantage of being on or close to the beaches of Atlantic Ocean, several of which are nationally known. So a comparison between Lake Michigan and Delaware River isn't quite the same.
but the majority of the nice areas in chicago are literally ON the lake...as well as nice beaches within a few blocks of massive skyscrapers...
just the loop/gold coast/lower lincoln park in this pic on the lake...only about 4-5 miles of lake front
lake front condos, museums, parks, beaches and college campuses extend about 12 miles north and 12 miles south of city center...(still in the city limits) this is not even counting suburbs like evanston, winnetka etc...
sorry i think philly metro loses as far as waterfront goes, this isn't a river or small pond, lake michigan is longer north to south than pennsylvania is east to west and half the size of your entire state. yeah it isn't the atlantic, but philly metro isn't exactly florida or california either..
just saying, don't understimate chicagos waterfront real estate just b/c it isn't on "the coasts"
Last edited by grapico; 03-25-2010 at 07:02 PM..
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