Are there any famous people who live in Philadelphia?

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by rainrock

That would be my #1 agenda for the long term future betterment of Philadlephia. Get those refineries out of there. Remediate the land and give it a future.

I can't begin to imagine how expensive it would be to clean up land that has been under an oil refinery for decades. Billions?

[Lenses & Lights.]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

I can't begin to imagine how expensive it would be to clean up land that has been under an oil refinery for decades. Billions?

It'll probably take at least another two decades to for the land to fully settle and become inhabitable for people to work and live on it.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

It'll probably take at least another two decades to for the land to fully settle and become inhabitable for people to work and live on it.

Yes you would have to turn that land back into nature for 50 years. Arboretum, Wildlife reserve etc etc.. But as long as it stays the way it is(Toxic Hell) Philadelphia is going to have an uphill battle as an attraction and destination .

Places like Marcus Hook, Claymont is where the toxic industry should have been confined, Oil refineries don't belong a mile or 2 from Independence Hall, Ben Franklin Parkway,Society Hill,Univ Penn etc etc..

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Yes you would have to turn that land back into nature for 50 years. Arboretum, Wildlife reserve etc etc.. But as long as it stays the way it is(Toxic Hell) Philadelphia is going to have an uphill battle as an attraction and destination .

Places like Marcus Hook, Claymont is where the toxic industry should have been confined, Oil refineries don't belong a mile or 2 from Independence Hall, Ben Franklin Parkway,Society Hill,Univ Penn etc etc..

Not sure of the history of when the S. Philly refinery was first built, but consider that a big chunk of what is nice today downtown was anything but years ago. Factories where Ben Franklin Parkway is now. Baldwin Locomotive which stretched blocks west from Broad and Spring Garden. The infamous PRR "Chinese wall" which bi-sect downtown. And, Society Hill was a ghetto. So the fact that the refinery is where it is is not all that surprising. We tend to forget today what the city looked like and what it was about even as little as 50 years ago.

[rotodome]

All that toxic industry is the downside of having an industrial/manufacturing economy. The city was full of soot spewing factories, and one of the characterizing aspects of Philly at its industrial apex was that people lived right next to them.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by rotodome

All that toxic industry is the downside of having an industrial/manufacturing economy. The city was full of soot spewing factories, and one of the characterizing elements of Philly at its industrial apex was that people lived right next to them.

To add: my very first, full time, job interview was at the Philco-Ford plant in Kensington in 1970. So I don't think a lot of posters here are factoring in what you're saying.

One of the last factories I can recall in Center City was the After Six formal wear plant at 22nd and Market. It was there till about 1980.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by kyb01

To add: my very first, full time, job interview was at the Philco-Ford plant in Kensington in 1970. So I don't think a lot of posters here are factoring in what you're saying.

One of the last factories I can recall in Center City was the After Six formal wear plant at 22nd and Market. It was there till about 1980.

Having all the factories being active is a little before my time, but I certainly grew up looking at all the empty decaying remnants of that industry, and the workers' housing surrounding it.