Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-20-2014, 10:21 AM
 
Location: The Left Toast
1,303 posts, read 1,888,368 times
Reputation: 981

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by thunderkat59 View Post
Being close to Wierton WV or Stuebanville OH doesnt count for p'burgh ?!?!? lol
I guess when I think about it, you are correct, Pittsburgh is sort of isolated
After living in the midwest a while, when I go back to Philly, it feels like the world is imploding. So many people, cars and chaos. Too fast paced and crowed for me, real dirty too. I dont know how I did it for all those years.
When you get off the plane and see all the dirt and trash at the airport, its sort of a portent of what you are in for.
I agree with all of the above.
DIRT....AND....TRASH....At The Airport???
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-20-2014, 07:21 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
20 posts, read 39,231 times
Reputation: 16
I want to thank everyone for the great responses and valuable information that you have given me on this city. I have been doing research for a while and trying to compile enough information to make the best decision on my next move. I have one year from now before I move and I wanted to make my decision soon to start saving and preparing for it. After visiting Philly and loving it and getting the information that I have received on here I have decided that I am going to move to Philadelphia next May. I'm very excited about the move and again thank you for the help.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 08:08 AM
 
Location: Washington County, PA
4,240 posts, read 4,895,869 times
Reputation: 2859
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
A lot of Pittsburgh is dirtier and more run down than Philly... And Pittsburgh doesn't have the vibrancy of Philly to match. Pittsburgh feels like a half empty city. And while Philly did lose population and is growin again, it still feels like it's bursting at the seams with people
No way. Seriously, Philadelphia has enough areas that are rundown to make a city the size of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is getting better every year, but North Philadelphia is huge, and the majority is still very rundown. Not to mention SW Philly and portions of West Philly.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
8,700 posts, read 14,636,322 times
Reputation: 3668
Quote:
Originally Posted by cxm123130 View Post
I want to thank everyone for the great responses and valuable information that you have given me on this city. I have been doing research for a while and trying to compile enough information to make the best decision on my next move. I have one year from now before I move and I wanted to make my decision soon to start saving and preparing for it. After visiting Philly and loving it and getting the information that I have received on here I have decided that I am going to move to Philadelphia next May. I'm very excited about the move and again thank you for the help.
Woohoo! Welcome aboard the City of Brotherly Love Boat!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 09:02 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
8,700 posts, read 14,636,322 times
Reputation: 3668
Quote:
Originally Posted by speagles84 View Post
No way. Seriously, Philadelphia has enough areas that are rundown to make a city the size of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is getting better every year, but North Philadelphia is huge, and the majority is still very rundown. Not to mention SW Philly and portions of West Philly.
I meant that even the nice areas of Pittsburgh tend to look more rundown than the nice areas of Philly.

Am I wrong in saying that Pittsburgh feels half empty?

Pittsburgh does things better than Philly for sure, don't get me wrong, I love Pittsburgh. It just cracks me up when someone compares Pittsburgh to Philly because they really are in two different leagues.

North Philadelphia is 46.7 sq miles in total. I would say about 26 sq miles of that is ghetto. Remember there are nice areas of North Philly down around Center City and up towards the suburbs, and also the entire eastern half of Fairmount Park is in North Philly.
West Philadelphia is 14.2 sq miles in total. I would say about 3 sq miles of that is ghetto.
Southwest Philadelphia is 10.6 sq miles in total. Again I would say about 7 sq miles is ghetto.
On top of that, I would say there is about 3 sq miles of ghetto in the Riverwards, 1 sq mile of ghetto in Northwest Philadelphia, and probably about 4 sq miles of ghetto in Northeast Phialdelphia.

Total that is about 44 sq miles of ghetto in the city of Philadelphia. The total land area of Philadelphia is 134 sq miles. That's about 32% of the city is ghetto.

^^ That is what I always say. I always say about 30-40% of the city is rundown. You think Pittsburgh has less than 32% of the city which is rundown? No. I'm willing to bet it's about the same percentage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 10:36 AM
 
802 posts, read 1,317,437 times
Reputation: 509
Quote:
Originally Posted by speagles84 View Post
No way. Seriously, Philadelphia has enough areas that are rundown to make a city the size of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is getting better every year, but North Philadelphia is huge, and the majority is still very rundown. Not to mention SW Philly and portions of West Philly.
I agree. Also, parts of Northeast Philly are going downhill or are already there. Kensington is a mixed bag. Some parts are going through gentrification while others aren't fit for a dog to live in.

You are correct about North Philly.

Sure there are still some good neighborhoods left. However, I can see the bad passing by the good in a few years if the Section 8-ification of the Northeast continues.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,217,699 times
Reputation: 983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
I meant that even the nice areas of Pittsburgh tend to look more rundown than the nice areas of Philly.

Am I wrong in saying that Pittsburgh feels half empty?

Pittsburgh does things better than Philly for sure, don't get me wrong, I love Pittsburgh. It just cracks me up when someone compares Pittsburgh to Philly because they really are in two different leagues.

North Philadelphia is 46.7 sq miles in total. I would say about 26 sq miles of that is ghetto. Remember there are nice areas of North Philly down around Center City and up towards the suburbs, and also the entire eastern half of Fairmount Park is in North Philly.
West Philadelphia is 14.2 sq miles in total. I would say about 3 sq miles of that is ghetto.
Southwest Philadelphia is 10.6 sq miles in total. Again I would say about 7 sq miles is ghetto.
On top of that, I would say there is about 3 sq miles of ghetto in the Riverwards, 1 sq mile of ghetto in Northwest Philadelphia, and probably about 4 sq miles of ghetto in Northeast Phialdelphia.

Total that is about 44 sq miles of ghetto in the city of Philadelphia. The total land area of Philadelphia is 134 sq miles. That's about 32% of the city is ghetto.

^^ That is what I always say. I always say about 30-40% of the city is rundown. You think Pittsburgh has less than 32% of the city which is rundown? No. I'm willing to bet it's about the same percentage.

Your well researched mathematical formulas will serve many!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=broad...88.39,,0,-8.75
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 10:55 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
8,700 posts, read 14,636,322 times
Reputation: 3668
Quote:
Originally Posted by Debbie1125 View Post
I agree. Also, parts of Northeast Philly are going downhill or are already there. Kensington is a mixed bag. Some parts are going through gentrification while others aren't fit for a dog to live in.

You are correct about North Philly.

Sure there are still some good neighborhoods left. However, I can see the bad passing by the good in a few years if the Section 8-ification of the Northeast continues.
The up and coming and gentrifying areas of South Philadelphia, Lower North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia and Fishtown are growing, moving and changing at a MUCH faster rate than the declining areas of Lower North Philadelphia.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 10:57 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
8,700 posts, read 14,636,322 times
Reputation: 3668
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat View Post
Your well researched mathematical formulas will serve many!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=broad...88.39,,0,-8.75
What was the point of this link? Broad and Fairmount is actually an intersection at the epicenter of a rapidly changing area of Lower North Philadelphia. You have Spring Garden and Francisville to the West, both rapidly changing areas, and Spring Arts/Poplar and Northern Liberties to the East. To the north you have Templetown. These are all rapidly changing and gentrifying areas. The only hurdle for the area remains the Richard Allen projects in West Poplar.

I can post pictures of abandoned and run down areas of Pittsburgh as well:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Al...5f488735285334
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-21-2014, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,217,699 times
Reputation: 983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
What was the point of this link? Broad and Fairmount is actually an intersection at the epicenter of a rapidly changing area of Lower North Philadelphia. You have Spring Garden and Francisville to the West, both rapidly changing areas, and Spring Arts/Poplar and Northern Liberties to the East. To the north you have Templetown. These are all rapidly changing and gentrifying areas. The only hurdle for the area remains the Richard Allen projects in West Poplar.
Two reasons. The first is that I'm greatly intrigued by your ghetto-metrics and want to know what you classify that particular block as.

Second is because it's a dirty, trashy, gritty area extremely close to Center City that often costs a great deal to live in.

Philadelphia is known for its gritty feel - in fact, it's why a lot of people like it. It's part of why I like it, although I wish there was less abandonment that went along with the grit. People come on this website all the time and say they like the grittiness of Philadelphia. It's no secret.

I think it's silly to classify Pittsburgh as a half empty city compared to Philadelphia, when a great deal of urban Philadelphia (meaning the parts with frequent rapid transit, with former commercial and industrial bases, and formed along the Philadelphia, Kensington, and Germantown grids) suffers almost the exact same half-empty problem.

At the same time, there are a bunch of reasons one would prefer to live in Philadelphia over Pittsburgh or Portland - I myself chose Philly over Pittsburgh a few years ago, and I don't feel that it was a bad decision.

Last edited by FamousBlueRaincoat; 04-21-2014 at 11:17 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:10 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top