A NY'er visiting Philly.... (Philadelphia, York: apartment, credit, hotel)

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Originally Posted by kyb01

I've said it several times:there's no way to avoid not living in NYC's shadow since the cities are only 90miles apart.

No other two major American cities are that close together.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul are close enough together - actually bordering each other - that they practically act as one city in terms of how you get about them (having the same public transit system). Minneapolis is probably known as the more interesting city, has a much bigger downtown jobs base, has more theaters and shopping, but there's less pretension on both sides.

Milwaukee and Chicago are 90 miles apart - with a similar population ratio as Philly to New York - 600,000 versus 2.7 million. Milwaukee is really practically in the suburbs of Chicago at this point despite being a very large city - because Chicago has such vast sprawl.

There must be more - however I'd say it's the specific New York and Philadelphia dynamic that makes the shadow here what it is.

These threads always wind up making Philadelphians and New Yorkers look obnoxious.

I don't care about all the silly arguments - but I'd love to see neighborhoods here in Philly where the neighborhoods could meet your basic needs in terms of being able to take a short walk to markets, pet store, produce stores, bakeries, quality dollar stores, casual clothing, cheap eats, access to jobs,etc. I get really sick of having to take transit either downtown or to the suburbs to do things I should be able to do in my neighborhood.

New York accomplishes this across the board, across all boroughs, which is why it's a good model for a city as large as Philadelphia to look to. If people here are so opposed to doing it, they could also look to the parts of other smaller cities and towns that work well - despite most other places not working so well as a whole in this regards as NY does. I'm constantly regretful as to how easy I had it as a pedestrian and transit user living in South Minneapolis along Lake Street than just about any not-expensive un-gentrified neighborhood here in Philadelphia, and constantly confused that other people I know who live in working class parts of Philadelphia don't see how this could be beneficial to them. I guess they're just used to living how they live - but most neighborhoods in Philadelphia were also self-sufficient if you go back far enough.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat

New York accomplishes this across the board, across all boroughs, which is why it's a good model for a city as large as Philadelphia to look to. If people here are so opposed to doing it, they could also look to the parts of other smaller cities and towns that work well - despite most other places not working so well as a whole in this regards as NY does. I'm constantly regretful as to how easy I had it as a pedestrian and transit user living in South Minneapolis along Lake Street than just about any not-expensive un-gentrified neighborhood here in Philadelphia, and constantly confused that other people I know who live in working class parts of Philadelphia don't see how this could be beneficial to them. I guess they're just used to living how they live - but most neighborhoods in Philadelphia were also self-sufficient if you go back far enough.

De-industrialization, white flight, middle class blacks leaving some neighborhoods, the riot in 1964, complacent politicians. Those are some of things that happened to the self-sufficient neighborhoods that used to exist in W. Philly(60th, 52th, Market St and Lancaster Ave were the main streets that had all of those services; even movie theaters existed). And in lower N. Philly, Ridge Ave and Columbus Ave( Cecil B Moore). In Kensington and Frankford was Frankford Ave. Once upon a time Germantown Ave in Germantown was like a second downtown.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Freethinker15

It's been said before on this page and I'll reiterate. If you're looking for NYC in Philly or vice versa you're not gonna find it.
There used to be much more traffic foot wise in CC. I', sure when the Gallery is revamped as well as well as the rebuild of 8th & Market there will surely be more of a reason for people to want to venture that area of CC. Also there are other neighborhoods in the city that are rather busy for it's size. It's just that many visitors and even city residents may not go out to those places.

How many cities have their huge shopping district miles outside the city? Well Philly does. It is weirdly quiet here compared to Boston, NYC, SF, DC, etc.

King of Prussia mall destroyed shopping in Central Philadelphia. We have Macy's. Big deal. Where is the Newbury Street in Philadelphia? There is none, unless you count tiny Walnut between 15th and 18th. Shopping here is a joke.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Certainly one big problem with the dead zone of 8th and Market is the enormous surface parking that the owner has not developed.

And yet another issue in this city. What the heck is with all the huge surface parking lots right in the downtown? You just don't see that in dense cities like DC, Boston, SF and certainly not NYC. Land is so cheap here no one bothers to put underground garages into bldgs. Every single condo bldg here has their parking on the first levels above ground. You never see that in other dense cities.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

And yet another issue in this city. What the heck is with all the huge surface parking lots right in the downtown? You just don't see that in dense cities like DC, Boston, SF and certainly not NYC. Land is so cheap here no one bothers to put underground garages into bldgs. Every single condo bldg here has their parking on the first levels above ground. You never see that in other dense cities.

Not true.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

Shopping here is a joke.

Shopping here is such a joke, yet all girls under 25 spend their monthly allowance by going to Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Lilly Pulitzer websites and buying up their stuff. Rotodome made a great point in the other thread about shopping. While we are getting both an Old Navy Flagship store and Under Armor Flagship store in Center City, brick and mortar stores are increasingly becoming showrooms (think Apple Stores) where a majority of people come in and check out the products and then go home and order them online.

Oh and also Center City shopping could be considered a joke if someone said how amazing it is. Nobody compared Center City shopping to Newbury St.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

And yet another issue in this city. What the heck is with all the huge surface parking lots right in the downtown? You just don't see that in dense cities like DC, Boston, SF and certainly not NYC. Land is so cheap here no one bothers to put underground garages into bldgs. Every single condo bldg here has their parking on the first levels above ground. You never see that in other dense cities.

1. This is just blatantly false. The vast majority of buildings in/around Center City has either no parking or underground parking. This isn't Dallas. In fact, several new developments have no parking.

2. It's clear that vacant/parking lots, especially those that are high profile, are getting developed fairly quickly or are spoken for to be developed over the next several years. If you haven't seen this, you're not paying attention to development news. At current development rates, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that there will be no more vacant lots in Center City, due to either completed or under construction projects, by 2020.

3. DC, Boston, SF and NY are practically the only large cities where you don't see underutilized/vacant lots because of the obscenely high cost of real estate. The cost of real estate in Philly is definitely on the rise, so over time this will continue to encourage (as it already has) property owners to sell to developers.

For the umpteenth time, no one has said that Philadelphia shouldn't do things to emulate successes in other cities, or there is nothing the city can do to improve itself. That would be absurd. But often times criticisms that are lobbed against city truly are not rooted in reality or completely neglect other crucial factors.

[MB1562]

It is definitely true though that Philadelphia has a lot of paved surface lots right in downtown that just look ugly and out of place.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Duderino

1. This is just blatantly false. The vast majority of buildings in/around Center City has either no parking or underground parking. This isn't Dallas. In fact, several new developments have no parking.

2. It's clear that vacant/parking lots, especially those that are high profile, are getting developed fairly quickly or are spoken for to be developed over the next several years. If you haven't seen this, you're not paying attention to development news. At current development rates, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that there will be no more vacant lots in Center City, due to either completed or under construction projects, by 2020.

3. DC, Boston, SF and NY are practically the only large cities where you don't see underutilized/vacant lots because of the obscenely high cost of real estate. The cost of real estate in Philly is definitely on the rise, so over time this will continue to encourage (as it already has) property owners to sell to developers.

For the umpteenth time, no one has said that Philadelphia shouldn't do things to emulate successes in other cities, or there is nothing the city can do to improve itself. That would be absurd. But often times criticisms that are lobbed against city truly are not rooted in reality or completely neglect other crucial factors.

Tell me why the bldg. at the southwest corner of Juniper and Chestnut has sat ugly vacant for years? How long would this go on in NYC or Boston or DC? C'mon get real. Philadelphia is moving at a snails pace and is way way behind those cities. It gets depressing walking by that bldg. every single day. How bout the bldg. at Camac and Locust? Sitting decrepit now for years with a fence around it. Wtf is going on in this city that they can't get their act together and develop these bldgs? Why does everything take soooo long here?

https://goo.gl/maps/gN0MQ

How bout this one?


https://goo.gl/maps/kvDFH

[thedirtypirate]

^ Odd Center City building getting new owner - philly-archives

Quiet a few of Hale's buildings have got new life in them. The Divine Lorraine is about to begin construction.

A row of brownstones built by Hale have gotten a second life in the last decade becoming fraternity houses and student apartments.

http://i.imgur.com/K9HxsTH.jpg?1