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Eh, although I respect your arguments I find it unpersuasive when weighed against the reasons against calling "Cedarbrook" Mt. Airy. I also don't think the conclusions that 19150= Mt. Airy necessarily follows the evidence given above. I agree that the area you describe is separate from West Oak Lane (though it looks a lot more like West Oak Lane than East Mt. Airy IMO). Also just because "Cedarbrook" got built out once EMA was complete doesn't mean it makes sense to refer to it as the same neighborhood. I do agree that you have proven that many people besides the Councilwoman think of the area as East Mt. Airy.
Oddly enough I have heard of "upper east mt. airy" as referring to the area between Gowen and Ivy Hill.
I actually posted an even longer and more elaborate response to much the same question to a comment on the article itself, but I do think the flow of development and the absence of strong transit connections between this neighborhood and WOL - all of the bus routes that pass through it approach it from EMA, not WOL - do go a long way towards explaining what I attribute mainly to the real estate agents.
However, on your last sentence: That's an extremely narrow slice of the neighborhood - to be specific, its two northernmost blocks. To restrict it that way makes even less sense IMO than calling all of it by that term.
I actually posted an even longer and more elaborate response to much the same question to a comment on the article itself, but I do think the flow of development and the absence of strong transit connections between this neighborhood and WOL - all of the bus routes that pass through it approach it from EMA, not WOL - do go a long way towards explaining what I attribute mainly to the real estate agents.
However, on your last sentence: That's an extremely narrow slice of the neighborhood - to be specific, its two northernmost blocks. To restrict it that way makes even less sense IMO than calling all of it by that term.
There are signs all over that "narrow slice" of Mount Airy saying "Upper East Mount Airy - A Town Watch Community". My wife and I joke about being on the Upper East side while on these walks frequently, just yesterday to be precise. That's the only place I've ever seen the name, straight in that narrow slice. I don't take it too seriously, but KansastoSouthPhilly's statement lines up with that.
The L Bus travels from West Oak Lane straight down Stenton, the border between Mount Airy and Cedarbrook, durhing rush hour about half of them ending at Rodney and East Mount Airy (in Cedarbrook) - a kind of trivial point.
So many of these neighborhood names come from realtors. The difference between East and West Mount Airy as opposed to one actual Mount Airy (as is the case with Chesntut Hill) is largely a realtors and property owners dilemma ($$$ for West).
If you read the book Making Good Neighbors, about the integration of the neighborhood, you'll discover many old-time residents referring to the neighborhood as Germantown - as it is indeed part of the original Germantown township, and at the time Germantown had a larger sphere of influence. Some relics of this that continue to exist, such as Germantown Jewish Centre, located squarely in (West) Mount Airy. Other smaller neighborhood names abound too - such as Pelham, Stenton, etc.
Mount Airy was the name of an estate William Allen (of Allen Lane and Allentown fame) had at the sight of Luther Theological Seminary - around Allen Lane, Germantown, Mt Airy Avenue.
Historically, the two parts of Germantown Township that is now considered Mount Airy were also known as Cresheim and Beggarstown. Beggarstown being centered on the long straightaway of Germantown Aveneu between Johnson and the hill (which I refer to as Mount Pleasant, whether or not that is actually its name). Cresheim would have been above that - the upper part of Mount Airy - including Upper East Mount Airy (but not Cedarbrook). Supposedly the oldest rural structures were actually along Cresheim Avenue, which used to run into Germantown Avenue and used to go further up before the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks existed. All of these older rural structures, including some fine estates, are long gone.
The common thread here is that none of this has anything to do with Cedarbrook, as Cedarbrook has nothing to do with Germantown or Mount Airy, at least not until it was developed in the very recent past.
If a realtor wants to say its part of East Mount Airy I'm sure they have their reasons ($), and all the more reason the person who bought the home would also like that to be true, same as a realtor would want to convince someone Kensington and Somerset is Fishtown. Unlike that area, Cedarbrook is actually a fine neighborhood that just isn't part of East Mount Airy, merely next door to East Mount Airy (or as I call it, Mount Airy).
There are signs all over that "narrow slice" of Mount Airy saying "Upper East Mount Airy - A Town Watch Community". My wife and I joke about being on the Upper East side while on these walks frequently, just yesterday to be precise. That's the only place I've ever seen the name, straight in that narrow slice. I don't take it too seriously, but KansastoSouthPhilly's statement lines up with that.
The L Bus travels from West Oak Lane straight down Stenton, the border between Mount Airy and Cedarbrook, durhing rush hour about half of them ending at Rodney and East Mount Airy (in Cedarbrook) - a kind of trivial point.
So many of these neighborhood names come from realtors. The difference between East and West Mount Airy as opposed to one actual Mount Airy (as is the case with Chesntut Hill) is largely a realtors and property owners dilemma ($$$ for West).
If you read the book Making Good Neighbors, about the integration of the neighborhood, you'll discover many old-time residents referring to the neighborhood as Germantown - as it is indeed part of the original Germantown township, and at the time Germantown had a larger sphere of influence. Some relics of this that continue to exist, such as Germantown Jewish Centre, located squarely in (West) Mount Airy. Other smaller neighborhood names abound too - such as Pelham, Stenton, etc.
Mount Airy was the name of an estate William Allen (of Allen Lane and Allentown fame) had at the sight of Luther Theological Seminary - around Allen Lane, Germantown, Mt Airy Avenue.
Historically, the two parts of Germantown Township that is now considered Mount Airy were also known as Cresheim and Beggarstown. Beggarstown being centered on the long straightaway of Germantown Aveneu between Johnson and the hill (which I refer to as Mount Pleasant, whether or not that is actually its name). Cresheim would have been above that - the upper part of Mount Airy - including Upper East Mount Airy (but not Cedarbrook). Supposedly the oldest rural structures were actually along Cresheim Avenue, which used to run into Germantown Avenue and used to go further up before the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks existed. All of these older rural structures, including some fine estates, are long gone.
The common thread here is that none of this has anything to do with Cedarbrook, as Cedarbrook has nothing to do with Germantown or Mount Airy, at least not until it was developed in the very recent past.
If a realtor wants to say its part of East Mount Airy I'm sure they have their reasons ($), and all the more reason the person who bought the home would also like that to be true, same as a realtor would want to convince someone Kensington and Somerset is Fishtown. Unlike that area, Cedarbrook is actually a fine neighborhood that just isn't part of East Mount Airy, merely next door to East Mount Airy (or as I call it, Mount Airy).
Forgot about the Route L bus. But in that case, I'd also have to toss in the 77, which runs along Cheltenham Avenue, as well. I was using the narrow definition of actually crossing into the neighborhood, and those routes number two: the XH and 18. (The H follows Washington Lane, another border.)
Well, as I think I noted somewhere in this very discussion, the neighborhood we're talking about was part of Bristol Township pre-consolidation, not Germantown Township. (The Oak Lanes were also part of this township.) After Germantown Borough reincorporated, what was left of the township was today's Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill.
I also have no doubt that the branding (I don't think this is "rebranding" because the practice probably started at the time the neighborhood began to build out) was Realtor-driven, and I said as much when I addressed the issue at the panel discussion. Had they said this was West Oak Lane, they couldn't have gotten as much for the homes they sold.
But if you enter Philadephia from Cheltenham Township via Easton Road, there's a sign on an island in the middle of Wadsworth Avenue just past Cheltenham that reads "Welcome to Mount Airy." I don't know if this was part of the streetscape improvements Councilwoman Parker got funding for, but it does tell you something about what the residents of that area consider themselves.
And given when Cedarbrook Mall opened, I have my doubts that anyone called this area Cedarbrook prior to 1962 - and that was, as I noted, after it had been fully built out.
Given the level of emotional investment they have in being considered part of Mt. Airy, I - like the Mt. Airy USA representative in the audience at the panel discussion who sent up a comment saying, "We're proud to partner with the Medina Community Development Corporation on the Vernon Road improvements and other projects that keep our neighborhood strong - one Mt. Airy" - see no real harm in deferring to their sentiments. And I guess I'd go a step further and say that, given that depth of feeling, why insist on calling it after a golf course and shopping center that are both located outside it as well?
I think I need to read "Making Good Neighbors." I assume it's available from the Free Library?
Given the level of emotional investment they have in being considered part of Mt. Airy, I - like the Mt. Airy USA representative in the audience at the panel discussion who sent up a comment saying, "We're proud to partner with the Medina Community Development Corporation on the Vernon Road improvements and other projects that keep our neighborhood strong - one Mt. Airy" - see no real harm in deferring to their sentiments. And I guess I'd go a step further and say that, given that depth of feeling, why insist on calling it after a golf course and shopping center that are both located outside it as well?
I think I need to read "Making Good Neighbors." I assume it's available from the Free Library?
There's no harm in it at all, assuming harm to mean something that causes harm. It's just that in almost any category you can think of besides the extension of the Germantown grid - history, transit access, architectural style, demographics - it is just so completely distinct from Mount Airy . My personality is the kind that doesn't believe that people just saying things over and over again makes that thing true - even though when you get down to it that is what the truth is I suppose, perception of the truth. I also know a few people who live in Cedarbrook - some of whom refer to it is Cedarbrook without a problem at all.
Being that I live in the part of East Mount Airy that's actually in Mount Airy, I also sometimes get the impression that when people talk about East Mount Airy and its "mostly black, working class" demographic and "boring housing" that they in fact are confusing East Mount Airy - which has incredible houses and is in fact for the most part as integrated racially and middle-income as WMA (except for the lower section of the neighborhood, getting close to Washington Lane) - with Cedarbrook. Which also doesn't cause any harm, besides the fact that it's wrong.
You can get the book from the library, that's where I got it from. It's an interesting read.
There's no harm in it at all, assuming harm to mean something that causes harm. It's just that in almost any category you can think of besides the extension of the Germantown grid - history, transit access, architectural style, demographics - it is just so completely distinct from Mount Airy . My personality is the kind that doesn't believe that people just saying things over and over again makes that thing true - even though when you get down to it that is what the truth is I suppose, perception of the truth. I also know a few people who live in Cedarbrook - some of whom refer to it is Cedarbrook without a problem at all.
Being that I live in the part of East Mount Airy that's actually in Mount Airy, I also sometimes get the impression that when people talk about East Mount Airy and its "mostly black, working class" demographic and "boring housing" that they in fact are confusing East Mount Airy - which has incredible houses and is in fact for the most part as integrated racially and middle-income as WMA (except for the lower section of the neighborhood, getting close to Washington Lane) - with Cedarbrook. Which also doesn't cause any harm, besides the fact that it's wrong.
You can get the book from the library, that's where I got it from. It's an interesting read.
Thanks.
East Mount Airy proper contains all of the neighborhood's lowest-income Census tracts save the absolute lowest one, which is in West Mount Airy. The housing stock improves as you head north from Washington Lane, true. But as you head east from the R7 tracks towards Stenton Avenue above Stenton station, the houses once again become more modest until, at Stenton itself, they resemble the early 1940s homes you find in similar sections of the Lower Northeast.
That's why I suspect the pattern of development flowed east across Stenton rather than north across Washington Lane.
East Mount Airy's affluent section is, or at least was as I recall, more racially integrated than West Mount Airy's.
I may be sorry I stirred this, but since this got (IMO somewhat deserved, for reasons I'll go into momentarily) snark here, I thought I'd try responding in a more reasonable fashion.
"Tell us about all the murders" implies that they're a routine occurrence in the halls of our more-than-one-third-black high schools.
I strongly suspect that we'd have heard about them, or seen a feature about the epidemic, were they that common.
Fights are one thing, and those are very common, but they're still noteworthy enough that (in this case) a very bad one at a suburban high school went viral (in another) ABC News sent one of its ace reporters, Diane Sawyer, into Strawberry Mansion High School - "the most dangerous school in America," as the segment labeled it - to report on the routine violence there. A fight broke out in the school cafeteria while Sawyer was in it, and a group of SM students had to form a human shield to get her out of the room safely.
I'm pretty sure that if people were getting offed in the halls of our schools, we'd hear about them, as we (or those of us who lived here at the time) did when that teacher was murdered in that Cedarbrook/upper East Mt. Airy school back in 1971.
Just as denial does no one any favors, neither does exaggeration.
I don't feel like wading into soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations territory right now, but I will say that in most cases, people will live up - or down - to what we label them as being. I'm blessed that not only my parents recognized what I had in me at a very early age but also that they knew how to cultivate it in me - and to put me in environments where I wasn't labeled like that. Who knows how many minds we've wasted by tossing similarly bright young children who weren't so fortunate as to have savvy parents and perceptive teachers into a different bucket entirely?
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