Phiadelphia's Revitalization (Philadelphia, Levittown, York: 2013, houses, landlord)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Flyers Girl

I was going to come here and start a thread on an opinion piece I read this morning, but it seems to fit perfectly into this thread.


Chris Friend: Why Philly will always be a second-class city


He makes some good points, but I don't necessarily agree with everything he throws out. He compares Philly to Boston and generally blames the state of the city on the apathy of the residents and inept leadership. What do you all think?

That paper has always been crap...that's what I think of it.

Philadelphia is one of the great food cities in the country but the writer is probably clueless about that so the default is to take those Brits to Pat's or Geno's.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Garbage written by a bitter suburbanite.


The only point I mainly agree with is the horrible leadership holding the city back.

It's not totally bad. I mean to deflect a minute DiBlasio isn't a genius...you've been in NYC long enough to have picked that up.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Redddog

The wage tax alone would make a game-changing difference. It's remarkable that they can't get that done.

Local tax reform requires state intervention, afaik.

[car0401]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Obviously you have never looked at the philly curbed website, or any other place else, if think there are no plans to develop just the areas you are talking about(Poplar or North Broad).

And sadly you have completely forgotten about, or have never been to, the NW part of the city. Chestnut Hill is a dream of neighborhood. Or, what about Overbrook Farms?

I do look at Curbed and OCF Naked Philly and Plan Philly and Skyscraperpage. Chestnut Hill and Overbrook Farms are suburbs that are within the boundries of Philadelphia. I know Philadelphia is improving, look at my previous statements but thats not the point. You can point out all the exceptions but it still stands that a lot of North Philly like Strawberry Mansion, Tioga Nicetown, and Fairhill are a long way from being close to Spring Garden or Nothern Liberties. A lot of West Philly outside of University city like West Parkside, A neighborhood with really beautiful architecture, are still in terrible shape and are getting worse.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by kyb01

It's not totally bad. I mean to deflect a minute DiBlasio isn't a genius...you've been in NYC long enough to have picked that up.

Not totally... I wrote Chris Friend a lengthy reply to his article though. I dissected it by each paragraph, I would like to see if he responds.

[phillytransplant13]

Originally Posted by car0401

I do look at Curbed and OCF Naked Philly and Plan Philly and Skyscraperpage. Chestnut Hill and Overbrook Farms are suburbs that are within the boundries of Philadelphia. I know Philadelphia is improving, look at my previous statements but thats not the point. You can point out all the exceptions but it still stands that a lot of North Philly like Strawberry Mansion, Tioga Nicetown, and Fairhill are a long way from being close to Spring Garden or Nothern Liberties. A lot of West Philly outside of University city like West Parkside, A neighborhood with really beautiful architecture, are still in terrible shape and are getting worse.

Chestnut Hill, Overbrook Farms and other outlier neighborhoods are not suburbs, no matter how you put it. Any neighborhood within the city limits is Philadelphia. It really irritates me when people say "oh that's not the city" when referring to these neighborhoods. It's simple geography.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Philly's in great shape actually, and, baring another major financial meltdown or something catastrophic specific to our city (i.e. Comcast up and leaves), in 10 - 20 years we will see:
- SOUTH: All of South Philly on both sides of Broad will be solid down to the stadiums (basically to DelCo).
- NORTH: North Philly will continue to fill in and should be good to go past "TempleTown" which is at least 15 blocks north of Girard. And this will be on both sides of Broad. Not to mention that Francisville will become more like Fairmount is today and North Broad proper will be a thriving with people, world class restaurants and bustling pubs.
- WEST: Drexel, Penn and businesses in general will continue to dominate eastern University City (probably finally linking UC and downtown proper. They will also continue their western expansion - slowly eating into the long-standing areas of poverty
- EAST: To the East, the Delaware waterfront will be unrecognizable in fewer than 10 years


Really, the only remaining areas of blight will be deep North and West Philly (now these will not be tiny areas by any stretch, but they will have virtually zero impact on the city proper). NOrtheast Philly will also continue its decline, but it's so cut off from the city proper it might as well be a suburb.

I totally think that this is how it is going to happen. North and West Philly are back in play to a degree that a lot of people fail (or refuse) to realize. Penn has long been a driver in the revitalization of University City, but the way that Drexel and Temple are increasing in rankings will continue this trend in their respective neighborhoods. As someone who grew up in West Philly (Mill Creek) and will be living in North Philly starting on June 1st, seeing both areas transform brings me immense happiness. 52nd Street (especially south of Market) will see commercial development very soon as the boundary of what is considered "University City" approaches the corridor. In North Philly, I believe that North Broad will be walkable up to at least Erie Avenue in my lifetime. There are great projects in occurring in Templetown; meanwhile, the Beury Building rehab will get things started around Broad and Erie. What will connect the area between the Cecil B. Moore and Erie BSL stops? The massive development at Broad and Indiana, as well as anything occurring at Broad and Lehigh/Glenwood (I suspect that we will see a proposal within the next 10 years or sooner)

Originally Posted by kyb01

There is some new energy in Brewertown as well. It did stall for awhile but there's new interest again. I keep hoping that some of this will "drift" into Strawberry Mansion.

I see a market for the area bounded by 33rd, Oxford, Glenwood, Ridge, and Diamond. This is one area that I am paying close attention to, as I have my eye on certain properties after I graduate college next year and attempt to establish myself as a Philly real estate developer. I believe that this will be the first area of Strawberry Mansion to be revitalized as Brewerytown chugs along!

[Lenses & Lights.]

Originally Posted by car0401

I do look at Curbed and OCF Naked Philly and Plan Philly and Skyscraperpage. Chestnut Hill and Overbrook Farms are suburbs that are within the boundries of Philadelphia. I know Philadelphia is improving, look at my previous statements but thats not the point. You can point out all the exceptions but it still stands that a lot of North Philly like Strawberry Mansion, Tioga Nicetown, and Fairhill are a long way from being close to Spring Garden or Nothern Liberties. A lot of West Philly outside of University city like West Parkside, A neighborhood with really beautiful architecture, are still in terrible shape and are getting worse.

FAIL.... Really? They're not? Well you should tell that to those residents of Northwest, Upper, and Far Northeast Philadelphia that they're being cheated since they've been paying property, city, and county taxes assigned to "Philadelphia Residents." When they call for police or fire services one of the "Philadelphia" agencies shows up, and not any for the "Suburban" towns/counties that they are really apart of...

You people crack me up and have nothing to fall back on when discussing these huge swaths of the city that roughly makes up a half million of it's residents, so you point back to some of the more obvious within the the city and dismiss the others as being "Really or Actually " apart of it.

Sorry madam/sir......., but YOU are wrong.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

FAIL.... Really? They're not? Well you should tell that to those residents of Northwest, Upper, and Far Northeast Philadelphia that they're being cheated since they've been paying property, city, and county taxes assigned to "Philadelphia Residents." When they call for police or fire services one of the "Philadelphia" agencies shows up, and not any for the "Suburban" towns/counties that they are really apart of...

You people crack me up and have nothing to fall back on when discussing these huge swaths of the city that roughly makes up a half million of it's residents, so you point back to some of the more obvious within the the city and dismiss the others as being "Really or Actually " apart of it.

Sorry madam/sir......., but YOU are wrong.

The OP is the only person on this thread who lamely described Chestnut Hill and Overbrook Farms as "suburban". And there was the mistake of not knowing all what of what constitutes the River Wards. Then, what bugs me as well as you, it seems, totally ignoring the great NE.

[2002 Subaru]

Originally Posted by kyb01

The OP is the only person on this thread who lamely described Chestnut Hill and Overbrook Farms as "suburban". And there was the mistake of not knowing all what of what constitutes the River Wards. Then, what bugs me as well as you, it seems, totally ignoring the great NE.

I know ... Why do some residents think Philadelphia consists only of Center City, South Philly, Fishtown and West Philly?