Chester vs North Philly (Philadelphia, Erie: real estate, 2013, neighborhoods)

[thedirtypirate]

Chester, like North Philly grew because it was along the river and good for shipping and industry.

Philadelphia is primed to gain more shipping and has already showed a 20% increase this year with the Panamax ships. Chester in theory could benefit from it. It's a long way off though for being a good buy imo.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

Compared to North Philly, is Chester crime and drug ridden? There is hardly anything reported in the news about Chester.

Can Chester be turned into an attractive Philly suburb? Is it ripe for redevelopment? I think North Philly is a lost cause and it will take a lot more to turn it around. Chester sounds more like a blank canvas as opposed to North Philly which requires taking down buildings and relocating (kicking out) good-for-nothing residents.

Having worked in broadcast TV, the way it works is that Philadelphia crime gets airtime before suburban crime, unless there is something particularly noteworthy about it. Just because you don't see X number of crimes from a given suburb covered on the broadcast newcasts does not mean that no crime happened.

North Philadelphia is far more likely to have gentrification creep into the area. It's starting to happen. It won't completely gentrify over night.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

Compared to North Philly, is Chester crime and drug ridden? There is hardly anything reported in the news about Chester.

Can Chester be turned into an attractive Philly suburb? Is it ripe for redevelopment? I think North Philly is a lost cause and it will take a lot more to turn it around. Chester sounds more like a blank canvas as opposed to North Philly which requires taking down buildings and relocating (kicking out) good-for-nothing residents.

A) the news and media are garbage to begin with, so that is not worth a response.


B) How is Chester a blank canvas? North Philly has the tools in place to gentrify, better city leadership might expedite the process. But as I said earlier there is absolutely nothing going for Chester. Widener U is the only potential brightspot, but Widener doesn't have the resources of a Penn or Drexel to take over the area, plus you have 95 which acts as a wall at the southeastern edge of campus.


Both areas are bad, but I see North Philly recovering before Chester. The soccer stadium was a failed idea, the casino even worse. Stupid political leaders thing building a soccer stadium or casino subsidized by the tax payers will save Chester, that is not how it works, yet they will never learn. Again, start by tearing everything down, then you have a blank canvas with some potential.

[Mdez]

Well, simply put.... North Philly is WAY more populated than Chester to begin with. But both are crime infested dumps. (Though parts of north philly are slowly getting gentrified)

[rainrock]

Chester only has 30,000 residents and its sandwiched between a huge river and solid crime free middle class towns. Imo Chester going to be much easier to turn around then North Philly which population is in the hundreds of thousands.

Why hasnt Chester turned around? Can be answered with another question. What are you going to do with the current 30,000 residents of Chester that make it gentrification proof?

Controlled chaos. Probably a smart move at this point and time.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Mdez

But both are crime infested dumps.

Like Fairmount and Northern Liberties?



I think this discussion suffers from a lack of definitions. What is North Philadelphia? It can considered as big as everything North of Vine. Are we only including the bad parts of North Philadelphia for this discussion?

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by PHL10

Like Fairmount and Northern Liberties?



I think this discussion suffers from a lack of definitions. What is North Philadelphia? It can considered as big as everything North of Vine. Are we only including the bad parts of North Philadelphia for this discussion?

I would say further North (the badlands). With all things considered, I still think the badlands of North Philly will improve before Chester. A few posters think otherwise, but have not posted ways as to how Chester will improve sooner or how it will improve at all.

[BK_PHL_DEL]

Originally Posted by cpomp

I would say further North (the badlands). With all things considered, I still think the badlands of North Philly will improve before Chester. A few posters think otherwise, but have not posted ways as to how Chester will improve sooner or how it will improve at all.

Been driving past Chester on my way to work in DE for the past 4 years. It remains a dump, with no change. I remember reading somewhere a while ago that at a press conference for the opening of the newly-built on-ramp to 95 south, the local politicians were harping that it would be a big step in the revitalization of Chester somehow. Yeah, right.

[1ondoner]

This is exactly what I am saying. There is more land for redevelopment in Chester and the population is sparse compared to North Philly which is already congested.

Gentrification involves displacement of residents, where will North Philly residents move to?

Most Philly homers are hung up on the railway line. For them, SEPTA is a must. East London, Hackney in particular and the surrounding boroughs, are poorly served by the subway/the tube, however, it has gentrified and now unaffordable to most Londoners.

Originally Posted by rainrock

Chester only has 30,000 residents and its sandwiched between a huge river and solid crime free middle class towns. Imo Chester going to be much easier to turn around then North Philly which population is in the hundreds of thousands.

Why hasnt Chester turned around? Can be answered with another question. What are you going to do with the current 30,000 residents of Chester that make it gentrification proof?

Controlled chaos. Probably a smart move at this point and time.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by BK_PHL_DEL

Been driving past Chester on my way to work in DE for the past 4 years. It remains a dump, with no change. I remember reading somewhere a while ago that at a press conference for the opening of the newly-built on-ramp to 95 south, the local politicians were harping that it would be a big step in the revitalization of Chester somehow. Yeah, right.

And that is another example of kickbacks, personal agendas, corruption, and stupidity. That money could have been spent dulldozing the hundreds of abandoned homes on each side of 95 (I know Penndots budget doesn't cover that, I am just saying). Or the money could have been spent capping the Vine.