The Northeast (Philadelphia, Erie, York: 2013, crime, new home)

[bursitis]

Originally Posted by FindingZen

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, until the region and/or state decides to invest in the quality of life for the city's most economically challenged, they will go where they can afford.

There's one thing the 'economically challenged' can do to help themselves on an individual basis and that's to stop getting pregnant before they're financially, mentally and emotionally ready. Better to be married, also.


They could also start to value education and a work ethic.

[bursitis]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Yeah, this is pretty much what my friends who grew up there have told me. Two of them grew up on the 6000 block of Large St. (I think?) and they said their neighborhood has become a straight up ghetto... Shame. I think that's the Mayfair neighborhood, or maybe Oxford Circle?

Oxford Circle.

[bursitis]

Originally Posted by maf763

I hope you're not expecting a straight answer.

If you start talking honestly about what happened to NE Philly, you'll get banned.


It's like the elephant in the room with the Center City flash mobs.

[selhars]

I don't know the NE at all. I have no idea what the racial make-up is, nor percentage of ethnic change,

Pennsport, forgive me, I don't know....are you from Philly? How long have you lived here? (or in the area)

[Flyers1976]

I live in the Far Northeast in Somerton. The Far northeast is nice. Anything in 19116, 19154, 19114, and 19115. If I’m wrong someone can correct me. Rhawn is really the buffer zone for the northeast I’d say but, too me I like anything north of Grant. Park wood os the other side of the Blvd. from me and that’s all nice too. Most people own over there and very few renters. Plus, the crime is very low. If you look at the 7th and 8th Districts on the police website there’s very low crime. And violent crime is also very low. Northern Fox Chase is okay not the southern end not so good.

[maf763]

Originally Posted by bursitis

you'll get banned.

You would certainly know about being banned.

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by selhars

Pennsport, forgive me, I don't know....are you from Philly? How long have you lived here? (or in the area)

No worries, selhars. I am not originally from Philly, but have lived in the city since 2000. First around Passyunk Square (before it was Passyunk Square), then in Northern Liberties and now in Pennsport. Several of my College friends that I'm still close with grew up in the Northeast, but I have had very limited exposure to that area. We had this discussion last weekend. Two of my friends posit that the NE is crumbling and two others feel it's got hope to rebound. I was simply curious, thus why I asked this forum for opinion.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

In a way, it's hard for me to feel sorry for the Northeast and those who say that it is declining. For one, I don't think believe that most of it is as bad as people portray it to be. Sure, Frankford has been run down longer than I've been alive (born in 1995), and parts of the Lower Northeast have seen increases in crime (namely Mayfair, Wissinoming, and Holmesburg), but most of it is okay at best. With the exception of Lawncrest (which isn't the worst itself), nothing above the Boulevard is too bad, and nothing northeast of Rhawn is in decline.

The Northeast failing to be in a position to capture the investment dollars going to other parts of the city has everything to do with its planning failures of the 20th Century coming back to haunt it. Me and my girlfriend--24 and 23, respectively--are looking across the city to determine where we will rent our first place together. The Northeast was the very first area that we eliminated, even before Southwest Philly and North Philly above Lehigh Avenue. Due to its auto-centric planning and lack of good transit connections, living in the Northeast was a non-starter for us. I imagine that other people within my age demographic feel the same. If there was a Boulevard Subway, or if the El was extended to Frankford and Rhawn, then my girl and I would consider the Northeast in a heartbeat, especially since she has a car.

Instead, we will focus on West Philly, Francisville/Fairmount/Art Museum area, and Northern Liberties/Fishtown/South Kensington due to the myriad of transit connections, interesting bars and restaurants, the lack of a need to Uber/Lyft (which I hate), and the level of in-tact urbanity. The Northeast could've captured a young couple with a combined income that comes close to six figures, but the fathers and grandfathers of your college friends protested against building out a sufficient transit system due to the fact that they didn't want "those people" from North Philly "invading" the Northeast back in the 50s and 60s.

[bigfish1]

After reading this forum I will try my best to take a stab at it. For context I am originally from Port Richmond, lived on Tyson Avenue for a year (so short because of a bad case of termites in the house), spent most of my time growing up in Jenkintown and Norristown and now live in Baltimore but I still have family and frequent the Northeast. My grandmother is also a recently retired ESL teacher at Northeast High.

I really think the Northeast, when I refer to the Northeast I am mainly talking about the Lower Northeast, is on a knifes edge. What I mean by that is the neighborhoods could go either way, some will probably stay stable middle neighborhoods while others take a precipitous turn for the worse. The area I most frequent is the Bustleton Avenue section of Oxford Circle between the BLVD and Cottman. Granted I am only 22 so my memory is relatively recent but I have always noticed trash on the streets as this is a Philadelphia wide problem but in the last few years I have noticed an uptick in the amount of trash on the streets. At the same time I have noticed less vacant store fronts and many of the new businesses either cater to Chinese or Middle Eastern clientele with other ethnic restaurants opening as well such as Brazilian, Mexican, and Salvadoran.

What hasn't been mentioned in this forum is that the Northeast is the fastest growing section of the city, not greater Center City. This is largely due to immigration both direct and secondary (people being priced out of NYC). I truly believe that if the Northeast remains stable it will be due to the immigrants in the area, as they create businesses and maintain strong community ties. As an ESL teacher my grandmother said she originally only taught people from European countries with some Spanish speakers mixed in but over the past 10 to 20 years she has seen an influx of people from every corner of the planet. She told me that there were children who had 60+ languages other than English.

No matter how the Northeast is in the future, it is in transition. The older white population is leaving or passing away and being replaced by a much more diverse population. To be honest some of the fears of a neighborhood going downhill may be the sentiment whether conscious or subconscious that the new people are bringing the neighborhood down solely because of how the look which is straight up racism. At the same time there have been an increase in murders and related crime in Oxford Circle and Mayfair which can not be ignored. The Northeast also struggles from being geographically far from the rest of the city. Both distance and since people protested a subway being built there, again that comes from some sense of racism. The distance leaves it oft forgotten by a lot of people in the city.
All of this to say that I do not believe that the Northeast as a whole is screwed. While I most likely wouldn't live there for many reasons it is an extremely unique part of the city that I will watch extremely closely even from here in Baltimore. If you haven't been up to Oxford Circle yet please check it out as some of the best food in the city is up there.

[PHL10]

Here’s the story of the NE, especially the lower NE from my perspective. The kids who graduated high school over the last 20-30 years (as the OP mentioned), chose not to stay in the neighborhood. Meaning, when it was time to buy/rent their own home, they by and large chose some other neighborhood or suburb. The air lite was a great affordable middle class house for the families in the 60s and 70s but not that attractive nowadays – it doesn’t provide all the spin-off amenities of a denser urban area and doesn’t have the advantages of the suburbs. I think most of these kids who stayed in the Phila. area ended up in Bucks but you do find a good smattering of them in the gentrifying core neighborhoods.

So this dynamic above, basically creating supply as the new generation moves out and also the gentrification in the core has allowed a lower socio-economic class to move in. To be fair, in the late 80’s-ealry 90’s I noticed a lot of white people from Kensington moving into the lower NE which didn’t exactly help the neighborhood either. Nothing stays the same but as some have mentioned, the area being a magnet for recent immigrants is certainly a plus.

So I grew up there and chose not to stay so if I have a problem with the changes in the NE then i should have a problem with my own choices....I don't.