Is anyone thinking of leaving/moving out of the city? Why? (Philadelphia: pharmacy, wage)

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Hedonism

Back to the original question: I never thought I'd want to leave, but we'll be leaving because as we're getting older, we're having less and less tolerance for the ignorance and trashiness that is ingrained in many as part of Philadelphia culture.
I know more people equals more problems, but there are too many dirty people in this city and it shows through the city's dirty appearance.

Question - You were nasty (and presumptive) toward me and others in the crime thread, and basically claimed I did nothing& do nothing for Philadelphia, and now that I am in NYC I should just shut up.

How is your attitude any different than what you're complaining about?

Normally I would say your post in this thread is very good, but you threw me off with your (now deleted) response in the crime thread.

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by bridge12

The thing that really drag on me about the city is the reluctance to change. Philadelphia's city government is actually way more conservative than a lot of people think.

Street sweeping? Nah, can't do that, don't want to upset people who leave their cars parked on the street for six months. So we get massive amounts of litter and gunk filling up the streets that never gets swept up.

Bike lanes and bus lanes? Nah, don't wanna upset anyone. Despite the fact that it tends to be lower-income people who use both, the city bends over backwards to rich white NIMBYs.

Parking in bike lanes, crosswalks, sidewalks? Sure, keep doing it. Major lack of enforcement. Again, the common denominator here is car-owners which are a minority in many neighborhoods.

In addition, the city acts too much like a small town and the city councilmembers have way too much power over land use.

Hear, hear! I agree wholeheartedly with all of these points. Philadelphia's walkability (and potential for bikability) is one of its major assets. We should be doing everything possible to enhance this feature, and stop deferring to NIMBY car owners. I say this as a car owner.

I also fully agree with those upthread (I believe it was in this thread) who've mentioned increasing commuter rail frequency to gradually achieve subway-level frequency. If the inconvenience of timing trips via commuter rail were eliminated, I think we'd see a big shift in commuter rail ridership, and the suburbs/outer neighborhoods it serve would feel even better connected to Central Phila.

Edit: And to answer the question of the thread more directly, the pandemic has made me second guess my choice of residence. At this point, I am benefitting very little from urban amenities and vibrancy, while still feeling all of the downsides of life here. I have definitely dreamt of packing up and moving to a rural area. But, I am trying to consider this feeling will go away once the pandemic is over. Hopefully things start feeling better soon.

[bridge12]

Originally Posted by Hedonism

People should sweep their own streets. People should have the graffiti removed in their neighborhoods. To many people cry, cry, cry, but do nothing to help make things nicer.


I see bike and bus lanes all over the place. Where are these "rich, white NIMBYs" blocking these things?


People are parking their cars for six months at a time and not using them? LOL ... I don't think so.


Where are these 'many' neighborhoods where car-owners are the minority?


Back to the original question: I never thought I'd want to leave, but we'll be leaving because as we're getting older, we're having less and less tolerance for the ignorance and trashiness that is ingrained in many as part of Philadelphia culture.
I know more people equals more problems, but there are too many dirty people in this city and it shows through the city's dirty appearance.

Nah, the City shouldn't rely on neighborhood friends groups and residents for street sweeping. Take a walk around South Philly and tell me how exactly you think people should sweep the years of gunk and litter along the curb when people don't move their cars for months (it's absolutely a thing in South Philly - I take it you don't live there).

Of course people shouldn't litter and should sweep their stoop. That's a completely different element than mechanized street sweeping that every other city does.

I'm not gonna get into a bus and bike lane argument with you. Philly is behind every major city in the country on that. Enough said.

[DXBtoFL]

I left Philadelphia even though I enjoyed living in Center City. The pandemic spurred my move because WFH meant I no longer needed to be close to the Philadelphia office.

My time in Philadelphia was brief, barely a year. I've now bought a house in a comfortable suburb of Baltimore as I wanted to be closer to family and friends in Maryland. That said, had I stayed in Philadelphia I would have been buying a house too, and 99% likely outside the city. I'd been eying Wyndmoor or Merion Station/Wynnewood before deciding to leave the region altogether.

Despite the plethora of handsome housing in the northwest quarter of Philadelphia in Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy and East Falls, I knew I didn't want to be a city taxpayer. I don't like the toxic marriage of progressive and racial politics becoming too common in cities like Philadelphia, a marriage of convenience that churns out people like Larry Krasner or Jim Kenney, the former blatantly driven by ideology and the latter blatantly obliged to special interest groups. There's a staggering amount of blindness in urban voters, who perpetually moan about injustices but also perpetually vote for the same handful of second-rate local politicians and political machines that rarely see any meaningful change across decades and who also simultaneously go out of their way to justify the transgressions of of so many of urban Philadelphia's dysfunctional populations while also complaining about all the problems in the city.

One can live relatively isolated from these ills in affluent parts of Philadelphia but it's not for me. I know I'll never live in a big city again. Calm, efficient, pragmatic and pleasant suburbia is for me.

[selhars]

I hear ya'. Thumbs up and reps to you.
I am growing less and less tolerant of all you've described.

[skintreesnail]

I considered moving out of the city for more space, but so far decided against it when I really pictured life in the suburbs. I grew up in a rural area and really don't want that again. At least full time. I would miss all the vitality that life in the city brings, like festivals, restaurants, shops, galleries, museums, public art, parks and just that urban scale and built environment. I really value being able to walk/bike everywhere or take transit to quickly get around town. I really hated having to depend on a car for everything. I do have a car though, that is used for longer trips or carting around large purchases. Before the pandemic it frequently sat unused for months on end. Definitely use it more now, but still around once or twice a month.

I do get fed up with the politics, but to me I think it's not at all progressiveness that is the issue; the politics that I see in play are really old-school and conservative, with lots of resistance to any change that benefits the things I just said I valued about cities.

[Hedonism]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Um, no.

Street sweeping remains a municipal job in most East Coast cities (as it was here before it got cut during either the Bill Green or Wilson Goode administrations). Sidewalk maintenance may be the responsibility of the abutting property owner, but cleaning the curb lane gutters is something the local government does in part because individual property owners might simply sweep their gutter junk over into the next lot (or, in the old days, same with horse droppings).

New York's infamous alternate-side-of-the-street parking rules are enforced in order to allow street sweepers to go down one side of the street.

Um, see post #159.

[Hedonism]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Question - You were nasty (and presumptive) toward me and others in the crime thread, and basically claimed I did nothing& do nothing for Philadelphia, and now that I am in NYC I should just shut up.

How is your attitude any different than what you're complaining about?

Normally I would say your post in this thread is very good, but you threw me off with your (now deleted) response in the crime thread.

LOL! Isn't that rich? I get attacked and I'm the nasty one?

[Hedonism]

Originally Posted by bridge12

I'm not gonna get into a bus and bike lane argument with you. Philly is behind every major city in the country on that. Enough said.

Good. Bus and bike lanes are a nuisance.

[Redddog]

Buh bye, y'all. If the city doesn't work for you anymore, you should leave. It's easier than ever to square the work thing (if you're lucky enough to have a WFH job).

They'll take me out of my apt in Old City when I die. Not a moment before.

Now, the politics that you mention that are the reason why you just can't stand it here are my politics ( yes, I'm a moderate democrat) so I'm not offended by them. But if yu're unable to see the beauty in Philly and the benefits of living as resident, you shouldn't be there.

It's not without it's compromises. I too, hate the trash thing. I've never understood how someone could choose to throw a pizza box on the ground, 4 feet away from a trash can. But i've watched it happen many times here. I've also seen it happen in the suburbs, BTW. Cpomp can attest, NYC is just as filthy as Philly. It's a city thing. Not a Philly thing.

Staying here makes no sense if you don't see the benefits of this town.