Tons moving to PA from NJ NY!?

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

All of this is as she describes it, and I agree with her assessment of homegirl Judith Rodin, who actually bothered to do things like visit her old West Philly middle school while President. (I documented that visit for the Penn Current and gave Fry his campus-media "exit interview" in the same paper when he went off for his university-president practice run at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.)

I'd say that most of Penn's staff also didn't like John Fry; they too complained that he was making the school too corporate, and they really didn't like his clearing the food trucks from the block bounded by 36th, 37th, Sansom and Walnut streets to make way for the Inn at Penn/new Penn Bookstore/Faculty Club hotel/retail development. (He did the same with the food trucks that lined 33d, 34th and Spruce streets near the Hospital. Those trucks that survived were herded into out-of-the-way "Fresh Air Food Plazas" where they died in peace. Similar moves he has made at Drexel lead me to conclude he just doesn't like food trucks, period. I guess they disturb his sense of urban order.)

BTW, a Drexel student (now alum) who interned at PhillyMag in our Custom Publishing department last summer tells me that the students there don't care much for Fry either. He wrote for The Triangle and threw his share of darts at Fry himself. He had also heard of Fry's predecessor, Constantine Papadakis, and thought he did a great deal to advance the university.

Personally, I think Fry's heart is really in real estate development.

Lol, I remember the struggle/fight over the food trucks. So much time has passed that all of it means nothing now. An entire generation of people has grown up, become alums themselves without ever having known those trucks were there.

[KoNgFooCj]

Anyone have any updates on this topic? It's an interesting topic because Philly doesn't seem to me like a city that can boom on its own yet, so having one of the biggest and most expensive cities in the world nearby seems helpful for the city in the long run.

[Pilot1]

And they will ruin it like they ruin everything and everywhere else.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj

Anyone have any updates on this topic? It's an interesting topic because Philly doesn't seem to me like a city that can boom on its own yet, so having one of the biggest and most expensive cities in the world nearby seems helpful for the city in the long run.

The recent census release data shows Pennsylvania over 13M people for the first time, which is a good sign for future growth. Counties and metros aren't released yet, but I would not be surprised if Philadelphia hits 1.6M and the metro 6.2M. But this is before the brunt of Covid.

Overall, I say the trajectory for Eastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia look good due to location, continued improvements, and more affordable COL. Philadelphia has proven it can boom on its own, its a major metropolitan area with its own culture, institutions, economy, etc. Of course NYC to the North is a blessing and a curse, but I think more a blessing in the coming years. And if Philadelphia leadership can get a handle on crime, poverty and taxation, then the city is poised for major growth. The metro region is already solid and stable.

NY and PA still lost a congressional seat though.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by cpomp

The recent census release data shows Pennsylvania over 13M people for the first time, which is a good sign for future growth. Counties and metros aren't released yet, but I would not be surprised if Philadelphia hits 1.6M and the metro 6.2M. But this is before the brunt of Covid.

Overall, I say the trajectory for Eastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia look good due to location, continued improvements, and more affordable COL. Philadelphia has proven it can boom on its own, its a major metropolitan area with its own culture, institutions, economy, etc. Of course NYC to the North is a blessing and a curse, but I think more a blessing in the coming years. And if Philadelphia leadership can get a handle on crime, poverty and taxation, then the city is poised for major growth. The metro region is already solid and stable.

NY and PA still lost a congressional seat though.

Agree. There's no question now that Southeastern quadrant of the state (from the Lehigh Valley, Greater Philadelphia, and the Capital/South-Central region) is keeping Pennsylvania afloat. Although Pittsburgh is really serving as a formidable anchor for Western PA, as well (the surrounding counties, not so much). It will be fascinating to see a more granular breakdown by county/metro areas.

And yes, Pennsylvania, and the Northeast/Midwest generally, are definitely no strangers to losing Congressional seats. PA specifically has lost NINETEEN seats since the 1910 Census. Just an inevitability as the South and West have grown much faster. But population growth is honestly slowing considerably across the US; who knows what the rest of the 2020s will bring.