PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread II

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by Mayormccheese

Weird, the Smaller Boyd’s building being demo’d

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...nhouse-square/

Owned by the Philadelphia Teacher’s Federation actually. Boyd’s just rents out the window display. No one knows what’s going on with this or the reason for the demo. Sometimes an owner will pull a demo permit with no immediate intention of demolition.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by Mayormccheese

Weird, the Smaller Boyd’s building being demo’d

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...nhouse-square/

Demolishing perfectly fine buildings with no imminent development plans... what else is new...

Hopefully this doesn't come to pass, at least not without a worthwhile replacement.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Demolishing perfectly fine buildings with no imminent development plans... what else is new...

Hopefully this doesn't come to pass, at least not without a worthwhile replacement.

Only thing I can think of is that if PTF really are the current owners maybe they’re planning on selling the site and a demo permit along with the sale is more appealing to buyers? I can’t really see them building a tower or new office there

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I read in great detail (the Pew report) and was pleasantly surprised to see (any) Philadelphia media outlet report on it positively. Among the most interesting tidbits is that poverty in Philadelphia has dropped to 21.7% from a high of 26.9% in 2012. I'm not sure where that leaves us in the notable top ten poorest cities race but I have to think we might not be first anymore. Also notable in this survey is that household income in Philadelphia has surpassed Baltimore and we're nipping on the heals of Houston TX now.

It should also be noted that 24.1% of Houston residents lack healthcare compared to 6.8% in Philadelphia. Yay Texas!

Also notable in this report is how high Pittsburgh ranks on many of these metrics (positively). Good for Pittsburgh. Could we see a time when Pittsburgh's cool factor ranks up there with the Austin's or even Minneapolis's of the world? Lots of things going in its favor.

I think of you now when I read these headlines. The Inky put their spin on the Pew report.

Philly is seeing positive trends on income and jobs, but intractable problems remain, ‘State of the City’ report says
So is this report a win for the self-described “Philly boosters” or do the city’s public health and safety concerns wipe out any gains?
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philad...-20240418.html

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

I think of you now when I read these headlines. The Inky put their spin on the Pew report.

Philly is seeing positive trends on income and jobs, but intractable problems remain, ‘State of the City’ report says
So is this report a win for the self-described “Philly boosters” or do the city’s public health and safety concerns wipe out any gains?
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philad...-20240418.html

Good lord.

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

I think of you now when I read these headlines. The Inky put their spin on the Pew report.

Philly is seeing positive trends on income and jobs, but intractable problems remain, ‘State of the City’ report says
So is this report a win for the self-described “Philly boosters” or do the city’s public health and safety concerns wipe out any gains?
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philad...-20240418.html

You guys are way too sensitive. There really wasn't much to that "bias" allegation. I would hardly interpret the headline as trumpeting the imminent decline of Philly. Come on now.

[skyhigh07]

I actually thought the article was fairly reasonable and realistic for a change. While there are many good things happening, there are still lingering issues. The drug crisis is very real and we have one of the highest overdose rates in the country per the report.

It was a nice middle of the road take versus the “everything is fine” or “Philly is a hellhole” crowds.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

I actually thought the article was fairly reasonable and realistic for a change. While there are many good things happening, there are still lingering issues. The drug crisis is very real and we have on of the highest overdose rates in the country per the report.

It was a nice middle of the road take versus the “everything is fine” or “Philly is a hellhole” crowds.

When has the ink ever taken the "everything is fine" road?

The headline, especially when taken with their normal "Philly is a hell hole" stance is more of the same from them. You expect the city to eradicate the poverty issue overnight? We're at multi decade lows. This should be overwhelmingly positive. You see that headline with a positive spin? It's not.

It may as well have been "You think Philly is getting somewhere? Well it isn't."

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by Redddog

When has the ink ever taken the "everything is fine" road?

The headline, especially when taken with their normal "Philly is a hell hole" stance is more of the same from them. You expect the city to eradicate the poverty issue overnight? We're at multi decade lows. This should be overwhelmingly positive. You see that headline with a positive spin? It's not.

It may as well have been "You think Philly is getting somewhere? Well it isn't."

So you think everything is fine with the city’s mental health and drug crisis then? What happened to you Redddog? You used to be more on the critical side of this stuff than I was.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by cardeza

You guys are way too sensitive. There really wasn't much to that "bias" allegation. I would hardly interpret the headline as trumpeting the imminent decline of Philly. Come on now.

I agree. If we’re going off the headline alone, it’s basically just acknowledging two different sides of the debate/perceptions of the city.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by cardeza

You guys are way too sensitive. There really wasn't much to that "bias" allegation. I would hardly interpret the headline as trumpeting the imminent decline of Philly. Come on now.

Did you read the article?

Your interpretation of my annoyance is incorrect. My annoyance is that a promising Pew Report (the best I have seen in years) is still reported as a "glass-half-empty". Philly Mag did a nice job digging into the various details with a less subjective slant.

The Inky's MO is to be take a negative slant, it is what it is... If you can't see that, then let's agree to disagree.

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

So you think everything is fine with the city’s mental health and drug crisis then? What happened to you Redddog? You used to be more on the critical side of this stuff than I was.

From the article... Is this really necessary?

So is this report a win for the self-described “Philly boosters” or do the city’s public health and safety concerns wipe out any gains?

My only ask is that the Inky refrain a bit more from the glass-half-empty-approach. An organization can report on the positives and negatives without the clouded lens.

But in summary, a lot of promise for the years ahead.

[UrbanRevival]

I'll give a prime example of media pessimism that had nothing to do with a headline, or even the Inky.

WHYY had a write-up about the Pew report in which they quoted a professor at Penn basically saying--and I'm paraphrasing--that even though Philly reached over 50% college degree attainment rate for young adults (25-34), it still is well below a city like Washington, DC's 90% rate. Washington, DC!

Yes, Mr. Professor. The nation's capital, which literally has the highest concentration of white collar government jobs in the country, is going to have obscenely and artificially high college degree attainment rate compared to any other city in the US, because every other large city has a normal, diverse economy with more blue-collar based industries.

It's like never mind the fact that Philly's college educated young adult rate is now 14% above the national average and above many other large cities, it still doesn't compare to the city with the highest rate in the country.

That's exactly how "glass half full" thinking is quickly twisted into "never good enough" thinking.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Did you read the article?

Also, your interpretation of our annoyances is rather extreme. My annoyance is that a generally positive Pew Report (the best I have seen in years) is still reported as a "glass-half-empty".

Philly Mag did a nice job at leading with the positives and digging into the various details (and negatives) with a less subjective slant.

The Inky's MO is to be take a negative slant, it is what it is... If you can't see that, then let's agree to disagree.



From the article... Is this really necessary?

So is this report a win for the self-described “Philly boosters” or do the city’s public health and safety concerns wipe out any gains?

My only ask is that the Inky refrain a bit more from the glass-half-empty-approach. Of course many problems and hurdles remain, but this Pew Report showcases some excellent economic progress and really no signs of slowing down (Rome wasn't built in a day after all).

Also, even since this report, crime is down significantly in almost every sector (except retail theft).

I mean, the Inky was pretty detached when we were at record high homicides and didn’t want to attempt to ask questions or hold anyone accountable. So it’s not like they’ve been constantly critical of the city’s problems by any means.

They definitely acknowledged the positive trends even in the headline. I would prefer they didn’t take any approach or slant. Just show me the glass and let the readers decide.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

I would prefer they didn’t take any approach or slant. Just show me the glass and let the readers decide.

Fair enough.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Redddog

It may as well have been "You think Philly is getting somewhere? Well it isn't."

Haha. Agreed. The Inky has no issues with actual negative news not being offset by a "silver lining" but any positive news has to be balanced with the downside.

[700 Level]

Here are some rewritten headlines for the Inquirer for today, if they treated all news the way they treat city news:

"Phillies beat Rockies, but they remain the most losing franchise ever"

"Sixers win over Heat, but they still have not gotten past second round"

"Temperatures to be in the sixties, but expect heat and humidity followed by frigid temperatures later in the year"

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

So you think everything is fine with the city’s mental health and drug crisis then? What happened to you Redddog? You used to be more on the critical side of this stuff than I was.

When did I say that?

The drug crisis is horrible. And the mental health issues that persist are heartbreaking. These issues, among a myriad of others, continue to be frustratingly ingrained in Philly right now. But I see a new administration that is addressing these issues more directly than we have seen in my entire 8 years as a Philly resident.

Covid was a time that created a sense of "decline" here. Store closures and runaway violence created the feeling that we were going down as a society. I certainly bought into that and posted those feelings. But I feel like the times that when Philly has shown improvement - moving very hard-to-move needles - there should be at least a small, genuine celebration for that. We've made huge strides when it comes to recovery from the pandemic - and even beyond pre-pandemic variables. That is remarkable. How about acknowledging without a huge "BUT" after it? We all know Philly has much more to do.

Poverty, education, drugs, crime....all exceedingly difficult problems to gain traction on. All are multi-level socio-economic issues requiring several coordinated directions from which to come at. I'm not Pollyanna about that. But my level of optimism for these intractable issues gaining momentum meaningfully has increased with Mayor Parker.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by Redddog

When did I say that?

The drug crisis is horrible. And the mental health issues that persist are heartbreaking. These issues, among a myriad of others, continue to be frustratingly ingrained in Philly right now. But I see a new administration that is addressing these issues more directly than we have seen in my entire 8 years as a Philly resident.

Covid was a time that created a sense of "decline" here. Store closures and runaway violence created the feeling that we were going down as a society. I certainly bought into that and posted those feelings. But I feel like the times that when Philly has shown improvement - moving very hard-to-move needles - there should be at least a small, genuine celebration for that. We've made huge strides when it comes to recovery from the pandemic - and even beyond pre-pandemic variables. That is remarkable. How about acknowledging without a huge "BUT" after it? We all know Philly has much more to do.

Poverty, education, drugs, crime....all exceedingly difficult problems to gain traction on. All are multi-level socio-economic issues requiring several coordinated directions from which to come at. I'm not Pollyanna about that. But my level of optimism for these intractable issues gaining momentum meaningfully has increased with Mayor Parker.

I understand where you’re coming from. I’m a big Parker fan as well. Personally, I’m still upset that the Inky didn’t ask any questions or hold anyone accountable for when homicides were at record highs a few years ago. I’m sure we all have a hunches as to why that was…

It’s likely the journo who wrote the article isn’t a fan of Parker’s policies in the first place and is looking to nitpick, but at the same time at least all sides of the state of the city are being addressed. Although, I do understand your points.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Sinking and flooding for downtown. This is informative if you'd like to see some of the stats and impacts:

https://riskfactor.com/neighborhood/...932_fsid/flood

Here's the flooding recently, you can see how low Point State Park is now:

• Video Link

Pittsburgh and its park system was designed with flooding in mind. All of the trees and plantings are natural to the area and can withstand flooding. Flooding is nothing new to Pittsburgh. I never heard of Pittsburgh's sinking problem......

[Mayormccheese]

What is more likely to not happen, the stadium complex proposal or this?

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...VWzEiBkDWNI0p3