PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[Knight Hospitaller]

It’s been a while since I’ve compared Philadelphia’s population and other metrics with various world cities, but I once knew a gal from Brisbane who took one look at our city and was overwhelmed by its size. Always comparing ourselves with New York and boom towns causes us to lose sight of our standing. Woulda coulda shoulda doesn’t get us anywhere, but I appreciate not being satisfied with the status quo. There’s no telling what a little vision and competence could do to build on what we already have.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

I once knew a gal from Brisbane

Isn't that the first line of an old Australian drinking song?

[Frontst17]

People seem to ignore just how much Wall Street profited off of slavery and then industrialization. It’s a huge port if not the biggest fresh water port (in the world?). Philadelphia had a lot of infighting within the city and state in the 19th century oddly enough due to our exceptional schools. They were very popular with wealthy powerful Southerners and a lot of that influence bled into city and state politics breeding division and corruption. As far as Jersey, as big as the North/South divide is now, it was a downright chasm a century ago when S Jersey was the ugly inbred stepchild of the wealthy civilized N Jersey who were essentially king makers in state and federal politics. There’s a reason North Jersey is essentially NYCs dumping ground and factory floor. That’s how they wanted it and it afforded them a lot of power until it all disappeared. Of course there’s about a dozen other factors not limited to Ellis island and the fact that globally wealthy families made NYC (New Amsterdam) home centuries ago and have only accrued more power and wealth since.

[TonyTone]

‘Absolute worst case scenario’: City of Chester’s finances so bad it could be disincorporated and cease to exist as a city


https://whyy.org/articles/chester-ci...ibextid=l066kq

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse for Chester, it did.

The city of Chester’s financial viability has deteriorated to the point where the state-appointed receiver is weighing the possibility of disincorporating the city altogether — a situation he is trying to avoid.
Receiver Michael Doweary and his chief of staff Vijay Kapoor relayed the information to the public during Tuesday’s virtual Municipal Financial Recovery Advisory Committee meeting, which is just days before the three-year anniversary of former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declaring a fiscal emergency in Chester.
“We are desperately trying to avoid disincorporation. It is the worst possible outcome for everybody involved. But just as we warned months ago about the possibility of bankruptcy, we need to do the same with disincorporation. It is a possibility. It’s not something we want, but it is a possibility,” Kapoor said.

While the receiver filed for bankruptcy on behalf of the cash-strapped city in November, Doweary’s office believes ongoing litigation levied by city officials to block the bankruptcy proceedings and modifications of the recovery plan has prevented them from rescuing Chester’s failing finances.

Disincorporation would mean Chester would lose its charter and would functionally cease to exist if a solution is not reached by the end of the year. City employees would be laid off, elected officials would be removed from office, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development would appoint an administrator to handle vital services for the area.

Municipal bankruptcy filings are rare. Municipal disincorporations are almost unheard of.

“It would be the absolute worst case scenario for everybody here involved employees, retirees, residents, residents of the city of Chester, residents of Delaware County, residents of the region,” Kapoor said
According to Kapoor, the city would have run out of money by this September, but for agreements made between Chester’s bankruptcy counsel and some of its creditors. The receiver’s team has made considerable improvements to the issues plaguing the city’s police pension plan, but as of March, there were only 16 months of benefits left.

Chester’s funds remain critically low. The receiver’s team projects Chester will have an operating deficit in 2024 and an “insurmountable deficit” in 2025. Doweary believes any solution would take a year to put into action, so he said it needs to happen by the end of this year.

“We need to have a plan of adjustment in place by the end of this year, considering how long it will take to implement the plan. We don’t have a choice,” Doweary said.

In February, a majority of elected officials, with the exception of Councilmember Stefan Roots, appealed a ruling from the Commonwealth Court that stripped them of their administrative duties.

And in late March, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stepped in and issued an order, halting the decision from the lower court and allowing elected officials to remain as department heads. Additionally, a group of city officials recently appealed an opinion from the court finding Chester eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Kapoor said these appeals are wasting valuable time and resources and that court decisions in both of these matters “will take months to resolve.” Doweary doesn’t think the city has enough time.

Act 47 gives Doweary the power to recommend Chester for disincorporation.

If disincorporation occurs, all municipal ordinances are nullified, officials are removed from elected office, and all powers granted to the municipality are terminated.

“We are running out of time, to be very clear. Chester has been under some type of state oversight for over 28 years,” Kapoor said. “It does not have 28 more years.”

[PHLtoNYC]

VC still going strong for the region.

Philadelphia lands among top five most active regions for venture capital in 1Q
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ndraising.html

Closed 94 deals worth about $700 million between January and March.
Among the 10 CSAs included by PitchBook, Philadelphia trailed only the Bay Area (533), New York (422), Los Angeles (214) and Boston (167). It beat out regions like Seattle (71), Chicago (79) and Washington, D.C. (80).

[arkitect13]

Actually, i just feel the urge to show this and see what you all think, according to Macro Trends, a group that uses census data, and estimates to show the population in the Metro area, its grown have for the past few years, and is actually speeding up? Here are the metro statistics

Take these with a grain of salt obviously but I find them interesting

The current metro area population of Philadelphia in 2023 is 5,785,000, a 0.5% increase from 2022.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2022 was 5,756,000, a 0.38% increase from 2021.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2021 was 5,734,000, a 0.3% increase from 2020.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2020 was 5,717,000, a 0.21% increase from 2019.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by arkitect13

Actually, i just feel the urge to show this and see what you all think, according to Macro Trends, a group that uses census data, and estimates to show the population in the Metro area, its grown have for the past few years, and is actually speeding up? Here are the metro statistics

Take these with a grain of salt obviously but I find them interesting

The current metro area population of Philadelphia in 2023 is 5,785,000, a 0.5% increase from 2022.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2022 was 5,756,000, a 0.38% increase from 2021.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2021 was 5,734,000, a 0.3% increase from 2020.
The metro area population of Philadelphia in 2020 was 5,717,000, a 0.21% increase from 2019.

I thought Philly metro was well over 6M? If this excluding certain areas?

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

‘Absolute worst case scenario’: City of Chester’s finances so bad it could be disincorporated and cease to exist as a city


https://whyy.org/articles/chester-ci...ibextid=l066kq

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse for Chester, it did.

I've been following this for years now, as I find the bankruptcy of our smaller municipalities fascinating. Is this really worst case scenario big picture, though? I feel for those who would be impacted by job losses but PA's setup is antiquated and needs to go and this could be a good precedent and a lesson for smaller municipalities in the same boat going forward...and for even on the positive side, where it may be time for a successful municipality to dissolve some of its services and combine with those around it; there are some examples of this already in the Harrisburg and York areas.

This will be interesting to watch but Chester needs a lot of help and the cleanup effort is going to be no small feat.

[SouthCentralPA]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

I've been following this for years now, as I find the bankruptcy of our smaller municipalities fascinating. Is this really worst case scenario big picture, though? I feel for those who would be impacted by job losses but PA's setup is antiquated and needs to go and this could be a good precedent and a lesson for smaller municipalities in the same boat going forward...and for even on the positive side, where it may be time for a successful municipality to dissolve some of its services and combine with those around it; there are some examples of this already in the Harrisburg and York areas.

This will be interesting to watch but Chester needs a lot of help and the cleanup effort is going to be no small feat.

What are the examples in Harrisburg and York? I would like to read about them.

[TonyTone]

I think the best thing to do is to let the City of Philadelphia Annex Tinicum Township all the way to the City of Chester, this would in turn help the city of Chester, and increase the size of Philly.

I think this is a good idea!

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

I think the best thing to do is to let the City of Philadelphia Annex Tinicum Township all the way to the City of Chester, this would in turn help the city of Chester, and increase the size of Philly.

I think this is a good idea!

It's funny the sports stadium is not a economic driver along with building two highway ramps. I read a strong towns article on Chester and basically everyone still drives past Chester. I love the idea of Philadelphia annexing Tinicum and Chester City.

Chester needs to embrace the two regional stations and allow mix use development around the stations. Rebuild the waterfront so there is a place to hangout at. A stadium and rec center is not going to save Chester.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

I think the best thing to do is to let the City of Philadelphia Annex Tinicum Township all the way to the City of Chester, this would in turn help the city of Chester, and increase the size of Philly.

I think this is a good idea!

The airport operating under one jurisdiction would be good, but Philadelphia has enough problems, adding Chester to the mix would only burden Philadelphia.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by SouthCentralPA

What are the examples in Harrisburg and York? I would like to read about them.

West Shore Regional Police Dept. in Cumberland County and Northern York and York County Regional Police Depts. Some of the other smaller municipalities e.g. Shiremanstown have explored this also. And there's also Fire/EMS services and other services that have been combined (or at least shared and with better cooperation). My dream would be for a county system but I know that we are far from that and it's probably in the never category.

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

The airport operating under one jurisdiction would be good, but Philadelphia has enough problems, adding Chester to the mix would only burden Philadelphia.

Agreed, Philly doesn't need more crime, blight and poverty to have to sort through and try to manage.

[BroadandMarket]

Yeah no thank you to Chester. Let Delco handle that mess. Chester is in way worse shape even than where Camden was in 2004/05 when it was most dangerous city in America.

The Union's stadium should have never been built there. It's a massive mistake for Chester and for Philly. The stadium should have been in Philly near public transit where they could draw more fans and be more relevant as a franchise. I think at least they should do a few Fri/Sat/Sun games per year at the Linc. Sell the upper level tickets for $5 and fill the arena. Similar to what Villanova does with Wells Fargo Center.

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

The airport operating under one jurisdiction would be good, but Philadelphia has enough problems, adding Chester to the mix would only burden Philadelphia.

Originally Posted by BroadandMarket

Yeah no thank you to Chester. Let Delco handle that mess. Chester is in way worse shape even than where Camden was in 2004/05 when it was most dangerous city in America.

The Union's stadium should have never been built there. It's a massive mistake for Chester and for Philly. The stadium should have been in Philly near public transit where they could draw more fans and be more relevant as a franchise. I think at least they should do a few Fri/Sat/Sun games per year at the Linc. Sell the upper level tickets for $5 and fill the arena. Similar to what Villanova does with Wells Fargo Center.

I mean why not, the way I see it we the Philly Border is already 25% there, we might as well reclaim the rest.

The way I see it, we would just be claiming land that should already be Philly anyway.

[EastSideHBG]

The Philadelphia Business Journal published an article on April 4th detailing development projects in the pipeline for Upper Merion. A few of these projects are closer to West Conshohocken than the King of Prussia Mall. These include:

- An approved plan for 300 apartments at 2901 Renaissance Boulevard, near Gulph Mill Golf Club and the Hughes Park SEPTA Station (the Norristown High-Speed Line). This is shown in a rendering above on the left.
- A 163,800 square foot, four-story commercial lab building at 2501 Renaissance Boulevard on the Discovery Labs campus.
- On the former GSK campus (which has a small portion in West Conshohocken), Innovation 511 would include 1.7 million square feet of lab, cGMP manufacturing, and office space comprised of 10 buildings. A portion of this is shown in the rendering on the top right.
- On the former GSK campus (which has a small portion in West Conshohocken), Innovation 611 includes five buildings totaling one million square feet with uses similar to Innovation 511.
- There is a plan to construct a 150,000-square-foot warehouse with 36-foot clear-height ceilings and 29 docks at 446, 456, and 588 Swedeland Road.

https://morethanthecurve.com/develop...-conshohocken/

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

I mean why not, the way I see it we the Philly Border is already 25% there, we might as well reclaim the rest.

The way I see it, we would just be claiming land that should already be Philly anyway.

But why? Tinicum, sure, because of the airport, but Chester? What benefit comes from that?

Philadelphia would be responsible for a completely broken city. Philadelphia does not need that burden.

[summersm343]

Balenciaga opened in the King of Prussia Mall.

Versace and Dior are confirmed to be coming soon.

[SouthCentralPA]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

West Shore Regional Police Dept. in Cumberland County and Northern York and York County Regional Police Depts. Some of the other smaller municipalities e.g. Shiremanstown have explored this also. And there's also Fire/EMS services and other services that have been combined (or at least shared and with better cooperation). My dream would be for a county system but I know that we are far from that and it's probably in the never category.

Thanks. I imagine the same thing happened with Northern Lancaster County Regional Police. Don't know all the details, but seems to be working well.

And I know there have been some talks about implementing a regional fire/ems response. Still a long way away (and could never happen) but it's at least being discussed.

[SouthCentralPA]

Originally Posted by BroadandMarket

The Union's stadium should have never been built there. It's a massive mistake for Chester and for Philly. The stadium should have been in Philly near public transit where they could draw more fans and be more relevant as a franchise. I think at least they should do a few Fri/Sat/Sun games per year at the Linc. Sell the upper level tickets for $5 and fill the arena. Similar to what Villanova does with Wells Fargo Center.

I would love to see some Union games at the Linc! Would love a packed house against NYC or LAFC. Do you think it could actually get pretty full? The Union has to start playing better first...