PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[mja]

Originally Posted by McBane

Not to be smart, but can I guess you live in the City and have no kids?

I'm in the opposite camp. Have young kids and live in the suburbs. If I had to commute to work, I'd have to pay about $500/month for after-care (for just one child)...in addition to the added fuel costs and wear/tear on the car. Instead, I save that money while also getting a head start on dinner, running the Roomba, dropping laundry into the machine, etc.

For your typical suburban family, WFH has been a godsend. I'll never set foot in an office again.

Live in the city, 3 kids. WFH was so stressful with kids during Zoom school, nigh impossible. I don't work in an "office" though and absent extraordinary conditions like a raging pandemic will always have to be in-person.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

Yes!!! I've been wanting this for so long! Is this for the subways I hope?

For the Trolleys, MFL, and BSL. One for each.

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by mja

Live in the city, 3 kids. WFH was so stressful with kids during Zoom school, nigh impossible. I don't work in an "office" though and absent extraordinary conditions like a raging pandemic will always have to be in-person.

The preference for people whose work is not location restricted is dependent on so many things.

How nice/large is your home?
Do you have a home office?
Do you have children?
How nice is your office?
How are the amenities around your home vs your office?
How flexible are your hours?
How do you feel about your coworkers?
What is your commute?
How's the weather?
How self-motivated are you?
Etc.

I do think the prevalence of hybrid work is the silver lining of this pandemic.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Justin7

I do think the prevalence of hybrid work is the silver lining of this pandemic.

From a social interaction standpoint, I think the trend of people "socializing" with their devices instead of people will accelerate so while I'm happy people like WFH, I can't see it as a silver lining.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHL10

From a social interaction standpoint, I think the trend of people "socializing" with their devices instead of people will accelerate so while I'm happy people like WFH, I can't see it as a silver lining.

As someone who has worked from home for the last ten years since I left college, I can tell you it’s really not a good thing. Maybe it can be a positive if you have kids, but if you’re just starting off in your career and you’re looking to network, collaborate and advance, it will hold you back in many ways.

Hopefully, companies will innovate to lure workers back in by creating enticing hybrid plans, but all in all I think you’re right that promoting more screens and isolation within our society is not a silver lining, but it is what it is I suppose…

[McBane]

Justin is right, there are lots of different scenarios that drive our preferences. I think the for average suburbanite with kids and two working parents, WFH is optimal most of the time. And while some of us lament the loss of personal interaction with our co-workers, that's true, but for parents with kids, we now get to spend more time with them, which I think is a good tradeoff. I can be there when they get off the bus and I can start spending time with them the minute I log off; for those with longer commutes, that's a huge win.

When I was single and lived 5 min from work (and I had a compact car and cheap gas) working in an office was fine and looking back, it was very nice to build that camaraderie.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by McBane

Justin is right, there are lots of different scenarios that drive our preferences. I think the for average suburbanite with kids and two working parents, WFH is optimal most of the time. And while some of us lament the loss of personal interaction with our co-workers, that's true, but for parents with kids, we now get to spend more time with them, which I think is a good tradeoff. I can be there when they get off the bus and I can start spending time with them the minute I log off; for those with longer commutes, that's a huge win.

When I was single and lived 5 min from work (and I had a compact car and cheap gas) working in an office was fine and looking back, it was very nice to build that camaraderie.

Granted most people screw off for a good portion of the work day while working in the office but its obvious that the big perk to WFM is not just the commute but doing personal stuff during the work day. I saw a thread on City Data where retirees were pissed that all of their weekday morning/early afternoon haunts that would be mostly empty are now packed with "non-retirees". I think the downsides of WFH coming to light added with the inevitable growing abuse of the privilege will combine to create growing corporate pushback as was seen with Tesla recently.

[Scottydont]

Originally Posted by PHL10

Granted most people screw off for a good portion of the work day while working in the office but its obvious that the big perk to WFM is not just the commute but doing personal stuff during the work day. I saw a thread on City Data where retirees were pissed that all of their weekday morning/early afternoon haunts that would be mostly empty are now packed with "non-retirees". I think the downsides of WFH coming to light added with the inevitable growing abuse of the privilege will combine to create growing corporate pushback as was seen with Tesla recently.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52246288127_c1d137a0f2_c.jpg

Elon is such a tool I work just as hard at home as I do in the office...

[skyhigh07]

I think there is somewhat of a “let them eat cake attitude” amongst the “laptop class” these days. “As long as I’m married and have kids, established in my career, have a network of friends and can zip over to Starbucks to get a latte from a barista making slightly above minimum wage who has to put up with homeless people shooting up in the bathroom everyday, I see no problem with WFH…”

It’s a great way to further stratify classism within society….

In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how the recession or “recession” shakes up this trend. The job market is still relatively strong but we’ll see how long that lasts. It may get to a point where job candidates can’t be as picky about WFH and flexible hours perks.

[3rd&Brown]

I'm happily hybrid and probably will be forever. I also don't ever see myself working for a company again that mandates I need to be in the office every day.

That being said, if you're ambitious and want to advance in your career, I fail to see how that's possible without at least somewhat regular facetime with leadership. At the end of the day, we're humans. People can love your work, but they also want to have a personal relationship with you. That's nearly impossible to foster remotely in an authentic way and I guarantee you that people who are in the office at least part time will advance faster than those who are not.

I think it's also been harder to train early career professionals remotely. Lots of things happen through direct observation, shadowing...concepts as simple as key strokes and shortcuts and tricks of company systems are so much easier to master side by side with a coworker. I see some of our newer workers struggling and a part of me thinks remote work is partly to blame.

If you been in your role for a while and have your company systems / processes mastered, for sure, you're not really going to miss a beat by not being in the office with the exception of the politics. But it is affecting the learning curve of new hires.

[PHLtoNYC]

Store at 23rd & Walnut officially closed.

Rite Aid closes another Philly store, this time on Walnut Street. It’s the seventh one in a year.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/retail/rite-aid-store-closing-philly-condolidation-20220728.html

[reparcsyks]

Drug stores are pretty depressing - happy to see this one closed and watch a tower rise here. As far as retail goes, my list of depressing is:

1. Cellphone stores
2. Banks
3. Drug stores
4. Fast food/Starbucks/Dunkin

[TempleGuy1000]

I'm not on Facebook anymore, but does anyone have a screenshot of the post about the tower? I know we got McGarth's inside info, but just was curious what the post actually said?

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by reparcsyks

Drug stores are pretty depressing - happy to see this one closed and watch a tower rise here. As far as retail goes, my list of depressing is:

1. Cellphone stores
2. Banks
3. Drug stores
4. Fast food/Starbucks/Dunkin

Damn that's your list?

Here's mine

1.Beer Corner Store
2.PayDay Loan
3.Empty Lot
4.Abandon Block/Property

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by reparcsyks

Drug stores are pretty depressing - happy to see this one closed and watch a tower rise here. As far as retail goes, my list of depressing is:

1. Cellphone stores
2. Banks
3. Drug stores
4. Fast food/Starbucks/Dunkin

There are a lot worse depressing retail scenarios I can think of before a Starbucks or Dunkin.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by PHL10

Granted most people screw off for a good portion of the work day while working in the office but its obvious that the big perk to WFM is not just the commute but doing personal stuff during the work day. I saw a thread on City Data where retirees were pissed that all of their weekday morning/early afternoon haunts that would be mostly empty are now packed with "non-retirees". I think the downsides of WFH coming to light added with the inevitable growing abuse of the privilege will combine to create growing corporate pushback as was seen with Tesla recently.

Most days I'm at home I truly work about four hours a day. That's no less than when I'm in the office and certainly more than Elon does so he can 🞵🞵🞵🞵 off.

Hybrid WFH is a nice perk for most people. Acting like it's gonna degrade society seems a bit extreme.

[R5Ryder]

Regarding the hybrid work discussion, for what it's worth, Amtrak eliminated the 607 (7:20 AM from 30th) Keystone Line to Harrisburg (that stopped in Paoli), and SEPTA eliminated all west-bound express service on the Paoli-Thorndale line, so people who commute to any big companies in the Malvern/Paoli area (one in particular) who worked remotely for 2 years and just came back are faced with 1) not having their usual Amtrak line that they used for more than a decade, and 2) not having their usual SEPTA train to take, and it absolutely 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.

I get that it might not make sense for Amtrak to restore a train that will primarily be used 3 days a week, but for a lot of reverse commuters, the commute time/convenience changed even though they didn't move, and going into the office really 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 - despite the obvious benefits.

In conclusion, screw Amtrak. They restored every single train on that line except the 607. Screw Amtrak in the most painful way possible.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by R5Ryder

Regarding the hybrid work discussion, for what it's worth, Amtrak eliminated the 607 (7:20 AM from 30th) Keystone Line to Harrisburg (that stopped in Paoli), and SEPTA eliminated all west-bound express service on the Paoli-Thorndale line, so people who commute to any big companies in the Malvern/Paoli area (one in particular) who worked remotely for 2 years and just came back are faced with 1) not having their usual Amtrak line that they used for more than a decade, and 2) not having their usual SEPTA train to take, and it absolutely 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.

I get that it might not make sense for Amtrak to restore a train that will primarily be used 3 days a week, but for a lot of reverse commuters, the commute time/convenience changed even though they didn't move, and going into the office really 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 - despite the obvious benefits.

In conclusion, screw Amtrak. They restored every single train on that line except the 607. Screw Amtrak in the most painful way possible.

I hate to be the "WELL ACHTYUALLY" guy but SEPTA does run an express to Bryn Mawr local to Paoli in the morning. It leaves 30th at 6:30, so it's perfect for those working construction hours (7:00 - 3:00). It 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 that 607 wasn't restored, but 619 will get you into Paoli at 9:19. I know a lot of companies are a lot more flexible with hours post COVID so I suppose for a few people it still represents an alternative.

SEPTA currently doesn't have the crews to be running more express service, and Amtrak only runs what the state of PA funds them for. So someone in Harrisburg decided that 607 wasn't necessary anymore and cut it.

[youngniems]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

SEPTA currently doesn't have the crews to be running more express service, and Amtrak only runs what the state of PA funds them for. So someone in Harrisburg decided that 607 wasn't necessary anymore and cut it.

I keep hearing that SEPTA does not have the crews to be running more regional rail trains. Any reason why that is? I feel like that has been an excuse from running more frequent trains for a very long time but nothing has been done about it. The demand is definitely back for more than twice hourly trains on weekends.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by youngniems

I keep hearing that SEPTA does not have the crews to be running more regional rail trains. Any reason why that is? I feel like that has been an excuse from running more frequent trains for a very long time but nothing has been done about it. The demand is definitely back for more than twice hourly trains on weekends.

Prior to COVID, SEPTA was a firm believer in having the bare minimum staff and paying those engineers and crews a shitton of overtime. During COVID, a lot of engineers quit for other railroads or better pay. So they have fewer engineers now than they did before, and the new hires are less enthusiastic about working a ton of overtime.

It takes a very long time to train conductors, but an incredibly long time to train an engineer, especially on SEPTA. SEPTA's training program is actually considered the hardest in the US. The upside is that SEPTA hasn't had a major derailment in a very long time, the downside is that it becomes almost Sisyphusian to train new hires.

There is a large class of engineers in training at the moment, but the program takes over a year. So SEPTA is almost playing catch up to demand when it comes to new hires.

SEPTA's goal is to have something like 230 qualified engineers, and right now they have something short of 180. They're getting there, but it'll take awhile. Lord knows they better get them going fast; planning wants quicker headways and more express trains.