I don't think these Promise Zones are going to amount to a hill of beans. One of those federal programs that say we are doing something while doing basically nothing...
I don't think these Promise Zones are going to amount to a hill of beans. One of those federal programs that say we are doing something while doing basically nothing...
I think this might work for West Philly. Why would they pick West Philly over worse neighborhoods? Because its already showing signs of economic growth. Its a safer bet. The Feds can point to West Philly in 5 to 10 years and claim they stimulated the area. This area is already booming near the universities so a small boost from Uncle Sam could go a long way.
I don't think these zones were picked based on straight up need. Not to say that help is not needed but if you look at the whole list, it does make you scratch your head.
The other locations were neighborhoods in San Antonio and LA, somewhere in KY and some Indian reservation in OK.
No Detroit (or any other floundering cities in Michigan) or really anywhere in the rust belt. Heck, even in this region, I'd say Camden and Chester are more hopeless as neither of those cities have even a sliver of stable areas.
What is amusing is the thing that has held Mantua back is the government itself. It has flooded that neighborhood with public housing hence the reason it hasn't turned around like virtually every other neighborhood in good proximity to Center City and University City.
This is a really good point. For giggles I looked at the zillow listing of houses in the area, to see what imaginary money I could invest, and there's a bunch of crummy gov'ment housing lots listed for sale at 130K. So I would have to drop that down per lot and then pay to blow down the poorly thought out houses.
Couldn't agree more with arnaz. The government needs to spend this money wisely in an area where the investment can actually gain traction and possibly sustain itself, i.e. an area with complimentary economics for future prosperity and existing community "infrastructure." Mantua has both -- real estate values in U. City are already rising, and there already exist loads of civic-minded partners, institutions and community groups that will have a sort of multiplier effect. It would be futile to dump tons of money on a that will have no understanding of how to use it properly and maximize the investment. You might have a temproary spike in improvement but nothing long-term. Cynically, you could say the goverment gets to take credit for economic growth that it was only partially responsible for, and if these promise zones really do improve (which I think they will) they become a big part of the president's legacy.
By the way this was my first post, although I have "stalked" this message board for over a year now. I am quite possibly obsessed with strengthening the competetiveness of Philadelphia and also just observing its growth. Thank you for providing me my daily nourishment!
I thought I saw this posted somewhere before but I couldn't find it again. Either way, I walked by the site of 2021 Chestnut street the old YMCA (YWCA?) and there was a fence blocking the sidewalk which makes it look like demolition will begin shortly. I was walking around at 6 at night so I couldn't tell if there is any further activity on the site. Here is to more construction!
I thought I saw this posted somewhere before but I couldn't find it again. Either way, I walked by the site of 2021 Chestnut street the old YMCA (YWCA?) and there was a fence blocking the sidewalk which makes it look like demolition will begin shortly. I was walking around at 6 at night so I couldn't tell if there is any further activity on the site. Here is to more construction!
Demolition began in mid-December on the Ranstead Street side of the building. The building is made of asbestos and was built as a dual purpose YMCA-bomb shelter so I'm sure that we won't see progress on the outside for a long time while things are cleared out the back way. Then one day the whole shell will disappear and it will take everybody by surprise.
^^^ Ah, I thought I read something like that, thank you! Nice to know I'm not going completely crazy. Also, the Armory on S. Broad is completely down and it looks like the old foundation is being removed/further excavated. But I do not remember the armory getting final approval.
At the risk of sounding smug, why can't we make the whole country a Promise Zone? Lower taxes and bad regulations across the board, whilst decreasing spending a bit (can someone tell me why our military still needs to be in Germany?). Our country needs more investment capital and real savings. In fact we are starving for it. Lowr taxes, modestly reduce spending and lower barriers to entry for small businesses. Hong Kong has virtually no natural resources and is the 5th richest country (per capita) in the world. Cherry-picking who is entitled to the Promise of not being robbed as much as others is not only bad policy, but it just seems a bit unjust.
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I am long time viewer of this forum and with my first post I would like to say thank you for everyone that contributes to this site (specifically summer). It's great to see how knowledgeable you guys are about new development for the Philly area. I love how passionate everyone is about this city and I truly believe Philly will reach its full potential. Here’s to a new year and new developments...just hoping sooner than later
The promise that they talk about has no funds attached to it simply makes it easier to obtain from 25 federal grants that alresdy exist for people living in poverty. This is information from people that work at Drexel. But it will make nutter and Obama look good it's just an other political ploy to make them look succefull. like someone already mentioned gentrification has already strated in that area and within the next dacade or so there really won't be that many living in poverty in that area.
Man the blogosphere is up in a frenzie about Burberry Closing. I think it's an outlier, especially given the ascendancy of Walnut St. this past year.
News on Walnut is iterating so fast that you're one step behind: Burberry's out but Michael Kors is in. Imagine this had everything to do with rising rents.
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