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  #14281  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 12:05 PM
cardeza cardeza is offline
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Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown View Post
You speak from a place of priviledge of course. Imagine if you lived at 22nd & Allegheny. Or in Mayfair. Or in Frankford. Or on a block in Castor Gardens where many of your neighbors didn't maintain their front yards. Imagine if there were so many empty lots and unkept houses on your block that you couldn't possible do it all on your own (tend to the litter, etc). It's clear responsibility of the city to maintain clean streets. And to enforce code violations, etc.

Again. You continue to mis-represent my point. My point isn't just about power lines. It's about an overall lack of attention from the city on quality of life issues relating to aesthetics that have very real affect on people's quality of life.
for better or worse, the City is a complaint driven enforcement system. You do a lot of complaining and typing but I've yet to read any accounts of you actually registering a real complaint about ANY of the issues you bring up. You have mistakenly attempted to paint me as a person who embraces filth and low standards of living when in fact I have logged hundreds of complaints to 311, the Streets department, PennDOT and others. I'd say 70-80% of the time I get results. I know for a fact that most of the issues I reports have NOT been reported prior to my complaint because its very easy to see where complaints have been submitted via the 311 app and if there is an existing complaint for the same address you will get a response from 311 telling you that. Bitching in forums doesn't get a pothole filled or a property violation written so please don't lecture me (or others) about not caring about QOL issues in this city unless you are familiar with what we do off line. One thing I can say is I have never brought about any change by posting here as opposed to bringing the complaint to the proper channel.

And no matter how many times you post the fact remains the City has NO control over power lines and never will.
     
     
  #14282  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 12:10 PM
3rd&Brown 3rd&Brown is offline
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Originally Posted by cardeza View Post
And no matter how many times you post the fact remains the City has NO control over power lines and never will.
So then how did they get buried between Spring Garden and South?

Just a miraculous act of god? The city wasn't involved in any discussions at all and PECO just miraculously buried them all without being asked?
     
     
  #14283  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 12:14 PM
cardeza cardeza is offline
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Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown View Post
Let me ask you a question?

How many middle and upper middle class families do you think leave this city a year because of the "little things"?

I know. You're gonna say they leave for the schools. I'm gonna tell you 50% of them leave because their neighborhood looks like sh*t and they're tired of looking at it. And that's my point, you address both of them because it's a virtuous cycle.

Their tax dollars will pay for your schools and your homeless programs.

And I've never contemplated selling my (multiple) properties in Philadelphia because of a virus. The city still has so much potential and I just want it to be its best.

Also. Not for nothing, but there is real science out there on how the appearance of a built environment can affect the perceptions and morale of people. If you walk to school passed trash strewn lots with litter everywhere and weeds growing from every crevice on the streets and in the sidewalks, how would you feel? Would you feel like the world was full of opportunity? Would you feel like your neighbors and city (your home) cared about you? Even more, why would you make any attempt to do better if everything was just falling down and apart around you. It's demoralizing. It also decreases public safety. This is not an opinion. It's fact.

I don't know why there is an argument about it. It's a both AND discussion, not either or.

This not China and in this country private property is the responsibility of private property owners. What you are saying is that the City should be taking care of private property to keep all 600k or so up to standards. That is NEVER going tot happen and having the government clean up after each citizen for "free" is a slap in the fact to those that actually take care of their properties. This is a poor city with an increasing number of renters. The sad reality is that in poorer areas (which often have some of the lowest % of homeowners) many properties are not well maintained and there is a cavalier attitude towards littering. This is not the case citywide (my area is generally clean) but it is the case in much of the city. The CCD and UCD provide the level of cleaning you speak off but that is only because they separately charge large property owners to fund their services. There have been failed attempts to establish similar service organizations in other areas north of Center City but they can't get the votes.

The only way to get long lasting change in terms of cleanliness in an area is for neighbors to ban together and hold others accountable by calling in violations, doing neighborhood cleanups and keeping their own properties clean. Waiting for the city to clean up after all of us isn't a plan. And please don't tell me that this is what they do in the suburbs or other places because its not. In cleaner areas there is a higher level of responsibility for property care and litter disposal. The suburbs aren't cleaner because the townships send cleaning crews around to tidy up private property, they are cleaner because they have more uniform levels of owner property care, lower density and higher incomes.
     
     
  #14284  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 12:19 PM
cardeza cardeza is offline
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Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown View Post
So then how did they get buried between Spring Garden and South?

Just a miraculous act of god? The city wasn't involved in any discussions at all and PECO just miraculously buried them all without being asked?
The densest part of the city with larger services and less room above ground has had buried lines since the old days. Those feeds are probably 80+ years old and safety and density were likely the reasons it was determined UG service was the only practical option. As I told you numerous times larger buildings needs higher voltage service which leads to safety issues if the feed is aerial. In addition, having transformers and electrical switching stations can lead to very costly issues when things go wrong such as fires or flooding.....which is what happened when the water main broke near 13th and sansom and causes a massive amount of damage to underground utilities in that section center city and left the street closed for a year or more.

And no the city didn't run PECO at any point in time to my knowledge. Did you know PECO provides service to millions of people in the suburbs? What would make ANYONE think it was a city run utility?

https://www.popsci.com/why-dont-we-p...s-underground/
     
     
  #14285  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 1:02 PM
Justin7 Justin7 is offline
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Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown View Post
Let me ask you a question?

How many middle and upper middle class families do you think leave this city a year because of the "little things"?

I know. You're gonna say they leave for the schools. I'm gonna tell you 50% of them leave because their neighborhood looks like sh*t and they're tired of looking at it.
[citation needed]
     
     
  #14286  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 2:21 PM
Skintreesnail Skintreesnail is offline
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Originally Posted by Londonee View Post
I agree with this 100% and it's a bummer other people don't see things this way. Your "low ambition" comment is pretty gutting but right on, if Philadelphians would just live elsewhere for a bit and see how the rest of the civilized world lives I feel like it wouldn't be so tolerable. I've said this anecdote on here before - but I literally moved about 4 blocks from Gho to Fitler Square - simply b/c it's more civilized - buried utility lines, swept streets - clean, developed, cared-for - what a lifestyle difference. It's just a super insular city that lacks a bit of self respect.
Speaking as someone who came from outside the city (moved here about 15 years ago), there is a depressingly massive amount of complacency in the city about everything from trash to shootings and it really wears on a person. I also live in Gho and the change that occurs as soon as you cross south street into fitler or rittenhouse is ridiculous. Especially when you take into account the taxes and cost of housing. It feels like the city is structured in a way to reinforce that complacency. People don't even want to make improvements to their facade for fear of increased taxes as a result (window boxes, planters, etc.). Getting something as basic as crosswalks at a school becomes a massive multi-year undertaking with push-back from all sorts of city departments. The neighborhood rec center is falling apart and half of the outdoor space gets commandeered somehow for private use at all times and is inaccessible to the public. Your city council person fights development on an empty corridor that is prime for development. The police have a meeting about a recent shooting only to say that it's been like that for years and their focus is elsewhere (I guess protecting the Christopher Columbus or Rizzo statues). Bike lanes? Who needs those. You're going to have a public transit system that is in constant disrepair and will have no reliable source of funding. Sidewalks are the responsibility of residents, but we'll up your taxes if you fix them because it improves the resale of your house. We're throwing out your recycling because it's no longer cost efficient, but we're not going to tell you because it looks bad. Oops, we missed trash today, but the wind will blow it away into another neighborhood eventually after the rats and squirrels rip the bags open. You want a public park? You're going to have to pay to maintain it. Cars are the #1 priority over pedestrians and cyclists, but we're not going to pave or clean them. We know that schools have asbestos, but we're going to wait until it's discovered to fix the problem. We're going to ignore the homeless and opioid problem until it gets out of control. Your city will be controlled by a bunch of mini-mayors that are constantly fighting the real mayor and preventing anything from really getting done.

Some of this is exaggerated to a point, but there really is a big problem here, or a bunch of similar interconnected problems. And as isolated as my experience might be, I'm sure it's amplified in other parts of the city to an obscene level. As low on the priority list that burying utilities or cleaning trash might be, it really is part of an overarching theme of a lack of motivation. There's got to be some psychological impact there that leads to a never-ending cycle that reinforces that mindset. I mean if you don't want to clean up the trash, maintain the sidewalks and plantings or fix potholes, you're not likely to have the ambition to fix schools, find ways to assist the impoverished, disabled, addicted or otherwise afflicted masses. Taken to the extreme, you end up with a population that doesn't really care about anyone but #1 and you end up with the same type of people in control of everything. We need to start holding our public servants accountable to the public, otherwise they're never going to do anything but serve themselves and their own interests.
     
     
  #14287  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 2:43 PM
Frontst17 Frontst17 is offline
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All over town you’re not crazy but you will drive yourself crazy trying to get through to these people. I’m not sure what being the poorest large city in America means to some people but walking in here after decades of decline and abandonment and saying this is wrong this sucks this is dirty why is this city lazy is ignorant and uneducated. At the same time certain people will bitch and moan about taxes and the price of a damn juicy juice. Houses are collapsing (or literally exploding) underground pipes are eroding away, pollution is an issue. Oh and it’s the POOREST large city in America.

That being said if you can’t see and appreciate how much this city has changed and progressed in the past 10-15 years than you just refuse to pay attention. Steers are being paved sidewalks are being fixed power lines are being burried parks are being improved. The schuylkill waterfront is a total attraction now. Also entire blocks that have been deserted for 30 years are now populated by homes pushing 1mil or dense apartment developments. I mean entire neighborhoods are completely revitalized and there’s SOO much more to go. The city is finally getting some tax money from areas that were empty. Give it a little more time which seems to be difficult for some of you. I mean think of where this city will be in 5-10 years. We’re on such a strong upward trajectory at the moment maybe they’ll be able to do the sidewalks two three times a year and maybe they’ll have daily street sweeping but not anytime soon. We also just had a debilitating pandemic so we’re all wasting a ton of energy arguing over Monopoly money.

Do you guys understand truly how far this city fell? How far it still needs to go before anyone even looks at a crack in the sidewalk? You can play keyboard warrior and whine about trash on your street or highway? Really? I think I live in one of the most beautiful parts of the city in my opinion and my neighbors tend to agree. The sidewalks are jacked by tree roots and there’s power lines everywhere. Trash is on the street and we go around and pick it up, As I know they do in Allegheny, Frankford, Mayfair, Harrowgate. If you’ve walked around those neighborhoods and met people you’d know too. Not a single mention and many of my neighbors are having kids finding schools and settling down for the long haul. 50% of them are not looking to move... in fact there’s probably 50% MORE people living in this neighborhood than a year or so ago.
     
     
  #14288  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 2:52 PM
Frontst17 Frontst17 is offline
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That being said no one can ignore the literal centuries of corruption and handouts of political machines and people “getting what’s there’s”. It’s led to correcting and overcorrrcting and a lot of bad decisions. But to say ANYTHING is worse than it was is just stupid.
     
     
  #14289  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 9:01 PM
ScreamShatter ScreamShatter is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cardeza View Post
the lack of understanding regarding property rights, the responsibility of private property owners and the limitations of the budget is staggering. I mean wow. You are actually arguing the City has plenty of spare money laying around to replace PRIVATE sidewalks citywide. You are right, I wonder why no one thought of this before. I feel bad for the suckers who actually take care of their own sidewalks with their own money! should the City cut grass on private front yards as well?
Not a lack of understanding in the least, but rather a perspective of realism. The city has been negligent in maintaining its infrastructure. And I believe the city should be allocating it’s budget to help tax payers and not giving handouts to the 6ers and developers who are all private and receive public assistance.

It’s time the city government is held accountable for its poor management of the city. If they can’t do the basics right, it’s time to cut taxes dramatically and let private citizens pay for our own trash programs, sidewalks, etc. Enough is enough.
     
     
  #14290  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 9:32 PM
Londonee Londonee is offline
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Originally Posted by allovertown View Post
Maybe I'm in a very small minority, i don't know. But I think your idea that 50% of middle and upper class families that leave Philly have left it because of shit like weeds, litter and powerlines is insane.
Look, I don't know your demographic situation - your income - your housing - if you have kids - but my greener Pasteurs comment to you wasn't really all that tongue and cheek...for a lot of people that the city should be falling head over heels to keep (middle and upper middle class families) they do leave literally for that reason. So I do think you are in a minority, yes.

I'm almost 40 now - have 2 kids - and almost every one of my friends, my age, is leaving or has left - and these are high income earners who just get a bit tired of the QOL stuff without any sense of relief. It's a bummer.

I live in like a 6 block square 'hood of urban utopia - that's expensive - so staying is easy for me and my family. My kids don't walk past weeded lots, or along trash strewn streets, or underneath eye sores, power lines or past code violations. But it really shouldn't be this way. It shouldn't just be 6 square blocks of Fitler and Rittenhouse and Society Hill and parts of Old City. It shouldn't be this exclusive to have a great QOL for a broader swath of town, especially at the prices and cost of greater CC 'hoods.

Just out of curiosity, have you lived in any other city (like, real city)?
     
     
  #14291  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 9:55 PM
allovertown allovertown is offline
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Originally Posted by Londonee View Post
Look, I don't know your demographic situation - your income - your housing - if you have kids - but my greener Pasteurs comment to you wasn't really all that tongue and cheek...for a lot of people that the city should be falling head over heels to keep (middle and upper middle class families) they do leave literally for that reason. So I do think you are in a minority, yes.

I'm almost 40 now - have 2 kids - and almost every one of my friends, my age, is leaving or has left - and these are high income earners who just get a bit tired of the QOL stuff without any sense of relief. It's a bummer.

I live in like a 6 block square 'hood of urban utopia - that's expensive - so staying is easy for me and my family. My kids don't walk past weeded lots, or along trash strewn streets, or underneath eye sores, power lines or past code violations. But it really shouldn't be this way. It shouldn't just be 6 square blocks of Fitler and Rittenhouse and Society Hill and parts of Old City. It shouldn't be this exclusive to have a great QOL for a broader swath of town, especially at the prices and cost of greater CC 'hoods.

Just out of curiosity, have you lived in any other city (like, real city)?
Your friends left because of litter and power lines and not for better schools and a desire for more space which is far more affordable in the suburbs? Really?!?

I can understand getting annoyed by trash or powerlines or whatever (well not really in the case of powerlines, but whatever, I can fathom it,) but the idea that these are the primary reasons people are leaving the city boggles my mind. Especially considering, and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm far from a Philadelphia suburbs expert, but don't most philly suburbs have overhead lines too?

So yea i don't know, maybe I'm living in a "not caring about powerlines bubble," but I've never heard anyone even mention it as an issue outside of this website. And while I've definitely heard people complain that Philly is dirty, never knew someone who cited it as a primary reason for leaving town. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but the idea that these are the main reasons your friends left the city is wild to me. Lol that you'd even put overhead powerless as a significant negative to someone's quality of life... Lol wow. Again, I'll believe you, but it blows my mind that this is something people care so much about.

I lived in New York for two years and Madrid for 6 months. So no, I've mostly lived in Philly my whole life. But I've never been in New york and thought it felt cleaner than Philly overall and never noticed or cared that the powerlines are apparently underground there. Madrid definitely seemed like a clean city, which was nice. Never noticed or cared what was going on with their powerlines though i assume they're underground.
     
     
  #14292  
Old Posted Sep 9, 2020, 11:07 PM
reparcsyks reparcsyks is offline
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I am writing this message from our new (old) home in the Philly burbs. We moved out of the city last Friday. I grew up outside of Philly and lived in the city proper since 1997. I never thought I'd leave, but the city ground me down and I gave in. Now, it wasn't all powerlines and trash-strewn lots that made me leave... lol... my family is growing and we simply ran out of space. We were able to get a lot more house out here.

With that said, it was mostly QOL that ultimately brought us out here. I love Philly, but after 20+ years of dealing with its shit, we simply asked ourselves, what's the benefit? We can be in CC in 20 minutes, but also be in a quiet neighborhood at night.

And yes, I've lived in other cities - and my wife is from an amazing European city -- she loves city life, but Philly wore her down as well. I don't know if it's the lack of money, or our leaders' total lack of imagination, but this town leaves so much on the table, it's crazy.
     
     
  #14293  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 4:20 AM
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summersm343 summersm343 is offline
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  #14294  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 4:23 AM
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  #14295  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 4:25 AM
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summersm343 summersm343 is offline
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49 Units Proposed at Border of Brewerytown and Fairmount

Rendering:


Current site:


Read more here:
http://www.rising.realestate/49-unit...and-fairmount/
     
     
  #14296  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 12:15 PM
cardeza cardeza is offline
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Originally Posted by Skintreesnail View Post
Speaking as someone who came from outside the city (moved here about 15 years ago), there is a depressingly massive amount of complacency in the city about everything from trash to shootings and it really wears on a person. I also live in Gho and the change that occurs as soon as you cross south street into fitler or rittenhouse is ridiculous. Especially when you take into account the taxes and cost of housing. It feels like the city is structured in a way to reinforce that complacency. People don't even want to make improvements to their facade for fear of increased taxes as a result (window boxes, planters, etc.). Getting something as basic as crosswalks at a school becomes a massive multi-year undertaking with push-back from all sorts of city departments. The neighborhood rec center is falling apart and half of the outdoor space gets commandeered somehow for private use at all times and is inaccessible to the public. Your city council person fights development on an empty corridor that is prime for development. The police have a meeting about a recent shooting only to say that it's been like that for years and their focus is elsewhere (I guess protecting the Christopher Columbus or Rizzo statues). Bike lanes? Who needs those. You're going to have a public transit system that is in constant disrepair and will have no reliable source of funding. Sidewalks are the responsibility of residents, but we'll up your taxes if you fix them because it improves the resale of your house. We're throwing out your recycling because it's no longer cost efficient, but we're not going to tell you because it looks bad. Oops, we missed trash today, but the wind will blow it away into another neighborhood eventually after the rats and squirrels rip the bags open. You want a public park? You're going to have to pay to maintain it. Cars are the #1 priority over pedestrians and cyclists, but we're not going to pave or clean them. We know that schools have asbestos, but we're going to wait until it's discovered to fix the problem. We're going to ignore the homeless and opioid problem until it gets out of control. Your city will be controlled by a bunch of mini-mayors that are constantly fighting the real mayor and preventing anything from really getting done.

Some of this is exaggerated to a point, but there really is a big problem here, or a bunch of similar interconnected problems. And as isolated as my experience might be, I'm sure it's amplified in other parts of the city to an obscene level. As low on the priority list that burying utilities or cleaning trash might be, it really is part of an overarching theme of a lack of motivation. There's got to be some psychological impact there that leads to a never-ending cycle that reinforces that mindset. I mean if you don't want to clean up the trash, maintain the sidewalks and plantings or fix potholes, you're not likely to have the ambition to fix schools, find ways to assist the impoverished, disabled, addicted or otherwise afflicted masses. Taken to the extreme, you end up with a population that doesn't really care about anyone but #1 and you end up with the same type of people in control of everything. We need to start holding our public servants accountable to the public, otherwise they're never going to do anything but serve themselves and their own interests.
Too much to address there but I will focus one part of your rant: SEPTA. First fo all the state passed a law in 2013 that significantly increased SEPTA's capital funding. This is not enough money to fix up every SEPTA station (SEPTA gets less capital money per capita than WMATA, CTA, MBTA and others) but anyone who has been around for years cannot deny that SEPTA vehicles are newer and its facilities are generally in better condition than they likely ever have been. I think the average age of a SEPTA bus is like 5 years. With the new capital money numerous stations have been made ADA, SEPTA has purchased hundreds of hybrid buses and some electric buses, new rail cars have been ordered, various regional rail stations have been upgraded, the fare system has been updated, high quality cameras have been installed everywhere and hundreds of millions in behind the scenes infrastructure have been upgraded (signals, tracks, power, etc.). This is not to say that everything is up to Chinese standards, but to claim that our transit system is a sign of complacency and lack of change is not supported by the facts at all and anyone who rode SEPTA back in the day can vouch for that fact.
     
     
  #14297  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 12:21 PM
cardeza cardeza is offline
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Originally Posted by Frontst17 View Post
All over town you’re not crazy but you will drive yourself crazy trying to get through to these people. I’m not sure what being the poorest large city in America means to some people but walking in here after decades of decline and abandonment and saying this is wrong this sucks this is dirty why is this city lazy is ignorant and uneducated. At the same time certain people will bitch and moan about taxes and the price of a damn juicy juice. Houses are collapsing (or literally exploding) underground pipes are eroding away, pollution is an issue. Oh and it’s the POOREST large city in America.

That being said if you can’t see and appreciate how much this city has changed and progressed in the past 10-15 years than you just refuse to pay attention. Steers are being paved sidewalks are being fixed power lines are being burried parks are being improved. The schuylkill waterfront is a total attraction now. Also entire blocks that have been deserted for 30 years are now populated by homes pushing 1mil or dense apartment developments. I mean entire neighborhoods are completely revitalized and there’s SOO much more to go. The city is finally getting some tax money from areas that were empty. Give it a little more time which seems to be difficult for some of you. I mean think of where this city will be in 5-10 years. We’re on such a strong upward trajectory at the moment maybe they’ll be able to do the sidewalks two three times a year and maybe they’ll have daily street sweeping but not anytime soon. We also just had a debilitating pandemic so we’re all wasting a ton of energy arguing over Monopoly money.

Do you guys understand truly how far this city fell? How far it still needs to go before anyone even looks at a crack in the sidewalk? You can play keyboard warrior and whine about trash on your street or highway? Really? I think I live in one of the most beautiful parts of the city in my opinion and my neighbors tend to agree. The sidewalks are jacked by tree roots and there’s power lines everywhere. Trash is on the street and we go around and pick it up, As I know they do in Allegheny, Frankford, Mayfair, Harrowgate. If you’ve walked around those neighborhoods and met people you’d know too. Not a single mention and many of my neighbors are having kids finding schools and settling down for the long haul. 50% of them are not looking to move... in fact there’s probably 50% MORE people living in this neighborhood than a year or so ago.

YOu are 100% correct. Its funny that one poster complained about old rec centers and potholes which are two things Kenney has actually focused on directing money towards. I mistakenly assume people who talk (or post) a lot are actually somewhat informed about current issues but I now realize people who bitch a lot don't actually want to know anything that would challenge their views. Kenney (who as far as I can tell is nearly universally hated here) made a point to drastically increase resources for paving because he correctly argued that the status quo was not sufficient. You cannot undo a backlog of neglected streets in 2-3 years, it will probably take a decade of sustained effort. Not only does it appear few even know this change has taken place, the fact that it's not done in 3 years would lead many to pronounce it a sign of failed leadership because in City X all the streets are repaved every single year and potholes don't exist supposedly.

I believe the investment in improving rec centers is well known by most.....that was one of the two main reasons for the soda tax. Again, a backlog in maintenance of rec centers will not be fixed in 2 or 3 years. It took decades for them to get to their current state.
     
     
  #14298  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 1:08 PM
Justin7 Justin7 is offline
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Originally Posted by allovertown View Post
I've never been in New york and thought it felt cleaner than Philly
It's not. Large chunks of Manhattan are canyons of trash bags and rivers of dog piss once a week. Boston and DC are cleaner but they're also smaller wealthier cities.

I think that virtually everyone here agrees that Philly needs to do better with street sweeping and that power lines should be buried when an opportunity arises to do so economically, but the idea that the poorest large city in the US should spend huge amounts of money to start digging up roads just to bury lines so some rich people don't need to look at them is some seriously bizarre entitlement. I won't say that no one has ever left the city due to power lines because this world has all kinds of crazy, but this is not an issue of any significance.
     
     
  #14299  
Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 1:40 PM
Skintreesnail Skintreesnail is offline
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Originally Posted by cardeza View Post
Too much to address there but I will focus one part of your rant: SEPTA. First fo all the state passed a law in 2013 that significantly increased SEPTA's capital funding. This is not enough money to fix up every SEPTA station (SEPTA gets less capital money per capita than WMATA, CTA, MBTA and others) but anyone who has been around for years cannot deny that SEPTA vehicles are newer and its facilities are generally in better condition than they likely ever have been. I think the average age of a SEPTA bus is like 5 years. With the new capital money numerous stations have been made ADA, SEPTA has purchased hundreds of hybrid buses and some electric buses, new rail cars have been ordered, various regional rail stations have been upgraded, the fare system has been updated, high quality cameras have been installed everywhere and hundreds of millions in behind the scenes infrastructure have been upgraded (signals, tracks, power, etc.). This is not to say that everything is up to Chinese standards, but to claim that our transit system is a sign of complacency and lack of change is not supported by the facts at all and anyone who rode SEPTA back in the day can vouch for that fact.
Well, I did add the caveat that my post was exaggerated to some degree, but SEPTA is nothing like what it can and should be. Just because something is better than it was 40 or so years ago shouldn’t give them a pass. They are still low performing in many areas compared to other peer cities (train headways, on-time performance of all modes, etc.). And the fact that they are finally coming into the 21st century (or attempting to) is no cause to celebrate. They do have some good plans on the board (bus system redesign, trolley modernization, NHSL spur) but the amount of capital required for these changes lead me to question whether they’ll get it done. A lot of the issues can be attributed to the fact that they are constantly battling to obtain any sort of steady stream of funding and the fact that they are constantly threatening to cut service is a symptom of this. I believe that public transportation is an essential service and needs to be publicly supported without any BS about trying to make it privatized or self-sufficient.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cardeza View Post
Its funny that one poster complained about old rec centers and potholes which are two things Kenney has actually focused on directing money towards. I mistakenly assume people who talk (or post) a lot are actually somewhat informed about current issues but I now realize people who bitch a lot don't actually want to know anything that would challenge their views.
So, the wealth of potholes and crumbling infrastructure I see first-hand is all in my head? Since Nutter left office, I’ve observed a notable decrease in the quality of our infrastructure. But that must be all in my head as well. I voted for Kenny and had high hopes he would walk the walk. I’m for the soda tax, but I really haven’t seen any tangible benefit from it. If you have examples, by all means let me know.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cardeza View Post
Kenney (who as far as I can tell is nearly universally hated here) made a point to drastically increase resources for paving because he correctly argued that the status quo was not sufficient. You cannot undo a backlog of neglected streets in 2-3 years, it will probably take a decade of sustained effort. Not only does it appear few even know this change has taken place, the fact that it's not done in 3 years would lead many to pronounce it a sign of failed leadership because in City X all the streets are repaved every single year and potholes don't exist supposedly.

I believe the investment in improving rec centers is well known by most.....that was one of the two main reasons for the soda tax. Again, a backlog in maintenance of rec centers will not be fixed in 2 or 3 years. It took decades for them to get to their current state.
I don’t hate Kenney, just very disappointed. He’s platformed on things he just hasn’t delivered. Not sure where the 2-3 years figure fits in. He’s been in office for almost 5. Granted, COVID has thrown a wrench in things, so I’ll give you 4. 4 years should be enough time to address this stuff, otherwise why platform on anything at all if you can’t do anything in one term. And if that is the reality, then platform on gutting the bureaucracy that’s standing in the way of getting this stuff done.
     
     
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Old Posted Sep 10, 2020, 1:57 PM
Skintreesnail Skintreesnail is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin7 View Post
It's not. Large chunks of Manhattan are canyons of trash bags and rivers of dog piss once a week. Boston and DC are cleaner but they're also smaller wealthier cities.

I think that virtually everyone here agrees that Philly needs to do better with street sweeping and that power lines should be buried when an opportunity arises to do so economically, but the idea that the poorest large city in the US should spend huge amounts of money to start digging up roads just to bury lines so some rich people don't need to look at them is some seriously bizarre entitlement. I won't say that no one has ever left the city due to power lines because this world has all kinds of crazy, but this is not an issue of any significance.
Why are we comparing Philly to NYC? if we were complaining how Philly wasn't as great as NYC everyone would be quick to point out they are not comparable. That should also go for comparing negative aspects. NYC is 6 times the population and more than twice the density.

I don't care too much about burying the utilities, but I get why others do. Why get upset when it's brought up? Its just another idea to improve the cityscape like anything else posted on this board. Who knows, maybe it would have a positive psychological impact to residents not having to see wires everywhere. And the entitlement comment really could apply to pretty much any development that's discussed here. It's not like a new sixers stadium or Schuylkill yards is going to solve the homeless and poverty problems the city has.
     
     
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