Rank Pennsylvania's Cities (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton: fit in, landscaping, university)

[RightonWalnut]

It's a shame everyone within the "commonwealth" hates Philly outside of the Philly area. That's okay the rest of the world respects us though

[pman]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

That happens a lot out in the midwest, where the cities annex surrounding areas. That should happen here as well. One of this area's problems is too many small governments that are little political fiefdoms that instead of working together, they compete against each other. Even if the towns don't become one municipality, there should be some shared services....police, fire, public works, etc, could all be consolidated on a county-wide basis, kind of like in Maryland and Virginia. Even the school districts down there are county-wide. But too many Barney Fifes and Boss Hoggs around here not willing to give up their power over their little kingdoms. The taxpayers could get a lot more for their money if there was more regional cooperation.

But yes, it would make sense if say, Kingston, Edwardsville, and Forty Fort were part of Wilkes-Barre, and Dunmore, Taylor, Throop, Dickson City were part of Scranton. But I don't see it ever happening. Actually at one point, some sections of Scranton were separate boroughs...Hyde Park (the majority of West Scranton), Providence (a good chunk of North Scranton), and Minooka (the far end of South Scranton bordering Moosic).

I tend to doubt that regional consolidations actually produce better schools but police and fire, etc makes sense. I think a lot of areas probably used to do this in reverse. when the boroughs were developed, the townships were probably relatively rural and in rural areas you often contract with a nearby municipality. as the townships developed, they developed duplicative services.

[CoalCityTrash]

Originally Posted by pman

I tend to doubt that regional consolidations actually produce better schools but police and fire, etc makes sense. I think a lot of areas probably used to do this in reverse. when the boroughs were developed, the townships were probably relatively rural and in rural areas you often contract with a nearby municipality. as the townships developed, they developed duplicative services.

I think it's just a huge waste of money. They have to spend more on community services than the combined income of the community in some cases.

[new-era]

1. Pittsburgh
2. State college
3. Philadelphia- yes third ! Crime is so out of control in Philly sports are below par. Downtown isn't particularly nice either and high cost of living .

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by new-era

3. Philadelphia- yes third ! Crime is so out of control in Philly sports are below par. Downtown isn't particularly nice either and high cost of living .

Are you kidding me? Center City Philly isn't nice? I agree on the high cost of living, but come on. Nothing in the whole state of PA is more handsome (Rittenhouse Square! Old City!) or vibrant (Hell, they have a Burberry shop downtown) than Center City Philly. In Pittsburgh, we have gold teeth and wig shops downtown. Even Saks pulled out. Oh, we have some high-priced condos and Macy's. That's about it.

[new-era]

The architecture in Pittsburgh is nicer than Philly. Yeah phillys downtown is even overrun by riff raff. You might have a nice area that two blocks down the road is overrun by thugs. Cost of living in Philly outrageous you need 400k to get into a decent suburb!

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by new-era

1. Pittsburgh
2. State college
3. Philadelphia- yes third ! Downtown isn't particularly nice either and high cost of living .

Whoaahhh. What?


You could combine the best parts of downtown Pitt,State College,Harrisburg,Bethlehem etc and it would still pale in comparison to Center City/University City Philadelphia.


http://www.10rittenhousesq.com/img/g...livingroom.jpg


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/3...98e4049d_b.jpg


http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5285/5...54706fe7_s.jpg



http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5668/dscn1620gj3.jpg

[RightonWalnut]

I agree there is crime in Philly not gonna deny that but most of it is contained to North Philly and West Philly.

If you think Pittsburgh has better architecture than Philly than there is something wrong with you. I can understand why you wouldn't like Philly... not everyone likes the same things.

BTW Philly has sub-par sports teams? Really?
One of the best hockey teams (didn't the Flyers beat the Penguins?? Oh yeah!), one of the best basketball teams (number eight seed knocking out the No. 1 seed Bulls then falling to the number 4 seed Celtics), one of the best baseball teams (winning the World Series in 2008 and then returning to the post season every year since then). The only reason the Phillies aren't doing too hot this year is because EVERYONE is hurt and EVERYONE is getting old. The Phillies will probably suck for the next couple of years but get out of here. But that means you ignore all past accomplishments from these teams? Subpar teams? HAHA. The only team that sucks is the Eagles. They have pretty much always sucked except for a few decent years. The Eagles should be good this year though.

Subpar? HA!

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Are you kidding me? Center City Philly isn't nice? I agree on the high cost of living, but come on. Nothing in the whole state of PA is more handsome (Rittenhouse Square! Old City!) or vibrant (Hell, they have a Burberry shop downtown) than Center City Philly. In Pittsburgh, we have gold teeth and wig shops downtown. Even Saks pulled out. Oh, we have some high-priced condos and Macy's. That's about it.

Philly has Burberry, Apple, Juicy Couture, Swarovski, Tiffany Co., Coach, Michael Kors, Cole Haan, and the list goes on and on. We also have I believe the 3rd largest Macy's in the country who is looking to expand. Not only is there high end shopping in Center City but there is high end shopping in University City in West Philadelphia, high end shopping on Main Street Manayunk and Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill in Northwest Philadelphia. Plus high end shopping will be coming to Templetown (Temple University Area) in North Philadelphia with the completion of the new 26 floor residence hall and retail complex in 2013. Some stores moving in will be Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie... both of which already have stores in Center City (P.S. Urban Outfitters is based in Philly and have their main offices in the Navy Yard). Let's not forget all of the shopping throughout the metro in King Prussia (King of Prussia mall is the largest mall in the U.S. retail square footage wise), and the rest of the main line, Willow Grove, Cherry Hill, Oxford Valley, Newtown and once again the list goes on.

List of best Shopping cities in the U.S.... I'll spare you the trouble of looking through... Philly is ranked #6
Best shopping cities in the U.S. - chicagotribune.com

Once again... Philadelphia is ranked 5th
America's Favorite Cities 2011 - Shopping | Travel + Leisure

I love Pittsburgh but it's hard to claim you're better than Philly when you can't even keep retailers downtown or in the metro for that matter.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

It's a shame everyone within the "commonwealth" hates Philly outside of the Philly area. That's okay the rest of the world respects us though

I love Philadelphia!