Philadelphia 2035 (Washington, Penn: gray, crime, homes)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by KansastoSouthphilly

I consider my politics to be well left of center but I feel like I am living in Bizzaro world with some of this stuff. This encampment should have never been allowed to form, it certainly shouldn't be allowed to stay there. The activists are always mad that someone else doesn't know the solution to their problem. Anybody can demand free housing; but they don't have any idea how the housing can be provided with the resources the city has.

Kenney is such a wimp. He has based all his political clout on appeasing the far left but the far left can not be appeased; they will just ask form more and condemn you once you put your foot down on any issue. He should have shut this down and let people yell at him for a week or two until they got made about the next shiny new issue. Nutter would have never stood for this nonsense and would have shrugged off the inevitable criticism.

Nutter didn't have a pandemic or BLM assorted stuff and tangential issues to deal with. He's also "hiding" within the Biden campaign somewhere doing God knows what. Also, you, apparently, do not remember Nutter was flailing and struggling during his first term principally because of the Great Recession. He's not Ed Rendell and never has been.

Kenny's political career is essentially is over. Take solace in that.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

https://www.inquirer.com/news/homele...-20200806.html

Article posted below... Wake up mayor.


[i]"Just about everyone who lives in the high-priced apartments and condo units soaring over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway knows the story:
On July 18, a man from the homeless encampment at 22nd Street, clad only in his underwear, ducked into the garage of a nearby residential building and tried to yank open the passenger-side door of a woman’s car as she parked. The man failed, and ran off; a surveillance video of the encounter has been widely shared among neighbors.

For residents near the encampment, the garage incident is emblematic of how their prosperous slice of Philadelphia has been altered — some say “distorted” — by the presence of 100 to 150 occupants of tents staked in a ball field since June 10 as an omnibus protest to support homeless rights, disarm the police, and buttress the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The Parkway, this bejeweled boulevard of museums and cultural institutions, has been trashed to the point where it’s lost its magnetism,” said Ed Dougherty, 66, who works in sales and lives 300 yards from the encampment. “The luster the city derives from this place just feels lost. The Parkway has become stunted.”

Someone tell Ed that since only the Franklin Inst( and I think now the Natural History Museum) are open, the Parkway lost its "luster' back in March before the encampment showed up.

All snark aside, it looks like dismantling the encampment in NYC only pushed the problem somewhere else and "distributed it" since I see headlines like this: "Upper West Side residents furious as homeless junkies and sex offenders are moved into lux hotels".

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Someone tell Ed that since only the Franklin Inst( and I think now the Natural History Museum) are open, the Parkway lost its "luster' back in March before the encampment showed up.

All snark aside, it looks like dismantling the encampment in NYC only pushed the problem somewhere else and "distributed it" since I see headlines like this: "Upper West Side residents furious as homeless junkies and sex offenders are moved into lux hotels".

The Barnes is now open too. (which is great news). The Parkway is one of the city's best assets and sadly is not treated like one (looking at City Hall again).

And yes, there are quite a few mini setups all over Midtown, maybe 4-10 people in each setup, under the sidewalk sheds. Obviously we both know Philadelphia is not along with issues related to homeless, housing, etc. but it would be great to have a City Hall that takes a proactive approach to alleviating the issues, instead Philadelphia leadership turns their head and hopes it will go away... I don't get it. Where is Council?

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by cpomp

I don't get it. Where is Council?

Enjoying their “prerogative.”

[Duderino]

While this is certainly not meant as a defense of Philadelphia's lackluster governance, it's a sad reality that we're facing a homelessnes epidemic nationwide: up to 40 MILLION Americans could be threatened with eviction by the year's end without action by Congress: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9...s-by-years-end

The fact of the matter is that the social safety net in our supposedly advanced and wealthy nation is abysmal for things as basic as housing. Until we collectively accept that homelessness is a failing of our society, and not just clueless politicians, frankly it will never be resolved.

[thedirtypirate]

Philly developers propose thousands of new apartments in a rush to beat the tax abatement change



At least we get to see what projects were in the pipeline.

[thedirtypirate]

Parkway Corp. closes on $187M to finance Center City law firm headquarters tower

Looks pretty cool. Excellent to see a parking lot become an office building.

[cpomp]

To revive this thread a little bit...

Poverty rate in Philadelphia dropped from 24.5% to 23.3% from 2018 through 2019. The city was started to knock down the decades long problem, that was of course before Covid broke out, we shall see how things change over the next 1-2 years.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/us-cen...-20200917.html

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

To revive this thread a little bit...

Poverty rate in Philadelphia dropped from 24.5% to 23.3% from 2018 through 2019. The city was started to knock down the decades long problem, that was of course before Covid broke out, we shall see how things change over the next 1-2 years.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/us-cen...-20200917.html

Yes, things were absolutely trending downwards , but that's likely over until sometime in the future. Last I read, nationally AA unemployment was over 11% and they are not getting hired back at the same rate white employees are.

[ilovephilly79]

Washington Avenue is FINALLY getting its long awaited revamp. So many negative comments though. The Avenue needs to be rethought and not just repaved. I hope this moves forward as planned.

https://www.inquirer.com/transportat...-20200921.html