Ok. I'll accept that. Hopefully that would happen.

No, I've lived here for 15 years and the city government is corrupt. Everyone knows this. If it weren't then yes, increasing what the city collects would help. But the money won't go where it should to help.

The people who are going to pay $3000 a month to live in these apartments, or those buying one for 3 million plus on the square aren't ever going to take the MFL. If they don't have their own car, they will uber if they have to go somewhere they can't walk to. The city couldn't care less what those that have to take the MFL have to contend with otherwise it wouldn't be like that now. They pocket our tax money so it's just going to be more that doesn't go into city improvements and expenses.

When that Atlantic Building first renovated and opened a few years ago their 1 bedrooms were $1999. So they are now at $2795 for a 1 bedroom, just to show how they keep increasing. I'm not saying that anything in there should be under $2000, just that they will keep raising rent to keep up with new buildings starting at $2500.

People who lived in that 1500 Locust building were paying $1800 a year ago for a 1 bedroom and now they start at $2450. I've heard of people who had to move out of there and find somewhere cheaper.

Where are you getting $500 a month from? Nobody who is living in Center City is paying that or expects to pay that.

Please. If you are going to argue that there is no gentrification in Philadelphia, then let's just stop here. It's not just inflation when it comes to real estate. I've been here since 2006 and it doesn't even look like the same city--that's a good thing but on the other hand one can't claim all that was inflation.

I guess it's just gentrification... what can you do but move?

Because before the pandemic there were more affordable (I don't mean "projects" or low income) options in the area, apartments from $1000-1500. These have all but disappeared because rent increases have accelerated exponentially even in "old" buildings.

Hasn't happened and won't happen.

/s. ?

Oh. The second time I read it, I thought it might be sarcasm. LOL. They are making fun of the people who insists ACAB. (All cars are bad!)

Not true. I stopped riding the BSL and MFL due to the crime, excrement and bums. I walk or take the bus instead. One of my colleagues stopped riding them and only will take regional rail now to work. There are plenty of us who don't have a car, and had been relying on public transportation before. Ridership is down due to the WFH also, so not just the condition of the subway/el.

There are also several on my block. I thought they were regular rentals but when I looked up their company and couldn't find it, I realized they are probably a short term rental.

I recall her name from the last article they ran about the AirBnb's needing regulation. She must be making a bit of change from being on retainer with the Inky. /s

They aren’t reasonable for what you are getting. There are old buildings with apartments that haven’t been renovated in 30 years that are riding this wave and increasing the rent every year because of demand for cheaper housing. If nothing has been done in an apartment for even 10 years objectively speaking, why is it worth $500 more per month? It’s supply and demand from the other external factors, but outside of that the apartment itself has depreciated in real value, not increased.

Not really. There re lots of new luxury buildings but it is not keeping rents lower. I live in an old building. They are raising our rent more this year than any other since 2015. Im sure they’ll get it since most people leaving are doing so because they can’t afford the increases not because they want to jump into a luxury building and pay $2000 plus for a 1 bedroom. They are moving to more dangerous neighborhoods with cheaper rent or downsizing to a studio. Someone who needs to pay less will move into my building, not someone looking to pay more. This story is being repeated constantly since 2021. Ive heard it from many people (this is anecdotal of course).

According to other articles I read, the average rent in Philadelphia increased by 10% in 2022. I was planning to buy but there is nothing coming available that I can afford—unfortunately I was not ready last Spring when there were many options. My salary hasn’t kept up with the increases so unless I move to another neighborhood or downsize I won’t be accepted into any other building since I’m not making 3x the rent.

I've been to Carnegie Mellon and it is right next door to Pitt if I remember correctly. I didn't see any poor neighborhoods around those universities, but I was only there for a weekend and this was about 7 or 8 years ago. We stayed in a hotel near Pitt and it was not anything luxury but I didn't think the neighborhood was comparable to N.Philly.

There are always town-gown problems in cities, especially if they aren't paying taxes on their buildings, which many do not. I think some universities have a better time of it because of the perception of the community, and that sometimes has more to do with what kind of respect university administration and leadership show to the community rather than if they are actually doing anything to benefit or harm.

So we either stop being racists and make sure everyone gets a fair shot at life, lock up all the criminals, or preferably BOTH.

This is our circumstances, we need to deal with it and stop making excuses.

I don't think it will be built there. I can't know for sure how this will play out, but a stadium in Center City would just change the character of the downtown completely, and not in a positive way, IMO. I'm mostly familiar with MSG and that is an area I would avoid like the plague in NYC unless I had to ride transit. Lots of vagrants and cheap stores, fast food around it. (We already have that at Market East!!) But NYC is huge so go 8 blocks in each direction and the character completely changes. Philadelphia has a very small downtown from just river to river and put a behemoth like that in it and it won't be as easy to escape. But we'll see.

People complain about the area a lot but it's still better than it was in 2006/7 when I moved to Philly. I remember the first time coming out of Market East the year before moving to Philly with a friend who picked me up at the train station and being shocked at how rundown and creepy it was. (And I grew up in NYC so I know rundown and creepy). The area around the RTM and Convention Center was definitely NOT safe and I remember there being some publicized stabbings of tourists during some holiday event in the first few years that I was living in Philly. At first, I used to take the Chinatown bus (before the other buses) to commute a couple of nights between downtown Manhattan and Chinatown and I made it walking home each night around midnight but it was definitely sketchy. Sometimes the entire stretch under the Convention center street was filled with homeless sleeping on the sidewalk.

Crime, drug addicts and homelessness are the problems in the area, and until the CITY does something about that, you could put the Taj Majal there and it's still going to have repercussions.

I think because Temple is not a private school, it's a public university that receives funding from the state, people feel like it should be accountable to the citizens since we pay taxes. That said Temple has some 37,000 students while LaSalle, a private university, doesn't even have 4,000. The impact of LaSalle on the neighborhood will be much less. Also LaSalle DECREASED its tuition by 29% in 2017, according to wikipedia so that it would be more accessible financially. They aren't a wealthy school either so they are probably seen as doing more for the surrounding community or having a neutral effect.

Congested as in traffic.

Disclaimer: Pay Wall. Maybe these questions are answered in the article: Where are all these African American businesses in the Fashion District? Why would they be in the stadium when they aren't in the area now? I don't see many in Reading Terminal Market either. What makes this proposed stadium more likely? Will the rent be less? And when will it be ready? Not in a year, so I don't think they even know what vendors will be in it.

At least on reddit (which doesn't count for much) he has 155 upvotes, and how many do YOU have?

For the record I'm against this stadium. It won't be built at Market East.

It won't happen at Market East.

In general I agree with you.

State universities (depending on the state) usually have community access to the libraries although you still need to prove you are a resident with ID. Temple is a "public" university but not part of the state system or is it? Penn State will let community visitors use the library but they have to register first for access.