Chestnut Hill.

Mt Airy, or if you do go out to the burbs, absolutely the Chadds Ford or Kennett Square areas, though neither is convenient to transit (you'd probably have to drive to the Elwyn station and then take the train from there, though Septa is planning an extension to WaWa PA, I believe, which is a bit closer to Chadds Ford).

SW of the city along the PA border past (ie. west of) route 202 is the prettiest area of the metro, IMO, especially along Rts 52 and 100.

__________________
NUTTER 2007

Without a car, Media is your best bet. It has a car share pod, the trolley, the bus and the train. And, you may be able to find a twin for a bit more than $1000. Glen Mills and Chadds Ford are close for horseback riding and such.

Have to agree you will be better off in Delaware county areas right outside the city (Lansdowne, Drexel Hill, Havertown) or Media/Wallingford/Chaddsford. You will avoid the dreaded city wage tax for residing there. Philadelphia Wage Taxes are roughly 4.5% for city residents and 3.9% for workers who are non-residents.

I will never understand why people would willingly pay more to live in the city when the commute from the suburbs can often be shorter, cost of living is less, and the schools are better.

The cost of living in the suburbs is higher, as you spend much more time in your car in the burbs. Time spent in your car = cha-ching.

The city was built for 2 million people, or one third more than we presently have. The suburbs were built for one half their present population, maybe even one third. As a result the roads in the city are generally pretty open, with great traffic flow, while the roads in the suburbs are a disaster. My wife works in Montco and when she crosses the city line coming home from work the roads open up and what had been an unpleasant commute becomes a story of wide open roads and smooth traffic flow. To me, living in the congested suburbs where you can't even make a left turn without taking your life into your hands is not quality of life; actually, it is an awful way of living. I have been trying to get at least 1.5 hours of mild exercise per day this spring. I have left my vehicles behind as much as possible and walked or ridden my bike where feasible (today I calculated 2.5). It feels great to do this (I hear the birds chirping, I have been scaring wild animals like rabbits as I walk close to them), I feel great, and keep in mind that I am doing this to run my daily errands, not walking on some exercise track in the middle of nowhere where I need to drive to it anyway. What I am doing would be almost impossible in the sidewalkless, car-choked suburbs and I believe that I have a very high quality of life, here in the city.

My daughter's school is across the street, making for a pleasant morning walk to drop her off. My church is not quite a pleasant mile walk away, my wife's meeting house is about 1.25 miles, a nice bike ride. Our club is a mile away, again a nice bike ride. All of these routes have sidewalks to separate you from the manaics in cars late for something they should have left 15 minutes earlier to get to. By the way, I hope you enjoy the brake jobs, tires, and $4 per gallon gas that suburban living entails, orrmobl.

your best bet is not listen to Billy Ross.

There are horse stables at Valley Green and on Northwestern Avenue, although I have I have no information about them. There are stables in Fox Chase on Solly Ave, but I think they are for special-needs people, as is Pegasus on Bustleton Avenue. There is a horse farm in the Mechanicsville section of the NE called Black Lake Run. I have seen horses in Fox Chase and in Roxborough. Of course, parts of North Philly have private stables and I think the ones on West River/King drive are for children as well.

So, people in the city do keep horses, and a dog can be kept anywhere.

Also, parts of Bucks County are horse country and are a train ride from town.

I would LOVE to know what section of the city you live in. If its downtown, how do you like the smell of open sewers and bums, fear of walking the streets at night, and replacing windows, radios and batteries in your car constantly? Or do you live in the more walkable suburb like sections like the NE, Manayunk? There you get the worst of both the city AND the burbs.

And have you ever heard of telecommuting or biking it or walking it to public transportation?

And does your daughter attend private school because the public ones are so bad?

Sorry, but the city is for singles and older empty nesters, it offers culture for families, but little else, which is why I choose to go into town for museums, etc. but prefer the safe, green, maintained suburbs with great schools and better neighbors for my place of residence.

My next door neighbor is the retired Commissioner of the Water Department. Directly across the street is the former head of Radiology at HUP / UPenn School of Medicine. Catycorner is the chief chemist of the Water Department, and his wife the local Paediatrician. They are on their fourth house in East Falls. Behind me is a couple who moved from New Jersey because they wanted both the lawyer father and high school daughter to have shorter commutes. She used to come from Jersey to Philly for high school. Now she walks to the same school. My next-door neighbor is the head of the East Falls tree tenders and has gotten seven street trees planted on my property since we bought it five and a half years ago. She is pushing for more, but my wife wants to go slow until these seven (plus smaller trees and shrubs we ourselves have planted) no longer need watering. On Wednesday I went to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to attend a tree tenders class, which was fascinating, because last fall I walked out to thank the nice people planting trees on my property and met Mike Hardy, who I gather runs the Tree Tender program, who then invited me to speak to one of his classes. I can assure you that East Falls, where Governor Rendell and Senator Specter, as well as countless judges and lesser political folk, live, is quite green. One of our borders is the Wissahickon Park, which is 1800 contiguous acres. Another border is Fairmount Park proper (the Schuylkill River), which I believe is about 4000 acres. We are a compact approximately one square mile town in the city surrounded by open space. Look up the Falls of Schuylkill Branch (the approx center of EF is between it and the East Falls train station) of the Free Library of Philadelphia on a map and note the open space at our borders, about four blocks from the library in all directions. What is your utopia called, orrmobl?

I am not sure, but I believe that half of the students at my daughter's school come in from the burbs. Just last night I got lost in Gladwyne (easy to do) trying to pick her up from a playdate with a classmate, and I kept thinking to myself as I fought traffic and treacherous roads 'These people need to have their heads examined for living out here.' For less money they could have bought a house along the Wissahickon Park (in Philadelphia) and still have been within walking distance of both a train station and the Wissahickon itself. The people I saw on foot in Gladwyne gamely trying to get their exercise were taking their lives in their hands. I hadn't driven my car in about a month and I was looking forward to the ride (it is an antique convertible), but when I finally got home I was very glad to get it back into the garage.

And that's why there are city mousies and country mousies, and you clearly are a country mousie. Not everyone is, and there is no reason to put down others' choices as you so often love to do. Now, STFU.

__________________


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xCiKCxfYqE

"If we can't learn from our mistakes, what's the point of making them!" ...my friend Richard.

"You are protected by the enormity of your stupidity." Mother to son Victor, in "Notorious"