I didn't say they were marketing it to whites. I said that was the group that the marketing seemed to be successful with.

yes, the city is marketing itself to affluent people, encouraging them to live here. How? By creating and promoting the kind of amenities they want: for instance, bike trails, dog runs, restaurants and bars, art galleries, theater, music. They emphasize the historic character of the city, the beautiful architecture. they have PR campaigns to place news stories like the ones in the New York Times or National Geographic. That stuff doesn't happen by itself. Most major cities in this country do this, and lots of up-and-coming smaller ones.

many of the people I meet here decided to come here after going to college or grad school, either nearby, in the city, or in more rural parts of the state. Yes, they come for jobs, but most of them could get jobs in any major or minor city. They come here because it seems like a good fit for them. You can create part of that perception through marketing, and then it begins to feed on itself.

Some cities have had notable success in attracting, in particular, young, well-educated african-americans. I was actually asking MarketStEl if he had any idea HOW a city like Atlanta has been successful in doing so. I suspect it has to do with having top-flight educational institutions that have a significant a-a component of their student body (like Georgia Tech) in the region, but I don't know that for a fact.

[quote=brooklyncat;578325] I think the city already does a pretty good job of marketing itself to affluent young white people, no? I see them all over.

?

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Speak the truth and you can never be wrong.

A trip through West Philly says to me they're quite anchored.

Answer this: If I'm a successful Black person, Why the hell would I want to live in Philly? I would want my kids to go to good schools and have clean streets. Maybe you should leave your closet racist pardagim and realize that Successful AAs are like other successful people and want better, not the ghetto.

brooklyncat makes some good points however I think that the key is marketing to affluent people period and not just break it down by race.

Philly has a lot to offer but as you know it has problems.
Wage tax, the public schools, higher sales tax, indirect taxation due the business privilege tax. All that and then you add the up tick in violent crime with a MIA city administration and council ,well affluent people no matter what color they are are not going to put up with the negatives that Philly has. All of the marketing in the world cannot change that. There are to many other places close by where these folks can choose to live.

If you are a person who is not affected by most if not all of the negatives you could consider Philly and live in the few enclaves that offer a decent QOL. This is the reason my husband and I are still here. However we all know Affluent AA 's are leaving the city at about the same rate as every one else. If this violent crime situation gets much worse we may make the move also. Money does you no good if your dead.

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"My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars."

Sarah Palin

"Educated and affluent blacks are following their white counterparts out of the cities in the same way the whites left them in the 1950s."

Sandy, a LOT of blacks left Phila. in the 50s. My parents did. They weren't
alone, btw. How do you think a degree of the distabilization
in W. Phila. began? It began because many black professionals
and Jews left W. Phila. in the 50s/60s.

I read a interesting article recently about demographic changes
in DC where black people are still in the majority. The prediction
is that in about 10 years blacks will no longer be in the majority
in DC. Where are they going? They're being priced out of DC housing
and are also "going suburban".

"However we all know Affluent AA 's are leaving the city at about the same rate as every one else. If this violent crime situation gets much worse we may make the move also. Money does you no good if your dead."

I'm coming from such an opposite direction than many AA's in that
I grew up in the 'burbs(so did my mother) and lived there for years; I'm NOT going back.

I feel ya. DH is a suburban kid and I'm a city gal. We love living in the city with all it has to offer as far as culture, dining, and entertainment. The last thing I want to do is to move to an over priced house in the burbs and have a long commute in to the city to do the things I like to do. However, like I said before, money does you no good if your dead so if the crime rate gets to where DH and I feel unsafe we will roll. Maybe not to the Philly burbs but to another city that offers the same amenities with out having to dodge bullets. As it stands we do not feel the situation is bad enough to make a move like that and we love where we live. We will see.

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"My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars."

Sarah Palin

The closet racist says that if your a successful black person you can live where ever you choose.The same for everybody else.I doubt that if your that successful that your living in the ghetto with the rest of us closet racist. If people want to move to the burbs than let them.

The closet racist has spoken.

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I am very disappointed in you.
-Mayor Michael "Nut" Nutter.

Well the number of cops deployed by the state police is out, and its an overwhelming force of five. Thats right, five.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...ity__Five.html

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"I am at this moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip." — John Kennedy Toole

Yeah, the news is out because of that Ipod wearing, Lame Duck SOB Mayor thought it necessary to make public that there are exactly 5 state troopers assisting the police in Philadelphia. From what I read the information was supposedly to be kept confidential. Street must really want the murder rate to top last years tally of 406.

Last weekend there was 1 murder in the city which is almost good news. I wonder if this had anything to do with the presence of State Troopers and the ramifications of perps being caught?