Um...they don't type in bold which is the posting equivalent of screaming over someone. (you bolded so your text will stick out more)

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The NE is not dying.

You guys are leaving because the housing and families (re: community) is aging.

Grandparents have little want or need to maintain a house ...so they sell. to whoever..

Families leave becuase the schools stink...and grandma moved already..

Sally leaves because the Johnsons moved becuase their grandparents moved..and Sally's kids at Temple now so she's moving to a condo in Bucks..


It has nothing to do woth the city's management.

It has a lot to do with aging housing, aging families, a slow removal of community due to the first two...and an influx of poor unfamilair new residents who can afford to live in the Lower NE thanks to Septa.

The city never helped us to stop this..not that they could. And many people don't care since most of thier freinds/family left they just rent to whoever will pay (section 8 pays more than the avg...which compounds the problem..

So no...A Republican would only really help Center City and probably end up selling out some of the city for a few companies that would just leave after whatever tax break they received ran out.

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The Dems have run this city into the ground.

Time for a change. Vote Republican.

Disclaimer: If Nutter wins the Primary...vote for him!!! He is a great guy, truly a gem in this City! He should be a Republican.

What is the disclaimer disclaiming?

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| "When you choose your friends, don't get
| short-changed by choosing personality
| over character." ... - W. Somerset Maugham
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I agree. While I don't think the Dem stronhold on the city is healthy, and the current crop has a lot of corruption problems, market forces and the evolving American culure since WWII (the desire for more cars, more space, bigger more modern housing) have more to do with decline than any administration. Either party would be hard pressed to stem the tide.

I disagree.

I think having at least a split-mix of both parties in various positions, while it may create more perceived political infighting, it would alleviate some issues that we currently have, and we would have a government that is more daring combat some city problems vs. just sitting on their hands.

My case in point to you is our present problem with crime. We refuse to build a new large prison facility in the city. It is badly needed. We have a despot in office who is doing nothing except mumbling something unintelligible and a City Council that doesn't feel it should open up Word and start drafting a new bill to address the problem. That's where a Rizzo-like Republican would be a benefit.

We also refuse to acknowledge our problem with being the most taxing city in America, offset only by our lower cost of living vs. the rest of the Northeast [but it doesn't help if you can't find a job in the city does it?]. The historical Democrat perspective has been "well, these companies will always be around, somewhere, so let's benefit the people by levying taxes appropriately." Of course, this logic is bunk when the City soon learns that it is actually competing with mobile businesses and a workforce who shops around. It's not the 19th century anymore, Dorothy. [Clue: Seattle thought this way, too... and they got BURNED by Boeing after the last 10 years of city action upset the company. Seattle should be thankful that it can't touch it's superstar employer Microsoft, it is based in Bellevue and Redmond, which are over 40 minutes away from downtown by car].

In many other cities, most people understand that a city is governed by the people and interests that lie within the city, not its mayor, aldermen or councilmen. Of course, not here.

Graft, nepotism and patronage are engrained in Philadelphia's psyche.

I'd give it a few more generations before that mentality recedes enough that people will think more openly about politics here. After all, the city itself is a tiny island in a sea of Republican pink and red.

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WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

let's be realistic here...

let's say you have "the projects" and pha decides to implode one of these older towers that housed 1000 tenants. now they decide to build nicer townhomes but ONLY enough of these homes to house 400 people (the cream of the crop from the pha system). so the 600 "displaced" individuals - u know the ones who don't pay their bills or who trashed their units- well they need a roof over their head too so where do they go????

to the once great northeast.

anybody catch the article in the Daily Rag yesterday where the pha official was proud that the increase in shootings in this city were all taking place OUTSIDE of these new developments??? he said that was a credit to their screening process. oh great take all the felons and drug dealers that were once contained somewhat in a smaller area and spread them out over the whole city.

with the operation sunrises etc. where the city deployed a lot of resources to north philly to combat drug sales and the violence drugs bring, it was a no brainer for the thugs to come to the quiet northeast where the police presence was less concentrated and surely not as used to dealing with this particular type of crime.

we can hold on to great memories all we want of the once great northeast but she is gone forever.... and no i am not just being a pessimist.

one last comment. did you notice how you can never seem to have anything nice??? like plant flowers in your garden and wake up to see someone walked on them or pulled them out. or and i am sure most of you have experienced this one. you have a nice shiny brand new car and it looks great. but in short order you come out to find your car "keyed"? it's like those who don't have are so jealous that they want to destroy what you have instead of getting off their asses and working for it like you did? i feel this is what happened to the northeast. for years a good part of this city was envious and jealous of the northeast and so when the time came that they could crap on it and get away with it they did becasue they could.

forgot to comment on the mayoral election.

look, wilson goode got elected and relected how many years ago??? EVERYONE knew THEN that this city would NEVER have a republican mayor again. demographically speaking, after the renewed white flight we have experienced over the last five years, there will never be enough republicans in this city to make a difference at the polls.

look at New Orleans, didn't ray nagin get re-elected? reason doesn't matter. if you are a black democratic mayoral candidate running against a white republican in a big city, the majority of the black voters would vote the color of their skin instead of the candidate best qualified.

Joe, I agree that you're not just being a pessimist. People who have lived there for many years know it's not the same neighborhood at all. That goes for Northwood and Mayfair. Frankford is already gone, as we all know.

MyNorthwood, great post. You perfectly summed up the reasons the downward spiral will continue, as well as the injustice of it. The only thing I disagree with is the part about the city's enforcement of quality of life ordinances being the only answer. As you said, that's unlikely to happen. Actually, it's a given that it won't. The only answer is for the residents to get fed up enough with the injustice of having everything they worked for turn to sh*t while they sit back powerless to stop it. They have to get pissed enough to decide to take their neighborhoods back. I think that'll happen eventually. PC is unraveling and quickly, but not quickly enough to save the NE.

I honestly wish I could talk you guys into moving. There's no glory in watching your neighborhood be run into the ground. There will be no satisfaction in the end, just heartache and frustration, capped off by a loss on your investment. I seriously don't understand why you're all so hellbent on staying. It's not like you're deciding to fight by staying. There's been no action so far (nothing that will realistically put a stop to what's happening, at least). So what's the point?