My "beef" with the Indians and the Russians is this...
They don't try to assimilate into their communities. They try to build up walls around their own groups. I have seen a huge decline in my neighborhood and while I am not attributing the decline 100% to the influx of these people I do think they contribute.
My neighbors are Indian. They put their trash out whenever they want, when they get around to mowing their lawn they blow the clippings into the street instead of sweeping them up and putting them in a trashbag, they park illegally, their back yard in now a junkyard and their front yard is now a vegetable garden. Am I irritated by all of this? Absolutely. I'm not saying that Indians "ghettofy" an area that they live in but you can totally tell that this neighborhood is changing.
Russians. They are cliquey. I hate feeling uncomfortable in my own neighborhood in certain restaurants. Cafe Michelangelo is like little Moscow. No one speaks english. Also, up until a few years ago you never saw DVD stores that sold porn, now there are at least 2 that I know of in a 3 block radius.
Everyone has a different opinion as to what a quality of life issue is. My husband is a philly cop and he has to spin his wheels to nail people in his district (which is a toilet) with citations. If the cops would do this in my district and others here in the N.E. I think we would be a whole lot better off.

Funny you mention Caffe Michelangelo, the owners are Italian, and the last couple of times I was in there, everyone spoke Italian, me included. New arrivals and first generation-born tend to keep some of the same patterns and values that they used in their own countries, mostly because it is what they know. Children however, assimilate very quickly. Middle-aged people have much more difficulty doing this, it is just much harder to do and shun a lifetime's learned habits. By the second-generation, most everyone has assimilated and except for a couple of simple traditions, most have already fallen by the wayside. Do you know that academic results are gone and have completely assimilated into traditional "American" results by the third generation, across all races?

I have a youngish couple that lives next door to me in my house in the NE. They are both American born, and college-educated. Hubby is a pilot and wife is a substitute teacher. They are in their mid-30's, with two young children, and seem to not know when to put their trash out, which drives me up a wall. I have passed along tips and suggestions to them, even letting them know that if they put their trash out too soon, it could result in a ticket from the police for them. I haven't seen the trash go out quite so early anymore. How they tie up their trash is another story, and one of these days I will knock with string, scissors and trash bag in hand and ask if they are in need of any of these items. It should get my point across.

Do you speak to your neighbors ever? They would probably benefit from the conversations.

What district does your husband work in? My ex-husband is a member of the PD, and I am only too familiar with the mindset.

i hate living in the northeast. it's too packed with closed-minded bigots who should all be living in the real suburbs instead of the fake ones they tried to make for themselves by adding a million strip malls and planned neighborhoods with crappy new McMansions starting at a mere $395k. *barf*

yeah I'm white AND republican and still disgusted by the bunch of haters.

gross.

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Wow, a restaurant full of Russian speaking Italians...that is intimidating...I'm embarassed that I can only speak English (and a tiny bit of Spanish when in a pinch).

ctr3, you're criticizing people without even taking the time to figure out where they are from or what language they are speaking. Besides, how are people speaking a different language than you in a restaurant contributing to the decline you see in the NE?

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First off I know that the owners are Italian at Cafe Michelangelo. I used to go there all of the time. I stopped when I started to feel like a foreigner.
I have tried speaking with my new neighbors. The wife who seems to be in her late 30's early 40's seems petrified of anyone. She also doesn't seem to speak english. My husband has spoken with the husband and obviously nothing has changed in the situations I have written about previously.
What mindset would that be?
JillyS ~ I'm simply stating that there are areas in my own neighborhood that I feel like a complete outsider and I hate feeling that way. No one should have to feel that way, whether they are american born or immigrants. I'm not stating that the Cafe full of Russians is contributing to the decline of the N.E. what I'm saying is this... I think the pd higher ups are putting it out to the officers to lay off of these people when they commit minor infractions. Things like that tend to lend a helping hand in the quality of life of a neighborhood.
Ghettorigged ~ If your statement was aimed at me, I am not a bigot. I couldn't care less who I live near, as long as they keep their home kept up and take care of the area in which they live. Oh and the suburbs aren't planned communities with McMansions and tons of strip malls? I think you might want to venture out of your much hated N.E. and check out the vast suburbs....

Oh, if there was an area I hated more than the NE, it has to be the suburbs. But then again, to each his own.

Fairmount is next to Center City.

New People priced out the current population.

Farimount is past the old and know is almost historic. That's the difference.

Fairmount is about 5 years away from going back to suckage if their NIMBY attitude doesn't change.

Your crime is getting worse not better.

I know personally that it is.

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I see people talking about the decline of the lower northeast but not the far northeast. Are there dramatic differences in the housing stock? I've seen a few listings in the far NE, and I noticed there seem to be more single family homes, and they seem newer and more modern.

If old housing is the problem, seems like the city really is in trouble. I didn't realize until recently how many houses only have 1 bathroom, a no no for most people with a family. I wonder if we should expect to see more rowhomes hitting the dust and reemerging like this:
http://www.westrumhomes.com/reserve/index.html

if so, maybe there are bright times ahead for the north philly praries.

The NE is two very different areas.

Below Cottman dense grid of 30/40's rowhomes...few parks, old style shopping Ave's. Similar to South Philly only with front yards and back drives.


Above Cottman, twins and singles usually on smaller curving streets or sectioned off grids with main Avenues connecting them together. Strip mall style shopping on main aves.

Again this is general as there are exception in both sections. (Northwood in the lower NE... Morell and Parkwood in the Far (Rowhomes on curved streets)

Not surprising but the dense sections in the Far NE are the ones with issues.

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Maybe I'm the oddball here, or maybe I'm in a nice part of the NE..but I really like it here. Its got the things I liked about the suburbs (quietness, some grass and trees, not too many, its clean, etc), without the things I didn't like about the suburbs (hard to get around without a car, too much lawn, high property taxes, etc)

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