XPost: phl.politics, phl.media, pa.politics   
   From: kybyrd@pobox.upenn.edu   
      
   On 20 Aug 2003 11:30:38 GMT, stan@temple.edu  wrote:   
      
   >Be that as it may, I think Street needs to go. The only thing Street is   
   >doing now that I like is his new advocacy for auto insurance consumers.   
   >His point that much has been done to help reduce the number of city   
   >residents who drive without insurance at the behest of the auto insurance   
   >industry has not resulted in any lower premium rates is valid. Street's   
   >support for a Philadelphia insurance advocate to lobby for change in   
   >Harrisburg makes a lot of sense.   
      
   I read something about that today. The reason the insurance companies   
   haven't budged   
   re: rates in Phila., is because of the, still, huge number of personal   
   libility claims in the city compared to what goes on in neighboring   
   counties.   
      
   >As for Art's comment about businesses leaving the city, that may be true   
   >for large businesses, but I am impressed how vibrant the down town areas   
   >such as Olde City and Rittenhouse Square are becoming with many new small   
   >businesses opening up.   
      
   It's beyond that core now. As I've already noted,  border areas of   
   City Center in, Fairmount/Spring Garden and Northern Liberties,   
   are starting to take off in ways they hadn't before. New construction   
   of homes and rehabs of existing homes. New restaurants.   
      
   > I have been doing a lot of roaming around in those   
   >areas lately. Just last night, I visited the area around 2nd & Market and   
   >I was surprised at how vibrant that once delapidated area had become.   
      
   That's been going on there for quite some time. It started in the mid-90s.   
   and has kept pace since then. You can probably thank Stephen Starrs   
   for having the forsight to re-do a rundown diner and change it into   
   a martini bar, The Continental. The rest is what you see today.   
      
   >There are numerous restaurants, all of which looked busy last night,   
   >clubs, and even a small grocery store! None of that was there when I lived   
   >nearby 15 years ago; it was just mostly abandoned properties, bars, and a   
   >couple of seedy strip joints.   
      
   That's right! It's a fascinating transformation! Much of that area   
   now reminds me of the Chelsea and SoHo areas in New York City.   
      
   >The same is true of the area around Eastern State Pennitentary where there   
   >seems to be a hell of a lot of new residential construction going on, more   
   >restaurants, and the neighborhood looks a lot cleaner and safer than it   
   >did a decade ago, or even a few years ago at the tail end of Rendell's   
   >second mayoral term.   
      
   You're right. I moved to that neighborhood in 1995. And it's only   
   been in the last couple of years or so that things have started to pick   
   up there. One catalyst, I think, was creating a real, lanscaped parking lot   
   next to the prison where a fallow, undeveloped field, lay before.   
      
   Also the townhouse development at 19th and Fairmount, and how quickly   
   those for sold, probably convinced others of the viability of the   
   area and of that end of Fairmount Ave. which is still blighted but getting   
   better. The other part of the puzzle is that tourists have   
   been coming to that area because of the prison tours for a few years.   
   That has worked to change the tone of the area too.   
      
   The latest good news is that the former Father Divine hotel at Broad   
   and Fairmount has been sold. It's to be converted to apartments.   
      
   [...]   
   > So something good must be happening in Philadelphia.   
      
   It's is.   
      
   >As a suburban resident, every time I visit that area, I feel a stronger   
   >and stronger desire to move back.   
      
   Someone else who lives in New Jersey posted about how they were   
   thinking about moving back to the city. I did warn him/her   
   that if they were, indeed, interested they'd have to act soon   
   because all of this development has meant that property values   
   have gone WAY up.   
      
   > I used to live near Independence Hall   
   >about 15 years ago and I still feel home sick whenever I visit that area,   
   >esp. now with the new National Constitution Center and more restaurants   
   >and shops so close at hand.   
      
   But could you afford it now? That's the outcome of having that   
   area go glam? It's good for the city in many respects   
   but it ain't for folks on a limited budget.   
      
   I'm waiting for Street to take responsibility for how well some   
   areas of the city are doing. But I don't think it has anything   
   to do with him directly. It's more an effect of economic factors   
   he has nothing to do with.   
      
   KByrd   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)