Where’s the Love? Philly Keeps Losing People
As I’ve chronicled on this blog, I am new to Philadelphia and perpetually amused by the city’s inferiority complex and generally pessimistic mood. Until yesterday, I felt these positions were unwarranted. Then I got the news via the Philadelphia Inquirer that Philadelphia has lost 68,000 people in the past seven years; that makes the city’s population loss second only to New Orleans.
I still don’t understand it. Sure, the crime rate’s bad and the high-school graduation rate is abominable. Sure, the people aren’t as rich or beautiful as they are in New York or as ambitious as they are in D.C. But the city is beautiful — for those who like old architecture, you can’t beat Center City’s low-scale stock. It’s easy and manageable for people who like to walk, bike, or drive. For people fed up with gentrification it’s nice and gritty. We have good museums, a burgeoning art scene in North Philly, cheap housing, great restaurants, Fairmount park, Rittenhouse Square, the river, etc. What’s not to love about all that? I don’t know, but I’m starting to sound like a real local because the city’s getting me down.
It’s Friday and all my regular bloggers are helping fact-check the upcoming issue and I’ve got to get back to work, but I’m curious to know if people out there can chime in with one (please limit yourself to one) thing that Philadelphia should do to keep more people in the city.
I’ll start off the discussion with one utopian idea that could be used in any city struggling with population problems: eliminate the income tax for those carrying student loans or for anyone under the age of 25. The program would require residency for six years — not an insignificant period of time — which would be monitored via tax returns. This would mean that if you went to college in Philly you could ride income-tax-free for a bit, but then you would have to stay two years past graduation or be penalized with back taxes. I bet people would stick around after those two years—the program would encourage not only the po’ creative class to live in the city but law school grads, MBAs, doctors, etc. And it would also help some Philly businesses compete with the salaries offered by NYC or DC companies — while they can’t offer as much money, they could offer tax breaks.
What do you think? Please post your ideas in the comment box!
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City magazine.
Sticking It to the Car
Philadelphia’s Ongoing Self-Perception Problem
Jeff Knowles in Philadelphia, PA on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:08am
Schools. Philadelphia must address its failing public school system in order to reverse the population loss. As the nation’s top listed city for recent graduates, students are staying in Philly for their first job. They remain in the city until they have children ready to start school, then its off to the burbs. These young urban professionals are not excited about moving away from the city, but they have the means and mobility to dodge the public school nightmare for their children. As more and more recent graduates fall in love with Philly, we may see an increasing demand to provide decent schools for their children. Perhaps a way to start would be expanding PTA programs and inviting area residents, even those without children in the school, but may have children someday, to join up.
David Thornburgh in Philadelphia on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:21am
Here’s a couple thoughts. One, we have to shake this notion that the problem is keeping people rather than attracting people. If you go look at the numbers, most cities have a pretty similar rate of outflow—people leaving (NYC’s is horrendous, btw). What makes some cities grow and others shrink, then, is the rate of inflow—people arriving. OK, so why would people come here? Sure, Richard Florida’s kinda right when he goes all Creative Class on us, but at the end of the day most people move TO opportunity—translated as jobs or education. Philadelphia’s got the education piece covered—roughly 50,000 new students to the region every year. Question then is jobs well-suited to the highly educated, highly mobile “free agent” population of graduates and recent graduates that Florida and Daniel Pink, etc. etc. talk about.. There’s the rub, of course. It’s just not clear, at least that Phila has the meaningful, cutting edge job opportunities that will make the best and brightest want to hang here. If we do have ‘em, we need to do a better job of letting that fact be known.
What else to do? My current RX for jobs in Philadelphia is that we ought to be the best city for free agents (again, see Pink’s book) in the nation. By his count, there are at least 33 million in the country-self-employed, soloists, independent contractors, etc. etc.—translates to maybe 150,000 in the city alone. Let’s just acknowledge that the tax and regulatory climate in Philadelphia treats free agents like doo doo (business privilege license, ridiculously high taxes, confiscatory estimated payments, absurdly bad tax administration). That’s where I’d start.
BradyDale in Philadelphia, PA on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:46am
Philadelphia is gaining people, though. 68K is a net loss number. One new population is moving in and another population is moving out. I don’t think folks know exactly who these people are, but West Philadelphia, Center City and the neighborhoods in Center City’s orbit are gaining people fast, concentration is going up and the number of housing units are increasing.
Those areas are losing people, too, but there also seems to be more people moving out of the other parts of the city. Worn out Southwest and North Philadelphia. I’m guessing that Northeast is losing people too.
There really isn’t just one Philadelphia, is, I guess, what, I’m saying.
Anyway, in terms of ideas, the City could scratch it’s horribly misguided Convention Center project. That thing is pretty much guaranteeing that North Broad will never amount to anything. Lately, we’ve been right on the verge of something happening there. Now, it won’t. That’s pretty much guaranteed.
Of course, we’re not going to get the Convention Center eliminated, which is too bad. But it would be nice if we could.
A more realistic idea would be to expand SEPTA’s mass transit elements. Collect the Northeast, NoLibs, West Philadelphia and Manayunk in some sort of rapid way. That would improve the cross-pollination of the city that would help people who live here enjoy all it has to offer.
Diana Lind on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:35pm
Thanks for these comments—they’re all awesome. David and Brady, you’re totally right that it’s about inflow. And I agree that Philadelphia isn’t doing a great job about broadcasting opportunities that exist here. A thesis of mine—which I’d love to one day have more time to research—is that all cities need to consider media a part of their revitalization.
To answer the off-line question of why I “limited” the responses, I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was limiting people, really just that I think that better commentary comes from making one solid point rather than a few half-baked answers and I wanted to encourage comments to head in that direction. But I’ll take to heart that limitations don’t fly on the web!
Jeff Knowles in Philadelphia, PA on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:48pm
David, I think keeping people and attracting new residents are not mutually exclusive. In fact, if you can address the concerns of current residents you make the city more inviting for potential Philadelphians. The idea of “free agents” is appealing, and I would throw non-profits in there too. Let New York be the financial capital, and D.C. the political, but turn Philadelphia into the non-profit capital. Our city is strategically located with access to either city, plus low office rent and affordable living costs means non-profit organizations’ employees can survive on salaries that are stretched thin in D.C. and NYC.
Louis in Philly on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 6:36pm
Two words: Wage Tax
Andrew Ferrett on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 8:16pm
The Inquirer definitely sensationalized this story. The real story here is that Philadelphia’s population loss is leveling off. The latest numbers (unreported by the paper) showed a net loss of 3,500 people during 2006-07. Compare that to over 7,000 in 05-06 and 04-05, and at least 10-20,000 in every year before that. At this rate, the city could be posting population gains within a few years.
Furthermore, that 68,000 figure is not necessarily even accurate. In the 1990’s, census estimates grossly overinflated Philadelphia’s losses - reporting an exodus of over 150,000 residents only to show a more modest decline of 65,000 in the 2000 Census. I’ll wait until 2010 before I give much credence to these estimates.
Even so (and to return to the prompt), Philadelphia needs to attract more immigrants. This would not only provide increased density and cultural vitality, but also generate new businesses and create a stable tax base for the city.
Right now, New York and Washington are spiraling towards unaffordable rents and social polarization, yet both cities remain boom-towns for immigrants. Philadelphia’s livable neighborhoods, affordable housing, and strong transit infrastructure could make it the most hospitable place for immigrants on the east coast. Of course, the city would need to improve conditions for entrepreneurs, along with public safety and education, but the payoff in immediate tax dollars would be helpful. More immigrants might even revive middle class life in Philadelphia - a defining quality of the city for much of it’s history.
shishi in NYC on Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 7:41pm
They need more NY Times articles calling it the 6th borough J/K. I actually did a pretty extensive study of why Philadelphia is not living up to the great city that it should be. While a bit corny, BRANDING, was the main thing that Philly had going against it. When you say Philadelphia immediately people think of crime rate, crumbling school system, Rocky, and cheese steaks. I still think Philly has some of the best features of NYC and Boston, without the NE feel or high cost of living. It reminds me a lot of my hometown of Chicago which has really turned around in the past five years.
What does Philly need? Some serious PR and a strong Mayor that will make the necessary steps to putting Philly on tract in regards to many of the issues that have already been mentioned. It took Mayor Daly a long time, but it worked, and Philly could, and should be, the next city to make its comeback.
BetterThings on Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 8:16am
Excellent point - the Inky did sensationalize these latest number. Another half-baked theory - I think that the census data in Philadelphia doesn’t pick up tens of thousands of younger people who don’t officially “register” as Philadelphia residents because they are trying to avoid the wage tax or car insurance, etc.
Brudy in Cambridge on Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 4:31pm
Having lived in and around Philadelphia for 15 years and recently relocated to Boston, here’s what I would have said Philly needs to do:
1) Better mass transit. It’s a joke right now.
2) Wage tax
3) Better high end retail (not for me, but it brings in money and people with money)
3) Something to bring back all the corporations that fled in the 90’s. All those pharma corporations along the 202 corridor should be in the city.
4) Fight poverty, which will take care of crime and education along with it.
CA in New York on Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 5:29pm
I lived in Philadelphia from eighteen till about 25. I enjoyed my time there, but I did find some real drawbacks to living in the city of Brotherly Love. Forget about inflow or outflow. Every city can use improvement.
As Brudy said, the public transportation is a joke. As Shishi said, the branding of “filthadelphia” needs some real attention. Beyond that, once you step outside of its center, the city turns into more than just a gritty city, but one with real systemic problems. Every city has a “bad neighborhood,” but Philly has many. North Philly, deep parts of South Philly where my grandmother lived most of her life , West Philly has its gaping holes as well.
And so, my suggestion is that the city focuses on extending to bring some of the joys of center city, the joys of part of South Philly outward. Clean streets, public transportation, tax breaks for small businesses in these areas, encouraging investment in these neighborhoods, etc.
No one wants to live in a city where once you step beyond the center and just beyond, you run smack into a blighted landscape that has long been ignored by city government.
Andrew Thompson on Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 5:19pm
I agree with the comments about public transportation; an overhaul would be a big step. I just came back from visiting New York. After using the MTA all weekend, it was like test-driving a Maserati only to have to get back into a ‘92 Honda Civic. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be years until Philly has the massive amounts of cash it takes to add new routes. There’s a lot of great stuff around the city and it’s nothing but a pain in the ass to get to it.
What we don’t want, though, is to copy New York like a student looking over his neighbor’s shoulder to cheat on a test. Copying their robust infrastructure is fine, but I’ll rue the day when our beautiful row homes are demolished to make way for an ocean of skyscrapers.
I guess both of those things have to do with long-term strategies, though.
Ashley Tobin in South Philly on Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 12:50pm
AGE! The city is aging out. On our block alone there are now 6 families with children under 6 years old. All because the previous homeowners grew old in their homes. It’s a natural progression.
Chirag in Philadelphia, PA on Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 3:53pm
Diana, others,
my wife, 5 month old son, and I are leaving Philadelphia after 3 years here on Monday. I was born in WIlmington and grew up in NJ so Philly should have felt like home to me, but instead, it just never clicked. And there are a large number of my friends and relatives - the majority being 2nd generation Indian or East Asian - who feel the same way about Philly, and are all moving out after a few years.
Basically, it’s too hard to feel like one can do anything. There’s no room for ambition, for great things, for making a life and making one’s mark. The combination of several things make it that way - an old boy network, a political machine, unions that behave in a ridiculous way - and more than anything else, the depressing, can’t-do culture of complaint.
I felt like this wasn’t America, the country my parents dreamed of coming to, but instead, some type of post-America where nothing big can happen - only a few small steps in one direction or another. And that’s why I’m leaving for Phoenix, and my friends are leaving for places like Dallas, Houston, Silicon Valley, or even D.C. or New York (and will deal with the expenses there).
All the culture, all the musuems, all the restaurants, all the connectivity to other major metro centers, mean nothing in the face of the can’t do, won’t happen, don’t bother, already been there attitude. And that’s why we leave.
Chirag in Philadelphia, PA on Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 4:07pm
Adding to my comment above, I’d note that perhaps these new locales will not offer everything we desire, but, at the least, one can feel like there is a chance of it. In Philadelphia, ambitions are limited to a very small scale - hey, maybe we can make this corner look better; not, hey, maybe we can build 10 skyscrapers next year. I wish our liberal intelligentsia might realize what it is they are doing to our country - this is not Europe and we need to end the Europe-worship. And this comes from someone who has very consistently voted Democratic, can’t stand Bush incorporated, is vegetarian, etc.
Brian K Oglesby in South Jersey on Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 9:13am
As a life long Philadelphian, stating one problem that exceeds others is difficult but I’ll take a shot at it.
The lack of skillful city planning and infrastructure over the period of decades has crippled the city’s ability to grow. We built highways that were antiquated upon completion in locations not fit for expansion. Our public transportation system is utter chaos without a plan in sight (except the regular fare hikes). We do not develop our poorest neighborhood. Instead we hope for urban renewal through some sort of tax-deferred osmosis that will somehow transform areas of concentrated poverty into shangri-la. I don’t feel inferior about it, just infuriated.
While I understand there are “efforts” such as redrafting the archaic zoning code designed to help, it appears that infrastructure is never a priority that goes hand in hand with development. This beloved city of mine needs an leadership enema.
Michael Feagans in Philadelphia on Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 4:34pm
Every one of my friends left the city when they had children. I did not. They saved money and I feel I made the better choice. I just could not move to the burbs. Yes, the public schools are better and there is less crime. That’s it. Somehow my family and I have survived the treacherous streets of Philadelphia. We are able to take public transportation easily from where we live but in Philly driving just isn’t a problem like it is in D.C., New York or Boston. And, Chirag, if you don’t think there’s an old boy network in NY, DC and Boston you’ll soon find out. You couldn’t pay me to live in Phoenix, Dallas or Houston. And you would have to pay me a lot to live in DC, NY or Silicon Valley. I’m not saying Philly is nirvana but it’s just not that different from other large eastern cities. A good analogy for living in Philly is how I view being a Philadelphia sports fan. It’s easy to root for a team that wins all the time but you got to be a die hard fan to root for one that hardly ever wins. If you want to make things happen in Philly you got to want it bad and you have to fight to make it happen. In Philly it’s the fighting that brings you satisfaction not the winning.
Diana Lind on Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:58am
Awesome response, Michael. That made my day!
Kim on Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 2:09pm
This article is a Pile of Garbage. It’s Just such IDOTS like this who I sometimes wish would just leave the planet and never come back. All you morons want to do is CRAP all over Philadelphia. Why the hell don’t you go somewhere and get a hobby going, or for that matter, GET A LIFE! Because, Belive me when I tell you. PHILADELPHIA already has one. I don’t understand why I give you Imbeciles the dignity of opening up these sickening, idiotic, web sites!!
Tanya in Philadelphia on Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 9:45am
The school system and wage taxes keep people from staying in the city. I think people give up on city living because it’s “easier” and more familiar in our culture to live in the suburbs and get everywhere by car. I applaud Michael for bucking that trend among his friends.
I’m sorry to read the comments from people who think this is a city where nothing can happen. I feel just the opposite: this is a can-do city. Starting PhillyCarShare very much proves this to me. Sure, it was unexpected that anyone in Philly would do this, but we were five individuals (who didn’t previously know each other) who all wanted to do this, and we had tons of support from all around. I’ve seen neighborhood organizations formed by can-do people who wanted to revitalize their environs—and they too have been successful. I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area and I love Philadelphia.