Philadelphia Getting Better?
The Pew Charitable Trusts says my hometown is getting better:
However, it also pointed out successes in the new millennium: more optimism and activism by movers and shakers, an expansion of the tax-abatement program that has fueled a building boom, efforts by universities to improve their surrounding neighborhoods, and economic growth spurred by tourism, an improved airport and the business district at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard.Or is that because once you hit rock bottom there's no place else to go? Things are still pretty bad:
Philadelphia lost 55,000 residents and 37,000 jobs from 2002 to 2005; a quarter of the population lives in poverty; only one-fifth of residents 25 and older have college degrees; and 56 percent of all households with children have only one parent present, according to the report.
''And while the surge in housing construction and rehabilitation is substantial, many neighborhoods can only be termed urban wastelands,'' the authors wrote.
Labels: Philadelphia
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