Innovation Philadelphia
(1) City Paper talks about Philly as a new hot spot for social enterprise and environmental sustainability. Our success stories include a bike-powered laundry service, a social entrepreneurship business accelerator, and a "B Corp" certifying body.
(2) Grid Magazine talks about SEPTA harnessing the energy from subways braking at stations to power the lights at those stations. (Love, though, how the article calls out SEPTA for still selling tokens in plastic baggies.)
Why is Philly on the map in this way at this point in time? Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, I'd go with the following reasons:
(1) Huge density of really smart people, thanks to all of our world-class universities.
(2) Way cheaper than DC or New York, but close enough that we can leverage ties to those hubs.
(3) A legacy of innovation melded with civic engagement and social responsibility. (Thanks, Ben Franklin!).
(4) An improving political culture, such that young'uns no longer necessarily feel they have no place to contribute.
(5) Not being flush with resources or attention creates a "starving artist" mentality, in a good way.
(6) We put something in the water. (Just kidding. Or am I?)
Whatever the reasons (and I'm sure I left out about 10), it's looking up for Philly. If you've been away for awhile and think otherwise, you should reconsider.
Comments
Right now AVI is the bump. As a reasonable person who pays $2,000 on my $300,000 home while someone in the Northeast pays $2,500 on his $150,000 home and someone in Graduate Hospital pays $500 on his $400,000 home I know something has to change. But I must say that I am bothered by the fact that the political class want to "protect" constituents by cost-shifting to others. The Homestead Exemption, the Gentrification Bill, the Increase in Use & Occupancy all seem like Council trying to protect their favored constituents.
And yet, things really have improved politically. These exemptions maybe shift the millage by 0.3% tops. Lots of people in my South Philly neighborhood have threatened to move but very few will since their houses will be worth less if nothing else. And properties in North Philadelphia will have lower taxes and hopefully be easier to develop. I'm optimistic.
I understand what you are saying about cost-shifting, and it speaks to a broader discussion about policy shifts seeming to create winners and losers, when in fact sometimes what those shifts lead to is corrections of past inequities.
If my tax bill is going to double or triple (which it will, regardless of what protections are or aren't implemented), then one way to look at it is that I'm losing, and so I should be inclined to complain that this isn't fair.
Alternatively, another way to look at it is that I was underpaying all this time, and so rather than feeling cheated, I should feel like I got a break all those years and am now finally paying what I ought to.
You can apply this line of thinking to different neighborhoods, to new homeowners vs. old-timers, residential vs. commercial, and so on and so forth.
I agree with you that the end game is absolutely where we need to be, however messy it is to get there. And, I agree with you that there's a lot to be bullish about re: Philadelphia.
Thanks for sharing your two cents.