re: #149 Justanotherhuman

Location, location, location.

But it does amuse me, as a working class person, that the places we wouldn’t have set foot in because they had such bad reputations have been glamorized by others who have no idea that the bar they thought was “awesome” was a place you could get your throat cut. We wanted to move out of those neighborhoods, not into them or stay in them. People who grew up in those poor houses certainly didn’t want to stay there—we wanted better.

noda.org

There’s also the aspect of regentrification forcing out long time home owners suddenly facing huge tax bills they can’t afford.

Calling back to Philly, the Society Hill neighborhood is a prime example of that. Starting roughly to the east and south of Independence Hall, from what I’ve heard it was an absolute slum until the mid-60’s.

Today, it’s one of the nicest and most expensive places to live in the city, but a lot of long time residents had to leave due to spiraling real estate taxes.