[reed930]

I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. I have also travelled extensively and spent three years in DC for school. I've always told people that unless you're from here, there is no reason to stay here.

It's not a horrible city--really not any worse than many other former industrial/manufacturing cities. It's just that there's not much to recommend about it. It was a whole lot prettier before the urban sprawl of the past thirty years but I guess that goes for most places.

I've always thought that Philadelphia had all of the negatives of a big city, e.g. crime, congestion, fiscal, governement services, but without many of the benefits. Big town problems, small town mindset.

I work at 12th and Market, just down the street from a methidone clinic. The parade of misery I see on a daily basis makes me almost weep. It makes me sad to say this, but Philadelphians are some of the ugliest--in every sense of the word--people that you'll ever meet. Welcome!