It wouldn't surprise me to learn that it depends on how you define "University City" and "population". For example, a very small definition of UC that's bounded by, say, 30th, 40th, Market, and Spruce would certainly see population rising because of all the new construction taking place in that area.
Also, gentrification actually *lowers* the population in some cases. Jane Jacobs wrote about this -- I think it was in _The Life and Death of Great American Cities_. What happens is that people who are forced to live in a neighborhood because it's cheap are packed in like sardines get forced out by the rising rents, and the people moving in aren't so packed in. For example, I live alone, in a one-bedroom apartment that's maybe 350 square feet; when I was looking for this place, at one point I came across an apartment that's very similar to the one I live in now that was housing a family of four -- mother, father, and two small children. And I suspect that counting the number of "households", instead of the number of people, is fraught with problems in this neighborhood because so many people live in non-family arrangements that are prone to breaking up and recombining much more often than traditional families do. And $50 million to build 150 apartments? That's a third of a million each, which as the article states is what a house costs. Finally, you keep hearing things about how Philadelphia is "coming back" in the national media -- but Philadelphia's population is only 70% of its historic peak (2,071,605 in the 1950 census; 1,448,394 in last year's census bureau estimates) and declining (by about 10,000 a year, according to those same estimates). What does one make of this? Isabel Isabel On 7/28/07, Glenn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On today's front page of the Inq., there is one of thos stories of a Penn > real estate love in. You've read this crap many times, so I won't bore you > with details. It was a newsmercial about Penn and campus apartment with 50 > million dollar kisses, etc, etc. > > But then I spotted the news quote of the day from my good friend and UCD > spokeswoman, Melani. About the love in, Melani says: > > ""The population of University City has never been nearly as high as it is > now," said Melani Lamond, an associate broker..." > > Well, "never been nearly as high as it is now." Man, I heard it was a drug > infested wasteland around here, but what all is going on at these Penn real > estate love-ins? > > Mel, if I start behaving myself can I get into one of these parties and > check that stuff out???? I used to do research about this stuff. > > Thanks and say hi to the gang at UCD for me, > Glenn ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
