Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Aromat_Junkie t1_j5p2nw7 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Temple holds safety town hall after student attacked near campus by redeyeblink

coming up with solutions = moving the goalpost.

Look, here's how penn did it, they used thier massive endowment to build an entirely new sub city around Penn called "university city' and removed all the poor black people. It's not a secret.

1

GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j5pc5uj wrote

You need a history lesson. First of all, the area to the west of Penn is filled with gigantic Victorians built by the richest in the city from the mid 1800's to the 1950's. White flight led to some African American people in the area, but the majority was still white. Then Penn did three important things after the death of a graduate student on the 4300 block of Pine: they drastically increased their police presence bolstered by security, they offered to co-sign employee mortgages at great rates, and they built the Penn Alexander School. For the record, the mortgage program hasn't been offered for almost 15 years.

University City was coined by a bunch of real estate agents/developers in the 1950's, not Penn. University City is technically only up to 40th St, but it's commonly used for the entire area from the river to 50th, Woodland/Baltimore/Kingseessing to Market. No actual resident uses that term. We live in Spruce Hill, Walnut Hill, Squirrel Hill, etc.

Penn didn't kick anyone out. They revitalized the area and made it a desirable place to live. I personally have been here 25 years, own my house, and don't want to live anywhere else in this city. My kid goes to Penn Alexander with children of all races and creeds. White is a plurality, but not a majority. And a very large percentage of the students live near poverty levels.

So no, Penn did not kick out black people.

5

zerofox2189 t1_j5qy7g5 wrote

Hey man, even though the other guy didn't like your comment, I thought it was really interesting and informative lol

3

GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j5r0q8n wrote

Actually, there is a big caveat: Penn and Drexel did literally eminent domain the “black bottom” which was a formerly wealthy neighborhood between 32nd and 40th or so. The wealthy moved further west into places like Spruce Hill and the area became a neighborhood for low-income African Americans who were discriminated against elsewhere. The city declared the area blighted and the universities grabbed it.

The 3400 block of Sansom is basically all that exists of the original architecture. Urban renewal was a bitch.

2

[deleted] t1_j5p2zap wrote

[deleted]

1

Aromat_Junkie t1_j5p4z97 wrote

> Where will you be kicking all of the poor people to under your awesome plan? Acting like that isn't already happening at Temple is insanely naieve.

Obviously, to mayfair

0

[deleted] t1_j5p5ikv wrote

[deleted]

5

UndercoverPhilly t1_j5sqerd wrote

Also University City is not crimeless. There are plenty of incidents, especially a bit further north near Drexel, which also has their own police, but they don’t make the news. Penn has their own big shuttle buses, like Drexel, but also small vans that Penn students and employees can take. I’m sure this cuts down on a significant amount of incidents since they can get a ride home at night. Their campus also has more housing in it so they are within the Penn police domain. A lot of Temple students are living off campus and walking around to get to their homes or to take public transportation.

1