Dear Philadelphia,
Appalachia or Albania or Calcutta ? Can’t decide what the look is you are going for this fall.
I have never seen the streets look so bad or full of hazards. You can be on foot or in a vehicle, it doesn’t matter.
And the city is dirty. Filthy dirty. So it doesn’t matter if you are building shiny new buildings, everywhere you look is a hot mess. Oh sure there are trash cans… but the ones I passed yesterday were full and garbage spewing over. Then there is whatever is on the ground.
And your homeless population seems to have increased. Increased enough that they are blocking the streets begging. Even a homeless man on 16th Street lying down completely on the sidewalk reading a book with people stepping over him.
I am a native Philadelphian and yesterday we had family and friends in from out of town and it was embarrassing.
The buck stops at the Mayor’s Office in City Hall on this one. Hey Jim Kenney are you blind to all of this? Do you think you could stop running for re-election long enough to take a good look at what everyone sees and experiences? It’s a little hard to experience the best Philadelphia has to offer when all she seems to offer is filth, fractured roads and sidewalks, and people in dire need of help.
More embarrassing, men going to the “bathroom” in the train station at Market where one gets off to go to the convention center….or defecating on the street…I have seen it all. I have reported on 2 occasions other disgusting “motions” to security personnel and they just look at you and pass on. I have not been in downtown Philadelphia in 3 years by my choice, as I do not feel it is safe or a comfortable place to be in anymore particularly for the older generation. However, California is worse, particularly the Oakland area. The homeless are wall to wall under the traffic ramps, full of garbage, syringes and filth. Philadelphia is only one of many cities plagued with this problem. Monies being misspent or diffused in to fraudulent categories; crime is on the rise as more and more people can not afford to live healthful lives without income. The wealthy population grows and the lower classes continue to be submerged in hopelessness. It is easier to become a victim than it is to become a fighter or to become educated to the causes. Lets hope with the coming election everyone will do some homework and vote wisely. Time for selfishness to end and honesty in our local government to step in where needed.