As a graying boomer living in Philadelphia for more than
40 years, I'm still amazed by the density of pedestrians, even on Sunday and
Monday evenings when the place used to be empty. Sure, I'm getting older, but
they're really getting younger! It's not just the 107,000 students attending
colleges, universities, and medical schools in and around downtown; 40 percent
of Greater Center City's full-time population is now age 20 to 34. Boomers,
take solace. We're the second-largest demographic downtown and grandparents can
smile that 33,471 children have been born to Center City parents. Just watch
out for the strollers!
Twenty-six years ago when Center City District started,
Center City closed at 5:30 p.m. - no outdoor cafés, a few dozen fine-dining
restaurants, and a handful of cultural institutions. Last summer, CCD counted
431 street cafes, 464 full-service restaurants, and 419 arts organizations. The
Convention Center attracted 1.1 million people; five million visited
Independence National Historical Park; hotel rooms downtown have more than
doubled to 11,139, creating construction and entry-level jobs.
Those living in and visiting downtown are just the tip of
the iceberg. Yes, 59 percent of residents between Girard Avenue and Tasker
Street, river to river, have college degrees; 30 percent have advanced degrees.
Yes, 62 percent of Greater Center City residents get to work without a car.
But Center City is also the largest job center in the
region with 292,746 salaried slots and an additional 8,500 self-employed
individuals, freelancers, and partners. A third of our 300,000 jobs require
only an associate degree; a third need no more than a high school diploma. So
when SEPTA brings 310,000 passengers into downtown each day, that includes
120,000 workers from Philadelphia neighborhoods north of Girard, south of
Tasker, and west of the Schuylkill. An additional 110,170 workers from the
suburbs arrive via Regional Rail, highways, and the bridges.
The place we call Greater Center City is just 5.7 percent
of the city's land area but generates 32 percent of property-tax revenue for
the city and School District, holds 42 percent of all jobs (University City has
an additional 11 percent), and it accounts for 43 percent of the wage tax
generated by jobs in Philadelphia. (The wage tax covers 46.2 percent of the
entire cost of municipal government.) Outside Center City, about 7 percent of
workers earn their living in their neighborhood, but 25 percent support
families with jobs downtown; 39 percent reverse-commute to the suburbs, but
more on that later.
The best news? Education and health-care employment
citywide has grown by 55 percent since 1990 and these institutions secured $857
million in National Institutes of Health research grants in 2016. After years
of office leasing where the same firms played musical chairs, hopping from
building to building, two homegrown corporate giants rise on the skyline and 21
percent of office leases in 2015 and 2016, 1.1 million square feet, went to
tenants from outside the city, eager to jump into our talent pool. So too,
400,000 square feet of coworking space serves not only as incubators for local
start-ups but also provides suburban firms without offices in the city an easy
way to test the water.
Demographics and sustained job growth for 11 of the last
12 years - the best winning streak in 40 years - has driven the housing boom.
After years of suburban sprawl, Philadelphia accounted for 52 percent of the
region's new multifamily units in 2015 and 38 percent of all types of housing.
We simply have more or what more people want.
But what about the other half of the glass? Philadelphia
is digging out from decades of severe job loss. Despite recent trends, we still
have 25 percent fewer jobs than in 1970 and 6 percent fewer jobs than in 1990.
Cities like New York and Boston, which hemorrhaged as many manufacturing jobs,
are up 12 percent and 21 percent, respectively, over 1970 employment numbers.
No wonder we have one of the highest poverty rates among major American cities
and unacceptable levels of unemployment in too many neighborhoods.
When 39 percent of working residents from each
neighborhood outside downtown commute to the suburbs, that's 225,000 daily
flight risks who get a 3 percent salary increase, as the wage tax drops away,
if they find a home near their suburban job. Despite everyone moving into Center
City and University City, 70,000 Philadelphians moved out each year between
2010 and 2015, with 40 percent going to adjacent suburbs. Were it not for
immigration and local births, we'd still be losing population.
Last year was a very good year for Philadelphia. But from
2010 to 2015, we still had the slowest growth among the 25 largest American
cities. So do we just cross our fingers, stay the course, and hope somehow that
we'll leap from the back of the pack? Or do we do something dramatic, like
change an antiquated tax structure that still underfunds schools, adds a 20
percent to 30 percent premium to the cost of doing business in the city,
compared to the suburbs, and leaves 400,000 residents in poverty? It's
certainly no time to look to federal or state government for more. We know what
success looks like. It's time to spread the benefits citywide.
Paul R. Levy is president of the Center City
District, which published "State of Center City, 2017." plevy@centercityphila.org
Source: Philly.com
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