I Can Hear My Neighbors Pee

[ArcticSplash]

The Piazza at Schmidt’s Is What’s Wrong With Philadelphia | The Philly Post

[Malloy]

She needs to GTFO.

[ArcticSplash]

She needs to GTFO.

Like, yesterday.

[thoth]

C'mon guys she lived here for almost a whole year!

[OffenseTaken]

Good God, this is an unfortunate article. You have to look hard for a better example of fresh-out-of-undergrad arrogance.

There is nothing worse than early-twentysomethings. They are, quite simply, the worst people in the world.

[NE19149]

The Piazza is just an upscale version of a section 8 housing development.

And yeah, 20-somethings give me gas.

[thesomersteam]

This "article" does not deserve its own thread. The core of the article is a stab on all of Philly. I found it be insulting and am surprised it has Philly Mag attached it. What contributions is the "writer" making? Zilch. I already stated my opinions on the Philadelphia Mag FB page.

Philadelphia Magazine - Magazine - Philadelphia, PA | Facebook

[ArcticSplash]

C'mon guys she lived here for almost a whole year!

Wait til she discovers what a patriarchal society Philly is. i.e. if you're 9 years old but your busted outta your ma's meatloaf in Philly, you're a lifer. However if you've lived here 50 years but came here from somewhere else and moved in when you were 7, you're a newcomer.

[ArcticSplash]

This "article" does not deserve its own thread. The core of the article is a stab on all of Philly. I found it be insulting and am surprised it has Philly Mag attached it. What contributions is the "writer" making? Zilch. I already stated my opinions on the Philadelphia Mag FB page.

Philadelphia Magazine - Magazine - Philadelphia, PA | Facebook

Oh contrare mon frare. When PhillyMag screws up at this level, it deserves separate attention.

[raider.adam]

Instead of being titled "The Piazza at Schmidt’s Is What’s Wrong With Philadelphia", they should have named it "This Column is What's Wrong with Philly Mag".

[thesomersteam]

Oh contrare mon frare. When PhillyMag screws up at this level, it deserves separate attention.

Fair enough on that. My initial reaction was that the thread was going to be another "pile on the piazza" by "look at this great article". My coffee was not brewed yet.

On a side note, lunch at PYT was a lot of fun yesterday!! We had close to 25 people come out.

[thesomersteam]

Instead of being titled "The Piazza at Schmidt’s Is What’s Wrong With Philadelphia", they should have named it "This Column is What's Wrong with Philly Mag".

Exactly. Well said.

[Tartan69]

If you haven't realized by now that Philly Mag is in the business of procuring eyeballs by writing inflammatory articles, then you haven't been paying attention.

[RainboTeabagger]

The Piazza is just an upscale version of a section 8 housing development.

Every post you put on this site a little doe dies.

[dogoagogo]

"Like, omagawd! The city is not a pristine happy land full of happy people doing happy things! EEEEK! It's like, there's like, OTHER PEOPLE, LIVING HERE, and I can HEAR THEM! There's DIRT! and BUGS! I'm SOOOOOO over it. Ohmagawd. I am like SOOOOOOO grossed out and stuff."

Buh bye bimbo. Back to the beach with ya. Watch out for that red tide in Long Beach, it's a b!tch.

Just got back from Super Adoption Day at the Piazza, and again, although it seemed a little smaller this year, it was a great event. I am not a fan of Northern Liberties, but I appreciate the space created and what is done with it.

[FrankStar]

Imagine how the neighbors feel about the slurping sounds they can hear coming from her apartment.

[dogoagogo]

Imagine how the neighbors feel about the slurping sounds they can hear coming from her apartment.

True Philly Style.

[the mule]

Honestly I completely agree with her assessment of the Piazza. Oh it's great that it exists and was a major step forward for Northern Liberties, but it is definitely another example of how low people aim in this city. Daring to compare it to Piazza Navona is an absolute joke. Piazza Navona is in the middle of a thriving section of Rome, with businesses and cultural destinations surrounding it on all sides and a Bernini masterpiece as its focal point. There is constant foot traffic flowing through with people stopping briefly to take in the atmosphere and go on their merry way. Piazza Navona is large enough to be a public square but its buildings are spaced closely enough to maintain an intimate feel that blocks out the hustle and bustle beyond. The Piazza at Schmidts is spaced out more widely and sparsely dotted by any sort of street furniture, let alone major objects of interest. It doesn't have the luxury of thousands of years of culture on all sides - its north and east edges still border on no man's land, but that's no fault of its own. The low standards that laud the Piazza as an earthshaking development are the same that cause G-Ho specials to sell for asking price before breaking ground. We deserve better and should start expecting it. We abide by mediocre performance of our sports teams and are trashed nationally for being such hardasses about it, yet we praise mediocrity in almost every other sphere.

The idea of a European-style public square was pitched to sell people on the Piazza but little was done to make it actually resemble one. I won't complain about the TV because it's a great atmosphere to see Philly teams in playoff runs, and actually very much like the screens Europeans erect in their public squares to watch soccer matches on. But the public seating, astroturf, and most other elements of the public space are cheaply done and seem like an afterthought. "Oh yeah, we're calling it the Piazza, we should do something about that." Even the pavers made to mimic italian street paving and used as part of the the Piazza's branding are preformed facsimiles that betray their modular nature. There are enough cheap and half-assed elements to the Piazza to remind you that Bart Blatstein started out as a strip mall developer and hasn't completely left that mentality behind.



VS



Even the smallest Italian hamlets manage to repave their roads with courses of stone that flow together so smoothly. Why couldn't a multi-million dollar development that built its branding on that attribute come close? This is one nitpick, but it's one of many.

Now we are most certainly living in a new era for Philadelphia, one where there is growth in population and development like this city hasn't seen in forever. We're fortunate to have things like the Piazza to criticize and complain about, but there's no reason we should be content, especially since we're all trying to attract people to this city. People like the author aren't the gritty Philadelphians that have weathered the storms this city has faced, but they are the type of people increasingly choosing to relocate here and fund its renaissance.

[raider.adam]

What is just as ridiculous is people trying to hold up a privately built gathering place several years old to a public gathering place that people and society have utilized for over half a millenia.

[the mule]

What is just as ridiculous is people trying to hold up a privately built gathering place several years old to a public gathering place that people and society have utilized for over half a millenia.

The Piazza invited the comparison through its branding, design, and marketing.