Suburban SLUMLORDS!

[ArcticSplash]

You guys think I'm nuts with the public docos... check out this blog:

goldencockroach | We are citizens of Pottstown, Pa working together to hold SLUMLORDS in our community accountable for the abuse of their tenants, homeowners, other residents, businesses, the municipality and Section 8 Voucher Housing.

I thought Pottstown was a sleepy little hamlet. Apparently they have an activist war going on with slumlords over there. If this exists in Pottstown, I wonder if there's other Philly burbs (hint: Bensalem) where there's similar activists?

[randomuser]

Pottstown has public housing towers. Surprising but yeah, they do.

Their problems shouldn't come as a surprise knowing that.

I don't really think you can consider Pottstown a suburb either. It's yet another place formerly filled with industry that's got post-industrial problems, though they seem to have a few things going for them.

[NickleDimer]

At an hour outside of Philly city limits, Pottstown is more of a suburb of Reading.

[Sycamore]

Pottstown wasn't a suburb until recently. It was a center of industry that's no longer there. I have a large Pottstown contingent of clients--we refer to it affectionately as Planet Pottstown.

[Volanova]

Yeah, it's a stretch. I tend to consider the suburbs roughly as anything inside a ring created by Chester-West Chester-Exton-Phoenixville-Lansdale-Doylestown-Levittown. Pottstown would be more of an exurb than anything in my opinion. Not sure how you'd define it across the river.

Still though, there are plenty of suburban slums, of which this is a somewhat egregious example of one. Norristown, even King of Prussia, have their questionable areas. Parts of Ardmore are more than a little shady, too.

[MariusPontmercy]

Pottstown is an independent entity really. It's too far removed from either Philadelphia or Reading.

It's also not a sleepy little hamlet: it's quite large, and used to have significantly more people as well. From what I hear its a very rough town though.

[randomuser]

At an hour outside of Philly city limits, Pottstown is more of a suburb of Reading.

Yeah, it's a stretch. I tend to consider the suburbs roughly as anything inside a ring created by Chester-West Chester-Exton-Phoenixville-Lansdale-Doylestown-Levittown. Pottstown would be more of an exurb than anything in my opinion. Not sure how you'd define it across the river.

Still though, there are plenty of suburban slums, of which this is a somewhat egregious example of one. Norristown, even King of Prussia, have their questionable areas. Parts of Ardmore are more than a little shady, too.

This isn't the West Coast. Just because somewhere is within a bigger city's metro doesn't mean it's a suburb. The majority of places you mentioned have absolutely nothing to do with Philadelphia, especially Chester, which has existed for longer than Philadelphia and was a major city when Philadelphia was only Center City.

Pottstown wasn't a suburb until recently. It was a center of industry that's no longer there. I have a large Pottstown contingent of clients--we refer to it affectionately as Planet Pottstown.

Pottstown is an independent entity really. It's too far removed from either Philadelphia or Reading.

It's also not a sleepy little hamlet: it's quite large, and used to have significantly more people as well. From what I hear its a very rough town though.

Exactly. I always saw places like Pottstown as completely removed from the area, as being far away even. Funny how things change.

[Volanova]

This isn't the West Coast. Just because somewhere is within a bigger city's metro doesn't mean it's a suburb. The majority of places you mentioned have absolutely nothing to do with Philadelphia, especially Chester, which has existed for longer than Philadelphia and was a major city when Philadelphia was only Center City.

I said roughly. And while all of those places have their own economic activity, they're still somewhat reliant on Philadelphia economically (well, except for Chester, which doesn't really have much in the way of a functioning economy, but I digress). The number of people that commute from all of those cities into Philadelphia is very high, or that work for companies that located there due to their proximity to Philadelphia. And just because somewhere has existed longer than Philadelphia has nothing to do with its status as a suburb. Many of Philadelphia's suburbs existed as independent hamlets and farm towns when Philadelphia was nothing more than a few blocks of buildings on the waterfront.

[randomuser]

I said roughly. And while all of those places have their own economic activity, they're still somewhat reliant on Philadelphia economically (well, except for Chester, which doesn't really have much in the way of a functioning economy, but I digress). The number of people that commute from all of those cities into Philadelphia is very high, or that work for companies that located there due to their proximity to Philadelphia. And just because somewhere has existed longer than Philadelphia has nothing to do with its status as a suburb. Many of Philadelphia's suburbs existed as independent hamlets and farm towns when Philadelphia was nothing more than a few blocks of buildings on the waterfront.

West Chester doesn't rely on Philadelphia. Chester certainly doesn't given that it existed before Philadelphia (and its economy may not be the powerhouse it used to be but it still has one that is growing, not shrinking, and that has nothing to do with Philadelphia whatsoever). Norristown doesn't (well maybe now it does, similar to Conshohocken's situation). Even KOP is more part of the Main Line/Delco area than a suburb of Philadelphia though you could definitely make more of an argument for it than you could with a lot of the other places you mentioned.

Exurbs are spots that are built out BECAUSE of a city, not just spots that are far away. Pottstown is most definitely not an exurb.

Actually, it has everything to do with its status as a suburb. A suburb is a spot that was built out because of a city at a time when the city influenced that spot.

That's because many of them are in fact not suburbs of Philadelphia, no matter what proximity they may have to wherever.