The City of Bum Love

So I started a new job (as a consultant) in July, and found myself on a contract in Philadelphia for my first gig. I should prefix this by saying that my employer takes really good care of me, and they put me in a corporate apartment to make sure that I'm comfortable for the duration of this contract (more on a fiasco with the apartment in another post).

Before landing this gig, I had been to Philly before doing the tourist thing, but I never made it to Center City before this. There were a few things I noticed right away.

Like many large US cities, Center City Philadelphia is all pavement. I suppose that makes sense. I mean, you have to have somewhere for people to walk, right? You certainly don't want to try driving -- particularly when parking can cost $30 a day or more.

All that pavement makes for an interesting side effect: noise polution. So, like other big cities, Philadelphia is paved and noisy. No problems yet, those things are to be expected, and the Center City initiative takes care of some of the other unseemly things that go with city life (like graffiti and gum on the sidewalks).

On my first day in Philly, I was approached by a panhandler asking for money. Some would argue that this is yet another undocumented prerequisite for urban living. I politely declined to share the fruit of my labor with this clearly able bodied individual.

The next day, it was the same story only I got hit up twice. On the third day, I began to see a pattern, and to take note of the number of "homeless" (domocilely challenged?) people living in doorways. These make-shift shelters in doorways are not hard to find; just follow the stench of urine. (Why can't the Center City initiative sponsor some porta-Johns for these people? There's nothing like the smell of stale piss in the morning to make you puke up your coffee.)

I'll conceed that a handful of these "bums" have genuine problems that should be addressed by some agency. Most, however, are perfectly able-minded and able-bodied, save for the streak of lazy that keeps them begging.

The thing that gets me is that the local businesses tolerate these people hasseling their customers. Nobody ever says anything to these indigent miscreants who set up shop and don't leave. I've protested a few times, and even called the police (the local dispatcher was a bit nonplussed at the prospect of having to do her job on a Saturday afternoon -- I think I woke her up).

So, it is with much thought that I bestow the honor on Philadelphia of being the Bummiest city I have ever seen (much more so than New York City). If I were homeless, Philly is where I'd be.