Robert K posted:I rode SEPTA from Lansdale to Penn Center in 1989 and some other year on leisure trips to visit Philly. One was a day trip to see Franklin Institute, the other we stayed in a hotel downtown for two nights. I still wish we had service to Allentown like we had in the late 70's. Going through North Philly on the train back then was like going through a war zone. Rows of houses along the tracks with no glass on the windows and looked like they were in a fire or something, all decayed and dilapidated. Why are a lot of US cities especially the ones on Amtrak's electrified NEC run down in areas and have a heavy ethnic and poor population? I've been to almost every one from Boston to Washington.
For some reason, or reasons, much too complicated to get into here, we in this country have a throw away mentality. We build for the present only. It hasn't always been this way. The 30 year expected life span of buildings is a relatively new phenomenon. It seems that building a structure for a particular purpose, then tearing it down or worse yet abandoning it after it's purpose has run it's course is the mindset of present day developers.
The elementary and junior high schools I attended in Philly are still going strong. One was built during or just after the war and the other was built in the '20s. The township I live in has already torn down and rebuilt an elementary school and high school. One was built in 1970 the other in the '60s !!!!! Now consideration is being given to tear down and rebuild another one of the elementary schools.
I've been to Europe. Buildings there, including homes, are older than we can get our heads around. They have been re-purposed many times over but still stand the test of time. From my observation the people over there seem to have more respect for their history than we do here.
As for the reason you may see a heavy ethnic population in the more run down areas, I believe we are still not as advanced as most of the rest of the civilized world when it comes to civil rights.
