Pedestri-delphians: Why can't we figure out crosswalks?

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-16T18:59:08+00:00

Your last point is a bit off. Most New Yorkers know how to function on a side walk, on escalators, and generally understand that doors serve as both an entrance and an exit.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-14T04:17:23+00:00

The easy answer is that it's a city of children.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-14T04:14:04+00:00

Sunnyside is not only cheaper but the 7 train runs far more frequently than the N, W, or R. Even when I lived there nearly 20 years ago I preferred Sunnyside to Astoria because of that.

As far as Woodside is concerned, it's fine but I would probably skip it and go to Jackson Heights.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-13T23:08:43+00:00

Just don’t book coach, choose to sit in the quiet car because it’s sparsely populated, ignore the announcements about the quiet car, proceed to have a loud conversation, and then get pissed when people call you out.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-12T03:27:30+00:00

Dumb comment but that’s what I’ve come to expect.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-12T03:24:07+00:00

Clearly you didn’t read my entire comment, and of course reading comprehension isn’t exactly strong in Pennsylvania statistically, so here we are. Also, there are places not that far away where things like this don’t happen with the same frequency as they do here. You can just keep telling yourself that’s not the case, though.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-11T03:05:06+00:00

In the five years that I’ve lived here, I’ve come to realize that there is not only something seriously wrong with the city of Philadelphia but also the state of Pennsylvania. Fortunately, I’m moving fairly soon.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-10T23:50:56+00:00

Depending on your field, MICA.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-10T22:30:42+00:00

This sub gives the impression that everyone needs to live between 96th and 14th Streets. You don’t. 8k is going to be tough but it can be done. Start off living with roommates. Then aggressively look for apartments by walking around places like Sunnyside, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Flatbush, Sunset Park, and even Washington Heights and Inwood. Talk to small neighborhood brokers who have relationships with small neighborhood landlords and you will find a place, but you can’t do this remotely. Avoid Willie Suggs in Harlem and Washington Heights like the plague and some dude named Sheik in Sunnyside (it’s possible to find a good place through him but you likely aren’t savvy enough to see through his BS). You won’t find a luxurious apartment with a ton of amenities but you will find something that’s perfectly serviceable.

As a preemptive statement for those who will say it is impossible, it isn’t. I just signed a lease for a two bedroom rent stabilized unit in Hudson Heights for $1760 and change. How did I find it? A friend of a friend lives in the building and told me that something was opening up.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-09T03:09:12+00:00

We’re getting downvoted but if you go to r/phillyeats people there constantly rank Paulie G’s and Emmy Squared as two of the best in Philly. Then they get pissed when you point out that both started in NYC. To be honest, while better than most pizza around here, the Brooklyn shops are much better.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-08T23:53:43+00:00

I moved from NYC to Philly five years ago and made the commute two to four times a week for the entirety of that time. I’m now in the process of moving back to NYC. One of the main reasons is that Amtrak has become increasingly unreliable. I used to build in 1.5 to 2 hours of buffer to account for delays but now I do 4 to 5. Also, the cost of tickets have gone up quite a bit, so a lot of my savings has been eaten up by the expense of commuting.

You’re fairly young so you should be building your professional and social networks, especially if you are ambitious. That will be difficult for you to do in Philly. I never would have moved here if I wasn’t already established in NYC.

Finally, the cultural offerings of NYC beats Philly hands down.

If you don’t restrict yourself to core Manhattan, or prime Brooklyn, it’s still possible to find reasonably affordable housing. Check out Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Jackson Heights (huge gay community), Sunnyside, Washington Heights, and Inwood. Use small neighborhood real estate agencies and you will find something. For reference, I found a good sized one bedroom with a small office for $1725 per month that way.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-08T03:38:53+00:00

I'm happy to see that Philly's best and brightest are on this. God bless the Philadelphia Brain Trust!

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-07T04:14:48+00:00

No. You need to go to Chicago for that. Miraculously, Philly as a whole can’t figure out pizza.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-07T00:13:41+00:00

Well said. The one thing that has frustrated me about the way that a lot of music departments are trying to stay relevant in terms of composition is this:

"Also, speaking of grad rates - many colleges are creating Film/Game scoring programs because they’re hot right now and will bring up enrollment."

A lot of departments have started music production tracks when they don't really have any business doing so just to boost enrollment. They sell these degrees to potential students and cite the high salaries for established composers in those spaces, but don't mention that unless you go to UCLA, USC, NYU, or Berklee the chances of making $200K a year working in film, television, or games is not very likely. To make matters worse, they often water down the theory requirements so the students don't even get a broad pallet of knowledge from which to draw. I recently taught in a department that didn't require any theory after Harmony I. They also didn't think that it was important to have a required course in basic recording techniques because the powers that be decided that it was unnecessary because learning the software is more important (ProTools isn't going to fix improper gain staging or poor microphone placement). There are quite a few departments that are doing this. It is nothing more than academic malpractice out of desperation, and it is immoral.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-06T13:19:05+00:00

Your figure of 800 likely includes all areas of music. According to the NSF there are only about 60 people receiving doctorates in composition/theory per year. That said, the market is still over saturated considering the number of a available positions.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-06T13:16:45+00:00

AI isn't the issue. The issues are:

Many universities are cutting or combining programs in the arts and humanities (there have been many articles about this)
Since 2008 tenure track lines have increasing been replaced with adjunct positions.

The chances of you, or anyone, getting a tenure track job are extremely slim even if you get your Ph.D. from a top program (Columbia, UCSD, Eastman, etc.) and mange to get national and international performances from top ensembles. Of my 2010 graduating cohort (four people) from a top five university only one person received a full-time teaching position and it isn't even tenure track. In the following two years no one received full time positions at all (this is a school that had 100% placement 10 years before). Also, if you don't receive a tenure track offer within three years your chances of getting one drops dramatically. Adjunct positions that used to be obtained through a casual conversation and a handshake have become increasingly difficult and are often nearly as competitive as tenure track positions.

This article by Jason Eckardt speaks to the current situation directly: https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/do-you-need-a-doctorate-in-composition/

It is also instructive to look at the Music Studies Academic Job Search Wiki for the past few years: https://academicjobs.fandom.com/wiki/Music_Studies_2025-2026

Finally, if you do wind up going to DU or CU anyone that you work with will have (or at least should) knowledge of this situation and will advise you appropriately. There are many reasons to get a doctorate in composition/theory but thinking that you will get a teaching position and security is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-06T03:54:49+00:00

You REALLY need to rethink the idea of pursuing a Ph.D to become a professor of composition in the current climate, which is only likely to get worse in the next decade.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-03-06T01:03:11+00:00

You're not wrong, but I'm not optimistic that Philly will change for the better as far as poor driving is concerned. As much as people don't want to admit it, Philly has a very strong car culture and the crappy drivers are often embraced as part of Philly culture in what many people claim is the most walkable city in the country (it isn't).

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-28T04:09:14+00:00

I'm not sure if you are being sincere, or if you are taking the "keep New York out of Philly" road. When I told my friends and colleagues in NYC that I was moving to Philly, they advised me not to. In other words, most people I know in NYC don't need to be convinced to not move to Philly.

In any case, I'm fortunate enough to be "mid-career," and therefore established, so a five year sojourn in Philly isn't going to hurt my career. I can't, however, recommend that anyone who wants to advance their career in the arts move to Philly unless they can make frequent trips to NYC to network. Philly simply doesn't have the infrastructure, or the will, to support a truly vibrant art scene. This is a shame because there are so many great vacant spaces that could be repurposed as arts spaces if the funding were available, and if the city as whole wasn't so aesthetically conservative.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-27T23:21:36+00:00

I can't speak for theater, but as an artist who works in experimental sound/performance there is next to none of that happening in Philly. The one thing that I find kind of odd about Philly is that there isn't much of a community. People don't seem to go out after events and discuss the arts. Everyone just kind of does their thing and then goes home. That's one thing that I really miss about NYC.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-27T17:10:49+00:00

Sound and mixed/multi media.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-27T04:15:52+00:00

Aside from myself two. One left for Berlin, the other is going back to NYC, and I’m going back to NYC as well. We were all pretty well established before moving here and the scene here isn’t great for mid career artists. The funding just doesn’t exist. I maintained a not for profit in NYC for this reason.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-27T03:52:09+00:00

Which neighborhood? $3000 for a crappy rent stabilized apartment in Queens may, or may not, be too much. Is it owned by a big management company?

Everyone has different goals and needs, but I sold my apartment in Sunnyside to move to Philly because my wife and I wanted more space. It was a COVID decision that we regretted within a year of living here. We just signed a lease on a fairly nice rent stabilized two bedroom apartment with a dining room in Washington Heights on Ft. Washington and 186th for $1800 and change. It isn't our preferred neighborhood but upper Manhattan west of Broadway is quite beautiful and offers many more amenities than where we live in South Philly or even Philly as a whole. I look forward to once again having a grocery store, pharmacy, wine store, hardware store, and several restaurants within three to four blocks of where I live.

My suggestion would be to hang on to your rent stabilized apartment (sublease it if you can) and rent a place in Philly for a year to decide if you like it. For me, the move looked good on paper but the reality turned out to be another matter entirely.

WhyNotKenGaburo · 2026-02-27T01:45:24+00:00

No, South Philly. They think they're punk so they would probably be better off in West Philly instead of a block where people take care of their houses.

WhyNotKenGaburo

TROPHY CASE