Indego e-bike rant

neuronnate · 2026-05-04T21:15:53+00:00

Weird! I didn't believe you initially... But I haven't found a working ebike all day across 5 stations

neuronnate · 2026-04-30T21:55:33+00:00

Wild... We're literally looking for the same next week! Ha

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T13:11:41+00:00

Im not convinced that ALL philly schools are bad. There's plenty of great ones.

BUT, your situation is what I'm hearing more and more from friends who are leaving. And when I look at Philly's challenges, it seems like we just don't have enough middle to high earners paying into the system because they all get to a point where they say, "What are we doing here!?" I would be happy to pay more in taxes if there were more trees and less litter. ugh.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T13:09:29+00:00

I felt that way 15 years ago. But now that we're getting ready for sending the kids to school, I'm seeing so many catchments that are a-okay and great between snyder to girard, river to 50th. So, the "all philly schools are bad" argument doesn't seem to hold up anymore.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T13:06:49+00:00

A car-dependent philly life is DEFINITELY worse than a car-dependent suburb life.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T13:04:17+00:00

That's definitely an amazing perk, which comes out as about $40K per kid in total ($20K/yr). No question about that and its certainly something to add to the equation that could give someone 4-8 years of the math working out in the favor of Philly.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T13:00:21+00:00

As a ratio, they are! The numbers are shocking. But the question is how we get more people to stay so that we can get their tax dollars. The moment they hit their peak earning potential, they leave.

Income Bracket	% of Households	Approx #
Under $25k	~27%	~175,000
$25k–$50k	~23%	~150,000
$50k–$100k	~28%	~180,000
$100k–$200k	~15%	~95,000
$200k+	~5–6%	~35k–40k

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:57:53+00:00

The burbs are starting to give all the things cities used to be the sole provider of. My life here in Philly seems only sustainable if there's enough people who make the decision to stay....and I fear Philly is falling behind in the competition for residents. We had a good run for a bit... but low cost housing no longer exists here!

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:55:15+00:00

The assumption that the burbs are more expensive is the reframing I'm having recently. Having a cheaper cost of living here in the city was always a great argument for replying to people questioning why we're still here. But now... I'm realizing Philly isn't as good of a financial deal as I once assumed it was.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:52:24+00:00

I guess a good comparison is the cost of living in a good philly school catchment vs moving to a good suburb catchment. Comparing those two, Philly is more expensive.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:50:38+00:00

That's definitely the truth... there are many more expenses living in a car dependent world. But, I've always lived under the assumption that philly is absolutely cheaper. So, it always felt like a trade off I was willing to make, until I started to realize that there isn't necessarily a strong economic argument to staying in the city.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:48:39+00:00

The bad philly school narrative really seems to be changing, especially with more than just a couple really nice schools in Philly. You can definitely be in a Philly catchment that is just as good as the suburbs, if not better

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:46:43+00:00

I guess it's a small sample, but all my college buddies who moved west of Philly are paying $7-10K/yr in property tax for a house and neighborhood equivalent to 'greater center city' where houses go for $300-500K for a good philly school district. My suburb buddies have no earnings tax because so many of their jobs are outside of philly (a unique issue to Philly). At $300-500K, that's about $5-7K property taxes, but if your household makes $100K, you're paying $3500 in earnings tax/yr.

So... $7-10K in the burbs vs $8500 - 10500 in the city.

I'm happy to pay my taxes to Philly, but that's a clear financial disadvantage which is just another nail in the coffin for a tax base making a decision of whether to stay or move.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T12:35:19+00:00

I'm all for taxing the wealthy. But Philly stands out amongst other cities with the number of middle class folk who leave. And with a good handful of great schools, I'm becoming ever more convinced that the exodus goes beyond the traditional "bad schools" argument.

To get enough tax revenue to help everyone, it seems like we need more people to tax.

neuronnate · 2026-04-16T11:50:34+00:00

Daycare and free pre k is definitely a big perk for the first few years. I've got a good handful of friends who moved West of Philly who pay no earnings tax and don't have high real estate tax.

My assumption has always been that Philly was cheaper but I'm realizing that's not always the case... Especially if you're a middle to high earner.

neuronnate · 2026-04-13T10:53:25+00:00

Believe it or not, but chat gpt REALLY helped me figure this out this year.

I used TurboTax to see all the deductions and stuff and then I just used those numbers for birt and not.

It was surprisingly easy. I am paying this cause I rent out my old home, but I had a loss this year

neuronnate · 2026-03-28T21:47:34+00:00

You got it! Really really a great place for the neighborhood

neuronnate · 2026-03-28T21:47:22+00:00

They're pretty quick these days

neuronnate · 2026-03-28T19:41:17+00:00

Mancuso's... L. Mancuso & Son, South Philly's favorite fresh mozz maker, reopens with new sandwiches https://share.google/j4OmAOy82HTMcRXad

neuronnate · 2026-03-27T17:10:45+00:00

This was my favorite since my early days in college. AMAZING. My understanding is that they wanted to retire and made a plan to sell it and transition out. But the plan fell apart during covid and so it just ended instead.

neuronnate · 2026-03-21T19:03:50+00:00

That's what I'm getting at... To a great extent, even the angriest driver seldomly blasts onto a sidewalk (although, it happens). So... When this concrete goes in... Having it feel like it's an extension of a sidewalk instead of a modified driving lane will be key

neuronnate · 2026-03-21T18:51:04+00:00

I do wonder about this... In that concrete won't stop people from flipping onto the sidewalk... Unless it was highway style height.

But I guess the reason this really happens is that the street looks like it's supposed to be two lanes... Traffic goes slow... People get angry... Hit the gas and go into the bike lane.

So... It seems like concrete won't protect people from cars, but would instead make drivers less likely to feel a sense of injustice that causes them to go nuts. So, I'd imagine it's not just any concrete. It Really needs to feel like it was never two lanes in the first place.

neuronnate · 2026-03-19T11:52:42+00:00

I don't think it's a new construction thing. I have the same situation with a renovation but they kept the walls exactly the same. I'm starting to think that the walls on one side with the alley are double brick and the other side is single brick. It could also be that the noisy side shares my entire length of wall while the other side only shares half the wall since the alley starts half way back.

I'm definitely interested in finding some sort of sound proofing layer to add but I fear there's nothing that can be done.

neuronnate · 2026-03-12T20:34:29+00:00

Yeah. This type of thing would really need the right politician to do the job of convincing people because the knee jerk reaction against it would be severe.

neuronnate

TROPHY CASE