I love Philly. It is a great city and I found the people very nice.

Well, at least it's not New Haven...or Ithaca...or Hanover...or Princeton...or Providence...

[QUOTE id="5deeb625-655c-4744-b4a5-9ec50a318006"]I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks for the following reasons: 1) Terrible customer service anywhere & everywhere - EVERYONE is rude. 2) Highest homicide rate of any city in the United States. 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) 4) Mediocre bars in comparison with similar cities. Philly's lack of a robust tourism industry (despite its historical significance) and failure to retain college graduates is proof that it really isn't anything special. I love Penn, but this city really has a long way to go before it can be truly considered a great place to live.[/QUOTE] Aside from the high homicide rate, which is a genuine concern, all your other arguements are flimsy; a blind man can see all that philly has to offer. Proof? Screw weekends where everything is happening, why dont you start a wed night off at pod, head over to byblos after and finish of the night at Z bar. One of a plethora of possible combinations which can make even a wednesday evening seem like new years ever

Would be great, but there have been 250+ murders so far this year in Philly. Ithaca, New Haven, Hanover, Princeton and Providence, all combined together, have had fewer than 10!

I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks for the following reasons: 1) Terrible customer service anywhere & everywhere - EVERYONE is rude. 2) Highest homicide rate of any city in the United States. 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) 4) Mediocre bars in comparison with similar cities. Philly's lack of a robust tourism industry (despite its historical significance) and failure to retain college graduates is proof that it really isn't anything special. I love Penn, but this city really has a long way to go before it can be truly considered a great place to live.

[QUOTE id="5deeb625-655c-4744-b4a5-9ec50a318006"]Philly sucks for the following reasons: 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) [/QUOTE] Have you been to the Rittenhouse Square area (including Walnut Street's "Restaruant Row")? South Street? Society Hill? Old City? The Art Museum area? Northern Liberties? Manayunk? Chestnut Hill? Did you know that Center City/Old City alone now has over 200 sidewalk cafes? http://www.centercityphila.org/docs/CCR07_SidewalkCafes.pdf Philadelphia does NOT lack dynamic areas. What it lacks is an adequate public relations campaign that would ensure that you and the rest of the world knows what a great city it really is. The rest of the world is beginning to find out (e.g., http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/features/philly0510/philly.html), but the Philly tourism promotion agencies could and SHOULD do a much better job of getting the true "Philadelphia Story" out there. Enough with the stupid slogans (e.g., "Philly's more fun when you sleep over")--let's put out the hard facts and teach the world what Philly is really about!

[QUOTE id="5deeb625-655c-4744-b4a5-9ec50a318006"]I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks for the following reasons: 1) Terrible customer service anywhere & everywhere - EVERYONE is rude. 2) Highest homicide rate of any city in the United States. 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) 4) Mediocre bars in comparison with similar cities. Philly's lack of a robust tourism industry (despite its historical significance) and failure to retain college graduates is proof that it really isn't anything special. I love Penn, but this city really has a long way to go before it can be truly considered a great place to live.[/QUOTE] ......you really DO need to get out more.

[QUOTE id="5deeb625-655c-4744-b4a5-9ec50a318006"]I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks for the following reasons: 1) Terrible customer service anywhere & everywhere - EVERYONE is rude. 2) Highest homicide rate of any city in the United States. 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) 4) Mediocre bars in comparison with similar cities. Philly's lack of a robust tourism industry (despite its historical significance) and failure to retain college graduates is proof that it really isn't anything special. I love Penn, but this city really has a long way to go before it can be truly considered a great place to live.[/QUOTE] wha wha whaaaaaat? are you on crack? come on out of your high rise room and open your eyes. no dynamic areas? mediocre bars? puh-leeeeeeeze. sounds like you need to get out more. I bet you stay in the same area and go to the same mediocre bar every night and therefore classify everything that way. go explore, you will not be disappointed. as far as rudeness, Philly is no different than any other east coast city. however, I agree the murder trend is pretty f-ed up. still, for your average citizen it's not significantly more dangerous than other cities.

[QUOTE id="5deeb625-655c-4744-b4a5-9ec50a318006"]I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks for the following reasons: 1) Terrible customer service anywhere & everywhere - EVERYONE is rude. 2) Highest homicide rate of any city in the United States. 3) No real dynamic areas (such as Times Square, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, etc.) 4) Mediocre bars in comparison with similar cities. Philly's lack of a robust tourism industry (despite its historical significance) and failure to retain college graduates is proof that it really isn't anything special. I love Penn, but this city really has a long way to go before it can be truly considered a great place to live.[/QUOTE] Yeah, Philly needs better PR. I love this town. I love spending a weekend wandering around Fitler Square, Old City, the Italian Market, Northern Liberties, or Chinatown. Kid, if you haven't done it yet, let me recommend some ways to fill your weekends: --Catch a concert or movie at the Trocadero in Chinatown (http://www.thetroc.com/) followed by dinner or drinks at Vietnam (http://www.eatatvietnam.com/). --Go wander around the galleries along Second Street. My personal favorite is the Clay Studio (http://www.theclaystudio.org/). And it's free! Then eat somewhere delicious in Old City. And if you're 21+, follow it with a show at the Tin Angel (http://www.tinangel.com/) or the Khyber (http://www.thekhyber.com/cal/index.php) --Get student rush tickets for a performance at the Kimmel Center (http://www.kimmelcenter.org/). They go on sale 30 minutes before a show and cost $10 with student ID. Follow it with divine gelato at Capogiro (http://capogirogelato.com/flavors.php?c=n). --Clearly you love DC, but let me promise you, the music venues and production companies are a thousand times better here than any indy cred the 9:30 Club or the Black Cat can offer. Make R5 Productions a part of your life (http://www.r5productions.com/shows.html). --Also, not everyone is rude. Unfortunately, a lot of past Penn students have ruined things for us--not tipping well while being very demanding, flashing the entitlement thing around, trashing bars and retaurants during downtown Greek mixers--and the service industry can spot a Penn kid from a mile away. It does stink, but if I was on the other side of the table, I would probably be less interested in customers that cause trouble and were only here for 4 years too. Especially if they're the folks saying, "I've spent a lot of time in cities similar to Philly. Philly sucks"... It's a vicious cycle. But if you kill 'em with kindness, they'll warm up to you. --And yes, Philly has a high homicide rate, but it's not the highest in the country. It's actually lower than DC. Not that it makes it okay, but even your "dynamic" towns have violent crime too. Something to think about.

You forgot Philadelphia's Sports Teams (Phillies, Eagles, Flyers & Sixers) and their inability to win ONE championship in over 24 YEARS!. Not to mention the first city to have achieved 10,000 loses (phillies). Also it's the most overweight and the most depressed city in the US.