PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphians across the city are frustrated with city leaders and concerned for their families’ futures — and some are fearful for their lives.
A newly released poll shows that two-thirds of city residents think Philadelphia is “pretty seriously off on the wrong track.” Interviews with a dozen respondents showed the personal struggles behind those short answers: A young mother in Grays Ferry feels unsafe going in and out of her house at night. A father in Germantown sends his kids to private school outside of the city, frustrated by the education options nearby. A retiree in University City no longer shops in Center City because she doesn’t feel safe on public transit anymore.
Dissatisfied residents span all ages, races, neighborhoods and incomes, according to the survey from the Lenfest Institute and SSRS. It’s against that backdrop of discontent that the city will elect a new mayor and slate of City Council members, who could together dramatically reshape how the city is led and what gets prioritized.
“I want to think bold leadership can change some of this,” said Anika Benson, 48, who lives in Germantown and took the survey. “But it’s a mess.”
People have become more and more negative in their outlook both in urban areas and nationally, polls show. In Philadelphia, there’s been a steep decline in how residents view their city’s overall health. In 2019, only 37% of residents said that they believed that the city was headed in the wrong direction. This time around, 65% gave that response, an increase surely impacted by the pandemic’s strain on the economy, schools and government resources, and a spike in gun violence.
People are more optimistic about their own lives than the city overall. A slight majority — 55% — of Philadelphians still say the city is a good or excellent place to live. But that group of respondents is whiter and wealthier than the city average overall. Only half of respondents who were Black or Latino, or who were making less than $50,000 a year rated the city as “excellent” or “good.”
There was also a stark racial disparity in who is impacted by gun violence, with Black respondents twice as likely as white ones to report gun violence having a “major negative impact” on their lives.
Residents rank crime their top priority
Crime was overwhelmingly the top concern for respondents, as it has been in similar city surveys over the last few years, as gun violence has risen throughout the country. Nearly 90% of respondents listed it as their top priority.
“I don’t feel safe,” said Shamiera Lamar, a 27-year-old mother of two who lives in Grays Ferry and participated in the survey. “It’s scary actually just to even come outside. You never know if you’re gonna catch a stray bullet or a car’s gonna come ripping down the street or you’re gonna get robbed.”
Lamar works as a home health aide and an Uber driver to support herself and her kids, who are 8 and 2.
“It’s my hometown. I don’t want to leave but I kinda feel like I’m being forced to in order for my children to have a happy and healthy life.”
Bernie Couillard is 40 years older than Lamar, retired and childless, but he described the city similarly.
“Dismal,” the Mayfair resident said. “From the time that I moved to Philadelphia in 2003 to now I’ve seen a progressively deteriorating city.”
Couillard says his assessment is based mostly on the cumulative impact of news reports, not direct experience with violence. He hasn’t been to Center City — consistently one of the areas of the city with the fewest violent crimes — in nearly eight years.
“I avoid it like the plague,” Couillard said. “The last thing I need at 69 years old is some fool coming at me with a gun in Center City.”
Ben Cotter, of South Philly, similarly hasn’t been a victim of crime but credits his neighborhood for that. He’s still deeply concerned about it.
“My little pocket of South Philly is phenomenal and that’s why we’ve chosen to stay here,” said Cotter, a husband and father of a 2-year-old. “But then I have other friends who lived up by South Street, who lived in North Philly, it’s been that neighborhood that’s gotten them to leave.”
Women were slightly more likely than men to say the city was on the wrong track. People who said they have heard gunshots in their neighborhood — an astounding two out of three respondents — were also more likely to view the city’s direction negatively.
“My whole outlook is you could basically say Philadelphia is hell on earth,” said Zuleyka Torres, 27, who lives in Olney and frequently hears gunshots nearby. “That’s how bad it is. And the only reason I stick around is because my mom stays here.”
Gayle Taylor, 69, is a lifelong resident, like Torres, who also has dreams of moving.
“I’m just too stressed here in Philly because I pay close attention,” said Taylor, who has owned her home in University City for 25 years. “It really upsets me that not just the city, the country is going in the wrong direction. Philadelphia is a beautiful city, or it could be but the filth and the crime … it’s unacceptable.”
Public schools also a worry
Frustrations with Philadelphia schools abound, particularly among residents with children.
“One of my biggest issues with this city is as a taxpaying citizen I am not able to send my child to a public school,” said Terrell Madison, 44, of East Germantown. His four children have attended private school in Montgomery County.
“I live a half-mile from Chestnut Hill and all the schools and all their streets are well taken care of,” Madison said. “It’s the same city.”
Madison, who grew up in Germantown, also lamented the state of recreation centers, which he said look the same way they did when he was growing up.
The survey found that 52% of people thought improving parks and recreation centers was a top priority; 39% said it was important but a lower priority.
Lan Nguyen, 30, of Eastwick, has worked for the last year trying to get the city and school district to fix up Suffolk Park, one of the few large green spaces in the commercial neighborhood. “It’s really in horrible condition,” she said. “It’s 11 acres and I think there’s one trash can.”
Some parents lamented the distance their children have to travel to school and fears of safety getting back and forth. Benson, 48, hates seeing shuttered schools she once attended: Germantown High and Fulton Elementary.
“Why are we dumping all this money into apartments but not dumping money into our education system?” Benson asked.
Blythe McCormack has lived in Roxborough for 17 years. Her daughter is in eighth grade at Masterman but wasn’t picked in the lottery to continue onto high school. McCormack said she and her husband will pay for private school, a financial burden compounded by a huge increase in their property taxes following a recent reassessment.
“It’s frustrating feeling like we’re paying more and we’re getting less.”
Torres of Olney, has home schooled her children since the start of the pandemic. She is disabled, with limited use of her right leg, which makes walking them to and from school impossible.
A loss of community
The combined stresses of crime and the more insular world created by the pandemic have left some residents feeling isolated.
“Your neighbor won’t even speak to you,” said Lamar of Gray’s Ferry. “You’re on your own out here.”
Others said their neighbors are why they stay.
Jacquelyn Westermark, 28, lives in Roxborough with her partner and their dog. She was among the one-third of respondents who said she thinks Philadelphia is overall on the right track and she called the city an excellent place to be for young professionals.
“I love Philadelphia,” she said. “It’s a beautiful city. I love the people. I love the culture. It has a lot of potential and I’d love to see that invested in more.”
Candidates running for office are already starting to campaign on the issues covered in the poll. Most residents interviewed said they’re eager to hear concrete plans. But many were also skeptical.
“They always make these promises when they’re running for office but when they do get these positions, nothing is getting done,” said Torres, of Olney. “I feel like we ... can’t turn to them for help for anything.”
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