This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
A Philadelphia Story - 30 Blocks Of Squalor & Government Incompetence
Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

There were two accidents on the Schuylkill Expressway last Monday morning. You know what this meant. I had the pleasure of traveling to work on the scenic 30 Blocks of Squalor. The 30 blocks from 69th Street in Upper Darby to 39th Street in West Philly is a tribute to government incompetence, failed government policies, shoddy union labor practices and fiscal mismanagement.
This entire thirty block trek could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes if the hundreds of union government drones in the Philadelphia Streets Department would get off their fat asses and timed the lights. The blocks are identical in distance. They don’t need advanced degrees in physics or calculus to set the lights to go green every ten seconds in order. They were timed in the 1970s and 1980s. Would smoothly flowing traffic be such a bad thing? Do they not care or are they really this incompetent? The first light at 61st Street was red when I arrived. It turned green and before you could touch the gas, it immediately turned yellow and red again. I wondered how long they’d allow this to go on. My guess would be days.
I’ve noted in previous 30 Blocks screeds that Philadelphia put a thin veneer of blacktop on the entirety of Chestnut Street about two years ago. I’ve also detailed the dozens of water main breaks that occur on a regular basis under the streets of Philadelphia, causing tens of millions in property damage. This is how corrupt incompetent government drones run the show. They gloss over the long-term real structural problems with a thin veneer of cheap half assed faux solutions that provide the false appearance of fixing something.
Ignoring the deeply rooted fundamental issues like crumbling hundred year old pipes and dangerous disintegrating Amtrak traintracks, while throwing down some blacktop, painting white bike lanes on streets where no one in their right mind would ride a bike, and installing wheel chair ramps on every corner even though a wheel chair could never navigate the crumbling trash strewn sidewalks, is the height of willful dishonesty and incompetence. Two years after smoothing over the bumps and potholes on Chestnut Street with tons of blacktop, driving the 30 Blocks of Squalor is now like driving in downtown Baghdad after a Sunni/Shia family reunion.

There are gaping craters dotting the landscape along the entire putrid route of boarded up hovels, dying businesses with bars on every window, collapsing porches, sidewalks strewn with trash & debris, and murals of black people doing great things. The streets are literally collapsing into the rat infested sewers below. There is an occasional orange cone in front of the gaping holes, but most are unidentified until your car blows a tire or ruins their alignment. Cars come to sudden stops if they recognize the danger ahead. If the lights were timed this would be a real bummer. Luckily the average speed is 10 miles per hour, so you can usually survive the trek.

What is the point in spending millions of taxpayer dollars blacktopping streets which are crumbling from below? Why not fix the problems below before applying the blacktop above? Because the city is bankrupt. The infrastructure isn’t crumbling because they don’t have enough money. It’s crumbling because they have chosen to spend taxpayer money on gold plated pensions and health benefits for union government workers and teachers. They’ve wasted hundreds of millions on public schools that only graduate 50% of those entering and most of those graduates are functionally illiterate. They spend millions painting murals, giving tax breaks to mega-corporations like Comcast, and building sports stadiums for billionaires. The corruption, mismanagement, incompetence and stupidity of politicians, government bureaucrats, and union officials is breathtaking to behold.
Building 101 luxury low income townhouses in the midst of squalor, depravity, drugs, crime, and welfare mentality, with $27 million of taxpayer funds is the kind of waste created by liberal do-gooder politicians like Michael Nutter and Barack Obama. The $27 million should have been spent replacing ancient water mains before they burst and destroyed businesses and homes, costing the city and its citizens millions in lost business and property damage. The Mantua Square debacle gets better by the day. It was built using Obama’s $900 billion porkulus funds. It sits within one of Obama’s Promise Zones in the Mantua section of West Philly. Last month they found a dead body on the same block as Mantua Square. Ten people were shot a few blocks away on the same night. Does it sound like this low income housing estate has upgraded the neighborhood?
I’ve previously noted the eight retail store outlets built into the project remain vacant three years after their construction. It seems if you build it in West Philly they won’t come. Not one black entrepreneur has launched the next Google or even a new hip hop clothing store. Mayor Nutter said these retail outlets would revitalize the neighborhood. This is how liberal lunatic politicians think. They actually think a business would open in a neighborhood where median household income is $18,000, drugs and crime are rampant, the population is uneducated and unemployed, and the city taxes are outrageously high. The mind of a liberal is a waste of brain cells.
But the story has gotten even better in the last month. This gated monument to liberal waste has now proven to be another testament to government incompetence. It is located on Wallace Street between 35th and 36th Street. Virtually every morning, I make a right turn at 34th and Wallace and then make a left turn onto 36th to get to my job. The street began to sink at 34th and Wallace about a month ago. Someone put up three orange cones, but nary a government union drone from the Streets Department has arrived to fix it. Of course, this is just a minor pothole compared to the moon sized crater at 35th and Wallace. It began to sink months ago. Someone eventually filled it with some blacktop, but it now has grown to approximately 5 feet in circumference and three feet deep. The residents have filled it with crates and miscellaneous debris. Multiply this one block by hundreds to get a feel for the deterioration of this city.
In the last few weeks it seems the taxpayer is getting the opportunity to pay union construction workers more money to fix the incompetent shoddy work they did when building this low income paradise. The picture below, besides showing the vacant retail outlets, emphasizes the protruding windows on each unit. Keep in mind you paid $245,000 per townhouse, just three years ago. The union construction workers are now ripping off the facings of every protruding window section and replacing them. Evidently, every one must be leaking. You can be sure the place was originally built with requirements that minority contractors must be used. I’m sure the taxpayer is paying a 40% union labor premium for more shoddy repair work. But at least they’ll be slow so they can milk this job for a few months. Incompetence abounds in Philadelphia. There is no accountability, no brains, no common sense, and when they are done – no money.
Into this crumbling city of bumbling fools we have Pope Francis arriving in late September. The city will be overwhelmed with 2 million more people than normal. It’s a gridlocked shitshow on a normal day. It will become an epic clusterfuck during this week. I will either use vacation time or work from home. The incompetence of government was on full display last week as SEPTA announced to great fanfare that people would need a special Pope Pass to ride SEPTA during his visit. They hired a vendor with $500,000 of taxpayer funds to build a website where people could purchase a pass. The site crashed 15 minutes after it was launched and hasn’t been back up since. I wonder if the taxpayer will get a refund.
It seems the politicians, government bureaucrats, union bosses, school board, and civic leaders of Philadelphia have achieved hierarchical nirvana.
“In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”
Laurence J. Peter, The Peter Principle
- 77445 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


You want to talk about urban decay and neglect, 10 years ago a friend of mine was working a construction job in Cleveland and they broke through a WOODEN water main that was still under pressure. How long has it been since anybody has used wooden water pipes? They didn't know what to do because nobody had ever seen a wooden waterline. How many of these hollowed out logs are still supplying water to the city?
White Flight is a real economic factor for franchises and businesses opening in urban areas. You have maybe a 7-8 year window from opening your doors to selling the business or walking away. West Houston is a great case story for this. Evil whites and their money are fleeing once decent middle class areas of West Houston (West of Beltway 8) and taking every exit out of town; 290, I-10, 59, 1093. Areas that were once cow pasture now have $300-400k housing developments going up, and let me tell you, businesses are flocking there too. The areas that the whites left? An old Sears location is now a Salvation Army, Whataburger is a pay day loan, Randall's (grocery) is now a $1 Store. Minority as a percentage of population enrolled in the public skools is aysmptotic as parents pick their kids up and head out west. What used to be a middle class/corporate employment neighborhood on the west side in the late 80's-90's is now a "Neighborhood of Diversity - Houston Cultural Designated Area". The culture is either Zimbabwe, Tamaulipas, or Hanoi. There aren't any chains or familiar corporate signs and logos on the streets in these areas. They all left with the white money (not that it is a bad thing as you can buy awesome Bahn Mi sandwiches tax free from the nastiest shit hole in the strip mall there). Soon with all the HUD "Promise Zones" and Equal Housing Laws (HERO) we will be first forced to build franchises in these locations, and sooner than later, you wont be allowed to leave. That is the ultimate end game for HUD is to permanently force you to stay in your house or the HUD house you are assigned for diversification reasons.
Apart from what you said about HUD, that's the basic dynamic of the late former republic. White flight, decay, destruction of yet another American city, lies about white racism and privilege and about all the frustrated black rocket scientists, symphony composers, and brain surgeons who but for (WBF).
America today consists of multiple games of 52 Pick Up, a slow, rolling, unstoppable pressure wave of lies and destruction. Our civilization is being destroyed and both major parties are doubling down on spending, "education," and attacks on the First and Second Amendments.
Throw in the tidal wave illegal alien invading Army and it's the perfect storm.
We live in satanic times.
Come on guys, everybody knows government feeding and breeding of the bastard offspring of gangbangers and high school dropouts is the sure way to build a Great Societytm.
Its a shame---Ships I rode docked at the end of S Delaware Ave. and I used to ride my pedal bike from there all the way to Treaty Park. Shopped at the Walmart and rode around neighborhoods on the way--ate "philly steak and cheese" in local joints. I never had a bad time --- never met a person who didn't smile--- Of course I wore a "I Hate Dallas" shirt but that shouldn't have made any difference.
It's just a reminder that you're catching up with Detroit across America.
"painting white bike lanes on streets where no one in their right mind would ride a bike," I'm a bike rider and I see bike lanes in dangerous areas all the time. Gonna try this bike trail in Chicago. Wish me luck! 95 million dollars for a 2.7 mile trail - hey someone's gotta use it.
http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2015/The-606-Park-Design/
The problem is the ''WHITE' lines -- it would only get used if we painted 'RAINBOW' lines!
Problem solved.
Motivation to ride faster maybe -
But can you go 1,150 FPS?
Properly motivated, I could.
A lot more people biking would be a really good thing to encourage in the US in densly packed urban areas. Amsterdam and Copenhagen have done in it on large scale because they have set up the infrastructure to support biking safety. Go and see how many obese people in either city.
What's missing in those places is feral niggers that attack people using the bike paths, like in our nation's shining example of the beauty, safety, and orderliness of a diverse city, Washington DC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=___3xdtFPgs
As you watch this video, showing a local news coverage where the female reporter calls the 'random' attacks 'mostly harmless'. In one of these harmless attacks a woman 7 months pregnant was 'randomly' stabbed by a 'youth' because.... why?
The attacks continue, clueless whites continue to get hurt, and the media lies about all of it.
Around blacks never relax, or better yet, avoid the groid.
The sad part is that there are hundreds of 'West Phillys' scattered all over the country - and more of them are beig created all the time. Given global competition for low wage jobs, and given that the US no longer has a core set of factories/production that can be tappd by the government to pay the non-workers, there literally is NO hope of ending these communities or cleaning them up. Neither local politicans nor a flood of federal money can do it.
Let's see:
no industry.
incompetent government.
lots of negroes.
If it weren't for the infrastructure built by Anglo Americans, it would look just like Africa. Imagine that.
Inner city Philly, Baltimore, Detroit, Newark, Camden, etc. are all Matriarchies. Over 85% of the families in these areas are headed up by single moms. A combination of ADC, Section 8 and easy government jobs has empowered them to raise their families without a husband - and this is what you get.
Don't be duped by the government statistics - they count a single momma with an uncle, brother, grandfather, new boyfriend in the home as a "father led home".
Matriarchies are taking us back to grass huts and poverty.
You hit the nail right on the head.
Dem facts be rayciss!
Here's another example of what's wrong in America. Successive neo-con governments in Washington have treated their own taxpayers and good people like F'n shite.The infrastructure of the country is run down and crumbling.A lot of Cities in the States resemble third world countries.These assholes running Washington are having a party throwing money away around the globe,mostly on useless wars with no purpose other than to create enemies for America and propping up regimes like Saudi Arabia that treat women like dirt and behead men and women that disagree with the dictatorship.Corrupt Presidents are fine with that as long as they can sell them arms to prop up the military-industrial complex jobs.
http://www.financialjuice.com/news/2236900/NY-Gov-unveils-4B-overhaul-fo...
Paul Kersey at Stuff Black People Don't Like has a book coming out soon titled Philly Black....promises to be a depressing read....
I personnally don't see any light at the end of this stinking tunnel...We not only have to fight against Black degeneracy - or La Raza in the Southwest - but also against fully indoctrinated White cultural marxists who have become absolutely incapable of looking reality in the face and interpreting it without Boas...er..I mean bias....... (yes, I see what I did there..;) )
Civil War II. There's a bright light alright.. the burning of American cities.
i have brown flight into my neighborhood. Not much English being spoken. I have a family of 3 married couples with 11 children going to school to be taught in English and Spanish by overpaid teachers. My property taxes are 6500 a year. I have not had a child in school since 1998. I called the city about 3 families living in a single family home. Crickets. That was 5 years ago. The two oldest girls now have kids so there are now grammas and grampas with lil beans in the house.
I DONT RECOGNIZE MY COUNTRY. I have had enough. I have family in Canada. Its worse. Where to kimosabee? Who the fuck knows. Maybe Donald Trump is on to something huh? Call me racist. Call me any fucking thing you wish. When your first act in a country is to break the law getting into said country you are a criminal. PERIOD. Call me anything you wish.
I am physically ill when I look at what our country has become.
Sorry for the rant.
Well said. It's all part of the Master Plan. A silly thought 30 years ago but now stone-cold reality. We are under attack.
I cant type or scroll - only happens on ZH - any suggestions/help!?
I had the same until I installed free Ad Blocker. A couple of months afterward I voluntarily sent them some money.
I get the disappearing keyboard on Android tablet a lot. A reboot helps. I wondered if browser was seeing keyboard as a popup.
Lets take off and nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
didn't you read Obama's got a cure for this, all taxes are going up on the people in the suburbs to build new town houses for these people in their neighborhood, right where all those vote Obama- binden yard signs were.
I'm moving my family from this dump in a month. Taking my tax dollars and business with me. Can't come soon enough.
Damn that harsh winter...
Same old tired crap from Jim Quinn. Parts of West Philly are bad neighborhoods. No shit Jim. They have been for 30-40-50 years although the area by University City is night and day difference from what it was even in the mid-90s.
The much bigger issue in Philly isn't the current state of the infrastructure but the pension and healthcare retiree obligations which have more than doubled as a percentage of the city budget the past 10 years. On pace by 2020 to consumer more than 20% of the city budget annually vs <5% in the early 00s.
Apparently your reading comprehension needs some work.
Let's see if he gets the joke.
Our 19th-century ancestors were wiser than us. Back then, prime urban real estate was reserved for people who worked there, while economically useless legacy ethnic groups were housed and fed on remote desert "reservations".
One party rule is a real beatch.
I travel the sdme roads. I love to point out, especially to foreign visitors and other leftists, that that stretch is a perfect example that capitalism hasn't failed the folks who live there, it is government. Driving down Chestnut Street you see blocks of homes with nice cars parked out front, large sedans and SUVs bigger and newer than mine. Most homes have dish antennae. The folks inside these homes in lower class Philadelphia have more living space per person, and consume more protein, than a middle-class British citizen, for instance.
But the schools are a disgrace (astronomically overbudget, staffed with many incompetents), the infrastructure is crumbling, and the politicians keep promising jobs and development with the next fradulent program they concoct (which enriches their friends and does little else).
The author's Mantua Square project is a good example. Philadelphia is chockablock with good examples, someone should expose more of them.
Exposing the failures of the American 'black community' would be racist because it's all our fault.
Relentless white racism and violence against blacks causes all of it.
They cannot be held accountable for anything they do, because racism.
And like spoiled children who never get the rod and always get what they cry for, these people are getting more and more brazen about their demands and their un civilized behavior.
It's as if Obama told them 'chimp out and you will not get busted'.
If you don't know what a chimp out is it just means you haven't experienced enough diversity and need a little more cultural enrichment.
Youtube can be used as a substitute, but the real thing is always a better teacher than a simulation.
Yikes
Vegas sounds like paradise compared to Philly....but I guess the whole Midwest went to hell when the jobs went to China. Ya gotta have jobs to run a city...otherwise you just have crooks and cops....
affirmative action = incompetence
It means promoting, rewarding, and celebrating incompetence and punishing hard work and competence because of skin color.
If the USGOV is not racist, why do we have enter our race on every form we're required to fill out.
From now on, I chekc the 'african american' box every fucking time.
I just don't give a fuck.