The "Sixth" Incensed!

There was an article by Jessica Pressler entitled "Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough" in the New York Times today.

Pressler writes:

Philadelphians occasionally refer to their city - somewhat deprecatingly - as the "sixth borough" of New York, and with almost 8,000 commuters making the 75-minute train ride between the cities each weekday, the label seems not far off the mark.

Who refers to Philadelphia as the "sixth borough"? Writers looking to make a name for themselves in the New York Times? I've heard many people refer to Philly as a road bump between New York and D.C., but that designation still acknowledges that Philly is its own town. Isn't Connecticut already the "sixth borough"? How many damn boroughs does New York need? Allentown has been reclassified as a suburb of New York City. The Big Apple is becoming the monster that swallowed the East Coast. Keep calling Philly the "sixth borough" and see how many bands start skipping our town because they assume Philadelphians will just commute up to New York via train or "the popular Chinatown bus".

They are the first wave of what could be called Philadelphia's Brooklynization.

Let's hope that unfortunate name doesn't stick. At least she compared us to Brooklyn and not Queens.

"everyone knows someone who's moved here from New York," said Paul Levy

No shit? I think that statement is written in the universal truths of every city on the East Coast (and possibly farther, I don't get out of the "sixth borough" much). New Yorkers are like an infestation of locusts.

"We like going to shows here," Mr. Schmersal said. "In New York there are so many people, it's impossible to even get in to see hot bands."

The next time you can't get into the Khyber to see a hot band, blame Ms. Pressler. She's probably inside at the show you can't get into, attempting to score free drinks with her press credentials. Just wait outside for her.

between sips of Yuengling lager at a bar in the Northern Liberties neighborhood, an artists' enclave north of City Hall.

There you have it, the shining obligatory reference to Yuengling. An artists' enclave? Is that what Northern Liberties is now? Well, if it's in the New York Times, it must be true (just like $800 rent in Rittenhouse Square). Northern Liberties used to be such a nice working-class neighborhood, but artist enclave it must be. The next paragraph identifies Fishtown as the working-class neighborhood turned melting pot.

Pressler loses her focus at this point in her story (or maybe I missed a segue), but she stops talking about Philly as a "sixth borough" and focuses on people who move to Philly from New York, but don't commute back to Manhattan for work. Wasn't the commuting angle the whole point of writing this article on Philly as the "sixth borough" of New York City?

Sandwiched between New York and Washington, Philadelphia was a flyover city - trainover really - a place where a mayor had ordered the bombing of a neighborhood and where Eagles fans reveled in booing their own team, its chief popular exports cheese steaks and "Rocky."

What exactly has changed? Eagles fans still boo (most recently, T.O.), and the FCC regulates that every national broadcast of Philadelphia must include footage of cheesesteaks and a Rocky reference (the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are optional). While she's on the topic of Philadelphia events and personalities with national recognition, she's forgetting Live 8 and Will Smith. Why no shout-out to the Roots?

Want some perspective on Pressler's New York Times schmoozing? Read the first blurb in this column she wrote in November 2004. She is quite the chameleon (Philly isn't Brooklyn, Philly is the new Brooklyn; I refuse to use the word "flip-flop", but the agenda for her Times article probably grew out of this piece).

Pressler can't be faulted for the picture of the Khyber that accompanied the story (that was Ryan Donnell), but of all the bars in all the world... Yeah, yeah, I know the Khyber can't subsist on a small, local scene of hipsters alone, but does it really need to attract jerks? Isn't that the clientele of every other bar on 2nd Street? Here come the bastards. It's a good picture though.