Neverending L in Philly

Urban Warrior | 'I CAN'T TAKE IT MUCH LONGER'

This is an interesting article and could raise several points for discussion.

The "L" isn't named for fact that the line looks like an "L" on a subway map, but rather because it is an "elevated" rail platform for the paltry city subway. The idea behind these types of elevated railways is that they are much less expensive and much quicker to build (in theory) than actual subways such as the NYC system.

The problem here is that the city has apparently been taking forever to reconstruct the L which has apparently been in bad need of repair for years. Merchants along the L are demanding money to reimburse them for business losses generated by L reconstruction.

Given that the reconstruction has hurt these business (it seems pretty clear), what are we to make of this crisis?

One question is whether an early investment in an underground subway system in this part of the city would have paid off now by not interfering with established businesses that have grown up around the subway system. The L itself is a tremendous eyesore and my impression is that its presence actually makes the neighborhood uglier and more dangerous to drive in. Compare this with DC where nearly everything is underground and I think it is obvious that while the city may have saved a ton of money in initial construction, the economic fallout is much worse. Another thought. If an L style railway is so great, why did they only use it in the poorer neighborhoods of West Philly instead of the whole system?

Another question is whether this crisis is the result of SEPTA and the City avoiding basic maintenance and thereby making the problem much worse when if finally came time to decide to make the repairs. The answer is probably yes.

Another question is that why should the government pay to help private businesses that are hurt by this reconstruction. This is actually a moral question. Obviously the business owners have taken a hit, but is this really a government taking? They have obviously benefited from the presence of the L, although they have likely paid for it with hire rents and property taxes. The question is whether this is a place to draw a line.

This crisis does tend to show what happens when government takes over too much control of something. A corporation running the system could theoretically do the same thing, but the corporation has a much stronger motivation to get the system repaired quickly because they lose money just as much as anyone else when there is less L traffic. On this point, though, I'm not sure if L traffic has gone down or that the lost foot traffic is from local neighbors who are going to other business that aren't near the L even though they still commute using the L.

Yet another question is whether the L would have been better run by a private company. I've taken the L. It isn't horrible, but it isn't all that great either. Every few years SEPTA makes a bad decision regarding the cars they purchase and then never seem to learn form their mistakes. They tend to get dirty and the stations themselves are pretty horrendous as far as cleanliness and associated businesses go. I'm not sure if a private company could make the line profitable, but I'm sure they could do a much better job than SEPTA and the City. The repairs would have been done a long time ago as well.

Back to article.

For one thing, the customers have not likely disappeared. Since it is appears that a reduction in pedestrian traffic is what has cost these businesses, chances are the customers have started going to other establishments. This means, of course, that when the L is back up and running, those businesses will suffer from a loss of customers. Does the city need to compensate them? I'm sure we'll be reading articles along those lines some time.

An irony here, of course, is that the City is now shelling out more money as direct welfare payments to hurt businesses just to keep them afloat because of its decision to save money by constructing an L instead of an underground subway, by not performing timely maintenance, and by being its usual corrupt, inefficient self when it comes to spending money on public works.

We all know that Philly is a bottomless pit for state and federal funding and that any money that gets spent there usually winds up in the hands of everyone except the people it is intended to help, but this is a fairly egregious case of the city ineptness. L construction should have been done years ago. It's continued problems are a beacon for how poorly run the City is.