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Andrew Cassel and Dan Rottenberg

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from: Dan Rottenberg

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did

Posted Monday, March 5, 2001, at 3:26 PM ET

Andy,

Last summer every two-bit pundit in the country was feigning amazement that the Republicans could hold their national convention in a gritty city like Philadelphia and the Democrats could hold theirs in a glitzy place like Los Angeles. Some perceptive observer (can't recall who) finally remarked that downtown Philadelphia is actually much glitzier than downtown Los Angeles. Communities, like nations, live and die by images that aren't always valid. Maybe you and I should both take the pledge to renounce generalizations. But we can't! We're journalists! What else can we do? We're hooked!

So speaking only for myself, let me just say--as someone who has lived in New York, Chicago, and the county seat town of Portland, Ind.--that downtown Philadelphia works better for me than anywhere else. I mean that in terms of Philadelphia's convenience and stimulation and also its location midway between New York and Washington. That is, it's close to the centers of power but sufficiently removed to maintain a sense of perspective--it's perhaps the ideal place to practice our craft, which is making sense of the world and communicating our conclusions to a larger audience.

You say you'd move to the city were it not for your kids. Looking back at age 58, I'd say one of the smartest things my wife and I did was to raise our daughters (now 34 and 31) in the city. Simply by osmosis, on the city streets they developed certain coping skills and independence that their suburban contemporaries--the people with whom they now compete--lack. After college both of them moved separately to Manhattan, where they landed careers and (even more astonishing) apartments without any grownup help. You're quite right about Philadelphia's onerous city wage tax. On the other hand, since my daughters got their bachelor's degrees, I haven't had to spend a cent to subsidize them or to send them to graduate school. The city was (and still is) their best teacher. Not for Philadelphia's sake, but for your children's, I implore you as a friend to sell your house and move downtown while there's still time.

Hey--it is finally snowing. Talk to you tomorrow.

Dan

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Dan Rottenberg

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did

Posted Monday, March 5, 2001, at 3:26 PM ET
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Andrew Cassel writes a thrice-weekly column about the economy. He has been a columnist, business reporter, and national correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1984. Philadelphia journalist Dan Rottenberg is a veteran of 16 years with alternative publications and the author of seven books, most recently The Inheritor's Handbook. He currently edits Family Business magazine.
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