Official Says Philadelphia Handled Recession Well At 'State Of Center City' Address
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - At the 20th annual "State of Center City" address, Paul Levy, president of the Center City District, said there are a lot of things that are being done right.
"Creating a live/work environment where you don't have to choose to commute to work, you can walk to work. We've done a great balance between preserving great historical buildings, but building buildings like the Comcast Center or the Cira Center, so we haven't gotten hung up in being only old or only new, it's that diversity that's good," he said. "We're doing incredibly well in maintaining families with children in the city."
But he admits there is still room for improvement.
"While tax reduction was suspended during the recession, we need to re-start it sooner rather than later, and two we've got to continue to do things that really improve the accessibility of the region."
As for the economy, he says the city is in better shape than many neighbors.
"This is the first recession in more than 100 years where Philadelphia has done better than its suburbs."
Reported by Hadas Kuznits, KYW Newsradio