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  • on 09.07.2009
  • at 10:30 AM
  • by Shannon McDonald, Editor

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category: Departments

Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Holier-than-thou Philebrity can’t find our borders 0

Jul9

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast mag wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

By Shannon McDonald

We know by now Philebrity hates The NEast. And if snarky comments about our hair weren’t enough, there are these lovely remarks:

Oh come on. Look at a map. H-Valley is bordered by Welsh Rd. and Red Lion Road. It may have a different zip or pizza pretzel place but it’s culturally Norfeast.

I’ve always been of the mind that the Norfeast itself is NOT PHILADELPHIA, either

Those comments came from one of yesterday’s Philebrity posts, which called out Valley Swim Club for kicking out a group of black summer camps kids. Racist and ridiculous, yes. Northeast Philly? Nope, sorry. Valley Swim Club is in Huntingdon Valley, which is not only not Northeast, it’s not Philadelphia.

Philebrity owned up to this in the comments section (see above), but with about as much class as the Valley Swim Club employees used to segregate their pool. The only thing NEast about this story are the camp kids, who belong to Creative Steps Day Camp at Devereaux and Summerdale avenues.

Sure, Huntingdon Valley borders the Northeast. And Fishtown borders North Philly, but I don’t see Philebrity (which is run out of Fishtown) eager to link the two. If Huntingdon Valley and the Northeast were the same, there’d be no need for the former. Suburbs exist for people who dislike and fear the city. The Northeast is home to our city’s cops, firefighters and schoolteachers; they are paying taxes and raising families inside city limits. Can’t say the same for those in Huntingdon Valley.

Say what you want about The NEast, but at least keep it accurate.

  • Tina

    HV is a bunch of rich subarbanites. Oh wait, SO IS PHILEBRITY!!!!!!!

  • Jacky

    Some of his posts about the Northeast are way off base, but I have to say this one isn’t. As one of the Philebrity commenters pointed out, a lot of the swim club’s members are probably from the Northeast. In fact, many of the racist asshole commenters on the original NBC page sound exactly like my neighbors.

    I don’t really understand your point about cities vs. suburbs. Are there no racists living in the city? I know MOVE was a long time ago, but come on. On a more personal note, I live in Holmesburg and know quite a few racist firefighters, schoolteachers, and yes, cops. Racism exists even in the most blue collar parts of the city. That’s not to say EVERYONE has that mindset… Most people in the Northeast probably don’t. But Philadelphia has a shameful history of bad race relations, and the Northeast is part of it.

    As a side note, I find some of these Right NEast/Wrong NEast columns kind of petty. For example, who cares if the neighborhood of Oxford Circle is on the other side of… Oxford Circle? There are probably people who live in what is technically Frankford and call it Oxford Circle themselves.

  • http://NEastPhilly.com Shannon

    All valid points.

    Not saying there aren’t racists in the city, or that cops/fire fighters/teachers are all saints. But they are all tax paying citizens making a difference in Philadelphia and raising their families here (and yes, not all of them live in the Northeast) – they’re not fleeing to the suburbs.

    I guess we’ll never know about the swim club members, but I would think that since the Northeast has several of its own swim clubs – Bustlton, Fox Chase, Torresdale, etc., people don’t really need to belong to one in Montco.

    As far as the Right NEast/Wrong NEast posts, yes, some definitely point out very small errors. The point isn’t to belittle the media, just to make people aware that in a lot of cases, one block can mean a huge difference in terms of the neighborhood. I’d also like to think if the media (and the city) took the time to identify all the city’s neighborhoods properly in the first place, people wouldn’t have to wonder which neighborhood they live in.

    Thanks for your insight!

  • Jacky

    Even though it didn’t technically take place in the Northeast, the cultures blend together to some extent… I just feel that there is so much more to this story than geography. I do think pointing out some of those details is worthwhile, though. It’s frustrating to see other sources lump together everything above Center City that isn’t North Philly. When the media can’t even identify the places they’re talking about, some of the unique aspects of different regions get lost. It’s awesome that you’re helping to counter this effect, hopefully even moreso when you launch the print version!

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