Does Philly Deserve To Be On ‘Worst City’ List?

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Photograph, not copyrighted Ed Yakovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/10396190@N04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BOY, I SURE know how to pick ’em – cities, not men.

Although if those cities were men, they’d apparently be a couple of big ol’ hairy losers.

Both Hartford, Conn., whence I came, and Philly made a recent top-10 list of the worst places to live, in part because of their “general malaise that seems to infect the entire population.”

Did I not tell you that the Philly Shrug was going to bite us on the . . . well, you know. (Hartford was No. 2, Philly was No. 6. Detroit was No. 3.)

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131121_First_Hartford__now_Philly__Is_the_worst_city_title_following_me_.html#SDuy6W1kzFlhuuTk.99

Wilmington, DE And Atlantic City, NJ Named Some Of The Unfriendliest Cities In The World

Wilmington, Delaware, seen from an airplane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Condé Nast Traveler recently tallied the results of an annual Readers’ Choice Survey, which asked their audience to rate cities on a number of aspects. Two of the sections asked readers to name the “friendliest” and “unfriendliest” cities in the world.

The survey revealed that Wilmington, Delaware, coming in at number eight, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, coming in at number five, are considered some of the most inhospitable cities.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/travel/Wilmington_and_Atlantic_City_named_some_of_the_most_unfriendliest_cities_in_the_world.html#XgIE0bZg8eFmDrxL.99

Lititz: Pretzels, Chocolate And History Draw Hip Tourists

Editor’s note:  Awesome write up from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Lititz!

LITITZ, Lancaster County — “Why did we come here? To eat pretzels, of course!” said Sue Jones of Churchill, who, along with other members of a Pittsburgh bowling team, rolled into the 152-year-old Sturgis Pretzel Bakery and museum during Pretzel Fest 2013.

“I love pretzels — I’m addicted to them,” she laughed.

“But you’ve got to put yellow mustard on them,” added Doris Libell of East Pittsburgh, wearing a Penguins T-shirt.

This community of 9,000 people in northern Lancaster County — recently named Budget Travel’s 2013 Coolest Small Town in America — has a seven-block downtown area crammed with stone and woodbeam houses built in the late 1700s, a pre-Revolutionary War hotel built by Gen. Johann Sutter, a Moravian Protestant church built in 1749, plus several restaurants, taverns and quaint shops selling antiques, books, furniture and much more.

But Lititz is becoming popular with tourists mainly for two things — pretzels and chocolate candy.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/travel/lititz-pretzels-chocolate-and-history-draw-hip-tourists-686327/#ixzz2SWP99hOq

Lititz Wins Coolest Small Town In America Contest

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Free Moravian Sugar Cake and Wilbur Buds for Everyone???”  Sandy Hendricks Morris proposed on the Downtown Lititz Facebook page.

Lititz and those who love it were in a celebratory mood Saturday after learning it really is “America’s Coolest Small Town.”

The borough north of Lancaster, known for its chocolate, pretzels and Moravian heritage, won Budget Travel‘s online contest after nearly 100,000 votes were cast for 924 towns.

Self-described Lititz “cheerleader” Gaylord Poling said he learned of the honor Friday evening on the Budget Travel website.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/815782_Lititz-is-coolest.html#ixzz2L5GHlMVA

Lancaster County Convention Center Gets Deadline Extension On Debt

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lancaster County Convention Center is living on borrowed time.

With less than three weeks to go before the center’s $64 million in construction debt was due to be restructured — pushing interest rates higher — officials on Friday extended the financing for three more months.

The move buys time for negotiation with lender Wells Fargo to come to terms the center can live with.

A consultant sounded the alarm a year ago that the nearly 4-year-old center could be forced to close if revenues were not significantly increased or financing fees cut.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/813342_Convention-center-gets-deadline-extension-on-debt.html#ixzz2KX1XXIeh

Pennsylvania Gasoline Tax May Soon Be Highest In U.S.

Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gov. Tom Corbett struck a populist note in this week’s budget address, saying lifting the Oil Company Franchise Tax cap would force oil and gas companies to “pay their fair share.” But the increase will likely be passed onto consumers at the pump and may make Pennsylvania gasoline the most heavily taxed in the nation.

As levied now, the tax is about 9 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, but calculated on a maximum price of $1.25 per gallon, yielding about 20.3 cents. By gradually lifting that cap over time to reflect actual gas prices – already more than double the cap – the amount of the tax paid per gallon could more than double.

Gov. Corbett tried to soften the blow by cutting another state tax on fuel, the excise tax, from 12 cents down to 10 cents.

That could be cold comfort for consumers.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/pa-gasoline-tax-may-soon-be-highest-in-u-s-1.1441386

Talking Small Biz: Yards Guy Not Surprised At Philly’s High Listing As Beer City

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

IN RECENT YEARS, our fair city has been called America’s fattest (Men’s Fitness magazine), its second-dirtiest (Travel + Leisure magazine) and rudest among Twitter users (the online news site Mashable).

Fed up?

Well, cheer up.  Now comes word that the website AMOG.com – it stands for Alpha Male of the Group – ranks Philly No. 3 on its list of 10 cities in America that brew the best beer, behind winner Portland, Ore., and Denver.

AMOG also said we’re the best city for pub crawling.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130114_Talking_Small_Biz__Yards_guy_not_surprised_at_Philly_s_high_listing_as_beer_city.html#ixzz2I06xbmLL 
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Lehigh Valley International Airport To Have International Flights

Aerial photo of Lehigh Valley International Airport (IATA: ABE, ICAO: KABE) in Hanover Township, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the first time, Lehigh Valley International Airport passengers could soon be taking direct flights to places like Mexico, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

The authority that runs the cash-strapped and passenger-starved airport Tuesday endorsed a $5 million plan to add a U.S. Customs station that would allow LVIA to have flights out of the country as early as 2014.

Embarking on a multimillion-dollar project will not be easy for the struggling airport.  But the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority supported a plan to accept a $1.5 million state grant and take out loans for $3.5 million to build an inspection station.

The board believes the station will keep thousands of fliers a year from using other airports to go to places like Cancun, San Juan and Montego Bay.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-abe-airport-international-20121218,0,4105822.story

Travel And Leisure’s Most Dangerous U.S. Airport List

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Travel and Leisure Magazine has come up with a list of the 20 most dangerous U.S.airports; based on their scoring system.  

Philadelphia International came in at number 14.  There have been 50 runway “incidents” at PHL; fourteen of those incidents occurred in the last two years.  There are three problem locations for pilots, according the magazine.  Recently the FAA has made changes to cut down the number of runway issues.

No other Pennsylvania airport made the list.

To view the article and list, click here:  http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/tls-most-dangerous-us-airports/1