26 April 2013

Five ways Philadelphia should be more like Montreal

There could be quite a few more, but let's stop at five. There will be a companion post to this one -- the reverse -- tomorrow.

1) A modern public transportation system, starting with an easy, convenient smart card. Subway cashiers who -- gasp -- sell the cards and -- yes -- make change! There's also plenty of machines that sell the cards in every station too. Most stations have a newsstand kiosk, too. At every bus stop a schedule is posted. Very visitor friendly.

2) An 18-year-old drinking age. If 18-year-olds can vote, buy a gun, and fight for the U.S.A. they can have a beer. It was a thrill for me to see 18-year-old kids in a jazz club enjoying the music, and they weren't sloshed or out of hand in the slightest. In fact, I was out every night for eight days and did not see drunken younger kids. No reason this couldn't be in Philadelphia too.

3) Related to 2), selling beer and wine in convenience stores. Convenience stores don't sell Chateau Latour, to be sure, but most offered at least drinkable stuff, and were open until midnight for booze. The beer selections varied; lots of Molson and Labatt's everywhere but some had excellent craft beer lineups.

4) Stay open later. On weeknights Montreal restaurants are still humming at 10, 10:30, even 11, which is almost incomprehensible in Philadelphia. Montreal is a later city than Philadelphia -- bar time is 3 a.m. in theory but many places run later -- but if you're not open, people can't come. I think 11 p.m. should be a minimum closing times.

5) Free museums. The main art museum in Montreal is free. So are several smaller ones. Meanwhile in Philadelphia the Philadelphia Art Museum charges hefty fees while the Barnes is jacking up its entrance to $22 (so much for Dr. Barnes' idea that art should be available to the common man). Art is part of our heritage as human beings, and it should be available to all free or at very low tariffs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I had not realized that the "new" Barnes (they should at least have the courtesy to take the great man's name off the place) had become so rapacious.

The whole sorry story is a lesson in how government can be manipulated to achieve the ends of a monied class.

MF