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Is This Delco Town Really One of the 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.?

So says one national magazine. Then again, it also says that about Buffalo.

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A street scene in Delaware County, Pennsylvania borough Media, which Money magazine just named one of the best places to live in the United States

A street scene in the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, borough of Media. Money magazine just named Media one of the best places to live in the United States / Photograph courtesy of Visit Media

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Is Media Really One of the 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.?

There probably haven’t been too many times when the quaintish Delco borough of Media has found itself in the same sentence as Kalamazoo and, oh, Buffalo. … But that’s just what has happened thanks to Money magazine’s latest list of the “50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.”

The editors at Money praised Media’s walkable streets, great schools, and proximity to lovely Ridley Creek State Park, where locals love to fish, hike and ride horses. Money also notes the restaurant scene in Media, which is certainly solid. (The Main Line should be taking notes here.) There’s also the fact that Media shuts down vehicular traffic on its main street once a month, so residents can party and eat and stroll down the middle of the street, something a lot of towns should be doing. (Remember when Philly shut down 13th Street during the pandemic? That was pretty magical, albeit also an unfortunate necessity.)

Media is great and all. But is it really one of the best places to live in all of these United States? When we tell you that Sangillo’s in Delco has one of the best damn hoagies in the region, we mean it, we tried it, along with all of the other hoagies that we’ll defend to our grave. But looking at the rest of Money‘s list of the best places to live in the United States might leave some readers scratching their heads.

I haven’t been to all of Money‘s 50 picks. Far from it. But I have been to some. And I’m here to tell you: I would never visit Richmond, Buffalo, or Cincinnati again. Let alone live there.

But, hey, these lists are made to argue about or at least promote discussion, and so this one shall.

I should also note that Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made an appearance on the list, and I would agree that the city has really turned itself around in the past couple of decades. It’s actually now a cool place to hang out for a weekend.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to many is the inclusion of Detroit. People love to diss and demean Detroit, just the way that people love to diss and demean Philadelphia. Bad things happen here! But I have friends who positively love living in Detroit, and seeing Detroit on the list of the best places to live has made me decide to finally schedule a trip out there. You can get nonstop round-trip flights for about $65. Granted, on the world’s worst airline. But still.

Some Election Notes

Turnout for Tuesday’s primary was reportedly way low. That’s not entirely unexpected, given the horrible weather on Tuesday. Oh, wait. It was literally a perfect day. Regardless, turnout will, no doubt, be huge — possibly historically so — come November, when the two guys nobody really wants battle it out for president. In any event, there are a few tidbits to report from Tuesday’s vote.

Disgraced State Representative Kevin Boyle was knocked out by Sean Dougherty. Some of you might be thinking, Yawn, State Rep, who cares? But the thing about this particular race is that the winner of the primary goes on to face the Republican candidate in the November election, and the result of that election could flip control of the state House in Harrisburg.

In less scandalous races, incumbent Pennsylvania Congressman Dwight Evans won in a veritable landslide over former Philadelphia Register of Wills Tracey Gordon. One of the main races to watch was for Attorney General, and Eugene DePasquale knocked out his four opponents, including Jared Solomon, the Northeast Philly State Rep who raised more money than any of the other candidates in the race. Familiar Philly face Malcolm Kenyatta moves on to the general to see if he can become Pennsylvania’s next Auditor General.

We’re still waiting on results from a West Philly Pennsylvania House race; incumbent Amen Brown holds a slim lead over progressive challenger Cass Green.

So now all eyes are on November 5th. Can’t come soon enough. Ugh.

By the Numbers

5: Philadelphia area Express stores closing amidst bankruptcy proceedings for the Ohio-headquartered company. Those locations include two in Center City: one at Fashion District, and another at 1521 Walnut Street. In better news, the Express pants I bought five years ago still fit me. Kinda.

$26,000: What these Delco parents are paying annually for day care for their two daughters, the cost of child care being the sole factor in their decision to have no more kids. Frankly, it could be worse. I know parents who are paying about that much per kid. When our son was born in 2006, we looked into the cost of child care and said screw it. My wife decided to become a stay-at-home mom and we quickly had another child, something we wouldn’t have done if she hadn’t made that decision. Worked out well for us. Bonus: never, ever an ear infection.

8: Dirt-bike-riding suspects police are looking for after said suspects allegedly tried to rob a teen of his scooter in South Philly early this morning. The teen wound up getting shot but is expected to be okay.

Local Talent

Jon Bon Jovi may be the Pride of New Jersey (or would that be Bruce Springsteen? Hmmm … ), but we still consider him local enough to fall under our Local Talent category. After all, we regularly cover Taylor Swift even though she’s from Berks County, a place we would never, ever write about otherwise. Anyway, thanks to the Wall Street Journal, we learned something new and unexpected about Bon Jovi: He is utterly obsessed with Philly’s own Ben Franklin, whom we’re a little obsessed with as well.

Where Are You Eating this Week?

Well, if all the tables at the best restaurants in Philadelphia are booked, might I suggest visiting Philadelphia first-ever 24-hour automated cheese dispensary and settling in at home with a lovely cheese board while you consume Baby Reindeer or whatever it is people are watching these days? I’m not generally a fan of food transactions that involve no humans (yes, I wait in the cashier line at Acme instead of using self-checkout), but a cheese machine works for me.

Where Are You Drinking this Week?

So many choices. But I suggest saddling up behind the bar of Philly’s longest-running bartender and downing a few pints while he bends your ear. He’s been at the same bar for 50 years, and you can meet him here.

And From the Air-of-Inevitability Sports Desk …

The Phils got on the board in the first inning last night in Cincinnati, on back-to-back doubles by J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm. Would starter Cristopher Sánchez keep up the amazing string of seven-plus-inning performances by Phillies pitchers of late? Well, in the Reds’ half of the first, there was an error, a walk, a double and a run: 1-1. Then they picked up another in the third, on a walk, a wild pitch, a single, a throwing error, another walk and a steal, two more singles and another error?! Oh, no — 5-1 Reds!

And then another wild pitch! A truly miserable outing for Sánchez, who came out for Yunior Marte for the fourth. And then this. Hoo-boy.

The Phils looked to have something going in the fifth after walks by Reds starter Andrew Abbott to Cristian Pache, Edmundo Sosa and Rojas, bringing up Kyle Schwarber. But he struck out, Abbott came out, and reliever Fernando Cruz got Trea Turner on strikes, too. After that, Elly De La Cruz whacked a two-run homer. Boy, when it rains, it pours. Bohm led off the sixth with a double off new reliever Buck Farmer, and Whit Merrifield landed at first on what was dubbed an error but should have been a hit. Whereupon Pache hit into a double play. And in the eighth, Ricardo Pinto gave up a homer and whacked a batter, precipitating a conniption on the part of Reds manager (and former Phil) David Bell.

https://twitter.com/RedsDaily4/status/1782938921950683322

For some godforsaken reason, Rob Thomson challenged the call on the final out, a grounder by Rojas. Geez, man, just let this disaster end. But no — and the call was overturned. Thank heaven, Schwarbs struck out again. End of game, end of win streak. And another one against the Reds tomorrow, at 6:40.

Any Better Sixers News?

Um, yes, yes, there was this:

Well deserved, Tyrese! Oh, and there was a major mea culpa from the officials regarding the Sixers’ devastating Game 2 loss to the Knicks on Monday night. Not that that changes the outcome.

They’ll have a chance to make up for it on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. Also? The Wall Street Journal had a story on how the Knicks came to have all those Villanova Wildcats on their roster. After everything that Philly did for youse guys …

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.

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