Screw You, Phoenix: Philly Now 6th Largest City

The Daily News whipped out its calculator recently and apparently realized, according to revised census figures, Philadelphia has finally fallen behind Phoenix in population total.

People will bring up this: Phoenix has the advantage of being able to annex surrounding land to add to the city limits. This is, actually, the same figure Philadelphians complained about in the late 1800s when Chicago passed the city for #2. Of course, without consolidation in 1854, Philly would just be Center City. Okay, enough nerd stuff, time for more Phoenix bashing.

Ooh, real good, Phoenix. Name your city after a mythical bird rising from the ashes. Real good message to send to the kids: It’s okay to play with fire; you’ll merely reappear stronger than before. It’s certainly not as good as “City of Brotherly Love.” A Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon didn’t even wait for the official designation; he’s been calling Phoenix the fifth-largest city since last year. Jerk.

The DN can’t find a Philly-to-Phoenix transplant, apparently, so the paper quotes somebody who moved from Philadelphia to Atlanta, which I suppose is the same thing. The Arizona capital apparently passed Philly sometime around August 2005. But, as the Daily News quotes deputy executive director of the Planning Commission, Gary Jastrzab, “”We have a cultural history. We don’t have water problems.”

So there. Eat it, Phoenix. And you won’t have any water to wash it down with, either!

Philly drops to 6th-largest U.S. city [Daily News]