You know how there are some cities you just click with? The second you arrive you get in tune with the rhythm and flow, and it feels comfortable every moment you’re there?

Yeah, Philadelphia is the exact opposite.

I just got back from five days in Philadelphia, visiting the Diabolical Miss M (you can hear some of this on Scattercast #115), and I know this is going to get me some hate comments, but I can not believe how much I disliked this city.

While my visit with M was great, I unfortunately ended the trip by telling her so long as she lives in Philly, I won’t be back. For those of you who have read this blog for any length of time are sure to summarize, that means I really, really didn’t like the town.  She also isn’t a raging fan of it, and is looking to return to Boston as soon as possible.

I was staying downtown as the Residence Inn at the corner of Market and Juniper due to it’s relative closeness to M’s apartment, and I don’t think I have ever felt more uncomfortable stepping out of a hotel after dark in my life.  Between the numerous homeless people who would immediately descend upon you for change, to the less than savory looking characters that would wander by at all hours, the whole vibe of the area left you feeling less than comfortable.

Any time Miss M and I did get together to hang out, we almost immediately headed out to the suburb her cousin lives in as she knew the area.  All but two of our meals together were eaten elsewhere than Philadelphia proper with the exception of picking up cheese steaks from Pat’s King of Steaks to take back to my room, and a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

And it was the latter meal that really proved to me that this was not the town for either of us.  While I was about two blocks away from the establishment, she wasn’t much further away in the opposite direction.  In that short walk a man passed her, walked a few more feet and then fell in behind her as she continued to walk.  Despite changing sides of the street multiple times, he continued to follow her each time until she got close to her destination.  (She took a cab home that night)

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy some portions of the city.  We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (yes, the one where Rocky ran up the stairs … no I didn’t do the pose) on Sunday afternoon, and it is an amazing building with a world class art collection.  The upkeep of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and such is top notch, and I spent an enjoyable morning going through all of that as M was at work.  Other than those two things, you just didn’t really feel like going out for any period of time, and you certainly didn’t want to just wander around.

I caught some grief two years ago when I came down on Seattle after spending a weekend there;  I will imagine this post will do the same.  My question to those who would take me to task over my observations would be: Shouldn’t a city that played such a major role in the founding of this country take more pride in itself?  The city even feels dirty to some extent, like every surface has a layer of grime on it that will leave you wanting to wash your hands after you touch it.  It is just not a pleasant place.

For those who think I have a negative view of everywhere I go, you would be wrong.  I loved Boston last year.  Loved it.  I honestly was disappointed when this year M had moved for a job to Philadelphia because I really wanted to return to Boston again.  She is hoping to be back there before my next visit, and I hope that comes to be because that town I could take another dose of.

As for Philadelphia … sorry, folks, but I don’t think I’ll ever be back.

Okay, fine, the problem in Philadelphia isn’t a “blog tax”, but it is a stupid tax none the less.

Back in late August I wrote about how the city of Philadelphia had sent a blogger a letter stating she needed a “Business Privilege License,” which costs $50 a year, or $300 for a lifetime. The reason being is that her blog runs ads, and apparently the second you collect any sort of money in the city, you become a business. During a happy hour where the city tried to calm the fears of bloggers, a city official told NPR’s Marketplace the following:

ANDREA MANNINO: In our city, you know, unfortunately, the second you generate a dollar, we go after it. That’s just the way our tax code is currently written.

To which a lawyer with his own blog about the law replied:

ANDREW BAER: Regardless of what’s on the books, any tax compliance agency, any department of revenue has discretion in deciding who to go after and who not to. I would love to know whose decision it was to go after people earning $11 a year from Google AdSense, and give the city this very public, very national black eye.

I’m going to have to go with Mr. Baer on this one.

While it is certainly not the city’s problem if you run an unprofitable business, I think the venture has to be a business to begin with.  The vast majority of bloggers out there throw ads on their sites in the hopes of making a dollar or two here or there, but rarely do they even make enough to cover their server costs.  For instance, my blog has been running for over five years, and while I used to make enough to cover my hosting costs, my traffic grew to such an extent I had to get my own server, and now I make enough in a year to cover about six weeks of hosting.  If I as a logical person I’d shut this site down, but that’s not why I do this.  I do it because I love it.

And that is where Mr. Baer is correct.  If a blogger receives one of these letters and shows the city they made under X amount of dollars a year, it should be considered a hobby and be exempt from this silliness.

Is the city going around to every little kid’s lemonade stand in the summer and demanding that they buy this license?

Is the city going around to every yard sale and demanding they buy this license?

Is the city locating every kid that mows a neighbor’s yard for a few dollars and demanding they buy a license?

The answer is, of course, “no”, but you see, blogs are visible.  The city has found a new group they can track, so they went after it.  Don’t try to feed me this baloney about “the second you generate a dollar” because you are using discretion.  Some pencil pusher in an office somewhere saw a blog from Philadelphia one day and went, “Oh, hey!  More money for the city coffers!”

Here’s a simple solution for all of you Philadelphia bloggers: unless you are blogging about something to do with the city, simply don’t list where you’re from.  Make the city track you down and check the domain registration files for millions of sites, they’ll love that.

So, no, it’s not a “blogger tax”, it’s just that bloggers make a really nice, stationary target.

There are times when you wonder if there are any brains in government at any level.  The city of Philadelphia is definitely making me wonder.

It seems that Philadelphia has determined since bloggers are earning such huge amounts of money, that we are businesses and they must get a “business privilege license”.  This little license will either cost you $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime one.

All of this came to light according to the Philadelphia City Paper, when Marilyn Bess was sent a letter back in May demanding she get a license due to her blog, Philly Organic.  Ms. Bess works in this site infrequently, and on occasion writes some posts for eHow.  She says over the last few years she has made a total of $50 from her various excursions into writing.

There is one major problem with the situation of her blog, however, and that is the fact that it is hosted on WordPress.com.  For those of you unfamiliar with the site, it is a blog host that allows you to st up a free blog, but it strictly enforces a “no advertising” rule on the site.  Since they host you for free, they don’t see why you should be making any money either.  I’m not quite clear how she made her $50, but it certainly wasn’t from her blog.

It seems Philadelphia isn’t a fan of writers, period.  If you are a freelance writer, you are also expected to get a business privilege license, and then pay the city taxes on your earnings in addition to what you pay the state and federal.  As it is described in the article, any activity done with the potential of making a profit, whether it did or not, is expected to have one of these licenses.

I’m sorry, but they are out of their ever loving minds.  A freelance journalist is nothing more than an employee who just moves around from job to job.  You know why blogs keep us on a freelancer status?  So they don’t have to pay any benefits or anything else on us.  We’re already paying for everything, so, yes, please take some more of our money.

As for blogs needing a license … do you have any clue how much revenue is generated?  This is far from a money making operation.  In fact, I lose money every month.  There is also the question about what happens with the blogs where they don’t identify where they are?  Sure Ms. Bess had her city in the title, but what if the blog has no identifying marks, how are you going to track down every blog?  That isn’t going to work so well, now is it?

I understand all governments are hurting for cash, but come on, there is a point where it just becomes silly.  So, Philadelphia, I’m coming to town next month on vacation, and I will be writing while I’m there, do you expect me to pay you anything?  Good luck with that.