Waterfront Forums Start Tonight
After today, there can be no more griping about Philadelphia's lack of waterfront planning. Tonight, Penn Praxis holds the first of three - and possibly more - citizen forums on the fate of the Delaware riverfront. This evening's event starts at 6 p.m. at Saint Anne's Social Hall, Memphis and Tucker Streets (off Lehigh Ave). If you miss that one, there will be another on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the George Washington School, 5th and Federal Streets, also starting at 6 p.m.. The final forum in the schedule will be this Thursday, Dec. 14 at Independence Seaport Museum, Penn's Landing, 6 - 9 p.m. See the Plan Philly site for more details.
posted by Inga Saffron at 8:51 AM
20 Comments:
Thanks for the info Inga. Maybe some of you anonymous complainers will attend and participate in positive change! Here's your chance.
Great..lemme guess.
Everything should be a park with a bike trail.
Why must people be so negative? If you bothered to attend any of the advisory or steering committee meetings (all are open to the public) you would know that everyone wants a diverse, economically viable waterfront. Bike trails, access to the waterfront, public transit and various uses (including industry) have all be mentioned as desires for the waterfront. Instead of being such a downer, come out to the meetings and give your opinions about what you want to see. Only constructive criticism will help this process.
Thank-you anonymous #2 -
AMEN !!!
I'm surprised that this has not been mentioned in any of the waterfront park discussions but people should look into the plans for the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn NY. This is a public/private initiative that will create an 85 acre open-space park along an underused waterfront. The city and state will build the park and they have reserved three plots that will be used for private residential towers. The condos in the towers will be assessed and pay for the maintenance of the park in perpetuity. This is a perfect analogue for the Delaware wtaerfront because it addresses the open space need for Philly, public use of the waterfront , developers interest in residential development on the waterfront and the cities lack of funds. More info here: http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/
anyone know what happened at the council vote for the Zoning Code Commission responsible for a complete overhaul of Philadelphia's antiquated Zoning Code?????
supposed to vote today on it...
City lacks jobs, is poor.
Let's zone possible job locations into park so the city can pay for it.
Look at how well the other parks are maintained. This should work out fine!
Brilliant!
nevermind...
"Under pressure from fellow Council members, most notably Councilman Brian J. O'Neill, Councilman Frank DiCicco agreed to delay a vote on a bill that would create a commission to rewrite the city's zoning code. The exchange grew testy at points, as O'Neill insinuated that DiCicco was being manipulated by the development lobby."
Another bad decision by Phila leaders.
Yes, i guess that's the end of it. One paragraph, the end. No more discussion. "Bad decision." The end nothing else will ever be said or done about it. The end, "bad decision," say no more "bad decision" Philly's fault, the end, the end of ends, the ends of all ends, say no more, nudge, nudge; wink, wink...
Where are you Inga??! Over a week without a new post is terribly frustrating. There's plenty of development/architecture to blog about so why are you missing?
yes, and let's hear about how these casino choices will impact riverfront planning!!
Why does she make us beg for it?
oh nevermind -- a long piece of opinion is over at the Inky:
Design? Couldn't Be Worse
pysnsI just read of the casinos coming to Philly. What a dull and boring turn of events. I'm an out-of-towner who has enjoyed going to Philly for its urban experience for the past five years. To hear that two casinos are going to plunked down on the river front sounds exceedingly low brow. It makes Philly so much less interesting. So the economy needs a boost? Just add gambling. Very clever.
John in Tampa
Despite the fact that Philadelphia has seen an unprecedented building boom WITHOUT a plan, this decision by the gaming board is the first time I was truly dispirited by our new developments. These have to be the two worst case scenarios for the city. I cannot understand why Pinnacle would not have been chosen. It is not at all far from where Sugarhouse is located, it had a MUCH better design as well as MANY MANY more amenities for our citizens and visitors, plus the added benefit of better access from I-95. Placing a casino on South Columbus is a HORRENDOUS idea. I can only hope that the city can somehow force them to accommodate the master plan we our about to get from Praxis. Im actually nervous about the future of our waterfront now. Yesterday was a sad day for the city.....
I AGREE,CASINOS SUCK AND ARE COMPLETELY "LOW BROW" AND STILL,I'D RATHER HAVE THEM ON THE WATERFRONT THAN WALMART! OUR WATERFRONT HAS BEEN SEPERATED FROM THE CITY BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S INEPT JUDGEMENT IN HIGHWAY PLANNING AND AN ILL-ADVISEDfwmlgd DEFERRENCE TO CARS! WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? DO YOU,OR ANYONE ELSE ACTUALLY GO TO THE DELAWARE ANYWAY? BE HONEST.
nothing about the americana?
I think she may be moving on from this blog to other things.
it happens
Vince, prior to it being cleaned up, nobody went to Baltimore's harbor, either (yes, I did just make an analagy with Baltimore -- don't bite my head off, I'm not trying to compare the two waterfronts). If the Delaware waterfront were actually inviting, then people WOULD go, yes. And yes, I've spent much time there even with it in its current condition.
I actually like Penn's Landing in its current state and I have enjoyed myself there countless times. I'm glad the planned developements fell through. It would be a tragedy to copy Baltimore ! Let's face it, the inner harber is all they have and it is a completely over-rated tourist trap ! With the current Penn Praxis Commission, we are headed in the right direction. I see casinos as an important addition to the mix. They will bring people to the waterfront. I only wish the Gaming Commission chose Pinnacle and Trump for their superior designs,I'm sure Inga would agree.
Love,Vince
To Vince Dean...you have a point about casinos being better than a Wal-Mart, but only to a degree. I think the casinos will end up effecting the river neighborhood just like a box store because their whole purpose is to seal in the customer and focus them on the slots. There is no interest whatsoever in the design or purpose of the building to contribute to the immediate urban fabric. In essence, it will be a warehouse with traffic congestion thrown in for bad measure.
A casino is a cheap answer to an underlying problem - poor economics. It is shameful that public officials charged with management of a city put valuable time, effort and cost into thinking about casinos. Casinos will not address the drop out rates of high school students or provide meaningful employment for those that do graduate. They are like a gusseyed up toll booth, a means to extract coins from those who pass through. That seems to be Pennsylvania's answer to so many problems - just take more from the people. For example, why does that state still operate the state controlled liquor stores? Maybe Stalin never really died, he just moved to PA and started a new gig controlling a booze monolopy, but I digress.
Yes, the river neighborhoods may be less than prime right now, but, you must have a vision and plan that guides land to it's best purpose.
John in Tampa
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