If any cynics harbored any doubt about how much Philadelphians want a working, enjoyable, well-planned waterfront, that should be erased by the attention paid to PlanPhilly's release of its carefully developed plan for the Delaware waterfront last night.
(If you haven't paid attention, PlanPhilly is a project of PennPraxis, which is the practical arm of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design. They have taken on the challenge of planning Philadelphia -- starting with the waterfront. Yes, this is usually a function of government. However, and despite some good people in the departments that are supposed to plan the city, Philadelphia's planning process has become fatally bound up by a combination of toxic forces: bureaucracy, the influence of developers, councilmanic privilege and NIBMYism. PlanPhilly has sought to skirt this bottleneck by providing advice directly to the citizens and government, with an emphasis on inclusion. They have a good Web site here.)
But back to last night's presentation of the waterfront plan, which was attended by 1,500 people. The plan is an attempt to create better, more liveable neighborhoods in that area; the Inquirer describes it as "open space, walkable streets, and a grid of blocks reaching down to the waterfront." There is an emphasis on walkability, bikeability and green, tree-filled spaces. (You can watch the presentation here.)
Personally, I had sorta admired PlanPhilly's earlier big idea to bury I-95 in a tunnel and finally connect the waterfront to the nearby neighborhoods. But PlanPhilly, which is interested in actually getting this plan implemented, has offered alternative approaches that are more affordable and more likely to happen.
If there is one concern about the plan, it was voiced by Daniel Gallagher, president of Local 1242 of the International Longshoremen's Association, who said there was little attention paid to economic development. That's been one of the big questions of Philadelphia's waterfront: Is it solely the province of docks, shipping and industry, or can those uses share the water with homes?
The other big spoiler of the plan could be two planned casinos on the riverfront. PlanPhilly has been realistic about them: One of PlanPhilly's maps of how this redevelopment would work with them; one removes the casinos. But last night, the anti-casino forces were present in force. And really, do the current casino plans -- big, windowless boxes -- lend themselves to neighbors?
Still, this is an enormous step forward for a forgotten part of the city. Plan Philly deserves a big congratulations. They've gotten the attention of the city: Mayor Street and key councilpeople including Frank DiCicco were there last night. Let's hope the city can do planning right this time, and work from what PlanPhilly has done.
Comments (3)
I disagree that the longshoreman's view that the plan does not include economic development. While it's not explicit, the mere creating of billions worth of living and working space would provide numerous jobs. A functioning grid would also support more residential and small proprietors than big box retailers in the long run. It's not as explicit as tax incentives to create jobs but the best economic development plans are indirect and pay attention to infrastructure and education (hey perhaps the plan can include a school or two).
Posted by mdcphilly | November 15, 2007 11:23 AM
Now lets see how the developers try to short circuit the plan.
Posted by Mark Chalupa | November 15, 2007 11:35 AM
More housing isn't going to change Philadelphia or it's waterfront. Determining if housing could even be built on the waterfront (because of former industrial site usage) could take years of more "studying". We need to come up with something which will bring solid economic growth. Putting pre-fabbed housing along the river with smaller businesses won't do it. With the business tax as it is, Philadelphia isn't small-business friendly. I can't think of a tourist saying "lets go check out the row homes along the river!" Is there anyone out there who doesn't need to be paid to do an "unbiased" study that can come up with something better? After all, we've only been waiting for about thirty years while thousands of Philadelphians leave the city.
Posted by Lynn Shain | November 27, 2007 8:46 PM