Great Expectations

Our friends over at PennPraxis are about to launch their ideas for the waterfront.

If you're interested in how the city will develop that area, please consider joining them:

The PennPraxis presentation of the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware is set for Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Please register today.

Check this site between 6 and 8 p.m. tonight for a live blog from the PennPraxis presentation of the "Civic Vision for the Central Delaware." The group has spent a year crafting a plan for the city's waterfront. Now, learn the results.

More than 1,400 people have registered to attend tonight's event, which will showcase "A civic vision for the Central Delaware." The presentation is designed to bring together the work of the Central Delaware Advisory Group, PennPraxis and others as they look toward the future development of the Delaware Waterfront.

Space is filling up quickly, and people, with caffeine and soft pretzels in hand, are already heading into the second conference room.

Throughout this evening, we'll be posting impressions and thoughts from the PlanPhilly reporters covering the event. They include Alan Jaffe, Matt Blanchard, Kellie Patrick Gates, John Davidson, Natalie Pompilio and Steve Ujifusa.

Let's get started.

From Kellie Patrick Gates:

Even before the Penn Praxis event started, Anne Dicker – who co-founded Casino-Free Philadelphia but left to launch her campaign for State Sen.Vince Fumo’s seat - emailed her thoughts to reporters.

She likes the overall riverfront vision, but endorses only the version that does not include a casino. Penn Praxis also drew up plans with the two casinos that are planned for the waterfront, but face significant opposition.

"The Penn Praxis plan is the key to making Philadelphia the next great American city. I wholeheartedly agree with the principles laid out in the proposal, and the open and transparent process which led to the final document,” she wrote. “Although, while I support the overall vision, I believe that building casinos along the Delaware undermines some of the core benefits. Therefore, I specifically endorse the no-build, or casino-free, option; and will continue to fight to keep casinos away from our home, schools, playgrounds and the streets where our children play. “

Dicker, who will run against Fumo in the 2008 Democratic primary, said if she wins his seat, she’ll work to fund the Central Delaware project.

After an opening video, Philadelphia Councilman Frank DiCicco welcomed participants to the "Civic Vision for the Central Delaware" event. He was followed by Mayor Street. Currently speaking is Harris Steinberg of PennPraxis, as he begins the actual presentation.

Filling out the evening will be remarks from Michael DeBerardinis, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. The panel will be moderated by Chris Satullo of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Great Expectations project. Members are scheduled to include DiBeradinis, Steinberg, Bart Blatstein of Tower Investments, Rina Cutler of PennDot and Steven Weixler of the Society Hill Civic Association.

From Kellie Patrick Gates:

As the event opened, PennPraxis' Harris Steinberg, clearly pleased with turnout, said, "Please go next door [to the overflow room] if you can so the fire marshal doesn't shut us down."

Next up was City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who helped spearhead the planning effort. He said, "Tonight and the past 12 to 13 months that brought us to tonight are really the highlight of my political career."

Then, just as an introductory video concluded and the audience burst into applause, Mayor John Street entered the room and took the stage. Steinberg said, "The mayor has impeccable timing."

Street, who will soon be leaving office, reflected back to the beginning of his time as mayor. "The thing people said to me more than anything else was 'Get rid of the abandoned cars off the streets of Philadelphia.'' He continued, "It's hard to believe eight years later that the city has come to the point where it's thinking optimistically about the future."

The panel discussion is about to get under way. As people begin to filter out after the main presentation, several people have asked for copies of the report, and even offered to buy a copy.

For anyone interested in seeing the Civic Vision proposal that is the focus of the evening, it's online at http://www.planphilly.com/vision. For background on the project or to learn more about waterfront development, the PlanPhilly Web site provides a wealth of information.

From Matt Golas:

In reacting to the visioning, PennDot's Rina Cutler said, "We should look for short-term gains such as public transit infrastructure on the waterfront instead of worrying about burying I-95." Cutler and PennDot are currently in the midst of reconstructing the Girard Avenue interchange on I-95 and are weighing various ways to create green space around that reconstruction.

From Natalie Pompelio:

Springfield resident Mike D'onofrio, 62, said he was pleasantly surprised from the moment he walked into the main room: 900 chairs were filled, people were standing along the walls, another group had spilled into a side chamber.

"I was shocked going in," he said. "You don't get this many people for anything."

He was impressed by the plan. The city, he said, has gotten better every year for the past 15 years, "but the one thing they had neglected addressing was the waterfront," he said. "We travel all over the world and in every successful city, there's a vibrant waterfront." A key factor for the Delaware's development is safety, he said, and the current proposal -- keeping the arae busy with parks, homes and businesses -- would make it so.

D'onofrio said he was also impressed by how the plan was made. "They really did ask people. That's what got me," he said. "I could never be that detail oriented. It could take 50 years, but they've got to start today."

From Kellie Patrick Gates:

In the moment before everyone rose to leave for the evening, a member of Casino Free Philadelphia stood and shouted that everyone should return to the Convention Center for tomorrow's Commerce Department hearing on whether to grant Sugar House Casino riparian rights. (The hearing is at 2 p.m.)

The casino issue loomed large over the entire meeting. When Harris Steinberg present the plan he said that the most contentious part was the development piece. "We know there are many people who do not want casinos," he said. Someone in the crowd yelled, "It's not an option." And then from elsewhere, "Yes, it is." Leading the anti-casino speaker to yell back an expletive.

Steinberg said: "Let's get through the next couple of slides without this room erupting."

From Steve Ujifusa:

Some quotes from citizen attendees -
One person from the East Passyunk Crossing and the Philadelphia Neighborhood Association said, "The plan is brilliant. It's a celebration of William Penn's plan for the city and society he believe in, but the nature of casinos are not compatible with the concept of the vision plan."

A person from the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association said initially he was critical of the process but "no one can deny that Praxis has listened to the concern of the community. This is a legitimate process and vision and the beginning of a legitimate plan."

"The plan does not turn Philadelphia's Colonial and industrial history into a Disneyland. It embraces them while looking into the future," he continued.

From Kellie Patrick Gates:
What started with an animated video of the possible future of the Central Delware waterfront ended two hours and 15 minutes later with an equally animated question and answer session. People guiding the vision, including Mayor Street, Councilman Frank DiCicco, PennDot's Rina Cutler and developer Bart Blatstein fielded questions from the audience about what could be done - and what should not be done - to make the vision reality. Casinos were the constant undercurrent.
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You can read the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware in full at www.planphilly.com.

Also, the next big civic event will be the Great Expectation's Citizens Convention on Dec. 2. Space is filling quickly. Register now!

Harris Sokoloff, who as head of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, has designed and led the civic dialogues for Great Expectations and the Central Delaware civic visioning project, reflects on those two experiences:

The presentation of the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware on Nov. 14 was a huge success, with more that 1,500 citizens attending the presentation and celebrating both the Vision as well as the civic engagement process that gave rise to it.

As Harris Steinberg of Penn Praxis, which wrote the document, noted, the work of citizens – their values and values based design principles – informed the work of the design professionals who pulled together the plan. Citizen work was the touchstone for the vision – grounding it in what Philadelphians’ care about. Meanwhile, citizens who took part learned from the experts about what’s possible on an urban waterfront..

The process was truly a blending of citizen and professional expertise.

Throughout the riverfront dialogues, we’ve learned a great deal about citizen interest and capacity for substantive engagement, including these points: