Interestingly---most of those other cities referred to are in countries with MUCH stronger central gov't (and central gov't fiscal support) and far less ability for locals to halt projects and investments---not to mention our ability at the local level to sort out BIG time, and leave the cities to fight it out on smaller tax bases as the suburbanites bug out, take advantage of all the positive externalities of being in a big metro area (airports, local TV stations, sports teams, more products and cheaper distribution, etc etc etc


Talking about APPLYING ANYTHING from foregin countries without taking into account our unique federalist system of national, state & local gov't providing public services & taxing, is an exercise in exercises!

PS---Phila has plenty---and is i a postion to grow even more now---but our self destruction instinct (don't do this, don't build that, don't try this, don't think beyond our noses) rises to the occasion -----let's kick that instinct out and improve the Parkway, build big new modern architecturally famous residential and commercial and institutional buildings, populate the waterfront (not Penns Landing, but the other 98.9% of the waterfront) with residential buildings, bring the Barnes in from Lower Merion---build the Calder museum, and DO a million things---instead of fighting it all int he name of NO CHANGE, JUST DETERIORATE mentality!!!

Then bloggers in those other cities will write about how can they be more like philly??????!!!!

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1. One thing that has always struck me as a good idea for Philadelphia is pedestrian streets. Even though this failed miserably on Chestnut St., I feel it could be successful on South St. Not all of South St. of course, just from about 7th or 8th to Front. I don't see retail suffering here if the street was closed off to auto traffic (except busses). South St. is a parking lot as it is now. But one downside I see is that traffic may increase on parallel streets such as Bainbridge, although some of the current traffic on South St. may be the result of people who just want to cruise and be seen. Another downside is that with busses traveling down the street it wouldn't be an authentic pedestrian street (however, the 42 could be routed down Bainbridge).

2. Why can't we have a Beer Garden in Philly? I feel this would be a great way to boost tourism. First of all, there isn't a single Beer Garden in the NE that I know of. And on a hot summer night, there is nothing better I could think of than sitting in a Beer Garden and enjoying a liter of Yuengling. Of course there are many obstacles to this. Where will you find such a huge, inexpensive chunk of land in Center City for this? There is plenty of vacant land outside of CC so maybe that could help boost tourism in some of the lesser visited parts of the city. Why not put it in Brewerytown or South Delaware Ave.?

3. Congestion Pricing in Center City - If we want to be like London, why not just completely steal their idea? Doubtful.

4. Okay, this one's extremely far fetched. One day I was sitting along the canals in Amsterdam and I said to myself, why not include canals as an integral part of the redevelopment of Camden. It could elevate the city from one of the sh*ttiest in America to world-reknown tourist attraction. But one question remains: who's gonna fish out all the dead bodies, used condoms, and syringes? :droool:

Wy, welcome, and thanks for the post...what exactly is Congestion Pricing?

What is a beer garden exactly...if it's got anything to do with beer, I am in

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The only place I can imagine a "pedestrian street' actually working, and not being a huge inconvienence, is 9th St. from Washington to Christian. People already treat is a pedestrian walkway, it's pointless to drive up it in the day time. If you've ever been to the Italian Market Fest, the streets blocked off, it's great being able to get off the crowed sidewalk. Also, the lack of honking is an added bonus.

congestion pricing-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h.../html/what.stm

pedestrian streets would be cool, but what about the duck, delivery trucks and public transportation? it's great when they close the streets to traffic in the italian market.

Wysong:

Welcome - what terrific ideas.

Beer garden would be terrific - how about at 8th and Market :razz: .

Love the idea about canals - Camden would be wonderful - the Venice of New Jersey. When I lived in Denver, they did a wonderful exercise in city planning and solicited all sorts of ideas - my favoirte was the diversion of the S. Platte into Denver proper - turning it into a canal fairyland.

As for the Transitway - Philadelphia did it in such a half-a$$ way that it was guaranteed not to work. As long as you allow trucks, buses, cabs, illegal drivers, etc. it just can't work - and it shut off at 6:00 or so.

Again in Denver, they took a five or six block stretch of 16th Street (I believe) and kept all traffic off. They landscaped it, lit it correctly and then ran free, open-sided jitney buses up and down - every five minutes. Each bus stopped every half block, so you were never far from a stop. The buses were originally supposed to be electric but that never worked, I think they eventually went to diesel. Still, it was terrific and a great place to stroll on a summer evening.

Of course on weekends, Denver is empty and you could have used the transitway for a landing strip for flights diverted from the old Stapleton airport. I would hope that has changed with the emergence of LoDo.

Transitways can work - you just have to go the whole way.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Gbh: thanks for the link to congestion pricing information. I'd never heard of such a thing.

When I lived in Old City, I would have made the whole neighborhood a congestion pricing zone.

But I can't imagine it ever working in the US. People know they have the right to drive their car anywhere they want at any time they want and anyone on foot had better beware.

That's what started me pounding on front hoods :rolling_:

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Right, any pedestrain mall would have to be totally closed to traffic and then configured in such a way as to encourage people to walk through - cafes, fountains, play areas for kids, amenities like that. Most of the larger cities in Germany have areas like this in their central business districts, and they're usually bustling. Closer to home, there's something like this in Charlottesville, Virginia, and it works quite well.

A beergarden, Wil, is a large, open-air venue for drinking beer, eating greasy food, and socializing. This is a German concept, perhaps not surprisingly. The traditional Biergarten in Germany has a gravel "floor" and large wooden picnic tables with benches, so that you often end up sharing a table, a beer, and, if you drink enough beers, sometimes a song with complete strangers. I recall being at Oktoberfest in Munich (in a similar setting, though it wasn't a beer garden per se) and sitting across from a guy flanked by two women. In a very jovial manner, he introduced them to me: "This is my wife...[gesturing to other woman] and this is my girlfriend."

Some of the German beer gardens are huge - the Hirschgarten in northwestern Munich seats about 8000.

Anyway, beer gardens also have large chestnut trees growing in them, because in the days before refrigeration the beer kegs were kept in an underground cellar beneath the garden and the chestnut trees' broad leaves provided shade both for the patrons and to keep the beer cellar as cool as possible. That's where the concept of the "Bierdeckel" - the small square or circle of cardboard with a beer company logo on it that many Americans mistake for a coaster - came in. Chestnut trees have large nuts, and the Deckel serves to protect your beer from having one fall in (also works for bees, as I discovered one time when I neglected to cover my beer back up between sips).

By all means, let's find a place, but let's do it right - chestnut trees & everything, and GOOD beer, not Budweiser. Yuengling would be acceptable, I guess.

All the physical improvements would be great, but the people of Philadelphgia can be very hostile to each other, much less outsiders.

How about teaching manners in the schools? It would make the place a much nicer place to live.

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A beer garden is a great idea! My husband has thought so for years... He lived in Germany for a number of years after college. The thing that's so great about beer gardens is that it's really more of a social place than a place simply to drink. There are "reserved" tables for regulars. It's open air, so that it's not smoky. People are allowed to bring their kids and there is usually music. It's very family-oriented and not a strictly 20something bar.

The closest thing we have in the area is, I believe, Stoudt's. My oldest daughter loves to go in the summer and fall to listen to the music - and we love that we have a safe, family-friendly, not smoky, not full of drunks place to take her and we can have a good beer or two. I'd love something like this in the City!

In fact, not to always be the crazy mom on the blog, but the European cities have this great ability to be family-friendly in many respects without sacrificing adult lifestyles. In the US, it tends to be very one-sided - it's for kids or adults, but not both. I would love to see more venues that accommodate both. I think it would go a long way towards making Philly an even better place to be.