Grid is Good: Daily News Endorses Praxis Plan for Waterfront - PhillyBlog

GoWest · #1 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 03:15 PM

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opin..._INVITED_.html

Quote:

Sandra Shea | RIVERFRONT PLANNING: YOU'RE INVITED!

WE'RE JUST A FEW short weeks away from a new chapter in the history of this city, one that has been written in part by citizens.
And no, I'm not talking about the mayoral election, but an event that comes a week later: the unveiling of a new vision for the Delaware River waterfront....

Grid is good

....I attended the planning commission meeting earlier this month where Steinberg unveiled an early glimpse of his vision to the commission and a large audience that included developers.
It's never pretty to watch how our civic sausage gets made, but this meeting was particularly ugly, and got even uglier when a few developers got up to blast the plan.
Michael Sklaroff, a real estate development attorney with Ballard Spahr, and chairman of the Historical Commission, had prepared a litany of criticisms. He criticized it for being from academia (tell that to the folks from the river wards who showed up at the meetings), and for not being "grounded in reality." (Ask those same river-wards people what they think of the "reality" of casinos.) The essense of Sklaroff's criticism was that it wasn't the way things are done around here. His words - and those of Craig Schelter, who also criticized it - were like the sound of the crumbling of the old-school ways.
Sklaroff maintains that "even gated communities can afford river access and river access need not be absolute to be effective and enjoyable." In other words, keep pressing your nose against the fence - maybe we'll let you see the water.
Sklaroff raised the stakes even higher when he said that he hoped that the planning commission, Steinberg and he could meet "away from the press."
That might be the most offensive thing I've heard any powerful person say. Not because I'm a member of the press, but because what it means is "I don't want any witnesses to what we're going to do."

THEM'S fighting words, a call to battle for every citizen who cares about how the city creates its future. Then again, that fight may not last long. After all, the Nov. 14 event is expected to attract 1,000 people, and after that, the vision is bound to attract many more.
Imagine: a big civic idea that gets people excited about the future, and the role they can play in shaping it. Make sure you show up on Nov. 14.
As an added incentive, we're giving away 100 T-shirts. The first 50 people who register for the meeting with the Daily News using the coupon below, and the first 50 to register online, will get a cool T-shirt inscribed with what I hope will become one of the mantras of this process: Grid is good.
Make that 99 - I'm going to send one to Michael Sklaroff. *
Sandra Shea is the editor of the editorial page.

ChasingFoxes · #2 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 03:18 PM

...if the Daily News suports it, its a-ok in my book.

sMichael · #3 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 03:44 PM

i don't necessarily think that a grid is the best thing...in certain contexts. take the port richmond site, for example. pp suggests marching the tight, close-ordered grid everywhere, but the port richmond site was the reading rr's primary port facility, and never had a grid to start with. being once overrun by trackwork, it stands to reason that the site has been graded to allow trains to run, which is more demanding than roadwork.
my suggestion (in this case) would be NOT to use a grid, but rather fan the streets out from a central entrance a la the old rail yard, providing cross streets that crescent around the site. this is a bit of a elaboration of my essay on phillyskyline, as i am sure you know.

romano · #4 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 03:49 PM

Very cool, this is planning done right. I hope people get behind it and the plan gathers some serious momentum

CountFunkula · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 04:04 PM

having spent some time in this process, I'm all for it.

Developers outraged??? By what??? reason?

sMichael · #6 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountFunkula

having spent some time in this process, I'm all for it.

Developers outraged??? By what??? reason?

ca j'aimerais connaitre...

GoWest · #7 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountFunkula

having spent some time in this process, I'm all for it.

Developers outraged??? By what??? reason?

If the community has input- they won't be able to build cheap towers that they can then overprice because of their privacy.

When the main selling feature of a development is a gate with a security post- developers don't have to make any effort to create a safe and interesting area to set their building in- thus its easier for them- and more profitiable to build. So the developers are setting up a false dichotomy by saying that this is the only financial model that will work on the waterfront. They say, no one will build here, if we have to follow this plan- without providing numbers or evidance to support this claim. The unfourtinate thing is that some people (like the planning commissioner) are lending credibility to their myth.

Thankfully the public isn't so easily fooled- since they have been involved witht the plan since day one. We know that with the waterfront we can have our cake and eat it too (public access + private investment) and the grid is the the best way to make the Philly waterfront a destination for people to live in and visit from around the world. Loose the intracasy and interest that a grid will create and kiss the idea of an exciting- and uniquely Philly- waterfront goodbye! All in the name of cheep condo towers with security gates- give me a break- if these kinds of developments were really that profitable- the waterfront square project would not be idling in the dust like it is right now- casino next door or not.

Developers with dollar signs in their eyes have degraded american architecture and the public experience of our streets for too long now- and thanks to nothing else but a lowering of public standards. The grid is good if for no other reason than these guys might have to think harder to develop a product that works for their bottom line- and the new higher one the public has drawn.

From Philly · #8 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChasingFoxes

...if the Daily News suports it, its a-ok in my book.

This from a newspaper that moved most of its operation out of the city!

phillyaggie · #9 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 06:55 PM

something like the Schyulkill River Park that ribbons along on one bank of the river...can't something similar be done on the Delaware side?

that editorial was a nice piece of info. hopefully lot of knowledgeable people show up and voice their opinions at that forum.

sMichael · #10 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

something like the Schyulkill River Park that ribbons along on one bank of the river...can't something similar be done on the Delaware side?

that editorial was a nice piece of info. hopefully lot of knowledgeable people show up and voice their opinions at that forum.

i doubt it, what with all the piers in the way. which is what the developers want to fence off btw to make their cheap gated towers, instead of (in most cases) working WITH the community.