That's true. The developers will plant a few trees and spruce-up the landscaping, while people who are new the area have no idea about its past. I just hope they've (the developers) done their due dilligence and tested the grounds for contamination (i.e. at the old soap factory).

I just searched through the Inquirer/Daily News archives because I keep reading about these supposed "cancer problems" in that area. Guess what? I couldn't find one article that says the area is dangerous at all -- nothing like Pug and others insist, that's for sure. Not one. I think this thing is becoming an urban legend, with little boys and girls dying of cancer and things like that.

Here's a couple graphs from an Inquirer story Feb. 1, 1986:
The EPA and the federal Centers for Disease Control concluded that the chances of the incinerator's causing a case of cancer for lifetime residents of the Manayunk and Roxborough neighborhoods were five in 100,000.

Put another away, the incinerator will cause one extra case of cancer every 17 years in residents with a lifetime exposure to the smoke from the plant, the EPA said.
"These are not significantly high numbers. . . . This isn't a major problem," said Raymond Cunningham, director of the Air Management Division in the EPA's Philadelphia office.
"This is good news," said Rep. Lawrence Coughlin (R., Pa.). Coughlin, whose district includes the incinerator, which is located at Domino Lane and Umbria Street, had been instrumental in prodding the EPA into doing its $250,000 study. "We are pleased that the EPA gave (the incinerator) a clean bill of health," Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Harry Perks said yesterday.

So its safe to live there. I would not think that someone would build homes in an unsafe area.

Speaking of additional Umbria Street Development and health impacts, I saw on phillyskyline a project (with no details other than an illustration with the antenna farm in the background) to be located at Umbria and Parker named Umbria Village. The antenna farm is in the background. Are these the new homes recently completed on Parker Avenue or is this something else in the works?
They're out of room for anything else on Parker unless someone has bought Javies or the commercial building next to it or if there is development land behind the train station.
Factor in the cars from these houses plus whatever they add to the old Keystone Boiler Works (near Ripka) plus the massive Dranoff condos going on Venice Island plus the usual congestion and you are talking aneurysm as you sit and stew trying to get on the Green Lane / Belmont Avenue entrance to the expressway, that's definitely a health hazard.
That crazy quilt of mismatched developments on Parker from the bottom to the top (my favorite houses are the ones with the gas meters on the facade) speaks volumes about who rules when it comes building in Philadelphia - the developers and the politicians. Sensible development done in concert with responsible oversight and planning - and the community lose out.

Are they really building more houses at the Keystone Boiler Works? God, I hope not.

I don't know what they're building but the front of the building is ripped down to the steel and its been gutted and something added at the roof line. I'd be surprised if it's anything other than residential - given lack of business tax reform, the city seems like it's content to let its stock of commercial buildings slip into condo status. We need some level of employment in the city thats not in the cultural, institutional, retail or educational category. Wouldn't it be nice if some of us could actually work in community in which we reside.