"I believe that Templetown will have UC shaking in their boots IMO, with the diversity (color, ethnicity, and even mixed-income), amenities, etc."

It will never have UC "shaking in their boots".... do you hear me? (smile)
Temple doesn't have the cache, rich alums(who have they got
besides Bill Cosby) and Ivy League clout to make
it happen.

I do commend Temple for doing what they have done so far though!

I just realized something. You could develop almost anything in North Philly because nobody is gonna oppose it because they don't have anything going for it.you know, like the time Will Smith wanted to build a recording studio in society hill or something like that, right away they opposed him. If he would have wanted to build that thing at say 5th and girard or vicinity, he would have gottten it buiklt.

Right because poor black folks are sooooo completely trusting of devlopers, because "gentrification" is not controversial at all and because it has gone so smoothly with Al Alston et al in Brewerytown, for example. Truly typed like somebody in Tempe AZ.

Now why was it that the title of this thread referred to a "Cold War" between Temple and its neighbors again?
http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=20389

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Barack Obama on security, Iraq and Afghanistan. We need a Commander in Chief who knows the differences between Shii'a and Sunni.

I believe if developers hold symposiums with the community and let the black folks have a say in the development of their neighborhood, it would serve as a sign that the developers welcome diversity into their projects.
granted, there will always be people resistant to change, but that is not a justification to stop development and progress.

You have got to take the long view with North Philly. And you have to realize that it is a vast area of the city we're talking about. I personally think North Philly ends at Route 1 or Hunting Park Avenue- then you get more strongly defined neighborhoods like Logan, Olney. LaSalle is not in North Philly- just ask the residents!
NP certainly is revitalizing where it has strong connections to Center City, and to major institutions (Temple, Girard College, the Prep), lifestyle advantages ( Fairmount Park, the Schuylkill River, proximity to East Falls, Fairmount, Northern Libs), and good transportation connections. But the hundreds of blocks in between Broad and 33rd on the one side, and Broad and Frankford, more or less, will not all be swept up in a wave of revitalization-- it will continue to turn around based on the connections.

2 other huge issues are vacant property acquisiton, where you have block after block of abandoned property, or property with no clear chain of title/ ownership. First,you have got to use some tools like eminent domain to deal with some of these areas, and that is very unpopular, very expensive, and takes a long time. Second, you have a lot of brownfields in industrial areas that present a huge challenge economically.

I think it would be a great step to establish some new corridors that would help make these connections stronger. One idea-- use abandoned freight rail corridors as greenways/ bike ways- yeah, long-term vision, but it would work to connect places like eastern NP to the rDelaware- look at the huge rail infrastructure through this area and the connection from Front and Lehigh right to the Delaware.

I think you raise some valid points green, which is why I am currently working on building a production studio with green and blue screen in this part of the city(nolibs/delaware water front). I'm constabntly telling my investor friends and entreprenuer friends how good of an area NP is for investment. I think also turning those brownfields you mentioned into greenfields would benefit the community.

SOrry, hate to disagree with ou on that part, but Olney, Logan, WOL, EOL, and even Cedarbrook is technically considered a part of NP, even though a lot of the residents don't really say they live in North (Central) Philly, that's what it it's. Just like Overbrook is a part of West Philly, those communities are a part of NP. The only neighborhood that can get away with having it's own identity is SW Philly, which won't want anything to do with WP anyways.

North Philly is only defined that way by some technical divisions- I'll take community identity over technical boundaries made up long ago.

when I grew up in Olney, in the nineties, we never identified ourselves as NP. We always considered anything below the BLVD. NP.

I grew up poor at 20th and Diamond in the 70s and 80s. Thank God for a college education, I was able to move on. I have fond memories of riding my bike through Temple because it felt like a park.

Gentrification is a loaded term depending on which end you are on. I am looking at it from both ends as someone who saw the negative side growing up poor and as someone who sees some of the benefits now.

I believe officially the cold war is over. Temple has won.

1. Many long time residents are seeing that they can charge college students high rents just like the developers and they are following suit. Some are selling their property while others rent it out. (My wife's parents have been on their block for over 25 years. In the last 10 years, it went from family friendly to student majority)

2. Temple has been building consistently for the last 17 years making the school and community attractive.

3. Poor folk are getting displaced by a lack of services and now by high taxes and rent.

4. If you look closely, people are not moving in the areas near broad and diamond yet but you do see houses being rehabbed. Its coming but its not there yet. This part of North Philly is habitable to college students because they are so transient. Ironically, people seem to ignore the fact that many of them nor the developers care about the community either. Just look at the trash that litters any block that is majority students.

5. People right now are buying homes in North philly south of girard, west of broad all the way over to the park. (I know cuz I work over there).

There are success stories of mixed income communities in the U.S. Sadly, this is not happening in North Phila. for the most part. People make a lot of noise about helping the poor folks but not much materializes (except for the homes built east of broad and south of girard.)

The next wave:
1. North philly (from my definition since I was a kid) is anything north of city hall up to olney, west to fairmount park, east to Kensington Ave. As areas are gentrified, you will see renewed emphasis on the community names (Fairmount, Brewrytown, etc) to re-sell the community to upper middle class folk. No one wants to call where they live North Philly because of the bad associations.

2. Broad St. from city hall up to Lehigh is going to be developed in the next 10 years with Temple being a major part of that.

3. West and Southwest Philly is going through what 20th and diamond went through in the 80s.

Just some thoughts.