I believe someone in this thread mentioned that they'll be a certain height and age so that they don't get yanked by punks.

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"We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative." - Gov Sarah Palin, August 2006

"Power does what it wants." - George Carlin

Riiiight....because the 5 trees that were there before were doing such a great job of shading 8 entire blocks.

Street trees have a useful lifespan. At a certain age, they become problematic and need to be removed. All street trees are only expected to last for a predetermined length of time. After that, they start losing branches, roots start breaking up pipes and sidewalks....etc.

But, you are right as usual. We should have stuck with the 5 trees that outlived their useful lives and not planted EIGHTY new trees. And the handful of old street lights on each block, they may not have put out enough light to see your hand in front of your face...but they still worked so why are we taking them down and replacing them with MORE brand new, brighter lights?

Timk,
Just read zur's signature and apply it to him:
It's too tall..! it ruins the feel of the city..! It casts massive shadows..! It's an architectural nightmare..! We should stand together and fight this monstrosity that threatens our homes..! ...but amazingly no one tore down the Eiffel Tower.

or.. why we shouldn't always listen to "neighborhood groups" and critics.
I guess people like zur just just can't stand progress-even if its brought about by necessity.

Almost every single tree that existed had damaged vehicles due to weak limbs breaking off. The gas leaks were so bad that PGW was out on south street every single day for the past year or two constantly patching, and as we know the same aging infrastructure blew up a house in the district. Traffic lights were antiquated and no properly synced, resulting in traffic tie ups and delays.

Forget the sidewalks, tar, and trees-underneath it all is an infrastructure that wasn't touched in over 60 years, and needed improved to get up to speed with other already modernized parts of the city. Along with these improvements the street will get OVER 6 TIMES AS MANY TREES AND OVER 10 TIMES AS MANY LIGHTS!!!! Gee, progress is so harsh isn't it?

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

it's just going to look very "suburban development" for a while.

I would guess you lose 30% of the initial trees within 5 years too boot.

PGW lines break due to age and vibration (more from traffic than from trees) and subsidence due to settling of surrounding sewer/water utilities of the same age.

Replacing functional lights in a city where so much is non0functional is a bit of a peeve... but it is a tourist district.

A tourist district SSHHD is determined to bleach into Rittenhouse weather anyone will use it or not.


You guys should make parking even more difficult to limit even more visitor by ripping out the Headhouse parking altogether.



Just bring a cute rendering of picnics and families on bikes to the next meeting instead of that nasty spending visitors parking their earth killing machines.



Honestly.. my only beefs were removing living trees and choosing ugly ass red lights. Thankfully someone will tag/sticker them back into looking like "South Street" soon enough

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says the kid who basically lives in the suburbs.
Your guess will be wrong, as with the rest of your wrongipedia meanderings. There is a retention plan to avoid this. And so what if "30%" is lost? Our street would still end up with exponentially more trees than we had in the first place.
Well no sh$t. Does that mean we should just never replace the gas lines? Or would it be smarter and better for neighbors and businesses alike if PGW came in and completely replaced the system with new pipes that (what?) don't suffer from "vibration" because of new materials? In fact, its also better for visitors since street closures and parking limitations were beginning to become a weekly occurence:



Oh didn't the street look fabulous?!?! Why would we ever want to fix it?!?!

You are really starting to sound like a complete @ss. Here's what happened recently when the gas systems in our neighborhood weren't properly maintained.

Well, then you can pick a piece of your philadelphia suburtopia and fight for the next 10 years to get some new lights-because that's about how long this project took for the businesses to get it. And no, they were not all "functional" as you so generally suggest.
And you know this from attending how many business meetings and paying how much in SSHD taxes and getting how many monthly newsletters over the years?
Actually genius, according to boardmembers and the councilman, those plans are in the works-sort of. And guess what? The proposal will increase on street parking by at least 20 spots while providing an area for concerts and other events that will bring people from all walks of life. Less spots means more spots? Yes, and I could go into it with you but you'd just switch your argument to completely ignore the positive change.
The only ones on bikes are hipsters going to moms, mannys, fluid, beau monde, or pearl. The only ones picnicking are the squatters who eat wawa shortis by the fountain.

I don't even know wtf you are talking about when you mention spending visitors and earth killing machines. Visitors are getting here just fine, and if you knew anything you'd know that the SSHD was a business group not a residential group. Yeah, there's residents on the board-and they own bars, cheesesteak shops, breweries, tattoo shops, sex shops, and yes, yuppy restaurants. With this mix do you really think they would "rittenhouse" the area if TimK or I asked them? One side says too bourgeois, another says not enough...if you ask me both extremes are idiots because they are too blind to the great variety this area has to offer on both sides of the fence.
Well, the trees were dying and falling down. What part of this is not getting through to you? Would you be praising the folliage if your car was totaled by a tree that fell on its own while you were shopping on south street? It has happened, so while your whining about plants I'd suggest that you google yourself some knowledge about the useful lifespan of trees in an urban setting.

Ugly ass lights? Your opinion, nothing more-and since you don't live, work, or own property here I could really give a sh&t what you think since I do.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

alesis.

Okay.

Sure...I don't live there.


I did used to frequent South Street most of my life.

Date 3 girls who lived on it... even back in the 90's.

Very familiar with the area.

It just feels very different...like it's forced now and not "natural"

FOrcing the lights and such...feels like more of the same.


South Street was a draw in a city with very few others.

Now with lots of things appearing... not so sure about it.


and yes... while residents/owners get final say.


It's the people who make the trek down/up/over to South that drive it..

not the local "business"

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"

well, south street is short on natural beauty, so i'm pretty sure its the businesses that draw the visitors

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SITUATION: MOISTURIZED
thor must be failing -

Yeah, and in the 90's there was south street and , uh, south street. With the extreme lift of philadelphia'a economy everyone that would normally be on south street is now in fishtown, nolib., wes philly, centercity, old city(which is dying again IMO), and everywhere in between. Do they still come to south street? Sure, but it will never again like it used to because our population is constantly dwindling while our options become much greater. In order to stay competitive in such a market is to diversify and offer a solid mix of everything. And I'll tell ya something plainly evident-even in places like ansill, bridget foys, southwark, beau monde-etc., it is still the young local hipster, punk, and cool younger professional crowd that still pays south street's bills.

And no one is going to avoid south street because there is new sidewalks and red poles. I've heard plenty of people say, "this place is disgusting" but I've never heard the zipperhead crowd say "yuck, these sidewalks and poles are too pretty"-instead, they seem equally happy about the makeover.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

Let the truth be told when the project is done. So far so good, but lets see when a full city block is complete. Currently it is piece meal. It seems like there are already cracks in some of the new sidewalks between front and 3rd? I believe once the street is repaved (is this ever happening?) and the tress are in, we may all come to agreement that the makeover and expenditures were all a good thing for this area!

I walk between front and 3rd several times a day...where did you see cracks?!

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying