As of today, over 900 people have registered for the "presentation of a civic vision for the central Delaware riverfront" Wednesday at the Convention Center.
The presentation comes at a pivotal point: after a year of an amazing design process, detailed charmingly and fascinatingly by Matt Blanchard here, and just as the city gets ready to welcome an exciting new mayor.
That mayor, Michael Nutter, spoke starkly during the primary of the need for Philadelphia to finally re-embrace large-scale civic planning. He said he intended to "re-establish the Planning Commission as the nation’s preeminent city planning agency," and used the sort of sweeping and inspiring language that marks Penn Praxis's plan.
"We plan in order to protect our future as well as our past."
-- Michael Nutter
The whole process of developing the plan to be presented Wednesday for our shared waterfront has been inspiring: resolutely participatory, and fueled by immense local as well as national talent. It is a good model for the future as we move into the exciting time of a new administration that has been laden with so much hope and expectation that it can reverse the things that had seemed to fatally plague our city, the things we no longer want to accept: underperforming schools, inadequate transit, isolated and economically suffering neighborhoods, and unharnessed development.
The last, unharnessed development, is a good place to start. As our new mayor said:
"Recent Mayors of Philadelphia have pursued unrelated transactions rather than followed a plan. We no longer need to chase growth; now we need to guide it."
-- Michael Nutter
These are words Philadelphia needs to hear, and to which the government needs to be held. They are at the heart of the fight over the waterfront.
We should all go Wednesday and join in a celebration of the civic life of our city: civic participation and civic vision. You can register here. Go and stand in the old Philadelphia (the Convention Center) and see the new Philadelphia (an ambitious and democratically planned waterfront) made visible.
And we should seek not only to advocate for the Penn Praxis plan, which is in many ways OUR plan, but we should seek to continue the inspiring process of participation and collaboration that they sparked and apply it to the other areas where we want change.
getting back to policy
Jen:
Nice post. I guess you are leading back to policy. One thing that I think candidates for office need to keep in mind is that to the extent you/they can show a grasp of nitty-gritty issues that matter, you/they'll be stronger candidates. It'd nice to have big ideas and goals, but for me at least, I want people who can talk in clear and unambiguous detail about effective policies that make a difference.
William Penn drew a very simple square grid that didn't seem to be that important but Philadelphia has much to thank him for today.
--Mike
Weeds in the Sidewalk
PNA and The Plan
I understand the version of the plan to be presented is the one without casinos.
On behalf of the PNA, I spent about an hour posting signs in South Philly on this presentation. Despite the surge of violent crime, it remains an exciting time to be a Philadelphian and, hopefully, the Penn Praxis plan, and comprehensive planning will allow that trend to continue.
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
"Grid is Good!"
Sandy Shea wrote a nice column in THE DAILY NEWS about this whole process that got me pretty pumped. Check it out!. I'll be organizing for healthcare reform in State College PA on Wednesday, or I'd go. That said, I definitely wish I had one of those "Grid is Good" t-shirts. It took me almost half-a-day to get the joke, but once I did, it's a very, very good joke.
---
The Russellian Incorporated Innovations Corporation
Lefty Homilies
The RENAISSANCE starts HERE
Please do check out Sandy Shea's column that Brady links to above. I love where she basically says, "I know you've read Philadelphia planning promises before, but THIS IS REALLY DIFFERENT:
We know Philadelphia is long overdue for a new Dilworth-style renaissance.
It has been a long time--since the days of Mayor Richardson Dilworth facilitating planner Ed Bacon--since this city really has had a PLAN for how we might grow organically, so that we might realize our great potential for combining the wonders of nature, neighborhood, architecture, and commerce in truly practical and beautiful urban spaces.
What better place to start than the historic waterfront where Ben Franklin arrived and where the city really began?
What better model to follow than the William Penn's logical, human, humane (and yes again BEAUTIFUL) grid?
Cancel your dinner plans, call the sitter, do your homework in the afternoon, do whatever it takes, but GET TO THE CONVENTION CENTER WEDNESDAY NIGHT (see Jennifer's post to register).
THE RENAISSANCE STARTS HERE!
You wanted to change the city. Dan reminded you that you elected Michael Nutter to help do that. Well, it's a week later and a bright new future is ALREADY knocking at the door.
Are you going to answer?
Harris Steinberg deserves our support Wednesday night. Harris' heart is in that plan, that "entirely new road to the future," and his courage is in his convictions: he's made the brave decision to show the plan that is UNMARRED BY CASINO SCARS.
Now let's show him, and everyone in state and city government, that we support his grand uncompromised vision of the waterfront.
Let's show them that, as of last Tuesday, Philadelphia no longer accepts unfulfilled promises and unrealized dreams.
Let's show them that--unless something better comes along and at least as a starting point--WE DEMAND THEY FOLLOW THE PLAN!
If you haven't already figured out that this is the first battle of the new era that pits THE BAD OLD WAYS Philadelphia used to do things against THE BRAVE NEW WAYS Philadelphia must start doing things, check out Matt Ruben's challenge to developer Michael Sklaroff.
Basically, Matt throws down the gauntlet to Sklaroff and a pack of unprincipled developers and ex-pols who are trying to scuttle Steinberg's waterfront plan and who demand old-fashioned carte blanche in erecting whatever highrise-strip mall-casino nightmare they dream up for the city's front yard, no questions asked.
That's the way Philly's always done in it in the past.
Matt challenges that idea by challenging Sklaroff to a debate. Let's tell the Daily News we second his motion.
Waterfront developers are still on cruise control. They need to encounter some resistance before they'll even start considering, let alone negotiating around, a real waterfront plan. So until such time, let's let them know: WE DEMAND THEY FOLLOW THE PLAN!
Let's show Sklaroff and the others that there's a new way Philly is going to be doing things.
Philly has always chosen a developer's cacophony over a planner's harmony because our political leaders have always listened to moneyed interests first, the people in the neighborhoods last.
But there's a new leader in town.
Let's show Mayor-Elect Nutter (I like writing that) that WE AGREE with the assessment he voiced on WHYY's "Radio Times" last Wednesday in his post-victory interview:
The casinos are currently planned for the WRONG places.
Let's show Mayor-Elect Nutter that we support his new vision of a city that plans BEFORE it builds.
Let's show Steinberg and Nutter that we support their revolutionary idea that we can plan the beautiful city we want, rather than accepting the ugly city others would foist upon us.
Let's let them know that until developers start taking us and that vision seriously, WE DEMAND THEY FOLLOW THE PLAN!
And let's remind anyone who says "there's no way we can move the casinos now" that everyone who's been saying that--many since December 2005--would never have predicted that January 2008 would come around, and a NEW REFORMER MAYOR would come around, before any casino had even broken ground.
It's mid-November 2007. No casino has broken ground.
Mayor Nutter is coming. Anything is possible. A beautiful new vision of the waterfront is on display Wednesday night.
A beautiful new way of doing things in Philadelphia is within our graps.
THE RENAISSANCE STARTS HERE, people.
See you Wednesday night.
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why”? I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not”?
Robert Kennedy, 1968
Being the eternal realist
Some one must explain to me where all of the money will be coming from for all of the eminent domain (condemnation) when the paper streets are laid down across people's properties-some of which already have buildings and uses on them...
The cost to the City appears to be somewhere along the lines of the Iraq War...
I love the grid idea but it seems to be next to impossible. Has anybody thought about the costs?
It doesn't function via eminent domain
As I understand street planning, the city draws the lines and then they stay lines on the map until someone proposes a development plan for any given parcel. The city then works with the developer on the street siting. This is how it was explained at the presentation.
This happens all the time, and there is compensation involved. But it works differently than government-imposed seizure. I am not completely sure the mechanics of valuation though. Maybe someone like Vern does.
Anyway, the existing uses that don't comport with the grid: they would stay until someone decides to rebuild the site. Like, in twenty years when Wal-Mart gets torn down or whatever. And then the process I described above kicks in.
The beauty of having a beautiful plan
is that the next time a developer proposes an ugly/inappropriate building or strip mall, the city has a reason to say "no," and a bunch of positive/better alternatives to suggest so that a developer can earn a "yes."
To get what we want from developers will take some incentives too. But ours has been a city with a low self-esteem problem, pushing incentives without requiring much if any guides.
That said, an inspiring vision of the waterfront can help generate dollars not just from city, but from the state and the federal governments too. Put Democrats in charge of executive offices and legislatures, and we might have a shot, thanks to Harris Steinberg & Co's vision.
The plan is a vision that, as Inga Saffron says, "gets it right."
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why”? I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not”?
Robert Kennedy, 1968
Valuation is determined by a
Valuation is determined by a condemning entity through the use of an appraisal. There's more than one way to appraise a property, but rest assured the estimated just compensation (EJC) a condemnee is offered is not often the true market value of the property. And it is rarely seen as "just" to the condemnee.
There is, however, a (flawed) process (one that is long, complicated and difficult)that takes place before a government actually takes privately owned land. Believe me, it's not easy to take a property via eminent domain. But I know from experience that if politicians really want the land, its not easy for taxpayers to fight eminent domain, either. There are major problems with the process and the politics that infest the process, but that’s for another post.
The actual costs of the condemnation are often paid for by the eventual recipient of the land (a developer) unless, of course, taxpayer money is used in the form of NTI funds or federal funds, etc.
From what I understood at the Praxis presentation, though, eminent domain does not play much of a part in this. I could be mistaken.
As far as the costs of the plan are concerned, I have heard folks (not Harris or Praxis folks, but planners and people in the industry) throw around a number well over a billion dollars (a good portion of which likely used to deal with I-95). Yes, that seems like a ton of money. But it's not any more than it cost us to build the Linc and Citizens Bank Park. And I would argue the Praxis plan's return on investment will far exceed the building of two sports stadiums in the middle of nowhere, next to nothing, with a residual economic impact of nil.
Besides, if we actually practiced fiscal responsibility in the state and municipal governments, we'd be able to fund the priorities that our values tell us are important for a society to flourish.
I think the big thing for those of us who were there at Praxis’ conception is that this was a group run (for all intents and purposes) by academics and planners with the collaborative input of community people and experts in the field. It was open, transparent and available to scrutiny (even if some did not like what they saw).
When the idea of this group to steer planning along the riverfront was first proposed, the vision was much different. And it disturbed many of us. Thankfully, public opinion was pretty clear and the powers that be were enlightened (persuaded?) enough to come up with Penn Praxis instead.
20 years after 1st District Councilman Beloff shook down Willard Rouse and single-handedly haulted riverfront development for a generation, a bold vision formed with public input and supported by one of Beloff's successors finally came to light. We shouldn't lose sight of that. Sure, there’s nothing new about this in Chicago, Boston or San Francisco but hey, this is Philadelphia.
Expensive or not, for us, this is a big deal.
Here's another cool article by Matt Blanchard
A travelogue, even. It's about Hoboken and Jersey City, and how they respectively did and didn't extend the street grid to the water line.