Dear YPP,

There is a great planning initiative underway here in Philadelphia, and we invite you to be a part of it with this discussion. The Central Delaware Riverfront Planning Process, organized by PennPraxis in partnership with the City Planning Commission, is well underway to create a civic vision for seven miles of the Delaware waterfront (Oregon to Allegheny Avenues). Public input will drive and inform this plan.

We have our first stage of public forums, which are built around discussing what residents value about their neighborhood and the river.

Monday, Dec. 11: Saint Anne's Social Hall, Memphis and Tucker Streets (off Lehigh Ave)
Wednesday, Dec. 13: George Washington School, 5th and Federal Streets
Thursday, Dec. 14: Independence Seaport Museum, Penn's Landing

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for registration and refreshments, and the forum will begin promptly at 6:15 p.m. Please RSVP at www.planphilly.com/registration

This is a great way to inform future development and help plan the public's waterfront! It will be the public that drives this plan, so we cannot do it without you.

In addition to these sessions, we would like to encourage discussion right here at YPP. We want to hear ideas and experiences from all over the city and learn more about citizens' hopes and concerns for the waterfront. Whether in a social hall or in cyberspace, there is lots to learn from engaging each other on issues about which we all feel very strongly.

The more who participate, the richer our ideas for a 21st-century waterfront will be. Our process is already infiltrating discussions, as the recent news surrounding the rezoning for the Bridgeman's View Tower proposal shows. We are getting people's attention, so let your voice be heard!

Thanks, and I look forward to beginning this thread and having an engaged and inform dialogue with you all. Hopefully I will get to meet some of you at our public forums.

Harris Steinberg
Executive Director, PennPraxis
praxis@design.upenn.edu