Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Editorial | Fox Chase Expansion
Prerogative pejorative
Fox Chase Cancer Center's expansion plans have been held hostage by Philadelphia City Councilman Brian O'Neill.
The $800 million project was ready to be approved by Council this month. Then, mysteriously, "problems" cropped up.
O'Neill claimed that Fox Chase officials asked him at the last minute to postpone final approval. What's really going on is another ugly example of "councilmanic prerogative."
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Posted Friday, December 14, 2007 | The Daily News
Fox Chase Center bill is delayed
By MARK McDONALD, Philadelphia Daily News
The $700 million expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center wasn't the only big-ticket item that stalled on what was supposed to be City Council's last session of its term yesterday.
For reasons that were far from clear, City Councilman Brian O'Neill held up two bills that would enable the Fox Chase Cancer Center to begin a billion-dollar expansion onto 19 acres of Burholme Park, which the world famous research center wants to lease from the Fairmount Park Commission.
O'Neill told his surprised colleagues that he'd been asked by cancer center officials to hold the complicated long-term lease bill.
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Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Editorial | Fox Chase Expansion
A move benefiting all
City Council should approve next week the proposed expansion of Fox Chase Cancer Center, a plan which balances the needs of the growing institution and its neighborhood.
The $800 million proposal calls for construction of 15 buildings over 25 years, adding up to 4,300 jobs. The project allows this premiere health-care facility to stay in Northeast Philadelphia, along with the 2,400 current jobs - many high paying - that contribute to city tax coffers.
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Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Daniel Rubin | When 'forever' is inconvenient
By Daniel Rubin, Inquirer Columnist
Councilman Jack Kelly made it sound so simple.
For two hours on Monday, Fox Chase Cancer Center had presented a powerful case: It had to expand so it could treat more sick people and attract world-class scientists. The ideal solution lay next door - Burholme Park - a jumble of attractions, including a driving range, batting cages, ball fields and a hilltop museum.
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Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer
City loses rockfest, Vineland gains it
By Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic
Never mind Philapalooza: Get ready for the Vineland Music Festival.
Promoter C3 Presents, of Austin, Texas, announced yesterday that the three-day rock festival originally proposed for Philadelphia's Fairmount Park will instead be held Aug. 8 to 10 on a 550-acre farm in Vineland, in South Jersey's Cumberland County.
Over three days, a crowd of 150,000 or more is expected at what C3 partner Charlie Jones called "a camping festival," similar to the Bonnaroo Music Festival held each June in Manchester,
Tenn.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | The Philadelphia Inquirer
GREAT EXPECTATIONS CITIZENS AGENDA FOR PHILADELPHIA'S FUTURE: AGENDA/ENVIRONMENT
Revive Penn's green legacy
Being "green" is part of this city's DNA. From its founding, Philadelphia was meant to be a "Greene Countrie Town," set between two rivers, nestled into Penn's Woods.
As big, brawny and brawling as Philadelphia became, something in the city's soul always aspired to live at respectful ease with nature, to preserve its legacy of urban forest and flowing rivers, to let green beauty feed its spirit.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | The Philadelphia Inquirer
No Lollapalooza for Fairmount Park
Texas firm withdraws its proposal.
By Stephan Salisbury, Inquirer Culture Writer
There will be no rollicking Lollapalooza in Fairmount Park next year.
The Austin, Texas, outfit that proposed a three-day pop festival for Belmont Plateau in August has withdrawn the bid and is pursuing alternative plans, park officials said yesterday.
A competing proposal from Larry Magid's Electric Factory Concerts has not been withdrawn, Magid said late yesterday, although he added that he had strong reservations about the site.
CLICK HERE to read more.
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | The Philadelphia Inquirer
Fox Chase expansion into park wins key vote
By Jeff Shields, Inquirer Staff Writer
Fox Chase Cancer Center's planned $800 million expansion into neighboring Burholme Park won approval from a key City Council committee yesterday, clearing the way for Council to authorize the project before the year's end.
After three years of negotiations - and over the objections of some neighbors opposed to giving up 19 of Burholme Park's 69 acres - members of the Rules Committee unanimously recommended approval of the plan.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | Philadelphia Daily News
Council panel gives OK to expansion plans for cancer center
By CATHERINE LUCEY, Philadelphia Daily News
Plans for the Fox Chase Cancer Center to expand into Fairmount Park got a thumbs-up yesterday at a City Council committee hearing.
The cancer-research and -treatment center wants to expand into 19 acres of Burholme Park, at Cottman and Central Avenues.
It wants to lease land now used for a driving range and a miniature golf course.
Legislation for the project now goes to the full Council for consideration.
CLICK HERE to read more.
Posted on Fri, Nov. 2, 2007 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Changing Skyline | Beware good deed at Schuylkill park
By Inga Saffron
Inquirer Architecture Critic
You know an urban project is a success when you can't imagine the world before it existed. Schuylkill Banks park has given Philadelphia a welcome case of collective amnesia. At last count, close to 16,000 people a week were running, biking and walking along the 1.2-mile linear trail, making it one of the best-used parks in the city.
Yet the popular waterside recreation area, which opened in 2004 as a bare asphalt path, is also one of the city's most frustrating parks to access. The two main street-level entrances, at Locust and Race Streets, require users to navigate across a busy CSX rail line. There are times when CSX's mile-long convoys block the Locust Street crossing for hours, idling in place while freight cars are loaded and organized.
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Posted on Fri, Nov. 2, 2007 Philadelphia Daily News
O'Neill clears path for Fox Chase project
By MARK McDONALD
After almost three years of debate and maneuver, Fox Chase Cancer Center yesterday took a major step toward its planned billion-dollar expansion onto 19 acres of Fairmount Park.
City Councilman Brian O'Neill had bottled up zoning and land-lease bills for more than a year because of his concern over the proposed development's traffic impact in an area already suffering significant congestion.
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Exerpt from City Paper, Oct. 25 - Nov. 1, 2007
Congrats, Mayor Nutter!
(Now let's show him what he's won...)
By Doron Taussig and Tom Namako
GOOD MORNING, MR. MAYOR
Yeah, we know you're not technically mayor yet, that you still have an election to win, and blah, blah, blah. But you know what? We're going to go out on a limb, risk the potential infamy, the "Dewey-defeats-Truman" notoriety, and call this thing. You're the mayor. And it's time you started thinking like it.
When you walk into Room 215 this January, the wave of optimism and expectation that's carried you since April is going to crash into a hard reality: Philadelphia. This is a city teeming with angry children; overrun with guns; and struggling with an infrastructure, both physical and municipal, on the brink of collapse. Sure, there are some positive signs (the continued revitalization of Center City, for instance). But you're not going to get away with overseeing further gentrification and calling it a success. Philadelphia has come to a point where minor victories aren't enough. At the end of the day, you're going to be judged by how well you deal with this town's toughest problems.
What we've done here is create a list of some of the actual challenges you're going to face in your first year in office. For some of these problems, you've put forth plans; for others, we've made suggestions. For others still... well, we don't know what to tell you. We certainly wish you luck...
THE CAMPAIGN TALKING POINT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW UP ON
Back during the primary, when some reporter, in an attempt to be profound, would ask about your "vision" for the city, you tended to do a riff about civic pride, centered on a spiel about Fairmount Park.
"We have a 9,200-acre park system," you said. "People should be talking about Fairmount Park in a way that is very different, and at least comparable to Central Park."
It was a good spiel (there's a reason you got elected), but here's the thing: We liked it so much, we actually want to see it happen. In your first year, there will quite possibly be a referendum on a charter change to fix the way Fairmount Park is governed; you should use your bully pulpit to support it. You've also said that you think the Parks' budget should be increased from the current $13 million to around $50 million. Quite frankly, we don't know how you intend to quadruple the Parks' budget while cutting taxes and beefing up the police force - it's going to be tempting to abandon this lovely talking point come budget time. Which is why we think you should utilize your new platform (and proven fundraising prowess) to make Fairmount Park a philanthropic cause. Think about it! It's the kind of thing people with money get behind (a la Gross Clinic, not a la school district deficit). And you'll never have to stand up and explain that you're closing a firehouse to plant some new trees. (emphasis added)...
To read the entire article CLICK HERE.
The Philadelphia Inquirer | Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Chris Satullo | Philadelphia's future looking 'greener,' but battle's not over
By Chris Satullo, Inquirer Columnist
One in an series
The favorite color of this year's Philadelphia mayoral election has been green.
In city elections, it often is. This year, the difference is that green doesn't refer just to money.
It also refers to the constellation of environmental goals that form the "Green Agenda." These include everything from setting energy-efficient building standards to nurturing fresh-food markets to taking better care of Fairmount Park.
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Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, October 15, 2007
A forum on Phila.'s environment
By Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Staff Writer
There was little conflict last night between the two candidates for mayor of Philadelphia during a forum on environmental issues as they jointly declared war on litter.
Republican Al Taubenberger, disgusted by trash he saw floating in a lake in FDR Park, said he wanted to stiffen fines for littering, praising Chicago's $500 ticket for the offense. "It's high time we put a priority on our penalty for littering," Taubenberger said.
Democrat Michael Nutter said he would lead a "massive citywide cleanup" right after inauguration.
"The most revealing thing I've found while running around this great big city is how dirty Philadelphia is," Nutter said. "It really is a disgrace."
Read More
Philadelphia Daily News, Tuesday, October 15, 2007
A clean fight on environment
Mayoral candidates still spar softly
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Perhaps Michael Nutter and Al Taubenberger are finally getting a little too close for comfort?
At a mayoral forum on environmental issues last night, Republican candidate Taubenberger jokingly suggested that they should go for a ride on a bicycle built for two.
"We spend more than enough time together," Democrat Nutter shot back, as the audience laughed.
The usually agreeable rivals fielded questions on topics including recycling, funding the park system and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions during the forum at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
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Philadelphia Daily News, Friday, September 21, 2007
Park reform wobbles ahead
By MARK McDONALD
For more than five years, Fairmount Park advocates have pushed for changing the way park commissioners are elected.
Instead of letting Common Pleas judges do it behind closed doors, advocates say the mayor and City Council should make the selections. If the park started to slide, advocates say, everyone would know who to blame.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, September 21, 2007
Nutter absent from Council - but his hand is felt
Voting by Council members was influenced by the man expected to be the next mayor.
By Jeff Shields,Inquirer Staff Writer
The Michael Nutter era unofficially began yesterday as the Democratic mayoral candidate cast a long shadow on important Council legislation.
He wasn't in Council chambers, but his influence was palpable in the postponement of two referendums and the introduction of a Nutter-conceived bill to help ex-offenders get jobs.
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September 21, 2007
Council holds off on Fairmount measure
By Mike Benner / Metro Philadelphia
CITY HALL. Philadelphia's waited five years for a fix to Fairmount Park. What's another two months?
After reconvening for the first session of the season yesterday, City Council voted to amend a bill passed in June to change the way leaders are selected for the Fairmount Park system.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
Editorial | PARK CHANGE
SIX YEARS ago, the Daily News published a series of editorials bemoaning the state of the city's park system. We weren't the first, but the "Acres of Neglect" series illustrated how years of financial and management neglect of the city's glorious park system had taken their toll.
Read ON
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, July 26, 2007
Increase Tipping Fees
Fund for toxic cleanups
EDITORIAL
It would have been an absolute shame had Gov. Rendell's budget deal with the General Assembly required stealing money from parks and libraries to fund cleanups of hazardous waste sites.
But it almost happened.
READ ON
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Cleanup funding is shelved for budget's sake
Lawmakers put off a contentious plan to take $40 million from a land-conservation fund for use on hazardous sites
By Diane Mastrull and Amy Worden
Inquirer Staff Writers
A legislative battle over a state Senate plan to shore up a hazardous-sites cleanup program by taking more than $40 million from a land-preservation fund was threatening the passage of Pennsylvania's budget yesterday.
So lawmakers resorted to an old strategy: put off the problem. READ MORE
Philadelphia Inquirer - Monday, July 16, 2007
A threat to Pa.'s open-space fund
By Andy Loza, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association
Despite citizens' strong support for government spending for conservation and recreation, the state Senate has slashed funding for it.
Motivated by a need to find $40 million a year for another state program, the Senate passed Senate Bill 913, which would cut the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund by nearly 50 percent. The House must still take up the issue. In spite of a budget surplus, the governor seems inclined to support the cut. A growing number of House members oppose it.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Saturday, July 14, 2007
A Rendell plan draws fire from environmentalists and officials
Disagreement over funding
By Diane Mastrull and Amy Worden
Inquirer Staff Writers
The Rendell administration late yesterday suggested an alternative to a controversial Senate proposal to pay for the cleanup of hazardous sites by taking $40 million a year from a state land-preservation fund.
Criticism swiftly followed. READ MORE
Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Open-space fund may lose millions
By Diane Mastrull
With housing starts dropping and developers' appetite for land shrinking, Pennsylvania's conservation community thought it finally had the advantage.
Then came an unexpected threat: The state Senate voted 36-14 on June 26 for a measure that would drain $40 million a year from a fund used by communities, counties and nonprofit groups to create and maintain parks and greenways.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Thursday, Jun. 28, 2007
Music to the ears: City changes its tune on Rittenhouse performers
By Jill Porter
IT'S TIME to strike up the band.Because the silencing of musicians and singers in Rittenhouse Square has - blessedly - come to an end.
City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. settled the rancorous controversy yesterday by re-interpreting a Fairmount Park regulation to allow casual musicians to sing and play in the square, so long as the music doesn't violate noise ordinances.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, Jun. 28, 2007
Just when you thought it was safe by the water
By Jeff Gammage | Inquirer Staff Writer
No one set up a stand to sell gator gear on the banks of the Pennypack Creek yesterday.
There were no binoculars or cameras, no T-shirts that said, "My brother saw an alligator and all I got was this lousy shirt."
No one, on a scorching summer day, was selling so much a cup of cold Gatorade.
There were only the placid, peaceful waters of the creek and - Hey, did that log just blink?
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Friday, June 15, 2007
Council backs appointed park commission
The proposal would allow the mayor to choose most members of the Fairmount Park board
By Stephan Salisbury
INQUIRER CULTURE WRITER
Legislation that would abolish the independently elected Fairmount Park Commission in favor of a panel appointed by the mayor was endorsed by City Council yesterday, clearing the way for a final Council vote in September.
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Daily News - Friday, June 15, 2007
$3.9B budget passes, but after '08 ...? Spending plan 'out of whack'
By MARK McDONALD | Philadelphia Daily News
With no fanfare, City Council yesterday approved a $3.9 billion city budget for 2008 that will provide an additional $28 million to the city schools.
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Metro Philadelphia - Friday, June 15, 2007
Council recess provides time to work out Fairmount structure
By Josh Cornfield
CITY HALL - After activists stopped supporting his attempt to change how Fairmount Park is governed, Councilman Darrell Clarke said in an impassioned speech last September that he was "done" with the issue.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sewer-tank plan divides Council, City Water Department
By Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writer
What's worse? Living near a manhole that blows its lid during big storms, spewing raw sewage into the Poquessing Creek? Or living next to an underground sewage holding tank the size of two stacked Olympic swimming pools?
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Protect the park
Letter to the Editor by Phillip Price Jr., Fairmount Park Commissioner
A City Charter-change proposal would abolish the Fairmount Park Commission, which has served the Philadelphia region well for 140 years. A citizen-based, independent panel is an essential check against using the park for commercial purposes or private development.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Friday, Jun. 01, 2007
How Fairmount Park can flourish
By LEON W. TUCKER
A GREAT DEAL has been written lately about what's wrong with Fairmount Park, how it's governed and its prospects for future funding.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Study of city parks finds that they're 'in the tiolet'
By Stephanie Farr
Rusted and undoubtly wretched, a tiolet that greets visitors at the West river Drive comfort station and picnic area is a latrine that screams "Go anywhere else but here."
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Thursday, May 31, 2007
Updating the parks - and city charter?
By Stephan Salisbury
Piles of broken concrete spill along steps at Cobbs Creek Park. Torn black plastic garbage bags spew their contents across a field at Wingohocking Park. Crumbling retaining walls saginto the water at Tacony Creek Park.
Read more
METRO Philadelphia - Thursday, May 31, 2007
City hears appeal for parks funding
By Brian X. McCrone
Despite increased upkeep, even West Philadelphia's Carroll Park could use more maintenance. Three or four decades of neglect didn't make cleaning up Carroll Park a quick and easy process, according to nearby resident Doris Gwaltney.
Read more
METRO Philadelphia -Thursday, May 31, 2007
Taubenberger readies for uphill battle in November
By Brian X. McCrone
Standing 50 feet from the podium in the balmy basement meeting of Arch Street United Methodist Church, the Republican candidate for mayor is not as recognizable as hie Democratic counterpart. Michael Nutter.
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007 METRO Philadelphia
Group seeks money for struggling parks
By Brian X. McCrone
From ballparks and fields in disrepair to garbage and graffitti strewn across playgrounds, the Philadelphia Parks Alliancw found wide-ranging faults in virtually every park to be released today.
Read more
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | Philadelphia Daily News
DIRTY PICTURES
It's DEJA VU all over again.
That's the first thought that came to mind on being informed by the Philadelphia Parks Alliance that the city's parks are neglected and in trouble.
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Philadelphia Daily News Editorial Posted on Tuesday May 22, 2007
PARK COMMISSION: SAME OLD?
NEW SLATE DOESN'T MEAN NEW DAY FOR PARKS
LAST WEEK, THE BOARD of Judges voted in a new slate of Fairmount Park commissioners.
The vote followed what has probably been the most tumultuous five years in the commission's history. The five-year terms ending next month were to usher in a sea change for a tradition-bound commission considered divorced from the reality of governing a modern urban park system. This commission prompted a City Council-mandated strategic plan, a call for major reform of the way commissioners are chosen and even talk of merging the parks and with the Recreation Department. For better or worse, the current commission prompted loud public debate about the sad state of the city's parks. In fact, Council is poised to act on legislation to create a ballot question calling for the park's governing body to be appointed rather than secretly voted on by the Board of Judges. So in some ways, this current vote is both more and less significant than any other: more significant because of the extreme attention on the judges' flawed process, and less significant because there's a chance this slate will have extremely abbreviated terms. As for this new crop, let's just say that the mystery of the selection process remains intact.
Retained are Harris Baum, John Binswanger, Robert Nix, Phillip Price, and Doris Smith. New members are retired Common Pleas Judge Alex Bonavitacola; Gardner Cadwalader, an architect; Dorothy June Hairston-Brown, a charter-school founder; Farah Jimenez, who heads Mt. Airy USA, a community-development corporation; Joseph Manko, an environmental attorney and former Lower Merion Township commissioner.
Some of these are, at least on paper, qualified to oversee 9,800 acres of parkland.
Ousted are Roseanne Pauciello, Marsha Makadon, and Vice President Deborah Wolf Goldstein, a conservation attorney widely considered to be smart, hardworking and representative of the kind of change the parks desperately needed.
How a qualified candidate like Wolf Goldstein lost out to candidates with far fewer redeeming qualities is a stunning mystery. It provides more evidence -as if any more were needed- that Council must act on park reform now, and make it an immediate priority for the next mayor.
The Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, May 19, 2007
New Park Panel Named
Judges picked 10 Fairmount commission members
Critics advocate a more open selection process
By Stephan Salisbury | Inquirer Culture Writer
A new slate of Fairmount Park commissioners has been elected by the Board of Judges of the Common Pleas Court.
In a secret process that in recent years has been widely decried as opaque, the judges elected 10 of the 16 commission members. The other six represent varies city departments, City Council, and the Mayor's Office.
Lauren Bornfriend, executive director of the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, the largest park friends group, said her organization endorsed no particular candidates.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer Editoral Wednesday, May 16, 2007
FAIRMOUNT PARK WEEDING OUT CRIME
Heading into yesterday's election, one thing was clear: No matter which Democrat claimed the nomination for mayor, he should make a priority of the rebirth of the city's Fairmount Park system.
That's not just because the nominee should be the kind of person who believes you have to stop and smell the flowers.
The health of Philadelphia's 9,200-acre park system is critical to preserving the city's neighborhoods, attracting and retaining businesses, and yes, even helping to stem the tide of murder.
CLICK HERE
KYW Newsradio Posted: Wednesday, 02 May 2007
More $$$ for City Parks, Supporters Demand
By KYW's John Ostapkovich
Many Philadelphia parks are a mess, says an activist group trying to change the amount of "green" going into the city's greenery.
Pete Hoskins, president of the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, points out an obvious yet unsolved problem in Tacony Creek Park (in file photo above), one of many being surveyed as part of a push for park reform:
"There's no way you can hit a ball on the third-base side without it going into that tree."
In addition to the trees, litter and a teetering retaining wall are on the to-do list there.
Shiela Grossman has been volunteering in Pennypack Park for 19 years:
"Our park is so much cleaner because of our clean-ups. I think if we didn't do it, it would be sort of impossible to come into the park."
But Virginia Brown of Cobbs Creek has another concern:
"I live close enough to a trail that I could walk, but it's not safe."
Hoskins says proper care and feeding of city parks would cost $30 million, about twice what is now budgeted, but he figures not all would have to be tax money.
And besides, he says, it's worth it.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Mon., April 30, 2007
City must make use of many strengths
From regional and neighborhood cooperation to safety, all must pull together
By Alexander L. "Pete" Hoskins
Pete Hoskins is past board president of the Philadelphia Parks Alliance and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.
Now is Philadelphia's time.
Once again, our city is knocking on the door of greatness. We attract visitors from all over the world. Nearly 70 regional organizations have signed on to the Next Great City's adgena of specific, doable initiatives. Citizens crowd into forums to hear and talk to candidates running for mayor and City Council, many of whom understand how to achieve greatness.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat., April 28, 2007
As never before, a green race
Suddenly, all five mayoral candidates are talking about the environment.
By Sandy Bauers
Start collecting your plastic bottles, Philadelphia.
If any of the five Democratic candidates gets elected mayor and keeps his word, the city will finally have a recycling program with weekly pickup and a single bin for a household's items.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Fri., April 27, 2007
A Canopy of Benefits
Why planting trees makes social and economic sense
By Pepper Provenzano
Executive Director of TreeLink and cofounder of the National Alliance for Community Trees
Driven by unprecedented population growth, communities acros America are struggling to keep pace with essential services. Urban planners seek sustainable solutions for unchecked sprawl and tangible ways to save energy. But we've learned there is no "magic bullet' to solve air, water and soil polution.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri., April 27, 2007
River Park is on a Roll
CSX and city end five-year battle to access park
The future of both Schuylkill River Park and the city got brighter this week, thanks to an agreement that will create two crossings onto the Schuykill River Park Trail, and a pedestrian bridge new Locust Street.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thurs., April 26, 2007
Restoring parks can help restore peace on the street
By Patricia Vance
A killing a day - if not more. The crisis here builds with no solution in sight. But there is one step that we can take: We can spend more time, more attention and more money on our parks.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Wed., April 25, 2007
Now, easier access available to the Schuylkill River Park
By Stephan Salisbury
At 2:17 yesterday afternoon - a few minutes after a boat motored by on the Schuylkill and a few curious bike riders stopped to stare at the riverside clump of politicians, business officials and other, more casually dressed folk - Mayor Street and William Goetz, a CSX Transportation vice president, signed an agreement allowing people to walk right into their park.
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Northeast Times -Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2007
Please don't cut the city parks budget
By Janet E. Bernstein
As a member of the Friends of Womrath Park and the Friends of Overington Park, and a member of the Philadelphia Gren Advisoryu Council, I am writing to urge everyone to contact City Council to vote for increases in funding for the Recreation Department.
There are apparently rumors that the summer maintenance assistance program might be cut this year from the budget.
CLICK HERE to read more
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Weds, April 11, 2007
Fairmount park fans rally for more funding
By Stephan Salisburg
Holding aloft posters and signs proclaiming "Great Parks=Great City", about 100 Fairmount Park advocates and supporters rallied outside City Hall yesterday, calling for increased park funding and reform of its governing structure.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Tue, April 10, 2007
Renewal stirs hope for neighborhood
By Regina Medina
Two teenage junior block captains in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia have hope for their community, now that a generations-old park is under renovation.
Muhammad Park, on Lancaster Avenue between 47th and 48th streets, has been been a magnet for unsavory activity, said Anwar Braxton, 16, and his pal Joseph McLeod, 16, who volunteer on their block nearby.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sun, April 8, 2007
On the Riverfront
By Harris Steinberg
Philadelphia is at a crossroads, and the road ahead runs along the Delaware River.
Cities around the world understand that public investment in parks, streets and boulevards should be guided by smart planning and land-use regulations. They understand the relationship between first-rate public design and quality of life.
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Washington Post - Posted on Sun, April 1, 2007
THE "HUMANE METROPOLIS" -- ARE WE READY?
By Neal Peirce
Cities were once celebrated as ports of trade, railway hubs, seats of smoke-belching industries. Then they became known as office and banking centers. In the late 20th century each big town had to have its own aquarium and stadiums. Recently there's been a new mantra -- cities as magnets for "young creatives" in arts and entrepreneurship.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thu, Mar. 08, 2007
Working together for Schuylkill park
By Sarah Clark Stuart
It is terrific to see how engaged people have become over planning for the redevelopment of Philadelphia's Delaware riverfront. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that Philadelphia's other river, the Schuylkill, has undergone years of planning. It is primed and ready for redevelopment, casino-free, and is accessible to the public.
A long-standing dispute between CSX railroad and the city had slowed the vision of the Schuylkill riverfront, but a recent agreement makes the Schuylkill ready to be reclaimed and enhanced to become a 21st-century riverfront. If this or the next mayor and City Council choose to take the opportunity, the Schuylkill has tremendous economic-development potential and could become one of the city's greatest recreational and civic assets.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Tue, Mar. 06, 2007
Mayoral candidates all of a color
Forum airs flowery pro-green language
By DAVE DAVIES
Put the leading Democratic mayoral candidates in front of 1,000 park and garden enthusiasts at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and you discover something:
All five are radical Greens.
Not as in Green Party - they have their own candidate, Kerry Foster - but as in a near-fanatical commitment to an environmentally conscious administration.
"Green is a given," said U.S. Rep. Bob Brady. "When I'm mayor of this town, any developer who wants to come in and build a development, he's got to create green space... like my dear friend John Westrum, who's sitting here in the audience." Westrum runs Westrum Development Co., a Philadelphia-area homebuilder.
At a Flower Show mayoral forum sponsored by the Horticultural Society, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, the candidates took turns pledging expanded recycling, more funding for parks and reforms in the selection of Fairmount Park commissioners.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Tue, Mar. 06, 2007
Candidates go for the green at Flower Show
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia's five major Democratic mayoral candidates tossed bouquets to the environmental movement last night during a candidates' forum at the Flower Show.
They took turns touting their own environmental enthusiasm - and, occasionally, capitalizing on the small differences among them - before an audience of nearly 1,000 people. About 600 filled the main auditorium at the Convention Center; hundreds more watched on a video screen in an adjacent room. "Green is a given," said U.S. Rep. Bob Brady in a representative bit of crowd-pleasing rhetoric. But if that is increasingly true in Democratic Party politics, the answers to thornier questions - such as where the next mayor will find the money for improving the city's dilapidated parks - were less clear.
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Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007
Making the park process worthy
By C. DARNELL JONES II
WHILE RECENT discussion of the upcoming selection of the Fairmount Park Commission has raised scrutiny of the selection process, it also provides another opportunity to demonstrate a new day in the overall conduct of the First Judicial District.
It also allows us to continue an important dialogue about the merits of the selection process. Despite the sometimes negative rhetoric, the strong opinions expressed by the public and supporters demonstrate the high level of interest in and commitment to the future of Fairmount Park.
I commend the Daily News, past commission members, Councilmembers Blondell Reynolds Brown and Darrell Clarke and others, the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, the Committee of Seventy and the Board of Judges for being committed stewards of this precious city resource and for taking such an active role in keeping this topic in the public forum.
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thu, Feb. 08, 2007
Editorial | Fairmount Park: Underfunded and overhacked
For the next mayor, meeting the many challenges in running Philadelphia won't exactly be a walk in the park.
But plenty of city voters wouldn't mind if the new mayor spent some quality time strolling the city's vast but tarnished gem, Fairmount Park - and not just on his day off.
