Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Fri, Dec. 23, 2005
Park Commission hires PR firm
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer
In a move that's raised a few eyebrows around City Hall, the Fairmount Park Commission has hired a well-connected public relations firm to talk up the virtues of an independent, well-funded park system.
Along with the public relations firm has come a high-profile lobbyist, S.R. Wojdak & Associates.
All this occurs at a time when City Council legislation is on the table to abolish the Park Commission and merge parks with the Recreation Department.
Is the commission seeking to crush the legislation? READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Tue, Dec. 20, 2005
What's it all about? The future of the parks
WHAT IS the battle over Fairmount Park really about? The battle was declared in June, when City Council members Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown introduced a bill that would abolish the Fairmount Park Commission and consolidate the city's park system and Recreation Department.
This recent call for reform was prompted by the belief that the Fairmount Park Commission had spent $300,000 of the city's money on a long-overdue strategic plan - only to ignore the findings ($300,000 also came from the William Penn Foundation). The commission says it has no money to implement the plan. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Dec. 17, 2005
Editorial | Fairmount Park Commission Cool the Merger Talk
Twice this week, the proposal to replace Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission with a new Department of Parks and Recreation received a well-deserved drubbing.
Park advocates, volunteers, business leaders, and even a top city official, Managing Director Pedro Ramos, pointed up shortcomings of the plan. Ramos fretted over the impact on private fund-raising if the commission is scrapped.
READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Dec. 16, 2005
Editorial Cartoon | Signe Wilkinson
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thurs, Dec. 15, 2005
Advocates win a reprieve for the Park Commission
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer
City Council legislation seeking to abolish the Fairmount Park Commission and create a new Department of Parks and Recreation met with considerable skepticism at a lengthy public hearing yesterday.
Park advocates, volunteers and city officials all weighed in. And while virtually all agreed that the park system was starved for resources and funding, few agreed that abolition of the Park Commission and a merger with the Recreation Department would address that problem directly, if at all. READ ON. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Thurs, Dec. 15, 2005
Council eyes recreation, parks union
By SANDRA SHEA
A controversial bill that could shape the future of Fairmount Park by changing the way that it's governed was aired for the first time yesterday at a City Council hearing.
Council heard testimony on the proposal that would consolidate the operations of Fairmount Park and the city Recreation Department. READ ON. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thurs, Dec. 15, 2005
Fairmount Park Commission: Don't merge it out of existence
Critics of the Fairmount Park Commission have decided that the best way to solve the park's problems is to merge the commission out of existence - that is, consolidate the park under the city's Department of Recreation.
As the latest in a long line of park stewards dating back to 1867, when the state legislature decided to preserve the city's precious green spaces against future encroachment, we say beware this quick-fix "solution" because it may prove far worse than the problem it seeks to address. READ ON. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Wed, Dec. 14, 2005
At forum, debate over how to run park system
An ex-managing director called the current setup convoluted. He failed to persuade many.By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff WriterPhil Goldsmith, the city's former managing director and a onetime acting executive director of Fairmount Park, called yesterday for reform of the parks, characterizing the current system as "stuck in the mud of the status quo."
Taking the microphone at a public forum held at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the retired Goldsmith argued passionately in favor of a proposed change in the City Charter that would dissolve the Fairmount Park Commission as an operating entity. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Tues, Dec. 13, 2005
Editorial | Fairmount Park Merger
Would it profit Philadelphia's 9,200-acre Fairmount Park system to merge with the city Recreation Department, yet forfeit its best hope of being preserved for future generations?
What would be the benefit if the city fails to resolve the park system's long-standing funding problems? READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Tues, Dec. 13, 2005
The Case for the Park Commission
Mark Alan Hughes
THIS WEEK, City Council takes up the merger of the venerable Fairmount Park Commission with the city Recreation Department.
Unlike taxes and ethics - issues where the best arguments are all on one side - the merger idea is one where reasonable people can discuss merits on both sides. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Mon, Dec. 12, 2005
FATE OF THE PARKS
WE HAVE POUNDED the drums over and over about the inadequacies of the Fairmount Park Commission, the overseers of the city's park system, with little vision and no accountability. Though that may change soon. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Mon, Nov. 21, 2005
ACRES OF EXCUSES: Park Commission - In Fight for its Life - Makes a Limp Effort at Reform
SIX MONTHS AFTER it went on trial for its life, the Fairmount Park Commission finally woke, stretched, and lumbered into a kind of action.
It formed a committee.
Yes, that's right: 18 months after it unveiled a $600,000 strategic plan for the parks, six months after City Council members Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown introduced legislation to eliminate the commission - and two months after this newspaper explained "Why the Fairmount Park Commission Must Die" - a steering committee is scheduled to meet for the first time today. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Oct. 28, 2005
What really ails the city's parks
By PHILIP PRICE, Jr.
A RECENT op-ed by former Fairmount Park Commission interim director and city managing director Philip Goldsmith, blames Fairmount Park's condition almost entirely on the commission and its staff.
His proposed remedy for the park's problems, supporting a City Council resolution that would absorb it into the city Recreation Department, is no solution at all, and his comparisons to the park systems in Chicago and New York are superficial. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Mon, Oct. 10, 2005
PARK COMMISSION BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE
By PHIL GOLDSMITH
I COMMEND the Daily News for its continued spotlight on improving Fairmount Park and Councilman Darrell Clarke and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for advocating charter change to bring the park's governance structure from the 19th century into the 21st.
But I have a different perspective from the Fairmount Park Commission as stated in its Oct. 3 op-ed article.
The commission affixes blame on the lack of adequate funding. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Mon, Oct. 3, 2005
THE PARK COMMISSION'S RESPONSE
LAST MONTH, the Daily News editorial board ran a three-part series supporting a proposal to merge the Fairmount Park Commission with the city Recreation Department. This is the commission's response, signed by Robert N.C. Nix, III, president; Debra Wolf Goldstein, vice president, E. Harris Baum, John K. Binswanger, Thomas Carter, Marcia Makadon, Rosanne Pauciello, Philip Price Jr. and Doris A. Smith.
The Fairmount Park commissioners fully agree with the Daily News that Philadelphia deserves a premier park system.
But we disagree about how to achieve it. The Daily News supported an ordinance recently introduced in City Council that would merge Philadelphia's parks into the Recreation Department.
Far from being a solution to funding woes, such a move would compound existing problems and create new ones. READ MORE. .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Oct. 1, 2005
Editorial | Martin Luther King Drive
No need to alter weekend traffic
Fairmount Park Commission members shouldn't tinker with the decade-old policy of turning one of the Schuylkill River drives over to cyclists, skaters, hikers and picnickers on warm-weather weekends.
Don't they have enough hot-potato issues on their hands already - from money shortfalls to a Benjamin Franklin Parkway makeover to the Centennial District plan? And that list doesn't even include the current debate over whether the commission should even exist. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Oct. 1, 2005
Editorial | Fairmount Park's Future: Polish this jewel slowly
It's a cause for celebration when bad policy collapses of its own dead weight.
That's the case with the recent, wise - and inevitable - decision to postpone until spring a city referendum originally scheduled for November on whether to merge Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission into the city's Recreation Department. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Sep. 30, 2005
Letters | THE CONCERNS OF THE PHILA. PARKS ALLIANCE
THE Daily News' recent series of editorials on Fairmount Park was characteristically strong, direct and provocative. The Philadelphia Parks Alliance agrees that the status quo of Fairmount Park is untenable, and that it is high time for reform.
We would, however, like to clarify our position on the proposed charter change that would abolish the Fairmount Park Commission and shift park control to the Recreation Department.
The editorial board wrote that it was "bewildering" that the Philadelphia Parks Alliance would try to "slam the brakes" on this legislation. Our opposition was based on two concerns: that the proposal was going to land on the ballot too quickly to allow for adequate public discussion, and that it left too many questions about Fairmount Park's future.
The 133 organizations and 1,168 individuals who signed our resolution took the same position: They supported park reform, but had too many concerns about the proposed charter change to support it on a November ballot. We thank the charter change's sponsors, Council members Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown, for meeting with us and addressing our first concern by rescheduling their proposal for the May 2006 ballot.
Now, with added time for public input, it is essential that any changes proposed as the new legislation evolves include concrete details about accountability, fund-raising and leadership. How would a new park government increase the parks budget? How would it address key questions of safety, maintenance and preservation? How would the next system cooperate with Philadelphia's vibrant community of volunteer and nonprofit groups?
These are the questions that concern us. Before they are asked to scuttle the old system, Philadelphians deserve assurances that better days are ahead for the city's entire network of parks.
As for the Alliance, we stand ready to support park reform. Our mission is to protect Philadelphia's parks, not the status quo.
Lauren Bornfriend, Executive Director
Philadelphia Parks Alliance
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Thurs, Sep. 29, 2005
In a time of limbo, he stresses aplomb
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer
Clouds are gathering over Fairmount Park. Sharp thorns are gleaming, cold winds rising.
Legislation that would ultimately abolish Fairmount Park as an independent body and merge it into the city Recreation Department has been introduced in City Council. Voters might well be asked to consider changing the City Charter next May to reconstitute the Fairmount Park Commission, fashioning it into a simple advisory panel without operational authority. Almost anyone running an agency faced with such swirling political uncertainties might be forgiven a bit of anxiety and distraction READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Mon, Sep. 26, 2005
Letters | Questioning the park series
I HAVE THREE questions concerning your series on the bill to combine the Fairmount Park Commission with the Department of Recreation:
1. Do you plan to write another in-depth series on the Recreation Department also? This way voters could see both sides of the issue.
2. Will that article also include a hateful attention-grabbing front page ("The Recreation Department Must Die")?
3. Will it totally ignore the many human beings, both volunteer and paid, who work daily and with much success to improve the parks and our neighborhoods?
Aliceanne Manning
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Sep. 23, 2005
Letters | CONTINUING DEBATE OVER PARKS-REC MERGER
IT REMAINS to be proven whether one bureaucracy (the city Recreation Department) will provide stronger leadership and more funding than another (Fairmount Park Commission) when it comes to managing Philadelphia's 9,200- acre park system. Your three-part series on this topic raised questions but provided no evidence that here in Philadelphia our Recreation Department would be a better steward of our parks READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Wed, Sep. 21, 2005
Letters | PARK COMMISSIONER RESPONDS TO OUR SERIES
ONE THING I agree with in your editorial ("Meet the Commission," Sept. 14) is that attendance at Fairmount Park Commission meetings is crucial to understanding the problems facing our parks. By this standard, the Daily News is clearly dead wood. None of us on the commission has seen a Daily News reporter, editor or columnist at our meetings or events in a very, very long time. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Wed., Sep. 21, 2005
Letters | City parks: A lasting legacy
COVERAGE by the Daily News of the challenges still facing Fairmount Park and the decision by City Council members Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown to defer action on their parks/recreation consolidation has created a tremendous opportunity for Philadelphia and Mayor Street. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Sep. 16, 2005
Treading water: HOW COMMISSION HAS BOTCHED ONE OF THE CITY'S TREASURES
THE WATERWORKS is one of the city's - and maybe the region's - most exquisite sites. This small complex of Greek revival buildings originally built in the 19th century to treat water for the city is perched above the Schuylkill Falls in the shadow of the Art Museum. Its restoration, lasting decades and many millions of dollars, has restored the buildings, and opened the park and an interpretative center to the public. The final step is a restaurant to occupy the site of the engine house. When that happens, diners will be able to enjoy what could be one of the most stunning scenic views anywhere. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Sep. 16, 2005
MAKING PARKS AND REC ONE AGENCY
HERE ARE THE SO-CALLED RISKS AND BIG REWARDS
DEPENDING on where you sit, these words, from legislation introduced yesterday, strikes either hope or terror in your heart.
Or maybe both.
This is bold legislation that will transform Philadelphia's parks.
Could such a radical idea - of consolidating the Fairmount Park Commission and the city Recreation Department - actually work? If so, how? READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted Thu., September 15, 2005
Drive-closing policy under review
By EARNI YOUNG
The Fairmount Park Commission is considering a change in its policy of closing Martin Luther King and Kelly drives to allow for weekend recreational use.Commission Chairman Robert N.C. Nix III asked the park's administrative staff to take a look at alternative policies and report back next month. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Thu, Sep. 15, 2005
The grass is greener...
OURS IS not like any other city park system in the country. Still, that's not a good excuse for staying the same, or for not being able to draw on some lessons from other cities, especially those that are doing it better. Here's a sampling, taken from the park's new strategic plan: READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Thu, Sep. 15, 2005
THREE ARGUMENTS FOR KEEPING PARK STATUS QUO
...AND WHY THEY'RE WRONG
'I AM OPPOSED to the city taking full control of the park. It would be too political and I would rather trust an independent nonprofit organization than some of the politicians we have."
This June 29 post to the blog moderated by the Philadelphia Parks Alliance - the umbrella organization for parks advocacy groups - encapsulates most of the arguments against radically restructuring park governance. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Thu, Sep. 15, 2005
Letters | QUESTION OF TIMING ON PARK COMMISSION VOTE
GREAT START to the series on the Fairmount Park Commission - quite informational and very enlightening to say the least.
Our organization is one of the 123 that signed the petition created by the Philadelphia Parks Alliance asking for a public forum before a special election is held to amend the city charter. I want to make it clear that we support reform. We just don't want the amendment on the November ballot, as it would not provide voters enough time to gather the information needed for an informed vote.
Fairmount Park is in dire need of help, financial and otherwise, and our group is thrilled it is getting the attention it deserves. Our hope is, regardless of the outcome, Fairmount Park and all of us who utilize and love the park are the biggest winners when all is said and done.
Tim Horan, Director
Philadelphia Sport and Social Club
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005
DEATH TO THE PARK COMMISSION
FAIRMOUNT DESERVES BETTER LEADERSHIP - HERE'S WHY AND HOW
THE FAIRMOUNT Park Commission must die - at least in its present form.
It already has withered, like other antiquated institutions that no longer function. As long as it lingers, with an artifical veneer of independence, the reforms necessary to stem Fairmount Park's decline never will happen. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005
The Geese and Pig Report: How the parks are faring
HOW DO YOU measure the general state of health of a system as big as 9,200 acres? In 2001, the Daily News editorial board spent months touring the city's parks. What emerged during that series were a few "hotspots" - places judged good barometers for measuring how well the parks are doing. Here's what we found when we recently revisited some hotspots. READ MORE. . .
Philadephia Daily News - Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005
Meet the Commission
E. Harris Baum: A practicing attorney in the city for more than 40 years. He is married to Administrative Judge Myrna Field, who serves on the board of judges that elects the commissioners. (When initially interviewed in 2001, she said she saw no reason to abstain from voting for her husband.) He's considered to be committed to the park. His attendance record (50 percent) says otherwise.
GRADE: 2.5 TREES READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005
A city park in name only
WHEN IS A PARK not a park?
When it's in Philadelphia.
The heart of the issue is the division between the 62 parks now managed by Fairmount Park and the 79 managed by the city's Recreation Department. The division is real on paper, but how real is it in reality... and why should park users care? READ MORE. . .
Germantown Courier/Mt. Airy Times Express - Posted on 08/19/2005
Advocacy groups: take it slow on park changes
By: CHARING A. BALL , Staff Writer
Local park advocacy groups are banding together in the hopes of defeating a controversial proposed City Council bill which calls for the unification of the Fairmont Park Commission with the city's Department of Recreation.
Fifty-four organizations and hundreds of individual supporters have signed a resolution supporting park reform but opposing City Council Bill No. 050897. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Fri, Aug. 19, 2005
MIA: FINAL PLAN FOR PARK FUTURE
$600,000 LATER, A COMPLETE VISION NOT YET DELIVERED
IF YOU really cared about helping Fairmount Park fulfill its potential as one of this city's most valuable assets, you would find the money and hire the best people to create a strategic plan.
Check.
But if you really wanted the park to evolve from years of neglect and lack of leadership, wouldn't you also make sure that the plan, with its supporting documentation, was completed, paid for and delivered? This didn't happen. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Aug. 13, 2005
Editorial | Fairmount Park
Be wary of this plan
A Philadelphia parks advocacy group is asking all the right questions about the controversial City Council proposal to scuttle the Fairmount Park Commission and fold its duties into the city Recreation Department.
How fitting in the week that Ernesta Drinker Ballard died. The longtime park commissioner worked decades on park preservation. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Mon, Jun. 27, 2005
Fairmount Park Editorial | Onward, but not without public's input
Will Philadelphians chew over a radical shift in how their beloved Fairmount Park operates while they skate along Kelly Drive, hike the Wissahickon, or stroll Pennypack Park this summer?
Yeah, sure. More likely, citizens won't give a single thought to the controversial City Council proposal to fold the quasi-independent Fairmount Park Commission into the city Recreation Department. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News - Posted on Thu, Jun. 16, 2005
Parks to merge with Rec Dept.?
Council to get surprise plan today
By EARNI YOUNG
younge@phillynews.com
Two City Council members want to dissolve the venerable Fairmount Park Commission and reconstitute it as a less powerful agency within the Recreation Department.Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown were to introduce legislation today - Council's final session of the summer - to make the change possible. READ MORE. . .
Philadelphia Daily News | June 16, 2005
COUNCIL BILL TO TAKE PARK BY THE HORNS
CHARTER CHANGE WOULD CONSOLIDATE PARKS & REC; BYE-BYE COMMISSION
CITY Council members Darrell Clarke and Blondell Reynolds Brown are boldly going where no politician has dared go for a long time. Today, they will introduce a bill calling for a change in the city's Home Rule Charter that would abolish the Fairmount Park Commission in its present form and combine the administration of parks and recreation into one city department. READ MORE . . .
Posted on Tue, May. 31, 2005
Ronnie Polaneczky I CSX's Schuylkill Park safety issue is bogus
Finm seems unconcerned by issue in Fla.
FILE THIS one under "B" for "Bogus."
For years now, rail-freight behemoth CSX Transportation Inc. has said it would be too dangerous to allow Philly pedestrians to cross its tracks to get to the new Schuylkill River Park.
People could get hit by a train, it said, or be killed clambering between parked rail cars to get to the river.
CSX would prefer big, expensive bridges over its tracks, complicating access to what has, almost overnight, become a lovely, riverfront people magnet. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | May 20, 2005
Growing Greener ll Spending
Listen to the People
Pennsylvanians, by an overwhelming margin, have given the state permission to borrow $625 million to finance environmental cleanup and land preservation in coming years. Now, the legislature should honor their wishes.
In the rush to get the "Growing Greener II" bond question on Tuesday's ballot, Gov. Rendell and the legislature left important details to be decided after the election. By July, they must say how much money should be spent yearly, who should control the spending, and how the bond will be repaid - no small matters. In fact two diverse interest groups opposed the ballot question, noting the lack of those details leaves room for political mischief. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | May 18, 2005
Voters OK open-space spending
By Peter Jackson
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Pennsylvania voters yesterday overwhelmingly approved $625 million in state borrowing for environmental protection and land preservation.
With 65 percent of precincts reporting, voters supported the ballot question by almost 2-1.
"This initiative is broadly popular across the state," declared John Hanger, president of Penn-Future, one of the environmentalist groups that campaigned for the proposal.
Even as ballots were being cast, it remained unclear how the money would be spent. READ MORE . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | May 15, 2005
Seeing green, bond-issue backers seek big win
By Arny Worden
INQUIRER HARRISBURB BUREAU
HARRISBURG - Voters in Tuesday's primary election will decide whether Pennsylvania should make a historic new investment in the environment through a $625 rnillion bond issue.
With little opposition, the bond -- touted as the largest single environmnental spending initiative in state history - is virtually certain to pass. But administration officials and environmentalists have launched a get-out-the-vote campaign to ensure a wide margin of victory.
"We need a big win." said Kathleen McGinty, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. "We need a message that says voters want to move into a future with a clean, healthy, vital Pennsvlvania. We will be better served in the tough decisions to come." READ MORE . . .
Posted on Wed, May. 11, 2005
Group posts glimpse of plan for Fairmount Park on Web
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer
Seeking to jump-start public discussion of the nearly year-old Fairmount Park strategic plan, the Philadelphia Parks Alliance has posted a Cliffs Notes-like version of the plan on the Internet.
Visitors to the alliance's Web site - www.philaparks.org - can read a condensed version of the 70-plus page plan, which
maps out a future for the Park.
Lauren Bornfriend, alliance executive director, said the alliance wanted "to help the [Fairmount] Park Commission get the
word out" about the plan.
"Our park," she said, "is not a burden but an asset," which the strategic plan seeks to enhance. READ MORE . . .
Posted on Fri, May. 06, 2005
Growing Greener hopes for voters
Open-space supporters are appealing to independents. They see low turnout as a threat to their bond issue.
By Nancy Petersen
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Voters who never miss an election, the so-called supervoters, will troop to the polls as usual on May 17.
But supporters of a referendum on the ballot to extend the state's popular Growing Greener program are targeting a group of voters who rarely if ever get a chance to vote in a primary election - the independents.
"Anyone, Republican, Democrat, whatever the registration is - that person can come out to the polls and vote for that question," State Sen. Robert Thompson (R., Chester), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said during a rally yesterday.
The 1,864 registered Libertarians, the 738 Greens, the 51,723 independents, and even the nine people who signed up as
Socialists can join their Republican and Democratic neighbors at the polls May 17. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | May 6, 2005
First Step to Recovery
PA Growing Greener II
Pick a motivation: Clean up drinking water, protect natural landscapes, support family farms, revitalize Main Streets, invest in alternative energy.
There's a multitude of reasons to support "Growing Greener II," the environrnental bond question on Pennsylvania's primary ballot May 17.
Voters will be asked: "Do you favor authorizing the Commonwealth to borrow up to $625 million for the maintenance and protection of the environrnent, open space and farmland preservation, watershed protection, abandoned mine reclamation, acid mine drainage remediation and other environmental initiatives?"
Given the depth of need in every category voters should respond, "Yes." READ MORE . . .
Posted on Thu, May. 05, 2005
100 Steps zigzag in right direction
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writer
At the top of a steep zigzag of granite steps at the foot of Freeland Avenue, it is possible to gaze down through a green tracery of leaves and see, actually see, Wissahickon Creek.
Its faint burble now rises up to an attentive listener, washing out the fainter, drier buzz of traffic on Lincoln Drive.
These broad stairs - known as the 100 Steps - have invited strollers down into Fairmount Park for more than a century. And for more than a century, their stone and ironwork slowly decayed and marauding bamboo invaded every available open space, crowding out sound and light and the sight of slow water.
But no more. Yesterday, at a brief formal ceremony led by City Councilman Michael A. Nutter, the completely refurbished steps and view were formally dedicated. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | April 29, 2005
Selecting Park Commissioners
Slipping Out of Darkness
Nearly a dozen applicants for one seat on the board overseeing Philadelphia's 9,000-acre Fairmount Park system have come forward publicly, shining a slender ray of sunshine on a process that remains absurdly secretive.
There are reports, though, that nearly twice that number have applied for the seat that opened on the Fairmount Park Comrnission last year with James Bloom's resignation.
That means citizens remain largely in the dark about many candidates - their qualifications or their suitability to help preserve the city'svast and troubled park system.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judges - who, by state law, nominally choose the commissioners - have decided to foliow traditionand keep the process mostly under wraps. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | April 28, 2005
Environment is also on the ballot
Voters should support funding the Growing Greener II program May 17
Conventional wisdom has it that voter turnout for the May 17 prirnary election will be extremely low in this region, as there aren't too many glamorous or tightly contested races. The pundits have been predicting that only the "super voters" will turn out - those who never rniss an opportunity to vote, even in the most ho-hum of elections. All of that changed on April 13, however, when the Pennsylvania legislature voted to include an extraordinary referendurn question on the ballot.
Ordinarily, Pennsylvania voters hear the wards referendum question and their eyes glaze over. With good reason, too. Typically, the questions that make it on the ballot are worded so obtusely that it's difficult to even discern what issue they address, and often that issue seems pretty tangential to the average voter's life. In stark contrast, next month's referendurn question is straightforward and simple, and involves an issue that has a profound and direct effect on all Pennsylvanians' everyday quality of life. It involves the funding of what is known as the Growing Greener II initiative. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | April 27, 2005
OLD ROADS BECOME NEW STREETS
By Scott Flander
A CYCLIST WHO works at the Daily News rides Kelly Drive every day to work.
He still calls it East River Drive.
Never mind that the name's been changed for 20 years.
"That's the only way I can remember which side of the river it's on," he says.
He's not alone. Many Philadelphians still call Kelly Drive by the old name.
No doubt 20 years from now, some people will still be referring to "West River Drive," instead of its new name, official today - Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
In Philly, old street names die hard. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | April 26, 2005
COFFEE AND SOME CHANGE
NEW CAFE POINTS TO A BETTER PARKWAY
KUDOS TO the new cafe on the Parkway, where we can finally sit outside and dnink coffee on one ofthe grandest boulevards in the country.
The new sidewalk cafe, on Race between 19th and 20th streets, is named the Diamond Cafe. Moore College of Art is to be commended for taking a leadership role on this project and making it happen, thanks to a grant from the William Penn Foundation.
It's been neariy a year since the Daily News took a special interest in Ben Franklin Parkway and reported on a growing interest in animating the city's mile-long parkway with people, activity and amenities.
Some of this new energy will naturally come from the arts and cultural institutions that line the Parkway, and some from the Center City District, which is about to unveil its second phase of lighting the place. But the slow road to a single cafe underscores howimportant it is to have a single body pushing hard for Parkway change. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | April 22, 2005
The Land Has Spoken
As we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, there are signs that the environmental movernent is stronger than ever, especially inits vital work to protect forests, farmland and natural areas frorn poorly planned sprawling development.
A strong majority of voters has been consistently willing to support state and local measures to increase spending for open-space preservation, even when it requires raising taxes. According to the Trust for Public Land, voters in 121 communities in 24 statesapproved ballot questions totaling $3.25 billion for land conservation in November. In Pennsyivania, voters approved all six open-space ballot questions, creating nearly $30 million in funding. In 2003, Montgomery County approved $150 million in open-space bonds by a 3-1 ratio, with voters in all 62 municipalities in support.
Gov. Rendell has made fnnding for open space and the environment a top priority through his Growing Greener II initiative. Thanks toa compromise he reached with legisiative leaders, voters will have tlie opportunity on May 17 to approve $625 million in state borrowing to fund open-space and farmland preservation, watershed protection, park maintenance, and urban revitalization. If recent history is any guide, this should be a winner with voters. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | April 18, 2005
Park Leaders Chosen in Secret
A new commissioner will be picked by Common Pleas judges in a process begun in 1867
At 9,000 acres, Fairmount Park is about 82 times the size of the sovereign state of Vatican City.
But selection of its leaders is just as secretive.
Just as the College of Cardinals gathers in secrecy to select the next pope, the judges of the Court of Common Pleas will gather to select the next park commissioner.
No one knows what names the judges will consider. No one knows what criteria they will apply in making their selection. No one even knows the names of the judges who will be reviewing the candidaies.
But by 4 p.m. Friday, all applicants for the current vacancy must be delivered to the chambers of Judge Rosalyn K. Robinson at the Crirninal Justice Center. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | April 15, 2005
APPLY, PLEAS
ONE WEEK remains before the application deadline for the vacancy on the Fairmount Park Commission. Those interested must submit their completed applications by April 22 before 4 p.m. to Common Pleas Court Judge Rosalyn Robinson. The commissioner is chosen by the Common Pleas Court judges.
What are the qualifications that the judges are looking for in choosing the commissioner?
We don't know.
Who has so far applied?
We don't know.
What powerful politicians might call to try to get their own favored candidate appointed?
We don't know.
That's because the process of picking commissioners by judges is a tradition written into the city charter, and rarely sees the light of day. Unfortunately, public input and tnansparency are sorely lacking. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | April 5, 2005
Selecting Park Commissioners
Lift the Cloak of Secrecy
Just imagine the well-deserved furor if any norninations in Pennsylvania's May 17 primary - district attorney, city controller, judge - were decided in secret.
Yet that same rnonth, Fhiladeiphia judges will gather behind closed doors to select a commissioner to help oversee the city's precious, 9,000-acre Fairmount Park sysiem.
The fact that it's all perfectly legal doesn't make it right. Not only is the process cloaked, it provides citizens no assurance the new commissioner - one of 16 - will have any expertise in park issues. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | March 31, 2005
Help Wanted: Park Commish
Vacancy Should Be Filled with Sunshine
Here we go again.
For decades, the process of appointing members to the Fairmount Park Commission was done in secret by the Board of Judges, and thereby subject to favors, political wrangling or any other paranoid conspiracies that come to mind in the absence of a public and transparent process.
Then, for one brief, shining moment in 2002, thanks to pressure framthe Daily News, the Parks Alliance and others, things seemedto change. The Board of Judges picked a new slate of cornrnissioners who were not just the usual suspects. We were optimistic that this encrusted tradition was going to change, signaling that the parks could move into the future with new blood, energy, and thinking.
But in November 2003, the judges made a stealth appointment of Thomas Carter, whose performance so far as Fairmount Park commissioner better resembles one of the park's statues. READ MORE . . .
Posted on Sun, Mar. 20, 2005
Two designs for skateboard park are unveiled
By Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writer
Skateboarders are closer to getting a new park in philadelphia.
Architects and designers have created two proposed renderings of Schuylkill River Skatepark, which will be just south of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And in May, they will unveil the final rendering after considering community input on both versions. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | March 17, 2005
How Not to Run a Park
By Lauren Bornfriend
DURING THE two minutes we were alloted at the Nov. 30 public hearing on the proposed expansion of Fox Chase Cancer Center into Bulholme Park, the Philadelphia Parks Alliance testified that the project "should" be a great opportunity for the city.
We said that a strategic and responsible public-private partnership with a world-renowned cancer center was the kind of opportunity major cities long for.
We also cautioned that as more cases like this were certain to arise in the future, it was essential for the city and the FairmountPark Commission to follow a process with clear standards and criteria for making decisions about the sale, leasing and development of parkland. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | March 15, 2005
PA Environmental Initiative
Be Nimble, Be Quick
Harrisburg is a late-night, last-minute kind of place. Legislators just love the drama of deadline. They're forever rushing to refill empty treasury coffers, forging eleventh-hour compromises, and pushing through bills in the nick of time.
This week, time's running out on Gov. Rendell's proposal for an $800 million ballot initiative to preserve farmland and open space, clean up
abandoned mines and toxic sites, restore streams and rivers, improve state parks, and redevelop old industrial land.
The Senate should act on the proposal, as long promised, today. That would be progress - and there's no good reason not to do it. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | March 14, 2005
2 park officials question lease
Issues cloud plans to swap part of Burholme Park with Fox Chase Cancer Center for an expansion
By Linda Loyd
Inquirer Staff Writer
Two Fairmount Park commissioners who voted against giving parkland for an expansion of Fox Chase Cancer Center say it would be wrong to break the will of the man who donated the land 100 years ago.
And the Philadelphia city solicitor, whose office ruled a century ago that the land in question should remain a park forever, was not askedby the commission for an official legal opinion on the matter before commissioners voted last week to lease the property, the solicitor's office says.
The commission's 11-2 vote last week to negotiate a final agreement with Fox Chase on a long-term lease of 19.4 acres of the 60-acre park was a first step in what could be a lengthy, contentious process. Mayor Street supports the proposal.
City Council still must approve the expansion, and Philadelphia Orphans Court would be asked by the city to break the will of philanthropist Robert Waln Ryerss, who in 1895 donated his farm and mansion as a park for "the use and enjoyment of the people forever." READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | March 11, 2005
Fox Chase, park agree on deal
Cancer center gets OK to expand
By Michael Hinkelman
Yes, Fox Chase Cancer Center gets to expand into Burholme Park.
But here's the price: The center must replace each tree it takes down with two new ones, and pony up land and millions of dollars to the city.
But the deal struck yesterday with the Fairmount Park Commission isn't the last word on the matter. The agreement must still be approved by the Orphans' Court.
And a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court by residents living near the park and the anti-blight group SCRUB seeks to prevent the transaction.
The suit contends that using the park for any purpose other than a park viblates the will of Robert Ryerss, who gave most of the land to the city to be used as a park forever. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | March 11, 2005
Will Swapping Park Land Turn into a Swamp?
Fox Chase Deal May Be Good for the City, but Better Procedure Is Needed
THE FAIRMOUNT Park Commission has voted to let Fox Chase Cancer Center expand into 19.4 acres of Burholme Park over substantial neighborhood opposition.
The land will cost Fox Chase 7.75 million, which will go to the parks (and not the city's general fund). The center will give the commission 15
acres of land it owns, and a 2-for-1 replacement of trees removed for the project.
Commission President Robert N.C. Nix III says the "new" Burholme Park - which will be two thirds of its current size - will end up being more user-friendly and more enjoyable. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | March 10, 2005
Neighbors fear loss of recreation area
By Michael Hinkelman
KATE FRIEND has lived in Fox Chase for 20 years and walks through Burholme Park twice a week. An educator; she lives with her husband and two teenagers about 10 minutes away.
"There's people all over this area who use this for enjoyment," Friend said Monday, as she walked through the park, gesturing towards a driving range. "It's something when they get through at the end of the day. They're going to go spend an hour there, and there's nothing like it around."
Fox Chase Cancer Center wants to acquire a picnic grove and part of the driving range in the park for expansion.
Yesterday, a group of residents who live near the park, as well as anti-blight group SCRUB, sued Fox Chase and the FairmountPark Commission to stop it from "voting or selling or giving any portion of Burholme Park" to the center. The first hearing on the suit isn't likely to take place for several weeks, said an attorney for the plaintiffs. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | March 10, 2005
Center can lease parkland
The Fairmount Park Commission approved Fox Chase's plan to expand into 19.4 acres of Burholme Park
By Linda Loyd
Inquirer Staff Writer
The Fairmount Park Commission gave the green light yesterday to Fox Chase Cancer Center on its proposed expansion into Northeast Philadelphia's Burholme Park.
The commission voted, 11-2, to execute final agreements with Fox Chase officials on a long-term lease of 19.4 acres of parkland immediately adjacent to the 100-bed hospital and research campus near Cottman Avenue.
The vote means the park commission will formally petition Philadelphia Orphans' Court to break the will of a 19th century philanthropist who donated the land expressly for use as a public park.
Based on a statement by Mayor Street read by Deputy Commerce Director Duane H. Bumb, the city will support the park commission's efforts to break the will of Robert Waln Ryerss. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | March 9, 2005
Duh! Be Smarter with Cameras in the Park
By Claude Lewis
The police and other safety officials often share with the public detailed information about what they're up to. And we want them to do that.
But sometimes, it gets a little, well, silly.
Criminals occasionally read newspapers and watch TV. And darned if they don't sometimes learn things that help them carry out their
crimes. Too much detail about law enforcement can actually help those who flout the law.
An example: Police revealed recently that in two weeks, three wireless cameras will begin scanning an area of Fairmount Park. This surveillance, police said, is in part a response to the Fairmount Park rapist. Police believe the same man is responsible for the rape and
murder of medical student Rebecca Park in July 2004, a rape in April of that year, and an assault on a woman in October. He is still at
large.
I find the news about the cameras enormously interesting. So, too, I'd venture, does the Fairmount Park rapist. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | March 8, 2005
Fairmount Park surveillance to begin
Three wireless cameras will start scanning the area within two weeks, in part as response to the Fairmount Park rapist
By Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writer
Within weeks, Philadelphia police will have three wireless surveillance cameras at work in Fairmount Park.
The cameras, already in place on West River Drive and behind the Art Museum, are part of a "proof of concept" project being financed by a $50,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Charles Brennan.
"We just want to see what this technology can do," Brennan said. "We believe the cameras can warn us in some instances that something is wrong." The cameras should be operating within two weeks, he said.
Other cities, including Chicago and New Orleans, already use video surveillance to address crime problems. Chicago police say the cameras, along with other crime-fighting programs, contributed to the city's 25 percent drop in homicides between 2003 and 2004. READ MORE . . .
Health Behavior News Service | February 28, 2005
Urban green space linked to walking, cycling levels
By Ira R. Allen
The degree to which city people walk or ride bicycles for their daily transportation needs depends largely on how much green space thereis, says a new study that examines the role of urban design in physical fitness.
"Because engaging in moderate physical activity such as walking or bicycling can improve health outcomes, understanding strategies that
increase these behaviors has become a public health priority," says Amy Zlot, an epidemiologist with the Oregon Department of Human Services, writing in the current American Joumal of Health Promotion.
Using government databases with results from surveys of more than half a million respondents, the researchers compared levels of fitness with parkland acreage in 34 metropolitan areas.
They found that San Francisco had the highest percentage of people who walked or bicycled for recreation and the highest percentage of parkland. New York City had the highest percentage that walked or bicycled for basic transportation, such as commuting to work or running errands, and the third highest amount of parkland. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 22, 2005
Invest in land preservation
Proposals that call for using state funds to conserve land and enhance parks and open space should be supported
By Eric Menzer and Janet Milkman
There is a growing consensus in Pennsylvania that we need to spend more state funds to preserve the environment. This consensus is bipartisan: Gov. Rendell and the General Assembly's Republican leaders have introduced proposals to spend up to $800 million on farmland, open space, environmental clean-ups, and community revitalization.
It's important to support these proposals, particularly those that ensure that community-revitalization programs remain an integral part of the package. Why? Because investing in our cities and towns will make the "green funds" go farther.
In this age of tax phobia, preserving open space seems to be one of the few things for which citizens willingly raise their taxes. However, there will never be enough money - public or private - to buy all the land we want to preserve, so we need to spend those funds strategically and stretch those dollars. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 21, 2005
Fox Chase Expansion
Don't stall this engine
The Fairmount Park Commission should stop dawdling and approve the exciting expansion plans at Fox Chase Cancer Center. The commission's negotiations with this major Philadelphia employer and flagship cancer treatment center go back to the early fall.
By last week, the commission should have been prepared to act on Fox Chase's request to expand into Burholme Park with a firm pledge to replace any parkland acre-for-acre.
Instead, the commission voted Wednesday to talk some more about traffic and parking issues.
This is one case where talk is not cheap. In fact, it could prove to be devastatingly expensive to city tax coffer's and the region's economic vitality.
Fox Chase needs to grow, and the only question is whether it grows in Philadelphia - or another location, possibly outside the immediate region. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | February 22, 2005
Op-Ed | A Drive by Another Other Name...
By Christine M. Flowers
Shakespeare's Juliet, amazingly articulate for a lovestruck teenager, said that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." This reasoning seems to have guided the member of the Fairmount Park Commission, who recently approved a proposal to change the nameof West River Drive to Martin Luther King Drive.
Now, before I make a fatal misstep in the minefield of public perception, I'll state in the clearest terms that I rank the late civil rights leader as one of the five seminal figures of the last century, equaled only by Gandhi, MotherTeresa, Jonas Salk and Pope John Paul II. There was greatness in this man, who left a blueprint for the salvation of humanity.
But for all his accomplishments, and the glory of his reputation, I can't help thinking that West River Drive should bear the name of someone with local roots, someone who was born, lived, worked and flourished in the City of Brotherly Love. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | February 21, 2005
Fitting Tribute, For a Change
West River Drive renamed for King
COMEDIAN CHRIS ROCK does a routine about streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. , the man who preached nonviolence. It goes something like this:
No matter where you are in America, if you're on a Martin Luther King Boulevard, you'd better run because there's bound to be some violence happening around there.
That's the reality surrounding many of the 650-plus King streets, boulevards, roads and drives that are overwhelming found in struggling black neighborhoods around the country.
In his book, "Along Martin Luther King: Travels on Black America's Main Street," Jonathan Tilove writes: "A King street is often seen as a generic marker of black space and, not incidentally, of ruin, as a sad and ironic signpost of dangers, failure, and decline, and as a rueful rebuke of a people's preoccupation with symbolic victories over actual progress."
The Fairmount Park Commission heaved those perceptions out the window when it renamed one of the city's most beautiful andrace-neutral thoroughfares, West River Drive, in King's honor. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News| February 17, 2005
Park Panel, Fox Chase at odds over deadline
By Michael Hinkelman
Last week, Fox Chase Cancer Center president Robert C. Young told Fairmount Park Commission chairman Robert N.C. Nix III he needed a "clear message" from the commission no later than March 1 about whether it could support the center's expansion plans in Burholme Park.
Yesterday Young got a somewhat different message - not so fast, we need to talk some more.
The center has proposed a $1 billion, 20-year expansion that would require using 19.4 acres of the park. Fox Chase says it needs to expand to treat agrowing caseload of patients and conduct cancer research.
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 17, 2005
Fox Chase Expansion Stalls
The Fairmount Park Commission wants to protect Burholme Park
By Josh Goldstein and Sarah Watson
The Fairmount Park Commission yesterday deferred a decision on the proposed expansion by Fox Chase Cancer Cenier into a Northeast Philadelphia park until other options could be presented next month.
Commission president Robert N.C. Nix 3d won passage of a resolution to explore ways for Fox Chase to remain at its current location but protect the 60-acre Burholme park. That resolution establishes an ad hoc committee to find a compromise to "meet the needs of Fox Chase, protect the community's interest in preserving Burholrne Park ... and that reflects" community concerns.
The committee, led by commission vice president Debra Wolf Goldstein, will begin talks with Fox Chase officials today and report back in March. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 17, 2005
La Salle U., city agree to land swap
By Stephan Salisbury
The Fairmount Park Commission approved a proposal from La Salle University that would permit the school to use two acres of parkland near the corner of Ogontz and Lindley Avenues for a women's softball field and recreational facilities.
La Salle, responding to overtures from several local and state elected officials, will work with those officials to find a developer to construct a supennarket and retail strip at the site of its current athletic fields, along Chew Avenue.
The plan to exchange parkland for a supermarket site was introduced at last month's commission meeting; La Salle officials were directed to consult with community residents. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 17, 2005
West River Drive renamed for King
Amid applause, the Fairmount Park Commission made the historic name change to honor the slain civil rights leader
By Stephan Salisbury
West River Drive will officially be known as Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, the Fairmount Park Commission unanimously agreed yesterday.
In making the historic name change, which will take place immediately, the commission embraced a request made by Mayor Street in his budget address last month and fulfilled the dreams of many in the city who have worked to rnemorialize the slain civil rights leader. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | February 16, 2005
Fox Chase trims expansion proposal
By Michael Hinkelman
ln a bid to win approval from the Fairmount Park Commission for a proposed $1 billion, 20-year expansion, Fox Chase Cancer Centerhas agreed to reshape its plans so it won't need to tale as much of Burholme Park.
Fox Chase now says it could build on 19.4 acres of park land instead of 25, with fewer - but taller - proposed buildings.
Fox Chase officials and park commission staff were negotiating language yesterday on a proposed resolution, which would express the commission's support for expansion but would impose conditions on the pian. The Commission could vote on the resolution today. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 16, 2005
Park Commission to consider La Salle plan
The University wants to lease parkland to replace athletic fields it could lost to development
By Vernon Clark
Plans to build a supermarket and mini-retail district in the city's Olney section hinge on whether the Fairmount Park Commission will allow La Salle University to lease parkland despite some neighborhood opposition.
The Park Commission is scheduled to consider today a proposal by the university to convert a two-acre parcel of parkland at Ogontz
and Lindley Avenues, bordering university land, into athletic fields. The commission is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. at the Horticulture Center in Fairmount Park. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | February 15, 2005
Museum gets its new home in city park
The Please Touch Museum formally took possession of Memorial Hall. Its search for new space lasted a decade.
By Stephan Salisbury
It's been a long time coming, but yesterday the Please Touch Museum finally and formally took over venerable Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, a much-awaited new home.
The museum, now crammed into quarters on North 21st Street near Logan Circle, has been seeking more expansive digs for nearly a decade.
That search, which originally focused on Penn's Landing, ended with a one-dollar 80-year lease on a drafty National Historic Landmark and one of the last relics of Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exposition. The lease was paid in full yesterday: 100 pennies in a Please Touch Museum sippy cup. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | February 15, 2005
Please Touch Museum makes first lease payment on Memorial Hall
PLEASE Touch Museum CEO Nancy Kolb made the first payment on an 80-year lease for Memorial Hall yesterday, handing city Managing Director Phil Goldsmith 100 pennies in a sippy cup. The lease makes it possible for the Please Touch to begin a $50 million transformation of the historic builcling into a state-of-the-art children's museum to open in 2007. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | February 3, 2005
Food for Thought on Parkway
Ideas aired at breakfast forum
By Michael Hinkelman
The Ben Frankling Parkway needs to have shops, cafes, and maybe even housing, civic and business leaders agreed at a breaklast forum yesterday at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And yes, the Parkway needs to be less of a highway and more of a place for casual strollers.
These ideas have been promoted by Parkway dreamers, including the Center City District and the Parkway's cultural institutions, and were discussed last year in a special report by the Daily News.
There was less consensus on the panel, however, about whether or not the political will exists to turn that vibrant vision into reality any time soon. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 30, 2005
GOP Tries the Color Green
PA Environmental Initiative
When Harrisburg Republicans offer up a fistful of dollars to solve Pennsylvania's most pressing problems - preserving the state'snatural beauty, as well as it its economic competitiveness - that's an event which should turn heads.
So it's significant that GOP House members last week pledged more than 91.2 billion to help clean up the Pennsylvania countryside.
With key leadership from Montgornery County Rep. Kate Harper, the lawmakers offered the new funding under their Green PA initiative to preserve farmland and parks, and to tackle cleanups at polluted mines and waterways.
As Gov. Rendell was quick to note, "It's clear that a consensus is emerging in Harrisburg to take a big step forward on the environment ... that improves the overall quality of life in the commonwealth."'
This could be a critical turning point in a year-long standoff between Rendell and legislative leaders over how to help revive communities and preserve the landscape. The task is to rescue the state from the spiral of dwindling jobs, choking sprawl, and life-threatening industrial pollution. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 26, 2005
Shining a Light on Boathouses
The city's Historical Commission wants to look at a mock-up of the LED lighting plan before approval
By Stephan Salisbury
How to preserve a historic twinkle became the subject of discussion by a city panel yesterday when Fairneount Fark presented plans to revamp lights on Boathouse Row.
Park officials want to replace the current incandescent lights outlining the clubhouses on the Schuylkill with a high-tech LED system.The new lights, which are based on silicon chips, can glow virtually maintenance-free for decades, while the current tungsten bulbs run the park
about $50,0C0 a year to fix and replace.
Members of the architectural review committee of the city Historical Commission got their first look at the scheme yesterday and were told that the park had not provided much detail on how the new system is to be mounted to the boathouses, which are certified local landmarks. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Daily News | January 17, 2005
Needed: New Path for the Park
A Great New Map is Not Quite Enough
Among the many things that Fairmount Park has lacked over the years is a decent map and guide to all its wonders.
And out-of-towners and tourists aren't the only ones who have suffered from this absence; few city dwellers have a clear sense of the reach and size of the city's system, which includes 62 parks, six golf courses, 215 miles ofrecreation trails and nearly 400 athletic fields and outdoor courts.
That has finally changed with a new 15-page Fairmount Park Map & Visitors Guide just produced. It's a glossy, colorful guide withuseful maps of the city's major watershed parks, and a good overview of the whole system. (You can get a copy at Lloyd Hall, and at Pennypack and Wissahickon parks.)
Now, if only there was a map leading the way into Fairmount Park's future. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 14, 2005
Skate-park team to discuss public's role
By Stephan Salisbury
The design team for the city's proposed skate park near the Schuylkill is scheduled to conduct a news conference tonight to discuss public involvement in the planning process and possibilities for the facility. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 14, 2005
Letter | CSX's toxic cargo
If safety is CSX's primary concern, as the company stated in testimony before U.S. District Judge Bruce Kauffman last week, then there are two things it should do ("Safety vs. access as city and CSX debate crossings," Jan. 10). CSX should reroute around the city of Philadelphia all trains containing toxic material, as it agreed to do elsewhere after last week's fatal accident in South Carolina, and withdraw the injunction to force the city to close at-grade access to Schuylkill River Park. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 13, 2005
Park's light plan green-lighted
By Stephan Salisbury
The Fairmount Fark Commission yesterday unanimously approved plans to make over the skein of lights outlining Boathouse Row.
The project calls for the current incandescent lighting system, dark since last Thursday, to be replaced by a high-tech, low-cost LED system. The new system would be up and emitting by June.
Fairmount Park is looking to save about $50,000 in annual maintenance bills by moving to LED lights. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 11, 2005
Fairmount Park pays to end food pact
By Stephan Salisbury
Fairmount Park has coughed up $1.2 million to extract itself from a soured exclusive deal governing operations of parkwide concessions, accordting to city officials.
The deal, between the park and Fairmount Management, Inc., was signed in 1998 and was scheduled to run until 2016. It gave Fairmount Management, a private partnership, exclusive rights for catering at the Horticultural Center and Memorial Hall, food service at Lloyd Hall on Boathouse Row, and park vending concessions.
But the potentially lucrative catering business at Memorial Hall was blocked, first by roof repairs, then by last year's deal to move the Please Touch Museum into the landmark building near Belmont and Parkside Avenues.
At the same time, park officials were not happy that vending operations never seemed to generate much-needed revenues. READ MORE . . .
Philadelphia Inquirer | January 10, 2005
Greening Up Fertilizes Home Prices, Study Says
By Anthony S. Twyman
Thinking of planting a nice tree or some shrubs on a vacant lot near your home?
A study by a University of Pennsylvania
professor shows that such neighborhood improvements may be not only aesthetically pleasing, but good, for your home's bottom
line.
Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate, finance, and city and regional planning at Penn's Wharton School, found, among other things, that planting trees within 50 feet of houses in New Kensington - a neighborhood roughly bordered by Girard Avenue, Front Street, Allegheny Avenue and the Delaware River - increased home prices by about 9 percent, or about $3,400. READ MORE . .
Philadelphia Daily News | January 5, 2005
'DON'T FENCE ME OUT'
WHAT'S AT STAKE IN BATTLE OVER PARK ACCESS
A U.S. District Court hearing scheduled for today promises to shape up into a classic, old-fashioned battle of people vs. big business, public vs. private righjts, even good guys vs. bad guys.
It's a fight that has also generated unlikely alliances among groups not usually known for collaborating, including the Bicycle Coalition, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, state Sen. Vincent Fumo, and City Council President Anna Verna, who are all trying to join the city against Florida-based transport company, CSX, in the battle over access to Schuylkill River Park. READ MORE . . .
