What to Do About Philadelphia Magazine

In Ashley Primis's article, "What to Do About South Street," Philadelphia Magazine does what it does best: pose a question nobody asked and then spend a whole bunch of words complaining about the magazine's namesake. If the title rings familiar, it's not unlike Annie Monjar's 2011 tone deaf piece, "Do We Really Still Need Eastern State Penitentiary?," where another transplant ruthlessly berated one of the nation's most revered historic landmarks. If either's arrogant unfamiliarity with Philadelphia also sounds familiar, you've likely read Ernest Owens' regular rants about the city's LGBT community and a neighborhood Primis herself once referred to as "the former Gayborhood" without a hint of remorse. 

All part of a cynicism that's become disturbingly common in Philadelphia Magazine, it's certainly worth noting that none of these three writers are native to the Philadelphia area. It's not as though journalists aren't welcome to cover subjects they aren't intimately familiar with, but hit-jobs are usually reserved for those rooted in the subject matter. Otherwise they can sound ignorant at best or prejudiced at worst. For example, Owens has spent a number of his stories criticizing events and venues he boycotts. 

Ironically, shortly after lauding South Street's uncharacteristically posh new venues and making some comment about lattes, Primis gushes about her first experiences on South Street, claiming - accurately - that one "couldn't build something like South Street today." She then begrudgingly likens to strip to an aging rocker, specifically Keith Richards, who might be the human embodiment of the street, now or thirty years ago. 

The article is weird. Primis waxes and wanes between an appreciation for the street's past and vitriol, even copping to her own unfamiliarity with a street she's lived on for ten years. Perplexing, she lands on saving the street's inherent grit by essentially turning it into a kid-friendly shopping mall with a grocery store. Fun. 

While it's true South Street has seen better days, it's also seen worse. Like many neighborhoods once emblematic of Philadelphia's Bohemian mid-century past, it's facing the growing pains of a city on the rise. But the knee jerk reaction to treat it as the status quo and propose stuffing it with upscale boutiques selling $900 jackets only provides residents and tourists with more of the same. South Street could use an injection of new businesses, but treating it with the same canned response employed everywhere from Kensington to Passyunk Square, or suggesting some sort of cohesive makeover, strips away an eclectic appeal formed through decades of urban evolution. 

It's also shortsighted because, as opposed to the aforementioned neighborhoods, South Street isn't necessarily outdated, just not Philadelphia Magazine's apparent cup of tea. But that is the exact problem with the magazine's flawed take on Philadelphia, and gentrification in general. South Street thrives in the summertime and sees no shortage of business during the winter months. It's a destination attraction drawing people from all over the world, and they seem to like it. It's the sole locale for Baby Boomers, the bane of gentrifiers and the ilk writing for Philadelphia Magazine, to find a concert from their youth without hoofing it out to York County. 

What's troubling about Philadelphia Magazine's sort of commentary is that, in a city of a million and a half residents, and a massive geographical footprint for the mid-Atlantic, there's seemingly no room to leave something that hasn't failed well enough alone. 

South Street will hardly be the first casualty of this urban dementia. Nearby, the Gayborhood might appear to be thriving with its abundance of bars and restaurants, but the LGBT community itself has been scattered throughout the region by sky rocketing rents and corporate chains. Recently, 12th Street Gym, a vast and wildly popular business that was as much an LGBT community center as a fitness center, was forced to close after being purchased by a New York-based developer and targeted by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. When the luxury apartment building Commonwealth 1201 opened, the Mazonni Center left the Gayborhood for Bainbridge Street. The Italian Market too may soon see its own luxury apartment development at the corner of 9th and Washington, inevitably altering a unique streetscape that still retains the provincial aesthetic from some of the nation's earliest immigrants, catering alongside some of our most recent. 

Most unnerving in Primis's assessment is her awe inspired witness to the reclamation of, among other areas, the Gayborhood's re-branded "Midtown Village." Coupled with her former jab at the Gayborhood, I can't help but read the thinly veiled homophobia shared by so many neo-liberals who desperately want to appear progressive while harboring resentment for anything that doesn't cater exclusively to their brand. "Midtown Village" reclaimed the LGBT community's safe space for a bunch of homophobic frat boys and real estate agents who know their clients are too covertly bigoted to buy condos in a neighborhood with the word "gay" in its name. 

With so many costly and already-posh neighborhoods straddling the river, where does this gut instinct to terraform every last square foot of real estate in the name of sameness come from? With an almost hostile disdain for anything not clad in glass, plastic, and steel; sanitized to suburban perfection, one has to wonder why those moving to Philadelphia in droves ever bothered to move somewhere so oddball in the first place if not to simply bully a bunch of weirdos into submission like they did in the high school cafeteria where they once reigned supreme. 

South Street is an institution. It's empty storefronts could be filled with something far more dynamic than more restaurants. Our foodie scene once rivaled some of the world's best, but an influx of high-end poverty appropriation - fancy tacos and french fries - has turned a scene once brimming with quality and panache into one that's exhaustively cliche. Instead, the evolution that South Street demands is one reflective of its past: art stores, tattoo parlors, shops packed with oddities, and lots and lots of color. What's wrong with head shops and districts that cater to those not shoving $2000 baby carriages through our narrow sidewalks? Primis points out the diversity of the South Street strip - diversity that can be hard to find commingling in Philadelphia - but her pitch to turn it into a destination for the spendthrift threatens to make it about as "white" as Starbucks on a Monday.  

This is the Philadelphia Philadelphia Magazine wants, despite hiring Chicago muckraker Ernest Owens to challenge its straight, white image of yoga and beer gardens. 

Misunderstanding this, not to mention taking aim at nearly everything that defines Philadelphia as something apart from a New York borough, has made Philadelphia Magazine the least Philadelphian local outlet, and continues to prove that it's incapable of shedding its notoriously banal past. Not only do the magazine's contributors not get Philadelphia, they simply don't want to. Unfortunately they speak for a voluminous influx of new residents who never liked Philadelphia much to begin with, and came to remake it in their own boring image. Sameness is the enemy of diversity and what once made cities great. Why is Philadelphia, and its namesake magazine, defiantly embracing the most basic elements that ruined New York, San Francisco, and Seattle? 

Be Well Philly?

With summer approaching and a Personal Training certification under my belt, I've been building up a list of healthful fun in the sun. While there are plenty of great outlets for outdoor activity, Philadelphia's reputation as a not-so-healthy hamlet has kept it from providing much in the way of one-stop shopping. In fact, taking to the Schuylkill Banks to look for trails and talking to strangers will yield a better log of activities than so-called health and fitness blogs found online. 

One particularly frustrating health and fitness blog is also one of the city's most prominent: PhillyMag.com's Be Well Philly. If you're looking for places in the park to get your swole on, you won't find it, and if you want a truly healthy recipe, you've got to dig. Instead what you'll find is: run, run, run, yoga, run, yoga, yoga and beer, run, run, vegan mac-n-cheese recipe, run, run, beer run, yoga on (in) the river, run, run, beer. I know Philadelphians love their beer, but I've never seen such dedication paid to the paradoxical combination of beer and fitness.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with running and yoga, or the occasional beer. And there's a likely reason so many free outdoor activities are limited to yoga, and that's insurance. Yoga on the steps is a cool concept with humbling views, and it doesn't require a liability waver. That would be another story if free kickboxing classes were being held in public parks. But that doesn't mean Philadelphia's fitness community is solely relegated to the fast and free.

All of PhillyMag.com's blogs are heavily rooted in click-baiting sponsored content, evident in advertisers' hyperlinks buried in each article. But Philadelphia's rise to national prominence brought with it countless private gyms, CrossFit studios, boxing clubs, not to mention our longstanding paddling teams and kickball leagues. Where's their mention in the annals of Be Well Philly? Where's the trainer or the week, gym or the week, or club of the week? 

Even beyond fitness centers and private clubs, the Fairmount Park system itself - the nation's largest network of urban parks - is a hotbed of free recreation that isn't exclusive to yoga and marathons. Where's the best trail for mountain biking, hiking, or the best watering hole for those hot summer days? 

If any of these are listed in Be Well Philly, I haven't found it.

PhillyMag.com has a platform to reach thousands of Philadelphians desperately looking for real ways to get fit, and because of its position it also has an obligation to those readers to live up to its claims. Philly wants to Be Well, but PhillyMag.com is just giving us PlanetFitness, a fitness community in name-only that caters to our vices and weaknesses, and says it's okay to treat yourself to some mac-n-cheese, it's vegan!  

A Little War of Words

Philadelphia's a hard sell. It doesn't seem to matter how far we go - never mind how far we've come - many in the mainstream press still seem determined to watch Philadelphia fail. We might be on the verge of curing AIDS and cancer, but we can't seem to shake our reputation as a "second-rate stopover" town. Those aren't my words, but the words of Washington Post journalist Frances Stead Sellers in a harshly penned article about Philadelphia's upcoming preparations - or lack thereof - for our Papal Visit. 

Criticism is deserved, and no media has been more critical on the subject than our own journalists right here in Philadelphia. Local articles wax and wane between maniacal assurances that the event will be "incredible" to borderline panic, while regional memes employ pterodactyls and swamp monsters to protect the Pontiff. The local media has done everything it can to give us the words we want to read - along with some much needed comic relief. But with information lacking in sensical substance and often contradictory, we're still left wondering if the city outside the #popefence might wind up looking like the Zombie Zone we keep joking about.

But Sellers' article didn't focus on the problems our local media has been discussing, and barely treaded into the reality of the event's sheer size, as if a swell of more than 1.5 million pilgrims was just an average boat show. 

Instead, she condescendingly stated that Washington and New York will host Pope Francis "in stride" ignoring that neither city will be hosting a public Mass. In terms of His Holiness's visit to the United States, D.C. and New York are the second-rate stopovers.

To be fair, Sellers - despite a few choice words - seemed to attempt diplomacy. She also fired off a small journalism war between our two cities. Holly Otterbein of Philadelphia Magazine accused the Post of trolling Philadelphia. David Warner used the City Paper to remind Washington that it's built atop a swamp, and in the casual nature of his paper, that our dick is bigger. 

Neither did much to counter Sellers' claim (a claim that would have been taken in stride had she not gut-punched us with that "second-rate stopover" thing) and Washington's counter commentary was just as classless. 

Benjamin Freed of Washingtonian unearthed an aptly Philadelphian "pugilistic" from his thesaurus and fired back at Philadelphia, referring to the Constitutional Convention as a "small political" gathering and the assertion that every Papal pilgrim will be coming from New Jersey, then delving into the tired fallacy that Philly has a Rocky fueled inferiority complex. 

Warner's City Paper commentary is a rant if I've ever read one, but he was one of the few journalists to point out that the vast majority of Philadelphia's preparation headaches have been caused by the U.S. Secret Service, the authoritarian overlords from Sellers' and Freed's Washington, D.C. 

Despite the smug nature of Freed's Washingtonian article, he quotes Sellers as a Philly fan. Rising above the words of Freed, this former Powelton Village and Italian Market resident had gushing words for Philadelphia's "rowhouses, restaurants, and theaters" and goes on to refer to Washington as a "government town" with "large parts of which close down on the weekends." 

Although Freed ignores - or perhaps is simply oblivious to - Seller's thinly veiled categorization of Washington as an industry town with a dead downtown, Sellers seems to get Philadelphia and ultimately ends up on top of the bitter exchange of words she obviously never meant to start, likely wishing she'd reserved a bit of print to point out her local roots and affinity for Philadelphia. 

As for Otterbein and Warner, well, Philadelphia's renaissance is something none of us are accustomed to, here or elsewhere. Yes, Philadelphians are a bit combative. We're no longer a "second-rate stopover" but we aren't completely removed from our bleak history. Those words strike a nerve in any seasoned Philadelphian and that should be expected. 

Philadelphia has received an enormous amount of praise lately, but the praise is new, and new things are fragile. Philadelphia is a very real city with very real people, people who've been here a long time and know how much hinges on - or stands to be lost at - the hands of this renewed global interest in all things Philadelphia. 

However unfounded, editorialized, or just plain made-up: media matters, and flip words from jazz-handed journalists - journalists in industry towns that reinvent themselves at the end of each national election, or powerhouses that continue to reach further into the belly of the 1% - have profound implications for cities that have to autonomously foster our identities. 

We aren't a government town, and we're not going to handle the Papal Visit like a State Dinner, a Presidential Inauguration, or Ryan Seacrest's New Years' Rockin' Eve. We're going to handle it like the very real, diverse, and economically integrated city that we are.

On September 28th Pope Francis will leave. CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, and every major newspaper in the United States will be spinning a few isolated incidents into a frenzied disaster, incidents that any reasonable person would expect amongst a crowd of 1.5 million people. Freed will feel vindicated and can go on justifying his bloated Beltway mortgage, the Otterbeins and Warners will retort, and a week later, the media will move on to the next story when they realize that the only people with a vested interest in Philadelphia's nonexistent failures are journalists with nothing better to talk about. 

Ban Fraternities?

I'm not sure if PhillyMag.com is struggling to find worthy topics, if they're just trolling for clicks and comments, or if they've truly lost their collective mind. But I have to ask, "What are you thinking?"

In today's article, Should We Ban Fraternities? Or Just Watch Them Destroy Themselves?, Monica Weymouth asks the question.

The opinion piece notes two deplorable acts recently committed in Oklahoma and at Penn State, racist and violent acts that are being addressed by the universities and even the police. If the age of the internet has taught us anything, it's that criminal idiots love to broadcast their moronically criminal behavior online. But it's also taught us that those reading the news are scouring the web for the worst of the worst, and the media is more than willing to give it to them.

Remember when we were allowed to have fun?

Out of thousands, maybe millions of college fraternities, Weymouth cites only three incidents in her self described desire to see "fraternities destroy themselves." It's bad enough when readers fall prey to subjective journalism, but when journalists find themselves unable to look at the broader scope, well that's just shoddy journalism.

I've never been a fan of the Greek system. I'm Greek enough as it is, in that I have to shave my back, I could live on a diet of olives and lamb, and I know that Phi is "F," not "P." Sorry to the Phi Kappa Taus at my alma mater, but your letters spell "Phukt." 

Nonetheless, they aren't all horrible organizations. In fact, most teach camaraderie, charity, and emphasize the reason their brothers are in school to begin with: academia.

Like the general public's macabre interest in negative news, Weymouth's article showcases an attitude toward her experience at Penn that focuses solely on what the university's frat's were doing wrong, while completely ignoring what any were doing right. 

But on another note, where's the mention of sororities? If PhillyMag.com wants to staff out an article about the demons of college fraternities, give it to someone with inside experience. There must be at least one college alum at Philadelphia Magazine who was in a fraternity. 

This article isn't just bad journalism. Bad journalism is everywhere, and we gloss over it. This is irresponsible journalism. By allowing Weymouth to heap the acts of a few on the shoulders of the overwhelming majority diminishes the credibility of her magazine. But it also hate mongers and encourages readers to ignorantly accept the false notion that a few isolated - albeit disgusting - incidents apply to every fraternity in the country. 

Philadelphia's Next Iron Chef: Wawa

Have you ever searched Yelp for a restaurant and found yourself reading a review for McDonald's? 

Why bother, right?

Well Christine Speer Lejune of Philadelphia Magazine and Josh Kruger of Philadelphia Weekly bothered. Lejune's spent a good chunk of internet real estate venting over the perceived local adoration of Wawa, and Kruger took offense. And what were once somewhat legitimate news outlets were more than willing to troll the world wide web with the bait.

Anyone concerned with the death of print journalism should be more concerned with what's replacing it online. 

Lejune comes across as a neo-Toryist who just found out Wawa doesn't serve scones while Kruger proved that the mainstream's love for plaid, fake glasses, and food trucks has driven hipsters to find irony in the last place possible: a corporate chain of convenience stores.

Bravo, journalists. I look forward to future reviews of Golden Corral's salad bar. Is it just me, or have the sneeze guards gotten higher? 

The New Philadelphian

In a recent Philadelphia Magazine article, Patrick Kerkstra seems to have coined the term "New Philadelphian." The New Philadelphian is a growing demographic made up of upper middle class transplants and recent college graduates that call revitalized neighborhoods like Graduate Hospital, Northern Liberties, and Callowhill their home.

Kerkstra focuses on the New Philadelphian's frustration with local politics, their abysmal voter turnout, and the choice to use community organizations, non-profits, and blogs as the way to voice their opinions and enact change.

While their frustration is understandable, that frustration has always been there. It's been responsible for a terminal outlook amongst many native Philadelphians and a large part of that population's acceptance of the status quo. The frustration has been responsible for the career Council Members that continue to exploit their voters, corrupt dynasties, and now, a lack of mutual understanding between those politicians and the growing number of New Philadelphians.

However, the New Philadelphians' reluctance to engage in local politics is as indicative of an American generation as it is the simple fact that they're new to the city. Kerkstra's article deliberately exempts immigrants because they are actively engaged in politics, somewhat successfully, and the only person he interviewed that seemed to truly go up against any local machine is from Dublin.

The rest of those interviewed are involved in neighborhood organizations and non-profits, and while those organizations work with politicians, they aren't the best examples of the democratic process. It's easy to argue your case in a community meeting or a non-profit, but you have little to lose.

Is this what happens when a generation with shelves full of participation trophies enters the real world?

A generation raised in suburban high schools that have never experienced failure are naturally reluctant to go up against career politicians, to be thrust into the local media and answer to the city instead of their peers, and, even if they manage to win, forced to manage an office steeped in a century of corruption, responsible for a fraction of the population that will never think you're doing enough.

Politics puts you in a tough position that requires motivation and strong character, whether you're a good person or not, and New Philadelphians are largely part of a generation of Americans that never really had to try. Failure is hard enough on its own, but it's even harder to face the inevitable fact that most of your friends won't bother to vote. Is it really any mystery that a generation who doesn't vote has chosen to avoid the traditional path to politics?

Not that these watchdogs involved in community organizations and non-profits haven't served their vital roles in the revitalization of our city. They serve a purpose and their actions should be commended.

But City Hall won't change until someone in this growing demographic of idealists is willing to risk public humiliation, criticism, and failure on behalf of their peers. The fact that City Council harbors a bunch of cronies doesn't mean that the system that put them there is broken. In fact it's the only system Philadelphia has to elect our leaders, and opting out won't change that.

"Do We Really Still Need Eastern State Penitentiary?"

The title is in quotes because I'm not asking, rather that's the question posed by Philadelphia Magazine writer, Annie Monjar in an article of the same title. I have a question of my own. Has Philadelphia Magazine officially lost it, or are they desperately baiting angry comments in a grab for ad sales?

I'm all for experimental solutions to unusual problems, but Eastern State poses neither a problem nor a need for resolve. In fact, Eastern State's popularity among tourists and curious locals has done its part transforming a once iffy neighborhood. It's amusing that Monjar cites the neighborhood's gentrification success without giving Eastern State it's credit. Instead she carries on about friends she "dragged" to the site who ask, "they need the whole thing?"

She suggests a questionable need for a fortressed park within spitting distance of the Parkway, Fairmount, and the Schuylkill River Trail. The fact that she accuses Eastern State's size as a waste of space yet neglects to mention the adjacent surface lot, nearly the same size, says a little bit about where she might be from. Philadelphia newcomers have a nagging habit of embracing what makes Philadelphia unique before they move in, followed by a disdain for the unique when it compromises their creature comforts.

To be fair, Monjar hasn't proposed bulldozing the historic structure, not completely, but rather delegating a portion of its walled grounds as public park space by razing the less restorable wings. Monjar obviously didn't visit Eastern State in the mid-1990s when its doors were first opened to those with a hard hat and a sense of adventure. If she had, she would know that the foundation's initial mission was to maintain the site's decay as part of its history rather than rewriting it through renovations and restorations. It's a very unique concept and one that we've embraced at Eastern State for two decades.

Unlike Alcatraz, visitors to Eastern State are confronted with the same bleak experience that Charles Dickens wrote about after his visit. Its self guided tours offer visitors a history lesson, but its open ended experience allows the more adventurous the opportunity to wander, enjoy its peaceful surroundings, and enjoy the art exhibits that fill its forgotten cells.

While the article seems harmless on the surface, the fact that such an opinion has been printed in a local publication suggests an increasing lack of understanding and respect for our city's history. Philadelphia is old. Would London raze part of it's Tower for public park space? Although not nearly as old, like European cities, much of our history lies in our ruins.

Those of us that know Philadelphia know what we've lost. We know what a blessing it is that this site has survived countless proposals that called for its demolition. To come to Philadelphia and propose demolishing even a portion of Eastern State for a park is on par with clearing part of the Acropolis for condos. That may sound absurd to someone like Monjar who I can only assume is new to Philadelphia, but like Athenians and Romans, we have an unwavering pride in our landmarks that can be just as loyal.

I can be staunchly pragmatic when it comes to business and development, but one thing I love about Philadelphia is, like many European cities, when it comes to our history, sometimes, sacrificing even a piece of grass to maximize perceived potential, isn't worth the financial benefits. Perhaps that's where Monjar is lost. When we walk though the gates of Eastern State, we see the history in every square foot of its grounds. When Monjar and her apparently unimpressed friends enter, they see a pile of bricks. They're looking for the tour guide and the gift shop. They want the history lesson printed in a coloring book rather than embracing the macabre experience.

I don't know Annie Monjar so I can't speak for her tenure in our city. I would like to assume that her proposal is a knee jerk reaction to something she doesn't get. She is obviously a talented writer, so I hope in time she comes to appreciate Philadelphia not just as someone who resides here, but as a Philadelphian. Perhaps, like many of us not native to Philadelphia, each continued visit to our landmarks' hallowed halls will bring her closer to understanding each brick's importance.

In the mean time, publishing such a brazenly anti-Philadelphian article in Philadelphia Magazine is disrespectful to its namesake.

Philly Mag's Beef with Baby Boomers

A recent Philadelphia Magazine cover calls out to Baby Boomers, asking them to drop dead. With one article, Janine White has managed to transform a decent regional magazine into the opinionated afterbirth of the hipster's Bibles. I can't even imagine Philadelphia Weekly or Philadelphia City Paper publishing something so socially irresponsible, certainly not on a cover.


This is the kind of hypocritical selfishness that stains my generation. White accuses Baby Boomers of selling out their mid-century idealism for Volvos and suburbs, but whether you're an X or a Y, the Baby Boomers sacrificed the LSD and free love to raise us. Many worked full time at K-Mart to make sure that art school drop outs were entitled enough to demand high paying jobs that don't exist.

If Baby Boomers are guilty of anything it's for raising us under the delusion that we can do anything we put our minds to.


Baby Boomers took the flaws of their parents and in spite, conceived a cultural Renaissance.


What did we do with the indiscriminate acceptance we inherited? Invented Gentrification and then bitched when the real estate market collapsed. And well into our 30s or 40s, we're still stomping our feet and blaming our parents when the world doesn't go our way.


In her rant, Write blames her parents' generation for everything from the Global Recession to illiteracy. Anyone who's taken Anthropology 101 can tell you a single generation can't be blamed for evolution. Baby Boomer, Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire explained that 22 years ago, and at the time we got it.


Our parents fostered a cultural tapestry that transformed the world forever, and somehow found time to raise us. We licked the icing off the cake of diversity like the fat, greedy sociopaths we are, then accused the most influential generation in modern history of not doing enough for us.


We've been voting since the late 80s. Generations X and Y are as accountable for any current crisis as our parents, or their parents. In fact, had we the foresight and ambition of the generations that preceded us, perhaps we could have been carrying on their legacy instead of tuning into The Jersey Shore.


I don't know why Philadelphia Magazine is calling for Baby Boomers to drop dead. Without them, who will its editors blame for their mistakes?

Why Ron Rubin is What's Wrong with Philadelphia

A recent Philadelphia Magazine article touts developer Ron Robin as the genius who "gets things done". While the article points to some of his shortcomings, I think it spends too much time supporting his successes with inaccuracies than it does explaining why Rubin is exactly what is wrong with Philadelphia. Rubin himself says the key to success in his field is "not falling in love with the bricks". I was happy to see that the article pointed this out, but disappointed that it wasn't the overall theme.

Unfortunately in a city like Philadelphia, still recovering from the architectural losses of the mid 20th century (Independence Mall, I-95, Dock Street, to name just a few) we don't have the luxury of ignoring the bricks. In places like New York and DC and cities where land is so valuable that fast food chains build vertically, the past can easily be forgotten with the constant change development brings. But in cities like Philadelphia, this practice is deadly. Let's face it, land is plentiful in Center City. You might not think so to look at the skyline from Citizens Bank Park, but view an aerial map of the city's heart and you'll see it's littered with surface parking lots, scarring reminders of each developer or city planner that wasn't in love with the bricks.

Now it's true, it is probably ill advised for a successful developer to be an historical philanthropist, but in a city so indebted to our history and so renowned for our past architectural masterpieces it is irresponsible for a developer to not at least have a minimal respect for the bricks. It is also irresponsible for the people to allow it. I find it amusing, albeit sad, that historians will fight tooth and nail to save a 50 year old house on Washington Square while letting a significant portion of our skyline and a massive chunk of urban landscape be completely eliminated for the Pennsylvania Convention Center. As much as I love Philadelphia, more than anything I would like to see change in this town is our defeatist mindset that restricts us to engaging solely in fights we feel we can win. It is this lack of will that allows developers like Ron Rubin to walk all over us, replacing Center City's eclectic grit and historic fabric with parasitic parking lots and suburban developments.

The vast wasteland of Market East, the Disney Hole, and controlling most of the ugliest parts of Center City with no immediate plan for what to do with any of them are just a few of his shortcomings. Philadelphia needs less developers who hoard property and wait decades for markets that never come and more eccentric visionaries willing to take risks, investors who understand that while they may not care about the bricks: residents, occupants, and visitors - all equaling revenue - do.