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| "Chance of snow tonight, or tomorrow...maybe Wednesday. Perhaps. But probably not. But maybe. I guess" every weather forecast ever. |
Monday, November 11, 2013
Blizzards Welcome
Move Over, Cupcakes
I thought donuts were the new cupcakes. Or maybe it was cereal. I was hoping it would be scrapple, but I'm going to let that dream go...for now.
Genalle and Rob Day have opened Go Popcorn on 12th Street near Chestnut after opening five successful Popcorn Company's in Pittsburgh, a welcome addition to the burgeoning Washington West/Gayborhood/Midtown Village neighborhood.
Genalle and Rob Day have opened Go Popcorn on 12th Street near Chestnut after opening five successful Popcorn Company's in Pittsburgh, a welcome addition to the burgeoning Washington West/Gayborhood/Midtown Village neighborhood.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Chinatown, City Hall, and Neglect
In discussions surrounding Philadelphia's growth and development, Chinatown is largely ignored. It's considered dirty, poor, and crowded. However much of the statistical research that paints Chinatown as an impoverished ghetto ignores the fact that much of its largely immigrant population are elderly or self employed.
Philadelphia claims to embrace immigrants, but when they don't fit into what we think Center City should be, many would rather relocate them if they don't come to the city with loads of investments.
Americans approach culture enclaves in a uniquely specific way. Outside looking in, we often find them interesting, but when they deviate from our isolated comfort zones some begin to view them as too Chinese, too Italian, or too gay. Of course xenophobia only exposes itself behind the anonymity of message boards, so people vocally express their discomfort with neighborhoods like Chinatown by calling it out as dirty or citing bias statistics to justify their anxiety.
The truth is Chinatown is bighted. But the city views Chinatown as an onlooker. Household trash is dumped around public trashcans, unpermitted street vendors go unchecked, and illegal parking is ignored throughout Chinatown North. This would run rampant and does in any neighborhood ignored by the city.
Despite being boxed in by the Convention Center, The Gallery, Market East Station, and the Vine Street Expressway, Chinatown's population continues to be one of fastest growing in Center City. As more residents move into Chinatown it's reputation won't get any better until the city begins to work with the neighborhood, truly accepting it as a part of Philadelphia.
The city that once attempted to drive an expressway off-ramp through the heart of the neighborhood and drop a baseball stadium just north of Vine Street seems to hold onto the notion that Chinatown has no place in Center City. The city eviscerated the Furnished Room District, Franklin Square, and the Tenderloin in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Chinatown is the sole survivor of a Philadelphia that City Hall once wanted to forget.
Fortunately the Chinatown Development Corporation has a hold on what's left between 9th Street and 11th Street, much to the chagrin of city planners who don't understand how an ethnic enclave should be addressed by a modern city.
While the city continues to push growth and private development, wildly advertising subsidies for sites like Cira Centre South and potential investments in the Delaware Waterfront, the city has mentioned nothing of the PCDC's Eastern Tower and Community Center at 10th and Vine.
The tower stands to alter the skyline of the city and bring more residents and businesses to the struggling Callowhill neighborhood. Although the city has supported residential developments on the Parkway, Franklintown, and the Schuylkill River, neighborhoods that succeed on their own, they've expressed no interest in the ETCC which is poised to bridge multiple neighborhoods, dilute the visual impact of the Vine Street Canyon, and improve a Chinatown long neglected by City Hall.
Philadelphia claims to embrace immigrants, but when they don't fit into what we think Center City should be, many would rather relocate them if they don't come to the city with loads of investments.
Americans approach culture enclaves in a uniquely specific way. Outside looking in, we often find them interesting, but when they deviate from our isolated comfort zones some begin to view them as too Chinese, too Italian, or too gay. Of course xenophobia only exposes itself behind the anonymity of message boards, so people vocally express their discomfort with neighborhoods like Chinatown by calling it out as dirty or citing bias statistics to justify their anxiety.
The truth is Chinatown is bighted. But the city views Chinatown as an onlooker. Household trash is dumped around public trashcans, unpermitted street vendors go unchecked, and illegal parking is ignored throughout Chinatown North. This would run rampant and does in any neighborhood ignored by the city.
Despite being boxed in by the Convention Center, The Gallery, Market East Station, and the Vine Street Expressway, Chinatown's population continues to be one of fastest growing in Center City. As more residents move into Chinatown it's reputation won't get any better until the city begins to work with the neighborhood, truly accepting it as a part of Philadelphia.
The city that once attempted to drive an expressway off-ramp through the heart of the neighborhood and drop a baseball stadium just north of Vine Street seems to hold onto the notion that Chinatown has no place in Center City. The city eviscerated the Furnished Room District, Franklin Square, and the Tenderloin in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Chinatown is the sole survivor of a Philadelphia that City Hall once wanted to forget.
Fortunately the Chinatown Development Corporation has a hold on what's left between 9th Street and 11th Street, much to the chagrin of city planners who don't understand how an ethnic enclave should be addressed by a modern city.
While the city continues to push growth and private development, wildly advertising subsidies for sites like Cira Centre South and potential investments in the Delaware Waterfront, the city has mentioned nothing of the PCDC's Eastern Tower and Community Center at 10th and Vine. The tower stands to alter the skyline of the city and bring more residents and businesses to the struggling Callowhill neighborhood. Although the city has supported residential developments on the Parkway, Franklintown, and the Schuylkill River, neighborhoods that succeed on their own, they've expressed no interest in the ETCC which is poised to bridge multiple neighborhoods, dilute the visual impact of the Vine Street Canyon, and improve a Chinatown long neglected by City Hall.
More Brick
The redevelopment at Old City's iconic Shirt Corner at 3rd and Market looks as though it will go through without protest. It's not surprising. Alterra Property's more-of-the-same approach to Old City's identity offers little to criticize. While the Shirt Corner may be more in line with what Old City's Market East was, the reality is that there's no market in the posh neighborhood for $50 canary yellow suits and alligator skin beatle boots.
Many in the neighborhood have come to regard the Shirt Corner as blight, largely because it's been closed for so long. Improvements to the site can certainly bring in more profitable retail, even though that prime corner retail appears to be going to yet another CVS.
What's interesting is Old City's wealthy residents have embraced the businesses of their neighborhood's past, restoring signage on many of their renovated condo complexes, even naming those addresses after those defunct businesses. Perhaps the Shirt Corner's overwhelming red, white, and blue signage crosses the line between a subtle nod to the neighborhood's history and garishness.
I still find it unfortunate. Much of what makes Philadelphia so visually dramatic is in its harshly contrasting styles, vibrant colors, and unusual history, even in Old City. From the PSFS Building to the Divine Lorraine, rogue murals, and Brutalist masterpieces, Philadelphia's true history is anything but brick and beige trim.
Alterra's Shirt Corner is what America thinks Philadelphia is and what Old City's transplants thinks Philadelphia should be, but it isn't Philadelphia. The Shirt Corner will go away and probably should, but the Colonial restoration and recreation that will follow pays no tribute to the neighborhood, or the city's history.
Say what you will about the Shirt Corner, when someone asked to meet you there, you knew where you were going. "Meet me at CVS" is as boring as this building. It will simply be there and that's all anyone will ever say about it.
Many in the neighborhood have come to regard the Shirt Corner as blight, largely because it's been closed for so long. Improvements to the site can certainly bring in more profitable retail, even though that prime corner retail appears to be going to yet another CVS.
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| CVS? Come on. We can do better. |
I still find it unfortunate. Much of what makes Philadelphia so visually dramatic is in its harshly contrasting styles, vibrant colors, and unusual history, even in Old City. From the PSFS Building to the Divine Lorraine, rogue murals, and Brutalist masterpieces, Philadelphia's true history is anything but brick and beige trim.
Alterra's Shirt Corner is what America thinks Philadelphia is and what Old City's transplants thinks Philadelphia should be, but it isn't Philadelphia. The Shirt Corner will go away and probably should, but the Colonial restoration and recreation that will follow pays no tribute to the neighborhood, or the city's history.
Say what you will about the Shirt Corner, when someone asked to meet you there, you knew where you were going. "Meet me at CVS" is as boring as this building. It will simply be there and that's all anyone will ever say about it.
It's a Beautiful Day in the Gayborhood
Brickstone Reality has been given the green light from the city to begin development of 80 apartments including retail on the 1100 block of Chestnut Street.
L&I requires 24 parking spaces because - well - the city has some pretty stupid requirements when it comes to parking.
Fortunately neighboring garages have already agreed to reserve spaces for the apartment building since they likely won't be needed.
The plan is sweet and simple, certainly not as exciting as Winka Dubbeldam's Unknot Tower once proposed for the site by CREI. Given the current state of East Chestnut best referred to as in flux, sweet and simple - with permanent residents - is just what the doctor ordered.
Fortunately neighboring garages have already agreed to reserve spaces for the apartment building since they likely won't be needed.
The plan is sweet and simple, certainly not as exciting as Winka Dubbeldam's Unknot Tower once proposed for the site by CREI. Given the current state of East Chestnut best referred to as in flux, sweet and simple - with permanent residents - is just what the doctor ordered.
SugarHouse Expansion: More of the Same
SugarHouse Casino's most recent expansion proposal aims the site at the Delaware River. While private investment in Philadelphia beleaguered working river is a good thing, the lackluster expansion that once promised the city an exciting high rise gives advocates both for and against our city's casinos reason to pause.
The $155M expansion will include more event space and dining options, but the only thing challenging the Delaware River skyline will be a new seven story parking garage. The gaming floor will also be increased by 27,000 square feet. Let's be honest, this is where the money is.
In addition to improvements to the existing space, SugarHouse will be widening the streets surrounding the property to ease traffic congestion. Unfortunately this will make a project that once claimed to be a friendly neighbor feel more like an isolated strip mall than it already does.
While the DWRC has finally put some realistic plans in place for rejoining Center City with Penn's Landing, SugarHouse is further separating the Northern Delaware from any life but its own.
Where are the improvements that benefit its neighbors? Instead of spending $12M to accommodate more traffic, build smart and invest in improvements that get gamblers to the casino without traffic.
It's unfortunate enough that SugarHouse's site has abandoned any attempt to integrate itself into the fabric of the city, but sadly the beast is now eating away at the surrounding property with wider roads. The seven story parking garage appears to replace the large surface lot north of the casino but the asphalt prairie to the south will likely remain.
While SugarHouse and the city itself seem hell bent on ignoring the mistakes of the 70s by allowing this suburbanized plan to sprawl, hopefully we'll look twice at the dazzling proposals for Provence and Market8. When a plan calls for a "phased development," can it be trusted, or is it just a developer's cheap trick and an easy way to obtain permits?
The $155M expansion will include more event space and dining options, but the only thing challenging the Delaware River skyline will be a new seven story parking garage. The gaming floor will also be increased by 27,000 square feet. Let's be honest, this is where the money is.
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| Philly.com |
In addition to improvements to the existing space, SugarHouse will be widening the streets surrounding the property to ease traffic congestion. Unfortunately this will make a project that once claimed to be a friendly neighbor feel more like an isolated strip mall than it already does.
While the DWRC has finally put some realistic plans in place for rejoining Center City with Penn's Landing, SugarHouse is further separating the Northern Delaware from any life but its own.
Where are the improvements that benefit its neighbors? Instead of spending $12M to accommodate more traffic, build smart and invest in improvements that get gamblers to the casino without traffic.
It's unfortunate enough that SugarHouse's site has abandoned any attempt to integrate itself into the fabric of the city, but sadly the beast is now eating away at the surrounding property with wider roads. The seven story parking garage appears to replace the large surface lot north of the casino but the asphalt prairie to the south will likely remain.
While SugarHouse and the city itself seem hell bent on ignoring the mistakes of the 70s by allowing this suburbanized plan to sprawl, hopefully we'll look twice at the dazzling proposals for Provence and Market8. When a plan calls for a "phased development," can it be trusted, or is it just a developer's cheap trick and an easy way to obtain permits?
W Hotel
Tentative plans for a skyline altering hotel near City Hall may have encountered a slight hiccup. Hotel owners sick of competition have created their own NIMBY, "Concerned Hotel Owners of Philadelphia." Of course the difference between a NIMBY and a corporate action group is all in motivation.NIMBYs, however ridiculous as they may be, are concerned citizens with what they perceive to be legitimate quality of life concerns. Corporate action groups are all about lobbying for profit.
CHOP penned a letter to Philly.com, then edited it, then edited it again, calling for the city to withhold any subsidies in the construction of a W Hotel at 15th and Chestnut, subsidies most CHOP members received themselves.
The erratic letter focused primarily on the Pennsylvania Convention Center, suggesting any subsidies are a governmental attempt to offset the cost behind the disastrous expansion of the center, more subtly suggesting that the only people who rent hotel rooms in Center City are conventioneers.
Of course this ridiculous assertion ends when the W Hotel is complete. W wouldn't be investing in Philadelphia if it didn't see a market here. Subsidies may help build the skyscraper but its tenant knows it needs customers to profit.
Those profits are what these concerned hotel owners are interested in. If any one of them was so strapped for cash they'd be cashing out on their real estate and leaving town. They aren't. They're frustrated with the fact that their lackluster hotels might loose a few customers to something as lavish as a W skyscraper in Center City.
Marriott Downtown is a member of CHOP. It's interesting that a hotel chain with three franchises on one block is campaigning against purported industry saturation.
It's business, people. If you aren't good at it you die. You don't start a lobby group to muscle out the kinds of businesses that make Philadelphia a better city.
If the city decides to cede to CHOP's demands, W will be free to hire market rate labor to offset Philadelphia's notoriously costly trade unions. If W decides to go ahead without subsidies it will be interesting to see if the city support their construction crew.
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