Salvaging the Boyd

After a valiant effort on behalf of preservation activists, Live Nation didn't waste time beginning demolition at the historic Boyd Theater after last week's decision by the Historical Commission.

As often is with historically designated buildings in Philadelphia, there was a public misconception about what was designated historic. The most astounding aspect of the theater is its massive Art Deco auditorium, but the only piece protected by the Historical Commission was the façade which will be restored by iPic Theaters.

Philadelphia's independent blogosphere will likely follow the Boyd's demolition while the mainstream press will follow iPic's redevelopment. Meanwhile it's important to use the momentum generated by the Friends of the Boyd and the Preservation Alliance to move on to the next threatened historic site.

For the moment, I'm curious what will be salvaged from the Boyd's auditorium and where it will end up. A few months ago I was at Ted's Bulletin, a new restaurant on 14th Street in Washington, DC, and was surprised to see the entire interior adorned in the salvaged remnants of West Philadelphia's Convention Hall.

Convention Hall met a familiar fate, its demolition the result of University Hospital's ambitious development and last minute efforts on the part of preservationists. Before that happens again, let's get out in front of the next great loss. We need a Friends of Robinson's, Friends of the Roundhouse, and Friends of the Divine Lorraine to make sure we don't lose another architectural legacy.

The Boyd Theater: What's Next?

Despite an anonymous offer to purchase the Boyd Theater from its current owners, the Historical Commission has agreed to let Live Nation demolish the historic theater. Why is entirely up for speculation. The purchase price of $4.5M didn't come with any guarantees. In fact, one very possible outcome from saving the Boyd's auditorium at the behest of advocates could have resulted in it sitting vacant for another decade, ultimately leading to the loss of the entire building. iPic Theaters has agree to restore the façade.

However given the Historical Commission's job performance, that doesn't mean the city had the theater's best interests in mind. The commission has allowed a number of properties that they deemed historic to crumble in the hands of slum lords and property hoarders, ultimately approving them for demolition.

The Historical Commission's namesake is a bit of a misnomer, and it's questionable whether anyone in the agency understands what constitutes history or why. It's a poorly funded city agency that reviews nominations for historic properties, then I assume they choose the prettiest and slap an arbitrary historic sticker on it. After that, private developers are saddled with the financial burden of restoring a crumbling relic. The commission does nothing to ensure the safety of its historic properties. Many, such as the Church of the Assumption, slowly become undesirable or even unusable pieces of property.

But the loss of the Boyd doesn't have to be a complete wash. This forgotten theater generated more awareness surrounding preservation in one of America's most historic cities than some of Philadelphia's most notable abandonment. There are lessons that have been learned and the commission's flaws exposed.

Sites like the Divine Lorraine and the SS United States are well known because their presence is so prominent. Their fate is unsure because they've sat vacant and stripped. But there are dozens of other sites in the city which, much like the Boyd, are completely usable yet unknown or unappreciated to those passing by.

Instead of dwelling over the demise of the Boyd, the momentum and public awareness it generated needs to be used to move on to the next threatened property: The Roundhouse, Robinson's Department Store, The Department of Public Health, The National Building. These are strange buildings, notable architectural examples that represent unique historic eras. They also sit on prime property ripe for redevelopment.

Maybe it's difficult for those vested in the past to look at the future. But all too often preservationists come to the aid of our historic properties the very moment it's too late. Let's not wait for the wrecking ball to come to The National Office of Big Brothers Big Sisters before we decide it's worth saving. And while we have the attention of the media and the public, let's take the Historical Commission to task for neglecting its sole responsibility: protecting our city's history.

Barely Human: Courage

While religious nut jobs poke their nose into the politics of high profile cities like New York and DC, Philadelphia - perhaps thanks to the fact that many uneducated zealots think God was born somewhere in Missouri - has managed to fly under the radar.

We've elected Brian Sims, Councilman Kenney has proposed sweeping legislation at the behest of the LGBT community, and Mayor Michael Nutter stated he wants Philadelphia to become the "most LGBT friendly city" in the world.

Whether Nutter's lofty aspirations seem realistic or not, these are things that don't happen in other parts of the United States without resistance, even in cities as progressive as New York and San Francisco. Hate groups target high profile cities they deem influential, or sophomorically, "gay." Meanwhile cities like Philadelphia are free to charge ahead with an extreme lack of resistance, while the more prejudice aren't concerned enough with the lives of others to speak out.

Philadelphia is both the Wild West of gay rights and ahead of the curve. Basically, hate groups don't really know what to do with us. Which may be why Courage, a fringe Christian organization that claims to convert homosexuals to a heterosexual lifestyle decided to hold their local event at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary on City Line Avenue, far removed from citizens and politicos who would care.

Courage is in for a rude awakening when it comes to town on March 29th. Philadelphians have a unique outlook towards LGBT rights and, gay or not, are ruthlessly supportive of divergent lifestyles. Courage is versed in attacking the cliché protestors, but Philadelphians aren't cliché. Southerners are tight lipped when it comes to their convictions and what they choose to accept, New Yorkers and Washingtonians are divisively political, and the West Coast is chock full of vegan beet-burger fueled hippies, but Philadelphia is an anomaly of acceptance.

We may spew hate over bike lanes, parking, and dog poop, but when some evangelist swoops into town claiming he can "fix" our neighbor's kid, Philadelphians can throw back a kind of solidarity these hypocrites have never experienced.

These groups fixate on stereotypes because their understanding of our "condition" ends with stereotypes. That multi-ethnic mob of camouflage caps, baggy jeans, and South Philly moms descending upon St. Charles Borromeo in March won't be the support that Courage expects, it will be Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware telling Courage to take its bigotry elsewhere.

That's So Gay

Through October 17th, the Library Company of Philadelphia will be exposing America's lavender history with That's So Gay: Outing Early America.

Of course the LCP admits the difficulty in pulling the "gay" out of a history that wouldn't recognize the word, but there's still an abundance of gender bending photography, poetry, and purported affairs of same sex couples that prove the past is not as rigid as our conventional history books lead us to believe.

Lessons Not Learned

Philly.com

After months of national publicity surrounding last summer's deadly collapse at 22nd and Market and its subsequent investigation, city agencies have streamlined the processes of interdepartmental communication and pulled out all the bells and whistles, placing police and fire officials at the site of every high profile demolition project in the city.

Does that sound right? Yes, with multiple agencies in charge of our public's safety indicated in last year's deadly collapse, that is the response we'd expect to see.

But it's not happening.

When today's demolition at the Shirt Corner got loud and dusty, we didn't see a streamlined response. We saw finger pointing, slum-shaming, and the same pass-the-buck rhetoric we saw last summer.

Luckily after today's unplanned collapse at 257-259 Market Street, the fallout was more hype than substance. It seems the media is the only organization that learned anything from the collapse at 22nd and Market.

Alterra Property Group claims it has the proper permits and that precautions were in place in case of an accidental collapse, but that didn't stop city agencies from stepping out in front of the debris to excuse themselves of any responsibility.

Most notably a policeman on the scene told reporters that the Police and Fire Departments were not informed of the planned demolition, but isn't informing the Police and Fire Departments one of the steps L&I takes when granting a demolition permit? Either L&I skipped that step of the Police and Fire Departments didn't file and schedule the permit properly on their end.

It sounds like every department in the city needs some basic training in communication and project management, or simply put, this city needs to get its ass in gear.

NP International's River Walk

NP International wants to add another 40 floors to the Schuylkill River next to PECO's headquarters on JFK.

The tallest component in the three tower complex would bring street life to an abysmal stretch of JFK leading to 30th Street Station while two smaller buildings would embrace the Schuylkill Banks.

Tesla: Pennsylvania is Open for Business

Since the first Tin Lizzies rolled off the assembly line in Highland Park, MI over a century ago, the American auto industry has hosted some of the nation's most nefarious backdoor deals and unethical political maneuvers. Once a competitive industry of Studebakers and Duesenbergs, a select group of choice brands emerged as the captains of the automotive industry.

The Big Three don't rule the American market by making better cars, they sustain themselves through powerful Washington lobbies and truckloads of subsidies. You don't have to make a better car to be an American car company, you just have to be Chrysler, Ford, or General Motors.

Some have learned the hard way, most notably Preston Tucker. The Tucker 48 was set to be one of the most advanced cars the world had seen, a feat accomplished by adding seatbelts and three headlights to a Studebaker. With no major American car company releasing a new model in more than five years, the American market was eager to drive the Tucker 48, until a baseless stock fraud claim and federal indictment led the media to shroud Tucker in a cloud of corruption. Only 51 Tucker 48s were ever produced and Preston Tucker died less than ten years later.

Tucker 48

Since then few new car companies have emerged, and when they have they've been absorbed under an umbrella of one of the Big Three. The American Motor Company was the last major American manufacturer to compete with the Big Three, but was absorbed into Chrysler in the 1980s. AMC's sedans were discontinued and Chrysler continues to manufacture AMC's Jeep brand.

Since 1987 the Big Three has been the Only Three. That is until Elon Musk, a dot com billionaire behind PayPal, took over the California based Tesla Motors. During the financial crisis, Musk was the Big Three's biggest nightmare. The Tesla is more than the motor company's sedan and roadster models, it's a profitable powertrain used by Mercedes and Toyota, a completely electric powertrain that can compete with the most powerful combustion engines.

Sales of the Tesla have put fire under the Big Three, evident in GM's release of the Chevy Volt. The American auto industry hasn't seriously dabbled in electric vehicles since GM's EV1, an electric car offered only as a lease in the late 90s. Despite the EV1's popularity among its drivers, GM cited poor profitability to recall and crush nearly every one of them.

Stacks of crushed GM EV1s

That decision remains controversial, with some conspiracy theorists even claiming that the American automobile lobbies pressured GM to discontinue its experimental program as the EV1 would potentially advance GM ahead of Ford and Chrysler.

So why the history lesson? Well, it would seem politics haven't changed since Preston Tucker engineered his Tucker 48 and Tesla Motors is throwing a little too much competitive innovation at the Big Three, and their lobbyists have been working overtime to keep Tesla Motors out of various markets, including the entire state of New Jersey.

The NJ Motor Vehicle Commission created a legislative loophole yesterday that all but ensures the only American cars available in NJ will be brought to you by the Big Three, and New York is considering similar prohibitions. Car manufacturers will no longer be allowed to directly sell their models in the Garden State, only resellers.

Why? Well it doesn't make any business sense. That's like forcing private bakers to sell their cupcakes through Wegman's.

What it does do is frustrate independent sellers like Tesla and other emerging automotive products at the behest of the giants. What lobbyists likely hope to do is isolate the major markets, and NJ and NY are two of the biggest, leading to one of a few potential outcomes, all benefitting the Big Three.

Tesla will need to find dealers capable of procuring licenses from a state openly trying to ban Teslas, dealers willing to open very expensive dealerships to sell Tesla's only two models.

The other outcome is that this legislation cripples Tesla Motors' sales, forcing the company to sell its soul to the Big Three, or worse, into bankruptcy. This is the more traditional M.O. of the Big Three lobby, but given Tesla's success overseas and its profitable powertrains, not a likely one. Basically, the NJ legislation just screws NJ consumers by giving preferential treatment to the Walmarts of car builders.

Tesla Model S

However if NY follows suit and finds its own way to ban Teslas from their car lots, it puts Pennsylvania in a uniquely lucrative situation. Nothing drives sales like mystique, and if NJ and NY residents want to drive a Tesla, PA is a nearby option. Let's take it a step further, not only selling Teslas in PA, but let's invite Elon Musk to manufacture one of America's most exciting new automobiles right in our own backyards.