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.

New Society Hill High Rise

Tom Scannapieco has proposed a 26 story, 40 unit condo complex at 5th and Walnut. The high rise will be designed by Cecil Baker. Scannapieco developed 1706 Rittenhouse Square.

No Savsies

PhillyMag.com

With ten years in Philadelphia behind me I think it's fair to say I'm local, so I think it's equally fair to believe there are some Philadelphian institutions that I will never, ever understand, and that lack of understanding can no longer be blamed on my status as a transplant: I'm here, I'm local, and I just don't get it.

I'm not talking about City Hall, SEPTA, the city wage tax, or any of the urban demons that come with every major city from Boston to San Diego. I'm talking about those uniquely Philadelphian quirks, either beloved or tolerated.

Wawa: I don't care for it. Crab Fries: Where's the crab? And saving your parking space with various pieces of furniture: You're overestimating how much I care about the finish on my car because I will gladly park on top of it.

Slash my tires? Sure, but it's not hard to guess who owns the rusted lawn chair or moldy velvet lounge adorning my sidewalk all winter, and I know enough about seasoned Philadelphians to know just how proudly and loudly any one of those spot squatters would brag about slashing the tires on my little gay bug.

So it should be no surprise how thrilled I was with Philadelphia's #NoSavsies campaign this winter, and it came just in time. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not some curmudgeon dodging Philadelphia's pot holes looking for a lawn chair to flatten. If I find myself facing a piece of misplaced patio furniture in Pennsport or Fishtown, I'm not touching it. But in this winter that will never end, the habit has wormed its way into my Center City neighborhood and nearby Callowhill, or at least it's trying.

After one particularly rough hunt for a space I found myself on Ridge Avenue waiting for someone to leave. As the SUV (from NJ mind you) pulled out, the driver stepped out and placed two traffic cones in the public space. The driver watched me, perplexed, as I got out and hurled the cones on the sidewalk, turning back and screaming, "this will not start in my neighborhood!"

Fueled with two months of Winter Madness I made my Seinfeldian statement, got my spot, and walked home in the forty-second day of sub-freezing temperature. With snot-cicles forming around my nose on my six block trek, I kept thinking of the spot I spent two hours shoveling out, directly across from my front door.

This notion that people feel entitled to a quasi-public space because they shoveled it out is ludicrous. They shoveled out because they chose to leave, just like me.

How deluded and self righteous must someone be that they assume there is a fleet of phantom cars hovering in the stratosphere, waiting to steal their spot.

"I dug it out, it's my spot." No, you dug it out, therefore you gave up that spot, and anyone "stealing" your space did the exact same thing.

Broad and Washington

The northeast corner of Broad and Washington has been vacant for a long, long time. Between hosting weeds and probably hobo camps (I don't know, I didn't live here in the 90s but that's what I picture), it's emptiness is seemingly inexplicable. But there are reason it's sat vacant.

The size of the parcel is obvious. For what's only relatively recent prime real estate, it's taken a long time for any developer to look at it as more than space for a suburban megamart. Now that it's desirable land hugging million dollar condos and yuppie filled rowhouses, it's looking for someone to build something befitting the Avenue of the Arts.

But it isn't just on the Avenue of the Arts, Broad and Washington is the gateway to the Avenue.

When Bart Blatstein fulfills his agreement to purchase the lot from Hudson Capital, he plans a movie theater, a gym, a grocery store, restaurants, retail spaces, and tons of parking. What he hasn't yet planned is the pizazz you should find at this corner, at least not yet.

For now, his site plan looks fine...for something like the corner of 44th and Walnut. It services its neighborhood with oodles of resources, but on paper it's the kind of dull infill that should be replacing the blocks of suburban boredom between South and Carpenter. It just doesn't say "Welcome to Center City" the way Broad and Washington could, or should.

Given Blatstein's experience with the Piazza, he could bring on an architect like Erdy-McHenry, a firm versed in dramatic midrise complexes that don't scare NIMBYs with shadows.

Innovating in the Other Philadelphia

With several skyscraping proposals nearing approval along the Schuylkill Banks, University of the Sciences making itself seen along West Market Street near 36th, and CHoP reaching across the river to develop Schuylkill Avenue, the neighborhood doesn't appear to have much room to expand.

Drexel University and Brandwine Realty Trust want to tackle that by resurrecting a long proposed cap atop the tracks servicing 30th Street Station.

Capping the railroad tracks would add 7 million square feet of developable space to Drexel's existing plans to develop 6.5 million square feet at 33rd and Market.

PlanPhilly.com

At the other end of University City, Penn isn't slacking off. Penn has proposed "South Bank" just on the other side of the southern bend in Schuylkill River at DuPont's former paint factory. With what Penn calls its "Pennovation Center," the details sound like Penn is asking Comcast to bring their A-game with the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center.

It seems like city that once helped innovate America, served as the Workshop of the World for the best part of the Industrial Revolution, might be returning to the forefront of the world's most profitable industries.