John Boyle
Mon, 22 Jul 2002 04:42:07 -0700
| Editorial | Wheels spinning Stalled plans for biking path must get rolling. For nearly a decade, John Randolph has been the chief advocate of linking the Kelly Drive biking, hiking and skating path with Center City. For nearly a decade, he has been asked over and over when the project would move ahead. After all, it's had a $14 million federal grant since 1993. It's had the blessing of City Hall, under two mayors. And it's been hailed by Center City civic leaders, who envision this riverside ribbon of green from the Philadelphia Art Museum to Locust Street as an economic development tool - yet another lure for a thriving downtown, a magnet for residents and growth in a shrinking city. But for nearly a decade, Mr. Randolph, as then-president of the nonprofit citizens group Schuylkill River Development Council, had to give a rueful standard answer: "Spring... but I don't know what year." Now another spring has gone without the start of the crucial phase of work - paving and landscaping the path, building ramps and staircases for access on foot from bridges at Walnut, Chestnut and Market Streets. That's because the only greening along the lower Schuylkill these days comes in attorneys' fees. A long-running and debilitating legal dispute over contractor bids has kept the work on hold since late 2000. Before that, there was a dispute with the CSX freight company over its nearby rail lines. In the bid dispute, Common Pleas Court Judge John W. Herron has ruled twice that the city bungled - first booting one contractor over diversity goals, then bending rules so a second bidder could qualify. If Judge Herron sticks to his position, as seems likely, the city has a choice: to keep fighting a losing battle, or to halt the appeals and jump-start the bids again. That should be an easy one for Mayor Street and his aides: Stop the appeals, and get the project going. It's a chance to make something happen on at least one of the city's premier waterfront locations - given the moribund development plans for Penn's Landing. If that doesn't move City Hall, Mr. Street should get his aides to focus on the cruel irony that "a fully funded project should stall so spectacularly," as Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron noted in a recent article. That irony will not play well with the new, mover-and-shaker board of directors installed at Mr. Randolph's citizen group. Surely, these stakeholders didn't sign on to see Schuylkill River Park remain on the drawing board for long. http://www.bikemap.com The Bikes on Transit database Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com |