[UC] St. Francis de Sales Advent Concert this Wednesday
Hi, Everyone, You are invited to St. Francis de Sales Church, 47th Springfield Ave. this Wednesday, December 15, at 7 pm for a celebration of readings and songs for the Advent season by the DeSales Chorale. It is free and open to the public. Bring your family, friends and neighbors, young and old. Fran You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
[UC] The case for city zoning reforms
I'm not a fan of the community engagement process on which Harris Sokoloff is building his reputation, but -- keeping in mind the comment at the end of the following article (in the Inquirer) that we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good -- it may have yielded rather positive results in this very thorny area. Al Krigman The case for city zoning reforms By Kiki Bolender and Harris Sokoloff How should residents be involved in zoning decisions in their neighborhoods? As naysayers? Or as valued advisers to developers and architects? The proposed new Philadelphia zoning code answers that question by honoring the expertise of neighborhood leaders, and it should be supported by citizens who value that expertise. At the beginning of this year, neighborhood leaders, developers, architects, and lawyers gathered for a series of workshops on the new code called Common Ground for Building Our City: Developers, the Public and the Zoning Code. The project was led by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, and WHYY. The conversations were not easy. Participants struggled to get past stereotypes: Architects and developers were seen as arrogant and paying only lip service to community input; neighborhood groups were accused of engaging in backroom deals and borderline extortion. And some architects, developers, and community groups have engaged in those behaviors under the existing zoning code. But the workshop participants overcame those stereotypes and found common ground. They agreed on ways to ensure that new buildings are good for the city, neighborhoods, and developers. We sent a report to the Zoning Code Commission in February, and the essence of those agreed-upon principles is in the new code, which is expected to be presented to City Council soon. The new code would take several steps to incorporate neighborhood expertise into the zoning process: Notification of coming projects would be more thorough. Significant projects would require Planning Commission approval. Applicants would be required to meet with the community, and both sides will submit minutes for the record. A Civic Design Review Committee would advise the Planning Commission on significant projects. It would include someone with neighborhood zoning experience and a rotating seat for a member of the relevant neighborhood group. Under the new code and map, zones would more closely match actual uses. This would correct cases such as that of Northern Liberties, which is largely zoned industrial even though it has become one of the city's hottest residential areas. The new code would define buildings that significantly affect the public because of size, location, or use. Those buildings would be reviewed even if they don't require a zoning variance. And, as outlined above, neighborhood input would be an important part of the review. We believe zoning matters. With goodwill and a good zoning code, citizens can shape the future of their neighborhoods and the city. And zoning can encourage investment in rehabilitation and new construction, expanding the city's tax base. The Inquirer recently reported that Camden is considering laying off half its police force and a third of its firefighters because it can't afford them. The city simply lacks the tax base to pay for basic services. Camden's sobering story should spur us to support a zoning code that inspires confidence in Philadelphia as a place to invest, a place where investors are treated fairly, and a place whose Philadelphia-ness actually adds value to buildings. The new code's provisions for citizen involvement are not perfect, but they're on the right track. Under the current process, some neighborhood groups are happy with the influence they have on developers and the power some individuals gain through that influence. But we would argue that under the new code, citizen voices will be given a place of greater respect, to the long-term benefit of their communities and the city. As Philadelphia's huge, collaborative exercise in zoning reform is drawing to a close, let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Let's get the new code passed and use it to make Philadelphia the next great city - a soulful, sassy, energized city of neighborhoods where people will be eager to build, live, and work. Kiki Bolender and Harris Sokoloff created the Common Ground project with the support of a grant from the William Penn Foundation. Bolender is a partner in Schade and Bolender Architects. Sokoloff is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education and the founder of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement. For the Common Ground report, Read more:
Re: [UC] The case for city zoning reforms
that we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good -- it may have yielded rather positive results in this very thorny area. I'm not happy with the way they engaged in selective engagement. It was deficient at best, fraudulent at worst. For example the greater body of SW Philly had to travel to West or S Philly for meetings. Of course SW is where there is significant vacant developable land and multi-billion dollar revenue generators driving airport related expansion and discussion of a new zoning class airport related. Where is the effected community's input? There is much to be concerned about; I will try to cite references later from the East Falls community planning group. Some real problems regard lowering or eliminating mandatory parking. Example, Community Living Arrangements (CLAs) set in traditional single family dwellings are invading many areas of the city but there may no longer be minimum parking requirements for the multiple staff cars and their vans that may be parked on the streets. Bed and breakfasts with an occupancy of eight or less may no longer be subject to neighbor approval. This may be an easy entree for boarding houses to slip into many neighborhoods, and there are more. The rewriting of our zoning regs may in fact be little more than the Developers' Zoning Streamlining and Nutter Real Estate Tax Enhancement Act. The only thing worse than careless Republican Rule is Greedy Democratic Rule. And, less than perfect may mean we are stuck with not good enough for decades to come. So, what's the rush to not get it right? Craig -Original Message- From: krf...@aol.com To: UnivCity@list.purple.com Cc: edi...@pressreview.net; harr...@gse.upenn.edu Sent: Mon, Dec 13, 2010 11:49 am Subject: [UC] The case for city zoning reforms I'm not a fan of the community engagement process on which Harris Sokoloff is building his reputation, but -- keeping in mind the comment at the end of the following article (in the Inquirer) that we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good -- it may have yielded rather positive results in this very thorny area. Al Krigman The case for city zoning reforms By Kiki Bolender and Harris Sokoloff How should residents be involved in zoning decisions in their neighborhoods? As naysayers? Or as valued advisers to developers and architects? The proposed new Philadelphia zoning code answers that question by honoring the expertise of neighborhood leaders, and it should be supported by citizens who value that expertise. At the beginning of this year, neighborhood leaders, developers, architects, and lawyers gathered for a series of workshops on the new code called Common Ground for Building Our City: Developers, the Public and the Zoning Code. The project was led by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, and WHYY. The conversations were not easy. Participants struggled to get past stereotypes: Architects and developers were seen as arrogant and paying only lip service to community input; neighborhood groups were accused of engaging in backroom deals and borderline extortion. And some architects, developers, and community groups have engaged in those behaviors under the existing zoning code. But the workshop participants overcame those stereotypes and found common ground. They agreed on ways to ensure that new buildings are good for the city, neighborhoods, and developers. We sent a report to the Zoning Code Commission in February, and the essence of those agreed-upon principles is in the new code, which is expected to be presented to City Council soon. The new code would take several steps to incorporate neighborhood expertise into the zoning process: Notification of coming projects would be more thorough. Significant projects would require Planning Commission approval. Applicants would be required to meet with the community, and both sides will submit minutes for the record. A Civic Design Review Committee would advise the Planning Commission on significant projects. It would include someone with neighborhood zoning experience and a rotating seat for a member of the relevant neighborhood group. Under the new code and map, zones would more closely match actual uses. This would correct cases such as that of Northern Liberties, which is largely zoned industrial even though it has become one of the city's hottest residential areas. The new code would define buildings that significantly affect the public because of size, location, or use. Those buildings would be reviewed even if they don't require a zoning variance. And, as outlined above, neighborhood input would be an important part of the
Re: [UC] hotel and office building on walnut
A deeper way to read this is simply that the local eds meds industry continues to grow, at a time when many other American industries are suffering from international competition. So EM is tending, over the long run, to take up more real estate around its bases -- of which we are one. But the rate of increase per decade is modest, and the social outcome is mostly beneficial. So it's hard to claim any disruption of the neighborhood by the neighborhood's largest employer. In the meantime, Ray Rorke, in this case, was faced with a standard American, two-way, political choice. He could either seek to support an 11-story hotel at 40th Pine, or a rotting ruin at 40th Pine. He chose the rotting ruin. All this paranoid babble about the university assumes there is something intrinsically suspect and harmful to inner-city neighbors about operating a successful and growing university-based economic complex in their neighborhood. Quite the contrary -- in 2010, it's been a lifesaver. The '60s are over, my grizzled friends. We are not about to organize a sit-in at Houston Hall, to tell it to go away. Put another way: how can we help you cripple your employer's growth, Ray, without hurting ourselves in the process? -- Tony West On 12/12/2010 12:38 PM, UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN wrote: quietly, quietly, the university and its pawns (ucd, campus apartments, co-opted community organizations) continue to redefine -- physically and narratively -- our community in terms of penn's agenda. structures planned and developed by campus apartments are replacing residential buildings in order to promote the interests and activities of penn. local businesses are being replaced and facelifted by ucd and campus apartments in return for votes for penn's upcoming bid. meanwhile the university continues to claim that it is engaging locally and improving the neighborhood. the identity of the neighborhoods surrounding the pine street hotel was -- and is -- this: neighbors excercising their civic duty in the name of responsible development over a decade ago, penn made the decision to put the penn tower hotel -- which included extended stay suites for visitors to the university and its hospitals -- to other uses. now penn has decided it needs to build another extended stay hi-rise hotel, not on campus property, but in our neighborhood. how long will it be before this new hotel becomes obsolete? and how long will it be before penn decides to build another must-have hi-rise-for-penn elsewhere in our neighborhood? .. UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
