RE: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Glenn moyer]

Right on, well said.
"I was also surprised, and yet not surprised that there were also those who believed that a subcommittee of an organization can ignore the clearly stated opposition of the organization's members.  Hopefully community members have learned from this that everyone has to be active in his or her community. It can't be left to a neighbor, or someone around the corner; everyone has to be active and informed, and cannot cede their involvement to someone else. Serve on the boards; go to the meetings; keep people accountable. No one person or small group should have the power to make decisions for an entire neighborhood.  Otherwise other Campus Inns may be in the offing."
 
This insight is very important and needs more public community discussion.  
Several years ago, some of us made a push to reform the Friends of Clark Park.  The members voted to support an inclusive process to identify, work cooperatively, and honestly with all community stakeholders.  The members also ordered the leaders to publish the TIMES, DATES AND LOCATIONS OF ALL MEETINGS in the community newspaper along with THE AGENDAS.  
The FOCP leaders openly defied their members (as SHCA did recently)  and I personally was thereafter and forever silenced for defying the leaders authority.  Importantly, I was a member of the organization, paid my dues, and tried for several years to treat the leadership like mature responsible adults.  I wished to support my positions in open civil debate.  
 
As subscribers on the list know quite well, I have now taken the position that these local associations are entrenched, and I advocate that all governmental and political leaders shun these because they behave like insular street gangs and not like community associations "volunteering" to serve their communities.  Ironically, when I still paid dues, an additional number was added to their totals, that the leaders routinely use to claim authority as community representatives.  Their are many volunteers serving their communities, but these associations don't have community service as their mission.  They serve the agendas of their leaders.  
What we all need to discuss openly is, what is to be done for real longlasting reform of these broken association processes?  Our local association leaders have a long and dishonorable tendency to depend on ad hominem arguments, spreading rumors and creating straw men to silence dissent to their authority.  I know that our neighbors have real and understandable fears about standing up to the bullying and rumor spreading that they may face in their home communities.  I faced the power and hurt of these techniques first hand and know how terrible it feels.
Nevertheless, I believe that unless a majority of neighbors are willing to risk retaliation for speaking up for appropriate processes and against the status quo tactics; these patterns are doomed to repeat again and again.What is required by the members is more than "getting a new board member" elected while giving more money to the associations and adding to their number totals.
The members and outside neighbors must start demanding accountability, drafting ethics rules with the possibiility of removing leaders, and demanding transparent processes.  I've watched new leaders be drafted into the ranks of the leadership and embrace the code of silence for the gang's secret processes.  I've seen this repeated for 10 years and was often surprised to see respected friends become anointed.
I tend to be very optimistic and I totally agree that we all need to be willing to get involved.  But I also know that fundamental changes to these associations must be codified and demanded consistently by the association members, and all members of the community; or the shenanigans we saw over 40th and Pine will certainly continue to repeat, as they have been for the past decade, since Penn saw the usefullness of these broken associations and broken processes.
Lets keep talking about what must be done now that the problem has been so openly exposed!  We can all forgive the leaders on a personal level, but we must not let them continue as pawns for Penn allowing them to divide and destroy our community!
Sincerely,
Glenn 
-Original Message- From: KAREN ALLEN Sent: Jun 4, 2009 5:05 PM To: UnivCity Listserv Subject: RE: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn 

I'm over the moon right now!   The good news for the community is that Penn's "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"-style manipulation of community groups has been exposed.  In the course of this fight it was revealed that certain persons who were associated with community-based groups were trying to manipulate the appearance of community support in favor of Penn/Campus Inn: going in front of city agencies claiming that community meetings took place that never occurred; claiming that community meetings on this

Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Glenn moyer]

Yes, the "scuttlebutt" provided was just a reiteration of the ridiculous Penn position we've heard repeatedly.
 
I'm not sure if you attended the zoning hearings, but the list and community need to be reminded of things uncovered about the 4oth and Pine sight.  The current director of Penn real estate did not tell the "whole truth" in her testimony at the zoning hearing.
She revealed that Penn had received 4 additional proposals (from 10 solicitations)  for use of the site from "established contacts" which Penn privately solicited for bids.  She misled the zoning board about the internal solicitation process for real estate opportunities within the university.  She said that the U. first asked the "entire university" for bids for the site, but failed to reveal the number actually received.
The actual internal process sends a request for bids to department heads whose departments wish to expand or relocate, and not as a public solicitation for bids published before the entire community.  (It was very misleading for the real estate chief to describe the internal process as a request sent to the entire U. community.)
If you attended the one SHCA zoning committee meeting, when community pressure forced it to become a public meeting; you heard the Penn site manager, Mr Esaul Sanchez, reveal that he had seen "17 or 18 proposals" for use of the 40th and Pine site.  The additional proposals were undoubtedly internal university department proposals that the real estate powerbrokers rejected in favor of profit maximization.  These department chiefs obviously felt that they had viable and legal alternative uses for the site.
Penn real estate has since refused to reveal or even admit that these proposals were advanced.  (Mr. Sanchez, the site manager, never testified after he let the truth slip out, revealing the massive interest for the site in the presence of our neighbors.)
Neighbors, we need to demand that the sun shines on those secret hidden alternative proposals.  Otherwise, Penn needs to sell that building, if it sells it for one dollar only!  
As long term member of the Penn community, I am ashamed that my U. put profit maximization ahead of the needs of the mission of advancing education and research.  Just like I am ashamed of the way in which the U. attempts to dominate and deceive the community while calling it community engagement.
Sincerely,
Glenn 
-Original Message- From: mcget...@aol.com Sent: Jun 5, 2009 12:23 AM To: UnivCity@list.purple.com Subject: Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn 
A "wise" owner would nudge the building at 40th and Pine toward collapse, huh?  How about an antisocial and unethical owner!  Are you aware that what you are counseling is not only appalling, but illegal?  Toll Brothers attempted to destroy the historic Naval Home through neglect until the courts forced them to maintain it.  As for the economics of restoring the mansion and developing the site in a suitable fashion - well, Penn is poised to spend hundreds of millions on developing the Post Office site, so they can certainly afford to spend some money at 40th and Pine.  They don't need to worry about their return on investment, that's for sure.
 
Furthermore, you routinely present yourself as a journalist.  Do journalists deal in scuttlebutt?  If you know anything factual about the plans for the 43rd and Baltimore site, then perhaps you should do a service to your neighbors and be more explicit.  The fate of that property is extremely important to the neighborhood and I suspect that the owners indeed had very definite intentions when they paid $3.5 million for it.  Or do they spend that kind of money on a whim?  
 
I think most people would find it unsettling that the contractor (James Campenella) who knocked down the buildings is a convicted felon (for bribing a tax assessor in 2007) and that the owner (Campenella's partner in previous real estate deals) has not paid any property taxes since its purchase in January, 2008. I know I get a little heartburn when I think of the economic woes of the city and fat cat developers from New York getting a free ride for a year and a half on a multi-million dollar property. You may recall that Campenella had so much influence with our Councilwoman Blackwell that she introduced a special bill into City Council which would have permitted him to develop a large homeless shelter across from West Catholic.  This bill would have locked the city into an unconscionably long lease and cost the taxpayers millions in inflated rent.  The extraordinary bill raised questions in the press, the neighbors reacted and the project was scrapped.  Now this guy is taking another whack at our neighborhood and I am very concerned.  So, if you know anything about the plans for 4224-26 Baltimore, then you should probably let the community in on it, so it is not caught flat-footed, as it was whe

Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Mcgettig]

A "wise" owner would nudge the building at 40th and Pine toward collapse,
huh?  How about an antisocial and unethical owner!  Are you aware that  what
you are counseling is not only appalling, but illegal?  Toll Brothers
attempted to destroy the historic Naval Home through neglect until the courts
forced them to maintain it.  As for the economics of restoring the mansion
and developing the site in a suitable fashion - well, Penn is poised to spend
 hundreds of millions on developing the Post Office site, so they  can
certainly afford to spend some money at 40th and Pine.  They don't  need to
worry about their return on investment, that's for sure.

Furthermore, you routinely present yourself as a journalist.  Do
journalists deal in scuttlebutt?  If you know anything factual about the  plans 
for
the 43rd and Baltimore site, then perhaps you should do a service to  your
neighbors and be more explicit.  The fate of that property is  extremely
important to the neighborhood and I suspect that the owners indeed had  very
definite intentions when they paid $3.5 million for it.  Or do  they spend that
kind of money on a whim?

I think most people would find it unsettling that the  contractor (James
Campenella) who knocked down the buildings is a  convicted felon (for bribing
a tax assessor in 2007) and that the owner  (Campenella's partner in
previous real estate deals) has not paid any property  taxes since its purchase 
in
January, 2008. I know I get a little heartburn when  I think of the economic
woes of the city and fat cat developers from New York  getting a free ride
for a year and a half on a multi-million dollar  property. You may recall
that Campenella had so much influence  with our Councilwoman Blackwell that
she introduced a special bill into City  Council which would have permitted
him to develop a large homeless shelter  across from West Catholic.  This bill
would have locked the city into an  unconscionably long lease and cost the
taxpayers millions in inflated  rent.  The extraordinary bill raised
questions in the press, the neighbors  reacted and the project was scrapped.  
Now
this guy is taking another whack  at our neighborhood and I am very
concerned.  So, if you know anything  about the plans for 4224-26 Baltimore, 
then you
should probably let the  community in on it, so it is not caught
flat-footed, as it was when the  buildings were demolished.


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Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Anthony West]

Scuttlebutt is, nothing will happen at 43rd & Baltimore until after dust 
settles on 40th & Pine outcome. And if the hotel project shifts to 
another site, that may take quite a while longer for all to figure out.


40th & Pine cannot be torn down until it collapses by itself, because it 
has been cursed with Historic Designation -- literally: the Philadelphia 
Historic Commission's invariant policy is an address can only be 
delisted if the building on it has already fallen down by itself.


There's no way, given today's economics, that building can be 
rehabilitated to historic specifications within the limits of a 4-story 
residential zone. Contemporary low-rise residences won't yield enough 
per square foot to pay for such work on 40th St. So the neighborhood's 
challenge is how to get that edifice to fall down.


A wise owner would now adopt maintenance practices that nudge 40th & 
Pine toward collapsing sooner rather than later. If it becomes a vacant 
lot, it becomes usable by society again.


-- Tony West



Elliot M. Stern wrote:
I'm wondering now what's going to come up at 43rd and BaltimoreAnd 
when will the 40th and Pine Street building be torn down?




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Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Elliot M. Stern]

41st and Walnut. Bad location. I'm wondering now what's going to come  
up at 43rd and BaltimoreAnd when will the 40th and Pine Street  
building be torn down?



On 04 Jun  2009, at 1:22 PM, krf...@aol.com wrote:

Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University  
City Review about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the  
developers have finally figured out that their plan was so  
outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even Penn's money and  
political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such  
obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it  
yourself by clicking on the link below:


Click here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent  
Community Newspaper


Al Krigman

Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell


Elliot M. Stern
552 South 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
United States of America
telephone: 215-747-6204
mobile: 267-240-8418
emst...@verizon.net

Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Elliot M. Stern]

41st and Walnut. Bad location. I'm wondering now what's going to come  
up at 43rd and BaltimoreAnd when will the 40th and Pine Street  
building be torn down?



On 04 Jun  2009, at 1:22 PM, krf...@aol.com wrote:

Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University  
City Review about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the  
developers have finally figured out that their plan was so  
outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even Penn's money and  
political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such  
obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it  
yourself by clicking on the link below:


Click here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent  
Community Newspaper


Al Krigman

Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell


Elliot M. Stern
552 South 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
United States of America
telephone: 215-747-6204
mobile: 267-240-8418
emst...@verizon.net

RE: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[KAREN ALLEN]

I'm over the moon right now! 
  
The good news for the community is that Penn's "pay no attention to the man 
behind the curtain"-style manipulation of community groups has been exposed. 
 
In the course of this fight it was revealed that certain persons who were 
associated with community-based groups were trying to manipulate the appearance 
of community support in favor of Penn/Campus Inn: going in front of city 
agencies claiming that community meetings took place that never occurred; 
claiming that community meetings on this topic were scheduled that in reality 
were routine membership meetings that made no notice, either in meeting notices 
or the meeting agenda, that this proposal was going to be discussed and 
feedback sought; and having Tom Lussenhop show up unannounced at various 
meetings; all done to create the appearance of community notification and 
involvement while blatantly trying to suppress the number of people who would 
otherwise turn out and possibly object.  

 

The one thing that I've heard time and time again from people who were trying 
to justify this behavior was that the individuals involved in this "were just 
volunteers" who put a lot of time into community affairs. This justification 
carried the implicit message that being a "volunteer" somehow gave these 
persons the right to manipulate the community and to make decisions totally 
separate from and in direct contradiction to the will of the community as a 
whole. 

 

I was also surprised, and yet not surprised that there were also those who 
believed that a subcommittee of an organization can ignore the clearly stated 
opposition of the organization's members.
  
Hopefully community members have learned from this that everyone has to be 
active in his or her community. It can't be left to a neighbor, or someone 
around the corner; everyone has to be active and informed, and cannot cede 
their involvement to someone else. Serve on the boards; go to the meetings; 
keep people accountable. No one person or small group should have the power to 
make decisions for an entire neighborhood.  Otherwise other Campus Inns may be 
in the offing. 
 
And maybe at some point the folks at Penn will finally wake up and learn that 
their so-called "community partnership" has to be a genuine partnership, and 
not just the sham that it's been up until now.  
 
 






From: krf...@aol.com
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 13:22:04 -0400
Subject: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn
To: UnivCity@list.purple.com



Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University City Review 
about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the developers have finally figured 
out that their plan was so outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even 
Penn's money and political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such 
obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it yourself by 
clicking on the link below:
 
Click here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent Community 
Newspaper 
 
Al Krigman



Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell

Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Frank]

This is GREAT news. Thanks, Al!

F

On Jun 4, 2009, at 01:22 PM, krf...@aol.com wrote:

Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University  
City Review about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the  
developers have finally figured out that their plan was so  
outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even Penn's money and  
political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such  
obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it  
yourself by clicking on the link below:


Click here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent  
Community Newspaper


Al Krigman

Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell

Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Glenn moyer]

I wonder if the SHCA zoning committee will oppose this?  
When the SHCA was supporting the 40th and Pine tower, they were opposed to a seemingly appropriate development very close to this new location.  Someone wrote a letter in the UC Review questioning if the SHCA responds more to certain developers than the merits of the project.  (Maybe they use their power against certain businesses too).
Let's see which way they go on this Penn project-hahaha.  Thanks for the link, Al. 
-Original Message- From: krf...@aol.com Sent: Jun 4, 2009 1:22 PM To: UnivCity@list.purple.com Subject: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn 
Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University City Review about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the developers have finally figured out that their plan was so outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even Penn's money and political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it yourself by clicking on the link below:
 
Click here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent Community Newspaper 
 
Al Krigman


Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell

You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the
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Re: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[campio...@juno.com]

 
I am often grateful to those who share news, from other sources on this list.
In this instance, my thanks go out to Al Krigman who provides the link to:
"Campus Inn Might Move to Commercial District
By Nicole Contosta | UC Review Staff | 04.JUN.09"
"After nearly three months of silence, news has emerged that Campus Inn might 
relocate to 41st and Walnut Streets. ..."


I like the idea of expanding business, even a new Hotel, but not at the expense 
of our residential neighbors and neighborhood.  I thought room could have been 
made on the Postal Lands or Schuylkill fields, and am open to other commercial 
locals.  There are definitely blocks of Walnut, Chestnut and Market that could 
benefit from development.


-- Original Message --
From: krf...@aol.com
To: UnivCity@list.purple.com
Subject: [UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 13:22:04 EDT


Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University City Review 
about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the developers have finally figured 
out that their plan was so outrageous and riddled with inadequacies that even 
Penn's money and political clout couldn't buy their way to a project with such 
obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have to read about it yourself by 
clicking on the link below: Click here: University City Review - West 
Philadelphia's Independent Community Newspaper  Al Krigman
Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell

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[UC] Late breaking news about the Campus Inn

[Krfapt]

Late breaking news has just been posted on-line by the University City  
Review about the Campus Inn. It appears as though the developers have  finally 
figured out that their plan was so outrageous and riddled with  inadequacies 
that even Penn's money and political clout couldn't buy  their way to a 
project with such obvious inadequacies. So... well, you'll have  to read about 
it yourself by clicking on the link below:
 
_Click  here: University City Review - West Philadelphia's Independent 
Community  Newspaper_ 
(http://www.ucreview.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=1490&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&resta
tus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=232
0&hn=ucreview&he=.com)  
 
Al Krigman
**Limited Time Offers: Save big on popular laptops at Dell 
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