"What's interesting is that the anointed have so little going for them that they have to keep falling back on the cheap trick of insulting the people who point out the flaws in their grandiose schemes ... despite the fact that this tactic has failed in the past and is doomed to fail in the future."
I hope you're correct. I wish folks were not so disinclined to go public. As you point out, the powerful local elite have not gotten each of the gentrification/ power grabbing projects immediately approved. But I think the presumption of our rights as citizens continues to erode. And the abusive processes and tactics are not becoming less frequent but bolder! I'm not so sure about this Campus Inn being dead. Regardless of the hotel itself, once again, the process to date has been dishonest, confusing, and after the fact. Those involved tried to get a historic property de-listed secretly. This entire project goes against all the propaganda of those involved. We can ask all that we want, how could the leaders of SHCA and UCHS go along with this? One point when I posted this link is that the process problems keep repeating in many theaters and getting worse regardless of individual outcomes or individuals involved. When I heard Copps speech, I was immediately struck by the similarities in the process he witnessed which went completely against public engagement and participation, as well as, legitimate data or procedures. We have a local problem with processes and principals but its being replicated with frightening regularity. Unfortunately, Copps isn't talking about how Penn is taking charge of our neighborhood but about the further erosion of local and independent press on a national scale. The thing that bothers me locally is, why do the anointed and Penn Real Estate keep getting bolder rather than embarrassed? And more globally, why do I hear the same stories about identical process problems repeating across the country. In my opinion, we need to be more vocal about demanding the fundamentals of appropriate process. Otherwise, the blueprint that keeps showing up to subvert a democratic system; a system being taken for granted, will eventually succeed. Glenn ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 9:08 AM Subject: Re: [UC] FCC dissenter speaks about process In a message dated 12/31/2007 8:26:37 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Has our neighborhood stood up to several years of this same type of contemptuous anti-democratic process; these corporate bullying tactics, by Penn and their cronies? West Philly is going down to plutocratic rule with only a murmer from a few "hotheads" Actually, the neighborhood is standing up to the anointed (both of the self-righteous and the bullying variety) quite well, when you think about it. One of the elitists' main tactics is to call the opponents to their dreams of hedgemony hotheads, NIMBYs, "the usual cranks," "people who oppose everything," and so on. But the fact of the matter is that a huge majority of the affected parties -- owners, renters, and business operators -- stand against the UCD mentality and all it connotes. Not always vociferously because many people are simply disinclined to "go public." Think about it. The pretentious historic designation nomination went down the tubes despite all the attempts at intimidation by the small clique of proponents. The deceitful (or do you still believe it was really about a small price to pay for cleaner and safer streets?) NID proposal is in its death throes. And the slap-in-the-face to the community by a few greedy bush-league developers and their gravy-train cohorts in the Penn Real Estate Dept, blithely labeled the "Campus Inn," has little-to-no chance of getting through a zoning change now that we know Brandywine Realty Trust is planning a hotel in the Walnut Street Tower of Cira Center South (I predict that even the Spruce Hill Commuinity Association Zoning Committee, after a public meeting in which the residents of the area get to express their views, will be hesitate to endorse this ill-conceived project because it will further erode their claim to be 'representative' of the community at large). What's interesting is that the anointed have so little going for them that they have to keep falling back on the cheap trick of insulting the people who point out the flaws in their grandiose schemes ... despite the fact that this tactic has failed in the past and is doomed to fail in the future. Yes, it's annoying to be personally insulted by people who have nothing substantial to say in trying to make their cases. But think how annoyed they must be at the thought of having their bubbles burst by what they consider the great unwashed masses. Al Krigman (A new years' resolution suggestion: Non Illigitemus carborundum est ... yeah, I know it's not really the Latin of Cato or Tacitus.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ See AOL's top rated recipes and easy ways to stay in shape for winter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1204 - Release Date: 12/31/2007 12:20 PM
