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Al, PCPC is a complete joke. As the casino opponents also understand- This is not city planning; it is rubber stamping big money projects of cronies and protecting the pay to play system. The decisions are prearranged, as the processes and false/edited records of public hearings, strongly indicate to eyewitnesses.
To save money for Philadelphia taxpayers, the PCPC and PHC should be completely eliminated!
ZBA and other agencies could fill the legitimate rolls of these agencies once resources were dedicated to clean those agencies up, and make them serve the actual citizens of the city.
Thanks for posting these reports.
Glenn
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Oct 22, 2008 9:17 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [UC] I didn't want to think that ....
I didn't want to think that the newly-appointed members of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission were nothing but tools to help implement short-sighted projects embraced by our panic-driven new and supposedly promising mayor. But, it seems, that this commission has acted in haste and defiance of logic and the best interests of not one but two vital communities.
- University City, of course, by endorsing the ill-conceived plan -- as Mary Goldman put it in today's University City Review -- to replace an eyesore with a behemoth.
- And, now, according to the reports below from the Inquirer and DN, respectively, to allow Foxwoods to build a slot joint at another monument to the failure of city planning, the Gallery in Center City.
Yes, it's true that Philadelphia needs to encourage enterprises that will provide employment and commerce. But destroying the fabric of the neighborhoods, along with the hopes and expectations of the people who are really the essence of this or any city, can't possibly be a wise way to do it.
Well, as was said of John Lindsay who ended his chance to be President of the United States by taking on the no-win job as Mayor of New York and -- predictably -- displeasing almost everyone, anyone who wants to be mayor of a big city isn't fit for that office, let alone anything higher.
Always at your service & ready for a dialog,
Al Krigman -- 36-year local resident, beloved housing provider, and recipient of the 2008 Ignatz Nobil prize for ratiocination
PS: If there's any consolation to be taken from this sorry turn of events, it's the statement by Andrew Altman, deputy mayor for planning and economic development and also chair of the Planning Commission. Depending on which paper you care to believe:
- Inky: "It starts a planning process. It doesn't end a planning process."
- DN: "At the end of the day, it's not a vote for this site. It's a vote for a process to evaluate the site."
We might want to be sure that the Zoning Board knows this is the value of the PCPC decision on the Campus Inn, and that the community has never been involved in any planning process for the site other than to offer reasons why the plan is so bad, and have them ignored by the developers.
From today's Inquirer
Phila. planners OK zoning for Foxwoods
By Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writer
In the first stage of a lengthy approval process, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission supported a zoning change yesterday so Foxwoods Casino could build a slots parlor at the Gallery shopping mall. At the meeting in the Academy of Natural Sciences auditorium, several residents expressed anger that a decision had been made before anyone knew what the project would look like or what impact it could have on the surrounding area.
"Slow down!" implored John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., a nonprofit neighborhood group. "There's no reason to rush this. Foxwoods has presented no information, no studies."
A month ago, Foxwoods Casino said it wanted to move its proposed slot-machine casino from a riverfront location in South Philadelphia to Center City. The company made the switch after repeated delays and challenges from the city.
About 100 residents from Chinatown, Society Hill and Washington Square expressed dismay yesterday that the commission was giving its stamp of approval to the zoning change, the first step in a long approval process for a casino.
"It's a cart-before-the-horse kind of thing," said Roseanne Loesch, a Society Hill resident.
Andrew Altman, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said before a 4-1 vote that the commission's approval of a zoning change was not a green light for a Gallery casino. It would only set into motion a process leading to a thorough review of a development plan, he said.
"It starts a planning process," said Altman, who also serves as chairman of the Planning Commission. "It doesn't end a planning process."
With yesterday's vote, the commission was endorsing two bills introduced last week by City Councilman Frank DiCicco.
The first would permit gaming in a vast Center City area from Sixth to Broad Streets and Chestnut to Arch Streets.
The second would change the zoning at the Gallery to a "commercial entertainment district" (CED), extending from 10th to 11th Streets, and from Market to Filbert Streets.
The only commissioner who voted against the bills was Natalia Olson de Savyckyj, an urban planner and a member of Mayor Nutter's Zoning Code Commission. She voiced concern about making a change in zoning before a plan of development was approved.
With the Planning Commission's endorsement, City Council will take up the matter at a public hearing on Nov. 1, with a possible vote on Nov. 13.
At that point, Foxwoods Casino would have to come up with a detailed plan of development. That could take "several months," said Alan Greenberger, the incoming vice chairman of the Planning Commission.
From today's Daily News
Planning Commission OKs step toward moving casino to Gallery
By CHRIS BRENNAN
Philadelphia Daily News [EMAIL PROTECTED] 215-854-5973
Legislation in City Council to rezone the Gallery in Center City to allow a casino there gained the support yesterday of a conflicted City Planning Commission.
The commission voted 4-1 to recommend that Council approve "commercial entertainment district" zoning, a step forward needed for the Foxwoods casino to relocate to the Gallery from its proposed site in South Philly.
Andrew Altman, the city's deputy mayor for commerce and planning, explained to the commission and casino opponents that the zoning legislation was an initial step toward getting Foxwoods to present its plans.
"At the end of the day, it's not a vote for this site," said Altman, who serves as chairman of the commission but does not vote. "It's a vote for a process to evaluate the site."
Residents in nearby Chinatown are angry that the city is moving on the Foxwoods zoning before the developers present their plans. The city, which has been trying to force Foxwoods to move from South Philly, calls the zoning legislation an incentive for Foxwoods to develop those plans.
Commission member Natalia Olson de Savyckyj, the lone vote against recommending the zoning change, said she wanted information from Foxwoods first.
Commission member Nilda Ruiz qualified her vote of support, saying she wanted plans from Foxwoods before the zoning issue moves forward again.
Commission members Alan Greenberger, Pat Eiding and Anuj Gupta, sitting in for city's managing director, Camille Barnett, also voted for the zoning.
The vote angered casino opponents, who are still waiting for project details six weeks after Foxwoods announced the potential relocation to the Gallery.
Ellen Somekawa, executive director of Asian Americans United, said the zoning is "greasing the wheels" for Foxwoods.
"So far, this process really looks like business being done in the same old ways, the backroom-deal ways," she said. "It's really a shockingly rushed and shoddy process."
John Chin of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. said the city's speed on the zoning issue only added to his concerns.
"At this point, I can say people in Chinatown have no reason to have faith in the process," Chin said. "Slow down. There's really no reason to rush this."
Council will hold a rare Saturday public hearing on the zoning legislation on Nov. 1 and could vote on it by Nov. 13.
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