Mike Diberardinis is back at the city? Wow. Missed that. Well, unless Mike has changed radically over the last several years (which is possible), Mike is one of the good guys, and that¹s good news. I worked with Mike when we were both community organizing in Kensington back in the 90s. The Mike I know is very progressive and was a fabulous advocate for neighborhoods as rec commissioner. Lived in Fishtown long before Fishtown was cool. As far as I can tell he was a huge advocate for preservation of open space as Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources. The Mike I know would never have supported this plan. People change, it¹s been a long time. But, I would absolutely give him the benefit of the doubt. Mike IS a ³master of tact.² And, apparently his appointment is very recent, so maybe this snuck up on him.
And yes, thanks to Karen for bringing this to our attention. Kimm On 5/20/09 10:31 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > I totally agree with Glenn. Krajewski has unwittingly revealed how eager some > quarters are to exploit the new arrangement for supervising our parks. In > this case, however, she shot herself in the foot with a preposterously broad > proposal to open up all of Fairmount Park to developers. Her claim that this > legislation was only intended to address some problems at Glen Foerd lacks > credibility. For instance, why would specific issues regarding the catering > operation at Glen Foerd require new legislation to include permission to build > single-family residences in the park? You don't need to be a conspiracy > theorist to suspect what's behind that proposal. Particularly troubling was > the tepid response of the new man in charge of parks and recreation, Michael > DiBerardinis. Saying (in the Inquirer, 5/19) that he was concerned about the > broad nature of the proposed legislation, he promised to attempt to rein it > in! Is it unreasonable to expect the commissioner charged with protecting our > parks to clearly and firmly oppose such a threatening bill? Either he is a > master of tact, allowing Krajewski to save face while opposing her legislation > behind the scenes, or he is just another pol. Only time will tell. > > Thanks to Karen for bringing this issue to the attention of the list. The > vigilance of organizations such as SCRUBS and the Philadelphia Parks Alliance > stands in sad contrast to the poor performance of our own neighborhood > organizations with regard to the 40th and Pine hotel project and the > destruction of the historic building at 43rd and Baltimore. > > Mary > > > Recession-proof vacation ideas. Find free things to do in the U.S. > <http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/domestic/national-tourism-week?ncid=emlcnt > ustrav00000002> >
