No reasonable person denies that affordable hotels are in short supply
around Penn's massive eds-&-meds complex. This appears to be an industry
with a longterm growth curve ahead of it, so it makes sense to build
hotels for it. Somewhere.
Meanwhile, Penn is still stuck with a historic dog of a property that
might just pay for itself, if tacked onto a hotel; otherwise, it's
nothing but a drain. The economic downturn places more pressure than
ever on Eds & Meds RE departments to monetize their dogs one way or another.
I think you're quite correct, Kimm, it ain't over till it's over.
Real-estate, by its nature, can lie around "on hold" for years -- the
more so when owned by a non-taxpayer. But since land, by its nature,
cannot go away, real-estate problems too never go away until some sort
of development occurs.
-- Tony West
P.S. Thanks to you and Al for putting 2+2 together for us.
Kimm
On 10/9/09 10:10 PM, "Kimm Tynan" <[email protected]> wrote:
I had a feeling that wasn’t really over.
Kimm
On 10/9/09 1:42 PM, "KAREN ALLEN" <[email protected]> wrote:
Well, Al, looks like they're "gettin' the band back together",
and today's Daily Pennsylvanian report about the Campus Inn
puts yesterday's post into context.
It's the same old bullshit: West Philadelphia is a hellhole
that we need Penn/UCD/Tom Lussenhop to rescue us from;
unannounced closed-door astroturf presentations in front of a
handful of handpicked so-called "community leaders" ready to
regurgitate Penn's lies and to rubberstamp whatever Penn
shoves in front of them. I guess next the propaganda machine
will kick into gear again to explain to us igoramuses why it's
so important that Penn should be able to do whatever they want.
Regarding certain "panelists", this just proves that there are
some people who are incapable of embarassment or shame...Even
Professor Marvel gave up the smoke and mirrors once his
"Wizard of Oz" persona ("Pay no attention to the man behind
the curtain!") was exposed as a sham.
See ya at the Zoning Board hearings, folks... luckily I saved
my "No Hotel In the Hood" posters!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 08:55:59 -0400
Subject: [UC] Penn and the community -- take, er, I lost count
when it hit six digits
To: [email protected]
From today's DP. Emphasis (color) and snide remarks
/(parentheses)/ added
You read it here, first, on the ever-popular */Popu-List
/*Courtesy of Al Krigman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*University seeks to build more bridges with community
partnerships
**
Maanvi Singh
While Penn's relationship with the West Philadelphia community
has been tumultuous in the past, last night a group of
community leaders and educators discussed Penn's recent focus
on interacting positively with its neighbor. /(Recent focus?
Maybe they mean dumping Lewis Wendell.)
/
The audience of community members, who filled a little over
half the chairs/ (nobody I know was aware of this... so --
little wonder that only half the chairs were filled and I can
only imagine who from "the community" was there)/ set up in
the Arthur Ross Gallery, listened as the panel recounted
Penn's historical interactions with West Philadelphia, as well
as the University's current programs for community involvement.
Ira Harkavy, associate vice president of Penn's Netter Center
for Community Partnerships, moderated the discussion on what
he said was "the single most important issue that the
University is focusing on" - helping to develop neighboring
West Philadelphia. /(This is the "single most important issue
that the University is focusing on" ??? I would have thought
that a world class research university would be focusing on
less important things like education, research, bringing their
endowment back up to the point where they don't have to fire
people or raise fees to give it's president a big raise and
otherwise stay afloat, etc.)
/West Philadelphia has come a long way since the 1990s, when
crime was on a major upspring, said panelist and member of the
Spruce Hill Community Trust Board of Directors Barry
Grossbach. /(See. Someone still thinks Barry is a community
"leader." Maybe they don't know about the sad fall from grace
and standing of the Spruce Hill Community Association.)
/
Penn faculty and students, as well as West Philadelphia
community members, have many more opportunities today to help
ameliorate their neighborhoods, he added, citing the recent
success of tutoring endeavors in the community and the Penn
Alexander Elementary School. /(Well, we can give them that
one, anyway -- ignoring the real reason for Penn's involvement
with the school.)
/
According to Grossbach, these outreach programs have been so
successful that outside organizations have started to follow
Penn's footsteps. For instance, the Teacher's College of
Columbia University wants to create a program similar to that
of Alexander Elementary School. /(Do you think they hired Omar
Blaik as a consultant?)
/
"I've seen the change," Leslie Rogers, a Penn doctoral
candidate, said. As a Penn undergraduate and graduate student,
she said, she felt that West Philadelphia community members
were very skeptical of her intentions when she went to
volunteer and later teach there. Now, Penn faculty and
students are more warmly welcomed, she said.
Rogers said Penn undergraduates getting involved in West
Philadelphia is a key to community-building.
Thanks to an array of recently established programs, these
students now "get to actually problem-solve in the community,"
she said. /(These students are like the bright-eyed
busy-tailed types that get hired at UCD. They are enthusiastic
and well meaning -- but naive as newborn lambs and haven't a
clue about the "problems" faced by people from a side of the
tracks other than where they, themselves, were born and raised.)
/
Still, attendee Glenwood Charles, a Penn graduate who now
oversees the Netter Center's tutoring program and reading
initiative, argued that there is still more to be done. /(Yes,
but how can they raise the probability of doing more good than
harm? Is there anything in the Penn curriculum that teaches
the facts of life? ... no, not "those" facts; the other facts.)
/
"Get more involved," he told students. "There are a lot of
opportunities." /(As above... to do harm unless they somehow
are brought to understand the situations in which they are
getting involved.)
/*
/------------
/
/plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose/
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_phrases_used_by_English_speakers#P>
----- Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
----
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