People of the district,
One of my Clark park friends mentioned the need for a lawyer.He said he
feared that Clark Park would be a new Rittenhouse Square.Of course, he
is right.
Months ago, when I publicly confronted the city commissioner, who serves
the Praxis agenda; I was concentrating upon the privatization of Clark
Park only.However, the corporate servants were concentrating on
"public-private partnerships" and "revenue streams."It's clear to me
that the privatization and commercialization of Clark Park is merely a
pilot experiment for the new gentrified city core.
Point:Those Philadelphia parks and recreation facilities, which are not
converted to commercial spaces and privatized, will be closed in the new
city.
The physical redesign of Clark park as a commercial space should be
clear now:The police raids before the park closing communicated with
force, that indigenous residents were not to be welcomed back in the new
commercial space.Also, closing the park to disrupt two park seasons is a
well-practiced delaying tactic used to push away the former loosely
organized community from returning to gentrified public spaces.(Many
people probably believed that closing the park in the fall and at the
beginning of the next season had some reasonable cause-haha)
When you imagine the new fountain and the new garden, which will use up
all remaining space to the HMS school, the UCD vision might be
clearer.UCD decided on the vision for a silent space where the
gatherings and activities of the past 100 years would not be
tolerated.So they are using up all open space in the physical
redesign.(In the future, the bowl is to be turned into a performance
venue for upscale expensive concerts and plays)
Do folks see why all the groups who used the park and the general public
were barred from the planning process since the beginning???? Do folks
see that this is the same goal of the plan that was rejected by the
overwhelming majority of residents 7-8 years ago???
UCD waited 7 years while pretending that giving West and Siano $20 at
the farmer's market was the same as an inclusive transparent public
process!Do you remember how furious they all became when I continued
demanding, for years, that park users be included in a transparent
process????They frightened people when they refused to allow me 1 minute
to state the secret exclusive process for the FOCP record.(FOCP leaders
wanted to intimidate everyone else into silence with their condescending
bullying.)
I guess I am vindicated now, and no one still believes that the good
neighbors just wanted to do maintenance on Clark park-haha.
For each UCD project over the past ten years, the exact same corporate
process has been used against the indigenous people in this dying
divided community.Misinformation and lies are churned out from the
powerful University propaganda machine.Secret backroom deals are
discovered when the civic associations are called community approval.And
a network of loud, good neighbors, attacks all dissent with incredible
meanspiritedness using the usual techniques of straw man, ad hominem,
red herring, censorship, etc.
Is the Clark Park Partnership any different than the BID steering
committee, the SHCA Planning Committeee for the hotel, or the original
master plan steering committee for Clark Park?But very few among us were
willing to look at the basic underlying colonialism which foretold our
loss of rights if we failed a commitment to solidarity and democratic
principles.
The majority of us closed our eyes to the real threats because we hoped
for trickle down outcomes to outweigh our loss of our community and
rights.We closed our eyes to the truth and our need for solidarity.We
refused to put the principles and processes of democracy, or our
community, before our blindfolded cravings for riches.And they won the
war.Now we will see the disaster of our hope in bullshit and trickle
down riches!
The corporations and University labeled our community a criminal gang
years ago.They insisted that we be excluded from discussions of our fate
and be obedient consumers waiting for their charity.Giving $20 and
kissing up to civic association leaders was a ridiculous suggestion for
stopping this.As was "positive thinking" and the concept that all
dissent is the crazy ranting of wankers.
Most long-term residents knew that these civic gangs (FOCP, SHCA, UCHS,
etc.) were broken and dedicated to bullying long before the University
employed neo-colonial tactics to fool the foolish leaders.And the
'cleaner safer" literature was such obvious bullshit that it shows the
blindfolded hopes of the majority gambling on trickle down economics and
the beneficence of corporate wolves.
I spent 5 years expending enormous time to protect the Clark Park Music
and Arts festivals.I pleaded with people to recognize that these were
only temporary stays. That unless we asserted our rights as citizens
rather than our cravings as consumers waiting for trickle down outcomes,
we would find ourselves with no rights in this upscale shopping district.
The new permit requirements that all park users will receive for the new
commercial space should be referred to as rental leases.Or you can
continue to believe the sweet little lies and call these the law-haha.
A former citizen of West Philadelphia,
Glenn
