In a message dated 12/11/2010 7:04:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, anthony_w...@earthlink.net writes:
All right. How about "A few nearby residents and a large number of faraway ones expressed concerns, often heatedly. In the end, their concerns carried the day with the ZBA and the hotel project moved three blocks north, on another mixed-use corridor street"? But I doubt the DP's readers are interested in reading a history of disputes among neighbors several years ago. It's a readership which largely turns over every 4 years, don't forget. They don't need to measure how concerned the townies were, back when. Surely for them, the focus is more on what's coming next. No, not at all. They wrote "In 2009, developers announced they planned to build the hotel at 40th and Pine streets. They changed locations after nearby residents expressed concerns that the building would harm the neighborhood’s identity. The project site was then moved to Walnut Street to fit in better with the road’s commercial aesthetic." The truth was that the University and their developer cohorts were dragged, kicking and screaming, from the deserted Penn-owned site at 40th & Pine by members of the community -- after having engaged one of the city's top real estate attorneys, spending huge amounts of money, and lying through their teeth to get the zoning changed so they could build the hotel there. And, surely, one of the objectives of what's supposed to be a world class university should be to inculcate in its students sensibilities for justice, consideration of others which viewpoints that may differ from their own, and a realization that you can't have everything your way simply because you can outspend the people you either disagree with or don't care about. And, if you believe your own statement that the objections were mounted by "A few nearby residents and a large number of faraway ones," you must not have been at any of the meetings or hearings. Sorry -- you're way off track on this. ------------------------------------------------------ Alan Krigman KRF Management 215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502 _www.krf.icodat.com_ (http://www.iconworldwide.com/krf)
