One: I was speaking in particular to the various "Friends of.." groups in UC.
Two: I was stating what they were doing that has part of MY experience with them. Three: Please don't sprinkle in names like Malcolm X Park and Barkan Park to try to diminish or disregard my experiences. It's too much like Republicans saying how much they dislike President Obama, but saying how wonderful Herman Cain is. On 6/18/11 11:56 PM, "Anthony West" <[email protected]> wrote: >Wilma, > >You are opposed, then, to the Friends of Barkan Park and the Friends of >Malcolm X Park and Cedar Park Neighbors and Saunders Park Neighbors. All >of these groups are bad gentrifier groups, in your experience, you say. >What is your particular experience with each one of these groups, which >leads you to accuse each one of them of being bad gentrifiers? Was >trying to make their parks better a bad thing in itself, because >gentrifiers might like a better park? > >"Friends of X Park" support groups are widely dispersed around the city, >mostly in bluecollar neighborhoods. Do you also condemn Friends of >Carroll Park, at 58th & Girard, of being bad gentrifiers for lobbying to >get that exercise track installed 7 years or so ago? Are you asserting >Carroll Park is at risk of gentrification? > >"Friends of X Park" groups are a basic part of the city's >park-management strategy, because the city's public park-management >bureaucracy has been grossly underfunded for decades (compared to other >cities), so there are not enough public employees anywhere to handle >community relations. We park volunteers have stepped into the breach. We >do it everywhere, because we love our neighborhoods and we love our city. > >Please be specific about why you are opposed to each park improvement in >each park, and explain why not a single one of these community groups >"represents the community," which you say is always against every >improvement in every park, everywhere in Philadelphia. Do you have any >evidence for this claim? It seems awfully far-reaching, to say the >least, Wilma. Give us at least one concrete example, somewhere. > >I'll stand with my park-loving buddies across West Philadelphia and >across the city. I know my man Greg Cojulun at Malcolm X has my back and >I have his. Honestly -- I don't get you park-haters at all. I mean, what >have you got against parks, that you want them all to be crappy and >never get any funding? > >-- Tony West > > > >On 6/18/2011 9:56 PM, Wilma de Soto wrote: >> The Fairmount Park System is one of the best in the country and has >>worked >> hard to maintained our vast system of city parks. If the City and Park >> Commission are making the decisions for Clark Park and not FOCP along >>with >> Penn and the UCD, why is an organization such as FOCP deemed necessary? >> I >> am not trying to be funny, but I really don't get it. >> >> It has been my experience that the various and sundry "Friends of..." >> groups in UC have been a huge part of the gentrification drive in the >> neighborhood and tend to set the agenda for various public and private >> projects to transform use of these spaces as they see fit and for whom >> they deem fit in the name of the community, which they do not actually >> represent. > >---- >You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the >list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see ><http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
