In a message dated 8/10/2011 6:27:51 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
"University City, like much of Philadelphia, has an unmet demand for
pedestrian amenities," said Bergheiser. "Our pedestrian counts throughout the
neighborhood grow and grow and we must keep pace. We are pleased to
demonstrate that there are simple and low cost solutions to this growing
demand for
the infrastructure of walkability."
What a crock of "green" bullshit. Parklets are an expansion of seating
for an upscale eatery on the taxpayer's dime. Local eateries have long known
that they must stay loyal and serve the district to get their upscale
cookies. Where oh where will the next parklet appear?
I have to agree:
1. What's increased outdoors spacing for a private enterprise have to
do with "unmet demand for pedestrian amenities?"
2. The article in the UCReview conveyed the impression that the
people in the vicinity of 43rd and Baltimore endorsed this "parklet," Who was
asked and in what way? What were the actual counts and percentages of a) the
people in the area, b) the people actually asked.
3. If a "real" parklet -- as opposed to extra outdoor seating for a
private enterprise -- is desirable, I can think of a huge number of locations
where it would make more sense, as opposed to a stone's throw from Clark
Park where there's plenty of greenery, outdoor seating, and other pedestrian
amenities.
4. The fact that the parklet is on the east side of 43rd Street where
it affords extra seating for The Green Line rather than on the west side
where the patrons of The Best House could use it speaks loud and clear of
UCD's (and others') apparent continuing attitude about the anointed who sip
their lattes and tap-tap-tap away on their laptops versus the benighted who
wolf down pizza and hoagies while guzzling beer -- and probably burp and
pass gas, occasionally, too.
5. If parking spaces on the street are going to be taken away, some
fresh thinking about permit parking and a way to discourage people who drive
into West Philly from the 'burbs, park here, then walk or take Septa into
Penn. If Penn stopped thinking of its parking facilities as a money-making
proposition and started thinking about the burden their high parking prices
place on the rest of us, it might show they were actually thinking in terms
of a partnership with the community rather than hegemony over it.
6. How does this "parklet" reconcile with the hoops the beaneries on
Baltimore Ave have to jump through to get a few tables on the sidewalks
outside their establishments?
7. An article the other day in the Inquirer told of the huge increase
in fees the city has now imposed on restaurants that buy reserved parking
spaces on the public streets. If the Green Line really wants to use what
amounts to two parking spaces, whether they park there or use it for patron
seating, at least they should go through the process of getting those spaces
reserved and paying for them at the going rate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Krigman
KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc
211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918
215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502
[email protected] or [email protected]
