Many thanks to you and Al for publicly confronting the propaganda. Al
brings up an excellent issue! UCD and their city "partners" claim that
scientific method is driving these parklet grants for favored eateries.
The partners can prove they aren't lying propagandists by making ALL
the data and the STUDY DESIGNS available to the public and then present
their findings in a well announced public forum. Any researcher that
would have an ounce of credibility would go out of their way to publish
and present their findings for peer review, once they publicly call for
policy shifts in "community partnerships!" That's how the honest use of
scientific method works!
Of course, if the ribbon cutters offer nothing or more marketing
literature to fool people, the partners will prove that they are
dishonest propagandists and that their agenda is anything but a
"community partnership."
Do you folks think that an appropriate review of the UCD studies is a
reasonable request from the community now that these claims are public?
Bergheiser claims they would be "pleased" to "demonstrate."
UC Review:
"University City District (UCD), in partnership with the Mayor's Office
of Transportation and Utilities, the Philadelphia Department of Streets,
and the offices of Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, cut the ribbon last
Friday on the Philadelphia's first "Parklet"
"said Deputy Mayor Cutler. "This is a great opportunity for the City to
support community innovation and we look forward to a successful pilot."
'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."'
On 8/11/2011 8:44 AM, Cindy Miller wrote:
Letter to UC Review:
I wonder about this "parklet". If the area needs extra pedestrian
sitting space--why put it across the street from a park?
Let's be real here, and call it what it really is - an additional
revenue source for the Green Line (financed by taxpayers).
Sure wish the City would help boost my business for free.
Why not additional seating for Fiesta, or a place to relax in front of
VIX? Why was the neighborhood not consulted?
Cindy Miller,
48th St.
On Aug 11, 2011, at 8:31 AM, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
In a message dated 8/10/2011 6:27:51 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[email protected]> or
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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