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December 5-11, 2002 city beat Dreams and Nightmares
Civic groups fight church's plans to re-use Metropolitan Hospital. The old Metropolitan Hospital building has sat empty on Franklin Square since 1993. Now, a 1,700-member Bucks County evangelical church is hoping to purchase the building and breathe new life into the massive seven-story structure. But neighbors in the adjacent Callowhill and Chinatown neighborhoods worry that the area cannot handle another social service center for recovering drug addicts, paroled convicts and homeless people. Officials at the Christian Life Center in Bensalem, which is attempting to convert the vacant building into the "Philadelphia Dream Center," refuse to explain what exactly they plan to do with the building. "Our overall purpose is to spread the gospel through our ministry to underprivileged people," says Nancy Harris, a church spokeswoman and secretary to the Pentecostal church's leader, Pastor Chuck Paul. The church already runs a number of outreach programs in Philadelphia and has a small center in Kensington. But Harris will not discuss specifics. "We're not supposed to answer any questions about [our activities] because we're in negotiations," she says. Harris said that the church aims to use the Los Angeles Dream Center, which is also run by Pentecostals, as a model for its Philadelphia facility. The California operation, located in a former hospital in a residential area of central Los Angeles, offers vocational training, a soup kitchen and drug and alcohol rehab programs. The facility includes a sanctuary as well as housing for missionaries and recovering addicts. John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC), which has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Dream Center, is frustrated by what he sees as inadequate information being provided by the church. "We have some issues with the Dream Center," Chin says. "We've spoken with representatives from the Dream Center on a couple of occasions [and we're] not quite sure what their intended purpose is at that location." But judging from the L.A. Dream Center, Chin is worried that it will offer services to the homeless. "We don't have an issue with the services per se, it's just the impact it would have on our community. What would a facility of that size and magnitude in this area do in terms of attracting more homeless people?" Furthermore, Chin argues, since there are already a number of facilities in and around Chinatown that serve the homeless, the neighborhood should not be burdened with yet another. From what he can gather, Chin says, "the Dream Center would be by far the largest center to serve the homeless in Center City. It's a little too much." Amy Hooper, the acting president of the Callowhill Neighbors Association (CNA), also opposes the center. "Our neighborhood has a greater than average number of those types of institutions in it. We don't want to have another organization of that type within our boundaries," she says. CNA member Sarah McEneaney agrees, quickly rattling off a long list of social service centers already in the neighborhood, including a minimum-security prison, a drug rehab center, a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen. The former hospital building falls within the boundaries of PCDC but just outside those of CNA, which represents residents of the warehouse district east of Broad, between Vine and Spring Garden. The building is near a number of residential neighborhoods, the closest one being Chinatown, but it is not in one. Located across the street from the Police Administration Building, the hospital, whose architectural style matches "the roundhouse," sits next to the often-empty Franklin Square. The building is surrounded by the entrances and exits of the Vine Street Expressway and Ben Franklin Bridge. Beyond the expanse of a large surface parking lot, the neon lights of Chinatown shine a block away. Heeding the outcry from his constituents, Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes the Metropolitan Hospital building, filed a letter expressing opposition to the church's recent application for a zoning variance. In his letter to the head of the zoning board, DiCicco wrote, "There is still no clear indication of what is being proposed. We have heard everything from dormitories for missionaries to a site that will provide services to the homeless, a use to which PCDC and I firmly object." DiCicco called the hospital's location "the gateway to Historic Philadelphia," noting its proximity to the new Constitution Center. According to Licenses and Inspections officials, a decision has not yet been reached. The issue before the board is whether to allow the church to put medical offices in the basement that it can rent out for income. Representatives from PCDC, CNA and DiCicco's staff all expressed opposition to the church group's request at the Nov. 20 hearing. If the group ultimately decides to add dormitories for missionaries, the homeless or recovering addicts, it would have to go before the zoning board again. DiCicco has requested that the zoning board deny the variance application and direct the church group to draw up detailed plans in consultation with the affected neighborhood groups. According to Christine Ottow of the mayor's press office, the Street administration has no position on the zoning issue, though the mayor has been a vocal proponent of faith-based social service organizations at the city level and nationally. Street, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, is one of a handful of Democrats who have publicly backed President Bush's call for allowing federal funds to go toward faith-based social service providers. During the 2000 campaign, Bush hailed the Los Angeles Dream Center as a national model. On the Philadelphia Dream Center website, phillydreamcenter.org, a photograph is posted showing Mayor Street with his arm around Pastor Paul of the Christian Life Center. At press time, Ottow was unable to describe the mayor's relationship with the Christian Life Center or Pastor Paul. With neighborhood groups trying to block the Dream Center every step of the way, what would neighborhood leaders like to see done with the vacant hospital? "In an ideal world, I think it should be used for some kind of residential housing," PCDC's Chin says. A number of "developers have looked at that building and it's been very hard to make the numbers work. It's an odd shape and would take a lot of money to bring it up to code." Hooper of CNA says she hopes to see a "facility that will enhance the community in a way that isn't some kind of a service to the homeless. That's not the appropriate spot for it." 
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